American Journal of Distance Education & University of Wisconsin–Madison
The eLearning Guild
USDLA
WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)
Interim Executive Director, Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT)
Affiliate Faculty Member, Division of Learning Technologies, College of Education, George Mason University
Vice President, Research, Hobsons
Co‑Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework
Senior Director, Worldwide eLearning; Senior Director, eLearning Solutions Marketing, Adobe Systems, Inc.
Senior Director, Global Higher Education, Macromedia, Inc.
Chief Learning Officer and Director of Learning, Viviance new education AG
Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, Consulting Services; Vice President, Consulting Services; Principal Consultant, Informania, Inc.
Assistant/Associate Professor of Educational Technology; Department Chair; Director, Western Institute for Distance Education; Campus Coordinator of Instructional and Research Technologies (Academic Affairs), University of Northern Colorado
Ellen D. Wagner is an educational technology innovator and researcher whose career spans higher education, the nonprofit sector, and industry. She is currently an Affiliate Research Professor with the Institute for Simulation and Training’s Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Laboratory (METIL) at the University of Central Florida, and founder/managing partner of North Coast EduVisory Services LLC. Her work focuses on online and distance learning, learning analytics, mobile learning, and strategic adoption of emerging technologies in higher education and workforce learning. citeturn5search5turn6view0
A multi‑institutional student‑success analytics initiative co‑founded by Wagner to establish common data definitions, predictive models, and effective practices that enable institutions to identify and support at‑risk students at scale.
Education Sciences • Journal
This bibliometric study compares the scholarly landscapes of learning design and instructional design. Using database searches and visualization techniques, the authors analyze publication trends, influential themes, and co‑occurrence networks to map how the two concepts converge and diverge. Findings identify major clusters of topics, shifts over time, and emerging themes that can inform research agendas and practice across both communities.
New Directions for Teaching and Learning • Journal
Focusing on distance education, this article reframes interactivity from a focus on agents (learner–instructor, learner–content, learner–learner, learner–technology) to a focus on instructional outcomes. It outlines how purposeful design of interactions can increase participation, feedback, elaboration, self‑regulation, motivation, and teamwork, and provides practical guidance for embedding interaction to support discovery, exploration, clarification, and closure in distributed learning.
American Journal of Distance Education • Journal
This paper addresses confusion between ‘interactivity’ (a property of delivery systems) and ‘interaction’ (instructional and learning processes). Using systems models, it delineates conceptual boundaries across delivery, design, theory, and learning to argue for a functional definition of interaction that can guide design and evaluation of distance learning. The article contends that real‑time system interactivity does not, by itself, ensure meaningful instructional interaction, and calls for precise terminology to support better practice and research.
eLearn Magazine (ACM) • Journal
This article revisits the roots and evolution of instructional design and learning design. It surveys key historical developments and epistemological foundations, clarifies terminology, and discusses how the two traditions intersect in today’s practice. The authors propose perspectives for bridging communities and for advancing a shared understanding of design knowledge and methods in contemporary learning contexts.
EDUCAUSE Review • Journal
This article introduces the PAR Framework, a multi‑institutional analytics collaborative focused on improving student success in higher education. It describes PAR’s common data definitions, predictive modeling, and evidence‑based practices, and explains how cross‑institutional data sharing supports scalable interventions for retention and completion.
EDUCAUSE Review • Journal
As broadband wireless networks and smart devices emerge, mobile learning represents the next stage in technology‑mediated education. The article surveys the mobile landscape, links mobile affordances to learning and performance support, and argues that mobile learning builds on foundations of online learning, learning objects, and standards. It highlights design considerations (usability, experience quality, appropriateness to tasks) and opportunities to connect formal coursework with informal, just‑in‑time learning and support.