Richard Sebastian Email & Phone Number

Winston-Salem, Nc, Us

Richmond, Virginia, United States

Providing expert coaching to community college leaders, administrative and academic staff, and faculty on the effective and equitable implementation and support of high-impact teaching practices, open educational resources, open and culturally relevant teaching, and digital and online learning.

Silver Spring, Md

Currently lead teaching and learning team’s support of open educational resources, open and culturally responsive teaching, and digital learning at national nonprofit network of over 300 community colleges by developing and delivering courses, seminars, workshops, and webinars, and other supports, and leading grant-funded research projects investigating the classroom impacts of open and digital learning. Accomplishments:* Led the development and delivery of new online course designed for tribal college and university faculty and staff* Awarded over 3 million dollars in grant funds to lead projects to study the academic and economic impacts of open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open and culturally responsive teaching practices.* Provided expertise and support on the effective adoption and equitable use of adaptive courseware and digital learning to community colleges faculty and staff selected for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Every Learner Everywhere grant* Designed and delivered new coaching services for ATD colleges on effectively implementing institutional OER programs and digital and online learning * Organized and managed annual, multi-day events for the 38 community college teams, researchers, and technical assistance partners during the OER Degree Initiative* Led the 3-year long, $9-million OER Degree Initiative, the largest research study of no cost educational resources (OER) and first major study of the scaled adoption of OER degree pathways, which was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ascendium. The project resulted in groundbreaking findings on the academic and economic benefits of institution-wide adoption of open and no-cost educational materials.

Richmond, Virginia Area

Provided leadership, vision, and policy-support on the effective use of teaching and learning technologies and online learning to the 23 VCCS colleges.-Oversaw the college system’s learning management system as well as other enterprise-level instructional technology software packages and platforms-Collaborated with college academic officers, deans, instructional designers, and faculty on creating policies and processes that supported the effective use of classroom and virtual technologies and open content-Secured external and internal grants to fund innovative technology projects, such as the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund, and created the Zx23 Project, a grant program supporting system-wide implementation of open educational resources and OER degrees to eliminate textbook costs for students-Co-founded and led the OpenVA Advisory Council, made up of representatives from public colleges and universities across Virginia, to coordinate and promote the statewide adoption and use of open resources through promotion and policy advocacy

Midlothian, Va

Instructed an online, 8-week College Success Skills (SDV 100) course to students enrolled at John Tyler Community College.

Richmond, Va

Co-developed two new courses, Theory & Practice of eLearning Integration into Adult Learning Environments and Design Challenges in Using Educational Technology for Adult Learning, for a three-course Teaching with Technology strand for the VCU School of Education’s graduate program in Adult Learning, instructed two of these graduate courses, and collaborated with the VCU School of Education faculty on course revisions and additional M.Ed. program development.

Richmond, Va

Directed statewide technology initiatives and provided leadership and guidance to the field of adult education in Virginia on the effective adoption and use of educational technology and distance learning.- Secured funding for and led the development of eLearnVA, a distance education program to help adult learners prepare to pass the GED- Partnered with the Secretary of Technology for Virginia to develop and launch PlugGED In VA, an innovative and intensive educational program to help adults quickly acquire the credentials and training needed to fill high-skilled information technology jobs-Developed, coordinated, and delivered trainings and professional development, in-person and online, to adult education administrators and teachers- Directed and managed technology-related projects for the Virginia Literacy Institute, Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, and the Virginia Department of Education

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Collaborated on digital storytelling projects with students and faculty at the Universidad de Barcelona as a visiting scholar through the International Leadership in Educational Technology (ILET) program.

Fellow, Climate Action

Graduate of Terra.do climate fellowship, an intense 12-week course investigating the complexities of climate change and climate science.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Education

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), English Language And Literature, General; Religious Studies, Magna Cum Laude