Fei Xue
Meet Fei Xue, Graduate Student Researcher
We have recently had a new Graduate Student Researcher, Fei Xue, join the instructional design team at Academic Technology Services. Read on to learn more about Fei.
Describe your job in Academic Technology Services. What services do you provide UC Davis faculty?
I am a new Instructional Design Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) in Academic Technology Services (ATS). I work with the Instructional Design team to provide support for faculty and students in educational technology, online learning/teaching, instructional media production, research, and so on. I also support ATS in planning and implementing various events and projects.
What prior work and academic experiences best prepared you for this job?
My previous experiences as an online-instructor/student, teaching assistant, user experience designer, and researcher spark my continuous interests in researching educational technology. For example, in a previous graduate program, I taught a sophomore-level online course, “Creative Visual Thinking,” and redesigned the curriculum. I created several discussion forums to encourage students to participate in online discussions using audio, video, and images as forms of expression. As a result, the new course generated a more engaging learning environment. The successful innovation helped me better understand how effective instructional design offers a wide range of technological affordances by engaging learners’ interactions within an online community.
What are some favorite recent ATS projects?
Because I just started my GSR position with ATS last week, I am still learning about existing ATS projects and looking for ways to contribute to the team! I look forward to contributing to many interesting potential future projects, such as supporting use of the eLearning Studio and supporting graphic design at ATS. For the eLearning Studio support, we will develop documentation to help faculty master the eLearning Studio equipment and process. For the graphic design instructional support, we will investigate Canva, an online graphic design tool. We are looking for the potential of using Canva as a faculty resource to assist with information visualization. I am also interested in integrating design thinking into online teaching/learning approaches to support efficient learning and teaching.
Name a challenge or opportunity that you think people in your position will face five years from now.
I love to research emerging technologies and digital learning platforms for promoting an active learning experience. However, knowing technology doesn’t mean understanding educational technology research. Educational technology is considered interdisciplinary research as it involves education, technology, informatics, design, implementation, and communication. As an instructional designer, I need to investigate the affordances of online learning environments, to understand our learner/teacher communities, as well as to be familiar with evaluation methods and learning theories. I want to help our communities further improve teaching and learning experience via technologies.
What do you do for fun when not working at ATS?
In my leisure time, I like painting, doing art projects, and watching movies. :)
Under what circumstances should faculty at UC Davis reach out to you?
Feel free to contact me during my workdays! I am happy to hear any thoughts/comments regarding teaching, learning, and technology. The user experience (learning/teaching) is one of the most important metrics that will direct my research and work at ATS.
What is the best way for you to be contacted?
I can be reached via email at feixue@ucdavis.edu
Describe your job in Academic Technology Services. What services do you provide UC Davis faculty?
I am a new Instructional Design Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) in Academic Technology Services (ATS). I work with the Instructional Design team to provide support for faculty and students in educational technology, online learning/teaching, instructional media production, research, and so on. I also support ATS in planning and implementing various events and projects.
What prior work and academic experiences best prepared you for this job?
My previous experiences as an online-instructor/student, teaching assistant, user experience designer, and researcher spark my continuous interests in researching educational technology. For example, in a previous graduate program, I taught a sophomore-level online course, “Creative Visual Thinking,” and redesigned the curriculum. I created several discussion forums to encourage students to participate in online discussions using audio, video, and images as forms of expression. As a result, the new course generated a more engaging learning environment. The successful innovation helped me better understand how effective instructional design offers a wide range of technological affordances by engaging learners’ interactions within an online community.
What are some favorite recent ATS projects?
Because I just started my GSR position with ATS last week, I am still learning about existing ATS projects and looking for ways to contribute to the team! I look forward to contributing to many interesting potential future projects, such as supporting use of the eLearning Studio and supporting graphic design at ATS. For the eLearning Studio support, we will develop documentation to help faculty master the eLearning Studio equipment and process. For the graphic design instructional support, we will investigate Canva, an online graphic design tool. We are looking for the potential of using Canva as a faculty resource to assist with information visualization. I am also interested in integrating design thinking into online teaching/learning approaches to support efficient learning and teaching.
Name a challenge or opportunity that you think people in your position will face five years from now.
I love to research emerging technologies and digital learning platforms for promoting an active learning experience. However, knowing technology doesn’t mean understanding educational technology research. Educational technology is considered interdisciplinary research as it involves education, technology, informatics, design, implementation, and communication. As an instructional designer, I need to investigate the affordances of online learning environments, to understand our learner/teacher communities, as well as to be familiar with evaluation methods and learning theories. I want to help our communities further improve teaching and learning experience via technologies.
What do you do for fun when not working at ATS?
In my leisure time, I like painting, doing art projects, and watching movies. :)
Under what circumstances should faculty at UC Davis reach out to you?
Feel free to contact me during my workdays! I am happy to hear any thoughts/comments regarding teaching, learning, and technology. The user experience (learning/teaching) is one of the most important metrics that will direct my research and work at ATS.
What is the best way for you to be contacted?
I can be reached via email at feixue@ucdavis.edu