MEGAN K. MIZE, PHD
Director, ePortfolios & Digital Initiatives
ABOUT
Welcome! This portfolio serves as my annual self-evaluation for the Academic Success Center at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA, where I am the Director for ePortfolio and Digital Initiatives.
In this position, I create, facilitate, and assess faculty professional engagement opportunities, program design, and grant support/research for incorporating digital tools. Additionally, I design and coordinate student support for ePortfolio use. This support includes supervising a team which consists of an Assistant Director and ePortfolio Assistants (undergraduate and graduate peer mentors). Similar to a writing center, the ePortfolio team creates and maintains tutorials on digital media, facilitates workshops, and offers a variety of feedback mechanisms.
In my supervisory position, I often design the initial workshop templates or support mechanisms, then collaborate with the team at large, allowing them to further customize the support we offer. Finally, I coordinate with multiple High Impact Practice partners throughout ODU, developing a variety of initiatives aimed at improving the learning experience for students at all levels. Typically, my expertise in such collaborations is in connection to developing engaging digital assignments or delivery strategies, with an eye towards fostering digitally literate practices.
In 2018, I successfully completed my doctorate in English Studies at Old Dominion University, pursuing the Literary/Cultural Studies and Rhetoric concentrations. My dissertation, Constructing an Early Modern Queen: Gender, Authority, and the Rhetoric of Identity, explores the intersection of gender and pedagogical histories which lead to the use of mimicry as a rhetorical strategy for marginalized figures during the sixteenth century.
More recently, my research interests have focused on critical digital pedagogies, strategies for effectively expanding HIP use, and the cultural impact of digital media in communication and learning. For instance, I am currently working on a project that examines the rhetorical significance of the Graphic Interchange Format (GIFs). Within my professional position, I have also begun research in order to argue that the use of Extended Reality (XR), such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augment Reality (AR), within courses may be the next digital HIP.
Finally, I am contingent faculty in the English Department, teaching courses on Composition/Rhetoric, Introduction to Literature, Shakespeare, and Introduction to Early British Literature. I also teach a capstone ePortfolio course for our interdisciplinary program.
My research and experience in English Studies and as instructor directly informs my ePortfolio Program design and related faculty development.
MIZE MUSIC
Please enjoy the following songs/videos as a means of getting to know me a little better. These aren't necessarily my "favorites" but are reflective of what I'm listening to now. Most importantly, they mirror the unusual mix of interests that I think is fairly characteristic of me both as an academic and as an individual.