William Beasley
College of Education and Human Services
William Beasley is an “early adopter” by nature. He started out as a public school teacher, and quickly discovered that he enjoyed teaching both with technology and about technology.
Today, as professor and program coordinator of Instructional Design and Technology at WVU, he says he is incredibly fortunate to be able to earn a living doing something he enjoys.
“In this pandemic era, instructional design is having a major boom. People are discovering that emergency remote delivery is neither easy, nor the same thing as carefully designed online instruction.”
“Quite a number of the educators engaging in emergency remote delivery are either seeking the services of instructional designers, or trying to learn about instructional design themselves. It’s a great time to be teaching instructional design.”
William also describes himself as a constructivist and quotes Cesare Pavese, who said “To know the world, one must construct it.”
“I find that my students at WVU consistently respond well to being asked to construct their own worlds of meaning, whether explaining the connections between disparate ideas or designing an online class of their own choosing.”
Recently Beasley has become fascinated by the issue of making files in online courses more accessible for students with disabilities.
“I dipped my toe into this area a year or two ago only to discover that it’s still at the ‘Wild West’ stage. I’m currently working on an introductory article with one of my graduate students that attempts to provide an overview, along with specific procedures for common situations.”