Meet The Board

Dr. Debby Espinor

Chair (2024)

A lifelong educator, Debby has been teaching in higher education for over 20 years, currently at George Fox University as an Associate Professor of Education and Business. Debby has chaired the Undergraduate Teacher Education Program as well as founded the Digital Fluency Institute with colleagues 7 years ago. She is always learning how to improve her pedagogy and has been innovative in remote, hybrid, virtual, HyFlex and online learning.

Debby loves to spend time with her family and friends, plays keyboard in the band Sister Mercy and is in training to become a first-responder Chaplain. Stained glass and mosaic work as well as knitting, cooking and baking and walking occupy hours that are left to spare.

Dr. Weiwei Zhang

Chair-Elect (2025)

Dr. Weiwei Zhang has worked in higher education for over 10 years. She is currently the Educational Technologies Product Manager at Oregon State University. Prior to working at OSU, Weiwei worked at Western Oregon University and Reed College.

Weiwei is actively researching and exploring new ways to implement and leverage eLearning in higher education. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, painting, doing activities with her husband and two young children, and hanging out with her cat who believes he holds the wisdom and secret of the universe.

Cass Hall

Former Chair (2023)

Cass Hall is the Director of Academic Technology in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at the University of Idaho. She recently served as the Manager of Collaboration & Classroom Technology Services (CCTS) in OIT and previously as the Director for the Doceo Center of Innovation + Learning and an Associate Clinical Professor of Learning Technologies in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences.

Cass dedicated fifteen years to working in K-12 public education in Pennsylvania as a teacher, library media specialist, instructional coach, and technology coach, prior to relocating to Idaho to pursue a career in higher education. Cass’s educational background includes an Ed.S. in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Idaho, a MEd in School Library and Information Technologies from Mansfield University, and a BS in Broadcast Journalism from West Virginia University.

Ana Thompson CPACC

Co-Treasurer

Ana Thompson has worked in higher education for the last 20 years in IT, elearning, and instructional design. As a Learning & Access Technologist at University of Washington Bothell IT Digital Learning, Ana enjoys working with faculty and staff to promote inclusive behaviors and digital fluency. Ana is also an instructional designer and technical advisor for MentalHealthMattersWA.com, a grant-based community initiative for South Snohomish County in Washington.

Ana has extensive experience with Learning Management Systems, accessibility, VPAT assessments, WCAG applications, Copyright and Fair Use, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She holds a B.S. in Business Information Systems and Management and a M.S. in Information Systems. Ana also holds the IAAP CPACC accessibility certification and is an Adobe certified PDF Trainer.

Jerry Lewis

Co-Treasurer

Jerry Lewis has been working at Columbia Basin College for about 24 years, starting out creating audio/visual materials for instructors, and later becoming the WebCT and distance learning admin. This evolved into his current position, Director for eLearning & Virtual Campus, where he provides support and guidance for online and other technologies.

Jerry has a BA in Communications/Broadcast Journalism from UW and an MBA from WGU. He is interested in French, speaking it passably, and Japanese, not so much. Until recently, he’s been a fairly regular bicyclist.

Amy Spielmaker

Website Lead

Amy Spielmaker is a freelance website designer, frontend developer, and instructional designer. She works with universities, community colleges, small businesses, and non-profit groups throughout Oregon to develop and maintain websites, create marketing materials, and assist with developing curriculum and engaging online classes. She also teaches instructional design to graduate students at Utah State University.

Amy has an MSEd in Information Technology from Western Oregon University with a certificate in Instructional Design. She received her undergraduate degree from Utah State University in Nutrition, Dietetics, & Food Science and worked for several years as a clinical dietitian before switching gears. Amy’s hobbies (besides work) include running, puzzles, and photography.

Nina Fox

Social Media Lead

Nina Fox has been in higher education for over 15 years. She is a passionate promoter of active learning and the use of educational technology within the physical and virtual classroom environments.

Based currently within Information Services at the University of Oregon, Nina is in constant pursuit of excellence and strives to increase student success through the use of educational technology in its many forms. When not pursuing excellence at work, Nina can be found either gardening, fishing or planning her next garden or fishing adventure.

Tim Chase

Sponsorship Lead

Tim Chase began teaching in 1997 at a university in central China and then moved to beautiful central Oregon where he lives with his wife, Janet, and their three teens. Tim is certified for high school language arts and technology in several states and is currently director of program development with Impact Virtual Learning, an online course-provider for high school students.

Passionate about infusing technology into his own teaching and providing opportunity for his students to learn with technology, Tim is an enthusiastic promoter of classroom edTech, institutional change, and eLearning. Tim Chase is an eLearning Designer, EdTech Professional Development provider, and Event Coordinator.

Dr. Velda Arnaud

Board Member

Dr. Velda Arnaud is currently the Business Administration Department Chair at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon. She also teaches business and leadership courses.

Velda has a long history as a dedicated undergraduate instructor within two-year, four-year, and career and technical programs. Her focuses are leadership, education, and service. She is committed to helping others identify their passions.

Jeffrey Jones

Board Member

Jeffrey Jones is a Digital Learning Specialist at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. He also holds a faculty position in OHSU’s Teaching and Learning Center. His primarily roles include consulting and collaborating with faculty around course design and delivery, technology integration, and educational scholarship, developing workshops on topics related to teaching and learning with technology, and supporting the university’s Learning Management System (Sakai) and iPad initiative. Previously he worked as a K-12 instructor for 10 years at schools in both Illinois and California.

Jeffrey has a Master of Educational Technology from Boise State University. His academic interests include gamification, generative AI, and learner motivation and engagement. Outside of work, he enjoys board games, disc golf, exercising, and spending time with his family.

Dr. Jo Ann Arinder

Board Member

Dr. J.A. Arinder is a dedicated professional in the field of education, with a diverse background that encompasses academic achievements, practical experience, and a commitment to service. Holding a Ph.D. in Education with a focus on Language, Literacy, & Technology from Washington State University, Dr. Arinder has a passion for innovative teaching methodologies, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and technology integration across various educational settings. Dr. Arinder has worked in higher education for 10 years and currently supports E-Learning and Classroom Technology for the College of Education at the University of Oregon.

Jo Ann is motivated as an early adopter of technology and an advocate for Digital Equity. Areas of research interests include extended reality (XR) in general, with special interest in virtual reality (VR) and leveraging 360° video, Multiliteracies, language learning and teaching, and learner centered design.

Mel Stark

Newsletter Lead

Mel Stark has over 20 years of experience in higher education. Coming from a family of educators, her decision to pursue a career in teaching and learning was natural. She is especially passionate about community college education due to the diversity of the student population. This passion goes into overdrive when working with educational technology and instructional design. By combining her background in multimedia technology and educational technology, Mel has helped numerous faculty develop engaging courses over the years.

As a faculty member and instructional designer at Lane Community College, Mel stays involved in conversations around educational technology, including generative AI, eLearning engagement tools, VR/AR/XR technologies, and more. She aims to facilitate discussions to help implement these technologies. Mel’s background encompasses audio engineering, multimedia production, instructional design, and eLearning.

Interested in joining the board?

Send us an email at info@nwelearn.org.

Our Goals

  • Share best practices in pedagogy, instructional design, and program management in online environments.
  • Collaborate on the use of learning technologies.
  • Provide feedback and ideas for improved functionality to product developers.
  • Gather professionals for collaboration, learning, and support in an annual conference.

How We Started

In 2005, a group associated with the Washington Community and Technical College eLearning Council (eLC) formed the Washington Blackboard Users Group. WABUG aimed to create a community of users involved in online teaching and learning. With the rapid growth of online, hybrid, and web-enhanced instruction in our institutions, we responded by creating a conference/community to share best practices, tips, and new technologies to enhance our colleges and universities.

At the inaugural meeting in December 2006, attendees elected a committee representing WABUG and a sister organization, the Pacific Northwest Blackboard Users Group, with the charge of determining how the organization could best serve the similar goals of the two groups.

The committee announced a new name for the conference, NWeLearn, in 2007 and they developed the mission statement and governance protocol. Attendees voted to accept the recommendations.

Since then, the Northwest eLearning Community has hosted yearly conferences, rotating to various locations around the three states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. NWeLearn also promotes regional and topical microconferences and has provided webinars to support eLearning.