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Shawna Burtis

"My advice to Walden students is to remember why you are pursuing a degree; let your academic journey be a part of your life, but find a balance so it doesn't take over your life. Don't be afraid to explore all the support services Walden offers; if you have a question, Walden has an answer for you... you just have to go out and find it!"

About Me

Research Interests: Adult learners; online learning; student engagement; increasing student retention in online courses

Social Change Interests: Improving educational experiences for online learners

Joined Walden: 2012

Location: Washington

About Shawna: As an Instructional Specialist, I assist Shawn Picht in various student outreach and support platforms. My main focus is managing and updating the Academic Skills Center, Doctoral Writing Assessment, and Office of Academic Support websites. I also manage the ASC's Quick Answers database, including statistics, peer mentors, and more. I joined Walden as a graduate student in 2012 I decided to continue my journey with the Walden family and become a member of the support staff 2017!

Highlights

5 Reasons You Should Join a Student-Led Facebook Group Today (Blog)

Completing my Doctoral Capstone (Blog)

Staying on Track during COVID-19: We're Here to Help (Blog)

Dr. Shawna Burtis on Being a Military Spouse, Teaching Service Members, & Learning HTML (Podcast)

What I do in my Role as an Instructional Specialist

My Role as Coordinator, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, and Resource Outreach

What I do in my role as Coordinator

In my role as support staff, I find myself doing a lot of different projects! My role is not "student-facing" (meaning I don't work directly with students), but I still like to consider myself as student support! It is my job, to build, update, and maintain our websites; this includes the ASC website, the SKIL website, Peer Mentors and Tutoring websites, and the Doctoral Writing Assessment (DWA) website. I meet with the amazing people in each of these areas and we discuss website analytics, and how we can make changes to benefit our students.

I also create, maintain, and update the QuickAnswers for the ASC, SKIL, and DWA. When you search the website, your student portal, or even in your classroom, you can find our resources through these search results!

As a former Walden student, I know the challenges that come with being an employee, parent, and student; so it is my goal to help make our amazingly helpful resources easily accessible for you!

My favorite project

There are so many projects that I have loved being a part of! A couple of my favorites would include the YouTube Channel overhaul, the PowToons projects, and of course, the ASC website redesign.

My Experience as a Walden Student

My Experience as Walden Student

I began my Walden journey in 2012 as a Masters student in the psychology program (technically a PhD track program). I completed my Master's degree in 2014 and my PhD in Educational Psychology in June of 2017, publishing my dissertation "Gender differences in discussion strategies of online asynchronous undergraduate psychology major student."

I became a Walden student again from November 2020 to July 2021 to earn a Graduate Certificate Program for Information Systems.