Profile
An experienced team leader with instructional design, project management, library, and supervisory experience, my goals are to continue to contribute within an organization where my experience and skills have a positive institutional impact.
Work History
Director of Instructional Design, Center for Faculty Excellence
Northcentral University: September 2013 – present
Instructional Design oversight and staff supervision — I manage a small team of instructional designers whose work encompasses both the design and the building of courses for a 100% online universtiy.
Director of Instructional Technology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Medical Center: January 2011 – July 2013
Project portfolio management, systems administration, staff supervision — while I was at Mount Sinai, the instructional tecnology initiatives included conversion to the Blackboard LMS, starting up Echo360 as a school-wide lecture capture system, and adding features to our proprietary student information system.
Manager of Instructional Projects, Faculty Support Services
Cornell Information Technology (CIT), Cornell University: May 2009 – present
Project portfolio management, and staff supervision — I manage a small team of instructional technologists; our work is varied, but usually combines aspects of research, hands-on development, and faculty training. Projects range in size and complexity, but all have a focus on using appropriate technology for university teaching.
Instructional Designer / Project Manager, Faculty Support Services
Cornell Information Technology (CIT), Cornell University: November 2001– present
Managed 45+ Faculty Innovation in Teaching (FIT) projects, and other faculty projects — I joined CIT as one of the initial hires of the ambitious FIT program and I’ve managed over 45 projects in the past 9 years, with a value of approximately 2.5 million dollars. My contributions have included project management, instructional design, research, evaluation, photography, videography, web site development, graphic design, database design, documentation, and content development.
Developed the Cornell Project Management Methodology — I was a member of the team that developed the project management approach for Cornell University. I have an ongoing interest in project management, iterative design methodologies, improving processes, and techniques for getting things done. After development of the methodology, our work included creating training documents, and developing a training program; the methodology is used throughout Cornell’s academic and administrative units.
Project Manager
eCornell / Office of Distance Learning, Cornell Univ.: March 2000 – November 2001
Developed eCornell’s first online course — I was responsible for the development of eCornell’s first online courses, and our online certificate program in Human Resource Management. In addition to project management, I was involved in: market research, client relations, learning strategy, interface design, user-testing, LMS selection, and vendor relations.
Created CyberTower, Cornell’s online lecture series — one of my first projects was working on the development of CyberTower, a magazine-style online lecture series. This video series has continued to be a successful outreach tool for Cornell.
Curator, Visual and Electronic Collections
Cornell University Library, Rare & Manuscript Collections: June 1995 – March 2000
Promoted access to Cornell Library collections — curatorial responsibilities for the visual and electronic collections include managing the use and access of the extensive photograph collections of Cornell and the evolving digital collections. I developed numerous online image databases, dynamic websites, and online exhibitions during this time; I also provided reference help to patrons, developed finding aids, and worked on the preservation of fragile materials. My responsibilities extended to developing the library web presence and collaborating on the design of the online catalog.
Designed instructional databases for Cornell faculty — implemented classroom use of two early digital image databases: the Utopia Project and the Getty-sponsored Museum Educational Site-Licensing Project. I worked closely with faculty to facilitate use of the databases for their courses and to improve the access to and effective use of these tools.
Researcher / Designer / Programmer
Interactive Multimedia Group, Cornell Univ.: August 1993 - June 1995
Worked on research and design projects at the Interactive Multimedia Group including: designing interfaces, user-testing software, and researching the user experience of multimedia digital information and the early Internet environment.
Video editor / Photographer / Production Manager / Web Designer
Freelance: June 1984 – present
Editor of award-winning short narrative films such as Hens and Chicks and Poker Face as part of the Nice Girls Films production company. I am also a photographer and do graphic design and website work for clients. Previously, in NYC, LA, and Tokyo I worked with Japanese clients and U.S.-based agencies to create television commercials, fiction films, documentaries, and music videos. Responsibilities were many and varied: budgeting, hiring crews, union negotiations, casting, location scouting, language translation.
Academic Publications and Presentations
Rawson, R., Dispensa, M. E., Goldstein, R. E., Nicholson, K. W., & Vidal, N. K. (2008). Development of a simulation for teaching fluid therapy. The FASEB Journal, 22(1): 765, 2008.
Vidal, N. (2005). Clothing apprenticeship online. Poster presentation at the New Media Consortium (NMC) Summer Conference, Honolulu, HI.
Rawson, R. and Vidal, N. (2004). Teaching veterinary cases online. Poster presentation at the Annual Conference on Case Study Teaching in Science, Buffalo, NY.
V. Franco, R. P. Heath, H. Hu, B. V. Lewenstein, R. Underwood & N. K. Vidal (2000) Anatomy of a flame: electronic conflict and community building. In E. L. Lesser, M. A. Fontaine, & J. A. Slusher (Eds.), Knowledge and communities (pp.209-224). Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Gay, G., Rieger, R., Martin, W. and Korf, N. (1999). 3 chapters: GDM user interface design, Global digital museum prototype evaluation, and Discussion on future directions of global digital museum: Museum and GUI. In S. Sugita, J-K. Hong, J. Reeve, and G. Gay (Eds.). Senri ethnological report, global digital museum for museum education on the Internet. Osaka, Japan: National Museum of Ethnology.
Vidal, N. Utopia: users and uses (1997). In D. Bearman and J. Trant. (Eds.) Museums and the Web, 1997: selected papers. Pittsburgh, Pa: Archives & Museum Informatics.
Vidal, N., Hickerson, T., and Gay, G. (1996). Developing multimedia collection and access tools, Appendix V. Guidelines for the Display of Images. Report to the Council on Library Resources, April 1996, pp. 14-17.
Vidal, N. (1995). Experimental image taxonomy : an inquiry into spontaneous image organization. (Master’s thesis. Cornell University, 1995.)
Education
MSLS, Master of Science in Library Science, Clarion University, 2011.
MS, Master of Science in Communication, Cornell University, 1995.
BA, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, College Scholar, Cornell University, 1984. Phi Beta Kappa.
Professional Certifications
Project Management Professional (PMP)
ITIL Foundation
Apple Final Cut Pro Professional
Microsoft Project Orange Belt
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
Software Fluency
Adobe Creative Suite
Filemaker Pro
Final Cut Studio
Microsoft Office Suite (including MS Project)
Tutorial s/w (Captivate, SoftChalk, others)
Video conferencing
Foreign Languages
French
Japanese