About the Author

Dr. Kathleen Mastrian is an Associate Professor of Nursing and Program Coordinator for the Shenango Campus of Penn State. She has a PhD in Sociology with an emphasis on Medical Sociology, A Master’s degree in Nursing from Pitt and a BS in Nursing from Penn State. She has been involved in the education of non-traditional aged students for 36 years in the RN to BS nursing program. She is one of the founding proposers to place the RN to BS program online for the Penn State’s World Campus, has developed five of the courses for that curriculum, and teaches at least one section per semester for the World Campus RN to BS program. She has extensive experience teaching informatics, research and sociology for the Shenango campus and has taught online for the World Campus for over 10 years. She is SR. managing Editor of the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, now a publication of HIMSS. Dr. Mastrian has presented at numerous national,conferences , co-authored two text books and written more than 30articles. An additional bookwritten for nurse educators to help them integrate technology to enhance teaching and learning, Integrating Technology into Nursing Education: Tools for the Knowledge Era, was AJN’s 2010 Technology Book of the Year, and this text won second place in the AJN's Technology Division in 2015. Drs. Mastrian and McGonigle were eachnamed to the "15 Leading Professors of Nursing Informatics" 2015 list compiled by Medical Technology Schools. Dr. Mastrian won the2012 Shirley Novosel Distinguished Nursing Alumni Award and was recently nominated for an Athena Leadership Award. Dr. McGonigle brings more than 40 years of experience in nursing and nursing informatics to this position. She is a Certified Distance Education Instructor and a Certified Nurse Educator. After being introduced to computers enhancing nursing education while working towards her master’s degree, Dr. McGonigle defined informatics in 1991. She co-founded the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), a professional, scholarly, peer-reviewed journal in 1996 for which she was the Editor in Chief for 17 years through 2013. OJNI is currently published by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). In 2014, Dr. McGonigle was the first one honored as a Platinum Award recipient from the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics. She developed the Foundation of Knowledge Model and the ETHICAL Model used to handle ethical challenges brought about by the volatile information age. Dr. McGonigle has received over $870,000.00 in funding, presented internationally and nationally, authored workbooks, book chapters and more than 130 publications. She led the development of an online self-assessment tool for level 3 and level 4 nursing informatics competencies, NICA L3/L4, which was cited in ANIA’s Nursing Informatics Today in 2014 and ANA’s NI Scope and Standards document. Dr. McGonigle was a research team member for the development of an online self-assessment tool, TANIC, for basic level 1 and level 2 nursing informatics competencies based on the TIGER initiatives. Dr. McGonigle has co-authored three text books. The nursing informatics text, Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge is in its 3rd edition and took second place as AJN’s 2014 Information Technology/Social Media Book of the Year. The text written for nurse educators to help them assimilate technology to enhance teaching and learning, Integrating Technology into Nursing Education: Tools for the Knowledge Era, was AJN’s 2010 first place Technology Book of the Year. This text, Informatics for Health Professionals, released in 2016. She is a member of the Expert Panel on Informatics and Technology for the American Academy of Nursing, a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow in the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. She is also a member of the Serious Gaming and Virtual Environments Special Interest Group for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Dr. Mahan is an instructional designer with the College of Health and Human Development and the School of Nursing at the Pennsylvania State University. She has over six years’ experience in the design, development, implementation and assessment of online and blended learning courses for traditional, graduate and adult students. Her specific areas of interest include: · Creating strategies for instructor-to-student and student-to-student interactions in online, large-enrollment courses. · Integrating Web 2.0 technologies to increase online students’ engagement and encourage creativity. · Training faculty in the use of educational technologies and assisting them in managing their workload as online instructors. Dr. Mahan received her master’s degree in Counselor Education and PhD in Instructional Systems from the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to entering the instructional design field, she was a certified rehabilitation counselor. Dr. Bixler has over 25 years of experience in the instructional design field. He is the Lead Instructional Designer with Education Technology Services, part of Information Technology Services (ITS) at Penn State. In his current position Brett is working with the latest educational technologies and learning theories to produce learner-centered active and collaborative learning environments. Brett works with peers from across Penn State and other universities to discuss common issues and provide advice and guidance on a wide range of issues. He is responsible for a variety of other tasks, including: instructional design; project coordination and management; faculty and staff development; curriculum development; educational technology training and assistance; formative and summative evaluation of projects; and Internet expertise Brett is actively investigating the use of games, simulations, and virtual worlds for educational purposes. He is in charge of the Educational Gaming Commons (seehttp://gaming.psu.edu) to support collaboration and initiatives in these areas throughout Penn State.