Jason McDonald

I am a native of Provo, UT. Currently I live with my wife and youngest son in Spanish Fork, UT. Professionally, before coming to teach at BYU I worked in the instructional media industry, most recently as the director of digital products for the Deseret Book Company and a media portfolio director for the LDS Church.

I have taught both graduate and undergraduate university students. I have also taught in industry settings, both corporate and non-profit. Topics I have taught include:

• Instructional design processes (introductory and advanced)
• Integrating technology in the classroom
• Product management
• Project management
• The history of instructional design
• Instructional simulations
• Human-computer interactions, user interface design, and usability practices
• Using stories and film for culture change
• Theories of learning
• Theories of design

Higher education has become dominated by instrumental values like efficiency and standardization. I study the role technology and design play in this, and how they contribute towards “plastic” education that is rigid and uninspiring. I also study an alternative: an educational ethos where students and teachers abandon the pursuit of standardized competencies/outcomes in favor of developing their unique, individual potentials.