No Panic, Just Progress: Starting Strong on a Digital Platform

Ariel Taylor

Dr. Ariel Taylor is an English Instructor at Dallas College, Brookhaven. She is an experienced educator, published researcher, and consultant specializing in postsecondary education, curriculum design, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). She currently serves as a faculty member in the English Department at Dallas College, where she blends her background in composition, instructional technology, and adult learning theory to design engaging, inclusive courses that support diverse learners.

Originally from Mississippi, Dr. Taylor holds a PhD in Urban Higher Education and Leadership from Jackson State University. Her research focuses on the systemic barriers that impact mid-level women’s leadership advancement in higher education, a topic that fuels her advocacy for equity, empowerment, and practical support in academic spaces.

Outside of the classroom, Dr. Taylor is a proud mother of four, a passionate home cook, and someone who finds joy in gathering with family and friends. She believes teaching, like cooking, is an act of care and her goal is always to help others feel confident, capable, and supported in their work.

Lynda Haas

Lynda Haas is a Senior Continuing Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, where she teaches all levels of composition; for 10 years she was also a Writing Program Administrator. Her areas of research include digital pedagogy, digital literacies, visual rhetoric, and the intersections between writing theory, feminism, and film studies. She co-edited a book of essays entitled From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture, and has presented papers at major composition conferences; most recently she presented "Accelerating the Learning of International Students" at the Symposium on Second Language Writing. She has been using McGraw-Hill’s Connect since 2010 and helped pilot several tools as they were released, including the facilitation of an inter-institutional assessment study. She has also served as a Digital Faculty Consultant since 2010, and enjoys talking with other instructors about Connect and digital pedagogy.