Teaching Digital Storytelling

Sheila Marie Aird, PhD is European Director of International Programs for Empire State University and oversees the American delivered programs at the university's four international locations. Dr. Aird is also an associate professor at the university. She received her Ph.D. in Latin and Caribbean History and MA in history from Howard University. During her final year of research at Howard University, she was awarded the prestigious Sasakawa Fellowship from the Nippon Foundation in Japan. Dr. Aird also holds a BA in Anthropology and a MA in Anthropology with a focus on Historical Archeology from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Dr. Aird considers herself a cultural historian and is most interested in public scholarship in its many forms. Her passion lies in making historical and cultural moments come alive while educating the public through the medium of documentary and film, photography and museum exhibits. Her areas of interests and focus include Digital Storytelling, Public History, children of colonial enslavement, Critical Race theory and issues of race in the African Diaspora community. Dr. Aird has presented on her work both domestically and internationally. Presently, Dr. Aird is working on two projects. One focuses on women in California who are changing their lives with the help of a community. The other project co-developed from an Oral History Association Emerging Crisis research grant with a colleague, focuses on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and Irma. The project will offer first- hand accounts from the citizens most impacted in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas V.I. and will include the environmental, social and cultural impact on the most vulnerable citizens impacted by one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the islands in 2017.
Thomas P. Mackey, PhD is professor of arts and media and program coordinator for the BA and BS Programs in Digital Media Arts at Empire State University. He designs and teaches courses in Digital Storytelling, Information Design, Ethics of Digital Art and Design, and History and Theory of New Media. Dr. Mackey is the recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities (2022) and the Dr. Susan H Turben Chair in Mentoring (2021-22). He has an honorary appointment as Extraordinary Professor, Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University, South Africa. Dr. Mackey serves as a Board Member, and most recently as Board Chair for the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, the largest animal welfare organization in the Capital Region of New York.
Dr. Mackey's research focuses on metaliteracy - a pedagogical model he developed with Prof Trudi E. Jacobson -that prepares individuals as self-directed learners in collaborative information environments. He is interested in the intersections among metaliteracy, self-directed learning, and multimodality, to develop metaliterate learners as reflective producers of information in multiple modes, including digital narratives. Dr. Mackey has published four books with Prof. Jacobson on metaliteracy, including the first co-authored manuscript on this topic entitled Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy (2014). They also co-edited Metaliteracy in Practice (2016) and Metaliterate Learning for a Post-Truth World (2019). Their most recent co-authored book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (2022) is the recipient of the 2024 Divergent Publication Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research. They have published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters about metaliteracy and have presented on this topic both nationally and internationally.