Thursday, January 5, 2017

College of
Education
Department of Counseling,
Educational Psychology,
and Special Education
Richard S. Prawat
Chairperson
Michigan State University
Erickson Hall
620 Farm Lane Room 447
East Lansing, MI
48824-1034
517-353-6417
Fax: 517-353-6393

Dear MACUL Awards Committee,

We are writing to express our enthusiastic nomination of Ashlie OConnor for
the 2017 MACUL Digital Leadership Award.

As an innovative leader with a passion for thoughtful, effective technology
integration that is evident in every aspect of her work, Ashlie is tremendously
deserving of this award.

As her resume will attest, Ashlie is an accomplished educator with a
demonstrated commitment to leadership in the field of educational technology.
Her leadership and innovation in educational technology is highlighted by the
fact that Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District created a
new position of Instructional Technology and Data Specialist for Ashlie. In
addition to her extensive professional experience, Ashlie has pursued numerous
speaking engagements, publications, and community service projects that
reflect her dedication to sharing both her time and her innovative ideas with a
wider audience. One recent and particularly impressive leadership role was
Ashlies spearheading of the first ever Northeast Michigan Educational
Technology Conference (Huron Shores Educational Technology Conference,
#hset16), which brought together educators from a variety of disciplines to
collaborate and discuss strategies for technology-enhanced instruction. The
conference was so successful that a date has already been set for next year.

Ashlie practices what she preaches -- shes a lifelong learner who continually
pursues her own education and professional development. As a student in
Michigan State Universitys Master of Arts in Educational Technology program,
Ashlies work was creative, thoughtful, and reflected a strong understanding of
how technology can inform classroom instruction. Ashlie now uses her
leadership role to help teachers think how technology can be used to address
key educational issues, such as Universal Design for Learning, digital
citizenship, and formative assessment. Her positivity and encouraging attitude,
both integral qualities of her leadership, have contributed to lasting relationships
with classmates, instructors, and colleagues.

For these reasons and the many others highlighted in her nomination portfolio,
we are extraordinarily pleased to be able to nominate Ashlie OConnor for this
prestigious award.

Sincerely,

Candace Marcotte, Liz Owens Boltz, Mary Wever and Aman Yadav
Masters of Arts in Educational Technology, Michigan State University