Sophia PalahickyDr. Sophia Palahicky is currently serving as Executive Director, Online Learning and Educational Resources with the Ministry of Education and Child Care. Previously, she held the title of Associate Director, Learning Design at Royal Roads University RRU) and her portfolio included leadership for online, blended, and face to face program design, course design, development and delivery supported by the Learning Design team. As Associate Director, Learning Design, Dr. Palahicky led curriculum design, instructional design, faculty development, and faculty support. Additionally, Dr. Palahicky is an Associate Faculty in the School of Education and Technology at RRU. She teaches at the graduate level and supervises research of students in both master's and doctoral levels. For more than 20 years, Dr. Palahicky worked in the field of education in many different areas and her roles included the following: online instructor, instructional designer, curriculum consultant, author, researcher, manager, K-12 teacher, executive director, and academic advisor. With gratitude, Dr. Palahicky worked with many Indigenous communities over the course of her career as an educator. Her work with Indigenous communities started in 2002 when she worked for Coast Mountain School District 82 as a distance educator. Dr. Palahicky believes that teaching excellence requires the following: understanding how learning occurs; establishing a learning community; respecting diverse talents and ways of learning; responding to the needs of students; mastering subject material; and developing technical proficiency. Read More Read Less