Cynthia Blodgett-Griffin, PhD Has Dedicated Her Life to Continuing Education

    LINCOLN, NE, December 21, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Cynthia Blodgett-Griffin, PhD has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

With more than 25 years of expertise in online teaching and instructional design to her credit, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin currently excels as an online graduate distance education professor and course designer with Blodgett Learning Systems in Lincoln, Nebraska. In these positions, she is responsible for teaching course content, mentoring students, revising courses to meet online distance education standards for theory and practice, and monitoring her students' participation in forums and login analytics, among other areas. In the years prior, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin was active as an online adjunct professor and online course materials editor for the Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada.

A well-regarded expert on distance education, advanced qualitative methods and adult education, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin notably overcame a traumatic brain injury during her time as a doctoral candidate. Over the course of her recovery, which included relearning basic mathematics, rebuilding her vocabulary and reassembling her memories, she discovered the power of motivation and hard work, which inspired her to help other adult graduate students obtain their respective degrees. Proud to have positively influenced student retention, she fondly recalls teaching students across 23 different time zones during one semester. Dr. Blodgett-Griffin has also been motivated by the increase in remote and distance student population following the COVID-19 pandemic, which essentially doubled her workload in recent years.

To support her professional ambitions, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin pursued an education at Minnesota State University Moorhead, from which she earned a Bachelor of Science in graphic communications and advertising. She continued her academic efforts with a Master of Arts in adult education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Blodgett-Griffin concluded her formal studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy in education and human services.

Dr. Blodgett-Griffin has been involved with a number of activities outside of her primary endeavors, including her work with Justice in Action, an organization dedicated to bringing change to social problems regarding feeding and housing people on a corporate level, since 2021. She has additionally served as the president, lead minister and adult education coordinator for the Order of the Red Grail since 1993. Likewise, she has been affiliated with the Association of Adult and Continuing Education, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Dr. Blodgett-Griffin also performs prison ministry for Wiccan prisoners in Nebraska.

Dr. Blodgett-Griffin has found success with her written works as well, having initially co-authored "Metacognition, Metamemory, and Commitment to Change Strategy: Enhancing Adoption of Innovation of Staff Development" in 1995. She subsequently collaborated on writing "Critical Thinking for All Seasons: Application of a New Metamodel to Adult Basic Education Workbooks" in 1995, "Meaning of Participating in Technology Training: A Phenomenology" in 1997, "Constructivist Instructional Design Models for Web-based Adult Education" in 1998, and "Adult Education Meets Cognitive Flexibility Theory: A New Constructivism for Web-based Instruction" in 1998. In 2008, she penned her PhD dissertation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, titled, "A Grounded Theory Study of the Process of Accessing the Information on the World Wide Web by People with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury." Most recently, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin authored "Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Information Access on the World Wide Web" for Lambert Academic Publishing in Saarbrücken, Germany in 2011.

As a testament to her stellar career, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin has been recognized as a Woman of Outstanding Leadership by the IWLA and a Top Female Executive with Outstanding Professionalism. In 2010, she was further celebrated as the Professional Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women. In addition to these honors, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin was selected for inclusion in the 71st edition of Who's Who in America in 2018.

Dr. Blodgett-Griffin attributes her success to her own struggles as a graduate student, which has fueled her desire to help others achieve their academic goals. She was also greatly inspired by her mentors and advisors, Dr. John Dirkx and Dr. Roger Bruning, who enabled her to believe in herself, sharpen her critical thinking skills, and reshape her understanding of what being a teacher truly means. Dr. Blodgett-Griffin became involved in distance education when her graduate assistantship included the first distance delivery of teacher training via satellite, a time in which she learned first-hand the advantages and drawbacks of distance delivery in the early years of online delivery.

In the coming years, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin plans to continue to teach and expand into teaching teachers to transition into online education. As an agent of change in her field, she also hopes to become a tenured professor at a research university as a distance educator, complete her present coursework in accessibility, and transition toward coaching and training. Having needed to operate her own small business and remain an adjunct professor for the time being, Dr. Blodgett-Griffin aims to additionally provide training for distance education programs that will help other distance educators from around the globe successfully teach online in a manner that reduces attrition and enhances student retention.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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