Faculty Profiles

Dr. Heidi Watson-Held is an Instructional Designer in the eLearning Design Innovation Group in the Smeal College of Business at The Pennsylvania State University. She completed a D.Ed. in Administration and Leadership – Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2012. She received my M.Ed. in Adult Education from Pennsylvania State University in 2004. Heidi enjoys teaching part time, designing courses, creating video shorts, and working on assessments.
Her research interests include things like:

• Learning Experience Design
• Teaching in the Large Enrollment Classroom
• Adult Learners in Higher Education
• Leadership in the Higher Education Workplace
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Workforce Education
• Learning Analytics
• Faculty and Instructional Designer Rapport

Heidi has worked for the Pennsylvania State University for 20 years in program design, development, and delivery in a variety of capacities. When she is not working for Purdue or Penn State, she gardening, painting, taking care of family, or writing fiction.

Select Publications

• Watson-Held, H.A. (2015) Promoting Adult Student Success at Four-Year Higher Education Institutions in Proceedings of the 56th Annual Adult Education Research Conference. Manhattan, KS: University of Kansas. p. 360
• Laing, L., & Watson, H. (2014) The University Climate for Adult Students: Cloudy with a Chance of Success in Culp, M., and Dungy, G., Increasing Adult Learner Persistence and Completion Rates, NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. 1875 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 418, Washington, DC 2009.