Hello! This is Dr. Tao, your online course instructor.

A little bit about myself. I was born and grew up in a city named Suzhou (about two hours’ drive from the metropolitan city of Shanghai) on the east coast of China. My journey in instructional technology began in 1995 when I started college in central China, majoring in computer-assisted instruction. In 2000 I went to graduate school at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida) where I finished a master’s degree (2001) and a doctoral degree (2014), both in instructional technology.

Professionally, I work full time for a private university in Orlando, Florida as the Director for Instructional Technology. I have two main responsibilities there: 1) to train faculty to use various technologies to improve teaching and learning; 2) to design, develop, and support my institution’s online curriculum. Since 2009, I have been teaching online courses on different subjects in the instructional technology field and I enjoy online teaching ever since!

Personally, my wife and I raise three energetic boys, ages 12, 17, and 19, and we live in the Central Florida area (about 45 minutes’ drive from the Walt Disney World). In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, puttering around the house, road-trips, jogging and hanging out with my family.

If you have any questions during this course, feel free to contact me via email: dtao@coastal.edu. I am very responsive to your emails and will try to get back to you within one business day.

Good luck!

Dr. Tao