Meet Karen

Hello!  My name is Karen Brochon.  I am a certified Project Manager and collaborative Instructional Designer with a background in information technology (IT) and a passion for inspiring people to strive for their personal best!  My mission is to provide leadership and project management direction in the design, development, and production of instructor led, blended, and eLearning educational opportunities.  How do I accomplish this?  By combining technology and a personalized approach to learning that promotes intellectual integrity, critical inquiry, and mutual respect.  I create innovative and media rich instructional learning activities that leverage cutting edge technology to promote progressive pedagogy.

My Story:

I started out as an elementary school teacher providing mathematics instruction to students in fourth through sixth grades.   Geometry in Nature, Math in Music, and Graph Art via Cartesian Plotting & Graphing were just some of the fun things we did in class!  I also won the PECO Energy Award for Safeguarding the Teaching of Economics in Elementary Classrooms for an Accounting unit that I developed.

Early into my teaching career, I was approached by an Executive Manager at Sunoco, Inc., an oil company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, who asked if I ever considered a career in IT.  Since I had not been teaching that long, I said, “No.”  But a part of me always wondered if IT was something I would enjoy.  So I decided to give it a shot.  I was sent to a two-week boot camp where I dipped my toes into the programming arena!  I taught myself the rest with the help of some fabulous co-workers!  I have worked with mainframe, client-server, and web technologies and have a strong background in business intelligence, data analytics, and reporting.  I truly enjoyed IT but, I always had a yearning to merge my education and IT skills.

So, several years ago, I decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Instructional Design and Technology from St. Joseph’s University where I obtained a 4.0 GPA and was inducted into the Alpha Epsilon Lambda National Honor Society.  Since then, I have provided instructional design, curriculum development, and course facilitation services in the higher education and corporate environments.

People often ask me what I enjoy most about the work I do.  I would have to say that the intrinsic value is in always learning something new!  The extrinsic significance is in helping people find that “Aha!” moment.

My very wise grandfather always told me, “Never stop learning!”  I never have and I hope the same for you!