Crystal Donlan

Non-Credit Instructional Designer

Crystal Donlan is the Non-Credit Instructional Designer for World Campus Learning Design; in this unique role, she oversees a portfolio of both professional development and student success offerings aimed at facilitating growth in Penn State’s teaching and learning sectors. A learning scientist and strong advocate for educational equity, Crystal is also a doctoral candidate in the Lifelong Learning and Adult Education program at Penn State, where her research focus lies in exploring the sociocultural and motivational aspects of online and distance learning. Crystal holds an M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology from Penn State; she completed her undergraduate degree in English and Education at Susquehanna University with minors in Psychology and Writing, and prior graduate work in Instructional Specialization at Bucknell University. In recent years Crystal served as the Instructional Designer and Online Learning Specialist in the Teaching and Learning Design Studio at Elizabethtown College and as the Senior Instructional Designer for Digital Learning and Innovation at Albright College; she has also held academic and faculty roles at Luzerne County Community College, Lackawanna College, Alvernia University, and Penn State.

An educator for over 20 years, Crystal has taught in K–12, correctional, community-based, and—most frequently—higher education settings, where she has facilitated face-to-face, hybrid, and online learning experiences. Coping with the complexities of autoimmune disease, Crystal became interested in distance education and began exploring the remote facilitation of meaningful learning experiences in order to continue her life’s passion. She launched her "mindful scaffolding" framework at the fall 2021 conference of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, and continues to present to both national and institutional audiences on the nuances of this framework for optimizing multimodal learner-centered environments through compassionate allowances, universal design, and equity of opportunity. Crystal has also been certified in secondary English instruction by the Pennsylvania Department of Education since 2004, in 2020 became a National Geographic certified educator, and in 2021 became a Quality Matters–certified higher education peer reviewer and QM coordinator. She is the founder and chief creative officer of Clarity Learning Design, LLC, established in 2022.