Faculty & Staff
Dr. Brad Mehlenbacher, Ph. D. Office: 310Q Poe Hall |
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Background
Brad Mehlenbacher is Associate Professor of Distance Learning (Adult and Higher Education), Adjunct Faculty Member of Ergonomics (Psychology) and of Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media (English and Communication), and Affiliate Faculty Member with the Digital Games Research Center (Computer Science) at NC State University. He earned his BA and MA at the University of Waterloo (focusing on computer-assisted learning and computational text analysis) and his PhD in Rhetoric and Document Design at Carnegie Mellon University (focusing on online information design, usability, and human-computer interaction). Mehlenbacher served as a member of the Technical Communication faculty (English) from 1991-2001 before joining the College of Education.
Mehlenbacher is co-author of Online Help: Design and Evaluation (Ablex, 1993) and currently has chapters appearing in Assessment Strategies for the Online Teacher (Jossey-Bass), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook (Lawrence Erlbaum), The Society of Text (MIT Press), and the 1998 NCTE award-winning Computers and Technical Communication (Ablex Press). Mehlenbacher is serving his second term as president elect of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC).
Brad has consulted for numerous organizations, including the Computer Science Department, Engineering Design Research Center, and Communications Design Center at Carnegie Mellon; the Centre for Professional Writing at the University of Waterloo; the Center for the Study of Writing at the University of California at Berkeley; Apple Computer; Bell-Northern Research; SAS Institute; Digital Equipment Corporation; the American Cancer Society; UNext.com; IBM-Toronto; and IBM-RTP. He lives in Cary, North Carolina, and has two extraordinary daughters, Eleanor and Frances.
Teaching
Mehlenbacher has been teaching courses on online information design and evaluation since 1985. Training and Development courses he teaches include
- EAC 580: Designing Instructional Systems in T&D
- EAC 581: Advanced Instructional Design in T&D
- EAC 583: Needs Assessment and Task Analysis in T&D
- EAC 585: Integrating Technology into Training Programs
- EAC 586: Methods and Techniques for T&D
- EAC 795: Research in Web-Based Instruction.
Research
Focusing on online information design and evaluation, learner-users and usability, and instruction and learning with technology. Initial interest in assisting the designers of online help systems has expanded to include describing rhetorics of online information, exploring online genres such as tutorials and electronic performance support systems, and applying learner-centered design research to the development of Websites and Web-Based Instruction.
Representative lists of publications can be found at:
- Universität Trier's Computer Science Bibliography (DBLP): http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/m/Mehlenbacher:Brad.html
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Author Profile Page: http://portal.acm.org/author_page.cfm?id=81100357281&coll=portal&dl=ACM&trk=0
- Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Brad+Mehlenbacher
- The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies (CSB): http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/csbib/index?query=Brad+Mehlenbacher
- Interaction-Design.org: http://www.interaction-design.org/references/authors/brad_mehlenbacher.html).
Selected Publications
Mehlenbacher, B., Bennett, L., Bird, T., Ivey, M., Lucas, J., Morton, J., & Whitman, L. (2005). Usable E-Learning: A Conceptual Model for Evaluation and Design. Proceedings of HCI International 2005: 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 4 — Theories, Models, and Processes in HCI. Las Vegas, NV: Mira Digital P, 1-10.
Mehlenbacher, B. (2003). Documentation: Not Yet Implemented but Coming Soon! In A. Sears & J. Jacko (Eds.). The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications (pp. 527-543). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Mehlenbacher, B. (2002). Assessing the Usability of Online Instructional Materials. In R. S. Anderson, J. F. Bauer, and B. W. Speck (Eds.). Assessment Strategies for the On-line Class: From Theory to Practice (pp. 91-98). New Directions for Teaching and Learning Series, Number 91. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mehlenbacher, B., Miller, C. R., Covington, D., & Larsen, J. (2000). Active and Interactive Learning Online: A Comparison of Web-Based and Conventional Writing Classes. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 43 (2), 166-184.
Tomasi, M. D., & Mehlenbacher, B. (1999). Re-engineering Online Documentation: Designing Examples-based Online Support Systems. Technical Communication, 46 (1), 55-66 (won Distinguished Technical Communication Article in STC’s Outstanding Article Award Competition).
Service
Enjoy various service commitments at the national, university, college, and department levels. Am serving my second term as president elect of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC) and am on the board of the journal Innovate. At the university level, I have been involved in the usability efforts of the NC State University homepage redesign projects since the late 1990s [our design team received a special merit award in 2003 from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)]. Elected Faculty Chair for the College of Education at NC State University. And serve as Chair of the Tenure & Promotion Committee in the Department of Adult and Higher Education.
