Mary Alice Anderson teaches online professional development courses for school librarians/media specialists at University of Wisconsin-Stout and has been an influential mentor in encouraging technology integration and online learning.

Mary Alice's expertise and enthusiasm for developing a school media program, well known for its high degree of technology integration throughout the curriculum, is contagious with students in her classes. Her ability to energize and inspire diverse online audiences fosters a cooperative learning environment among students in her courses.

Participants in her Advocacy and Emerging Issues for Media Specialists course say:

"Mary Alice Anderson's dynamic teaching style, incredible dedication, and preparation are inspiring and kept me on track at all times. Mary Alice is a true treasure. You don't meet people like her very often. I feel I was very lucky to take this course; I was stretched by this course, and that was good. I have only had one teacher of her ilk before in my life, and she is regarded by catalogers as ‘the' teacher of her generation."
Media Specialist from Elmhurst, Illinois

“This course has revitalized my enthusiasm as a library media specialist and focused my energies into creating an even more dynamic library media program over the next five years. Exchange of ideas and a forum for discussion with peers from a wide range of geographical areas, as well as backgrounds, provided a needed professional development opportunity for those of us who are isolated as the only library media specialist within our district."
Media Specialist from Randolph, Wisconsin

"I learned so much from the other participants and from Mary Alice's articles. After completing an activity, a reading, or discussion, I went back to my school and tried out what I learned. It was awesome. I actually felt like this course was worth my time and money and hope that Mary Alice teaches another course!"
Media Specialist from Michigan

"I know that this course has made me 1,000 times stronger as a candidate for any job. I even applied to a position closer to my home last Tuesday, and it was a great interview, all due to this course...so thank you!"
Media Specialist from Massachusetts

Also, this spring Mary Alice is teaching a new course, Digital Classroom: Teaching Information Literacy based on her experience as a Library of Congress American Memory Fellow.

Mary Alice's academic inquiry into best practices for school librarian/media specialists can be found among many featured
articles in Multimedia & Internet@Schools, School Library Journal, LMC Connection, and she is currently the editor of
the MEMORandom, an electronic newsletter for the Minnesota Educational Media Organization.

Joan M. Vandervelde
Online Professional Development Coordinator
University of Wisconsin-Stout