Michael Willits

Michael Willits is an Instructional Designer at Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement (SoPA), where he collaborates with faculty and the Learning Design and Development team to create accessible, learner-centered educational experiences. He helps align learning objectives, instructional materials, and assessments through an ethically responsive, human-centered approach to teaching and technology.

Michael brings more than two decades of experience across higher education, public media, nonprofit, and public library settings. His background includes online and blended course development, faculty consultation and training, multimedia production, curriculum development, and program evaluation. His teaching experience in undergraduate communication, sociology, and STEM education informs his understanding of faculty and student perspectives.

His accomplishments include launching creative studios for artists, makers, students, and entrepreneurs; supporting transitions to virtual and hybrid educational programming; and co-developing a citywide lifelong learning initiative. He has also led teams and coordinated grant-funded projects, bringing collaborative leadership and project management experience to his instructional design work.

Michael’s instructional design practice draws on Backward Design, Universal Design for Learning, and adult learning principles. He uses learning platforms, digital media, and AI-assisted tools to support purposeful course development.

Michael holds an M.Ed. in College Student Personnel and a B.S. in Communication from Ohio University and is pursuing a PhD in Instructional Design and Technology at Old Dominion University. His academic interests explore the embodied and relational dimensions of instruction. His dedicated yoga practice informs these interests and his approach to education, particularly his attention to presence, relationships, and the lived experience of instruction and learning.