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Joshua ParkinsonInstructional design & digital accessibility

Make the next step possible.

I turn complicated systems into learning experiences, accessibility practices, and useful technology that people can actually move through.

See the work Get in touch

Currently Director of Instructional Design · Herkimer College

The practice

People at the center

  1. Learning design

    Give people a reason to explore, a safe place to practice, and feedback they can use.

    Course design · Faculty development · Game-based learning

  2. Accessibility

    Find the barrier, offer a useful path, and make accessibility part of the everyday work.

    Governance · Remediation · Course review

  3. Useful technology

    Prototype, test, and turn the idea into something people can actually use.

    Prototypes · Local-first tools · Practical AI

17+years across education and human services
100+faculty supported through an LMS migration
M.S.Information Design & Technology
THE THROUGHLINE

Clear choices.
Useful feedback.
Human judgment.

01 / Selected work

Strategy you can
see working.

Institution-wide systems, research made tangible, and software built to remove friction. Each case study shows the question, the decisions, and the artifact.

Showing all 4 projects

Institutional leadership

Accessibility as an
everyday practice.

Connecting policy, inventory, remediation, faculty support, and evidence so accessibility becomes part of how work gets done.

Role
Program lead & developer
Artifacts
AccessRemediate + Access Hub
Open case study

The system

I co-chair the campus Accessibility Committee and connect standards, procurement, faculty development, document remediation, course review, and technical tooling. AccessRemediate explores repeatable document workflows; Access Hub makes owners, deadlines, review status, vendor records, and evidence visible.

Automated results support the review. They do not establish conformance without context and human judgment.

Download the presentation

Game-based learning

Learning as
an adventure.

A master’s thesis, a story-driven prototype, and a continuing design practice built from choice, feedback, flow, and reflection.

Role
Researcher, designer & builder
Artifact
MyQuest → gamED
Open case study

The question

How can game-based learning shape hybrid and online instruction from the beginning? My 2018 thesis paired the design argument with MyQuest, a narrative prototype where dialogue choices build a tabletop role-playing character and introduce mechanics through play.

Read the thesis Download the presentation

Research archive · with Anne McDonough

The Long Tail needs
an open road.

A 2014 project connecting Chris Anderson’s Long Tail theory with the question of who controls online discovery and access.

Format
Paper + 13:35 video
Lens
Culture · commerce · learning
Open case study

A useful time capsule

The original argument asks what happens to niche creators, small markets, and online learners when the network between them and their audience can favor some destinations over others. Policy details change; the design question about power and discovery remains.

Explore the project Watch on YouTube

Independent software

Less searching.
Better signals.

JobHunt turns résumé information into a local-first workflow for finding, deduplicating, scoring, and reviewing opportunities.

Stack
Kotlin · Android
Output
Obsidian-ready daily digest
Open case study

The build

The app extracts skills, duties, and certifications; compares them with listings; removes duplicates; and creates a focused daily digest. Local processing and inspectable rules keep the matching loop understandable.

Explore the repository

02 / Presentation library

Ideas built to
travel.

Three polished, editable slide decks turn the research and practice into material you can present, teach from, or inspect.

01
Aa
ACCESSIBILITY / SYSTEMS PRACTICE

Accessibility as an
Everyday Practice

From isolated fixes to a durable system.

8 slides · editable PowerPointDownload .pptx
02
✦
GAME-BASED LEARNING / RESEARCH

Learning as
an Adventure

Choice, feedback, flow, and reflection.

8 slides · editable PowerPointDownload .pptx
03
↝
LONG TAIL / MEDIA STUDIES

The Long Tail Needs
an Open Road

A 2014 research project, revisited.

8 slides · editable PowerPointDownload .pptx
2014 · 13:35 · PUBLIC VIDEOLong Tail and
Net NeutralityJoshua Parkinson with Anne McDonough

Artifact spotlight

Old work.
Living questions.

This project asked how network gatekeeping could reshape access to niche culture, small markets, and online learning.

The original work is presented as a 2014 research artifact. The companion page preserves its argument, credits the collaboration, and makes the paper available alongside the public presentation.

Explore the full project Original paper

03 / Working archive

A career with
receipts.

Selected artifacts show how the work evolved across research, teaching, institutional systems, and playful experiments.

  1. MEDIA STUDIES

    Long Tail + Net Neutrality

    Collaborative paper and public video about discovery, network access, and niche markets.

    Open artifact ↗
  2. MASTER’S RESEARCH

    Game-Based Learning in Hybrid/Online Instruction

    A design framework and MyQuest prototype grounded in MDA, flow, choice, and role-play.

    Read thesis ↗
  3. SYSTEMS CHANGE

    LMS migration + faculty enablement

    Supported more than 100 faculty through a change in learning platforms and practice.

  4. ACCESSIBILITY LEADERSHIP

    Governance, remediation, and review

    Connecting institutional planning, practical faculty support, and purpose-built tools.

    Open deck ↗

04 / Try the principle

Give people
options.

Build a learning path without dragging. Use the buttons, keyboard, touch, or mouse.

Why this matters in WCAG 2.2
LEARNING PATH LABNo timer. Your pace.

Reorder the steps. The interface keeps a second input method available.

  1. 01Explore
  2. 02Practice
  3. 03Reflect

Explore → Practice → Reflect

05 / Creative practice

Serious curiosity.
Room to play.

Games, music tools, and world-building projects are where I test interaction, feedback, discovery, and delight.

A / 01

8bit Beatbox

Console-era sound and a chiptune tracker in the browser.

Explore on itch.io ↗A / 02

Mutagenic Survivors

A biology-inspired roguelite with an in-game Bio-Codex.

Explore on itch.io ↗A / 03

RPG-DungeonDesk

Tools for maps, worlds, and the stories that connect them.

Explore on GitHub ↗

06 / About

An educator’s instinct.
A builder’s mindset.

My work starts with a simple question: what would help this person take the next step?

Across education and human services, I have worked in prevention, behavioral health, advocacy, faculty development, LMS administration, instructional design, and digital accessibility. Building software makes those ideas tangible.

I care about useful defaults, visible reasoning, and technology that respects the people using it. The work is strongest when strategy reaches all the way down to the interaction someone actually experiences.

M.S.Information Design & TechnologySUNY Polytechnic Institute
B.S.Community & Human ServicesSUNY Empire State College

Let’s build the useful thing.

Have a challenge
worth solving?

Start a conversation

Learning design · accessibility · online learning · practical AI