joshuaparkinson.me Email me

Educator, designer & developerFort Plain, New York

Joshua
ParkinsonInstructional design
& digital accessibility.

I help faculty create accessible courses and build tools that make their work easier. My approach began in human services: listen carefully, understand the obstacle, and give people a useful way forward.

See the work Get in touch

Herkimer College Director of Instructional Design
Co-chair, Accessibility Committee

Areas of practice

Learning, participation, and the tools that support them.

  1. Learning design

    Course design, faculty development, and game-based learning.

  2. Accessibility

    Institutional planning, document remediation, and course review.

  3. Useful technology

    Practical AI, local-first software, and working prototypes.

Background Human services to higher education, since 2005

Research M.S., Information Design & Technology

Explore my career

Selected work

Selected work

Accessibility practice, game-based learning, and independent software. Explore the work, its context, and the decisions behind it.

Showing all 3 projects

Institutional leadership

Accessibility as an everyday practice.

I connect accessibility policy, faculty support, and document remediation at Herkimer College. Access Hub and AccessRemediate help turn those responsibilities into work that can be assigned, reviewed, and maintained.

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

The system

I co-chair the campus Accessibility Committee, which means connecting standards, procurement, faculty development, document remediation, course review, and technical tooling — and making sure each one has a named owner. AccessRemediate handles repeatable document workflows; Access Hub keeps owners, deadlines, review status, and evidence visible so nothing quietly slips.

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.

My 2018 thesis explores how choice, narrative, and timely feedback can shape an entire course. The MyQuest prototype puts those ideas into practice.

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 thesisDownload the presentation

Independent software

JobHunt

I wanted a better way to track my own job search, so I built one. 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

Research in progress

Research & writing

Game-based learning has been a continuing thread in my teaching and design work. These papers document how that thinking has developed.

Research in progress · September 2026

Game-Based Learning
Continuing Edition

A working revision of my 2018 master’s thesis, bringing together nine design principles, the Brief–Play–Debrief cycle, and a chapter on practical AI. Read the current draft alongside the original research.

Original research
2018 · SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Current edition
2026 · Working draft
Read the 2026 draft PDF · 91 pages2018 original PDF
W / 01

Previous work

Graduate-school research, including the 2014 Long Tail collaboration with Anne McDonough and my original 2018 thesis.

Explore previous work
W / 02

18 presentations, 2012–2026

Teaching materials, public talks, and portfolio presentations on prevention, accessibility, and learning design.

Browse the archive
W / 03

Good Samaritan Policy

A 2014 policy brief that helped establish medical amnesty at Herkimer College. The policy remains part of the college’s approach to student safety.

Read the background

Presentation library

Talks & teaching materials

An archive of 18 PowerPoint decks, from prevention education to practical AI. Browse by subject, read a short description, and download a copy.

01ACCESSIBILITY / SYSTEMS PRACTICE

Accessibility as an
Everyday Practice

From isolated fixes to a durable system.

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

Learning as
an Adventure

Choice, feedback, flow, and reflection.

8 slides · editable PowerPointDownload .pptx
03ON THE HORIZON / PROPOSED SERIES

Teaching online, thoughtfully

Accessibility, practical AI, games, and course design.

Eight workshop outlinesExplore the series

The complete presentation archive
18 decks · Five subjects · 2012–2026

Browse the full archive

Experience

A career built
around people.

Residential support, advocacy, teaching, and institutional leadership. Each chapter informs the work I do today.

2005–2008

Human services & advocacy

Where the work started: direct support, crisis advocacy, and mediation.

View chapter 2009–2015

Prevention & policy

Building prevention programs for a county and a college campus.

View chapter 2016–2019

Teaching & advising

Designing courses, mentoring students, and finishing a master’s degree.

View chapter 2020–now

Instructional design & technology

Leading course design, accessibility, and AI strategy across the college.

View chapter
View the full timeline, courses, and milestones

Try the principle

An interface
you can try

Reorder a learning path using the arrow buttons. They work with a mouse, keyboard, or touch, without requiring a dragging gesture.

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

Creative practice

The lab
after hours.

Games, music tools, and world-building projects. This is where I test interaction and feedback ideas before they show up in the day job.

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 ↗

All software projects & Artex

In the workshop

What I’m building next.

A practical teaching series and a closer look at the tools behind my work.

Presentation outlines

Teaching online, thoughtfully

Accessibility, practical AI, learning games, student feedback, and consistent course design.

Explore the proposed series

Local AI

Meet Artex

My local assistant and the research-and-review workflow we’re developing.

Read about Artex

About

My work began
in human services.

Before I designed courses, I worked in residential support, domestic violence advocacy, mediation, and prevention education.

Those roles taught me to listen before proposing a solution. I bring that habit to faculty partnerships, accessibility planning, and the software I build.

These days I lead instructional design at Herkimer College, teach first-year seminar, and build small tools when the system I need doesn't exist yet.

M.S.Information Design & TechnologySUNY Polytechnic Institute
B.S.Community & Human ServicesSUNY Empire State College
My full career and teaching history

Service & leadership.

Boards

  • Board of Directors, Catholic Charities of Herkimer County2016 to present
  • Fort Plain Central School District Board of EducationElected 2024
  • Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board, Herkimer CollegeMember from 2010, co-chair from 2013; author of the Good Samaritan Policy, still in effect

Campus leadership

  • Co-chair, Accessibility CommitteeHerkimer College
  • Middle States working committeeStandard IV: Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience
  • Campus committeesDiversity, Equity and Inclusion Council; Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Committee; Judicial Review Board (from 2017)
  • Club advisorStudents Against Destructive Decisions, Outdoor Adventure/Green Club, and Anime Club

Recognition & training

  • Sister Karen Klimczak Memorial “Spirit of the Academy” AwardNew York State Victim Assistance Academy, 2008
  • CASAC-TCredentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor Trainee, 2013
  • Crisis and mental health trainingMental Health First Aid (2014), ASIST suicide intervention (2015), basic mediation (2008)
  • CoalitionsGlens Falls Problem Gambling Coalition and a statewide problem gambling provider coalition

Get in touch

Let’s compare notes.

Email me

For conversations about instructional design, accessibility, or a project you have in mind.