Ariel Fleurimond

Ariel Fleurimond is the Senior Director of Instructional Design and Curriculum Support at Columbia University, where she leads a team of associate directors, instructional designers (IDs), freelance course developers (CDs), instructional media developers (IDM), and interns in end-to-end development and project management for online and hybrid courses at Columbia University.

In 2005, Ariel Fleurimond began her first assignment as an NYU student observer in a 2nd grade class for NYC Park Avenue elementary school. Soon after, she began facilitating small groups within ICT Special Education classes in Brooklyn New School, and she has been working in education ever since.

Prior to becoming a Senior Director, Ariel has held various roles at Columbia University, including Director, Associate Director, Instructional designer/Faculty Development Specialist, and Course Developer. Ariel has helped develop courses in the School of Social Work, Technology Management, Applied Analytics, Strategic Communication, Information and Knowledge Strategy, Human Captial Management, SPS’ High School Program, and Union Theological Seminary. She has also worked on special projects in faculty development and conference presentations in coaching, professional development, executive education, and human resource leadership for the office of the former SPS Dean.

In collaboration with other units at SPS, Ariel and the instructional design team members partner with both internal and external faculty to manage launch timelines, align course learning objectives with activities and content, develop syllabi, storyboard engaging activities and media, and build and test robust Canvas course sites.

Prior to joining Columbia, she was most recently the Faculty Development Specialist at Adelphi University. In this role, she maintained the Faculty Center’s department website and coordinated the development and rollout of online courses. She served as the primary point of contact for all instructional design and course development requests for face-to-face, hybrid and online courses. Her largest project in that role involved coordinating, providing instructional design, and course build support for the first pilot in graduate online education at Adelphi University. Additionally, she was also a guest lecturer for courses in the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education at Adelphi University. Leading these sessions gave her the opportunity to lecture and facilitate workshops in curriculum design for K-12, assessment, instruction, pedagogy, and web development skills for education. Most recently, Ariel began teaching graduate courses in the Mathematics, Science, and Technology department to new master's degree students at Columbia University, Teachers College. Learn more about her current courses and TC projects here.

Prior to working in higher education, Ariel was a tutor in Computer Programming at NYU and Graduate Assistant for Adelphi University. Ariel earned her NYS certification in K-12 visual art curriculum and instruction and has previously taught as a substitute teacher and full-time teacher in Technology, Art, and General Education in Tier 1 schools. Ariel holds a B.A. from New York University in Psychology, with a double minor in General Education and Computer Programming. She also holds an M.A.Ed. in Art Education (Curriculum & Instruction for K-12) and an M.Ed in Educational Technology.

Ariel is currently a doctoral candidate completing the final phase of her dissertation at Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.D in Instructional Technology). Her doctoral research interests build on the conclusions drawn from her master's thesis in computational thinking. Ariel's current research interests revisit some that work and touch on related fields of study, including online learning, change management, support strategy development, and the future of work. Ariel’s previous research focused on key questions in K-12 education and teacher performance in a changing educational landscape. In 2011, she was selected by the National Art Educators Association as a presenter for the Seattle Conference to discuss her research hypothesis. Her findings outlined the inevitable shift in the U-curve of artistic development due to increased access to technology, as evidenced by her work and observations in New York public school districts. Ariel most recently co-presented with Dr. Delores Amorelli at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2022 Annual Conference on democratic education in Washington D.C. Their topic related to inclusive language and inclusive teaching practices as avenues for democratic education. Read more about their session here

In October 2023, Ariel will present at the OLC Accelerate Conference with her colleagues Michael Fleming and Dr. Zach Kornhauser. Their presentation will focus on the stories of their respective faculty-facing support units as they navigated the management challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, how their units and operations transformed as a result, and what they want leaders, faculty, and staff to keep in mind as they approach similar challenges at their organizations. Learn more about their session here.

During her spare time, Ariel enjoys a handful of passion projects such as creating traditional and vector art, musical endeavors, crochet, and gaming. In addition to these activities, Ariel served on the Board of Directors for B~STEM, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting educational access, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Ariel also served on the advisory board for We Connect the Dots, Inc., a Long Island-based organization dedicated to supporting students' aspirations in STEAM-related fields and higher education.