Bailey Cleveland鈥檚 journey with USF Innovative Education began as a student intern, where she discovered a passion for instructional design that would shape her career. After gaining more experience at State College of Florida, Cleveland returned to USF last year, bringing her expertise and enthusiasm to the Sarasota-Manatee campus as a learning designer with InEd.
As a child, she envisioned herself as a veterinarian but quickly realized it would entail more than just playing with animals all day. When it was time to choose her college majors, she opted to pursue a bachelor鈥檚 degree in history and a master鈥檚 degree in education from USF.
STARTING AT INED
While wrapping up her graduate studies, she landed an internship with the Innovative Education team on the Sarasota-Manatee campus.
鈥淚 shadowed the learning designers and learned to use tools to create interactive and engaging content for online courses,鈥� Cleveland said. 鈥淚 also learned about the process of reviewing online courses and how instructional design can benefit students.鈥�
Her internship at InEd opened the door to a career that allows her to nurture learning experiences, designing courses that help students grow and thrive.
鈥淎fter my internship, I discovered that instructional design was what I really wanted to do,鈥� she said.
LAUNCHING HER CAREER
After that internship, Cleveland began her career at State College of Florida, gaining extensive experience in instructional design. Last year, she returned to USF InEd as a learning designer.
鈥淢y favorite project that I鈥檝e been able to work on was collaborating with a cybersecurity instructor, a few students, and the InEd Studios team to create an amazing video where the students jumped into the dark web to retrieve stolen data,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he process was unlike anything I have done before.鈥�
Cleveland worked with Assistant Professor C. Jordan Howell and his students to depict how cybersecurity professionals use the dark web to investigate, extract, and analyze stolen data to report to organizations such as financial institutions.
The video showcases a strong partnership between the InEd teams, students, and faculty. It was also presented at a cybersecurity conference on the Sarasota-Manatee campus earlier this spring.
Her work on the cybersecurity project didn鈥檛 just enhance the course content 鈥� it gave students real-world experience and contributed to the success of a graduate who landed a job in the field. This is something that means a lot to Cleveland.
鈥淚 love it when an instructor comes back to us to tell us how much students enjoyed their course or how a student was able to get a job afterward because they were able to learn the skills needed to work in a particular field,鈥� Cleveland said.
For example, Professor Giti Javidi shared feedback from a recent graduate who secured a role at a local cybersecurity firm.
鈥淭his student was able to answer specific interview questions based on the skills they learned in her course and apply them to real-world situations that landed them the job,鈥� Cleveland said.
OUTSIDE THE OFFICE
When she鈥檚 not working on revamping and designing courses, Cleveland is an avid fan of the great outdoors. Whether she鈥檚 kayaking, bird watching, or hiking through Florida鈥檚 scenic state parks, she loves spending time in nature.
She moved to Florida when she was just two, which makes her almost a native. But while she enjoys the Sunshine State, her biggest bucket list adventure is located across state lines.
鈥淚 have always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail, which is about 2,190 miles of trails from Georgia to Maine,鈥� she said.
Cleveland also has quite a green thumb.
鈥淚 love working with Florida native plants because they have evolved with the native animals to help each other,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 remarkable to see native plants grow into habitat for local wildlife.鈥�
Just as she nurtures native plants in her garden, Cleveland nurtures learning experiences in her work, helping both students and courses thrive.