To Barbara Chamberlin, learning and fun are serious business. Chamberlin stepped into her role as the department head for Innovative Media Research and Extension in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences on an interim basis in 2020, following the retirement of Jeanne Gleason, and accepted the position permanently earlier this year.
The department is a key part of the missions of NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station – using university research outcomes to improve the lives of everyone in New Mexico.
“I feel that mission deeply,” Chamberlin said. “University classes and research are very important, and Extension is the way we take what we learn and change people’s lives.”
Chamberlin, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from NMSU and a Ph.D. in educational technology and instructional design from the University of Virginia, has spent her career designing learning tools in the field of education technology, and Innovative Media Research and Extension develops those tools for a wide variety of content and audiences.
“Our job is to take things that are hard to understand, or often unclear, or require complex thought, and make those accessible and meaningful,” she said. “We do that with interface and design, writing and art, and gameplay and video – and we’re changing how people learn.”
As the educational games field continues to grow – guided by the kind of research that her department has long been on the leading edge of – Chamberlin wants to see her team continue to explore how emerging technologies like virtual reality can change the learning experience.
“The most exciting thing is being able to transform learners in new and meaningful ways, whether our users change as a result of playing a game, putting on a virtual reality headset, or visiting a website or watching an animation,” she said. “Our department is full of professional developers and designers who know how to craft products that are beautiful and effective. Leading that team is its own reward.”
A version of this story first published in the fall 2023 issue of ACES Magazine. For more stories, visit nmsu.news/aces-magazine-fall-2023.
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Cutline: As the head of Innovative Media Research and Extension, Barbara Chamberlin oversees a team that develops educational learning tools for a wide variety of content and audiences. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)