EIU Media Relations

University Newsletter

Celebrating Julie Lockett

As of June 1, 2024, Julie Lockett, the Director of Learning Innovation in the FDIC has retired. Julie was a founding member of the FDIC and served in this role as a standard bearer for educational excellence.

Julie received a degree in Education from Eastern Illinois University and a graduate degree in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in Instructional Technology & Design from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. She has been an educator since 1992 and has been teaching online courses in higher education since 2000. Julie earned the Master Online Teacher certification from the University of Illinois and is a certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewer. Julie has served higher education in the field of instructional technology and design since 1999.

Julie spent nearly 20 years at EIU including positions in the College of Education as well as the Center for Academic Technology Support (CATS) before moving to the FDIC. She served as the lead consultant for instructional technology, and provided leadership, training, and consultation to assist EIU faculty in creating and implementing effective strategies to incorporate technology into their curriculum. Most notably, Julie served as the facilitator for the Online Course Development Institute (OCDi), which she designed and implemented since 2008. In this capacity, she guided over 500 EIU faculty in the design and implementation of quality online courses.

In addition, Julie was the FDIC’s administrator for our suite of instructional technologies including D2L, Turnitin, and Respondus. She was our Quality Matters (QM) Coordinator and in 2021, Julie developed the Quality Online Course (QOC) certification program. The QOC was established by the FDIC to recognize the hard work and dedication of EIU faculty for their excellence in online education and quality online course design. With these foundations, Julie also contributed the Quality Online Design Institute (QODi) to the FDIC’s Excellence in Online Instruction program.

There will not be a retirement reception, but please feel free to contact Julie at her EIU email (jalockett@eiu.edu).

Clearly, Julie will be missed. Her impact on the FDIC and more importantly EIU is tremendous. With her retirement we lose not only a valuable staff member, but an incredible and passionate colleague who served as an exemplar of the mission of EIU.