Ariel Fleurimond

Ariel Fleurimond was born and raised in New York. She founded Joaris Group LLC, which is a design agency based in New York that specializes in design services including instructional design, content development, web design, web development, computer-based art, and design. Beyond her freelance work, she has primarily focused on educational theory and practice. In 2005, she 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 joining Columbia University's School of Professional Studies (SPS), Ariel has been a Faculty Development Specialist and Course Developer for Columbia University. While working as an Instructional Designer at Columbia University, Ariel has helped develop courses for the following graduate-level programs and projects:

• School of Social Work
• Technology Management
• Applied Analytics
• Strategic Communication
• Information and Knowledge Strategy
• SPS’ High School Program
• Union Theological Seminary
• Columbia Law School - LLM program
• Faculty development workshops and consultation support.
• conference presentations in coaching, professional development, executive education and human resource leadership for the SPS Office of the Dean.

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.Prior to working in higher education, Ariel was a tutor in Computer Programming at NYU and Graduate Writing Assistant for Adelphi University. Ariel earned her NYS certification in K-12 visual art curriculum and instruction and has previously taught as a full-time teacher in Technology, Art and General Education. 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 student at Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.D in Instructional Technology).Her doctoral research builds on the conclusions drawn from her master's thesis in computational thinking skills for education. 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.During her spare time, Ariel enjoys a handful of passion projects such as creating traditional and vector art, musical endeavors, photography, 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. In this capacity, she supported grant proposal development, interns, and application management. Alongside other board members, she participated in board meetings to discuss growth pathways, initiatives, budgets, and staffing needs to secure resources and host impactful events for various communities. Finally, Ariel also serves 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.