I've had the pleasure of working with Dr. Melanie Peffer in bringing her commitment for open and public science education to global audiences through scaled online courses. In my experience, Dr. Peffer is a deeply devoted educator, passionate about the opportunity education presents to make science and scientific thinking accessible and approachable to audiences of varying age and experience.

Not only is Dr. Peffer a dedicated educator, she's an innovator - working with stakeholders across CU Boulder and beyond to design career-relevant microcredentials associated with her educational experiences. Dr. Peffer is the best kind of educator: honest, caring, and generous with her abilities, which extend well beyond the classroom and the laboratory. In fact, Dr. Peffer is uniquely equipped to do the work of science communication and literacy in the public sphere, across a range of domains in and outside of the academy.

I work together with Melanie in the activities of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR), a leading academic society in the field of Learning Analytics. As part of the society's Communications Working Group, Melanie has been actively involved in society's communication and outreach activities, such as organizing and running the Online Webinar Series that has reached several thousand attendees so far.

Her input in planning and preparing webinars have been fantastic, and much of the success of the initiative is due to her commitment, motivation, and strong communication skills. Melanie has taken the role of the main webinar facilitator, and she has been excellent in facilitating discussions with presenters.

What’s most notable about Dr. Peffer’s institutional personal investment is the time that she spends with her students after class. Whether one-on-one or small group extra instruction, it is a pleasure to observe how she intimately connects with students.

Dr. Peffer is clearly a foundational and experienced undergraduate instructor with a wealth of experience and her students benefit immensely. Dr. Peffer is an institutional asset.

Her experience, passion for teaching, demonstrated competence within her field and general affection for her students represent some of the finest instructional characteristics that I’ve encountered in my 15 years of teaching. She’s absolutely top notch.

Dr. Peffer gave her presentation, "How to Create an Effective Digital Footprint to Market Your Book," to the Northern Colorado Writers in August. It was well attended and well received. She was knowledgeable yet relatable, able to take complex concepts and make them accessible to the novice.

The feedback that we received on her class was overwhelmingly positive with many requests to bring her back for another session. I've facilitated dozens of classes in the last several years and I can honestly say that none has surpassed what Dr. Peffer offered us. I give her my highest recommendation.

Dr. Peffer worked with our Department of Energy Office of Science interns during the spring and summer 2021 [2022, and 2023] intern sessions. She provided general audience communication workshops for over 125 interns during that time. The workshops were incredibly helpful, well-run, and well-received.

The interns enjoyed the virtual format and the content shared with them. Dr. Peffer also read, edited, and gave feedback on a general audience essay that the interns were required to write. This took an incredible amount of flexibility, planning, and knowledge. The response time for feedback was short and the advice was appropriate for the deliverable. I enjoyed working with Melanie and would recommend her to others.

Melanie worked with me as Co-Editor to design and launch the NEXUS blog for the Society of Learning Analytics Research. She has been a pleasure to work with, bringing great expertise in communicating science to diverse audiences. I have learned from her coaching of researchers to help them tell their stories in engaging ways to a broad audience.

[Melanie’s] writing style is excellent, she can make a tough subject pleasant to read, she delivers what expected and on time. Melanie makes higher education fun.

Melanie is skilled at designing courses of all types, from in-person to online, integrating her research on student learning into her pedagogy. She works effectively with colleagues, and is an excellent mentor. She's quick to learn new approaches and has creative ideas for engaging others in science

Throughout these three years of collaboration, I have been amazed by her skills in interdisciplinary collaborations, cross-disciplinary engagements, and her open mind in exploring other fields (such as statistics) and applying new methods within her innovative research.

Since Melanie is a few years ahead of me on her career trajectory, she has also provided mentorship and guidance on my career development. I highly recommend her as an excellent team member and project leader.