Education Leaders Program / Matthew Leach

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Matthew Leach is a recognized expert in web site design and development, photography, course development, and spends most of his time teaching and developing educational materials on each of these subjects. He also founded, directs, and contributes to Wynn Press, a digital publishing company.

At Wynn Press, Matthew has published three digital textbooks that are supplemented with embedded screen-cast video tutorials and interactive teaching lessons, that he recorded, designed, and programmed himself. His textbooks cover Flash Web Design, Flash Programming, and HTML Web Design with CSS using Dreamweaver. Currently, two online and seven campus colleges have adopted these eBooks as their required reading.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Matthew has over a decade of teaching experience as an adjunct faculty member at the Colorado Technical University, the Art Institute of Colorado, Westwood College, and the International Academy of Design and Technology. He has developed lectures and interactive materials for over 40 college courses, including course materials for Argosy University, South University, and the Art Institute Online. His courses have focused on Flash for Web Designers, Animators & Photographers, ActionScript Code for Designers, Site Development with HTML, Digital Typography, Internet Game Design & Theory, and Senior Portfolio.

Matthew has also served as the web developer and interface designer at Bodkin Studios, DC Studios Corp, DextMedia, InstallShield Software Corporation, and Michigan State University's Virtual University. He has career experience in training, curriculum development, project management, and eLearning.

Matthew obtained both a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications / Computer Science and a Master of Arts in Digital Media Arts from Michigan State University. His master's thesis focused on experiments with the integration of eCollaboration and traditional web site design for communication within an online classroom environment. Recently he has expanded his research focus to the more general problem of creating effective educational tools to promote online learning.