Cecily McKeown, an accomplished researcher and educator, has a fervent interest in innovative pedagogy and cognitive psychology. Specializing in learner-centered instructional visual communication and active learning design, Cecily's research contributions include scholarly publications such as "Instructional Visual Communication: Visual Thinking Aligns with Learner-Centered Pedagogy" and "Harnessing Multimedia for Contextual Learning: Design Principles and Practices." Her most recent international conference presentations include EdMedia + Innovate Learning 2022 in New York City, 2023 in Vienna, Austria, eLearn 2024 in Singapore, and 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand; national conference presentations include OLC Accelerate 2024 in Orlando, Florida, 2024 National Higher Education Teaching Conference (NHETC) in Minneapolis, and OLC Accelerate 2025, also held in Orlando, Florida. Cecily advocates for utilizing instructional multimedia to humanize online learning, embracing AI with human traits such as consciousness, imagination, emotion, and self-motivated adaptability, fostering students' active participation, enhancing comprehension, and stimulating critical thinking.