Dr. Hayley Blackburn is the founder and ideas engine behind Teacher’s PET. When you download a template from the shop, build a rubric in the app, or watch content on the YouTube channel you are seeing her experiences.

She is currently an assistant teaching professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in the Department of Technical Communication and Information Design. Her teaching practices–and first hand experiences with the challenges of course design, student support, and project management–led to the company idea. She helps her colleagues in and through un-grading, universal design, and technology-driven course development. She has also facilitated workshops at the Colorado Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference and multiple times at the Teaching and Learning Symposium (hosted by UCCS).

Dr. Blackburn has been an invited keynote speaker and panelist at various professional development events, consistently receives above average course evaluations, and is building a research record related to new media and technology for technical communication and community.

Preston Blackburn is a machine learning engineer and consultant for the software roadmap. He is brings Hayley’s ideas to life with guidance on the AI-enabled apps and products.

Currently Preston works as an Machine Learning and Data Engineering consultant. He has led and contributed to initiatives for clients at companies such as US Foods (MLOps), Autodesk (Data Eng.), Caliber Collision (Data Eng.), and Omeda (Gen AI + MLOps + Data).  His skills in machine learning, cloud infrastructure, data, and application development will accelerate time from proof of concept to production.