When Art Meets Instruction

Malena Bisanti’s work and life mirror each other. She calls herself a “lifetime learner” by practice. She works with faculty to design the visual presentation of online graduate courses while spending her free time constructing layered works of art. Somewhere between the classroom and the studio, her philosophy, career, and creativity have come together into a real-life collage. 

“I’ve been in teaching and learning spaces for a long time, and I’ve always been curious about what makes something click for someone. That’s the part of the work I love most,” Bisanti said. 

Bisanti is an instructional designer in the College of Lifetime Learning, where she helps shape the design and presentation of online courses. Her role involves taking academic material — slides, scripts, and outlines — and organizing it into clear, structured courses that support how people learn in an online environment. She applies both learning science and visual design to make complex material easier to follow, ensuring that courses remain accessible. 

From start to finish, building a course can take six to nine months. The work requires steady planning and a deep understanding of how learners absorb information over time. While instructors remain the content experts, Bisanti brings expertise in learning science and visual design, drawing on her artistic background to structure, pace, and present material in ways that support understanding and growth. 

“When I’m working on a course, I’m constantly asking how I can break something down and build it back up in a way that makes sense for the learner,” Bisanti said. “It’s a lot of structuring and layering, making sure each piece connects and supports the next.” 

Much of this work connects to Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science, which serves learners balancing coursework with full-time careers. 

Before coming to Georgia Tech, Bisanti worked across teaching and learning roles, including positions in public libraries, K-12 classrooms, and curriculum-focused environments — experience that continues to shape how she approaches instructional design today. 

Outside of work, Bisanti is a mixed media artist who has been making art since childhood, beginning with paper dolls and handmade clay. Over time, her interests expanded to include photography, printmaking, ceramics, mosaics, and collage. Today, she focuses primarily on mixed media collage, which combines elements such as paper, paint, and drawing into a single composition. 

“Art is something I have to do,” she said. “It’s not about producing something. It’s about the process and what it gives me, and how it balances the more structured side of my work.” 

Bisanti’s connection to the arts at Georgia Tech became more visible when she led a mixed media collage workshop during Tech Arts Fest. The session invited students to experiment and create —many for the first time — using layered paper, paint, and texture, reinforcing her belief that creativity has an important place in learning environments. 

“I had one student who was there just for a short time, but when he was leaving, he said, ‘I was having a really bad day, and I’m glad this workshop was here for me.’ That made my day. That’s why I do art.” 

Through that work, she also discovered Georgia Tech’s broader arts community. After attending an arts salon meeting, she encountered artists, designers, and creative practitioners working across disciplines throughout the Institute. Finding that community was both energizing and affirming. 

“I didn’t expect to find such a strong arts community here, and that surprised me, in a good way,” Bisanti said. “There’s a lot more happening in the arts than people realize, and it’s becoming a real part of how students experience learning here.” 

That experience revealed a side of Georgia Tech aligned with the Institute’s broader commitment to innovation and exploration, including the launch of a new undergraduate program in Arts, Entertainment, and Creative Technologies this fall. 

“I think people don’t always expect the arts to be part of the experience here, but they are,” Bisanti said. “The more you look, the more you see how much creativity is built into how people learn and work across campus.” 

The same patience, curiosity, and openness that guide her in the studio shape how she approaches learning design. Whether refining a course structure or adding a final layer to a piece of art, she grounds her work in respect for how ideas take shape over time. 

“The more I learn, the more intentional my work becomes, whether I’m designing a course or making art,” she said. 

In connecting her work, her art, and her sense of belonging on campus, Bisanti embodies the idea that learning is never static.