At Home in an Online Classroom

Written By: Ian Silvester

Taking online classes throughout her higher education career has been crucial for CristiAnna Page. It has allowed her to work and pay for school, and it has given her the flexibility to be a mom at home. 

Now, she’s using her background with online learning to create curriculum and teach criminal justice courses to students at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. 

“I really enjoy it because it’s kind of like a new frontier for learning how to put together courses in a modality that’s going to be challenging and interesting for the student and not like a giant scavenger hunt to find what they’re supposed to be doing,” Page said proudly. 

As a non-traditional student herself, Page appreciated professors who met her where she was. It’s a value she now brings to her virtual classroom. 

“It feels like it makes me better as a professor. I wouldn’t have been able to get my degree if I hadn’t been able to take online courses,” she said. 

Continuing an education after high school wasn’t expected where Page grew up. Despite this, she acknowledged the irony of now being a visiting instructor for UAFS and going to grad school with a laugh. After working a few odd jobs, her dad convinced her that she was working too hard with her two jobs and “just needed to go to school.” 

“I listened to him and went to Pulaski Tech,” she said, noting where she got her associates in science. “I always loved to learn, but I really loved learning for a purpose. There, I was learning toward something that I could do later in life.” 

Having found a purpose for continuing her education, Page transferred to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she since received her bachelor’s (2020), most of which was online, and master’s (2023) from UALR’s School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Page is also working on her Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology at UALR, and has a unique passion for environmental crime. 

So why environmental crime? Page says the answer was obvious. 

“It’s really close to my heart because I have kids, and I want them to be able to grow up,” she said. “The United States doesn’t really recognize crimes as harming the environment, or things that harm the environment as being criminal. I’m looking at a really niche area.” 

Through her familiarity with virtual classes, working online to find the necessary research has been a rewarding challenge. Page said her work on the topic led her to find a plethora of data before the Environmental Protection Agency experienced cuts, and the information was pulled from the internet. 

“I love research methods,” Page said. “I was able to download the data, so maybe it’s something I can teach in the future.” 

The fall 2026 semester is her first teaching at UAFS, but that isn’t keeping Page from connecting with her students through their shared experiences as virtual learners and those who identify as non-traditional. She said she can’t wait to see her students’ “enthusiasm and passion for research (and learning) be ignited.” 

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