Welcome

Welcome to my portfolio of work completed during my studies in the Masters of Instructional Technology program at UNCW.  The purpose of the portfolio is to integrate my learning into a document that can act as a reference point as I continue my education in the field of instructional technology.

Invocation

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;

Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;

Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;

Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity;

That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

Walt Whitman 'Leaves of Grass' 1900

About me

I cherish exploring new concepts and discovering new skills - especially with likeminded peers and colleagues. The environment in my formative years nutured my love for learning. Both of my parents are educators.  My father is a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta and my mother is a retired high school teacher. My older brother, younger sister and I spent our childhood in a community where education and the pursuit of learning was valued and encouraged.

Before I go on to how I came to the instructional design program at UNCW, I want to talk about three formative educational experiences from my youth.  Mr Greg Greene was my fifth grade teacher and made a lasting impression of what a teacher's role can be. His classroom, from my perspective, was a bastion of creativity, engagement, and respect. From him, I learned that teachers can be more than instructional delivery systems and that the Industrial Age school classroom, in the hands of a capable and creative craftsmen, can be a nurturing place for young people to develop.

The next formative experience was with the magnet school program in the Atlanta public schools. I was fortunate enough to attend the Atlanta School for the Performing Arts at Northside High School. Like Greg Greene, there was an outstanding teacher who impressed me the most -- Mr Harold Wilson. Harold was the technical director of the school and taught our technical theater classes. The program was based around "service learning" where the students learn the concepts and skills of technical theater while working as professional stage technicians. From my experiences with Harold and Northside High School, I learned that there are alternatives to the traditional classroom model of teaching and learning.

The last formative experience I'll relate here is my time at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville Georgia. During my first two years of college I completed my advanced ROTC requirements and was commissioned in the United States Army. As an ROTC cadet, I saw how experiential learning and simulation can change lives. It was at Georgia Military College that I saw clearly systematic design and implementation of human performance interventions.  The simulation experiences that I had there were intense and rewarding. 

After some years of traveling and integrating these formative experiences, I decided that education would be my career field.  I had always felt that education was the foundation of a society and therefore I could make an impact by working in this field. From my experiences, I saw that changes were needed, and that the environment was changing rapidly. Namely, computers and internet communications technologies were rapidly impacting our daily lives, as well as opening new vistas to teaching and learning.

My first job out of college was with a community Museum in Valdez, Alaska. That job was given to me because I could create a webpage. I quickly realized that everyone should learn to create a webpage and offered to teach a night class on the subject at the local community college. From my position as adjunct faculty, I gained a perspective on instructional technology in higher education.

In 2005, I returned to America from teaching English as a foreign language in Taiwan. I met with Dr. Moallem and attended the MIT orientation meetings. Based on those conversations and the program outline, I realized that the MIT coursework would give me a systematic framework for applying my experiences in doing my part concerning the coming changes in education.