Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Lag

Oh my, it's nearly two years since my last post here. I promise you (you?) I've been busy, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Conferences

My wife and I just spent a relaxing week in Playa del Carmen with my brother and his wife. We did a little snorkeling and sight-seeing, ate some great food, and drank a few beers and tequila shots. Now it's time to get back to work!

In June, Dr. Frick and I will be presenting our work on MAPSAT at the AECT Summer Symposia. Then in July I'll be presenting a poster session on the design of SimTIE (now being called SimEd: Math) at the Games+Learning+Society conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Monday, March 10, 2008

SimTIE: A simulation game for preservice teachers

One of my current projects is SimTIE, a simulation game on technology integration in education. I recently gave a presentation on the development of a board game prototype for this project at Indiana University's annual IST conference. Here's my PowerPoint presentation.

This project is being developed by Dr. Ted Frick's SimEd research group. We're currently writing grant proposals to fund the development and evaluation of a digital version.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Virgin Post

I suppose I should begin by introducing myself.

I'm a Ph.D. student in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. I've been involved in higher education for many years as a student, an instructor, and an administrative support technologist. I earned a B.A. and M.A. in English at Ball State University (Ball U!) and taught composition and rhetoric for a few years. I then studied film production and screenwriting at De Anza College, where I wrote and/or directed several award-winning short films (with my brother). I was an early adopter of the Web and served as University Webmaster for Santa Clara University for two years, followed by stints as an animator (for Blue Mountain Arts) and a design technologist for a Web consulting spinoff of SRI just before the bubble burst. In 2006 I earned an M.A. in Instructional Technology at San Jose State University, where I was selected by the faculty as "Outstanding Graduating Student," thank you very much.

My research interests include the design of instructional games and their use in learning. Therefore most of my posts will relate to games, education, and systemic change. I believe that educational systems must undergo a paradigm shift if they are to remain relevant to society and that public education is ripe for transformation. My approach is to change the ways in which preservice teachers learn to teach, so that they enter the public education system with fresh ideas and perspectives. I think that games provide a promising approach to learning because they engage and motivate, provide optimal challenge and customized feedback, and require players to assume to roles and act within those roles.