Professional Work Experience

Clear Channel Radio (Farmington, MI 10/03 - Present)
Web Design and Web Graphic Assistant (part-time)

Virtually Learning Inc., CEO & Cofounder (1/03 – Present)

Instructional Technology and Instructional Design Specialist:  Research and development of innovative uses of technology to facilitate student learning, teacher collaboration and professional development, distance learning initiatives, collaborative research, and corporate e-learning.  Management and leadership for a team of six (6) educational technology specialists and designers and the operational responsibilities of a public business.

Sample Projects: (see Portfolio page)

Educational Technology Consultant (6/02 – Present)

Educational Technology Implementation Consultant:  Plan, train, and support educators, educational systems, and education related organization in a broad scope of learning technologies that enable greater technology integration to promote diverse learning programs.  Consulted on several Faculty Development and program initiative grant proposals.

Consulting projects:
City Learning Centres (Mark Lloyd, National Initiative, United Kingdom)
University of Reno Nevada School of Engineering (Aric Wood, Board Member)
University of Houston Writing Center (Julie Chisholm, Director)
University of Houston College of Technology (Heather Bigley, Instructor)
University of Houston Art Department (Angi Patton, Instructor)
University of Houston School of Communication (Toni O'Dell, Instructor)
The Knowledge Web (Partick McKercher, University of California - Santa Cruz)
Joyce Research Project (Chris Dede, Harvard University)
River City Virtual Learning Environment (Chris Dede, Harvard University)

UNITE Educational Collaborations (6/02 – Present)

Collaborative Learning and Instruction Facilitator:  Planning, organizing, and facilitating intra/inter-school and International collaborations between instructors, and students. 

Art2Unite: Cross-curricular collaboration (History, Cultural Studies, Government, and Art) between schools from the United States, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. Student will use art to express important cultural values of their nation and engage with each other to better understand different values (e.g. US students created artistic displays to convey the meaning of the Core Democratic Values and the Constitution)

Legacy Art Park: Cross-curricular collaborative initiative founded on the objectives of The Michigan Legacy Art Park. Focused on using art to inspire learning a broad range of core curriculum subjects.  Utilized virtual environments to engage with professional artist and diverse student groups from around the world to increase cultural perspectives and awareness.

Intercultural Education Alliance (IEA):  A global gathering of educational institutions and agencies that recognize the power of their collective expertise to initiate programs and research which will enrich the future of education and cultural collaboration. (see website)

International Student Council:  Student Leadership organization being developed to address global issues and empower students to powerfully impact their community, their county, and collectively the world.  The following two projects are being developed for implementation in the fall of 2004.

• World Water Watch: Students in schools around the world will select a body of water local to their community.  They will work with water quality professionals to test the water, develop and initiate a plan of action to improve the water, work to develop learning resources and promote knowledge transfer that will  promote the global importance of  water quality improvements.

• World Culture Club:  Develop and sustain an online community of students and educators from many countries that work to expand global  connections and cultural understanding.  Students from various countries will create cultural learning displays and invite cultural experts to into the community to provide rich opportunities for deepening cultural awareness.

Kaleva Norman Dickson School District (Brethren, MI 6/00 – 8/03)
Educational Technology Instructor, High School (Multimedia Productions, Internet & Web Design, Advanced Computer Technology, Government, History)

~ District Webmaster (K-12)
~ District Technology Committee, High School Chairman
~ Varsity Football, Head Coach
~ Varsity Volleyball, Head Coach
~ Coordination of online resources for school and community interests
~ Extensive work relating to district staff educational technology integration
~ Grant writing, school improvement , ITI, Professional Development Training

Contact: Kaleva Norman Dickson Schools (231)477.5353
Principal: Mr. Wayne Bernier
Athletic Director: Mr. Marlen Cordez

Manitowoc Public School District (Manitowoc, WI 8/99 – 6/00)
Physical Education Teacher, High School

~ Varsity Football, Defensive Coordinator
~ Varsity Girls Track, Head Coach
~ Member of Physical Education Curriculum Restructuring Team
~ Swimming Instructor for Red Cross Swimming Certification Program
~ Extensive Work with Internet Technology Integration, SASI   Attendance, Intergrade - Pro

Contact: Manitowoc Public School District (920)686.4777
Principal: Mr. James McCartney (retired)
Athletic Director: Mr. Art Schneider (retired)

Traverse City Public Schools (Traverse City, MI 1/97 – 7/99)
Social Studies Teacher – High School (Student Senate, History, Global Studies, Economics)

~ Physical Education Teacher, Elementary (at-risk populations)
~ Varsity Football, Defensive Coordinator
~ Varsity Girls Track, Assistant Coach
~ Trojan Pride Spirit Committee & NCA Goal Committee to Expand
Student Involvement

Contact: Traverse City Area Public Schools (231)933.1710
Principal: Mr. James Rossi (retired)
Athletic Director: Mr. John Sonneman

Marcellus Public Schools (Marcellus, MI 8/95 – 1/97)
Physical Education Teacher, K-12

~ Varsity Football, Head Coach
~ Junior Varsity Volleyball, Head Coach
~ Varsity Track, Assistant Coach
~ Social Studies Teacher, Summer School (History, Government)
~ District Communications Committee
~ District Technology Committee for NCA Accreditation

Contact: Marcellus Public Schools (269)646.5081
Former Principal: Mr. Steve Lorenz (moved)
Athletic Director: Dave Decou (retired)
 

I feel that one of my greatest strengths as an educator is my ability to think about things: ideas, peoples' concerns, conflicts and develop innovative and engaging learning opportunities from these thoughts.  I think this is a gift I have acquired by placing myself in situations where I am challenged to learn and grow.  I sincerely believe that almost all transformative learning is intrinsic learning...learning that is wrapped up in the search for who we are and who we are hoping to become.

I have somehow always arrived at positions of leadership with the things I have been involved in.  Maybe I migrate toward this position within a group or maybe it is something that I was conditioned to seek out.  As a child I can't recall a team I was on that I wasn't the captain of, or a committee I have served on where I wasn't leading the way.  I'm rarely passive about the things I engage in.  At the same time, my  success in  positions of leadership has resulted from the deep interest I have in being an important 'part' of the team.  By important I mean that I find great reward in life comes from the opportunity to help others accomplish things they might not have thought possible or that as individuals, would never have been possible.

I have often sought out professional experiences to coach and feel most engaged in team environments.  I grew up being part of many teams; my mother a P.E. teacher and my father a coach.  I was involved in a sport or extra-curricular team throughout most of my formal years of education. Our family still keeps the leather chair in our living room that I ate dinner in almost every night ... home late after practices and long after our family had eaten at the table, my parents would ask about the day. 

That much of anything probably influences how a person sees the world.  I was fortunate that so many of the coaches I knew were exceptional teachers.  They were the kind of people that felt competition and winning were things that took care of themselves, but that character, pride, and commitment were foundations for a lifetime of success.  I remain friends with a good number of these people even today.  My high school football coach is now my father-in-law and I've not met a person of stronger character and honor, nor a better teacher and leader (although my mother is a strong rival for this position).  I feel fortunate that I am surrounded by and have been by many people of great 'human' wealth.

To me coaching and teaching are the same. I've never felt sports or academics or work were things to be divided from one another in terms of their learning potential.  They all represent opportunities for growth; all are arenas for inspiring high expectations, learning to contribute to something greater than ourselves, and places we can learn to grow from mistakes. 

'Coach' represents the type of teacher or co-worker I have strived to become, maybe the only type of person I've ever known how to be.  Not surprisingly, I have leaned toward instructional pedagogy that involves teams of people working together, worked to involve the community in my learning environments, expected assistant coaches (mentors/student leaders) to play important roles in the team's success, set goals, and readied 'players' for important performances in life.

The benefit of thinking and working in this manner is that current trends in educational theory and practice have sought to involve instructional practices that more reflect instructional pedagogy attributed to coaches.  This 'coaching style' has always fit in with Dewey's pragmatic/progressive learning theory, Maslow's theory of development toward self actualization, McGregor's Theory Y and the intrinsic motivation of individuals engaged in work, Bloom's Taxonomy, Vygotsky's social constructivism and Zones of Proximal Development, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, etc..  Each embedding instruction in learner-centered environments, recognizing the inherent differences in learners and tailoring instruction to individuals to enhance their contributions to collective knowledge and collective capacities.

As a teacher, mentor, colleague, and coach I offer a wealth of experience and have shown through my professional capacities to be highly effective in diverse and demanding educational roles. As the division between learning and working blurs and life-long learning becomes a function of productivity for all individuals, I feel that the diversity in my professional experiences is a unique asset I can offer to a team.

I'll finish with two quotes from Parker Palmer's book The Courage to Teach, representing beliefs that are at the heart of why I am committed to the profession of educating.

"My focus on the teacher may seem passé to people who believe that education will never be reformed until we stop worrying about teaching and focus on learning instead.  I have no question that students who learn, not professors who perform, is what teaching is all about: students who learn are the finest fruit of teachers who teach. . . . I am also clear that in lecture halls, seminar rooms, field settings, labs, and even electronic classrooms—the places where most people receive most of their formal education—teachers possess the power to create conditions that can help students learn a great deal—or keep them from learning much at all. Teaching is the intentional act of creating those conditions, and good teaching requires that we understand the inner sources of both the intent and the act."

"Our tendency to reduce teaching to questions of technique is one reason we lack a collegial conversation of much duration or depth.  Though technique-talk promises the "practical" solutions that we think we want and need, the conversation is stunted when technique is the only topic: the human issues in teaching get ignored, so the human beings who teach feel ignored as well.  When teaching is reduced to technique, we shrink teachers as well as their craft--and people do not willingly return to a conversation that diminishes them."