Personal Information

"You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play." ~ Warren Beatty

I live in Inyokern, California, which is located at the base of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. I share my life with a mad scientist and eight wonderful and quickly growing children (Andy, 20; Kymberly, 17; Emilee, 11; Rachel, 10; Cassie, 9; Matt, 8; Gabe, 7; and Adam, 2). We have about a dozen goats, a flock of chickens that lay blue and green eggs, a golden retriever, a Queensland Heeler, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and 7 cats (at last count). To say the least, it's a zoo around here!

I completed my MA in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University in July 2003. My main focus was researching how to foster communities of practice in my classes and among the faculty that I mentor. I enjoyed all of my courses, but felt like I gained the most from the Leadership and Technology, Mentoring, and Managing Technologies for Changes classes. I was asked to continue my affiliation with Pepperdine by facilitating the "Introduction to Distributed Learning Environments" course that introduces the new cadre of students to the program each summer. It has been one of the best academic adventures I have ever been honored to be a part of!

I took the scenic route to my bachelor's degree at California State University, Fresno. After 9 years, I graduated with a degree in Linguistics and a minor in English. I stayed at home with little kids for a while, substitute teaching K12 for a couple of years. In January 1997, Porterville College hired me to create an Intro to Internet class. I accepted a full time faculty position there in June 2001 and and grew the distance ed program 300% in two years. I have been a full time professor at Cerro Coso Community College since the fall 2004 semester and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work at a school that will allow me to pursue my first passion, teaching, while putting me to good use in their distance education program. I love living in the high desert of California, and although some people say this is the middle of nowhere, I prefer to think of it as being in the center of everywhere!

One of my latest projects at Cerro Coso involves LEGO Robotics. LEGO? In college? Heck ya! LEGO robotics addresses the STEM standards (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), inspires reflective thinking, problem solving, and finding creative solutions. It gives students real world experience in comuter programming and collaborative team work. It just doesn't get any better than that! Last spring we did a robotics demonstration for local high school kids, took on a challenge in the intro to computers class, and showed 5th graders that college can be a lot of fun. I was accepted into the LEGO NXT pilot program for the fall 2006 semester and we will be testing the new curriculum created by Carnegie Mellon University. I applied for $9000 college grant to buy more robotics equipment and we have launched the Abandon Lego Rescue Effort in an effort to collect legos that aren't being used anymore. We have plenty of friends for them to play with here!

In the Spring of 2007, I jumped into virtual environments. I am piloting Second Life as a place to bring together my online and on-campus computer science students, in a community building space where they can communicate and collaborate on projects. In the last semester or two, my LEGO robotics project has become the catalyst that blends academic and social learning theory in a way that fosters an energetic, self-motivated community of learners. I am looking for another activity that could bring the online students into that fold, beyond robotics. From what I have seen of Second Life, this might just be the place.

I'm not interested in erecting building that mimic what we have on campus. I would like to see this as an innovate learning space where students are able to not only chat (because we can do that in TI), but where they can create their own learning experiences and construct their own knowledge in collaboration with others. In the short time that a few of my students have had access to Second Life, they have taken on the design and implementation of their own learning projects, apparently engaged by the sense of presence they feel when there and the tools available to help them implement the things they imagine. I am hoping to take the experiences from our spring semester in Second Life to use as a case study when making the argument that this would be a good project to support. I see great possibilities here. The thing I think I am most excited about is that I'm not even sure what the full potential of SL is all about, but that I have a group of students that is willing to take a trip with me to find out. It's a very cool thing to be a part of :)

I am faculty advisor for our computer science club, Students Intrigued by Technology, a group that is facilitating building a community of learners among my college students. This past year we hosted a large demonstration at the Desert Empire Fair, gave outreach demonstrations to local elementary and high school students, participated in campus and community activities, and generally had a great time doing all of it!

Lots of work... lots of hard fun... lots of learning going on here. What is my goal? To get these students excited about learning, to give them hands-on experience in programming, to build a community of practice that supports students in pursuits, and to encourage them to consider a technology-related academic and career path. I love visiting the high schools and working with the youth to get them interested in what we are doing at the college. I have participated in two Expanding Your Horizons workshops, in Ridgecrest and in Visalia, to show young women that technology can be a career option for them as well. I am also a participant in the Virtual High School program we are doing with school districts in our service area, teaching the How to Be A Successful Online Student class to over 200 teenage students so far. I am looking forward to participating in the "Project Lead the Way" program as part of the State of California "Strengthening Career Technical Education" grant awarded to Cerro Coso and Sierra Sands Unified School District this year. It's going to be another busy year!

I LOVE teaching and really love teaching geeks, geek-wanna-be's, and technophobes. It is amazing to have this much fun and actually get paid for it. I like to read history-related books, hanging out in the goat pen, training and competing with dogs (agility and obedience), and learning new web design tricks. One thing I really enjoyed in the past was raising a couple of guide-dog puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafeal. That was a wonderful project! Chocolate makes me a happy camper, and Ghirardhelli Mint Chocolate makes me a VERY happy camper!