At the end of summer.....

Silver Lace drapes across my arbor, making entrance into my home a mystical experience

Great News for COSL

As some of you might know, I work as a Research Assistant for Center for Open and Sustainable Learning, with Dr. Dave Wiley. This link tells how we finally got the Utah Legislature to give us money to develop more classes (open courseware). This is an exciting event for all of us!!!!!!

http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/311

I have developed one of those courses that is online, that teaches you about Web2 things, such as podcasting, screencasting, mashups, folksonomies, social software, bla, bla, bla.

http://ocw.usu.edu/Instructional_Technology/new-media

Such a Long Time!!!

I am in my second semester of a PhD. It has been a very busy year. I am also serving as Vice President of the Instructional Technology Student Association, which has proven to be a very productive and active group. We are producing a Journal, sponsoring Professor Presentations (Professors from around the country in my field), Informal nights at Professors homes, Brown Bag presentations, search for a new Professor, and a search for a new Department Head. The most exciting thing for me is the direction my group, COSL,is going, thanks to our 'leader', Dr. Dave Wiley. We have taken on a project in the Himalaya's, (Kathmandu and four other villages) thanks to Tiffany Ivins (a member of my cohort and COSL). She and her new husband Mitchel set up some computer/technology training centers while there in December. In May, a team of us will be there for further research, and to help set up 4 more centers, as well as conduct instruction. The project is very unique. Our intention is to build it so it can be easily replicated in other third world countries. I hope to be able to take this to some of the countries where my heart still lingers to be, such as the Dominican Republic.

One never knows, this early in the PhD, but I will venture to say that my research is centered around elder populations (such as myself) and using computer games to enhance lives mentally, physically, and socially. I am in a games class now, learning to build games. I know this is a computer resistant population, but because there is tremendous benefit, I am looking for ways to convince baby boomers of the importance of computer games, and turn the producers of this culture toward the later-life learners, whose numbers exceed the youthful. I will be working on a few pilot projects before I jump in. If anyone has any useful suggestions - I am listening.