Showcase of Works

Never Stop Learning from Pixabay

Never Stop Learning

As a small child I aspired to be a cartoonist and work for Hanna-Barbera Productions. Saturday mornings consisted of watching cartoons from the moment I got up. I excitedly got out of bed and ran to the television to get a dose of The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, the list goes on. I would endlessly daydream about one day working as an artist for a living.

Why is this important? What does this have to do with teaching, learning, and making? Everything in my opinion. I would spend hours drawing, practicing, reading "How To Draw Cartoons" books, watching videos, creating, honing skills, and studying different techniques. Little did I know that my Saturday morning routine of daydreaming, tinkering, learning, exploring, playing, teaching, and creating as a young child would shape who I am today as well as provide a solid foundation for my profession and beliefs.

I did not become a cartoonist and I don't work for Hanna-Barbera Productions but I am a designer, student, educator, thinker, tinkerer, techie, and maker. Below you will find a showcase of my work divided between Teaching, Learning, and the Maker Culture & Makerspaces. It's in these areas that have had the most impact on personal and professional life and have molded me into the person that I am today.

Teaching

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener." - Robert Frost
21st Century Lesson Plan - CodePen and Google+

21st Century Lesson Plan

Let's play, create, and share in the cloud! This artificat demonstrates my ability to construct a lesson plan focused around teaching pair programming, which is widely used within the programming industry. This also demonstrates my understanding of Google+ and CodePen technologies and how they may be used in real-world scenarios. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

The Wicked Problem - Teaching Complex Thinking

A Wicked Problem

This website artificat demonstrates my ability to work in a team setting, conduct research, collaborate with my peers, and effectively communicate my personal experiences to find a solution to the wicked problem of teaching complex thinking and reasoning in order to prepare students to solve complex problems creatively, effectively organize their ideas, and then successfully communicate them to others. There is a solution! Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Problem of Practice (PoP)- Increasing Student Retention in Online Courses

Problem of Practice (PoP)

This artifact demonstrates my understanding of the five stages of the Design Thinking process my ability to apply the Stanford Design Thinking model as a guide in examining the different ways to improve student retention in online courses. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Online Course Module within the Canvas LMS - Macomb Community College

Teaching Students Online

This website artifact demonstrates my ability to set up an OCM (Online Course Module) within a LMS (learning management system) for teaching students and supporting their learning in an online learning evironment using discussion forums, hands-on learning activities, student-to-student and teacher-to-student collaboration, and interactive assignments. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Learning

"The expert at anything was once a beginner." - Helen Hayes
Learning with Novices & Experts

Novices & Experts

This artifact demonstrates my ability to recognize and define the differences between novice and expert students and how each can complement each other's learning which in turn, can alter their perceived way of entering into a situation based on their understanding of new ideas. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Networked Learning Project - Apps on Apple

Networked Learning Project

This artifact demonstrates my ability to use YouTube and Online Help Forums technologies to learn and teach myself something new that I have always wanted to learn. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Makey Makey Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning

This artifact demonstrates my ability to learn a new technology and use an invention kit to unite Maker Education and personalized learning environments through the use of technology to expose learners to basic programming techniques and to interact with technology by creating a computer interface in order to help students make the connection between programming and computers. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Creativity in Song

Assessing Creativity

This artifact demonstrates my ability to read and extract key concepts from a professionally written article about Assessing Creativity by Susan M. Brookhart and then write a song based on my understanding and assessment. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

The Maker Culture and Makerspaces

"We are makers and shapers and put-it-togethers." - Dale Dougherty
Scratching

A Space for Making

This artifact demonstrates my research, statistical analysis, and communication skills that focuses on Makerspaces, specifically the obstacles that inhibit people from attending a Community College Makerspace. This research serves as a foundation for building upon and enhancing the recently established Makerspace at Macomb Community College. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Are YOU a Maker?

The Maker Movement & Makerspaces

This artifact demonstrates my ability to assemble a variety of resources, conduct research to locate statistics, and create a visual representation of the Maker Movement and expansion of Makerspaces along with its impact on 21st Century learning. Read the details on my blog or view the artifact below.

See the Artifact!

Attributions:
Dougherty, D. (2011, January). We are makers [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/dale_dougherty_we_are_makers
Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.
▲