Professional Experience -Virginia Montecino

Hello, I am Virginia Montecino, and I retired in June, 2004 from teaching at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia, where I taught since 1985. My most rewarding teaching experiences occured when I was a visiting assistant professor at New Century College, an integrative studies, learning community model of education at GMU.

I have been involved in enhancing teaching and learning with technology for many years. I created numerous Web-based "How-to" guides and resources. I designed a computer-mediated, distance learning advanced composition curriculum (See related article .).

I incorporated many Internet based teaching and learning activities into my classroom practice, both in real-time classes and in asynchronous, distance learning classes.

I taught courses on Information in the Digital Age, Internet Literacy, Cyberculture and Virtual Communities, Introduction to Computer Science, Advanced Composition for Science Majors, technical writing, literature, and multidisciplinary courses. My Web site has extensive material pertinent to teaching and learning with technology.

Courses:
	Past semesters

Presentations:
2004	AACU (American Association of Colleges and Universities) conference on "PRACTICING LIBERAL EDUCATION: Deepening Knowledge, Pursuing Justice, Taking Action." Presented with Lesley Smith and Jim Young on "The Learner-Centered Classroom: How Teaching with Technology Transforms Theory into Practice: Teaching with technology drives faculty to move beyond the now "safe" model of learner-centered teaching in which faculty authority can easily remain largely unchallenged into a more experimental model where they share authority with their students, Washington, D.C, Jan. 23.
2003	AAHE (American Association of Higher Education) - Presented with Lesley Smith and Jim Young on "Sustaining Innovation: Grass Roots Faculty Leadership for Change" (http://classweb.gmu.edu/nccassess/aahe/), based on our College of Arts and Sciences "Technology Across the Curriculum" grant. We also conducted a workshop which modeled the principles of exchange, collaboration and authority sharing, that support successful technology-enriched teaching and curriculum design, Washington D.C., March 15
2001	WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum Conference) Writing, Teaching and Learning in New Contexts, Indiana University, June 1, 2001, Session 7D - Writing In and Across New Contexts.
2000	"Technology: A Service Learning Tool to Bridge the Digital Divide," for Bridging the Gap: Service Learning To Social Justice, June 2000, at the National Gathering of the Invisible College For Service Learning Educators, Georgetown University. Presented with Molly Davis, Social Work, on student service learning projects - my students in NCLC 249 - Internet Literacy, tutored students in technology skills at non-profit computer learning centers.
1999	VAG (Virginia Assessment Group) Conference on "The Assessment of IT Literacy in a Learning Community at GMU" - presented with James Young, Williamsburg, VA, Nov 5, 1999.
	NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English - 4Cs. Chaired" Making the Invisible Visible in the Paradoxical Intimacy / Distance Environment of a Web-based Composition Class - Atlanta, March 1999.
1998	CPSTC (Council for Programs in Scientific and Technical Communication) presented with Jim Henry on "A 7:1 Student/Teacher Ratio at a State University? A Virtual Environment in a Technical Writing Course Makes it Possible . . . ," See Mason Gazette article.)
1997	E-Mail, the WEB, and MOOs: Developing the Writing Skills of University Students in Cyberspace" - by the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area
	"Worried in Cyberspace: Asynchronous Anxiety," TCC - Online Conference, sponsored by Kapi'olani Community College, Hawaii, for Trends and Issues in Online Instruction
	"Composition in Cyberspace " for "Astride the Divide: Mapping New Rhetorical Spaces in the Teaching of Composition," Third Epiphany Institute Project.
	4Cs (Conference on College Composition and Communication) "Teaching teachers CMC techniques for classroom practice" - Conference on College Composition and Communication, NCTE, Phoenix.
	George Mason University GMU TV panel on Distance Learning
1996	MAACW (Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Computers and Writing - presentation on distance learning, computer-mediated English 302- Advanced Composition (pedagogy and technology)
	Facilitator for Teaching and Learning with Technology Roundtable's, affiliated with AAHE.
	Presented on distance learning English 302 to members of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council

Grants:

College of Arts and Sciences Technology Across the Curriculum grant (Oct. 2001) - with Lesley Smith and Jim Young - for a New Century College-wide project to survey faculty about their IT enriched learning goals, to build on the integrated technology sequences in New Century College first year learning communities, to develop guidelines for electronic portfolios and to develop an electronic presentation of learning.

George Mason University, College of Arts and Sciences Technology Across the Curriculum grant (Dec. 1999) - with Jim Young and Lesley Smith - to develop ways to assess the impact of information technology on students' ability to learn.

Writing Across the Curriculum grant (Nov. 1999) - with Ashley Williams - to develop a text-based faculty guide for writing in learning communities and an Online Writing Guide for New Century College Students. (See related Mason Gazette article.)

Participant in Celebration of Learning grant project (1999) on "Crossing the Digital Divide Through Service Learning," initiated by Dr. Molly Davis, Dept. of Social Work to "develop technology transfer strategies for linking GMU students with community agencies through service learning. As part of Molly Davis's project, students in my NCLC 249 - Internet Literacy class, provided technology outreach to students at community sites to improve technology literacy in the community.

College of Arts and Sciences grant (March 95) - with Mary Lou Crouch - for curriculum development for computer-mediated Distance Learning English 302. (See related article.)

Former GMU Positions:
Education technology specialist for the College of Arts and Sciences - Along with my teaching responsibilities, my job included researching teaching and learning with technology and helping faculty envision ways to enhance their teaching with technology. For example, I taught faculty how to create Web pages and how to facilitate class discussion using computer-mediated communication mediums.

Assistant Undergraduate Coordinator, English Department - I advised secondary education English majors and evaluated transfer credits.

Committee work:
Member of NCC Council for Bachelor of Individualized Study (BIS); BIS liaison for New Century College. Past committee work: Served on a faculty panel in Jan 2002 to establish standards for a technology test to measure student technology competencies (in response to a charge from the State Council of Higher Education); English Department composition committee, GMU distance learning task force.

Consulting:
Review manuscripts on topics such as Internet literacy, digital information, teaching and learning with computer-mediated communication, writing across the curriculum. Evaluate computer-mediated communication software programs and user manuals for applications such as: Norton Textra Connect, University On Line, 6th Floor Media's Commonspace, Daedalus. Contribute content to online educational sites, such as Blackboard.com.

Publications:
Case study on experiential learning in chapter called "Utilizing Case Studies to Link Theory to the Service Learning Experience, " Oates, K.K. and Leavitt, L.H. (2003) Learning Communities and Service Learning: Integration and Assessment. AACU Washington, D.C.; Inventio (ejournal) review titled "Multi-Layered Literacy," of Global Literacies and the World Wide Web, by Hawisher and Selfe ; Response to Media Bytes: Computers, Writing & Distance Learning in English Matters (Issue 3); Web sites: Online Writing Guide for New Century College Students (See related Mason Gazette article.)

Online References to my work:
References

Professional Affiliations:
Conference on College Composition and Communication, Educause, Epiphany Institute, HTML Writers' Guild.

Favorite Hobby:
Gardening

updated Feb 2009