Professional Experiences

I call this section 'My Real World Experience' not to imply that what I am doing now is something other than real world, but to emphasize that in my work as a health physicist, education was not at the forefront. It was a reactive, crisis oriented business. Any preventative measures such as those afforded by education, were considered a waste of time. As a matter of fact, anything to do with non-science stuff like conducting radiation safety workshops was not a desirable task for a health physicist. I bought into this because, really, I didn't think of myself as an educator. My degree was from an engineering school where even the English majors were subjected to attending classes in buildings named after the famous astronaut alumni!

This was my first professional experience, right out of college. The field of health physics at that time was a predominantly male profession, filled with those who worked at the bomb test sites in Los Alamos and who frequently bore the scars of radiation exposure. Not having those scars of experience and being the first woman health physicist at the facility, I was given the job no one wanted: training. This included working with all medical personnel and research staff, housekeeping staffs, FedEx deliverymen, and building contractors. My students ranged from the highly educated to high school drop-outs. Without realizing it, I was starting to develop the notion of creating individualized education to meet the variety of needs at the medical facility. It was also my baptism into the world of standards and accreditations.Rewriting the radiation safety training procedures to match up with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards became a part of my work. I instituted hands-on activities and lab assignments that simulated real world problems to help my x-Ray technology students become more prepared for entering the work place.

This position was also my first experience at collecting and analyzing data. In the mid 1980's, we did not have the use of computers or software that could easily calculate patient radiation doses and survey results. Analyzing data was a tedious job but also one in which I was able to make decisions when computerized results and rules were not present. As assistant radiation safety officer at a Type-A broad scope licensed facility by the NRC, I was often able to make my own rules. I used lots of informal, impressionistic, and self-regulatory knowledge (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993) in those days and as I proved myself over time, was valued as an expert in the field.

While these experiences gave me ideas about teaching and research, none influenced me more than the radiation safety workshops for the night shift nursing staff. As I was escorted by a policeman into the hospital from the parking lot, a practice necessitated by the gang flare-ups that routinely occurred outside of the emergency room, the question arose about how night shift training or even all training for busy medical personnel could be done in a more convenient manner. How could I teach radiation safety to nurses without taking them away from their floor duties? More importantly, how could I conduct this workshop at a safer and more convenient hour for everyone? I merely had a sense but no solutions that something needed to be done to allow more flexibility in my training program. I can clearly see now how an online learning environment would be a terrific solution.

I learned during my 10 years as a stay-at-home parent that if I wanted to have any influence in my children's schools, I had to get involved. My position as an Instructional Assistant assigned to the computer lab opened my eyes to the issues surrounding technology integration. I saw countless numbers of computers unused. I saw teachers afraid to use the technology for their own use and with their students. In my job as a health physicist, I had to teach people to respect radiation not to fear it. I knew that I could do the same with teachers and technology. I had gained the trust of the teachers by being a supportive parent and I vowed to support them in their quest to use technology in their practice.

To this day I am not sure how the advertisement for the GMU ITS Master's cohort made its way into my school mailbox. I was exhuberant about what I was learning. The concepts all made sense and I became an evangelist for the program. I finally saw myself as the adult educator that I had been all along in my previous career. As an Instructional Assistant, I was able to implement much of what I was learning in the ITS program and teachers began to see that if an IA could do it, they could do it. I was seeing change happening both in attitude and technology use. I attributed my success to the fact that I had never been entrenched into the school system as a teacher. I did not carry the baggage that comes from practicing in an unhealthy school culture. However, in my position, there was only so much I was able to do. I wanted to spend more time teaching teachers what I had learned in this amazing program. My Master's degree gave me empowerment and no longer was I satisfied to be the IA in the computer lab.

I began a position as an elementary School-Based Technology Specialist (SBTS) and went to work in a school where the staff claimed they were SBTS-abused by my predecessor and the Principal only asked that I train, train, train. I found that all I really needed to do was follow the model, coaching, and fading strategies that I learned in the ITS program and teachers would become independent. As I worked my way through the grade levels, sharing my knowledge, I wondered what would happen to me when I finally made them all independent. I was comforted in the fact that a new technology would emerge and I could begin all over. And with the start of my PhD, I would have the ability to engage them in research. However, opportunity knocked as I completed my first year as an SBTS. I often wonder what impact I was able to have in just that one year or if my sharing of Bruner's explanation of the difference between training and education stuck with my Principal.

My affiliation with GMU had not ended with my Master's. I continued on in the program as an expert mentor in the ITSOLC program, an online version of the face to face tools courses that I had completed. I was given the 'difficult' mentees and also had the opportunity to work with the Zoo and Aquarium Leadership (ZAL) students as they worked on the online courses. With the difficult mentees, I developed my online communication skills. It used to take me 2 hours to craft an email back in those days. I believe if I had the structure and knowledge of the ART of mentoring, things would have been easier. However, there is much to be said for exploring new territory alone especially when I knew I had the abilities and the confidence. With the ZAL students, I had to take the ITSOLC courses and modify assignments and discussion to fit the zoo and aquarium culture. I had to take my knowledge and extend into a different context. This was a challenge for me but by getting to know them through our online experiences, I soon developed an understanding about their work, their learning goals and their ideas about using technology in their practice. These students had interests in zoo education and some even worked with their community schools as part of their zoo affiliations.

In another online mentoring experience as part of my GRA, I worked with The Online Academy teachers in The Online Academy for Teachers courses. This was another experience in which I was entering new waters. This was a new program and I would be working with High School teachers. My experience had been solely with elementary teachers. Not only that I was assigned to a former Virginia Teacher of the Year. It was a time to really work on extending my knowledge.

My faculty position began in June 2005. After two years as an adjunct in the ITS face to face programs, I was excited to work fulltime in a program I was (still am) passionate about. I am in a true Apprenticeship situation. I am learning about teacher education by teaching in higher education. Sometimes it is difficult to tell where my job ends and where my PhD. begins. This is what enculturation is and my experience has shown me the value of the situated learning concepts I teach to teachers. It is what continues to stir my passion for this program and how important it is in school reform.

My faculty position has afforded me lots of opportunities in addition to teaching in the cohort groups both online and face to face. I have had two collaborative research experiences. The experiences were very different in that for one, we divided up the data analysis duties; I took the qualitative data because I had just finished EDRS 812- I guess that made me the expert! and my co-researcher took on the quantitative data. We wrote our own results and conclusions for the data we analyzed. We did most of the work through email. We met up at the conference and did a successful presentation. It was my first time presenting at an International conference and being a bit nervous I rehearsed. I was glad I did because I think it took the scariness out of the whole experience and I even was confident enough to field questions. In the second experience my collaborator and I worked together, side-by-side throughout the entire process. In this way I felt we wrestled with the data more since both of us had input and one of us (not me) was more experienced at data analysis. It was a good experience in collaborating with a colleague. This paper will be presented in March 2007 and it is my first paper to be sent to a journal.

Another highlight has been co-teaching with Priscilla in the King George cohort. I learn something new each time...a new way to present material, a new story that relates to technology. I'm not sure how I haven't managed to hear it all before but Priscilla has an amazing ability to breath new life into things. I have especially found value in our long drives to and from King George. I have learned many things and have seen old things in a different way through the windshield of that Malibu.

This year was my faculty portfolio review. It was also the first year I had to complete the self-reporting evaluation form. I found this to be a wonderful experience and gave me a sense of appreciation for the review process. Reflecting on my teaching practice made me realize that I had teaching philosophies! It also showed me areas in which I could improve. I didn't realize how much I had accomplished in one year and on top of my PhD. studies! Now, I wonder how I will top all of this for next year. Most important, is this was writing exercise which gave me practice in formulating my own ideas in a clear and concise manner.

One of the most exciting and thrilling experiences in my work is the creation of new courses. This year, Priscilla and I have worked together to redesign the ITS Leadership course and design a new course that incorporates wikis, blogs, and podcasting. The greatest part about it all was the conversations we had about the best uses for the tool, challenging each other's thinking and ending with a well-designed course. I have the opportunity to teach this course on my own. I would definitely enjoy co-teaching as that is the way I prefer to teach, but this is the chance for me to work on my goal to be more independent in my teaching. I will build my persona as an instructor and build my credibility as a scholar. To see my name on a syllabus fills me with a great sense of responsibility, accountability and challenge. To be trusted, to have my knowledge and teaching skill to be trusted means the world to me as I near the end of my coursework in the PhD program and start the dissertation phase.

Teaching a new course with new tools is so motivating! I can hardly wait for the semester to begin and to work right along with the students as they transform. To be able to talk the talk about wikis, blogs, and podcast, I have some learning and experiencing to do before classes begin. Just as I ask my students to experiment with the tool, I need to do the same. I have found that students find comfort in the fact you don't know everything and you are learning along with them. But I need to keep just one step ahead of them. I like teaching this way best because no matter how enthusiastic I get about teaching material I've grown comfortable with, there isn't the same energy projected as when I am teaching something new. When teaching a new tool I know my pace is slower, my cognitive mentoring covers all the bases. In teaching about a new tool with the tool, there's always that uncertainty you might make a mistake, might not know where a particular feature is, or how to get from point A to point B. I've grown comfortable making mistakes in front of students because it shows that I am really just like them in many ways. I can share fresh stories about what it was like the first time I worked with the tool, the things I thought about the tool and maybe how I wrestled with the tool's value in education. It is a way for me to empathize with them.

With my responsibilities growing as my knowledge and experience grows, I embrace every moment. In all of my professional experiences I have been lucky to have a true mentor. I believe this is a reason why I am so drawn to the mentoring experience in both online and face to face environments. I see the positive transformations that occur in a nurturing mentor-mentee relationship and how the world of education is better for it. I would not be doing what I am doing if I didn't have the support and opportunities provided by my mentor. There are no other footsteps I'd rather walk in and beside.

As part of my faculty position, I was invited to join the ITS team on a teaching experience in Macedonia. After we all looked at the map and saw where it was in the world, we began the workshop design process. Every successful workshop begins with a well-designed plan and we were very successful in our goals to share some of the ITS experience with selected members of the Pedagogical Faculties in Macedonia. With two workshops behind us and a few participants continuing on through the ITSOLC program, I know we succeeded in impacting several of the teaching practices. It is difficult to know however, exactly what the impact continues to be. While I am still working with a few of the participants in online courses, I know that at least two of them are using concepts from the workshop. In EDUC 873, Dr. Levy mentioned in a presentation that if only one individual is influenced by the exchange of knowledge in an in-country workshop, then that is a success. This one person can go on and touch hundreds of lives. This is what I believe our Vasko is doing. He is designing coursework for technology integration and he is teaching others the ideas he learned in our four weeks together.

The Macedonia ITS workshops were unique in that the country is poised for change and the participants are ready to make changes. The ITS program is grounded in good pedagogy. This gave the Macedonian teacher educators and our team a common ground and therefore a good working relationship. We were concerned at the onset that some of our activities might be offensive (take off your shoes, pose them on your computer, and use paint tools to draw them- we get a teacher every now and then who is embarrassed by that task!). We asked them to participate as if they were young learners, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators. They immediately understood the value in playing these roles. When we came together as educators any differences were gone. It was interesting to see that we continue to face the same problems that they complain about in terms of using technology in schools. They may have more extreme cases but we still have access troubles in the schools, we continue to have computers that are not turned on in the classroom, and we have many, many teachers who are not integrating technology in their classrooms.

I am not sure I learned anything about taking ITS on the road in a different setting or much about ITS and International Education but my work and relationship with the Macedonians continue. It may just be too soon to know anything. This experience as well as other International Education opportunities through coursework was documented in my Faculty Portfolio Review under Service.