Neal W. Anderson
David W. Brooks
Susan M. Caley
Steven E. Cederbloom
Jennifer R. Chase
Kathy E. Davis
Michael L. Dodge
Robert J. Doyle
Frank J. Giuliano
Susan A. Harthun
Robert L. Hasson
Valerie J. Hayward
Judy Hector
Anthony T. Jusick
Marie E. Lutz
Paul C. Madtes
Beverly A. Meyers
James E. Mitchell
Thomas C. Pentecost
Marlon O. Rhem
Jean Labriola Scholz
Gregory Schraw
Joseph P. Sedlacek
Haddock C. Snyder
Robert C. Weber
Helping students learn more effectively has been my goal for many years. Interest in the Michigan State Natural Science program led to participation in the Keller-Sherman system of personalized instruction for a number of years. That in turn led to trying the Guided Design approach for helping students make the transition from "teacher, tell me what you want me to know" toward becoming independent learners. I've participated as a reader, then table leader in reading the Advanced Placement Exam in biology since 1979, and will teach a workshop for AP teachers in Environmental Science this coming summer at my college. During these years there has been a transition in the objectives of AP from high levels of detail toward a much more conceptually-based approach. While AP is reflective of what is the goal of a college biology (or Environmental Science) course, in fact, the AP curriculum leads what is practiced in many colleges.
At the more personal level, Gemofer, my bride of some 37 years is an RN with a masters in Community Health. We have two children; Joanne is a high school PE instructor, and Sean is a sous chef at an area restaurant, and is about to produce our first grandchild. Avocational interests include participating in the Canadian Ski Marathon three weekends ago (50 miles); hiking 60 miles in Shenandoah National Park in January, and stuff like that.
One of the first things I ask of my students in many of the courses that I teach is the question "If I know your name do I know you?" and of course, the answer is no, there is much more to me than my name. That is also true of a "brief" biography, especially when one has been around for a number of years.
I'm looking forward to participating in my first on-line course, ever. nanderson@fsc.edu
David W. Brooks. I was raised in New York City and trained as a biochemist in the Columbia Chemistry Department. I met my wife, Helen, at Columbia --- she studied inorganic. I took my first job in Alaska, but moved to Texas A&M after one year. I still appreciate all Aggie jokes -- good and bad. Please, don't post bad ones! We moved to Nebraska in 1973. I was in chemistry here at UNL until 1984 when I switched to my current job. I teach technology courses at the graduate level. Mu current passion is a program of Web-based courses for high school chemistry teachers, a project just now getting underway. My interest in improving instruction runs very, very deep. A few years ago I met Greg Schraw, and he and I began a collaboration last year. We are tyring to use the Web as a dissemination and teaching vehicle. Helen runs a small business in which she makes CD ROMs for chemistry teachers. We have two kids. Dan is a physician in Madison, WI, and Eileen is a graduate student in Boston. I post more information at my Web site. dbrooks1@unl.edu
Susan Caley. I have been teaching Anatomy & Physiology for the past 4 years at Illinois Valley Community College (1 1/2 hours southwest of downtown Chicago). Since we have an open access college, you get a tremendous range of skills and abilities in our courses. It makes teaching a challenge, but at the same time it forces you to focus on your teaching techniques. I have my Masters in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where I focused on Ecology (specifically ornithology). While a graduate student, I taught AP labs, which is how I came to have my current position at IVCC.
I also act as a Faculty instructional technology support person here on campus. I help faculty with anything related to IT such as using software programs (spreadsheets for grading, etc...), designing Web pages, using Smart Classroom equipment, Internet topics, etc... This is my first semester in this capacity and I am enjoying it very much. We are currently planning a Summer Technology Institute for our faculty to be held this June.
I also work with middle school girls in our annual Math and Science Camp for girls that has just completed its second year this past weekend. It went very well. I partner with other IVCC faculty and SRAVTE (a local nonprofit organization) to bring experiences to area school girls that they normally wouldn't have. We will be planning to incorporate technology into the Math/Science camp in the future and will most likely be opening it up to boys and girls.
My personal hobbies include fitness and exercise, bird-watching, reading and traveling. I will be going to Jamaica May 7 to marry my fiance! We both enjoy traveling very much (especially to warm places!).
I have taken two Chautauqua courses prior to this and they were very beneficial to me as a teacher and scientist. I look forward to some stimulating discussions in the coming weeks! My Web site. caley@ivcc.edu
Steven Cederbloom. I was born in NYC but raised in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN. After studying physics and astronomy at Carleton College, I did my grad work in astronomy at Indiana U. I have been teaching at Mount Union College for 6 pi years now. Mount Union is a private, liberal arts college with about 2000 students. I am the junior half of the Physics and Astronomy Dept. - which means I'm the one who asks, "Why do we do it that way?" or "Why don't we try this?" I am a member of Project Kaleidoscope's F21 Network (see also the bio by Paul Madtes), and went on 2 Chautauqua courses last summer on radio astronomy (as did Bev Meyers). I teach mainly intro and upper-level astronomy/astrophysics, and upper-level physics. A couple of years ago, I team-taught a course entitled, "The Fate of Reality in the 20th Century" with an English prof and a Philosophy prof.
In the past, I was very involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, played in both the Big Ten and National Collegiate Ultimate Frisbee Championships, and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane (with a parachute!). In the future (July, to be specific), I am getting married and becoming a homeowner.
I am interested in the use of technology to supplement the learning/teaching processes. Image processing has become such a big deal in astronomy, and I am always looking for new ways to make or update the projects we do in both our intro astronomy and upper-level astro courses. Another reason for taking this course was a recent proposal to put together a few upper-level distance learning courses in physics & astronomy for students at the schools in a local coalition of small colleges. So I'm looking forward to seeing some of the possibilities of a web-based course! cederbse@muc.edu
Jennifer Chase. I was born in Massachusetts to teacher parents, moved to Arizona in high school, and went to college at Point Loma Nazarene College on the beaches of San Diego. My degree there was in biology/chemistry so I pursued Biochemistry and Biophysics at Yale for graduate school.
I've been teaching now for 2 1/2 years at Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho, having finished my PhD dissertation 2 years ago. I teach in the chemistry department, focussing on biochemistry courses plus general chem and some p-chem. My training has always been quite interdisciplinary, which means that I would like to begin teaching
in the biology department (in another year) and possibly some physics. We had good successthis year with an interdisciplinary topics courses: Muscle Biophysics (bio, chem and physics profs).
I am serving this year on a team of 6 faculty facilitators (3 ed, 3 sci) in working to make the education at NNC more "learner centered" as a helpful model to the pre-service teachers. It has opened my eyes to ways that teaching could be done better. My specific role as the youngster has been to work on the technology tools.... I have taught 1/3rd of the faculty how to use a web authoring tool to develop their course web sites as a learning tool. I signed up for this workshop because I expect to learn more about the practice of teaching. Also, I would like to experience, first-hand, a web based class.
I am already enjoying this web style course. I cannot remember a traditional course that intentionally planned for me to learn this much of the history of my classmates.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the name "Paul Madtes" in the course participants list. He was a professor of mine at Point Loma Nazarene College, one with whom I've continued to work through the years outside of academics. It seems to be a delightfully small world. jrchase@science.nnc.edu
Kathryn Davis. Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has been par to my life for many(24 )years. I have taken three leaves of absence in those years - one to complete a Masters in Mathematics and two to have my children, Jessica(a freshman at the University of Iowa, Iowa City) and Grant a freshman in high school.
Teaching and schools have been my life always. I grew up in Minnesota, where both my parents taught at Mankato State University, now Minnesota State at Mankato. My husband , Jim, is a junior high special education teacher and the family computer specialist.
My teaching interest include mathematics courses from Algebra through Calculus and Differential Equations. At present I am teaching Intermediate Algebra and Finite Mathematics.
Outside of school, I enjoy gardening including - vegetables, fruit trees and native prairie flowers and grasses. As a family we enjoy a yearly camping.canoeing trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe area of northern Minnesota, as well as trips to other parts of the country. I am always ready to embark on a trip. Next week we will be off to Washington DC for spring break.
I like new experiences, and that is part of the reason I am looking forward to this class. I like to try new ideas with my students. I look forward to participating in a class via the internet. kdavis@kirkwood.cc.ia.us
Michael Dodge. Where does a "brief biographical sketch" begin? I was born at Purdue University; lived my early years in Saginaw, Michigan and Titusville, Pennsylvania. High School in Denver, Colorado. Attended Alma College, Delta College, and University of Michigan (Architecture major, then Psychology). After a stint in the Army, including a year in Vietnam, I returned to U of M and found the University setting didn't suit me. So I headed west - to Western Washington State College in Bellingham. Took up Computer Science (yes- I was going to get a high paying programming job) but fell in love with Mathematics when I took an Abstract Algebra course. Throwing caution (and that mythical high paying job!) to the wind, I followed my passion, which led to a BS in Mathematics. I was enjoying myself so much I continued into the Master's program, and received my MA in Math. During grad school, I was a TA, and found that I loved teaching. Upon graduation, I searched for a Community College teaching job. I spent a year as an adjunct (part-time) instructor and when a full time position opened up, it was mine!
I've now spent 22 years teaching Math at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA (across the water from Seattle). I did take a few breaks. I was on sabbatical for a year at the Evergreen State College studying Computers, Cognition, and Modeling of the Mind. I also took a two year leave of absence to work for the state Community College system as Instructional Computing Coordinator. Currently, I am in my second year as Activity Director for a Title III grant, and president of our faculty union. Next year, I will return to the classroom - I miss it!
Over the past couple of years, my interest has been in how we model reality, and how this affects the teaching/learning process. Last year, as part of the Title III grant, I put together a series of faculty development workshops on Learning Styles (in the broad sense). They included personality types (Meyers-Briggs), Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, Kolb's learning model, brain research, modalities and preferences, and the connections between culture and learning styles. This Chautuaqua seems a natural progression of these topics. It is my first Web learning experience, an d I'm looking forward to it! mdodge@oc.ctc.edu
Robert Doyle. Hi, I'm Bob Doyle, here at Frostburg State University in Western Maryland. I teach in the Physics Department and I run the Planetarium (public and school programs). I have graduate degrees in Astronomy and I teach primarily lower level physical science courses to non science majors. I took Dr. Brook's and Schraw's course last year on the Web (as Bob Hasson) and it spurred a lot of innovations in my teaching during spring, summer, fall and intersession classes. I am particularly interested in working with students who lack motivation and are somewhat deficient in basic skills. Most of my teaching strategies are directed towards these students. I find that many physics strategies that are
touted widely (ex. non lecture classes using computer technology) presuppose a certain maturity level and background for the students. My course notes for my lecture class is on the web.
As to my outside interests, I write several newspaper columns (1 weekly, 2 monthly) on the sky. My Sunday planetarium programs focus on different cultures. My March program is on Chinese cosmology and sky myths. I visit about 15 local schools each year with a portable planetarium and see about 200 students per school in 30 minute presentations per class. R_DOYLE@fre.fsu.umd.edu
Frank Giuliano. My name is Frank Giuliano. I was born and raised near Buffalo, home of the Bills and the nine-month winter season. After receiving a B.S. in chemistry from RIT in Rochester and working at Xerox Corporation as a chemist, I went on to graduate school at Syracuse University. While working on my M.S. in chemistry, I realized that, although I enjoyed doing scientific research, I was much more interested in (and passionate about) teaching. After getting certified and teaching at the secondary level for a couple of years, I decided to pursue my doctorate in science education (also at Syracuse). For the last 2 years, I've been teaching at Westfield State College in Massachusetts. I teach the science methods courses for our middle and secondary school certification programs, as well as introductory science courses. My research interests are in cognition, problem solving, and chemistry education. I'm looking forward to learning a great deal from our discussions. fgiuliano@wisdom.wsc.mass.edu
Susan Harthun. Hello. We are just coming back to school after two snow days and I was greeted with a mailbox full of biographies. I am currently teaching mathematics at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I am in my second year at Kirkwood after teaching four years at Iowa Lakes Community College. I teach anything from Algebra through Differential Equations. I was born and raised in Iowa, growing up in Dubuque, receiving both degrees here (University of Northern Iowa) and now teaching. As you can see, I haven't moved around a lot. But I like it here in Iowa, even if it means tolerating a few snow days every year. (I do get out some - next week is our spring break and I am heading out to Boston).
What primarily caught my attention regarding this class is the delivery method. I have been "playing around" with the web, developing some activities for my classes using the internet and posting some class materials on my web page, but I have never been on the other end. I wanted to experience this from the students' perspective.
On the personal side, I was married last summer. The hardest adjustment was getting our two dogs to co-exist. Outside of school, my husband and our dogs, I like to do almost anything outdoors and various communtiy activities. Also, I try to find time to learn new things and improve upon my teaching skills. Because of those last two interests, I am very much looking forward to this course. sharthu@kirkwood.cc.ia.us
Bob Hasson. I am Bob Hasson, in Mathematics and Computer and Information Science at the College of San Mateo, a community college. San Mateo is 15 miles south of San Francisco and 35 miles north of San Jose. Actually, I am a transplanted Easterner, originally from Maryland (near DC) many years ago.
I teach all math levels between Arithmetic and Differential Equations and lately C++ programming as well. But my most enjoyable teaching experience this semester is a small seminar on teaching I am putting on for the student assistants in our Arithmetic/Pre-Algebra class, all of whom are planning to become teachers themselves.
I have always been very interested in getting the most learning possible from the students in my courses. This is a tall order, I think especially at a community college, for many reasons. So I have done a lot of reading, thinking, and experimenting over many years around how to do this. I've had notable failures and also notable successes. (Among others, frequent, cumulative testing is one strategythat has turned out to work well, cooperative learning has been another. Projects have so far been a washout.) A big part of this sort of professional growth for me is to take courses like this one to add to my stockpile of knowledge about learning and to exchange ideas with people like you. I will use the ideas I get to help me plan my next intervention (or series of interventions).
This is my second Web based course. Gregg Schraw and Dave Brooks did a somewhat different course on the Web last year in which I was a participant.
I look forward to working with all of you. hasson@smcccd.cc.ca.us
Valerie Hayward. I am Valerie Hayward from Seal Beach, California. As a professor of mathematics I teach full time at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa (near the John Wayne Airport.) I love teaching mathematics and doing so at a community college is,in my opinion, perfect. We teach a wide range of courses to a wonderful cross cultural mix of students. Orange Coast College is one of the oldest in California. We have one of the largest student populations and highest transfer rates in the California Community College system. I am a graduate of CSU Long Beach, receiving both BA and MA in mathematics. Completing my education while working and raising two children was a challenge, but one that was truly worthwhile. I just celebrated my 25th Anniversary (consecutive years with the same husband!) My son is a UCLA grad, newly married, and using his Civil Engineering by consulting for Anderson Consulting in Manhattan Beach. My daughter is a fourth year architecture major at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. My husband is CEO of a printed circuit boards service business in Santa Ana. When ever possible, I love to travel and enjoy visiting family and friends.
In addition to my teaching duties, I am currently the chairperson of the Curriculum Committee. One of our biggest challenges is the implementation of internet courses. To date we offer 15 of our regular courses using internet delivery. Internet delivery is still experimental in the eyes of the state regulations (Title V) and in the eyes of some of the colleges and universities to which our students transfer. I want to experience a short course with this method of delivery and hope to gain knowledge on what works, what doesn't work. Also, I am always motivated to teach my students to be better learners. I hope to gain new strategies.
I look forward to getting to know all of you through this course. I promise not to mention the warm, sunny, California weather too often! vhayward@cccd.edu
Judy Hector. My name is Judy Hector. I am the new kid on the block in that I met Susan Caley from your discussion group this past weekend at David and Helen Brooks Chautauqua on Building WWW-Sites to Support Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Courses. I have the advantage of possessing everyone else's biographies before writing mine. I hope to have time to read and catch up more tonight.
I grew up in Oregon on a farm with two brothers and a sister. My parents were resourceful, so we grew things, cooked from scratch, and built our own house. I realize now that mathematics and science came naturally because we had such a hands on approach that contrasts markedly with others I've encountered who grew up in cities in families with more financial and academic resources. My undergraduate degree in General Science from Oregon State University in 1965 gave me certification for high school mathematics teaching. Then I did a two year stint in the Peace Corps in Kumasi, Ghana teaching math at a Catholic girls secondary school. What a marvelous life-changing experience! I met my husband, Mark, there and also realized that I need to know much more about mathematics to be a good teacher. In the following years, I completed a masters degree at Michigan State, taught 4 years in a high school, moved to Tennessee, began community college teaching in 1973, adopted two daughters, and completed my Ed.D. in mathematics education at University of Tennessee. Now I am a grandma with 33 years of teaching experience who also puts in a lot of time on administration as Dean of Mathematics at Walters State Community College in East Tennessee not far from the Great Smoky Mountains. jhector@acad.wscc.cc.tn.us
Anthony Jusik. My name is Tony Jusick. I teach physics, advanced classical applied mathematics and introductory astronomy at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. This is a small liberal arts college of about 2000 students, actually the oldest university in Florida. This is my 33 year of teaching. I now think of teaching as a combination of a science and an art form. I think I personally have paid more attention to the art form aspect of it. I think most Ph.D.'s who come fresh out of graduate school approach it from this latter aspect. They consciously probably don't think of how they approach it at all. One hires someone and just assumes that they can teach. This is my first web based course. In fact that's what attracted me to it. The time scale looks long enough so that we can probably truly accomplish something. I am looking forward to participating. tjusick@stetson.edu
Marie Lutz. I am Marie Lutz, an associate professor of chemistry at New Hampshire Community Technical College in rural Stratham, NH. We are about 10 miles from the University of New Hampshire from which I received a MS in chemistry. While at the University I was a teaching assistant and taught the analytical and general chemistry laboratory. Before coming back to school I had taught HS chemistry and worked in quality control on solid rocket propellant.
Since graduating from graduate school I have worked in laboratory administration and research. The areas I have worked in are drinking water testing, printed circuit board processing and lithium ion battery development. I have done training of laboratory personnel and am excited for the opportunity to teach chemistry at a community college. This is my first year with the college. I use some of my industrial background for this position.
I am a member of the American Chemical Society and the National Microscale Chemistry Society. I recently atended a workshop on Microscale Chemistry Society. I use microscale chemistry in my laboratories whenever possible.
I live in Exeter, New Hampshire, with my husband who is an accountant. Our children are grown and we have a grandaughter who lives nearby. We like to take time to travel during the summer.
I look forward to learning more about teaching in this workshop. m_lutz@tec.nh.us
Paul Madtes. I am originally from the Middle Atlantic, being born in Pennsylvania, but have moved quite a bit going through my education. Prior to the present location of Ohio, I have lived in California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas. (I feel somewhat like being on a tour of the US.) I too am an Aggie, graduating with a Ph. D. in Biochemistry in 1980. I also completed a Ph. D. in biblical counseling from Trinity Theological Seminary in 1990. I met my wife while in Texas and have been married since 1981. We have two children, a girl who is nine and a boy who will soon be five (on Wednesday, which he reminds us several times each day).
I have been teaching undergraduates for 14 years (including Jennifer, who is one of the participants in this group) - four at Point Loma Nazarene College and ten here at Mount Vernon Nazarene College. (I also currently have two other former students in my department.) Presently, I teach full-time during the academic year in biology and collaborate on a research project at The Ohio State University studying the development of the nervous system. I also am the department chairman for the past five years.
I have been interested in science education reform, recently becoming active through Project Kaleidoscope Faculty for the 21st Century (through which I met Steven E. Cederbloom, who also is member). I have been active in guiding our department into exploring new ways of teaching science to undergraduate majors and non-majors. While I personally primarily teach upper division biology students in traditional settings, I am trying to find ways to teach through non-traditional avenues such as on-line and Web based interaction. We have instituted some preliminary studies regarding self-paced tutorial types of paradigms and wish to explore other ways.
I feel like a novice in the area of Web instruction, but desire to learn so the benefits can be passed along to the students. I look forward to hearing from others and gaining valuable insights without needing to make all the mistakes that often accompanies them. With the connections to same institution (TAMU), former student (PLNC), and same organization (PKAL F21), I feel like I am part of a very small world. paul.madtes@mvnc.edu
Beverly Meyers. I have been teaching in the Math and Science Dept. at Jefferson College for the past 7 years. Jefferson is a community college in a county adjoining the south end of St. Louis County, and although it is about 35 or 40 miles from the Gateway Arch, it is in a rural area. The view from the campus is of rolling hills, and other than a communications tower off in the distance, no other "civilization" can be seen from the view atop the hill. No wonder the town is called "Hillsboro." I have a very peaceful 30 mile drive from the city to my work, and that's the only time that my life isn't hectic! My "overload" schedule, committee-committments, editing/writing projects, three kids in college, and my 2-famil bmeyers@gateway.jeffco.edu
James Mitchell. I'm somewhat of a maverick in my engineering school. I spent the first 15 years of my career in industry - running my own Architecture firm ultimately. I came into Academics by invitation and have greatly enjoyed it while feeling there is much that could be improved. In the course of the last ten years I've made some efforts to do so. As Associate Dean I was responsible for scaling up and implementing a major curriculum reform growing out an NSF effort - the E4 experiment. I've taught faculty courses on using the web and I use it extensively in virtually all my courses. My current research effort is investigating whether faculty actions to improve their teaching can be correlated with improved student learning - the Experiment to Enhance Student Outcomes. I've supervised an MS student via Email and have worked with several grade schools via Email (not very successfully I'm sorry to say). Home Page. Outcomes Experiment.
I'm a bicycle rider and read good, and write mediocre poetry. James.Mitchell@CoE.Drexel.edu
I am originally from Tennessee. I was raised on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin(UTM). My mother worked in the school of education there and I was a university brat! I attended UTM and graduated with a degree in Chemistry. Then moved to Louisiana State University for graduate study in physical chemistry. A couple of years and lifetimes later I decided that high school teaching was were I needed to be so I took my masters degree and left. I taught high school for three years (chemistry, honors chem, AP chem and physics) in Baton Rouge. Then I was introduced to Helen Brooks and her husband at the biennial conference at Bucknell and decided to give grad school one more try. So my wife and I moved to Colorado to live in Greeley and enroll in the Chemical Education program at the University of Northern Colorado. Finding a graduate stipend hard to live on I got lucky and got a full-time teaching job at the community college in Greeley -- Aims Community College. So, for the past two years, I am a part time graduate student and full time teacher. At Aims I am the chemistry department. I teach first year and organic chemistry as well as college physics. My wife and I have no children but we do have a wonderful dog!
I am looking forward to both the content and the delivery of this course! t.pentecost@aims.edu
Marlon Rhem. My name is Marlon Rhem and I teach general and physical chemistry at Saint Francis College, a small liberal arts college located in central Pennsylvania. I was raised in Seattle, Washington and received my undergraduate degree from the University of Washington. I never thought I would say this, but after living in the COLD Northeast, I miss the rain of Seattle. I am a recent graduate (August 1996) of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where I completed graduate work in computational chemistry.
I have an interest in the development of Web-based instructional material. Recently, I received a grant and release time from the college to develop four Web-based chemistry courses for secondary school teachers looking to obtain certification in chemistry. The first course is scheduled to be on-line Fall Semester of 1999.
I hope to glean from this course information that will help me be more effective in my teaching.
My passion, outside of family and teaching, is distance running. I am married and the father of two children. MORFA1@scotus.sfcpa.edu
Jean Labriola Scholz. Hello, I'm Jean from the College of General Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. I was trained as a scientist -- with degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics -- and spent three and a half years with a biotech company before moving into full-time teaching and higher ed administration. I've been with the College of General Studies (CGS), which administers the university's outreach and continuing education programs, for the past two years. I direct four programs for high school students, one of which is delivered in a distance-learning format, and recently began to develop distance-learning courses for our traditional (adult) audience.
I regularly teach undergraduate courses in introductory Biology and Genetics, and this coming fall, I plan to offer an introductory Genetics course online. So I am excited about both the content and delivery mode of this Chautauqua course.
On a personal note, I am married with no children (excepting a collie and a Siamese cat), and in my spare time, enjoy backyard botany, short stories, good food, and singing. jeanl@sas.upenn.edu
Gregory Schraw. Hi, I'm Gregg Schraw, coinstructor of this course. I'm an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I have a Ph. D. in cognitive psychology and a MS in mathematical statistics and continue research in both areas. My teaching time is divided between cognition/learning and research design/methodology. My research interest include self-regulation of learning, metacognition, and the role of beliefs in learning. I'm also interested in the foundations of scientific research and hypothesis testing. I currently serve on a variety of editorial review boards in educational psychology. The last couple of years I have worked closely with Dave Brooks to identify ways that math and science educators can improve self-regulation in the classroom. This is our second NSF webcourse together. We designed this course to serve as a sequel to last Spring's class on self-regulation. gschraw@unlinfo.unl.edu
Joe Sedlacek. My name is Joe Sedlacek and I teach mathematics at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have been teaching here since 1985 and enjoy it a lot! I'm hopeful that I'll gain some new ideas for teaching and learning from this course. It will provide a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and experiences with colleagues from across the country. I have taught courses over the ICN, but I have limited experience with using the internet as a teaching and learning tool. I am hopeful that I will gain some knowledge for my deficiencies in this area. I teach many levels of mathematics (Beginning Algebra to Differential Equations) to a diverse student body of about 11,500 students. Having a variety of teaching and delivery methods available to our students will, hopefully, increase the opportunity for success. I was a student here, at Kirkwood Community College, and received my A.A. Degree in 1983. I received my Bachelor of Science in Education Degree in Mathematics Education from Northeast Missouri State University (Now Truman State University) in 1985. My Master of Arts Degree in mathematics education was earned from the University of Iowa in 1987. I am now an ABD at the University of Iowa. I have been married for 10 years and have 2 children. jsedlac@kirkwood.cc.ia.us
H. C. Snyder. I was born and raised in Independence Missouri. My graduate and undergraduate education was at Central Missouri State University where I found physics far more interesting than accounting! I met my wife, Sherrlene at college. She still says she does not "speak physics."
Except for seven years as an undergraduate Academic Adviser at the University of Missouri - KC, I have taught physics at the community college level since 1969. I had not been in academic advising long when I found I missed teaching. In 1981 I was offered my current job at St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Michigan. Port Huron is at the lower tip of Lake Huron and connected to Ontario, Canada by the "Blue Water Bridges."
My current responsibilities include teaching both calculus and non-calculus physics, astronomy, statics, and an occasional physical sciences course. I am the president of the Michigan Section of AAPT, Chair of the Department of Math, Science, and PE (yes! PE) and president of the faculty union.
I current professional interest is educational reform in physics instruction although I try to keep up with basic developments in nuclear physics and solar astronomy. My current hobby is genealogy. My wife began work on a Master's degree in History at Oakland University in Rochester Michigan three years ago. Her first class was on the history of American Families where she had to do a "family history" as her research paper. It is our "summer vocation." I try to combine trips to physics conferences with genealogy-related excursions. We do not have children but share our research with siblings, cousins, and other near and distant relatives.
An on-line course appeals to me on many levels. First, I am interested in trying this new way of learning to see how it can fit into an overall science curriculum. Second, with the number of hats I am wearing, being able to learn without leaving town best fits my schedule. Finally, our college is investigating (as are many others) the possibility of offering on-line courses in the near future.
I look forward to the experience of this new medium. hsnyder@advnet.net
Robert Weber. I am Bob Weber, in Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University. Marquette University is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am located across the "pond" - Lake Michigan from H.C. and Sherriene. I obtained by college degrees from the University of Missouri-Rolla. Oddly enough we were opponents of the Central Missouri State Mules for a number of years.
I have been at Marquette for 22 years. My responsibilities include the teaching of undergraduate and graduate design courses. I have recently implemented the use of the Web as a resource for my students. Students can obtain rough class notes, problem solutions and answers, and grades from the site. I am interested in expanding this mode, thus my participation in the course.
I am married and have 2 boys, 3 step-children and 4-1/2 great grand-children. My hobbies include bowling, playing softball, and learning. The learning aspect may sound funny, but I do a peak-learning experience every year.
I enjoyed meeting all of you for the first time this morning. I look forward to working with you in the future. weberpe@juno.com