Colae Couch intro

Hello. My name is Colae Couch. I am currently in my second year of teaching at Allprep Academy. I am excited to learn ways to enhance our students' online learning experience as well as obtaining new strategies for effective teaching. I have experience working with and teaching kids in all types of environments including Montessori schools, the Boys and Girls Club, Portland public schools and numerous dance classes.

I live in North Portland with my husband, Daniel, our two-year-old golden retriever, Samba, and our two cats, Virtue and Cleao. I love outdoor activities (Sandra-Kayaking is right up my alley!) and spend the majority of our beautiful Northwest summers camping, hiking, rafting, biking or fishing. I look forward to hearing everyone's ideas and input!

I'm on the left in the picture with my close friend, Kimary, and Samba at 9 weeks old.

Hendrickson Intro

My name is Angela Hendrickson (and this is my daughter, Macy). I live in Albany, and my educational background is in Business & Marketing. I manage online courses at Western Oregon University, so I'm an administrator, not a teacher. WOU's fairly new to e-learning, and we're behind the ball in developing training for faculty, as well as providing help with course development.

I'm hoping that this class will help me become more familiar with course development so I can help our faculty who are just beginning to think about teaching online. I also hope to create some online training modules for faculty development.

Holly Gardner's Introduction

Hi everyone.
My name is Holly Chidsey-Gardner.
I am the Teacher-Librarian at Wilsonville High School in Wilsonville, Oregon. This is my second year as the Teacher-Librarian, previously I taught Biology, Forensic Science, AP Biology and various other science electives for 23 years. Our school district is just beginning to explore the use of online learning software through traditional and hybrid courses for both our student and adult learning communities. It will be my responsibility to not only train teachers in the use of the programs as far as nuts and bolts, but also to help them to develop coursework that is engaging, meaningful and rigorous. It is the curriculum development piece that I look forward to the most. When I’m not trying to keep up with blackboard, blogs, facebook, twitters, ipods, kindles...etc. I love to spend time with my family - two boys and my husband (who is also a teacher). He is taking the picture.

Seymour Intro

Hi, my name is Sandra Seymour and I am a PACE grad student at PSU. Currently I work in the software industry as a QA engineer. I do some very basic one-on-one training, which has sparked my interest in pursuing an educational degree. My hope is to do curriculum development for e-learners at the corporate level.

I am expecting my first baby at the end of November and I am an addicted kayaker. Until becoming pregnant I kayaked every weekend, rain, shine, or snow.

I look forward to working with you all.

First Blog/Intro

My name is Bo Lacy, and I am a history student at Portland State University, Oregon. My interests in online studies stems partly from the fact that I have taken online courses for at least three years now, finding them to be more satisfactory than "brick-and-mortar" style classes. Also, a news report on National Public Radio, concerning the rise of online teaching/courses peaked my interests. Anyway, here's hoping to a great start and awesome year!

-BL

Jensen Intro

Hello! I am a curriculum designer in CA. I design curricula for a variety of different courses, the most recent being EMT Basic. I am employed by a government contractor and my client is the US Coast Guard. Usually I design resident training courses, but just recently the Coast Guard has decided to dip their toes into the e-learning pool, and I am the supervisor for the new e-learning curriculum designers. I'm very excited about it, and although I'm not completely new to online course delivery, I can't wait to learn about it on a deeper level.

My experience runs the gamut... I started my career teaching junior high school language arts, then moved up to high school English and history, then moved up to the two-year college level teaching English and reading. From there I left the classroom to go behind the scenes to design and develop performance based training, and just recently online training.

I'm a single mom of two teenage boys, 18 and 17. I also moderate an online writer's group for Coffeehouse for Writers.com.

Heather Hough's Introduction

Hello! My name is Heather Hough (pronounced "Huff"). This is a picture of me and my 13 month old daughter, Evalyn. We, along with my husband of three years, live in Eugene, OR. This is my second year teaching for AllPrep Academy, an online charter school. Some of my fellow teachers are also enrolled in this course. Prior to teaching, I was the director of a day treatment program at Nehemiah's Ranch for Youth until they closed their doors due to financial problems. I love working with youth and enriching their lives. I am excited to learn new techniques to increase my ability to do what's best for students.

Introduction

Hi, My name is Bob Strozeski. I am the technology coordinator for the American International School in Bamako, which is located in Mali, West Africa. My wife and I have been teaching overseas for 18 years. In addition to Mali, we have taught in Venezuela, Brazil, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Taiwan, and Colombia. We have an eight year old son. When we are not working, we like to hang out in our house in Bend.

In this class, I hope to learn how to conduct on-line classes, and how to better utilize blogs, Wikis, chat rooms, etc. for instructional purposes. Some schools in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have already experienced temporary closures because of swine flu. I think it is only a matter of time before our school is closed also. I would like for our teachers to be able to put their classes on-line, so that they can conduct classes from home.

Introduction

Hi,
Welcome to my new house. My fiancee and I closed on the first week of September and all of my free time has been consumed by unpacking and making it a home.
I'm a first grade teacher in Forest Grove who is very interested in educational technology, especially in lower elementary grades. I am a member of the Forest Grove and Oregon Ed Tech Cadres. I look forward to learning about new tools and finding ways to use them with little kids.
-Serena

Welcome to elp510, fall 2009

Take some time to add your own post with a picture and biographical sketch. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Also include a paragraph about what prompted you to take this class and what you hope to accomplish in our 10 weeks together.