Speakers
Videos from our recorded sessions are now available: see the Follow-up page for more.
Brent Anders, K-State
Krista Carter, Colby Community College
"I Have A Story To Tell": Connecting the Process and Product of Education with Digital Storytelling, "Implications of the Higher Education Opportunity Act on E-Learning"
Carter, iStep Academic Director, at 5'4 is unintentionally the shorter and nicest of the two principle architects of the iStep Program. While she looks harmless, Krista performs alongside Mike's corruptive influence. She is legendary for incredibly dull meetings, some of which are still going on. Krista received her AA from Colby College, BS from Oklahoma Panhandle State University, M.Ed from Western Alabama University, DNA from her parents, and her husband watches ESPN. Upon completing her university studies Krista found herself well educated and immediately unemployed. After taking the notable job of Narrator for Bad Mimes, Krista came full circle returning to Colby College as a faculty member in the Behavioral Sciences. Being told she could name her salary she sadly chose the name "Pathetic." Fortunately, when it came time to name her children she relied on a book of baby names - the "phone book." The mother of two young children, Krista often lectures students on the hazards of marriage, and making babies in only 9 months with tools you probably have around the house.
Royce Ann Collins, Ph.D., Kansas State University
"Using a Wiki Assignment: Group Collaboration Won't Ever Be the Same"
Royce Ann Collins, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Educational Leadership Department in the College of Education. Her research and teaching is focused on adult students. She currently teaches a variety of courses to graduate students in the field of adult education with her specialty being how to teach adults face-to-face and online. Her current research is focused on using technology appropriately with adult students. She has published several chapters and articles on using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and online environments. Prior to starting with Kansas State University in 2005, she spent 18 years as an administrator in higher education covering the full gamut of academic responsibilities from student services, faculty services and development, program assessment and curriculum development.
O. Shawn Cupp, Ph.D., Ft Leavenworth
"Using Axio for Survey Data Collection outside Kansas State University"
Dr. O. Shawn Cupp is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U. S. Army with over 20 years of active duty service. He served a variety of command and staff positions in both peace and conflict within the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Djibouti, and Kosovo. Dr. Cupp received a B.S. in Agricultural Education and a M.S. in Vocational Education from Virginia Tech. He also received a Military Master of Art and Science (MMAS) from and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He is currently an Associate Professor and has served in the Department of Logistics and Resource Operations in the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for almost a decade in both a military and civilian capacity. Dr. Cupp has researched, instructed, published, and presented on a variety of homeland security topics including domestic threat groups, agroterrorism, and homeland security graduate degree program development. He earned his Ph.D. in Adult, Occupational, and Continuing Education from Kansas State University in 2009. Dr. Cupp completed his dissertation titled “An Exploratory Study of the Reasons Why Adult Students Attend, Persist, and Complete Graduate Homeland Security Programs” using the Axio Software system to survey and collect data for his study via online means.
Dr. Kurt Gartner serves as Professor of Music at Kansas State University, where he coordinates the activities of the percussion studio and the Latin Jazz Ensemble. He serves the Percussive Arts Society as Technology Editor for its journal Percussive Notes. Also, he has served as the P.A.S. Music Technology Committee Chair and presented technology-based clinic sessions at numerous international P.A.S. conferences.
As a 2010-2011 Tilford Fellow, he is coordinating an interdisciplinary study of Cuban arts. In the past, he was a Big 12 Faculty Fellow, collaborating with the percussion studio and jazz program at the University of Missouri. There, he provided instruction and performances in Afro-Cuban music and applications of technology in music. Also, he has served as Special Assistant to the Provost and currently serves as Coordinator of the university’s Peer Review of Teaching Program.
An active performer and clinician, Gartner is an Educational Consultant for Remo, Inc. Sabian Ltd., Sonor Inc., and Vic Firth Inc. His performance background includes orchestral, theater, cruise ship, commercial, and world percussion. He has toured with tabla master Sandip Burman, and is a founder and contributing composer of the Indiana-based Los Blancos Latin Jazz Band. Also, he is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, and is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Rebecca Gould, Ph.D., Kansas State University
"The Looking Glass: Faculty and Student's Perception of Technology in the Classroom"
Rebecca Gould is the Director of the Information Technology Assistance Center at K-State, which serves as the first point of contact for campus information technology needs. Gould also is a professor in the Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics and publishes on topics related to technology use in higher education. For over 20 years, she has experimented with using technology to improve the teaching and learning environment. In 2008, she wrote the script for Academe 2018, a YouTube video available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6P3KlbiG8s . Gould is the editor-in-charge of distance learning for the Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism.
Artur Gregorian, K-State
Shalin Hai-Jew, Kansas State University
Pre-Conference Workshop: "Free Tools for Instructional Design", "Using Value-Added Visuals in E-Learning"
Shalin Hai-Jew works as an instructional designer at K-State, where she has worked since 2006.
Brian Lindshield, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition. He received an A.S. from Pratt Community College in ’01, a B.S. in Human Nutrition from Kansas State University in ’03, and Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in ’08. Lindshield’s research focuses on the potential of phytochemicals, functional foods, micronutrients, and/or botanicals to alter prostate tumor growth and characterization of the mechanism of action through biochemical and molecular biology techniques. He is a Wakonse Fellow, a past participant of the Kansas State University Peer Review of Teaching Program, & was the 2010 Pratt Community College Alumnus of the Year & Commencement Speaker.
Swasati Mukherjee, Kansas State University
Pre-Conference Workshop: "Free Tools for Instructional Design"
Tweed Ross, Ph.D., Kansas State University
"The Looking Glass: Faculty and Student's Perception of Technology in the Classroom"
Dr. Tweed Ross, after twenty-five years in the public schools as a teacher and administrator, currently serves as the Director of Technology Services for the College of Education-Kansas State University. With an M.A. in History and EdD. in Educational Administration, he was actively involved in many of the early implementations of technology based learning in Kansas public schools before coming to the University in 1993. He has authored three books on educational technology: Technology Based Learning, Planning Educational Facility for Information Technology, and 101 Tips, Traps, and To-dos for Creating Teams: A Guidebook for School Leaders. With many articles, presentations and workshops across the nation, Dr. Ross has served as the Project Director for a PT3 Implementation Grant, State Liaison for MCI/Marco Polo project. Currently he serves on the and editorial board for Technology Integrator and Northstar for Principals. In addition to the day-to-day operations of the technology arm of the College of Education current research and application interests include effective on-line learning strategies, ethical issues associated with information technologies and the design of new programs to integrate technology based learning and teaching into the pre-service educational program.
David Swisher, Kansas State University
David Swisher is the instructional technology specialist for the Salina campus of Kansas State University and as such he oversees the installation, maintenance, and effective use of the instructional technology equipment in Salina's 34 technology-equipped classrooms and several conference rooms. He also serves as a consultant/trainer to faculty who are preparing online courses, assisting them with instructional design issues and helping them develop multimedia resources and understand online pedagogy, and he is the Instance Manager for the Salina campus' instance of Axio Learning. Swisher recently completed his Master of Science degree in "Instructional Design & Technology" from Emporia State University, and his professional research interests include cognitive and educational psychology as well as the effective integration of multimedia learning into online courses. He has conducted several workshops and presentations on the effective use of multimedia in online learning, and has been working with the Axio Learning platform for about 8 years.
Michael Thompson, Ph.D., Colby Community College
"I Have A Story To Tell": Connecting the Process and Product of Education with Digital Storytelling, "Implications of the Higher Education Opportunity Act on E-Learning"
Thompson, iStep Technical Director, is one of two principle architects of the Colby College iStep Program, and lifetime subscriber to Data Dweeb magazine. Born in Oklahoma City to humble affluence, he has been steadily growing older ever since, without actually reaching maturity. Educated during the previous century at the University of Central Oklahoma, Mike was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and a Master of Arts in Political Science graduating summa cum laude. After writing lengthy sentences and papers that were hailed by professors and critics alike as containing a tremendous amount of meaningless words and spaces, Oklahoma City University awarded him a Juris Doctor with honors. In this land of excessive consonants, Mike distinguished himself by indulging in heaven only knows what kind of carousing and debauchery without actually going to jail.
Elizabeth Unger, Ph.D., Kansas State University
"The Looking Glass: Faculty and Student's Perception of Technology in the Classroom"
Ben Ward, Kansas State University
Pre-Conference Workshop: "Free Tools for Instructional Design"
Michael Wesch, Ph.D., Kansas State University
Keynote: "From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able in a Digital World: What's at Stake"
Dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. After two years studying the implications of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society. His videos on culture, technology, education, and information have been viewed by millions, translated in over 15 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide. Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was recently named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. He has also won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities.
L. Susan Williams, Associate Professor of Sociology, specializes in gender, violence, and inequality issues and is considered highly qualified in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Dr. Williams' study of adolescent girls in Connecticut broke ground in terms of empirically documenting the effect of local community characteristics on life decisions of individual girls. More recently, Dr. Williams' research has focused on youth and gendered violence, resulting in a comprehensive study of incarcerated girls and boys; her most recent paper is "Bad Girls and Rural Pathways: Girls' Deviance and Local Social Control," which was presented last fall at the American Society of Criminology in Los Angeles.
Dr. Williams teaches several courses on gender, criminology, and diversity and has been awarded several local teaching awards. She offers several online courses that have gathered considerable attention, including "Social Construction of Serial Murder" and "Diversity in the Workplace." She is currently developing a dual-level online course on women and crime, as well as a graduate-level quantitative methods course. Dr. Williams currently works with a multi-institutional team to develop an online Ph.D. program in criminology and justice studies.
Dr. Williams holds several national positions of service, including membership in a Sister to Sister Task Force designed to cultivate relationships across disciplinary and cultural boundaries. She serves the University at several levels, including the Honor Council and the Institutional Review Board.