Defining Moments from Stanford University
Lucy detailed her design work in the computer supported cooperative work completed for Caltrans. As Lucy discussed the design process used by her team, everything that I had learned about a participatory design process clicked into place.
Volunteering at the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership through Technology
I spent my summer vacation shmoozing with educators, leading groups to different locations on campus, and getting back in touch with what is happening in classrooms across the country. This four day conference let me revisit my previous life with a face to face meeting with Bruce Droste from the Virtual High School and through conversations with current technology integration people. On the final day of the conference I had an epiphany which changed the course of my master's project. I realized that for almost a week we had been discussing ways to integrate teacher professional development into a teacher's everyday life and ways to use technology to open the doors of those isolating classrooms. So, from this conference I refocused and built a focus group base for my new direction of research.
Having ESP one Saturday morning in January
Splash 1999, one part of the Educational Studies Program (ESP) is a series of fun classes taught by Stanford students for high school seniors in the area. I taught Poetry and Pop Music and had a terrific bunch of kids with some terrific discussion - not to mention the Fastball, Dudley Randall, Pearl Jam, and others. I remembered how much I love to teach and how second nature it is to me.
Subjecting myself to a "writing in the major" course in computer science
First off, visiting a writing tutor with an English major and four years of teaching composition skills under my belt was quite fun. As I suspected, my writing was fine and I missed one dangling participle in each paper (thanks for that, Dad!).
Meeting with Mark Schlager and Judi Fusco about Tapped In meeting transcripts in October 1998
I had been working hard on coding transcripts from meetings held last year when we met to discuss the data collected and what it was telling us. In this meeting I was able to apply some of my class knowledge to establishing the coding scheme. Furthermore, I realized that my voice was considered valuable to my internship supervisors. As a result of this meeting I also found my first library books at Stanford and actually checked them out.
Initiating the complete and total reorganization of the Rocket Reader project
I made the most out of the hard-working and learning intensive LDT group and called into question the assignment before us in our Winter seminar. I was able to gain support of my peers to go ahead with the plan and was successful in putting it passed our professor.
Displaying a interactive poster engineered almost entirely with duct tape.
The product of our BMW redesign efforts was left in the hands of "the guys" with the strictest instructions that it should not be lousy. It did look like loving hands from home. Meanwhile, our whole group managed to benefit and be rewarded for our keeping things simple.
Gaining Validation While Drinking CILT Water
As a volunteer for the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies 1999 conference, I held the role of notetaker for the Ubiquitous Computing team. While taking notes I was pleased to find that my major project was in keeping with the spirit, theory, and level of sophistication of this diverse group of technical minds.