School | Secondary | Undergrad | Grad | Research
Both of my parents have been educators for longer than I have been around. Their influence has made school a big focus for me.
Secondary
Including my high school education here may seem a bit odd, but my 9th through 12th grade years were powerfully influential for me. I attended Winter Park High from '96 to '99 and was enrolled in the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) Program. I received my IB diploma in '99 and found myself well ahead of the curve when I arrived at college.
Undergrad
I enrolled at the University of Florida in Fall '99. I changed majors from Philosophy, to Creative Writing, and finally to Film and Media Studies before graduating with Honors in Fall '02. I also minored in Linguistics and Religion.
In the Spring and Summer of '02 I studied at the Universiteit Utrecht in Utrecht, the Netherlands. This experience proved to be extremely valuable in allowing me to question my own beliefs and practices while living with students from all over the world.
Grad
After spending a few years utilizing my Film degree with High Noon Pictures, I decided to return to UF as a grad student in Educational Technology. I have found Ed Tech to be an excellent fit for my meandering interests as it requires diverse knowledge and skills, and is deeply rooted in pedagogical theory.
I am currently an M.A.E. candidate and expect to complete my degree in Spring '08. I intend on continuing for an Ed.S thereafter.
Research
Currently I am researching the motivational underpinnings of the Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) community. I hope to find some resolution in the debate over whether contributios to F/OSS projects is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
In Fall '06 I focused my research on video games as a task-oriented activity for collaborative language acquisition. I also investigated Information Architecture and the myriad methods for delivering information in our one-click-away world.