EducationCareer
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I focus on engagement in online learning environments and competency in regards to digital or cultural aspects.
Autobiographical Statement:
Rebecca has programmed and designed various applications focusing on language learning games, language parsers, and various interfaces for applications and online web tools. She studied computer science at James Madison University and took up an interest in linguistics and Asian studies which ultimately lead to her 3 year stint working on online language learning applications and games at Rosetta Stone in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Enjoying the time she spent working in the field of e-learning and educational games, she returned to James Madison University to complete an online masters of education program specializing in educational technology. Her interests in the program included digital cultures, online learning environments, utilizing video technologies for instruction, and honing her creative design skills. Her final applied research project focused on summarizing JMU students global citizenship scores based on experiences abroad, and whether preparatory workshops affected those scores.
In 2013 - 2014, she worked alongside the Summit Series Council to develop an online collaborative environment for globally located scholars to meet and share their work regarding conference projects. Prior to that, she designed a social media-based cMOOC (connectivist massive open online course) based on video clips from a documentary detailing the flora, fauna, and society within the Appalachian region in the United States of America. Aside from the technical, her coursework has helped develop her creative design skills in the form of instructional websites and playful picture-books.
One aspect of Rebecca's life-work is to teach adults in higher education settings. She was fortunate enough to work as an intern at Bath Spa University in Bath, England to redesign a traditional university course into a blended offering. She later developed an 8 week asynchronous university course for adult degree program students at James Madison University. She taught the instructional technology course as an Adjunct Professor.
Going forward, Rebecca would like to work with research and design teams looking at issues involving adult learners. Her desire is to transform learning and teaching by emphasizing the learner's role in education.