I have been amiss in sharing news as a busy summer followed my Immanence performance, with a return to regular fall duties at the college in August. I had a lovely time in the Gatineau Mountains of Québec with my mother and siblings in June. It’s always a pleasure to return to Québec and Ottawa. I spent my early adulthood (18-25) in Québec City, Montréal and Ottawa before immigrating to the United States.
MALET Reception in Second Life
MALET: The Master of Arts in Learning and Emerging Technologies is picking up steam as we embark upon the first semester. We hosted the MALET opening reception in Second Life in September. It was a real pleasure to gather with faculty and students in our beautiful Rotunda on the SUNY Empire State College Center for Distance Learning campus in Second Life. Many of the advanced design activities, particularly those focused on learning environment design, will be taking place in Second Life and open sim virtual worlds. I’m chairing the college Virtual Worlds Affinity Group this year. The lovely Maria Korolov from Hypergrid Business joined us as a guest speaker in October, to share the latest information and news about education in open sim regions.
College Service: I’m chairing the Center for Distance Learning Personnel Committee this year, responsible for faculty peer reviews. This also puts me on the Center Planning Committee, so I continue to participate in college governance, this time at the center level. The two previous years, as chair of the College Committee on Undergraduate Studies Policy, and CUSP representative to Senate, I found myself at the crux of college-wide politically charged decision-making. That was truly a learning experience.
Course Authoring: Part of my busy summer included co-authoring two new digital media studies courses with Dr. Elise Kermani: Media Arts and The History and Theory of New Media. I also worked on the Advanced Design Seminar for the Graduate School (a core MALET course), as well as Identities and Communities in Virtual Environments (a MALET elective). I’m currently teaching engaging independent studies as well, such as Creating Worlds: Fantasy Fiction; Games as Interactive Storytelling; Art, Nature and Culture; and Civic Engagement Website Design. I really enjoy working on unique independent research or creative studies with motivated advanced students.
Arriving at the dock in Tahiti – French Polynesia
Late September through mid-October, I joined my family in Tahiti for a lovely visit. We had some wonderful adventures. I’ll share pictures and stories in a later post.