Skills and Qualifications

Creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking are the 4Cs at the root of everything I do. As an Educational technologist, my goal is to help teachers create transformative learning environments by weaving digital and analog activities together and utilizing the best experiences from both worlds. As a teacher, I strive to create a student-centered personalized environment that fosters one-hundred percent participation.

During my career, I have worked for a variety of institutions, attended conferences, and participated in professional development. All of these experiences have helped to facilitate my love for technology and learning. I have used, and instructed with, a wide variety of educational technology and blended learning tools. I consider collaboration to be the most important part of being an Ed tech and have developed programs to assist teachers in collaborative PD, sharing and reflection. Working in education has given me so much, and I believe it’s just as important to give back. In this pursuit, I have volunteered to work with a variety of educationally minded organizations.

Education

George Mason University | MEd; BOLS: Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Blended and Online Learning in Schools | Graduated, December 2018

University of Maryland University College | BS; IFSM: Information Systems Management | Graduated, May 2006

Future Enterprises | Netware 4.11 Administration Class, Netware 4.11-5.1 Upgrade Class | 1999, 2000

Smithsonian Institution Training | POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment), EEO for Supervisors (Equal Employment Opportunity) | 1999, 2000

University of Nebraska | Major: Math/Computer Science Education | 1995-1999

University of Georgia | Major: Math Education | 1991-1994

Employment

Educational Technology Specialist | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | www.madeira.org | 2014-Present

Residential Life Dorm Parent | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | ww.maderia.org | 2017-Present

Hebrew/Jewish Studies Teacher: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 7th Grade | Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria, VA | www.bethelhebrew.org | 2016-2018

Para Educator, Kindergarten, IRR, PreK | Due West Elementary; Marietta, GA | www.duewest.blogs.com | 2011-2014

Lunchroom Monitor | Due West Elementary; Marietta, GA | www.duewest.blogs.com | 2010-2011

Information Technology Specialist | Smithsonian Institution: Office of the Chief Information Officer; Washington, DC | www.si.edu/ocio/ | 2003-2006

Computer Specialist | Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of the American Indian; Washington DC | www.nmai.si.edu | 1999-2003

Media Technician | Westside High School; Omaha, NE | whs.westside66.org | 1997-1999

IT & Computer Instructor | Metropolitan Community College; Omaha, NE | www.mccneb.edu | 1997-1999

Educational Assistant | Westside Alternative School; Omaha, NE | westside66.org | 1995-1997

Professional Organizations and Conferences

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society | 2019

ATLIS | 2016, 2018 (Conference Committee), 2019 (Conference Committee and Speaker)

ISTE | 2014 to Present, 2016 (Speaker and Volunteer) 2019 (Community Champion, Volunteer, and Speaker)

ISTE Conference | 2015, 2016 (Presenter), 2019 (Presenter and VR Playground organizer)

VSTE | 2014 to Present

NCGS | 2016 (Presenter), 2017

Online School for Girls | 2015-2016 (Collaborator)

VAIS Conference | 2014

Volunteer and Committees:

Madeira Strategic Planning Committee | Faculty liaison, | 2021-present

Learning Management System Migration Taskforce | Committee Chair | 2021

Live Record of Pippin | Audio Engineer | Madeira School | 2021

STEAM Experience Trip | Student coordinator, curriculum design, chaperone, budget management($25k) | 2018-2019

ATLIS Annual Conference | Conference Committee | 2018, 2019

ATLIS Annual Conference | Speaker - "How to do more with less" and "Women's Round Table" | 2019

DMV STEAM PLC | Member (2017- present), Co-Chair (2018, 2019 | 2017, 2018, 2019

ISTE Annual Conference | Speaker - "Virtual Reality: Exploring the world one assessment at a time " | 2019

ISTE Annual Conference | Presenter - " How to build a Community wide Showcase of Learning" | 2016

NCGS Pep Talks Podcast | Audio Editor | 2016-Present

NCGS Annual Conference | Registration Volunteer | 2017

AERO Conference | Educational Technology Support | 2015, 2016, 2017

The Madeira School STEAM Taskforce | Technology Representative, Curriculum Design | 2015-Present

Langley High School Class of 2022 Parents | Director of Communication | 2018-Present

AISGW – Technology/Video Consultant and Producer | Emerging Leaders Institute Video | 2015

The Madeira School MadeiraEd Conference | Co-Chair | 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Beth El Hebrew - Religious school | Teacher, Educational Technology Coordinator | 2016-2018

Beth El Hebrew – Religious School | Office Help | 2015-2016

APS Festival of the Minds Presenter | OneNote Class Notebook | 2015

Nova Board Game Group | Group Leader | 2017 to present

NovaPokemon | League, Founder & Leader | October 2014-2017

Due West Elementary | Hospitality Committee, Media center, Classroom Volunteer, Bingo Committee Chair | August 2009 – present

West Cobb Public Library | Children's Library Volunteer | August 2009 – 2010

Smithsonian DPMRT (Data Processing Managers Round Table) | Chairperson | November 2001-2005

Smithsonian ITMC (IT Managers Committee) | DPMRT Representative | November 2001- 2005

NMAI Mall Museum | Technology Team Member | 1999-2003

NMAI Welcome Center Core Team | Technology Team Member | 2000-2001

Smithsonian Institution W2k/E2k Migration Team | NMAI representative | 2001

Accomplishments and Qualifications:

  • Canvas Implementation: Lead a task force to migrate the school's learning management system (LMS) from PoweSchool Learning to a new product. Once Canvas was selected I developed and implemented a two-year migration plan.

  • Office 365 Administrator and Instructional Designer: Work with the Department of Technology to administer Office 365 including the connection support for Canvas, WeVideo, Flipgrid, and other products. Design professional development for faculty, staff, and students.

  • Micro-controllers and Coding: Designed the curriculum for this 5-week elective taught during the 2017-2018 and 2019-2019 school years. This course offers an exploration of topics in programming and physical computing while giving students the opportunity to develop the critical 21st-century skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world. This course is open to students of all coding levels from beginner to advanced. Students will work with the teacher to develop a personal learning path. This course will be taught through a blended learning model, allowing for both face-to-face and online interactions with the teacher and each other, and giving students the opportunity to learn in an environment that sparks creativity and to practice time management and self-motivation skills. This course meets the coding and student life requirements.

  • STEAM Taskforce Member: I am part of the team that helped create the standards and guidelines for STEAM interdisciplinary courses at Madeira. I also helped to develop and teach the original and redesigned, required ninth grade Fundamentals of STEAM Course. The course design include the use of Agile (Scrum) for project management.

  • STEAM Experience Spring Break Trip: Lead chaperone for the 2019 spring break trip to Silicon Valley. I managed the budget and logistics to bring 10 students and 2 chaperones to California. The purpose of this trip was for our students to explore the working environments of silicon valley and introduce them potential female mentors in the field.

  • Student Life Department Member: Design curriculum and teach students course material that will bring them towards meeting the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students. Students learn skills in project management, video editing with WeVideo, online communication and collaboration with Office 365, OneNote and PowerSchool, time management with Outlook, and web design with a platform of their choice. Each student will leave this class with a personal digital portfolio. I created a summer work unit for all incoming new students called Welcome to Madeira. This unit is designed to introduce students to the digital technologies in use at the school, give them an introduction to their new environment, and provide them with a connection to other students before them arrive on campus.

  • ISTE Standards for Students: Implemented starting with the 2017-2018 School year.

  • Curriculum Development: In addition to the Fundamentals of STEAM and Student Life summer work courses listed above, I developed a technology elective called “Exploring the Digital Frontier,” and an introductory coding and Arduino elective called “Micro-controller and Coding.” I have collaborated with many teachers to create innovative lessons: AP Human Geography | Video memoir, VR Assessment 9th grade history | VR exploration of Egypt, Sway travel guides of ancient civilizations, Interactive Maps, 11th Grade US History | Interactive images, Political Ads, English | OneNote Integration, Poem of the Week Podcast and video, Sway memoirs, Shakespeare Website, World Languages | VR Exploration and assessment

  • Student Portfolios: Developed a program, starting with the class of 2021, for every student to leave Madeira with a student owned professional digital portfolio.

  • Audio Recording Studio: In 2015, I was instrumental in building Madeira’s first audio recording studio for the specific purpose of recording student and faculty generated podcasts as well as for vocal recording of student productions and student written music.

  • Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality, otherwise known as VR, is a hot topic in education. I have created a VR Studio around the HTC Vive. We are using VR for both formative and summative assessment as well as team building exercises. I am working to develop curriculum using Samsung Gear 360 cameras and Unity to empower our students to be creators instead of consumers.

  • PD Collaboration Block: I work with teachers during their professional development blocks to collaborate on curriculum design, classroom engagement, and to workshop projects.

  • Professional Development: Teach innovation and technology classes to faculty and staff throughout the year and during professional development days.

  • Professional Development Blog: Created an in-house professional development blog to allow faculty and staff to share knowledge learned during their professional development opportunities.

  • Educational Technology Resources Page: Created an in-house resource for teachers on the school's learning management system that includes inspiration, links to apps, and content usable in their lessons.

  • Educational Technology Blog: Created an in-house educational technology blog to spark innovation and generate topics of discussion.

  • MadeiraED Conference Co-Chair: I have been conference co-chair of Madeira’s own MadeiraED conference for four years. This showcase of learning is a one-day conference designed to allow students to get a feel for professional development by being the presenters and the attendees. In 2018, we had 96 presenters and 460 attendees at this Madeira Community event. I presented the conference model at ISTE.

  • Makerspace and Fabrication Lab | Team Member

  • ATLIS Conference Committee: Member of the 2018 and 2019 Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS) Conference Committee.

  • NCGS: Worked with National Coalition of Girls Schools (NCGS) to create the NCGS podcast, “Pep Talks.” I am the current editor of the show.

  • AISGW: Produced, filmed and edited the Emerging Leaders Institute Video for the 2016 Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington (AISGW).

  • Club faculty Sponsor: Best Buddies sponsor | 2018/2019, VR Interest Group Club | 2018/2019,

Ed Tech Tools | Online and Blended Learning Tools