Academic Background
- B.A. in Russian Studies, Brown University, 1993
- MA, Teaching Japanese, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2001
Brief Biography
Sarah began working at CC in August of 2001 as the Academic Technology Specialist for the Humanities. She became interested in instructional technology as an undergraduate at Brown, where she dreamed of having a Russian dictionary that would talk to her. Shortly after graduating, she bought her first computer (a Quadra 660AV) and began constructing the talking picture dictionary of Russian she wished she had had when she was a student. Much to her surprise, this hobby turned into a paying job when she was offered a half-time position as Technology Specialist for Foreign Language Instruction at Macalester College. Having had a taste of instructional technology work at Macalester, Sarah realized that she wanted to continue to work in the field. When a review of job postings revealed that most colleges were requiring their instructional technologists to have a master's degree, Sarah thought about whether it made more sense to get a master's in instructional technology or in a specific humanities subject area. Given her interest in Japan and in foreign language instruction, she decided to pursue a master's degree in teaching Japanese. After a year of intensive language instruction at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, Japan, she went to the Monterey Institute of International Studies. In the summer of 2001, she finished her MA and moved to Colorado to start work at Colorado College.
When she's not working, Sarah spends her time skate skiing, cross country skiing, hiking, reading, knitting, and having friends over for movie nights or dinner.
Selected Recent and Current Projects:
- IDEAS image database ideas.midwest-itc.org
- pdas for learning Japanese
- 20th century Chinese history documentaries
- Still clip capture for film classes
Forthcoming Presentations
Technology for Teaching and Learning in Asian Studies, panel presentation with Dr. Phyllis Larson, Craig Rice, Dr. Cathy Benton, and Dr. John Williams, at April 2006 Asianetwork conference in Lisle, IL.
Computer technology opens up new ways of teaching and learning about Asia. Image databases make it easy to locate and use images about Asia in courses on Asian culture, history, and religion. Services like Google Maps and Yahoo maps present new possibilities for language studies. Digital video enables students to incorporate the creative and critical use of still photography and motion pictures into the final project for a course on twentieth century China. Such materials bring Asian Studies subjects to life in a way that makes coursework more memorable and more interesting for students.
This panel will demonstrate the IDEAS image database, Google maps, Yahoo maps, and Google Earth, and show excerpts of student-produced "mini-documentaries" on 20th century Chinese history. It also will discuss effective usages of technology based upon collaboration between technology specialists and instructors.
Past Presentations
Multimedia technology for teaching and learning in Asian Studies, panel presentation with Dr. Haeng-ja Chung and Dr. Karil Kucera at April 2004 AsiaNetwork conference in Lisle, IL.
Whether by enabling an instructor to produce a "minidocumentary" about nightclub hostesses in Japan, or making it easier to locate and use images about Asia in courses on Asian art, history, and religion, computer technology makes it easier for instructors to incorporate images, sound, and video into their classes. Such multimedia materials can bring Asian Studies subjects to life in a way that makes coursework more memorable and more interesting for students, while at the same time acquainting them with the "unspoken messages" of visual media and ways of analyzing such messages.
This panel demonstrated multimedia works created for both classroom and research on the above topics and discussed effective usages of technology based upon collaboration between technology specialists and instructors.
The IDEAS Project : Expanding Access to Images for Teaching in Asian Studies, poster presentation at Instructional Technologists at Liberal Arts Colleges conference at Macalester College, March 2004
This poster discussed the efforts of St. Olaf, Colorado College, Earlham College and Lake Forest College to create a shared searchable database of images for teaching in Asian Studies.
Human-Computer Interaction Issues in Online Language Exercises
Poster presented at Humanities Park n Go at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, June 2002.
Instructional Technology: Enabling New Ways of Representing and Manipulating Information, presented at Colorado College, May 31, 2001.
Two of the primary activities of academic life are the transmission and creation of knowledge. In recent years, instructional technology in the form of the computer has given academics new ways to conduct both of these activities. In this presentation, I discussed how the computer can enable us to more effectively represent and manipulate the knowledge that is the stock in trade of the academy. Examples from my own work and the work of others illustrated this position.
So you want to build a multimedia software program? Some things you should know before you start, presented at May 2001 IALL conference in Houston, TX.
Many language faculty have tried to develop multimedia software for language learning, only to find that it takes far more time and energy than they had expected. They often conclude that the benefits of multimedia come nowhere near justifying the expenditure of resources required for its creation. However, with a better understanding of the software development process and how to scope projects so they can be achieved with available resources, faculty can successfully create multimedia for use in their classes. This presentation gave would-be multimedia developers a framework for multimedia development, as well as discussed some commonly encountered problems and ways to avoid them.
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