I am a learning scientist interested in how people connect and learn. I was originally trained as a molecular biologist, but moved into science education, then more broadly, the learning sciences. I am currently the President of Alpine Access University, a unit of Alpine Access. Prior to this, I was Chief Learning Officer and Vice President for Research and Design at Cardean Learning Group, an online education company. Our first online learning community, Cardean University, offered MBA and undergraduate degrees developed with a consortium of leading business schools that included Columbia, Stanford, University of Chicago, and the London School of Economics. More recently, in partnership with the New York Institute of Technology, the company launched Ellis College, a new online school created to serve working adults. Cardean Learning Group’s most recent offering is Ellis University, an independently accredited institution offering over 40 undergraduate and graduate degrees.

My current work involves building technology-based environments that enable people to form ”and participate in” learning communities. In support of that, I draw from the theories of socio-constructivism, cognitive apprenticeship, and communities of practice. In thinking about how technology and the internet can facilitate learning, I share the same belief stated by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid in their work, The Social Life of Information:

The value of the Net doesn’t simply lie in the way it allows groups of people to talk with one another. It also comes from the way that, unlike telephones or video links, the Net can provide common objects for participants to observe, manipulate, and discuss. It’s not, then, simply a medium for conversation, nor is it just a delivery mechanism. It combines both, providing a medium for conversation and for circulating digital objects. Furthermore, it also allows participants to turn the ongoing conversation itself into another object of conversation for further reflection. Usually, educational technology tries to do one or another of these things. Ideally, it should combine all three.

Put simply, I seek to develop technology environments that combine “all three.”

The Electric Lyceum is my personal weblog.
The statements and opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

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