eLearning Consultants

<body bgcolor="#ffffff"> <table border="0" width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <h2>Our Design and Development Philosophy</h2><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Our eLearning and distance education work is based on the following three main concepts: <ul type="square" class="helv"> <li type="square" class="helv"> Donald Norman's (author of "The Design of Everyday Things") user centered design</li> <li type="square" class="helv"> Edward Tufte's (author of "Envisioning Information" and "Visual Explanations") approaches for presenting content</li> <li type="square" class="helv"> Constructivism Learning Theories</li> </ul> <br> We follow a highly collaborative iterative design process with a strong focus on the end user. In fact, collaboration is one of the keys to our approach, both in the design process and in the learning process for students and users. <br><br> Whenever appropriate we employ hands-on collaborative project pedagogy. 0ur own classroom experiments have shown that students learn 2 to 3 times as much material in the same amount of time using hands-on collaborative projects rather than presenting the same material in a more traditional format. <br><br> Finally, no matter how much planning and thought go into our projects, nothing can replace a properly designed and executed evaluation of actual learner outcomes followed by a redesign based on these findings. This reiterative process produces the most effective eLearning and distance education courses and programs for both instructors and students. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Marti Atkinson</font><br> <b>Principal - Instructional Design</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Marti Atkinson has been fascinated with using computers and technology as teaching and learning tools ever since the late 1960零 when she worked as the programmer for the Math Strands project at Stanford University. In the last few years she has served as a consultant for eLearning and program development. She is currently working on the development of the California Virtual Campus. <br><br> Over the years, Marti has explored applying many different technologies and methods to the learning process. She started with remote time-shared TTY terminals in K-12 schools, then moved to early applications of microcomputers in education with an Apple II Learning Lab she set up and managed at the University of California at Santa Cruz. These UCSC instructional labs have since expanded to service virtually all campus disciplines with a wide range of equipment including sophisticated high-end UNIX workstations. Marti was among the pioneers in teaching Web design/development and producing interactive educational multimedia, first on interactive videodisc, then CD-ROM, and currently as online interactive streaming media. <br><br> With a B.S. in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (dissertation topic: Creative and Effective Group Process), Marti is equally comfortable working with technology as with human beings. Currently, she enjoys developing compelling eLearning instruction and looks forward to the increased potentials afforded by broadband delivery of interactive streaming media. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Bill Doherty</font><br> <b>Assessment / Evaluation</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Bill's passion is the use of technology to enhance human collaboration, learning, and development. He specialized in the use of advanced behavioral techniques to assist organizations in improving their operation and impact. He collaborates with organizational leaders to help achieve their goals. This approach has proved to be very successful in a wide range of situations, such as the evaluation of the MESA program for the University of California System-wide Office and the formative evaluation of collaborative online course development for the California Virtual Campus. Bill has conducted evaluations at every level of education from higher education to K-12. <br><br> Bill developed an unique multi-perspective evaluation approach for eLearning courses. This technique evaluates the course along four dimensions: content, instructional design, technical infrastructure, and collaboration. The resulting evaluative information provides a comprehensive picture of the learning quality provided by a course. This approach can be used during the development process of a course or to help select between existing courses. <br><br> Bill has a Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Southern California where he focused on the measurement of human intelligence. He also has a M.B.A. from the University of California at Los Angles. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Habib Krit</font><br> <b>Database Integration</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Habib Krit has 19 years experience in chip, board, and software design. He likes to code in Java, C, C++ and various Web development languages. He is a member of the C++ Standard Committee. He has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz and is drawn to the public service functions of non-profit organizations and educational institutions, as well as to the dynamic environments of smaller companies. <br><br> In design, Habib values economy, performance and sturdiness. For economy, he recommends preliminary research for existing solutions and awareness of component reuse. For performance and sturdiness, he recommends relying on proven technologies and including sufficient error reporting. When needed, Habib enjoys fine-tuning code to increase speed or reduce footprint. <br><br> With regards to project management, Habib values realistic resource assessment and ongoing schedule tracking. He likes to promote group harmony and is glad to contribute group facilitation and conflict resolution techniques. Habib is also glad to provide support in the form of training resources and reference material. <br><br> Habib holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as an Electrical Engineering graduate degree from the Ecole Superieure d'Electricite, Paris. In pursuit of breadth of knowledge, he trains ongoing in a variety of disciplines that have included linguistics, languages and more recently psychology and child development. </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">DJ Somers</font><br> <b>eLearning Producer</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> DJ Somers combines years of managerial experience with extensive hands-on production of eLearning and distance education products. He has a strong track record of bringing projects in on time, and under budget. DJ is a team builder, an executive producer comfortable leading a multidisciplinary group. <br><br> Formally the Managing Director of Archipelago Productions (now Harcourt e-Learning), DJ was responsible for 40 people's role in creating an Internet University, including proprietary software creation, server hosting, and application integration. <br><br> DJ managed the creation of more than 20 Web-based multimedia interactive University courses. He was actively involved in user interface design and content development. He has successfully project managed software engineers, information designers, graphic artists, writers, editors, and subject matter experts. <br><br> DJ's background is varied and diverse. He was a commercial advertising photographer in New York City, has produced advertising spots for television as well as interactive Museum exhibits, was Assistant Director of a Public Interest Research Group, and has a B.Sci. in Conservation of Natural Resources from U.C. Berkeley. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Scott Robinson</font><br> <b>Information Architect</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Scott Robinson has a wide background, spanning theatrical stage management to project management and Web development. Scott began his professional multimedia development experience with an educational CD-ROM at University of California at Santa Cruz. As Associate Producer with a small team of developers and contractors, he created a compelling experience for teachers teaching in diverse classrooms. <br><br> With a B.A. in Theater Arts and a certificate in Project Management, Scott has worked on very diverse projects in various venues. His experience with professional clients and his exposure to educational multimedia development bring a great balance to any project. Scott has worked with many Fortune 500 clients, as well as many dot-coms (some still in business!). He has experience with such clients as Hewlett Packard, Disney, Seagate and The Tech Museum of Innovation. <br><br> Scott is currently teaching information architecture at Cabrillo College and University of California at Santa Cruz Extension. Scott is also pursuing his Masters degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. He continues to consult with clients to help develop and articulate their business, content, and user goals for Web and software projects. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Jen Holm</font><br> <b>Graphics / Production</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Jen Holm's many years of designing graphics and coding HTML to create streamlined Web pages has given her a profound sense of how best to use the many tools available. She has worked on a wide array of sites, from small local non-profits to corporate giants like Hewlett-Packard, and is experienced with balancing the needs of the clients with the constraints of technology. <br><br> As one of the founders of Imagesmith, Internet solutions provider, Jen was responsible for the development of the Production Department, where she oversaw a team of programmers, designers and interns. She also developed corporate standards and methodology. <br><br> Jen holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology, and a graduate certificate in Scientific Illustration. During her graduate work, she participated in an exploratory seminar on Internet technology, and thought, "Hey, maybe this Web thing will take off." The rest is history. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td> <font class="title">Matt Heilmann</font><br> <b>Multimedia Specialist</b><br><br> </td> </tr> <tr align="left" valign="top"> <td class="helv"> Matt Heilmann has the unique combination of being a creative producer and an experienced instructor. He has worked extensively with audio, film, and video since the early 1980's. He has experience with CD-ROM and DVD authoring, computer animation, streaming technologies, audio and video compression. <br><br> Matt has taught digital editing and camera technique to film students at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has developed curriculum, authoring a Technical Workshop series covering all aspects of film production. <br><br> Matt has many years of experience creating and producing product. He has produced educational videos, public relations pieces, live radio broadcasts, live musical events, film documentaries, TV commercials, and CDs and cassettes. <br><br> Some of his more favorite productions are the documentaries "Japanese Internment Camp Memories", "Jambo Africa" and the Santa Cruz AIDS Foundation's "AIDS Quilt" Public Service Announcement. <br><br> </td> </tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> </table> </body>