Denise Lehr

Hello, my name is Denise Lehr. I am in my last term as a graduate student in the conflict resolution program. My "specialty" is restorative justice and facilitation/mediation.

I am finished with all of my required coursework, so I am taking this class for fun, along with finishing my professional project. I would like to do some teaching at some point in my life and I feel that this class would give me a good start on how to develop courses online.  

A little bit about my personal life: in March my husband and I moved from Portland to Fort Worth, Texas (so please by patient with me as I am in another time zone). However, there is a possibility we could be moving back to the West coast in November/December for my husbands job. I recently got a job as a site director for a before and after school program. I have 2 labs and 1 adopted Chihuahua. No kids yet, but now that we are both finishing up grad school, we would like to start a family soon. 

Introducing Kerensa

Hi everyone! I'm Kerensa Brougham (first name pronounced exactly like it's spelled, last name rhymes with "poem") and I'm a teacher at Gresham-Barlow Web Academy. I teach MS Language Arts, Social Studies, and Keyboarding, and HS Keyboarding, Personal Finance, and Computer Information.

GBWA is a "blended" learning school, meaning most of our curriculum is delivered online, but we have drop-in lab hours for face time with teachers, as well as offering Adobe Connect learning opportunities, field trips, student clubs, etc. There are several of us from GBWA enrolled in this course, so hopefully, someone besides me will post soon.

Looking forward to "meeting" everyone, and getting started!

Introducing Nicole



Paintbrush Rules!!!!

My name is Nicole Kasten and I am an Education Consultant for a non-profit that helps community and rural health providers get onto electronic health records.  I was in a graduate program at OHSU, but almost everyone in the classes worked at OHSU, so it didn't feel beneficial being an outsider.  Prior to this position, I was a Quality and Education Consultant at Kaiser and trained several different types of courses for adults related to health care, communication skills, leadership skills, etc.  Before health care, I was an Operations Manager with an airline and I believe that my success in that position came from educating my staff, which is what led to my passion for adult education.
I am constantly being asked to convert existing courses to an online format.  I have had exposure to Moodle, Educator, Blackboard and many other LMS systems, but now I have the SABA classroom product and besides learning how to administer the software, I thought it would be a great idea to to gain awareness of what works best in the online environment for learners.

I own a beer relations business that promotes Oregon Craft Beer and any other hobbies that I used to have are gone and have been replaced with something craft beer related.  My photo is intentional, b/c cropping is the cool thing to do now and I like to do something different. 

Introducing Larry

Hello there!  My name is Larry Williams.  I'm a graduate student in the Portland State University (PSU) PACE program.  I'm taking this eLearning course as part of the certificate program for online learning for educators.  I've been in the PACE program as a part-time student for almost 2 years now, and am approaching the end of my studies.  I plan on focusing on the issue of eLearning program adoption in a post-secondary setting for my comps project. 

As for my day job, I'm the Director of Web Services at the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN - www.oen.org).  It's a fancy title for what I really am: a glorified IT nerd.  I manage the organization's website, work with technology vendors to ensure uptime, and contribute to web/IT strategy for the organization.  The OEN is a small non-profit, so I wear many hats and have duties that extend outside of the web/IT realm.  I manage the organization's internship program, and assist with events and general office duties. 

In addition to the OEN and school, I serve on the board of the Equity Foundation (www.equityfoundation.org), a non-profit that provides scholarships and grants to LGBTQ and minority students and organizations.  This past year the Equity Foundation has provided thousands of dollars in scholarships and grants to minority students, and groups like the Oregon Food Bank and Cascade AIDs Project.

In my spare time, I play the clarinet and read.  I enjoy spending time with friends either at the movies or at a pub.  

Introducing Tracy

Hello, my name is Tracy Schiffmann. I have been an instructional designer and trainer for about 20 years. I design, train and coach primarily in higher ed, social services, and for social science research projects.

For the last five years I have had my own consulting business and have written over 20 curricula and done instructional coaching with clients all across the US. Some of my clients include Oregon Social Learning Center, MercyCorps Northwest, National Friends of the Children, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring. My most widely used curriculum is Parenting Inside Out, a parenting program for incarcerated parents used in all Oregon prisons and sold nationally and internationally. This program was studied by the Oregon Social Learning Center in a randomized controlled trial and among other positive findings, has been shown to reduce recidivism by 60%.

I have also coached college faculty in best practices in learning communities for developmental learners at colleges in AZ, NC, TX, OR, OH and GA.

I have a BA in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley and an Ed.M. from Oregon State University. All of my instructional design to date has been for instructor led, face-to-face training and teaching. Because I want to stay abreast of all the ways I can create and facilitate adult learning I've decided to update my skills through this certificate program in online learning for adult educators. I am excited to be starting this course and I look forward to learning from and sharing with all of you.

Personally, I have a 25 year old, Ryan, who lives in Vancouver, WA and a wonderful husband, Bob, to whom I've been married for three years. I enjoy social partner dancing (waltz, blues, zydeco, swing, two-step, and a wee bit of Tango), and I love talking with colleagues about experiences and best practices in adult teaching and learning. I look forward to meeting you all virtually and the adventure ahead of us in this course!

Introducing... Misty!

Hello! As you all should know by now, my name is Misty Hamideh. I have been a part of the Portland State community for almost 13 years now, wearing many different hats along the way. I began as an undergraduate student of Applied Linguistics and followed that degree with a Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA TESOL). During my graduate studies, I discovered a passion for computer-assisted language learning, which landed me a position helping to convert a traditional Spanish language course into one taught in a hybrid delivery method. Working under some very talented instructional designers to make this project a success, I learned a new profession that I fell in love with.

As for my personal life, I have been away from PSU for a while focusing on family. I have two AMAZING daughters, Lilia (8) and Della (2), and a wonderful husband (who recently developed a passion for cooking, probably because of my lack thereof!). We love to travel and have taken our kids all over the world. My favorite spot so far is Cordoba, Spain, but there are so many places I would love to go back to… after I see all of the places still on my list! I also play cello in the Clark College Orchestra and love to go thrifting for vintage treasures (which I sell on Etsy).