The mission of the IDEAL lab is to improve learning in all settings where adults work and learn, with particular emphasis on e-learning environments. Through individual and collaborative projects, we seek to improve practices and strengthen the knowledge base in instructional design.

Brent Wilson is a Professor of Information and Learning Technologies at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD), where he teaches classes in action research, instructional design, learning and cognition, and technology trends and issues. He has published widely on topics in instructional design and technology.

His primary research interests center around a few questions: How can we design and deliver good instruction? How can we help people appropriately use learning resources? How can we empower practitioners to share in the advancement of knowledge? Brent serves on editorial boards for half a dozen journals and participates actively in ed-tech organizations, including AECT, PIDT, AERA, and Colorado's TIE.

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303-315-4963

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Joanna (please call me Joni) Dunlap, PhD, CPT is an Assistant Professor of
Information and Learning Technologies (ILT) in the School of Education at
the University of Colorado Denver (UCD). Joni coordinates the Designing
and Implementing Web-based Learning Environments online certification
program, and the Master's program in
instructional design and adult learning. She is also an active faculty member in the Educational Leadership and
Innovation (EDLI) doctoral program at UCD. In 2002, Joni received UCD's
Teacher of the Year award.

Joni's areas of interest include:

• Situated and social constructivist instructional methodologies and strategies: problem-based learning (PBL), intentional learning, cognitive apprenticeship, authentic context, generative learning.
• Impact of situated and social constructivist methodologies on lifelong learning, metacognition, self-directed learning, self-efficacy, and enculturation.
• Web resources as performance-support tools.
• Design, delivery, and management of online and hybrid (half online and half face-to-face) courses and programs.
  

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303-315-4964

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Nathan Balasubramanian teaches Science at Overland High School in Cherry Creek School District. A physicist by training, he has taught science, technology and pre-engineering in secondary schools across three continents for over 17 years. Nathan has recently completed requirements for a Ph.D. in the Educational Leadership and Innovation program at the University of Colorado Denver. He is passionate about designing innovative methods to learn science and engineering in secondary schools.

He is developing modular self-contained easily accessible multi-player online games, called STRONG (an acronym for STRuctured-scenario ONline Games) to elicit and assess secondary school students’ rudimentary conceptual understanding of specific domain knowledge in science and engineering.

His proposed STRONG framework seeks to immerse all learners in a progression of guided inquiry hands-on activities to facilitate improved conceptual understanding. As the pyramid representation in the STRONG framework suggests, students learn bottom-up through an iterative process of working with their minds and hands.

While designing an engaging hands-on technology-mediated learning environment in his classroom, Nathan has also developed an instructional model that serves as a pragmatic road map to help more students assume ownership for gaining, retaining, and honing their problem-solving skills for effective knowledge transfer – what he likes to call building champions with heart.

Click on Accomplishments to view some of the products developed since he joined the doctoral program in Fall 2002. For additional information, see his online resume.

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720-936-5999

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Patrick Parrish is the Production Manager for The COMET™ Program, which produces education and training for the operational meteorology community. In this role he supervises a group of instructional designers and multimedia developers that produce Web-based distance learning, offered through the MetEd Website.

Patrick is a doctoral student in the EDLI program, with a key interest in exploring the aesthetic aspects of teaching and learning. His current projects included researching the nature of the aesthetic decisions made by instructional designers, as well as their attitudes toward the artistic aspects of their discipline. He is also exploring the ways in which aesthetic experience influences learning.

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303-497-8366

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With a Masters degree in Systems Analysis, (published thesis on reliability of systems) and certified as a Software Project Manager by the University of Texas, Bob has been a programmer/ analyst and educator for 30+ years in the computer software and education industries. He was involved in the evolution of modern software since its beginning and is closely familiar with the latest technologies such as Web Services, JSP, ASP, enterprise Java, and XML connectivity.

Bob was the architect for initial design of 2200 networked computers for the state of Texas. As National Training Director for an international organization, he trained hundreds of trainers to lead seminars. Bob is also the creator and co-creator of a number of database management systems. These include one created for the U.S. army and deployed in attack vehicles; one used as a business system for an international organization; and one used in a palm device. His ERP background goes back many years. For example, he was one of the implementers of MRP software systems for Austin Motorola.

Bob has studied and taught extensively in the field of software connectivity. He collaborates with other content developers, GPSS, technical writers, and software developers to produce very complete and well-integrated course materials.

Bob has developed and/or taught classes for Interoperability, XPI, CRM, Security, and Installation for Peoplesoft. He has taught at a number of community colleges on various advanced math and computer subjects. These colleges include Austin Community College in Texas, Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado, and Westwood College in Denver. He has also taught at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado.

Bob is currently studying ways to simplify reading, including using parts of speech processors to prepare text for faster reading, using artificial intelligence to create questions that tests the reader's comprehension of the material, and using databases to help the student track his progress. He is also creating database associations among educational authors, ideas, and theories to make it easier for teachers, students, and theorists to track these associations.

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303-334-9623

Scott Switzer is the Director of Program Design for Academic Impressions in Denver, CO. and a part-time instructor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. In addition to a pursuing a Ph.D. in the EDLI program, Scott is also a Learning Consultant for a number of organizations, specializing in the areas of leadership and organizational change. Scott currently holds a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University.

Over the past twelve years,
Scott has been a Lecturer in the Master’s program in Education (Educational Technology emphasis) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and has been a presenter at a variety of professional conferences and seminars. Scott's primary research interests are in the areas of instructional design and eLearning development and is very interested in higher education faculty development programs, particularly as they relate to creating more effective online and hybrid learning environments.

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720-488-6800, ext. 271

Diann Mazingo is a doctoral student in the EDLI program at UCD. She completed her masters in Information and Learning Technologies in 2001 from UCD and a her BA in biochemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999. She currently teaches honors and advanced placement chemistry at Eaglecrest High School in Centennial, Colorado. Diann also teaches web design courses periodically for the UCD ILT Masters program.

Diann's dissertation research will focus on the use of constructivist-type feedback in chemistry computer-assisted instruction (CAI) modules. She is particularly interested in whether or not the type of feedback given in CAI modules can positively affect student self-efficacy.

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720-886-1102

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Kevin Preston is passionate about instructional design, facilitation, eLearning, organizational development, performance improvement, and curriculum management. He uses these skills in his current role as Learning Network Manager for Catholic Health Initiatives – a large non-profit healthcare provider. Kevin received his Masters in Education from Colorado State University and a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Regis University.

Kevin is focusing his doctoral studies on adult learning, knowledge communities, and instructional design as they relate to corporate and non-profit education environments. Additionally, Kevin is interested in educational technology and the return on investment of eLearning.

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303-383-2774

Lee Christopher is currently a new doctoral student in the EDLI program at
UCD. She received her M.F.A. in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University
and her M.Ed. from Tulane University. She is a lecturer in the English
Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Lee’s area of focus centers around instructional design and educational technology. She is particularly interested in the ethics of distance education and the aesthetics of instructional design.

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303-352-4108