Current Focus & Research
Musearium!
During the 2019-2020 academic year I went on an educational leave with a big agenda and learning adventure. First of all I earned a research fellowship in the UK/Ireland during the summer of 2019 with the focus on "creative engagement strategies" and "innovative tech" in museums, libraries and heritage sectors.
Also, featured in Musearium are artifacts from my graduate certificate in "Learning Science, Media, and Technology." All of this work in MUSEARIUM. |
Scroll down
for links to research and conference presentations |
One School One Heartbeat: building community through
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DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
I am very proud of my students who worked alongside me to create this Digital Citizenship playlist. We promoted it during our weekly news broadcast, and also via QR codes around the campus. From taking a Digital Citizenship pledge, learning about QR codes, green screen technology and reminders about research methods, this playlist is a true testament to working shoulder to shoulder with students to co-teach to the entire school community. |
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Over the course of my career one of my biggest goals is figuring out how to build a culture of reading with students taking active roles in "owning" the library program. Inviting students to be leaders has truly invigorated my library program and reflected the students interest and passions. From helping at the circulation desk, to planning events, volunteering as reading buddies for special education and ESL classes, operating a book drive, and even becoming authors. CLICK on "READER-LEADER'S" image to right to go to my conference presentation with survey, research, and proposals to engage students as Leaders in the Library.
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"The Art of the Book"
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Creativity Workshops:
Writing & self-publishing
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history... culture... & technology...
A passion to understand history and culture has driven not only my academic career, but also my wanderlust. After graduating with a BA in history (1990), I lived in Japan for four years and then completed a Masters of Arts in Japanese Studies (1999). I presented my research on the innovative use of technology to reinvent the past at an international conference. Drilling down further into the issues of modernization and globalization, my studies led me to Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey as an instructor in the Humanities department for three years (1999-2002). As a segue back to the US and my on-going involvement in the community media movement, I presented a paper at an educators' conference that explored media production opportunities to broadcast educational subjects beyond the classroom. Since returning to the US during the past fifteen years I have translated my academic and teaching experience into the public school system, initially as a social studies teacher, and more recently as a school librarian.
technology in education
The opportunity to pursue a Masters of Library Science (2010) was in my view an ideal platform to work to expand outward from a single classroom, and begin to work with teachers and students with resources and technology for the sake of learning. The state of technological change in public schools is still swiftly changing and likewise the library profession continues to adjust to these tumultuous changes, which has made it a perfect laboratory to understand how technology and curriculum is working (and not working) to build a bridge to the 21st century. The major hurdles that we all face today, in contrast to just 15 years ago is the sheer volume of information, technologies, and channels for broadcasting. The technology landscape is continually changing, requiring an even greater need for professional - human - intervention to help manage and pull together communities rather than risk fracturing them in a cavalier rush to technology.
My latest work is found on Musearium which is being published with the completion of my graduate certificate in "Learning Science, Media and Technology."
My latest work is found on Musearium which is being published with the completion of my graduate certificate in "Learning Science, Media and Technology."
technology in the community
Another facet of my years in education has been an on-going involvement with cable access television and how individual citizens have harnessed communication technologies to broadcast and engage with their communities. I began this journey as a producer of a weekly series, "Asian American Austin" while I was a graduate student in Austin, TX (1997-1999). From those first weeks working with fellow volunteers, I was utterly fascinated at the educational and democratizing potential that cable access television offered. The many diverse experiences I had working with media producers inspired me to present a paper at an educators conference in Japan, "Accessing Alternative Media" (linked below). It is hard to believe that it was just fifteen years ago that I explored the media production opportunities in cable access TV to engage the classroom with a broader - local - community audience. While cable access television and the community media movement has largely been eclipsed by video capability on the Internet, my passion to harness the potential of technology in communities and in education has certainly not waned.
Click HERE for video samples.
Click HERE for video samples.
accessing_alternative_media.pdf | |
File Size: | 98 kb |
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technology in Japan
One of the chief concerns of my MA research in Japanese studies was the innovative use of technology to reinvent the past. I conducted in-depth interviews with museum curators, architect and film producers associated with the Tateyama Museum's commemoration of a local mountain religion, in conjunction with visiting over 30 distinct museums and cultural heritage sites to gain a perspective on this phenomonon across Japan. Around every corner during that journey I encountered some of the most fascinating marriages between tradition and state of the art technology. I dare say that some of my greatest inspirations for the potential of educational technology was born from that eye-opening experience in Japan. Below is a link to this research that I presented at an international conference, Technology Impact on Cultural Tourism.
tict.j.deaton.pdf | |
File Size: | 481 kb |
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