Overview
In Progress
I am on sabbatical from June 2012 to August 2013. I am taking advantage of my sabbatical time to rethink and redesign this website.
The most important thing to understand is this website is in a beta format. While the general structure of the website is in place, most of the details are either missing or need to be refined. A solid version of the website will be ready by September 1, 2013.
Corkboarding
The approach I am using for developing this website is corkboarding: I'm gathering materials at this point. Over time you'll see some of the materials go away, others divided up into sections, plus other refinements.
Readability
This website is partly an experiment in readability. You probably noticed right away that the text size is much larger relative to most websites. There's no sidebar. There's lots of white space. Videos are done via a pop-up effect called lightbox to save space and keep the website fast. If you use an iPad (or similar tablet) or an iPhone (or similar smart phone) you'll notice that this website is very easy to read on those devices (what web designers call responsive). The only condition where the website does not work well is using something akin to an iPhone in portrait (vertical) mode. If interested in learning more, I suggest reading this blog post: Responsive Typography.
Introduction
My name is Mathew Mitchell and I'm a professor at the University of San Francisco. I work in the Learning and Instruction doctoral program at the School of Education. In addition I serve as co-director for USF's Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE).
This website reflects my current foci in terms of multimedia learning techniques. As such, the website serves two purposes: (1) a professional website that provides general support for my students, and (2) support for those with an interest in the educational benefits of multimedia learning.
I do Tweet, so if you want to follow me (MathewUSF) use this Twitter link.
Learning & Instruction Doctoral Program
The Learning and Instruction doctorate is a 60 unit program developed for working professionals. The primary courses I teach in the program are:
- Cognitive Psychology (for all first year students)
- Motivation
- Multimedia Learning
- Creativity
The L&I doctoral program is a great course of study for working professionals in a variety of work situations. For details visit: Learning and Instruction doctoral program website.
Center for Teaching Excellence
The mission of the CTE is to celebrate, support and help develop excellent teaching across the university, at all stages of a faculty member's career. The CTE opened its doors in August 2011. We are in the early stages of development, but are excited about the programs and services developed so far. Learn more at the official Center for Teaching Excellence website.
Professional Focus
For the past 10 years I've been doing research into various forms of multimedia learning. My interest in multimedia learning tools emerged due to the very practical challenges of trying to develop better, and more socially connected, learning environments for my own students.
The appropriate use of multimedia tools, aimed at solving specific and difficult learning problems, can be a great boon to education. This website explores some of the specific ways I've employed multimedia, but there are other educators who use multimedia differently with very effective results.
I started off as a high school mathematics teacher, and that has colored many of my subsequent interests in education. My doctoral dissertation and initial research explored student motivation to learn in mathematics classroom. Specifically, I looked at better understanding student interest and some pedagogical approaches that might enhance long-term student interest in academic subjects such as mathematics. Later I began focusing more on learning strategies. In turn this led to an increased in multimedia learning as a tool for helping implement key learning strategies in a practical manner.
Recent Multimedia
Mitchell, M. [Mathew Mitchell]. (2012, December 10). Why Markdown Matters [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/55297514
Mitchell, M. [Mathew Mitchell]. (2012, December 6). The Magic of OPML [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/55058953
Mitchell, M. [Mathew Mitchell]. (2012, September 5). Tree Outliner tutorial [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/48911674
Mitchell, M. [Mathew Mitchell]. (2012, September 5). Byword + Markdown tutorial [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/48910777
Recent Scholarship
Mitchell, M. (2012). Voices beyond the classroom. NETWORK: A Journal of Faculty Development, 9. Retrieved from Faculty Resource Network website.
Laskay, M., Mitchell, M., & Prion, S. (2011, November). The human voice beyond the classroom. Presentation at the Faculty Resource Network Symposium on Emerging Pedagogies for the 21st Century, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Mitchell, M. (2011, June). Pecha kuchas in the higher education classroom. Presentation at the ED-MEDIA World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, & Telecommunications, Lisbon, Portugal.
Mitchell, M. (2010, October). Multimedia as pre-training in statistics. Paper presented at the E-Learn World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education, Orlando, FL.
Website Updates
Articles & Tutorials
April 4, 2013
I've just completed decent drafts of two web articles plus two online tutorials. Each of these were in an early, and ugly, draft stage before. Specifically the upates include:
One additional article (on Research Alouds) and two tutorials (on Brainstorming and Markdown) will be completed over the next two months.
Use the handy form on this page to get a safe and secure email message to me. You can expect a reply within one week if I'm traveling. Shorter if I'm in San Francisco.
I plan on responding to your email message in 24 business hours or less. Weekends and holidays don't count as business hours, so you'll just have to be patient if I receive an email during those time periods.
Mathew Mitchell