The Net Pedagogy Portal Team

The Net Pedagogy Portal is one of a series of web portals created by students taking MDDE663 – Emerging Technologies in Distance Education (fall 2006). This course is offered by the Center for Distance Education at Athabasca University, Canada. Each portal team produces an educational web portal that provides understanding, knowledge and resources for a particular emerging technology. The focus of this site is pedagogy for online teaching and learning. The team for this portal on Net Pedagogy is:

Mary Arnold

Mary Arnold is an instructional designer and the WebCT Administrator for Royal Military College of Canada. She is passionate proponent of the effective use of technology in education and a life-long learner herself. MDDE663 is her last course in the Masters of Distance Education program at Athabasca University.

As a representative of RMC at the Partnership for Peace Consortium Advanced Distributed Learning Working Group, Mary has delivered papers on Computer Mediated Communication and contributed to the development of online courseware for the use of the international military and security community.

Mary lives with her dog, Ceilidh, and horse, Trout, in Kingston, Ontario. She loves the walking, riding, and sailing outdoors. And reading, sewing, and drawing indoors.

To contact Mary Arnold:
Website: http://six63.blogspot.com
Email: mary.arnold@rmc.ca

Richard Giroday B.Sc. (Hons), Simon Fraser University

Richard was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he spent his youthful formative years. He moved to northern British Columbia after graduating in Applied Mathematics from Simon Fraser University. Today, he lives and teaches online from Prince George, British Columbia.

Richard is an online teacher for the Central Interior Distance Education School, School District 57, Prince George BC Canada, responsible for senior mathematics and physics courses. He is also the school’s mentor for online teachers, providing pedagogical and technical support and training for the school's teaching staff, and administrator of the school’s Desire2Learn content management and delivery system. He also supports staff delivering courses through Web-CT. A passion for computers, the Internet, and education has lead to an extensive computer background, and application of the Internet to educational and commercial initiatives.

Richard is a student in the Masters of Distance Education program at Athabasca University. MDDE663 is his eleventh and final course in the program.

To contact Richard Giroday:
Website: http://giroday.thewebworks.bc.ca
Email: rgiroday@sd57.bc.ca

Patrick Simmons, BCOMM, University of Calgary; BA (Philosophy) University of Calgary

Patrick was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and quickly moved to settle in Calgary. Although he has spent time in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and California, Calgary has been his main point of residence. He began his post-secondary studies in Southern California, before returning to the University of Calgary where he completed both a Commerce degree and Philosophy degree.

Patrick began working at Columbia College in Calgary, Alberta in 1998 in the area of database development and teaching information processing courses for an Academic Upgrading progam. The next step led Patrick to Program Manager for the College's Office Administration Certificate program, where he enjoyed a balance of facilitating and program planning. Patrick is currently the Registrar for the College, as well as the Student Services Manager where he works with a dedicated team of individuals to help learners successfully enter and then move through their academic programs of choice.

Patrick is happily married and a father of 2 spirited and energetic little kids. He enjoys reading, sports and experimenting in the kitchen. Patrick is currently taking his final course in his Masters of Distance Education degree at Athabasca University.

To contact Patrick Simmons:
Email: Patrick.Simmons@columbia.ab.ca