Fragmented Identities: A Domain of One’s Own

James Groom, Instructional Technology Specialist and Adjunct Professor, University of Mary Washington

The University of Mary Washington has been getting attention for its proactive approach to using blogs (often in innovative and unexpected ways) for various academic ends, including the delivery of course materials, student projects, etc. In this keynote session, Groom will give an overview of UMW Blogs and how it has morphed from a blogging system into an educational publishing platform. He will provide some very specific examples of how faculty and students have used it for their courses and beyond.

Groom will describe how easily Web 2.0 tools integrate into the blog, allowing for a loosely-coupled publishing model that is both open and personal, and how UMW blogs has helped both faculty and students frame their digital identity in a simultaneously fragmented and integrated way. Groom will close by suggesting possibilities for faculty to simply explore these types of tools on their own, while easily sharing back with the community at large.

Presenter bio

Jim Groom is an Instructional Technology Specialist and adjunct professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He has been working for over a decade in education with a consistent focus on the development of teaching and learning in higher education. In addition to his extensive experience teaching at the college level, for the past four years he has worked primarily in the field of instructional technology.

His experience as an instructor coupled with his extensive collaborations with faculty and students with a specific focus on curricula, pedagogical and technologically enhanced projects has informed many of the innovative projects he has been a part of in the field of instructional technology over the last several years.