"About Me"

Welcome to my blog. As you can see, it is a continuation of a blog I started during my first term at Boise. This term it will serve two purposes- I will be posting as part of the requirements for the educational Games and Simulations course and I will also use it to model blogging for my students in the Nutrition Master's program at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, MN.

My background is diverse with previous degrees and careers in food service, dietetics, exercise physiology and chiropractic. I am a doctor of chiropractic and currently teach classroom, hybrid, and online courses at NWHSU. I live in a condo in downtown Minneapolis with my dachshund Sachey (short for Salchicha- Spanish for sausage). Several years ago I had never used email or PowerPoint. To learn more about teaching and technology I started with a certificate in Instructional Tchnology from the College of St. Scholastica and transferred to BSU for a more technology oriented program. Apparently I cannot get enough of this topic as I am planning on pursuing doctoral degree once I finish the MET next fall. I am currently a GA for Dr. Dawley and helped her to teach Online Course Design last term.

In a previous life (before school!) I was very active in the sport of rugby, first as a player and then as a team physician. This allowed me to travel extensively across the US and internationally to Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, France, and Australia. Now my travel is limited to professional conferences. Last year I was lucky enough to present in Beijing and Melbourne and supervised a clinical work experience for students in Costa Rica. As a side note, the Great Wall is truly one of the 7 Wonders of the World!

















Educational simulations for the medical and chiropractic professions are a special interest of mine. We are offering a clinical education experience in Second Life at NWHSU for the first time this term. Our students will use their avatars to conduct a patient interview with the avatar of a geriatric patient in Second Life. Below is screen shot of the virtual chiropractic clinic in Second Life.

To learn more about Second Life in Medical education check out this video created as a course project: http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=6RdwqK2di7M