It's About Learning

I am the husband of my wonderful wife Marilyn and the father of two amazing sons, Levi and Caleb. I am a learning theorist, a learning innovation consultant, a virtual professor, a perpetual student of inquiry, and the former Vice President Academic of Concordia University of Edmonton. I am currently serving as a Clinical Instructor/Visiting Professor and developer of the Applied Digital Learning Masters of Education and co-developer of the M.Ed. in Digital Learning and Leading at Lamar University. I aided the School of Health Sciences at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) develop their Learning Innovation Strategy. I am also teaching in the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College.

This is my personal website, blog, ePortfolio, and part of my learning environment. It is focused on learning and learning environments. My primary goal is to change the world one learner at a time. To do that I strive to help you all to understand and build significant learning environments that will serve all learners. To fully understand why I believe it is crucial for everyone to have a personal learning environment read my post Why Learners Should Blog. Because this blog is part of my learning environment it will never be fully finished.

I write/post regularly on all aspects of the Learner’s Mindset, significant learning environments, leadership & change, disruptive innovation, instructional technology, mobile and web-based learning, constructivism, and instructional design. As of the summer of 2013, I also started writing and reflecting on Becoming an Intentional Father. On occasion, I write about stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories. You will also notice that I am an advocate for new media–especially video and infographics and I believe that we should be incorporating media into everything we do (see my… Embedding Media into all Programs post for a full justification). On Wednesdays, I add to my Wednesday Watchlist where I post an amazing video I found at TED, Youtube, Vimeo, RSA, or one of the many other sites that I monitor on a regular basis.

The following videos provides a snapshot of my thoughts on school and learning:

My Top Posts

If you are new to my site, you might want to start with my posts on the following topics.

Learner’s Mindset

Creating Significant Learning Environments

Leadership and Change

Teaching & Learning

Learning Innovation

Mobile & Web-based Learning

Instructional Technology & Design (enhancing learning with technology)

Intentional Father

My Full Bio

I received my PhD. in Educational Psychology from the University of Alberta and am currently serving as a Clinical Instructor/Visiting Professor and developer of the Applied Digital Learning Masters of Education and co-developer of the M.Ed. in Digital Learning and Leading at Lamar University in Beaumont TX. I have worked as an educational consultant for many years and aided the School of Health Sciences at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) develop and their Learning Innovation Strategy. I am also teaching in the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College.

I have also provided Instructional Design and Technology Integration support as an Instructional Development Consultant at BCIT. Prior to working at BCIT, I served as the Vice President Academic of Concordia University of Edmonton. Concordia’s priority is to prepare its learners for a future that is very difficult to predict and my responsibility was to provide the leadership that ensured that Concordia developed learning environments that utilize innovation to stimulate critical and analytical thinking and that equipped its graduates to effectively communicate as they tackle global challenges.

Prior to joining Concordia, I was the Director of Faculty Enrichment at Abilene Christian University in Southwest Texas. As the Director of Faculty Enrichment my primary responsibility was to help the faculty to develop active and engaging learning environments and to provide strategic direction for Mobile Learning; instructional design; faculty development; teaching, learning, and Technology; and the Researchers in Residence, and Scholars in Residence programs.

My previous professional appointments include Manager Educational Technology at Lethbridge College and Adjunct Professor for the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. As Manager Instructional Technology, my primary focus was to provide vision, leadership, expertise, and creativity to support and develop the use of educational/instructional technology at Lethbridge College.

While at the University of Alberta I was involved in pioneering web-based instruction in the Faculty of Education. In my work on online and web-based learning and I developed an approach to learning called Inquisivistism. My research has demonstrated that Inquisitivism is an effective approach for web-based instruction as well as most other forms of inquiry-based learning.

This approach is at the foundation of many web-based courses that have developed, facilitated, and instructed in a blended or fully online format at several institutions across North America. In addition, to my research into adult learning, I am also researching the application of the Project Approach in Elementary and Early Childhood in a homeschool and/or tutorial-based learning environment.

As an advocate of practical hands-on learning, I put theory into practice as a consultant and have served as a Director of Information Technologies for one of the largest private Residential Real Estate firms in North America and also served as a volunteer Chief Information Officer for a global mission and relief organization.

I strive to find a balance between my academic and professional career by regularly volunteering at a variety of community-based programs and by focusing on my family.

Revised September 1, 2021