Research, service- highlights

Dissertation Research, Chair

Identifying Human Values Reflected in “Digitoral” Advertisements

Dr. Jed Walls

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Middle School Parents’ Views on Using Video Games in Education

Dr. Christine Russell

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Me and My TV: Reconceptualizing the Television Audience with Uses and Gratifications Theory

Dr. Christine Dee

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A Phenomenological Inquiry of Counseling Trainee's Experience: The Role of Video Review in Supervision and the effect on the Trainee’s Practice

Dr. Mischa Routon

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Two Kinds of Presence: A Comparative Analysis of Face-to-Face and Technology-Based Mediated Communication Methods and The Executive Coaching Experience

 by Dr. Lawrence M Drake II

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Television Viewing and Self-Discrepancy

 By Dr. Lisa Gaumond

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Understanding Employee Engagement Through the Performance Metrics of Individual Who Use an Enterprise Video-Sharing Application 

By Dr. Michael T. Felix

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Group Constructed Narratives in Twitter

By Dr. Mike Neal

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Narrative Transportation as a Tool to Enhance Reading Comprehension

By Dr. Tyrone Dixon

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Research, projects

AMIDST: Attracting Minorities to Geosciences through Involved Digital Story Telling is a project funded by the Geoscience Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF), through their program entitled Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in Geosciences (OEDG).

This project is meant to test an innovative idea of integrating place-based geoscience education with culturally sensitive digital story telling, to engage and attract Alaska’s native and rural children from grades 3 through 5 to geosciences. Briefly, it used required students to create digital stories to demonstrate their understanding of climate change, based on course work and field trips.

An assessment of the current trends and future possibilities of the Sitka Maker Space program. Duties included being part of the design team of the maker space mobile cart program, and collecting and assessing data about its use after it was implemented.

Evaluation of the efforts of AKLN, a coalition of Alaskan School Districts formed to address the challenges involved in providing academic opportunities to students throughout Alaska, particularly students in rural Alaska, using distance delivery systems. 2011-2012.

Evaluation of a multi-year program that "blends live and distance-delivered credit courses designed to increase individual teacher history content knowledge and use of best practices with group collaborative activities." 2010-2012. 

Assessment of the Consortium for Digital Learning program, a 1-to-1 laptop initiative involving over 12,000 students, directed by the AASB. The evaluation report is available to the public. 2009-2011.

Evaluation of the federally funded BTOP project, titled: Broadband Technologies and Awareness Program- Bridging the eSkils Gap, 2011-2013.

Evaluation of WaveVII, an Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) grant focused on helping students and teachers achieve proficiency in technology literacy and skills involved inintegrating technology into the curriculum. 2010.

Evaluation of the impacts of the STAT project, directed by the Alaska State Dept. of Education and Early Childhood Development. STAT involved providing technology and professional development to teachers and technology coordinators in several communities in Alaska. 2008.

Evaluation, mentoring of hundreds of student classroom, community and research projects at the graduate level, including classrooom projects an dissertations, largely in the fields of educational technology, online learning, media psychology and cyber culture. 1985-present day.

Research, outreach, selected projects

I joined the program in its infancy and along with a half dozen faculty helped it to become a unique succesful program an emerging field. 2009-on-going.

Along with Dr. Mike Ribble, I helped create a PLN (formally a Special Interest Group, or SIG) in digital citizenship for ISTE in 2012. Mike and I co-chaired the group for its first 3 years. 

Working with counselors from the Petersburg Mental Health Center, we used digital storytelling as a therapeutic means for healing, therapy and self-expression. The program is in its 9th year. It has attracted the involvement of other Fullsail University. 2006-on-going.

A project funded by the Geoscience Directorate of the National Science Foundation through their program entitled Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in Geosciences. AMIDST involved elementary and middle school students in the development of media projects about climate and environmental change. 2008-2009.

Stories of Culture and Place helps students research, create, illustrate and perform original stories about their cultures and the places in which they live. It uses a cross-curricular, project-based approach to learning that addresses a number of content and skill areas simultaneously. Students develop digital, art, oral and written literacy skills (pictured here as the DAOW of literacy).

They research geography, local history and cultural values so they can apply their research results to the creation of an original story. They learn project planning skills that are transferable to other activities. They create original artwork to support their stories. They learn about using computers and other digital technologies to help tell their stories. And they develop the self-confidence and social skills that comes with giving voice to their stories.

Stories of Culture and Place activities include:

• Working directly with students and teachers in classrooms

• Working with mental health clients as a way to help them "tell their stories"

• Creation and distribution of professional development materials

• Providing training for teachers, community members, and organization leaders

Stories of Culture and Place has traveled throughout the U.S., and has been featured through projects and workshops in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Experience with this program formed the research foundations for Jason's new book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity. Stories of Culture and Place won the WCET WOW (Award for Outstanding Work) Award. 

The following resources are available about Stories of Culture and Place, as well as the techniques used in the program:

• A detailed description of Stories of Culture and Place. This is especially helpful if you are interested in pursuing a program like this in your school.

• A very detailed set of web materials about digital storytelling that address a number of the pedagogical, theoretical and practical considerations involved in doing a program of this kind.

• Articles by Jason about digital storytelling, available at the articles site.

Questions about any of the material you find here are always welcome. Please feel free to contact jasonOhler.com.