Karl Schnapp

  

I began teaching with computers in 1987 when an un-networked Apple lab first appeared in my department at Miami University. In the early '90s (with the blessing of the IT department), I pushed my students to experiment with a mainframe discussion board using a room full of dumb terminals usually reserved for the CIS students. Around that time, the first GUI appeared and I built informational web sites for the Writing Lab I was directing. And I also pushed my institution to purchase, install, and maintain a networked writing classroom using Norton Textra Connect. When I relocated to Connecticut for a job in the late '90s, I taught the first distance learning course for my department and around the turn of the century I received a Certificate of Recognition as a “Pioneer in Distance Education” from the Connecticut Community College System and the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. When I was hired for my current position as an Instructional Technology Support Specialist, it was NOT because of my vast and deep technology skills, but because I'm a teacher who has used a wide array of technology tools, and my institution apparently thought that my experience using tech was more important than know all tech. And I continue to try new things -- blogs and Storify and social bookmarking and LORE for my students, Twitter and SurveyMonkey for my job, and so on.