Education technology design and development; open-ended multimodal literacy acquisition & language exploration environments; natural language processing; socio-educational contexts of technology; ethnography and new ethnographic writing in educational technology research.

PhD Instructional Technology ~ Curriculum and Instruction, 2011

The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Dissertation: What’s Going on at Zapata Elementary? People, Research, and Technology in Educational Spaces: An Experiment in Experience and Possibility

Dissertation Chair: Min Liu



MEd Technology Innovation in Education, 2004

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Graduate Advisor: Karen Price



MEd Bilingual Education ~ Curriculum and Instruction, 2001

Elementary Education Texas Teaching Licensure

University of Houston, Houston, TX

       

BA Spanish Linguistics & Literature, 1997

Department of Modern Languages: Scandinavian Studies Minor

Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN

Institute of Education Sciences Goal II Grant Award:Assess-As-You-Go [Scholar] Project

PIs: Bill Cope, Sarah McCarthey, Mary Kalantzis

Role: IES Postdoctoral Research Training Fellow

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 2011-present   

• Conduct studies of participating teacher implementation dynamics
• Collaborate on the ongoing design of the Assess-As-You-Go Environment
• Contribute to the design and presentation of curricular and professional development materials for participating teachers
• Co-created, contributed to, and edited AERA, IES, and NSF grant proposals
• Mentored doctoral candidates in ethnographic research methodologies

Language Learning & Technology Research and Design Group: FunWritr Project

PIs: Justin Olmanson and Chung-Kai Huang

The University of Texas Austin and The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 2007-present   

• Lead the iterative, ongoing design and development of the FunWritr application
• Design and conduct studies of FunWritr design and development dynamics
• Employ design ethnography to better understand FunWritr implementation spaces
• Co-lead the analysis and write up of design and ethnographic research findings
• Create and submit grant proposals in support of development and research
• Mentor graduate students in education technology design, research methodologies, collaborative data analysis, collaborative manuscript and grant proposal writing

Center for Teaching and Learning: FAST~Tex Program

Director: Harrison Keller

Role: Graduate Research Assistant

The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 2008-2011   

• Worked with faculty, university-wide, on the design of educational technologies
• Oversaw and supported the work of graduate and undergraduate students in the development, implementation, and evaluation of faculty proposed technologies
• Reviewed faculty grant proposals for FAST~Tex funding and estimated development resources and time needed to bring to completion
• Designed and led the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Advanced Digital Media Institute
• Organized and synthesized research on higher education course redesign initiatives

Educational Technology Research, Design, and Development Group: Alien Rescue Project

PI: Min Liu

Role: Ad Hoc Graduate Student Researcher

The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 2008, 2009, 2011   

• Conducted new ethnographic study of Alien Rescue implementation
• Observed and analyzed teacher-participant professional development sessions
• Contributed to writing and editing of multiple research manuscripts

Digital Spaces Working Group: Distributed Biography Project

PIs: Justin Olmanson and Steven Greenstein

The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Texas 2006-2009   

• Led the iterative design and development of the Distributed Biography application
• Conducted a study of Distributed Biography design and development dynamics
• Co-Created a sustainable, low-resourced approach to technology development
• Explored the role of social entrepreneurship in educational technology development

Articles & Proceedings in Peer-Reviewed Journals and Conferences

Olmanson, Huang, Sung, Chen, (2012). Writing to Learn: L2 writing as a gateway to effective implicit vocabulary learning and language acquisition via CALL. In J. Colpaert, A. Aerts, W. C. Wu, & Y. C. Chao (Eds.), The Medium Matters: Proceedings of the 15 International Computer Assisted Language Learning Research Conference (CALL 2012) (Vol. 1, pp. 510-514). Taichung, Taiwan: Providence University: University of Antwerp.



Huang, Olmanson, Sung, Chen, (2012). FunWritr: An open-ended language exploration playground based on a sextet of design parameters for CALL. In J. Colpaert, A. Aerts, W. C. Wu, & Y. C. Chao (Eds.), The Medium Matters: Proceedings of the 15 International Computer Assisted Language Learning Research Conference (CALL 2012) (Vol. 1, pp. 277-283). Taichung, Taiwan: Providence University: University of Antwerp.



Liu, Horton, Olmanson, & Toprac, (2011). A Study of Learning and Motivation in a New Media Enriched Environment for Middle School Science. Educational Technology Research & Development, Volume 59, Issue 2



Olmanson, Kim, Sung, Huang, Chen, (2010). Technology in the Creative and Participatory Literacy Practices of a Second Grade Classroom. In the 22nd Annual World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, & Telecommunications (Ed-Media 2010). Toronto, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.



Olmanson, Lee, Navarrete, Wong, Farchy, Day, (2010). FunWritr an Online Language and Literacy Playground. In the 22nd Annual World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, & Telecommunications (Ed-Media 2010). Toronto, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.



Huang, Chen, Olmanson, Sung, (2010). On Initiating Maintaining and Growing an Affinity Based Student Led Research and Design Group. In the 22nd Annual World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, & Telecommunications (Ed-Media 2010). Toronto, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.



Liu, Horton, Olmanson, & Wang, (2008). An Exploration of Mashups and Their Potential Educational Uses. Computers in the Schools, Volume 25, Issue 3&4, October



Olmanson, Greenstein, Smith, Brewer, (2007). Designing Distributed Biography: Co-constructing a polyphonic application on borrowed time. In the proceedings of the 25th Annual ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SigDoc 2007) (Vol. 1, pp. 21-25). El Paso, TX: Association for Computing Machinery.





Book Chapters & Reviews

Olmanson, (2011). Emerging Technologies in Distance Education -Book Review. Educational Media International, Volume 48, Issue 1



Olmanson, (2007). Review of eSpindle Vocabulary & Spelling Program Online.         Language Learning & Technology, Volume 11, Issue 3, October





Work In Preparation

Cope, Kalantzis, & Olmanson (in preparation - invited). Technology, Innovation, and Human Productivity  Sage Handbook of Globalization. Sage Inc.



Olmanson, (in preparation). The case for affinity-based student-led research and design groups in Educational Technology: An account of  the Language Learning & Technology Research and Design Group’s experience designing, developing, and implementing FunWritr.



Olmanson, Abrams (in preparation). From Consent to Initial Use: Understanding Early Implementation Dynamics in Educational Technology Research. Journal of E-Learning and Digital Media



Magnifico, A.M., Cope, W., Olmanson, J. (in preparation). New Pedagogies of Motivation: Reconstructing & Repositioning Motivational Constructs in New Media-Supported Learning. Journal of E-Learning and New Media



Olmanson, J. (in preparation). Play Me a Story: FunWritr, an Invisible Mashup to Literacy Development and Second Language Acquisition.



Olmanson, Huang, Sung, Lee, & Scordino (in preparation). Supporting Open-Ended Literacy Development & Language Acquisition via Writing: Designing & Developing FunWritr.



Olmanson, Huang, Sung, Lee, & Scordino (in preparation). Supporting Open-Ended Literacy Development & Language Acquisition via Writing: Designing & Developing FunWritr.



Olmanson (in preparation). Moving Sideways: New Ethnographic Writing & Weak Theory in Educational Technology Research.



Olmanson, Liu (in preparation). Launched into Outer Space Yet Tethered to Earth: Space Science, Motivation, Technology, and New Ethnographic Writing.

FunWritr

An invisible mashup for open-ended literacy development and language acquisition

Role: Project manager, lead designer, server-side programmer, and database architect

Technologies: Flash Builder, Python, CherryPy, WordNet, Natural Language Toolkit, and the Google Translate, Library Thing, Freesound, and Flickr APIs

FunWritr.com ~ Ongoing beta development



Distributed Biography

An online biography application based on the writings on self of Gilles Deleuze

Role: Project manager, lead designer, programmer, and database architect

Technologies: Zope, Object Oriented Database, Python, and the Flickr API

DistributedBiography.org ~ Public Beta Release  2008



Cipherland

A desktop application supporting problem solving and the history of ciphers

Role: lead designer, programmer, and project manager

Technologies: Adobe Director, Lingo, MS Agents, cryptography algorithms

Desktop application ~ Alpha available on request  2004



Chinese Helper

A desktop application supporting conversational fluency for Chinese I

Lead: designer, programmer

Technologies: Adobe Director, Lingo

Desktop application  ~ Alpha available on request  2003

Media Ideation Fellowship

Instructional Telecommunications Foundation, Boulder, CO

Funding for: Mentorship in the development of technologies for social change

$30,000 ~ Under review



Institute of Education Sciences Postdoctoral Training Fellowship

Institute of Education Sciences, Washington, DC

PIs: Bill Cope and Sarah McCarthey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Funding for: Research training and professional development mentoring

$127,500 ~ In progress  2011-2013



Innovative Social Entrepreneurship Design & Development Award

LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Awarded to: Digital Spaces Working Group

Funding for: Continued Design and Development of the Distributed Biography Application

$500 ~ Accepted  2007

       

After School Achievement Program

Mayor’s Office, City of Houston, Houston, TX

Awarded to: Crespo Fine Arts Magnet Academy, Houston, TX

Funding for: After School Programming, Resource Creation, Administration, and Staffing

$90,000 ~ Administered 2001-2004



Texas Infrastructure Fund Special Projects Grant

State of Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund, Austin, TX

Awarded to: Crespo Fine Arts Magnet Academy, Houston, TX

Funding for: Technology Infrastructure Augmentation

$40,000 ~ Administered  2002-2003       



Intel Teach to the Future and Bill and Melinda Gates Technology Leadership Grant

Intel Education, Santa Clara, CA; The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle WA

Awarded to: Technology Educator, Crespo Fine Arts Magnet Academy, Houston, TX

Funding for: Technology integration and leadership training; Hardware and software

$8,000 ~ Completed  2001-2002



Texas Computer Education Association State Conference Travel Grant

Texas Computer Education Association, Austin, TX

Awarded to: Technology Educator, Crespo Fine Arts Magnet Academy, Houston, TX

Funding for: Travel to and lodging at the annual TCEA conference

$380 ~ Completed  2001

Undergraduate Advanced Digital Media Summer Institute Coordinator and Educator

Center for Teaching and Learning,The University of Texas at Austin  2009, 2010

• Designed the Center for Teaching and Learning’s ten-week advanced media institute

• Presented, facilitated, and supported student experiences with digital media

• Created and maintained the Center’s advanced institute course management system

• Mentored institute graduates in their new roles as Center digital media creation interns

Senior Program Coordinator

Distance Education / K-16 Education Center, TheUniversity of Texas at Austin  2005- 2007

• Created and implemented a data and standards-driven process for the Texas-Mexico curriculum alignment portion of the LUCHA project

• Developed, tested, and supported the creation of vertically aligned, learning activities for use throughout Texas public schools in support of the UTOPIA project

• Led efforts to convert the Texas HS algebra II and social studies courses into a series of narrative-driven, technology-based, for-credit distance education ASKME courses

Bilingual Classroom Teacher & Technology Teacher

Crespo Elementary, Houston Independent School District, Houston, TX  1998-2003

• Taught third & fourth grade bilingual students in a self-contained classroom  1998-2000
• Taught the content areas to K-5 ESL and bilingual students in a technology-rich setting  2000-2003
• Created and taught an adult ESL course for parents & community members  2001-2002
• Let campus efforts to integrate new technologies into K-5 classrooms 2001-2003
• Led the writing of several successful city, state, and national grant proposals 2001-2003
• Served as a campus-level technology and district-level multimedia trainer  2002-2003

Spanish Language Teaching Assistant

Department of Modern Languages, University of Houston, Houston, TX  1997-1998

• Primary instructor for two undergraduate elementary Spanish courses

• Prepared in-class activities, daily assignments, quizzes, and technology-supported out-of-class enrichment activities

• Proctored exams, conducted oral reports, and hosted L2 poetry writing/reading groups

Community Spanish Teacher

Dakota Meadows MS & East Jr. High,District 77, Mankato, MN  1997

• Taught three sections of elementary Spanish courses on two different campuses   

• Prepared age-appropriate activities providing an inclusive, supportive environment with modeled L2 feedback, encouraged linguistic risk-taking, and language play

Olmanson, J. (2012, May). Moving Sideways: Methodological wayfaring, new ethnographic writing, non-representational theory, weak theory, and actor-network theory in educational research. Paper presented at annual conference of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Urbana-Champaign, IL.



Olmanson, J. & Sung, W. (2012, February). Beyond Critical Design Ethnography: Inquiring for understanding and digital possibility. Paper presented at the annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum. Philadelphia, PA.



Olmanson, J. (2011, April). An Affinity for Educational Research and Technology Design: Student-led Design, Development, and Inquiry Endeavors. Session organizer for the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.



Olmanson, J., Huang, C. K., & Sung, W. (2011, April). Innovational Affinities: Designing, Developing, and Implementing FunWritr, an Intelligent Mashup for Language and Literacy Play. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.



Brewer, C., Olmanson, J., Greenstein, S. (2011, April). An Affinity for Design, Deleuze, and Research: Democratized, Heterogeneous, Non-hierarchical Collaboration on-a Distributed Writing Tool. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.



Liu, M., Horton, L., Olmanson, J. (2011, April). Engaging Learners through Interactive Media: Findings and Implications from a Technology Enhanced Problem-based Learning Environment. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.



Horton, L., Liu, M., Olmanson, J. (2011, April). Motivational Multimedia: Examining Students’ Learning and Motivation as They Use a Multimedia Enriched Learning Environment. Poster presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.



Olmanson, J., Liu, M. (2010, April-May). Launched into Outer Space yet Tethered to Earth: PBL Science Curriculum within Middle School Milieus. Poster presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO.



Olmanson, J. (2009, April). The Strong Case for Weak Theory: Unrealized Roles for New Ethnography in Educational Technology Research. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA.



Olmanson, J. (2008, October). When Naïve Notions of the Efficient Qualitative Education Researcher Get in the Way: Tracking how discourses of efficiency, quality and [new] ethnography collided in a pilot study. Paper presented at the annual American Education Studies Association conference. Savannah, GA.



Olmanson, J. (2006, October). Improving Your Serve: Consuming and using educational research. Paper presented at the annual National Conference of Teachers Church of the Lutheran Confession. Mankato, MN.



Olmanson, J. (2002, November). Mathematics Understanding and Programming by Example. Presentation at the Texas Computer Education Association annual conference. Austin, TX.



Olmanson, J. (2001, November). Literacy and Language Development of Bilingual Kindergarten Students through Animated Online Storybooks. Presentation at the Area IV Educator’s Conference. Houston, TX.



Olmanson, J. (2001, June). Using the Internet for Academic Research in a Developing Nation. Invited presentation at South West Jiaotong University. Chengdu, Sichuan Provence, China.

American Anthropological Association

American Educational Research Association

Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education

International Artificial Intelligence in Education Society

5/20/50 Year Long Term Planning Committee

College of Education ~ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Participant  2012



Children’s Research Center Space Allocation Committee

College of Education ~ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Member  2012



Journal of Educational Technology Research and Development

Editor: Michael J. Hannafin ~ University of Georgia

Reviewer  2012; Ad hoc reviewer 2009-2011



Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

Editor: Mark J. W. Lee ~ Charles Sturt University

Reviewer  2012



Educational Technology Fall Brown Bag Series

College of Education: Instructional Technology Department ~ University of Texas at Austin

Organizer  2009



Instructional Technology Assistant Professor Faculty Search Committee

College of Education: Instructional Technology Department ~ University of Texas at Austin

Member  2008-2009



Campus Grant Writing Committee

Crespo Elementary ~ Houston Independent School District

Chair 2001-2003



Campus Technology Committee

Crespo Elementary ~ Houston Independent School District

Chair 2001-2003



Campus Shared Decision Making Committee

Crespo Elementary ~ Houston Independent School District

Member  2001-2003

English           Advanced

Spanish          Advanced

Norwegian     Intermediate

French            Beginning

Python               Advanced

PHP              Advanced

mySQL          Advanced

Lingo              Advanced

HTML               Intermediate

Cold Fusion   Intermediate

Perl              Intermediate   

LISP              Intermediate

ActionScript  Intermediate