Work Experience
Greetings, all!! My name is Janice Wilson Butler and I am an assistant professor in the Educational Technology Online M.Ed. program at the University of Texas at Brownsville. My career in education began 20 years ago as a word-processing teacher in a small proprietary school in Brownsville - pre Windows operating system. Although I owned a business, the excitement of teaching “grabbed me” so I began my second career as a secondary English teacher. Eight years later, after earning my M.Ed. in guidance and counseling from UTB, I became a middle school counselor. Then, I moved into the position of Career Placement Officer (which is a fancy title for Vocational Counselor) at high school. The final two years of my high school career, I was the Project Director for a half million dollar DOE grant that I co-authored. The grant program, called ESPIRITU+ was in partnership with the city of Brownsville, the Southmost Branch Library, Lopez High School and the University of Texas at Brownsville. This grant provided for two community technology centers to be opened in the Southmost area of Brownsville in order to bring technology resources to an area of the city that would not otherwise have technology accessibility.
I have always had a high interest in technology and have primarily taught myself what I know. I began in computer programming when key punch cards were needed to “run a program.” No room for errors there. When desktop computers became available at affordable prices (I laugh at the “cheap” prices now), we bought one for our business and I learned how to operate a business “electronically.” That first computer used the CP/M operating system – that was in the days before MS-DOS, much less Windows OS. This computer was a business machine and had no graphic capability. My first desktop publishing, therefore, was done on a little Commodore 64 machine – with no hard drive. I had to keep juggling 8 1/2" floppies (when they were really floppy) back and forth every time I wanted to add a graphic or change a font. But, I thought I was working magic!!!! Since then, I have kept up with technology and continued to work with computers in some function in all of my jobs – either as a yearbook sponsor, a computer lab manager or a technology trainer. I still remember my first experience with the Internet – way back before browsers and the World Wide Web even existed. I connected and sat there for a while having no idea what to do. When I called my brother, an electrical engineer, he talked me through going to several sites and I asked, “Hey, do these people mind me just going to their site – will they get upset if I look at their information?” Was it ever easier when Netscape and the WWW came around!
Thus, for my final degree, I decided to go into one of my passions – computers and technology. I entered the doctoral program at the University of Houston to earn my degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in educational technology. My research interests include digital storytelling, low-threshold software applications, the open source movement and social interactivity in online courses.
Research Interests
Currently, I am interested in bringing the power and fun of technology to the classroom – for the benefit of the teachers as well as of the students. In K-12 education, all teachers are what Marc Prensky calls “digital immigrants.” As immigrants, we were not born in a world full of technology – but have seen the world dramatically changed into a fast-moving, rapidly advancing world of computers – becoming smaller, more accessible, more user-friendly – ubiquitous in our world of school, work and play. As “digital immigrants,” we still carry a technology accent in varying degrees as we adapt to and adopt the changes around us. Teachers have been particularly affected, because students coming to school today are “digital natives.” For them, technology just IS – it is such a part of their lives that they cannot envision a world without. For the first time in the history of education, students are coming to the classroom knowing more about a subject (technology) than the teacher; they also bring with them the ability to access information and subject-area expert knowledge on any topic. This brave new world is a scary place for educators today – and yet, it is also a dynamic, invigorating, exciting time to in education. Those challenges in technology are also some of our best opportunities to reach this new generation. Bringing my interest in technology and sparking an interest in others for using technology to become more effective teachers is of vast interest to me.
In the process of working with teachers learning how to use technology, I have also become interested in the process of change – how it happens, when it happens and when it does not happen. With technology as the driving force behind much of current school reform, we must take a look at how to make change more enduring – more than just a passing comment on school reform.
My Hobbies
I have not had a great deal of opportunity to pursue my hobbies recently – but they include reading science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, traveling, home remodeling, graphic design – and - oh, yes, learning new technology. Slowly, but surely, my husband and I are turning our very old home into a sanctuary for relaxing – but the process is slow. We tend to spend holidays refinishing wood floors, converting a garage into an office, re-wiring, laying tiles and other assorted remodeling tasks. My goal, however, is to “do nothing” for two weeks in the near future.
Presentations/Papers
Effects of One-day Training in Digital Storytelling
Candidacy paper
2007 TCEA Research Symposium PowerPoint
Websites
Some of My Wikis
Ed Tech News From Distance-Educator.com