1. Dr. Jessica Somers University System of Georgia Board of Regents Executive Director of Academic Innovation Advanced Learning Technologies Unit Ph.D. University of Georgia 1995

2. Work History Personnel Coordinator, Sun Products Corporation Research Coordinator, Budget and Research Services Assistant Director, Placement and Co-op Department Education Instruction Specialist, IBM Corporation Graduate Assistant, Developmental Studies Div, UGA Temp Instructor, Intro to CPU-Based Ed, IT Dept, UGA Technology Environment Coordinator and Assistant Director, Center for Educational Technology, COE, UGA Associate Dir., Distance Ed and Academic Innovation Director, Academic Innovation Executive Director, Academic Innovation

3. Job Duties Responsible for System-wide faculty development activities focused on incorporating technology into instruction Contract with external entities to develop scalable and sustainable training solutions Serve as liaison for collaboratively developed online degree programs Represent ALT in Regents’ activities Conference Program Chair—MERLOT International Conference, 2001

4. Repository of instructional Resources developed by USG faculty, designers and programmers Focuses on collaborative development and delivery of online coursework Preview of other course work USG Faculty have opportunity to adopt existing course materials Courses offered for credit through five institutions SCOUT

5. MERLOT Open Collection of Resources created by faculty nationwide Appropriate resources for education are immediately accessible Learning modules span the academic spectrum, both in terms of discipline and approach Searchable by keyword or subject hierarchy

6. Site Content Reference Materials Virtual Tours Animations Interactive Instructions Simulations Sample Lesson Plans Links to Other Individuals in Discipline

7. Peer Evaluations All material reviewed by subject matter experts and instructional designers Reviewers evaluate quality of content, effectiveness of material for teaching, and ease of use Reviews are by peers using composite averages of all reviewers

8. Partners 22 higher learning institutes are partners Lending their talents for the good of the whole Promotes more serious discussions of materials as well as implementation of technology in classrooms

9. Somers / MERLOT Represents USG as Project Director for MERLOT Provides leadership for MERLOT projects Supports peer review of Web-based learning materials by USG faculty

10. About This Presentation SCOUT Website: http://alt.usg.edu/scout http://alt.usg.edu/scout MERLOT Website: http://www.merlot.org http://www.merlot.org Other Websites: http://www.codeconnoisseur.org/it/edit6100/task2 http://www.codeconnoisseur.org/it/edit6100/task2 Dr. Somers’ Image: http://www.celt.lsu.edu/cfdhttp://www.celt.lsu.edu/cfd Background Image: http://www.deviantART.comhttp://www.deviantART.com

11. Publications MERLOT for web-based learning and teaching. UCNS Computer Review, UGA, 2001 A process for initiating change: Developing technology goals for a college of education. Journal of Teacher Education, 1996 What's in a game? A study of games as an instructional method in an adult education class. Innovative Higher Education, 1993

12. Education Ph.D. University of Georgia 1995 M.B.A. West Georgia College 1981 B.B.A. West Georgia College 1977