my photo with map

Lorraine Sherry, Ph.D.

Volunteer Facilitator

OLLI at D.U. (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute)
and The Colorado Academy for Lifelong Learning

Honorarium Faculty

University of Colorado at Denver

Senior Research Associate
(Retired)

RMC Research Corporation

Volunteer Facilitator, OLLI at D.U. and The Colorado Academy for Lifelong Learning

After I retired from RMC Research Corporation, I joined two continuing education programs: The Colorado Academy for Lifelong Learning in Denver, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University College, University of Denver (OLLI at D.U.). This gave me a chance to return to the teaching profession, and eventually, to introduce instructional technology into these informal adult education courses. In 2006-07, I assisted with the cartography course titled "The Power of Maps" and co-facilitated a course in "Elementary Particle Physics for the Novice."

In spring 2008, a colleague and I designed, developed, and facilitated a course in "World Gardens as an Art Form" for 30 adults ages 55 and up. I will repeat this survey course in fall 2009 at The Academy for Lifelong Learning, re-titled "Gardens as a Fine Art." The Academy class will enable me to pilot-test new material, and participants will not be required to create class reports using PowerPoint. A sequel for "World Gardens as an Art Form" for spring 2010 at OLLI at D.U. is under construction now. These courses involve a class website, online resources and assignments, PowerPoint presentations, email as the primary means of communication, and other electronic media. For many of these adult learners, this is their first experience with eLearning, reading class handouts online, and creating optional class reports using PowerPoint.

Honorarium Faculty, University of Colorado at Denver

I received my Ph.D. on September 8, 1998, when I successfully defended my dissertation, Diffusion of the Internet within a Graduate School of Education. My dissertation later won the 1999 McClusky Award, sponsored by AECT's ECT Foundation. In the spring of 1999, I was appointed an honorarium faculty member (Adjunct Faculty) at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Information and Learning Technologies Program. Courses taught included: I have served as an external examiner for doctoral candidates at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Senior Research Associate, RMC Research Corp. (Retired)

I was a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation, Denver, until my retirement on November 1, 2005. My main efforts focused on the evaluation of federal and foundation Instructional Technology and E-learning grants, primarily Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, PT3 Grants, and Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants. When I first joined RMC Research as an intern in 1995, I completed the evaluation of the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project (Creating Connections). Between 1996 and 2005, I was the principal investigator or served on the evaluation team for a number of universities who received federal, state, or foundation grants - please see my VITA for details. I was also the leader of the qualitative research team for the national PT3 Program Evaluation, a national study funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Policy and Evaluation Services.

My professional publications can be found in my Public Information Writing directory. I also developed a Web-based training module (now archived) titled the Teachers' Internet Use Guide . It was written up as Chapter 56 in Badrul Khan's book on Web-based Training. The module walks teachers through the process of designing, implementing, and assessing a standards-based lesson that uses technology.

Prior Professional Activities

In 1994 I was an intern at Pacific Mountain Network, a PBS affiliate, where I conducted a needs assessment and developed the curriculum for a distance education training program jointly sponsored by the University of Colorado and Denver Public Schools. The literature review associated with this needs assessment was published in the International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, re-published in Educational Technology Review, and cited by many professors who have included it as required reading for courses in technology and distance learning.

In 1990 I conducted a needs assessment for a consortium consisting of Polk Community College, the University of South Florida at Lakeland, and the Central Florida Development Council, for the purpose of restructuring the college's business and technology program with the aim of producing "The Employable Graduate". As a result of this effort, and partly due to my firm belief in the value of academic-corporate associations, new partnerships were forged between the leaders of the university, the college, and local businesses and industries. While at Polk Community College I also documented the Novell network in the teaching-learning-computing center as well as tutoring students in computer science, mathematics, and English.

My original training was in secondary school physics education. Besides my Ph.D. (with honors) in Educational Leadership and Innovation from the University of Colorado at Denver, I hold the following degrees:

Before becoming a full time "mom", I worked as an industrial researcher, scientific programmer, and technical writer for the MITRE Corporation, designing simulations, carrying out research, and writing classified reports about long distance microwave propagation for Air Force radar systems. Later, I was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on False Identification, as part of MITRE's plan to diversify its research initiatives. In 1989 I re-entered academia to finish my education and re-train for a new career.

I am a former member of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, Association for Educational Communications and Technology, and the American Educational Research Association. I am also a member of three honor societies: Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Theta Kappa.

Other Interests

My outside interests include international travel, singing, landscaping and perennial gardening, Bengal cats, Eastern philosophy, and collecting antique maps - primarily of the southern hemisphere and eastern Europe. I am a member of the Rocky Mountain Map Society, where I serve on the Steering Committee.

I am a former member of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral Choir in Denver and the Boulder Bach Festival. I sing soprano with the Boulder Messiah Chorale each Christmas.

I served on the Landscape Committee for the NorthPark East Homeowner's Association for the past four years. I received my Colorado Master Gardener Certification in 2006 and have continued my re-training each year.

E-mail: Lorraine Sherry
Home Page: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~lsherry/index.html
My VITA: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~lsherry/professional/vita.html

File updated April 4, 2009

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