Vita
Summary
As an English professor at Glendale Community College, Alisa teaches hybrid and online freshman composition and literature courses. Alisa currently serves as the assistant chair for the English Department as eLearning coordinator and works with faculty to improve their online courses or to create them. She briefly served as interim instructional technologist for the Title V grant at PC. Previously Alisa served as podcasting specialist for the district providing a series of podcasting and vodcasting workshops throughout the year for the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI). Although podcasting is still an interest, currently Alisa conducts workshops on mobile learning for the district and national conferences.
This will be Alisa’s 21st year teaching. She taught 2 years at Deer Valley HS in Phoenix, 2 years at Westwood HS in Mesa, AZ, and 4 years at Central Arizona College before moving up to the Maricopa District. Alisa started at South Mountain CC in 1998, where she taught for 11 years, and she just recently transferred to Glendale CC. Before starting her teaching career, she studied mass communications at Phoenix College. Later she changed her major and location and earned a B.A. degree in English Literature from California State University, Bakersfield in 1989, and a M.Ed. degree in English Secondary Education from Northern Arizona University in 1993.
In 2004-2005 Alisa took a sabbatical to finish up her doctoral dissertation on the effects of hybrid courses on retention and student satisfaction. She finished her doctorate in Instructional Technology and Distance Education at Nova Southeastern University in 2006. Now she enjoy teaching using a plethora of new technology tools, as well as training faculty how to use audio, video and other Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.
Work Experience
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English Professor
August 2009 – Present
At GCC, Alisa is teaching online and hybrid freshman composition and literature courses and doing learnshops through MCLI. Learnshops include Mobile Learning, Teaching in an Online Environment and Podcasting. Alisa is also serving as Assistant Chair for English: eLearning Coordinator. Last year she co-chaired the textbook adoption committee and helped with transitioning faculty into the new textbooks and accompanying technologies by creating course teaching guides and Blackboard shells for the department.
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Interim Instructional Technologist for Title V Grant
October 2009-June 2010
Alisa served as interim instructional technologist for the Title V grant at PC where she designed a semester-long training program: The Title V Mini-Grant Faculty Learning Cohort (Beta Bootcamp). The cohort consisted of a group of faculty from math, biology, chemistry, English, reading, and library science. The goal of the cohort was to learn theory and practice behind implementing technology into the classroom using a variety of different technologies.
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English Professor
South Mountain Community Colleges
August 1998 – August 2009 (11 years)
As an English professor at South Mountain Community College, Alisa designed and taught all of the college’s hybrid and online freshman composition courses. Alisa served on a district committee, Ocotillo, a faculty-driven catalyst for addressing technology and learning at the Maricopa Community Colleges. She was one of 5 faculty assigned to conduct research on hybrid/blended courses and then later podcasting. Alisa served as podcasting specialist for the district providing a series of podcasting and vodcasting workshops throughout the year for the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI). Alisa’s interest in technology drove her to complete her doctorate in Instructional Technology and Distance Education from Nova Southeastern University in 2005. She also served as co-chair for the Instructional Technology Leadership Council (iTLC) at the district and co-chair of the College Technology Committee on her own campus.
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English Professor
August 1994 – May 1998 (4 years)
Taught freshman composition and literature courses and coached cross country and track. Designed and taught the college’s first online ENG101 freshman composition course, and was involved in teaching one of the first learning communities at the college.
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English Teacher
Westwood HS, Mesa Public Schools
August 1992 – May 1994 (2 years)
Taught high school English, Mythology and coached cross country, track, and JV girl’s basketball.
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English Teacher
Deer Valley HS, Deer Valley Unified School District
August 1990 – May 1992 (2 years)
Taught high school English, regular and honors freshmen, and coached cross country and track. Was Jr class sponsor (Prom) and Multi-cultural club sponsor.
Education
Nova Southeastern University
Ed.D., Instructional Technology & Distance Ed, 2001 – 2006
Northern Arizona University
M.Ed, English Education, 1991 – 1993
California State University-Bakersfield
B.A., English Literature, 1986 – 1988
Presentations
Cooper, A., Freeman, J. & McGee, P. (August 2010). Online Course Design. Academic Impressions. Denver, CO.
Cooper, A. & Young, L. (July 2010). Never Say Never: Saying “Yes” to Mobile Devices in the Classroom. Sloan-C Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Symposium. San Jose, CA.
Cooper, A. (April 2010). Best Practices to Engage Students Online: Three Valuable Tools. 2010 Adjunct Faculty Association Spring Conference. Tempe, AZ.
Cooper, A. (December 15, 2009). Keynote: Student Engagement for the 21st Century Learner. Yavapai College Winter Institute. Prescott, AZ.
Cooper, A & Rodrigo, R. (June 17, 2009). Teaching in Wild Wild Web: Web 2.0 Technologies and Student Centered Learning. Sloan C International Symposium Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning. San Francisco, CA.
Cooper, A., Diaz, V., Freeman, J. & McGee, P. (December 2008). Online Course Design. Academic Impressions. Denver, CO.
Cooper, A., Rodrigo, R. & Barrow, T. (November 2008). Web 2.0 in Education. PodcampAZ, Tempe, AZ.
Cooper, A. (October 2008). Multimedia infused freshman comp. TYCA-West Annual Conference: Reaching Across Communities: Service in and out of the Classroom, Clarkdale, AZ.
Cooper, A. (May 2008). Using Web2.0 to harness collective intelligence and build community among students. 2008 Teaching & Learning with Technology Conference, Mesa Community College, AZ.
Cooper, A. & Diaz, V. (May 2008). Building community in online/hybrid courses through Web 2.0 tools. Sloan-C International Symposium: Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning, Carefree, AZ.
Cooper, A., Diaz, V., Hebert, C. & MacPherson, A. (January 2008).Your 2.0 Life: Models and methods to meet learners’ needs in a technological age. Educause Learning Iniative (ELI) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.
Cooper, A. & MacPherson, A. (March 2007). Using Web2.0 to harness collective intelligence and build community among students. 12th Annual TechEd, Ontario, CA.