My name is Yahaira Rodriguez and I currently live in Austin, Texas. I am entering my last year (fingers crossed!) in the Educational Technology program at UTB. With a master degree in School Psychology and after almost a decade working in the mental health and program management field, I decided to start the journey in Educational Technology to strengthen my experience in training and curriculum development.  I am a certified Professional Life Coach and currently work as an information specialist for the Texas government. 

​I have been focusing my EDTC projects in organizational training and look forward to learn new skills in this course! I look forward to enjoy this course with you all. 

Hi!  I'm Jeff Blackman.  I'm in my last semester in the Masters program for Educational Technology.  I have learned so much in this awesome program but apparently have not learned how to flip a picture around on the wiki so that people can see it properly.  :-)  (by the way, I'm the tall, fur-less one)

I am a Senior Training Specialist with Houston Methodist in (surprise) Houston, Texas.  My main role is designing and developing e-learning for our seven hospital system.  I also work a lot with our Learning Management System and provide support and assistance to other trainers and educators.  (just don't ask me about flipping a photo around)

I'm really looking forward to this class as I am a big fan of Articulate Storyline and Tom Kuhlmann who writes the Rapid E-Learning Blog. 

Alright, let's try this again.  My name is Shahnté Santiago and I am from San Antonio, TX.  Go Spurs Go!  I am also a military spouse and we currently reside in Montgomery, AL.  We have three awesome Yorkies, they are our fur children.  I have been married for nine years and I turn 32 tomorrow!

I am in the second to the last semester of the M.Ed in Educational Technology program.  I plan to be an online instructor when I am finished with this program.  I've heard that it's a tough profession to acquire but I'm ready for the challenge!

My hubby and I celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary.

My pack at the beach.   

Hello my name is Damon Ing and this is my first semester as a doctoral student in Cohort #8. I obtained my Masters degree in Education Technology from UTB back in 2008. I have really enjoyed my education here and look forward to a new and exciting degree plan.

I work currently as a Patrol Sergeant in our patrol division for the City of Saginaw. The city is located Northwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. I have been in law enforcement for going on 13 years. I like to run on my spare time and sleep when I have a chance. I also have my own company that trains civilians in firearms training. I am also a firearms expert for two TV shows, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders "Making the cut" and the History Channels Stan Lees Superhumans.

I am sure some of you ask yourself, "why is a cop going for an education degree". The reason why is because I also teach as an adjunct at the local community colleges in criminal justice. I also teach at the regional police academies.

 I look forward to working with everyone this semester and if anyone needs anything I am always willing to help.  

Hello!  I am Laura Hayward. I live in Missouri City, Texas, southwest of Houston. I completed the E-Learning certificate program in May, 2014 and decided to continue on and make application to the Ed.D program. I moved to Texas three years ago after following my husband around the world as he was transferred from one country to another with his company. Being a certified Master teacher from the USA, I was able to work in both American and international schools abroad both as a teacher and administrator. It was a fantastic opportunity! While we lived abroad, we raised two children who are now grown and graduated! YEAH! Our son is in the army stationed at Ft. Hood and our daughter lives and works in New York City.

Aside from traveling, I am an avid cyclist.

I took a hiatus from work while completing the E-Learning certificate and am actively looking to be gainfully employed again.

I look forward to all the new stuff I am going to learn!

Margaret Annen .doc

Saludos! – Greetings!

It is great to be in class and learning new technology with all of you. 

My name is Margaret Annen and I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin.  My heritage is of German and Irish decent.  Proud to say I am the only member of my family who is trilingual:  English, Spanish, and Portuguese. 

Upon receiving my B.A. Degrees I moved to Brownsville, Texas.   Here I studied both of my M.A. Degrees.  During the time it took me to get these degrees, I traveled to Mexico where I studied at el Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores Monterrey (campus Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico).  I also traveled and studied with professors from UTPA in Puebla, Mexico. 

Four years ago, I obtained my alternative teaching certificate, so I could teach within the public school system.  My current position includes teaching Advanced Placement English IV, and a college prep course in Writing at Porter High School.

Having taught at the middle and high school levels, plus my many years at the university level, I see every day the need to be up to date in my field, which includes technology.  Students, faculty, and staff must collaborate in a new way, and technology presents us a form where every one has a voice. 

As we begin our journey in EDTC 6329, I am excited to participate in interesting conversations about technology, while I get to know each one of you better during the semester.  Good luck and best wishes to all.

Margaret Annen

Margaret.Annen@gmail.com

Margaret.Annen125@utb.edu

Telephone:  (956)455-6392

 Hello! My name is Cherie Gallardo. This will be my third semester in the Ed Technology Program. I  work at UT Brownsville in the Office of Health Professions where I advise, mentor, and guide students on their path to a career in the Health Professions. I have worked at UTB for the last eight years. 

I moved from Hawaii to Texas about 10 years ago. My husband was in the military, originally from Brownsville. Once he got out of the military we moved here. 

I look forward to all of the interesting projects and opportunities to collaborate. 

Hello my name is Reyna Rangel. I am a substitute teacher for BISD. I love my job and I love what I do. I am working on my teaching exams and hopefully by this year I will become certified to teach In the elementary level.  This is my third semester and my expected graduation date is Fall 2015.

My name is Hugo Vazquez and I’m from Matamoros, Tamps. I graduated from UTB in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. I’ve been working at UTB since 2006 at Enterprise Infrastructure department as a Network Support Specialist. In there, I have acquired knowledge on the IT world, it’s been a challenge for me since this is my first job here in the United States and I want to experience another field and share my knowledge with my community by pursuing my MEd in Education Technology.  I would like to learn and enjoy from my classmates this new experience on my life.

Hello everyone! My name is Ricardo Rodriguez I work at the University of Texas at Brownsville. I work at the Office of Admissions and Recruiting as an Enrollment Specialist. I have been with the Admissions Office for six years now, so I really enjoy what I do. Let me tell you a little about what do. I' am responsible for active recruitment of local are high school students who meet all University admission requirements. Furthermore, I am responsible for assisting students through the admissions process. I really enjoy providing information to students about how great our campus is and the excellent programs we have here at UTB. In another note, I obtained my Bachelors degree from UTB in Spanish Translation in 2012. This is my second semester in the Education Technology Program and I am exited to be part of this class. I look forward in working with you all and learn new content about this class.

 Lets make it a great semester!!!

Hi everyone!  My name is Hector Leal and I have been married 21 years and have two children.  My son is 17 years old, a Senior at Harlingen High School, and works part time at the Harlingen Mall.  My daughter is 20 years old and a Junior at Texas A&M University at College Station studying Urban Development.  I currently work as the Director of Cloud Services for a software company in Harlingen, Texas. Part of my responsibilities are to assist with training for our software. We provide training in a variety of forms, including written training materials, online webinars, and onsite live training sessions. I have a Bachelor in Computer Information Systems and have completed 12 hours towards my Masters of Education in Educational Technology.  I am learning alot in this Masters program and look forward to what we will learn in this course!

My name is Diana Zuniga. I am pursuing my Masters in Educational Technology and hopefully I will be graduating in December 2014. Of course, every time I think about it, I feel butterflies in my stomach because this is so important for me. I really am very happy and very proud of myself!  Coming back to school was a big challenge for me after 5 years that I had received my Bachelor’s. I am so glad I decided to come back to pursue my Masters because I am really enjoying all my classes.

Currently I work at San Benito High School, where I teach Business Information Management.  It is my first year as a teacher and I’m really happy to finally put all the knowledge I’ve gained in this program into action.  I am really enjoying the students and the class.  I am so thankful for all my professors who have taught me well because I am actually using everything they taught me in the classroom. I am just so happy to see the students eager to learn more about technology and other software and applications …. “this is something different”, they say! :)  I wish you all a great semester!!

Hello, My Name is Yolanda Casanova. I was born in Brownsville, Texas. I was raised in Hispanic traditions and different locations in the world. My father was in the Armed Forces and traveled around the states and world. When I was four years old, my family and I went to Oklahoma for a year and the weather was severe. After Oklahoma, we went to Germany for about a year and it was the first time I saw snow.

It was a great experience in the summer and during the high school years. I wanted to teach art and robotics.I want to extend the creativity of the students mind. I am going to the University of Texas at Brownsville to achieve a Master in Education Technology.

I have improved my drawing skills and ceramics skills but there is something new to learn. This is about me and my plan to become an Education Technology educator and hopefully integrate with my art degree. The purpose of my electronic portfolio is to illustrate my achievements and skills obtained in the Bachelor of Arts program at University of Texas at Brownsville. This electronic portfolio will show my ability and advancement in the area of Information Technology with a concentration in Instructional and Design. 

My electronic portfolio will display my projects with reflective comments, instructor comments and any awards or certificates I have earned. My intent for the electronic portfolio is to present my best work to potential employers by exposing to them my capability of Instructional and Information Technology for their benefit. I currently own a business where we teach basic art, basic math, basic algebra, basic Microsoft office software's, Lego Robotics.

I am a partner with my mother in the business. The business was started since 1992 which was created by my father. It was later on passed to my mother and me to continue our computer services because my father was not able to work in the business.

He had a back injury in the military service has taken its toll in him to walk, sit for long periods of times. I and my mother continue the business as an extra income in our family. I use it as an experience and educational advantage. The company has taught over 1,000 kids within the last 8 years. Our business concentrates on helping our community with computer services and tutoring students within our Brownsville School communities.