Biography

Like every respectable epic story, my tale begins with a prologue. My name is Andrew Holmes. If my Twitter profile is to believed (@aholmes1517), I am a philosopher, instructional designer, innovator, educator, prolific reader, technology enthusiast, and engaging speaker. I am a dissertator Ph.D. student in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, which, incidentally, has recently been afforded tier I research status (that’s impressive)! In addition, I am a Clinical Assistant Professor, Education Specialist in the Physician Assistant Studies program at Marquette University. Prior to that, I was an Instructional Technologist at Milwaukee School of Engineering University.  I worked as a teacher at Parker High School in Janesville, Wisconsin for 10 years, first as an English teacher, and then as an Innovation Specialist (librarian) after my Masters in Curriculum & Instruction, from National Louis University, based in Chicago, with an emphasis in instructional technology. It was there that I was fully immersed in education technology, and there that I was inspired to begin the Information Science Ph.D. program and move my family to Milwaukee to further pursue my passion in educational technology and instructional design. Before I began at Parker, I taught for 3 years at a boarding middle school for international students. I taught beginning, intermediate, and advanced English as a second language. I learned a lot about different cultures and different learning styles. I first entered the teaching profession as a substitute teacher. I would say it was a second career, but my first career never really got started, unless you count bartending and waiting tables. I graduated in 2001 from Valparaiso University, in Northwest Indiana, with a degree in Theatre and Television Arts. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, the degree in theatre has served me well in my teaching and professional career. All of this has led to my position at Marquette, and my current research in Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Next Generation Digital Learning Environments (NGDLE), including a healthy mix between information theory, game theory, education theories, and systems theory.