About me

Design

Design is not just about making things look pretty, it is about giving form to a message, communicating a concept, or allowing users to easily find what they want, and do what they need to do.

Education

Students of all ages are more motivated to learn when they design and create things that have personal meanings. A curriculum that considers the interests of the student and makes learning relevant to both their life and community is best.

Life

Lead a simple life, have many experiences, participate in a community, and enjoy lifelong learning.

Current Status

I am currently available for website design and development projects in the Moncton, New Brunswick area, so please feel free to contact me.

I have always maintained a healthy lifestyle. I practice yoga, run, cycle, participate in several sports and enjoy healthy eating. I have a strong interest in gardening and growing my own food.

Scratch is a programming language that was created by MIT. It enables anyone over the age of 8 to create interactive stories, games, music and art. It is a wonderful tool for motivating interest in computer programming. For a master's degree project I created an educator's guide to Scratch programming.

I consider myself fortunate to have had access to a wide range of choices in life. It has enabled me to achieve a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience.

I have lived in England, South Korea, Austraila, Canada and traveled to many other countries. I have trained tour guides, taught at a community college, taught in both public and private schools, worked as a database programmer, employed myself as a web programmer, worked at a fast food restaurant, installed awnings, and worked as a delivery driver. I continue to enjoy lifelong learning.

Learning how to speak a second language is an empowering experience. For several years I taught English in South Korea. Despite the various difficulties I encountered, I found the learning/teaching experience to be rewarding as it helped me to grow as a person and a teacher. Link to a newspaper article  that I wrote about my experiences in Korea.

Having experienced living in a foreign place with a completely different language and culture, I can empathize with the struggles new arrivals to Canada experience. I have been active in the community volunteering as an ESL instructor.

• Bachelor of Arts - Economics, Sociology
• Bachelor of Education - Computer Science, Mathematics
• Master of Education - Curriculum Studies (Educational Technology and Design)
• Certified Teacher

• I began computer programming at university in the early 1990s.
• I further developed my programming skills working as a database developer/administrator for United Chemical Services.
• As the internet developed I became interested in web programming and developed WinnipegBuyandSell.com as a learning project. View an interview I did with CTV.
• Taught the Online Databases with MySQL and PHP course  through the University of Winnipeg's Web Development Diploma Program.
• From 2014-2016, in Vancouver, I taught web development/design at Discovery Community College (DCC) .  View the curriculum  I created for DCC.
• Over the past 10 years I have developed Wordpress websites and provided Wordpress consulting services to Barry Mckay Consulting, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.