Vitae
Professional Experience
Director of Digital Media: National Geographic Society: The JASON Project
March 2008-current
- Direct the creation of a diverse library of learning games and interactives for a middle school science that connects student to current research through partnerships with NASA, National Geographic Explorers, and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
- Science content writer and editor for digital and print assets for The JASON Project’s middle school curriculum
- Direct organization’s social media initiatives
- Director and producer for a $1,000,000 3-dimensional immersive ecology video game
- Game named finalist for Best Educational Game 2009 by the Association for Educational Publishers
- Produce digital learning activities that engage students with diverse learning styles with standards-aligned content
- Manage vendor contracts, budget allocation, requirements documents, production schedules, and game design documents for the production of all JASON digital labs and video games
- Produce online tutorials and curricular materials to accompany video games and digital labs
- Manage highly technical and creative teams of scientists, scholars, artists, and programmers for content accuracy and engaging game play
- Direct usability studies and needs assessments for The JASON Project digital assets
- Manage integration of National Geographic video into The JASON Project digital labs
- Lead collaboration of teacher volunteers to inform and improve digital content
Associate Director of Instructional Design: Public Broadcasting Services
July 2006- March 2008 and
March 2008- July 2008 (consultant)
- Produced innovative online curriculum and interactives for the Ready to Learn grant from the Department of Education
- Awarded a PBS Bravo award during first 9 months of employment recognizing leadership of challenging, innovative projects
- Provided teacher professional development at conferences and school districts
- Directed the re-envisioning and re-writing of most popular technology courses for teachers
- Managed a team of the most highly specialized online instructors at PBS TeacherLine
- Researched competitive landscape and emerging technologies to inform product development, analyzed technology trends, created reports to inform organization
- Managed the PBS-ISTE (International Society for Technology Education) certification program for educators
- Oversaw several new districts enroll large cohorts of educators into the PBS-ISTE certification program
- Generated metadata to catalog hundreds of PBS TeacherLine resources
- Worked with regional and multi-state education offices to create and deliver digital professional development solutions
- Collaborated with researchers and evaluators to write and present original research on PBS professional development services
- Collaborated with technologists and web programmers to create new, innovative web tools geared toward education audiences
Adjunct Professor: Marquette University School of Education
August 2004-December 2006
- Designed and taught science methods courses for pre-service and graduate level science teachers; Courses emphasized integration of learning theory and curricular theory with the Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy; focused on conceptual change and the nature of science for teaching authentic inquiry
- Designed and taught online and hybrid course and emphasized the changing role of technology for middle and secondary school teaching
- Assessed and advised pre-service teachers on their demonstrations of successfully executing authentic scientific inquiry with effective classroom management, and integration of technology into the science curriculum
- Supervised student teachers
Conference Co-Chair/Project Assistant: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Games and Learning Society and Wisconsin Center for Educational Research
August 2003-August 2006
- Conducted original research for publication, presentation, and grants on the development of computational literacy through computer game play
- Consulted for companies and organizations developing electronic games, media and simulations for learning
- Chaired conference of interdisciplinary educational technology conference: Games, Learning, and Society (GLS) 2006
- Managed staff of volunteers and graduate assistants for the GLS website production, guest relations, public relations, press, and facilities management
- Developed protocol for a research project geared toward understanding hiring practices of post-secondary faculty in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology (STEM)
- Developed curriculum for post-graduate courses on science pedagogy and science teaching methods
- Directed the creation of program assessment and evaluation
- Worked closely with the National Science Foundation program advisory board to provide teaching resources for STEM faculty
Research Assistant: Journal of Chemical Education
June 2004-September 2005
- Archived, composed abstracts, and assigned keywords to articles in premiere disciplinary journal (1924-current issues) for the National Science Digital Library
- Developed metadata schema for articles and artifacts in the Journal of Chemical Education
- Aligned articles to National Science Education Standards
Instructional Designer: Academic Co-Lab
August 2003-August 2004
- Designed and directed development of interactive online learning activities for chemistry laboratory safety and for pre-calculus tutorial lessons
- Aligned articles to National Science Education Standards
- Developed and researched online learning tools for science education on the secondary and post-secondary levels
- Aligned articles to National Science Education Standards
- Assessed and advised on online modules to remediate students in college-level pre-calculus courses funded by the National Science Foundation
- Aligned articles to National Science Education Standards
Chemistry and Physics Teacher: West Allis-West Milwaukee Public Schools
January 2000-June 2003
- Taught high school chemistry, physics, physical science, and biology courses with heavy emphasis on inquiry-based learning and performance based assessments
- Wrote curriculum and chose textbook for the district’s first offering of Advanced Placement Biology
- Served on curriculum writing committee for the most highly enrolled science course
- Lead department in updating science education lab safety
- Selected by principal to chair district-wide professional development workshops in performance assessment and writing across the curriculum
- Chief Editor of newsletter distributed to 600+ teachers in the district
- Nominated for and selected by State of Wisconsin (2003) to serve as a consultant for revisions to the 10th grade science section of the state exam
Education
Doctoral Program: George Mason University
July 2009-current
- Specialization: Research Methodology
- Secondary: Science Education/ Instructional Technology
Graduate work: University of Wisconsin-Madison
August 2003-May 2006
- Major: Curriculum and Instruction
- Minor: History of science
- Focus: Educational Communication and Technology; Science Education
- Honors: Spencer Foundation Doctoral Research Fellow; Games, Learning, and Society Project Fellowship; National Science Foundation Travel Grant: Vancouver, British Columbia History of Science Society Annual Conference (2006)
Master of Arts: Marquette University (2003)
- Major: Educational Policy and Leadership
- Minor: Instructional Leadership in Science Education
- Focus: Performance-based assessment in secondary science
- Honors: Milwaukee Area Teacher’s Scholarship; National Science Foundation Travel Grant: Oxford U.K. Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Chemistry Education (2003)
Bachelor of Science: Marquette University (1999)
- Major: Broad Field Science
- Minor: Chemistry
- Thesis topic: Designing a pedagogically effective laboratory for monitoring chemical equilibrium
- Wisconsin State Certified for grades 6-12 in general science, biology, chemistry, and physics
- Honors: Marquette four-year academic scholarship
Sample Scholarship
Chmiel, M. (2010) Game Design Toward Scientific Literacy. To appear in the Cognitive Technology Journal.
Chmiel, M. (2007) Staff Development meets Web 2.0. Presented at the National Staff
Development Council Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, December 1-5, 2007.
Steinkuehler, C. & Chmiel, M. (2006). Fostering scientific habits of mind in the context of online play. In S.A. Barab, K.E. Hay, N.B. Songer, & D.T. Hickey (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp 723-729). Mahwah NJ: Erlbuam.
Chmiel, M.U. (2006) When science became a Sputnik: Science Education 1943-1963.
Presented at the History of Science Society Annual Conference, Vancouver, British
Columbia November 4-6
Owens, T. & Chmiel, M. (2006). Mapping the landscape of gender in science through
children’s biographies of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. Presented at the National
Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), San Francisco, CA April 3-6.
Squire, K., Giovanetto, L, & Chmiel, M. (2005). New media literacies among pre-service teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
Chmiel, M.U. (2003) What educators need to know for the prevention of electronic
plagiarism. Invited talk at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teacher’s Academy,
Madison, WI April 14.
Press
ELearn Magazine August 2009
Podcast: FirstWallRebate February 2009
Ed Forum- UNC TV:Home-School Connections & Distance Learning May 2007