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Linda Vigdor

Email vigdor@illinois.edu or lvigdor@paraspace.com

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Ph.D.  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (degree expected summer 2009)

• College of Education, Adviser, Thomas A. Schwandt
• Gender and Women’s Studies – Graduate Minor
• Unit for Interpretation and Criticism – Graduate Certificate

Dissertation: An Intersectional Reading of Gender & Technology

Dissertation director: Thomas A. Schwandt (Educational Psychology & Educational Policy Studies)
Committee: Bertram (Chip) Bruce (Library Science, Engineering, Curriculum & Instruction), Samantha Frost (Political Science, Gender & Women’s Studies), Paul Prior (English/Writing Studies & Curriculum & Instruction)

___      Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY; Communication, Computing, and Technology in Education (doctoral coursework); 2002–2003
M.F.A.  Graduate Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY; Sculpture; 1991
M.F.A.  College of Fine & Applied Arts, Boston University; Costume Design
B.S.       Clothing & Textiles (major), Theatre (minor), University of Connecticut

Theories & practices of inquiry in research & pedagogy // Qualitative & interpretive methodologies // Feminist technoscience // Technology studies in education // Transdisciplinarity // Social imaginaries &  individual creativity in the context of teaching/learning/technology // Literacies, learning, & imagining // New media practices & aesthetics // Undergraduate research & processes/practices of inquiry

Department of Educational Psychology, Teaching assistant, University of Illinois; 2004–2008

• Introduction to Educational Psychology; Designed syllabus and activities to independently teach a two hour discussion section (under Professor David Zola); Developed an undergraduate empirical research project as the main semester project to introduce preservice teachers to research, reflective practice, and thinking critically about educational psychology concepts. Created a semester blog project where students post weekly reflections on their evolving philosophies of teaching. Taught five semesters.

• Foundations of Qualitative Methods; (Professor Thomas Schwandt), three semesters & Qualitative Inquiry Methods; (Professor Thomas Schwandt/Adrienne Lo), two semesters: Assisted students in understanding course concepts, assisted with grading student papers and preparing discussion/study materials, facilitated review board (IRB) filings for empirical studies

• Carnegie Proseminar on the Doctorate; (Professor Thomas Schwandt), fall 05

Writers’ Workshop, Writing consultant: University of Illinois;(2005–present)

• Created and facilitated the “Graduate Writing Circles” – 4–6  weekly sessions scaffolding a writing group experience for doctoral students writing qualitative/interpretive dissertations

• Consult with undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty to develop their writing—brainstorming through revising stages, including work with non-native English writers

• Conducted workshops on special topics: Expectations for Graduate Student Writing; Conversations on Writing Qualitative and Interpretive Research

Introduction to 3D Studio Max, Modeling & Animation; Instructor, Pratt Institute (Manhattan), New York, NY; 1998–99

• Designed and taught one course each of two semesters; primarily continuing education students

Short-term teaching:

• Guest lecturer; Experimental fabric design; Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
• Taught fabric design and painting techniques to MFA theatre design students
• Instructor & guest costume designer; State University of New York, Stony Brook
  • Mentored student designers & designed two productions over one semester
  • Taught costuming and supervised undergraduate assistants
• Instructor; Clown costuming; Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College, Venice, FL
  • Responsible for course design and teaching: taught clown college students basics of costume design and construction (students ranged from recent high school graduates to career changing lawyers)
  • Worked with student clowns to help them develop their individual clown personas
  • Guided student clowns in the design & construction of their graduation costumes

Design & supervision of undergraduate empirical research studies in a preservice education course (2006–present)

• Introduced basic ideas of qualitative inquiry and their relevance to teaching as a reflective practice
• Guided students through development of research questions, identifying a research site/subject, observing & interviewing, and data analysis and interpretation

Technology, Identity, Lifestyle, and Education Study (TILES): Cynthia Carter Ching, Ph.D. principal investigator. A study of how and why people use technology via qualitative analysis of in depth narrative interviews; University of Illinois; 2003–2004

• Conducted qualitative data analysis and interpretation
• Collaborated on paper preparation

Gender, play, & attitudes towards computing technology ((Re)Interpreting Play: What artists mean when they talk about playing with technology, and why this might matter)

• Designed a study of digital artists to investigate attitudes and perceptions relating to play and their use of computers
• Conducted qualitative data analysis and comparative study with the TILES study data (above, Cynthia Carter Ching, Ph.D. adviser)

Teachable Agent project development; John Black, Ph.D. principal researcher. Research and development of a cognitive learning/research tool integrating artificial intelligence, 3D virtual worlds & avatars, and knowledge representations; Teachers College, Columbia University (New York); 2003

Technologies in education, research project development; Danielle Kaplan, Ph.D., principal investigator; Teachers College, Columbia University (New York); 2002

 “The interpretive value—and analytic dilemma—of social imaginaries.” (under review)
“Transdisciplinarity & the practice of educational research.”(under review)

• Shifting the focus: The gender/technology problem re-examined. Feminist Scholarship Series, Gender & Women’s Studies Program, University of Illinois, forthcoming; January 2009
• A new materialist lens on the gender/technology relationship: An intellectual landscape of possibilities. New Materialisms graduate student colloquium; Respondent, William Connolly. Unit for Interpretation and Criticism, University of Illinois; 2007
• Graduate Writing Circles: Fostering the Foundations of Responsible Academic Citizenship (Co-chair, with A. Filmer and panel presenter).Third International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana, IL; 2007
• Education and technology: A prison of enframement or a new practice and possibility of being? E-CAP 2006: European Computing and Philosophy Conference (ECAP), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2006
• Transforming discourse: Gender, technology, and agency performed at the margins. Close Encounter: the 4th European Biannual Conference of the Society for Science, Literature, and the Arts (SLSA), University of Amsterdam, Holland; 2006
• Research in progress. Departmental brown bag (Queries, Educational Psychology). University of Illinois; 2007
• Discourse, gender, technology, and agency performed at the margins. Departmental brown bag (Cognitive Science of Teaching & Learning, Educational Psychology). University of Illinois; 2006
• Undoing gendered technology: Performed agency at the margins. Humanities and Technology Conference, Salt Lake City, UT; 2006
• Artists’ playful interactions with technology: Play as socialization, skill, competition, or something else? First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign, IL; 2005
• Technobiographies: An alternative approach to studying teachers and technology (withC. C. Ching). First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign, IL; 2005
• Technobiographies:  Perspectives from education and the arts (with C. C. Ching).American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada; 2005
• Aesthetic form in research practice and experience. 18th Annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies, Atlanta, GA; 2005
• Orientations to play: Gender and the development of technological culture. 3G Conference at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY; 2004
• Memories, meanings, & microchips: Technology in pre-service teachers’ everyday lives and narrative autobiographies (with C. C. Ching, J. Basham, E. Jang, & J. Parisi). Technology & Identity Symposium SITE; Atlanta, GA; 2004
• Alternative gaming paradigms: Redefining the design, theory, and gaming in online games. Panel organizer and individual presentation, Web 3D Conference, Paderborn, Germany; 2001
• Learning strategies for science education websites. Invited panelist,University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center, Salt Lake City, UT; 2000

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society: elected fall 2007

University of Illinois Fellowship: Department of Educational Psychology; 2004-05

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) Reading Group: Grant as co-leader of a cross-campus reading group on Critical Discourse Analysis; University of Illinois, 2005-06

Unit for Interpretation & Criticism, Department of English, University of Illinois; conference travel grants, fall 05 & fall 06

Reviewer, American Educational Research Association: 2009 Conference proposals, Division D (Measurement & Research Methodology) and Qualitative Research Special Interest Group

Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate: 2005 Cross Disciplinary Summer Convening: Developing Researchers and Scholars; Palo Alto, CA; an interdisciplinary convening focused on examining the teaching of research

• Prepared our department’s (University of Illinois, Educational Psychology) convening materials
• Represented the department at the 3 day convening discussing the complex educational, practical, professional, and moral issues of doctoral level education (e.g. preparing researchers, mentoring, program enhancements)  

Educational Psychology Department Executive Committee, Student Representative; University of Illinois: 2005–07
Graduate College Student Liaison Advisory Committee; University of Illinois; 2004–05     

Website design & computer graphics – 2D & 3D (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver)
Moodle (course site design, management); blogging
PC hardware – I have built a desktop computer

• FACES – online exhibition; http://www.faces-l.net/projects4.html; 2001 -
• Stuttgart Filmwinter; Stuttgart, Germany; 2001
• F  I  L E (Festival International de Linguagem Eletronica); Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 2000
• Siggraph 2000; VRML-art; art gallery; New Orleans, LA; 2000
• Web 3D Conference; VRML ART Gallery; Monterey, CA; 2000
• SEAFair '99; Interactive/Online/Vrml Art; http://seafair.scca.org.mk/99/exibition.htm; Skopie, Yugoslavia; 1999
• VRML.ART Gallery, 1999; Heinz Nixdorf Museum; Paderborn, Germany; 1999
• Online exhibition; http://www.vrml-art.org; 1999 & archive
• EMAF (European Media Art Festival); Osnabrueck, Germany; 1999
• 3D Web Roundup Selection, Siggraph '98; Los Angeles, CA; 1998
• Digital Addictions,” Camden, NJ; 1995 
• MMC Gallery, Sculptures: “Rectangles & Interiors,” Marymount Manhattan College; NY, NY; 1994 (also curator of the exhibition)   
• Tribeca Lab, Sculptures: “Boxes/ Books,” solo exhibition, Kate Brown, Curator; NY, NY; 1993   
• Tribeca Lab, “Toyz,” Kate Brown, Curator; NY, NY; 1992   
• New York University; “Small Works,” Arnold Glimcher, curator, NY, NY; 1992   
• Visual Arts Gallery, “Abstracting,” Will Insley, curator, NY, NY; 1991

Game Designer; Co-designer & developer of online, massively multiplayer 3D learning games (level design, character designs, game play, chemistry content puzzles, in collaboration with a high school chemistry teacher); Whoola, Inc., Plano, TX; 2000–01

CBS News, New York, NY; Associate Art Director and co-designer of virtual set for TV special "People of the Century" which won the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Art Direction for News & Documentaries, 1999 (Ann Cudworth, Art Director); CBS News, NY, NY; 1998

GeVa Theatre (Rochester, NY), designer for 35+ productions; Great Lakes Shakespeare Theater (Cleveland, OH), Titus Andronicus, Director: Vincent Dowling; The Comedy of Errors: Director: Robert Ellenstein; Originating production: Luna Park by Donald Margulies; Jewish Repertory Theatre, NYC, Ran Avni Artistic Director, Production Director: Florence Stanley); Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Clown College and Circus

American Education Research Association (AERA)
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)
Philosophy of Education Society (PES)
Society for Science, Literature, and the Arts (SLSA)
Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)