View PDF File

Derrel V. Fincher

Information Technology Coordinator and Webmaster

548 S.E. 14th Street, Bartlesville, OK 74003, USA

Phone (US and Taiwan): 1-(918) 398-0121

E-mail: derrel@fincher.com Web Site: http://derrel.net

Education

Master of Arts in Educational Technology*	Pepperdine University	2002
Teacher Certification**	The College of New Jersey	1998
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering	Utah State University	1991
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering	Oklahoma State University	1980

 

*Emphasis in Leadership and Learning Technologies.

**New Jersey Certification in Mathematics (K-12) and Elementary Education.

Educational Philosophy

Formal education should prepare students to tackle unfamiliar problems without fear, synthesize knowledge from their solutions, communicate their new knowledge effectively, use what they learn to help themselves and others, and then do it all over again—and do it in a world we can’t envision. My experience in teaching, engineering, and management provides a broad background for collaborating with teachers and students to help them create engaging, rich, and frequently unique experiences that will prepare them for such a future. 

Experience

Taipei American School  2004-Present

Upper School IT Coordinator and TAS Webmaster

 Accomplishments:

• Started collaborative web sites and wikis with teachers and students.
• Collaborated with Grade 9 Humanities team to transform the final product for the Tien Mu Trek unit to student-created websites.
• Implemented digital audio, with an immediate increase in the amount of audio being used in Mandarin classes.
• Collaborated with Journalism classes to implement online version of student newspaper.
• Managed the technology implementation of the IB Electronic Assessment Trial.
• Developed and programmed a database-driven web-based reservation and checkout system for the AV department, completely revamping their procedures.
• Created a web-based Instrument Exchange site for parents of TAS music students to buy and sell musical instruments.

Upper School IT Coordinator: Promote curricular IT Integration by providing professional development and training, demonstrating ideas for curriculum integration, supporting teachers in the classroom and co-teaching as necessary • Maintain Upper School Blackboard site and train and support teachers in its use • Support other TAS IT Coordinators with technology expertise • Work with technicians as necessary to solve difficult technology problems, including solving wireless implementation issues • Help departments plan capital and non-capital IT budgets.

TAS School Webmaster: Negotiate contracts and work with our web services vendors, Whipple Hill (website) and Infosnap (school and professional applications) • Train content managers and other users • Synchronize information between Whipple Hill and TAS Blackbaud and Raisers Edge systems • Oversee internal Windows 2000 and 2003 Web servers • Plan and implement upgrades to school websites and conversion to new servers with an upgrade to Windows Server 2003.

Co-curriculars and Committees: WASC visiting committee for accreditation midterm visit to Kaohsiung American School • All-School IT Coordinating Committee, Upper School Steering Committee, Faculty Advisory Council, and 1-to-1 Computing Investigation committee • Gavel Toastmasters student club sponsor, chaperone for school-sponsored activities • TAS Learning Academy developer and instructor for web publishing course for teachers • Electronic Communications officer for Phi Delta Kappa Taiwan Chapter.

The American School in Japan 1996-2004

MS Technology and Math Teacher and Web Coordinator

 Accomplishments:

• Proposed and implemented a multi-tiered technology explorations (Explorations) course with students of all tiers in the same class. The course was focused on student learning, not teaching. This course replaced three previous courses (Exploring Programming, Multimedia Skills and Technology Skills).
• Technical advisor for students who created a finalist entry for U.S. Department of state 2003 Doors to Diplomacy contest.
• Pioneered collaborative web sites and multi-user virtual environments with students to support and extend their learning.
• Programmed and implemented web-based method for student reflection and teacher comments on those reflections.
• Proposed and implemented two courses, Invent & Engineer and Exploring Programming, and adapted and implemented the inactive Multimedia Skills course. Tailored each course for the interests of each group of students. Exploring Programming and Multimedia Skills were replaced by the Explorations course mentioned above.
• Implemented digital video in the Middle School outside of a video skills course.
• Led cross-grade level mathematics projects with fourth grade class.
• Ran after-school web development club for students.
• Increased number of teachers with web presence from three to most teachers in the middle school.
• Completely revamped and rebuilt Middle School website

Middle School Technology and Math Teacher: Middle School Technology and Math Teacher: Taught three courses: Math (grade 6), Invent & Engineer (a hands-on project course), and Explorations I, II, and III (a technology exploration series) • Previous courses were technology courses (programming, multimedia, and keyboarding) and a finance course • Provided curriculum technology support, TTT (Teachers Teaching Teachers) workshops in technology, and general technology assistance to teachers • Additional experience included teaching technology courses to middle and elementary school students during ASIJ Passport Summer Studies program and substituting in all K-12 grades.

Middle School Web Coordinator: Developed and maintained the structure of the site, published school pages, helped teachers publish their sites, and supervised students who created sites.

Co-curriculars and Committees: Chairperson for FASST, an administration and staff collaborative effort for resolving various issues, including personnel and benefits • Faculty representative on board personnel committee • Served on information technology curriculum review committee, school web site committee, cross-divisional critical friends group. technology planning committee, middle school technology visions committee, curriculum council, WASC action coordination team, and various committees and subgroups for the WASC accreditation visit • Chaperone for extended campus trips that ranged from two to five nights.

 Schlumberger Technology Corporation        1981-1996

Led engineering development projects (hardware and software) in U.S. and Japan to develop a downhole optical fluid analyzer[1], a downhole electro/hydraulic sidewall core sampling tool[2], and high pressure oilfield pumps.

Responsibilities included:

• planning and managing the project and associated budget,
• overseeing the technology and ensuring it was state-of-the-art yet economical
•  managing personnel and guiding their continued development;
• arranging and overseeing field testing;
• assuring collaboration among engineering, manufacturing, and the customer;
• meeting product development guidelines and plan and, where necessary, ISO 9001 standards.

Actively sought and implemented recently developed product development methodologies as well as introduced them to others. Developed and presented training seminars as necessary. Also recruited engineers (M.S. and Ph.D.) from MIT and Purdue and was the Purdue recruiting team captain for Schlumberger. Initial positions with Schlumberger included manufacturing engineering and field engineering.

Presentations

Digital Collaboration, Japan Association of School Curriculum Development TIOM Seminar, Chofu-shi, Tokyo, Japan, November 8, 2003

Managing Multiauthor Web sites with FrontPage: hands-on uh-oh’s. TIES 2002 Education Technology Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., November 23-26, 2002 and Workshop. National Educational Computing Conference, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., June 29 – July 3, 2003.

Collaborative Webs: Across the room or around the world. TIES 2002 Education Technology Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., November 23-26, 2002.

Publications and Research

Fincher, D., September 2002 Tapped-in Member Perspective, SRI International (2002).

Fincher, D., “Letting Go: Online Collaboration and Communication in the Classroom,” Action Research Project Report, Pepperdine University (2002).

Fincher, D., “Communications Community of Practice among Middle School Students: a case study,” Pepperdine University, (2001)

Fincher, D., “Word Processing Assists Students with Dysgraphia,” The College of New Jersey, (1997)

Fincher, D., “Using PAM to Accelerate New Product Development,” Visions (A publication of the Product Development & Management Association) 21, no. 2 (April 1997): 15-16.

Fincher D., A. Smits, R. Schroeder, R. Badry, and O. Mullins, “Downhole Optical Analysis of Formation Fluids,” Oilfield Review 6, no. 1 (January 1994): 21-28.

Fincher, D., “Why Some Scientists and Engineers Can’t Write,” Intercom (a publication of the Society for Technical Communication) 42, no. 1 (January 1995): 1, 14.

Smits, A., D. Fincher, K. Nishida, O. Mullins, R. Schroeder, and T. Yamate, “In-Situ Optical Fluid Analysis as an Aid to Wireline Formation Sampling,” SPE Formation Evaluation (June 1995): 91-98. (Originally presented by D. Fincher at the 68th SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, U.S.A., October 3-6, 1993.)]

Fincher, D., “Fluid Phase Determination through Analysis of the Frequency of a Piezoelectric Cylinder,” Masters Thesis, Utah State University, (1991) 198 p.

Fincher, D., “Investigation of Corrosion-Induced Failure of Conductor Wires in 1V-22ZTMP Wireline Logging Cable,” m.s., Utah State University, (1987) 33 p.

---

References available on request