Hello! My name is Zach Lonsinger and I am enrolled in the World Campus M.Ed. in Learning, Design, and Technology. I am currently employed as an Instructional Production Specialist with the College of Nursing at Penn State; however, if you are familiar with the IPS title, I do nothing of the sort. About 5% of my job supports instructional designers designing online courses. My position is heavily focused on multimedia, as I act as the College of Nursing’s Web Manager as well as a few other miscellaneous duties, such as managing Mediasite recordings, mobile webinars via a custom-designed flypack, digital signage, video production, graphic design, a hint of social media, and IT helpdesk tech support!

My interests lean more toward higher education as I am currently a working professional in the field. I was really intrigued with the “Quantified Self” chapter in the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition. I have been religiously wearing a Fitbit for almost a year now. On the rare occasion I find myself without it, I almost feel naked – it’s weird. I think there is some great potential in this field, especially in the health education. As I mentioned, I work for the College of Nursing. I work alongside faculty and researchers who are conducting sleep studies and work with dementia. What could the quantified self phenomenon mean for the nursing field? Could an Apple iWatch aid a person dealing with Alzheimer’s by sending daily reminders to the person? Possibly. But I think this has huge potential in education.

I also read the “Games and Gamification” chapter in the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition as well as the “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)” in the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Games and Gamification is another big interest of mine. It’s interesting that I chose these three areas of mobile technologies because I have been heavily participating in all three of these areas for a long time (maybe not quantified self for as long, but for as long as it has been a thing). I play games almost on a daily basis. I grew up “gaming” and even consider myself to be a part of the gaming generation.

Lastly, I am interested in digging more into BYOD. A sidenote, I am engaged and the BIG DAY is set for October 1, 2016! Anyways, my fiancé is a 2nd grade teacher. I am always helping out with lesson planning, grading, classroom setup, and much more. I’m always intrigued to learn about the school’s technology, it’s policies on personal devices, etc. I can definitely see myself leaving higher education and working for a school district as the technology person. That has always been an interest of mine. Throughout this semester, I hope to learn more about mobile technologies and how they can be effectively utilized in learning environments, both informal as well as formal.

Now a little about who I am personally. As I said, I am engaged and loving every moment of wedding planner. I actually work part-time as a wedding videographer for Altoona Wedding Video Production, which is amazing. Being able to share that special day with so many brides and grooms is amazing. It has also given me endless ideas of how to plan the perfect wedding! I have an extreme unhealthy addiction to Disc Golf. This past summer has been jam-packed with playing disc any chance I could get. I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little bit and I look forward to meeting everyone and learning alongside you this semester!