Multi-user Virtual Environments
Publications and presentations
Skills summary
- Teacher: teaching and training adults in a variety of settings and online since 1985.
- Writer, editor, proofreader: published author, over five years experience as print and online writer/editor, deep understanding of language.
- Computer literate: Windows, Word, PowerPoint, some Excel, Internet apps, type 75 wpm.
- Adaptable: have worked in academia, in large and small companies, and as sole proprietor.
- Community communications facilitator:
TNT
facilitator, Vice-Chair Eastwood
Chamber of Commerce, webmaster and
email group admin for various community groups.
Professional employment
2002-present:
- Part-time instructor teaching English (ESOL) and Spanish at Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, St. Andrew’s Jesuit Novitiate, and Onondaga Community College
- Online accent
reduction coach for professionals
- Personal tutor to H. Douglas Barclay, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador
- Taught Spanish language program for AT&T customer service representatives.
- Wrote online courses for workplace safety for Business and Legal Reports
- Real estate investor buying properties in Syracuse for rehab and rental to refugees and low-income tenants. Awarded the Real Estate Investors of CNY "Outstanding Member of the Year" award for 2002, Preservation Association of CNY Preservation Merit Award 2005.
Director of Content Development, Dyvic Innovations, Inc.
Developed content for distance education platform. Wrote and edited online content, marketing materials, business plan and website content. Brought product to prototype.
1995-2000:
Online content manger, Syracuse Language, Inc.
Hired and trained writers and editors. Wrote project guidelines and main components of user's manual for Word-a-day Builder software. As lead editor for award-winning Business English software project, was responsible for reviewing, editing, and approving all final content. Developed and wrote website content for language learners. Edited several other English language learning programs and user’s manuals. Wrote content for Language Your Way website. Wrote key content areas for online distance language classes. Advised web design department on reader usability issues.
Instructional designer: Spearheaded and directed development of PuebloLindo, online multimedia virtual world for language learning, in a joint project between Syracuse Language and Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Designed games for foreign language instructional software incorporating speech recognition and smart feedback.
Personal and professional coach, Lonnie Turbee LLC
Employed the people skills acquired over three decades of local and distance teaching and training to facilitate personal and professional growth for individuals in education and technology fields.
1990-1995:
Language Instructor and Computer-assisted language learning specialist, Syracuse University, in Spanish and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Instructor, novice to advanced level Spanish and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Education
Syracuse University:
M.A. Linguistics, concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), 1998
LeMoyne College, Syracuse, NY:
B.A. Spanish, concentration in Education, Summa Cum Laude, 1985
Bishop David F. Cunningham Medal in Junior Liberal Arts, 1984
SUNY New Paltz:
Major in music, 1973-1975
President of 85-member Concert Choir, 1974-1975
Published papers
Please note: last name changed from Turbee to Chu, 2/16/01
Chu, L. (2001). MOOing in a foreign language. In Suite101.com (Eds.), Real People Real Stories: How the Internet is Touching Lives. Suite101.com, Inc. Vancouver, BC.
Turbee, L. (1998). MOO, WOO and more: language learning in virtual environments. In Egbert, J. and Hanson-Smith, E., (Eds.), Computer-Enhanced Language Learning: Theory into Practice. TESOL Publications, Alexandria, VA.
Turbee, L. (1997). Educational MOO: Text-based Virtual Reality for Learning in Community. ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse, NY.
Warschauer, M., Turbee, L., & Roberts, B. (1996). Computer learning networks and student empowerment. SYSTEM, 24(1), 1-14. (EJ 527 752)
Turbee, L. (1995). MundoHispano: A Text-Based Virtual Environment for Learners and Native Speakers of Spanish. In MarkWarschauer, (Ed.), Virtual Connections (pp. 233-234). Manoa, HI: Second LanguageTeaching and Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Turbee, L. (1995). What can we do in a MOO?: Suggestions for Language Teachers. In Mark Warschauer, (Ed.), Virtual Connections (pp. 235-238). Manoa, HI: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Presentations
October, 2003:
Syracuse University Project Advance
Seminar:
Motivation and Interaction in the Foreign Language Classroom
June, 2001:
2001 Distance Learning Institute for the New York State Staff Development Consortia
Presentation:
Interactive Distance Education for the Adult Learner: What's up next? What's in it for the teacher?
March, 1999:
TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Sixteenth Annual Convention and Exposition, New York, New York
- Organizer/presenter
for Pre-conference Institute:
“Integrating virtual communities into the language class.” With Greg Younger. - Pre-conference
Institute:
Demonstration and learner activities based on chapter contributed to CALL Environments: Research, practice, and critical issues (Egbert, J. and Hanson-Smith, E.,(Eds.), with four other authors. - Presentation:
“Language learning MOO theory and practical application” Panel report and discussion: - The First Annual
TESOL Pre-Conference Online Workshop, with other leaders of the
workshops Colloquium:
Providing support for technology leaders, with Greg Younger, Heidi Shetzer and Leslie Hammersmith
ACTFL ’98, Chicago, Illinois
Presentation and demonstration:
“Virtual Communities: A Language Immersion Experience Without the Plane Ticket”
July, 1998:
CALICO '98 15th Annual Symposium, San Diego, California
Pre-conference institute:
"MundoHispano and PuebloLindo: Two Generations of Internet Environments for Language Learning”
April, 1998:
BOCES/BETAC Conference: Technology for Language Teachers, Rochester, New York:
Keynote speaker: "Virtual Communities for Language Learners"
Workshop: "MOO/VIC Workshop"
March, 1998:
TESOL Fifteenth Annual Convention and Exposition, Seattle, Washington:
Organizer/Presenter for Pre-conference Institute:
"Real language learning in a virtual environment"
with Awaji Yoshimasa, Julie Falsetti and Eric Schweitzer and Greg Younger.
November, 1997:
ACTFL '97 (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), Nashville, Tennessee:
Demonstration and talk: "Heinle & Heinle and Syracuse Language Systems present PuebloLindo”
June, 1996:
Conferencia Internacional para Profesores de Inglés, Lima, Peru:
Guest speaker for demonstration and discussion:
“MOOing and Language Learning: An Overview and Rationale”
June, 1996:
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Dual-Use Technologies and Applications Conference, Syracuse, New York:
Invited to give presentation and online demonstration:
"More fun than games: MOO as an Internet-based language learning resource" with Mike Mudge.
June, 1996:
Information Technology Education Connection, International Virtual Conference/Exhibition on Schooling and the Information Superhighway, at the Centre for Teacher Librarianship at Charles Sturt University, Australia:
Invited to present paper:
"MOOing in a foreign language: how, why, and who?"
March, 1996:
TESOL Thirtieth Annual Convention and Exposition, Chicago, Illinois:
Presentation and online demonstration:
"schMOOze University: Virtual community, real language learning"
with Julie Falsetti and Greg Younger.
February, 1996:
Annual Meeting of the International E-Mail Tandem Network (project funded by the European Union), Bochum, Germany:
invited as outside consultant to give two MOO workshops.
Group came to decision to use MOO as their next major focus beyond email.
November, 1995:
NEALL '95 (Northeast Association of Learning Laboratories) conference, Lancaster, Pennsylvania:
Presentation and online demonstration:
"MOO for foreign language learning and teaching: a time for growth"
Two workshops:
"You can be outstanding in the field! A hands-on MOO workshop"
July, 1995:
National Foreign Language Resource Center Summer Institute Networking Symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii:
Workshops (two due to demand):
"MOOving to a new frontier in language learning: all the MOO is a stage, and the MOOers are merely players"
with Barbara Sanchez.
March, 1995:
TESOL Twenty-Ninth Annual Convention and Exposition, Long Beach, California:
Online demonstration:
"MOO: a text-based virtual world for ESL/EFL learners"
Paper:
"Launching your class into cyberspace with student lists" with Mark Warschauer and Thomas Robb.
November, 1994:
NEALL '94 (Northeast Association of Learning Laboratories) conference, Albany, New York:
Due to demand, gave spontaneous, online half-hour presentation on MOO for foreign language learning.
Volunteer experience
- Vice-Chair and webmaster, Eastwood Chamber of Commerce: eastwoodchamber.com
- Webmaster, Sunnycrest Park Association blog: sunnycrestparkassociation.com
- Webmaster, SALudos blog – the first Spanish-language blog in Syracuse: davidchu.net/saludos
- Founding member, webmaster and email forum admin: Walkable Eastwood walkeastwood.org
- Webmaster and email forum admin: Real Estate Investors of Central New York: reicny.org
- Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today (TNT) Facilitator for Economic Development, creator and administrator of city-wide TNT facilitators' email forum
- Founding member, webmaster, email forum admin, Liverpool Schoolkeepers
- Webmaster, Liverpool Willow Museum: willow.lpl.org
- Member and webmaster: Liverpool Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee
"Teaching which does not consider the students’ priorities is useless. It is wasteful to teach someone who is not interested and so is not motivated."
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure, 1993