The University of Louisville has always held a special place in my life. In my youth (and currently as an adult!), I rooted for the Cardinals in sports. My wife and I were married on campus at its Rauch Planetarium in 2003. (Sadly, the university's plan for the planetarium -- not open since the pandemic -- is to remain permanently closed.) It was at U of L where I earned my Bachelors (2005) and Masters (2007) degrees and began my teaching career through its Alternate Certification program.
This year, I've had three intersections with U of L that I wanted to share.
In spring 2025, I taught my first online, asynchronous, graduate-level course for U of L. At the end of last year, the College of Education and Human Development reached out. A series of blended learning classes had been shuttered when the original instructor retired. CEHD leadership asked: Would I be willing to teach additional courses, in order to revive the blended learning track? I enthusiastically said yes. The fourth and final course of my current commitment begins next week, and I'm thankful to give back to my alma mater as well as help future and early career educators! I plan to begin the cycle again in 2027, so if you're interested in enrolling (you can still try to register for the upcoming fall term!), here are the titles of my online classes:
- EDAP 688 Designing a Technology Integrated Curriculum (last taught spring term 2026)
- EDAP 585 Digital Methods for Teachers to Design and Deliver Instruction (last taught summer term 2026)
- EDAP 587 Digital Methods for Students to Demonstrate Learning (last taught summer term 2026)
- EDAP 690 Teaching with AI (begins August 17, 2026)
When I was a U of L student, I always enjoyed the
Ekstrom Library as a place for study, collaboration, and research. When I was recently on campus, I discovered to my delight that
my book was part of its third floor collection!
When I looked up
the book's entry in Ekstrom's database, I also found out that
Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the Classroom is located at several other university libraries, including Vanderbilt, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), University of Mary Washington, SUNY Geneseo, University of Southern Maine, University of Nevada (Las Vegas), Loyola Marymount, The King's University (Edmonton, CN) and the University of Saskatchewan. I'm humbled that my book sits on so many shelves.
My book leads to my last University of Louisville connection. For its recent Spring and Summer issue of
U of L Magazine,
I was featured in a two page spread! The photo shoot was particularly fun -- members of the magazine staff came to our OVEC Middletown office, and in one of the setups, I lay on a table surrounded by my personal TTRPG materials as a photographer stood above and over me and took the picture.
Special thanks to Audrie Lamb and the rest of the U of L Magazine staff for the feature article!
As I wrap up this entry, I want to share a heartfelt moment of my gratitude to many people -- some of which I haven't met, but left replies on my social media -- for showing their love my way. I mentioned at the beginning that my wedding was held on the U of L campus. The person I married was April Lynn Watson, another Cardinal graduate. April was a beautiful, beloved, brilliant wife and my best friend. I talked about
her original battle with cancer here in my blog in 2019. Tragically, the cancer came back after several years of remission, and
April passed away on July 1. Writing her obituary and eulogy was incredibly hard, but I was honored and privileged to share how wonderful she was to me and so many others. Thank you to every single person who has expressed their condolences. I will repeat what I said in a LinkedIn post: "It seems strange to breathe without [April], much less eat, laugh, or post online about work or writing accomplishments. I ask for two things. Firstly, your warm thoughts and support for myself and my family in the painful journey ahead. Secondly, for your grace and understanding as I post in the days and weeks to come. I know April wanted me to thrive, not just subsist, even as I now struggle in the tilted frame of my new 'normal.' I hope to continue to use my social media voice to uplift the topics I love: education, technology, game-based learning. Doing so helps me live, and endure, and honor April's life by trying to make a difference in others."
