User:Matt

From Studyplace

Introduction

My name is Matt Curinga, I'm a doctoral student in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College Columbia University. I have a background as both a K-12 teacher (bilingual ed/ESOL) and a software developer. My entry to teaching came right after I completed my undergraduate degree when I joined Teach For America, teaching for two years in Grady, Arkansas, working with the Spanish speaking children of migrant workers in the public school. I continued in K-12 education, working for 2 years as a technology consultant to the old District 32 in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

As a software developer, I've worked at several NYC technology start-ups, specializing in systems enabling user-generated content (peer authoring) and web-based research systems. Most recently, I was one of the original founders (and CTO) of Crisp Wireless and the lead developer at IAG Research.

Research

Like most people, my research interests are broad: social software and media, bilingualism, language and thought, language acquisition, mobile technology, video games, community, programming languages and software design.

I am currently teaching Programming II (and welcome changes or comments to the curriculum) and working on StudyPlace as a research assistant. I have recently completed working as a software developer on the CTELL case-based learning system and as a developer and researcher on the STEPS To Literacy bilingual writing program.

For my dissertation I am investigating various theories of motivation in social software systems. I am comparing these theories to the actual practices of successful social software systems by collecting prevalent wikipedia:design patterns in existing systems and evaluating the degree to which they validate or refute the theoretical frameworks.

Extra

I live in Brooklyn with my wife Cynthia and baby boy - Diego Rocco. When I'm not writing code, working on my research, or watching Diego; I remember how I used to play ultimate, soccer, basketball, and pool :)

You can probably learn more about my personal life through photos on http://www.curinga.com and more about my professional life by checking out my resume.

Contact

If you want to get in touch with Matt, either leave a post on my talk page, or send email to: mxc1@columbia...