Jes Koepfler - Team

Jes Koepfler
Research Associate
koepfler@ilinet.org

Areas of Interest

My research interests look broadly at the impact of learning technologies for visitors in informal learning environments and collaboration tools for the professionals who would employ such efforts. I am specifically interested in how Google Wave might move into both of these areas: as a project management tool and potentially also as another outlet for institutions to connect with their audiences online. Methodologically, I am interested in strategies for blending design frameworks (i.e. user-centered or participatory design) with evaluation frameworks (i.e. outcomes-based evaluation models) for a holistic visitor-centered strategy that meets the needs of the design, education, and granting stakeholders.

Selected Projects

CARSON (Citizens and Remote Sensing Observation Network - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/) - citizen science project. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/). April 2009-Present.

Marian Koshland Science Museum - (www.koshland-science-museum.org). Multiple projects: exhibit, program, field-trip, and website evaluation for global climate change and infectious diseases galleries. January 2009-Present.

STEPS (Science Theater Education Programming System - www.stepsproject.org) - a software authoring tool for museum theater, Space Science Institute (www.spacescience.org). Formative, Summative, and Process Evaluation. November 2008-Present.

Virtual Human (www.mos.org/interfaces/) - _Digital docents with artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Museum of Science, Boston (www.mos.org). Summative Evaluation. October 2008-Present.

WolfQuest - Educational Gaming Experience (www.wolfquest.org). Minnesota Zoo (www.mnzoo.com) and EduWeb (www.eduweb.com) Summative Evaluation. October 2008-Present. Visitor Research Study. November 2007-March 2009.

Recent Published & Presented Work

Koepfler, J. (2008). Just Do It: Resources for Interpretive Planning. In J. Koke and M. Adams (Eds.), Journal of Museum Education 33(2).

Koepfler, J., et al. (2008) Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum. Student-directed thesis project. Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Ontario. Online Exhibition: www.mischiefandmalice.org.

Koepfler, J., & Gamble, N. (2008). Using Wikis for Project Management. Workshop. 21st Annual Visitor Studies Association Conference. July 15, 2008. Houston , Texas.

Koepfler, J., Heimlich, J., & Yocco V. (in review). Communicating Climate Change to Visitors of Informal Science Environments. In Journal of Applied Environmental Education and Communication.

Koepfler, J., & Maki, J. (accepted, April 2010). Uses and Abuses of Google Wave for Collaboration. Paper/Mini-workshop. Museums and the Web Conference. Denver, Colorado.

Koepfler, J., McLain, B., & Sala, S. (accepted, April 2010). Web-Supported Collaborations: Building, Evaluation, and Sustaining a Musuem Partnership Network. Paper/Presentation. Museums and the Web Conference. Denver, Colorado.

Koepfler, J., & Ong, A. (Eds.) (May 2009). Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Economy, Tourism, and Museums. American Association of Museums Annual Conference. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Koepfler, J., Tanzer, I., Nemcsok, S., Ng, J., Leekam, C., Noseworthy, A., & Bawden, J. (in press) Theft, Vandalism, and Security in Museums. In M.J. Bates and M.N. Maack (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

Process and Product-Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum (2008). Demonstration Session. Museums and the Web Conference. Montréal, Québec.

Schaller, D., Allison-Bunnell, S., Haley Goldman, K., Spickelmier, G., Koepfler, J. (2009). Learning in the Wild: Evaluating WolfQuest's impact on game players. Museums and the Web 2009. Proceedings. Indianapolis, IN. (Available Online: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/papers/schaller/schaller.html).

Working with Wikis: Behind the Scenes Project Management (2008). Workshop. Technology in the Arts: Canada Conference. Waterloo, Ontario .

Education:

Ph.D., Human-Computer Interaction, in progress, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
M.M.St., Museum Studies, 2008, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
B.A., Archaeology & Classical Studies, 2000, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.