Get to know some of our talented authors featured in our author spotlights. Here you can see interviews, detailed biographies, and book summaries of some of the best in the industry.
GOEHRING: I have been teaching business and computer applications at Monterey Peninsula College, a community college in Monterey, California, for the past 18 years. (You can check out my homepage at www.mpcfaculty.net/nancy_goehring.) Before that I worked as a Technical Trainer for Intel Corporation, Santa Cruz Operation, and Sun Microsystems, teaching workshops in office automation and UNIX system administration throughout the United States and Germany. I recently got married and my husband and I spend our spare time hiking, camping and backpacking in Yosemite National Park and the surrounding areas.
GOEHRING: As an educator, I realize the importance of assessment. I like the idea that ReviewNet tests measure the real-world knowledge of the candidate and translate the candidate's performance on the test to areas of strength and weakness. I have taken certification tests that measure "book knowledge" but not necessarily real-world knowledge. ReviewNet tests help identify candidates who really understand the subject matter at the hands-on, real-world level.
GOEHRING: I enjoyed the process of determining which areas of knowledge are essential to be a successful Office XP support person. I work in a self-paced instructional lab where students often ask for help. I was able to take my experience from that lab and determine the questions that would be typically asked of an Office XP support person. I also found it very interesting to identify what skills and knowledge support personnel would be expected to attain between 6 months to one year on the job, after one to 3 years of experience, and after more than 3 years of experience.
GOEHRING: While working as a Technical Trainer in my previous job, I was on the road 40 weeks in one year, living out of a suitcase and traveling from city to city with no breaks in between. I was teaching five-day technical workshops and sometimes I had to assemble the classroom or repair the network on Sunday before I could teach my class Monday morning. I learned to think on my feet, to be flexible, and to run quickly through airports to catch connecting flights. I learned from that experience that I am a lot more resilient than I thought I was, and to value each night I get to spend at home with my family.
GOEHRING: I do a lot of reading of both books and magazines. I subscribe to several technology newsletters and I attend conferences whenever possible. I stay current with new software releases by updating my courses and adopting new editions of textbooks as they become available. In the IT field, you are never "caught up." It seems that as soon as I design new curriculum for a new software version, I read in a trade journal that a new version has just been released.
GOEHRING: I began my teaching career teaching typing and shorthand to secretarial students. Technology kept developing around me, and soon the electric typewriters in my classroom were replaced with computers. Eventually networked computers replaced the standalone computers. As technology kept changing, I kept finding new subjects to teach and new areas of interest. When I was hired at my college 18 years ago, the lab where I teach had one IBM PC with 256K of memory running WordStar and the rest of the desks had electric typewriters. That same classroom now has 60 fully networked state-of-the-art computers running Microsoft Office XP. My college hired me because I could teach shorthand, but that has not been taught in over ten years. I have had to learn and change with the technology, but I love it. I can't imagine teaching something that never changes!
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