Ken Dirkin

1. In memory of Jesse
(Personal/Kathy)

We had to put Jesse to sleep on Tuesday.  She had a tumor on her spleen and it was getting the best of her.  She was a great dog and a wonderful companion.  It's harder on Kathy, who Jesse was bonded with ...

2. Go, Coco, Go
(Personal/me)

... most reasonable thing to do.  He can take his money and get back to his routes script writing sketch comedy or sitcoms - he'd be a huge bonus to a show like "30 Rock".  Even better, like I mentioned in ...

3. I'm with Coco
(Personal/me)

... editing stuff, I really don't need to see it as entertainment.  I want to see funny, edgy sketch comedy.  Convince me that Jack Paar or Johnny Carson would have done "Jay Walk All Stars". Leno moving ...

4. Technology Conference 2009 Presentation
(Professional/Presentations)

... done with prezi.com, is below;    ...

5. Web 2.0 selfishness
(Personal/me)

... like "ken.dirkin" and the singular "dirkin". I immediately chose "dirkin", to align with my current "dirkin.com" and Flickr "photos/dirkin" motif. As I pressed ok button I suddenly realized how selfish ...

6. Chinese Your Way
(Professional/Confucius Institute)

Chinese Your Way is a complex courseware system designed by CIMSU and created by partner China Central Radio and Television University.  Covering a semester's worth of lessons in two week self paced lessons, ...

7. Character of the Day
(Professional/Confucius Institute)

... ancient Chinese character to the modern simplified character, using folklore and idioms.  The tool also provides writing practice and grammar exercises to complete this well rounded and fun tool for learning ...

8. One to One Tutoring
(Professional/Confucius Institute)

... a week with skilled tutors. A lot of lessons were learned while trying to flesh this project out that would be reflected in our current work. Arranging to have tutors from China communicate with pupils ...

9. Faculty Test Server
(Professional/Center for Teaching and Technology)

Growing from a need that has arisen by the more technologically competent faculty and staff at the College of Education to have access to the bevy of open source software, but not have to manage it on ...

10. Instructional Spaces Redesign
(Professional/Center for Teaching and Technology)

In the summer of 2005, what once was the main computer lab for Erickson Hall was ripped out and replaced with a series of rooms.  This change was both cosmetic and technological.  Gone were the rows of ...

11. CIMSU Promotional
(Professional/examples)

... three marketing videos for them, one of Dr. Zhao explaining the idea of the Confucius Insitute and two others marketing our courses.  These peices are mainly motion graphics compositing and animation work ...

12. Swarm & Destroy: The Documentary
(Professional/examples)

... shop in Kalamazoo, MI during the annual Moped Army BBQ and pickup shots were accomplished strapping a consumer miniDV camcorder to various mopeds. The art and live action were combined in Final Cut Pro, ...

13. A Day in the Life: Deerfield
(Professional/examples)

Deerfield Elementary is a school located in Novi, MI, which opened in 2001.  In 2005, when the "Day in the Life" series was created, it had become a shining example of a community initiated and sustained ...

14. Cavanaugh Ad 2
(Professional/vids)

comm3  ...

15. Cavanaugh Ad 3
(Professional/vids)

comm5a  ...

16. Cavanaugh Campaign - 2004
(Professional/examples)

Brian Michael Cavanaugh ran for Ingham Circuit Court Judge in the 2004 election year.  Coming off my success with 2003's "Swarm & Destroy" I set out with Brian's sister, Shane, to document the campaign ...

17. Beijing Channel Company
(Professional/Presentations)

... avoid red tape entanglements and culture shock, and to help guide the teachers into their successful placements, a company in China called the Beijing Channel Company, does professional development for ...

18. College of Education
(Professional/Employment)

... virtual environments like Activeworlds, Lego robotics competitions and video editing workshops. Klick! ended in 2004 and I moved on to general consulting with the College of Education under the supervision ...

19. Academic History
(Academic/Academic Info)

I wanted to be a chemist. Michigan Technological University convinced me not to be. Instead I graduated from Michigan State University in 2000 with a B.A. in Telecommunications. I started a job in the ...

20. Beijing Channel Company
(Academic/Courses Taught)

The Beijing Channel Company (BCC) is the feeder system for our new College of Education Teacher Education Chinese Language Certification Program. What it allows us to do as the Confucius Institute, is ...