Joan Monahan Watson

M.A. in English at Virginia Tech, 1996.

Joan Monahan Watson is the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Religion and Culture and the Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives in the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research (CIDER). Her courses, which are presented in traditional, blended, and fully on-line learning environments, seek to define the social forces used to construct individuals and cultures by fostering critical analyses of philosophy, religion, literature, art, politics, education, and technology. These elements are examined as lenses through which both history and the future are envisioned and revised. Joan's research considers the implications of various components of student culture on teaching and learning, and she has presented numerous papers and workshops reflecting her interest in the relationships among and between (student) culture, interdisciplinary curricula, motivation, and technology - both in and out of the classroom.