about
gina hansen... about
gina hansen...With Passion, Intensity & A Thirst for Knowledge Acquisition: Business,
Design, Writing, & Instruction
From advertising and sales promotions to video and journalism, Gina Hansen has been designing graphic-interactive and web-based instructional projects since 1990. With an Educational Master's degree in Instructional Design and Technology, and a desire to always always keep on learning, she brings a diverse theorhetical and experience-based perspective to each new endeavor.
In addition to her educational pursuits, including some recent dabbling in digital arts and sound design, as of late, she is also a musician and enthusiast, writer, athlete and traveler, bringing a wide variety of experiences to each concept and design.
Travel offers so much more perspective than home study.
I applied for a volunteer position working to rebuild medieval villages in
Southern
France,
in their
original
building
techniques, in August 2006. 
When I heard I had been selected for the project,
I was overjoyed, and that bgan my three-month backpacking Eurostudy.
My stay at La Sabranenque taught me many things: using the skills of others to collectively contribute to a greater product. Also, I learned how to combine learning new skills, with conversing in new languages, amongst different cultures, and multiple priorities for the betterment of all involved. Southern France was one of many stops, after having toured Western Europe by coach, and visiting relatives in Finland and Denmark.
I regularly stretch myself to try new things, despite initial discomfort. A philosophy of mine as a former Level I PSIA ski
instructor, I know that if I’m not falling, I am not pushing myself to become better. For this reason, I knew I always wanted to travel to France to volunteer rebuilding medieval villages at La Sabranenque, to visit the place of my ancestors from Kaustinen, who emigrated from the west coast of central Finland 
(out of Kokkola) or my Danish relatives who didn't want to be want to serve in the military
when the Germans took over the old mill of Ærø, not far from Denmark's oldest town, Ribe. I also sought to visit the ancient historical grounds I learned and taught
students about in school (London, Paris, Dublin, the Cinque Terre, etc.), to expose myself to new socialization & acculturization methods so different from my own, and to experience the fulcrum
of so many cultures and art influences upon the globe. Constantly journaling
and blogging, I had many habitual readers following my daily solo and sometimes organized
three-month-long adventures. I even managed to send off regular postcards
to grandparents without internet. I still am reflecting upon this experience-made-reality, which even impact the words I choose to include in this description, today.
Because of the great numbers of what
I hope to accomplish combined with my broad range of interests make me a
very busy individual. Whether digital music production (of which I play three
instruments 
and write music), travel (Israel & Jordan in 1998, Mexico in 2003, Europe in 2006), cooking and gardening, reading, digital photography, dance, surfing and even the skating I tried recently, specialty coffee, wine,
and craft beers, and simply learning new things in general. My mind is always
active and always running, whether my source be online news or podcasting
or socializing and networking. In fact, I often feel that it is nearly running
away with me for all the ideas I have to accomplish. Some people would appreciate
time off from their career, but I haven’t stopped to take a breath of fresh
air, since.
I recently worked for a company that provides web tools for government, business, and non-profit web design and management, infolane, but compared with my current job, it offered so much more creativity. I currently work in IT Technical Training Department reproducing template after template of explanations of how to use new systems I follow company standards for deployment, branding, project managment and QA, however, this job does not give me much opportunity to lead outside of my own projects or to create new templates or designs that would be more logical for production. I am still looking for a job that includes creativity and an opportunity to lead others. I'm also looking for something which challenges me to learn new things and builds confidence in my professionalism and growing portfolio. I have many diverse interests and find myself constantly drawn to new knowledge acquisition. Everything from reading transnational news reports, to scanning innovative blogs for new ideas, to listening to NPR podcasts in the morning when I workout, to talking with teenagers, I am constantly updating my own thinktank with new information.
I am not
the kind of person you will find just sitting around. I have many different
types friends
from all walks of life, abilities, and ages. My interests range from learning
new ballroom dance rhythms to computer programming languages to sports.
Perhaps my Netflix queue lends a greater
perspective,
as my favorite genres include 
Documentary, Foreign, Independent, and Anime.
Even my reading interests are diverse. You may be more interested to know
that I am a regular reader of many different types of material from JavaScript & AJAX
(Sixth Edition) or Eric Meyer on CSS instructional manuals, to fiction, like The Bookseller of Kabul,
to The Medieval History of Europe, where so many cultures have rewritten the
elements they wish to be remembered as their own distinct culture regardless
of melding with other leading tribes at the time, to personal journey 
books,
like The Alchemist, the philosophies of The Urban Revolution, or poetry from Semezdin Mehmedinovic describing the bloodshed in Sarajevo Blues. I am constantly
feeding myself with new ideas beyond news and podcasting that keep me current
with modern technology trends, global news and politics, and digital music
studio and other MIDI creation trends.
My experiences of working for an answering service, my multitude of coaching and team experiences, as well as my classroom experiences have helped me communicate with basically any sort of person, be it the obvious differences of ability, race, communication style, etc., but I can also get down to a kid-level, varying degree of technical performance levels, or just plain guru nerdiness. I can talk with people of any age, basic language, sport, platform, economically-challenged, political or popularity-minded or gearhead sort of person. I can be an editor or critic, idea-generator, listener, team leader, or happy to simply be a doer, to get the task completed. Teams inspire me and I always do my best to help out. As I mentioned, I am always honest in my response, so I also think it is fair to include the fact that the people I clash with seem to be those who have a need to one-up others. You probably know the sort to whom I am referring, those who seek to get all the recognition for an idea and have this need to be the best, leaving the whole concept of team, behind. If you consult my e-portfolio, you will see the recognition given to other members in group projects or the denotation that my Research Writing Tool mascot was created by a former student, whose skill far exceeds my own ability to draw. I easily give credit deserved by others, admit when I am wrong, and change to adapt to the direction of group consensus.
These hobbies and experiences, as well as working on various school newspapers as a writer, photographer, paginator, WJEA writing judge, editor, and advisor has led me to also be very conscientious of copyright law, in a constant state of fluxation, as information sharing continues at expressive paces, i.e. the current Google-YouTube, or Apple TV to compete with TIVO or Cable PPV and other filesharing methods. As we continue to download and share information, people continue to want to own the details, but aren't ideas and knowledge meant to be shared for the benefit of all?
In my own search for learning new things, I have also been blessed to enjoyed positions of leadership. One of many distinctions I have earned over the years including other such honors as Sales Employee of the Month in only my second month of work where clients would make their trip congruent with my work schedule because they knew I was most knowledgeable about their products and wishes. I have also served on many committees such my church on the call committee to find a pastor, as a delegate of Aberdeen Lodge #9 to the Finnish Lodge Convention last August, a faculty representative to the school site council, as a regular soccer coach (call any of my parents or former players for inspiring commendations), as stroke of my college crew team, as a collegiate soccer player, as English Department Chair in West Contra Costa Unified where I turned chaos into cohesiveness, or as a rater for S4S, serving on national study at Stanford to evaluate the rigor of high school exit exams across the nation.
I worked as a teacher for over seven years, however, I prefer to describe myself as an instructional designer, asynchronous with trainer, teacher, content developer, editor, etc. My job experiences begin in business, journalism, coaching, teaching, and now networking and applications-based fields. While a teacher, I learned to multitask and produce at a faster than rapid prototypical pace. It taught me to be malleable and change directions in only a matter of seconds, even if it was something that wasn’t the top of my priority list but seemed important to students. As I observed their method of interactions, I also learned to navigate the web and many other information-gathering techniques in a their style. My business experiences have taught me to be a good listener to best match the client with their needs, which led to earning honors like Salesperson of the Month in only a short time where clients would request me with regularity. As a video, print, or online journalist, I learned to take criticism, constructively, the importance of paying attention to detail, changing even hour-intensive stories or layouts as new items became more newsworthy, and to fill in for others or stay as long as needed during deadlines, to create a product all would be proud of. As a coach and team member, I learned how to build something out of nothing, how modesty and example can inspire others, and that everyone, even very different personalities, in the team is needed to reach one’s greatest potential.
In order to be so productive, however, and in order to maintiain constant communication with current and new acquaintences, I have learned to be very fast on-the-fly when it comes to using the computer. I operate the keyboard through keystrokes because the mouse takes too long and for as long as I can remember, people have always been impressed that I can type over 100 words per minute, when focused, and students are always amazed that I don’t even have to be looking at the screen. Fast moves in place, it is STILL not quick enough to accomplish even half of the ideas running through my head all day long, so I am hoping voice recognition software development is catching up more quickly because I need to make my care time more productive, and my handwriting-while-driving is not only unsafe, but nearly illegible <smiles>.