It's hard to believe our Astrolrner@CAE Guest Moderation Program is entering its third year… Over the past year, Paul Robinson has been doing such a fine job, but it's a volunteer position, and we need to give him a well deserved break. Starting in May, and for the upcoming year, we'll be hearing from John Feldmeier, at Youngstown State Univ. He'll let us know how he became involved in our CAE community, and why he thinks Astrolrner@CAE is such a great resource for instructors. Maybe you even remember a posting or two of John's. I know we here at CAE always enjoy reading them. But one thing that we love about John is that he always stops by our offices when he's in Tucson. You should do the same! Now, here are a few words from John.

Hello everyone, my name is John Feldmeier, and I'm an assistant professor at Youngstown State University. I am really looking forward to being the new Guest Moderator for AstroLrner@CAE.

I first met the CAE group when I attended the Tier I Workshop in June of 2005 in Salt Lake City. One thing that impressed me right away was the effort of the CAE group to include other people in their work, and their determination to share the ideas of learner-centered astronomy education to everyone that was interested. I was just about to begin teaching, and I decided to jump in with both feet, using as many of the techniques that I could in my classes. Attending the CAE Tier II Workshop in 2007 in Seattle was another opportunity to learn about astronomy education in more depth, and to evaluate how well the techniques had worked so far for me (and to hear how other instructors had applied the techniques to their classes).

This is a very exciting time to be part of the astronomy education community. There is a lot of new research on how to best create learner-centered classrooms that benefit our students, and expose them to the incredible discoveries of modern astronomy. There are scientifically-validated educational resources available to everyone who is interested, and the AstroLrner@CAE community is one of the best places to learn about, and discuss, these new approaches. I hope to be of service to the community, and to learn what other excellent instructors have found in their own practice.