Nic Holt has a knack for making connections.
To some, his degrees (all from UGA) in classical culture, instructional technology and recreation and leisure studies might seem unrelated. But to Holt, they make perfect sense.
Holt’s current post is coordinating the rollout of Foliotek, an online portfolio system for teacher certification programs in the College of Education. Foliotek allows students to upload various assignments or materials that can then be assessed by faculty and cooperating teachers in the field.
Each certification program holds different requirements for its students. Working with multiple programs with different requirements can be challenging, Holt said, but he cites his doctoral research on learning in online role-playing game environments as good preparation.
“When I’m working with students or faculty in science education, I try my best to consider, ‘How do they think? What do they need?’ Then I try to shift those needs for the English education group or the world language group and try to help them assess their needs, which will be different,” he said. “I try to approach it all with a sense of humor and humility. I certainly don’t know all these different content areas, and I’m in uncharted territory all the time, which is so exciting. I’m learning so much every day and surrounded by very smart people.”
His doctoral work focused on “cyber-leisure based environments” in the online game The World of Warcraft.
“Most broadly, I’m interested in exploring the connections between freely chosen leisure involvements and learning,” he said.
He relates this idea to a concept called “serious leisure,” which might also be a good way to understand Holt himself. As a child, his grandmother, Dorothy Peterson, gave him a copy of The Iliad, which instilled in him a love of narrative so strong he earned a bachelor’s degree in classical culture.
His passion for music led him, eventually, to a master’s degree in instructional technology. Holt got involved in the Athens music scene in the early ’90s, when synthesizers and drum machines were cutting-edge technology.
“To make those things work back then, you had to be able to take a computer apart and put it back together again,” he said.
That skill led him to fixing the computers of his friends’ parents. It also inspired his mother, former UGA adult education professor Margaret Holt, to tell him: “You should talk to these guys in instructional technology. They’re nerds just like you.”
The IT degree led him to start a business converting lawyers’ and doctors’ records to digital formats, and later to directing the annual Kudzu Film Festival in Athens, where he met recreation and leisure studies professor Doug Kleiber, who eventually convinced Holt to join the department. He graduated with his doctorate in August.
Along the way, Holt spent six years working in the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory run by the College of Education. There he met his wife, Apisata, who was studying abroad from her home in Thailand.
“We fell in love, then she went back to Thailand and became a professor of science education in Bangkok,” he said. “While apart, we used virtual worlds to stay connected. We had a virtual marriage for a year and a half but she finally moved here in November. After completing my degree, the immigration process for my wife and (finding) a wonderful new job: It’s been a big year for me to say the least.”
