Ray Cole received his B.A. in Computer Science at the University of California, San Diego and his M.A. in Education, Instructional Technologies from San Francisco State University. At one time or another, he has been a multimedia producer, a record company executive, a computer programmer, an educator, and a composer. His first industry job was as a Fortran programmer for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) group at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Later, he spent over a decade as a software developer for NCR Corporation.
Active for several years with The Film Music Society, he was that organization’s first web designer and webmaster. He has also developed web applications for telecommunications startup AirFiber, and spent a year or so as their corporate webmaster.
As co-owner and managing partner of the independent, experimental music label, Old King Cole Productions, he has worked with many of the best musicians in the San Diego area. His liner notes for new-music CDs have appeared in recordings from Master Musicians Collective and Old King Cole Productions. He also has written a number of feature articles on home entertainment and popular culture topics for the GreenCine movie rental service’s website.
As a composer, he studied privately with San Diego composer Igor Korneitchouk. His homage to Conlon Nancarrow, “Canon for Conlon” for computer-driven piano, was selected by the Stuart Commission for broadcast on the Terry Allen “Music Tree,” part of the Stuart Collection of modern art installed on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. His 1995 etude for clarinet, “Multiplex,” is published by Drake Mabry Publishing, and his short piece, “Sodium,” for solo piano was selected for inclusion in the 2004 Vox Novus “60×60″ project’s Pacific Rim Mix and is collected on the 2-CD set 60×60 (2004-2005).
First for NCR Corporation’s NCR University, and subsequently for some of San Francisco’s premiere instructional design firms, he has designed and written online and classroom courseware for corporate clients, focusing primarily on the manufacturing, computing, and biotech industries. His client list includes Amgen, Corning Display Technologies, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Sun Microsystems, and Wells Fargo, among others. Since 2007, he has taught graduate classes in San Francisco State University’s Instructional Technologies program.
In addition to his corporate training experience, and the classes he teaches at San Francisco State University, Ray has also taught computer programming classes to middle- and high-school students, audio production workshops to graduate students and other adult learners, and been a featured speaker at the 1996 NCR Partners professional conference. He currently works as a senior instructional designer in Lam Research’s Global Learning & Development department.
Tales from the ID
