Scholarship

Scholarship

Welcome to the scholarship section of my portfolio. This page provides an overview of my research interests/research agenda and a list of publications, conference presentations, and grant activities.

One of the most satisfying experiences of this past two and a half years has been my scholarly activity. I have presented or been invited to present twelve (13) papers at national and international conferences, including The League for Innovation's annual Conference on Information Technology (CIT), the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE), the Annual Conference of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy (NCRLL), the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, and the Annual Syllabus Conference for Educational Technology (Campus Technology).

Five (5) of my papers during the past two and a half years were published and another two (2) were submitted and under review. The paper Thread Theory: A Framework Applied to Content Analysis of Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication Data was published (March, 2006) by the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning (ITDL). The editor praised this line of research as "landmark" research. The paper Finding the Right Tools: A Study of eConferencing in Higher Education was published by EDUCAUSE Quarterly (Vol.29, No.4, 2006) and was an "an excellent addition to the literature of our profession" (words of editor of EDUCAUSE).

I have received seven (7) internal grants during the past two and a half years: Research Enhancement and Development Initiatives (REDI), Faculty Research Program (FRP), Teaching Innovation Grants (TIG) (with Cynthia Saver) from Faculty Development Center, Dean's Grant from School of Education, Individual Development Award (IDA), a NYS/UUP Joint LaborManagement Program from Professional Development Campus Committee (PDC), and Research Travel Grants.

My research concerns several themes. The first line of my research is the identification of best teaching practices using econferencing. I am the Principle Investigator for the California Educational Technology Collaborative (CETC) (I have included A Letter of Appreciation (in JPEG) from this organization), and have been investigating the use of synchronous online teaching tools made available to 110 colleges through a statewide grant program, CCC Confer (www.cccconfer.org). The preliminary results of this investigation was published in Educause Quarterly November 2006 and presented at the 2006 Conference on Information Technology hosted by the League for Innovation. By focusing on the use of econferencing tools to accomplish specific pedagogical purposes, this research promises to improve professional development for online educators and clarify the effective use of synchronous online technology. The CETC had also solicited my counsel for a podcasting research proposal, which had been submitted to the Carnegie Corporation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for funding. It has been an extraordinary experience to conduct research with professionals on both coasts, and I have learned a great deal from this opportunity.

The second line is preservice teacher professional development. With the leadership of Dr. Beth Klein, I and another new faculty member Dr. HeeYoung Kim are collaboratively conducting research on the effect of implementing an integrated technologybased project on the growth of preservice teachers. The preliminary results of this research were copresented at the 2006 annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) and published in the proceedings of the conference. We are currently completing an indepth data analysis and preparing a manuscript for publication. The targeted journal is Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE).

Related to this second line of research is my collaborative research with Dr. Susan Stratton, Dr. Kim Rombach, Karen Hempson, and other faculty in thematic Block I on the development of two preliminary models - Education for Social Transformation (e4st), a thematic block that touches on the method course content and teamteaching initiatives; and Threading Technology Throughout the Curriculum (T3C), a thematic block that focuses on the thoughtful integration of contemporary technology applications into the subject areas of math, science, and social studies and literacy. The purpose of this research is to develop ways to facilitate our college students' growth in understanding the multifaceted ways that they need to be prepared to teach diverse students in their future classrooms through partnership with urban schools whose inservice teachers and students will simultaneously benefit from the partnership. This line of collaborative research was presented at the 2007 annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) and published in the proceedings of the conference.

The third line of my research is technology integration: reforming the teaching of technology to preservice teachers. I have redesigned my own course EDU314 Teaching with Computers in Elementary and Middle Schools because I am committed to ensuring that the technical skills taught in the course are not merely applied by preservice teachers but delivered in such a way as to provide teacher candidates with the conceptual framework for using them to enhance student learning in their respective disciplines. This commitment was funded by an Individual Development Award (IDA). I am also conducting a joint study with another new faculty Dr. Cynthia Saver. The study aimed to provide a model for integrating technology and course content in teacher education programs at SUNY Cortland, one that may also be adopted by other institutions of higher education. By working together, Dr. Sarver and I appreciated and embodied the goals of this project: integrated, meaningful technology use for education. The joint research was funded by a Teaching Innovation Grant.

The fourth line of my research is on podcasting: Best Practices in Podcasting. Formed research team. Research plans in progress.

The fifth line of my research is Thread Theory. Thread Theory research is now the major line and focus of my research. I devised Thread Theory as a theoretical framework to evaluate the effectiveness of online teaching as it was introduced. Thread Theory received support from several grants on the way of its development: Spencer Fellowship (Research Training Grant 2003-2004) from the Spencer Foundation & Michigan State University ($12,000); Faculty Research Program (FRP), an internal grant from SUNY Cortland and the Dean's Grant. Each grant helped move the project a step further. Its extradionary accountability in the past and the potential of securing external grants won the Thread Theory project the 2008-2009 Research Enrichment & Development Initiative (REDI) Fellowship Program. Proposed research includes developing, applying and field-testing an innovative and original theory that suggests and explores potentially transformative concepts. The study comprises a large-scale empirical effort in addressing gaps in the current knowledge of the conceptual and analytical framework needed to analyze and identify what makes quality/effective synchronous online interaction. The research will create an avenue for discussions of best online teaching practices. My long-term goal is to establish a Cortland Center for Synchronous Learning (C2SL). The center will be a home for both synchronous online learning/training and research. View my five year research plan for this line of research in PDF.