Yousef Abuzir received a master's degree in computer engineering at Middle East Technical University, Turkey, in 1991 and a PhD in computer engineering in applied sciences at Ghent University, Belgium, 2002. He worked as a lecturer in Birzeit University and Al-Quds Open University (Palestine). He served as an educational expert in the Avicenna Project, RUFO Project, consultant for the FP7 project and a coordinator in the Ministry of Higher Education and other educational institutions. He is currently the head of Computer Information Systems Department in Technology and Applied Sciences program at Al-Quds Open University. He has authored and edited several books, journals, and papers, and he has delivered several keynote presentations at conferences and other events. He is well known for his research in thesaurus construction, IR and ES, NLP, automatic knowledge extraction, text mining, e-learning, and AI. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Computer and Applications and a member of IACSE. He also served as technical committee member for several conferences and journals, including IWESA, TOJDE, ACIT WMSCI, and Journal of Al-Quds Open University for Research and Study.
Khitam Azaiza is a web developer at the Fischler School of Education and Human Services, Nova Southeastern University. Her doctoral degree is in instructional technology and distance education. Azaiza's dissertation title is Women's Dialog and Distance Education: A University in the Arab World. At the 2009 AECT Convention, Louisville, Kentucky, Azaiza was awarded the Dean and Sybil McClusky Research Award for outstanding doctoral dissertation research proposal in educational technology. Azaiza's area of interest includes distance education, web developing, training, teaching, and researching.
Amit V. Deokar is an assistant professor of information systems in the College of Business and Information Systems at Dakota State University. Deokar's recent research interests are in business process management, collaboration processes and systems, distributed decision support, knowledge management, healthcare informatics, and information systems research methodologies. He has published in journals such as Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the AIS, Information Systems Frontiers, and IEEE Transactions. He serves as a reviewer for various leading journals and conferences in the field of information systems. He is currently serving as the president-elect for the Midwest Association for Information Systems (MWAIS), and has served as program cochair for MWAIS conferences in the past. Dr. Deokar is a member of AIS, INFORMS, ACM, and AAAI.
Dawn Dittman is an instructional technologist for Hastings College. She has a bachelor of science degree in English for information systems and a masters of science in information systems from Dakota State University. She is currently working on completing her doctorate of science in information systems degree, specializing in decision support, knowledge and data management, from Dakota State University. Dawn's research interests are in education technology, distance education, collaborative processes and systems and knowledge management.
Dan Eastmond is manager of capstones and assessment projects, at Western Governors University where he has served since 2000 directing the university's learning resources and online course development initiatives. He has researched, published, and practiced online distance education while on the faculties of SUNY Empire State College, University of South Dakota, and Boise State University. He holds a doctorate from Syracuse University in adult education and an education specialist degree from Utah State University in instructional technology.
Aisha Al-Harthi is an assistant professor at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Her research interests are in distance education, cultural differences, and vocational secondary education.
Mark Hawkes is coordinator of graduate studies in educational technology in the College of Education at Dakota State University. Previous positions were held at the Evaluation and Policy Information Center of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory in Chicago and the Center for Instructional Development at Syracuse University where he also received a PhD. Hawkes has led and participated in a number of district and statewide studies and evaluations of educational technology fueling his research interests in the outcomes of educational technology application on student learning and teacher professional development. Additional research is done to understand optimal instructional design in distributed learning environments. He has coauthored a recent book entitled Toys, Tools, and Teachers: The Challenges of Technology published by Scarecrow Education Press.
Ahmad Mashhour earned a PhD in information systems from the University of London in 1989. He is currently employed at Yarmouk University, Jordan. Previously, he worked as visiting professor at University of Qatar, and then at the University of Bahrain.
Julie Reinhart is an Associate professor in the School of Education at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Prior to Saint Xavier, she was an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has been writing in the distance education field for over a decade.
Surendra Sarnikar is an assistant professor in information systems at the College of Business and Information Systems at Dakota State University. He works in the area of knowledge management, and technologies for knowledge management and decision support. He is currently studying organizational knowledge flows and developing workflow-based techniques for automating knowledge flow in organizations. He is also an affiliate member of the Enterprise Process Innovation and Computing Lab at the University of Arizona, where he collaborates with UA researchers to explore process-driven mechanisms for knowledge distribution and enterprise communication.
