Ray J. Amirault (Lead Editor), BS, computer science, The University of West Florida, MSc and PhD in instructional systems, Florida State University. Ray has some 20 years of experience in instructional design and eLearning, and has taught and designed courses and/or programs at The Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, Wayne State University, and Illinois State University. Ray’s publications examine technology’s impact on education, particularly within the historical context of the university movement. Ray serves on the Editorial Board of three instructional technology journals and has served as a solicitation reviewer for the National Science Foundation. He is a native of suburban Chicago.
Yusra Laila Visser ( Coeditor and author), PhD, instructional systems, Florida State University, works for Illinois State University and the Learning Development Institute. She has 20 years of experience in the field, divided approximately equally between academia and applied settings (business/industry, transnational organizations, nonprofits). She focuses on the intersections between strategic planning, learning, performance, instruction, and technology. She has particular interest in designing and deploying validated and innovative initiatives. While actively contributing to academic journals, Yusra has also coauthored two books, coedited two books, and contributed six book chapters, receiving four major book/publication awards. In her “downtime” she enjoys traveling, water painting, and jewelry making.
Stephen Bodnar holds a bachelor’s degree in computing science, a master’s in speech and language processing, and has worked in the software industry and as an educator in an English as a foreign language setting. He recently obtained a PhD in linguistics for research completed at the Centre for Language and Speech Technology, Radboud University Nijmegen. He is employed as a postdoctoral fellow with McGill University’s Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings research team. His current work involves collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to develop and evaluate technology-rich learning environments.
Lap Ki Chan, BSc (Biomed), MB, BS (HK), FHKCOS, FHKAM, FRCS Edinburgh, PhD (Duke), MEd, is an orthopedic specialist and anatomist. He is an associate professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, the Deputy Director of Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education and the Assistant Dean in Pedagogy, at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. His academic interests are anatomy education, innovative pedagogies, teacher training, and interprofessional education.
Yuxin Chen is a doctoral student in the Learning Sciences Program, and a graduate research assistant working at Cindy Hmelo-Silver’s 4C lab at Indiana University. She is currently on the LEADS project, which focuses on designing and analyzing a computer-based, cross-cultural and collaborative problem-based learning module. She is interested in studying computer-supported collaboration and dynamic interaction in informal settings.
Nick V. Flor is an associate professor at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management. He holds a PhD and master’s degree in cognitive science and a bachelor’s degree in computer science, all from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to UNM, he spent 8 years as a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration. He has published extensively in the areas of virtual communities and online social systems. Flor’s current research interests are learning analytics and 3D/VR gamification of renewable and sustainable energy education, where he is coprincipal investigator on several National Science Foundation grants.
David Raúl Gómez Jaimes is a PhD candidate in the Organization, Information & Learning Sciences program and an instructional designer in the Extended Learning department at the University of New Mexico. He holds a master of learning technologies and a bachelor of international business, both from Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. David currently studies the relationship between social construction of knowledge and student centrality in online discussion forums through the application of educational data mining, specifically by utilizing a combination of interaction analysis and social network analysis.
Charlotte Nirmalani “Lani” Gunawardena is Distinguished Professor of Distance Education and Instructional Technology in the Organization, Information, and Learning Sciences Program at the University of New Mexico. She has published on distance education for over 25 years and has over 100 publications to her credit. She coedited Culture and Online Learning: Global Perspectives and Research. She researches the sociocultural context and social construction of knowledge in online learning communities. She has directed evaluations for the U.S. Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, Indian Health Service, and consulted for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and various U.S. corporations.
Bas Giesbers is learning innovation consultant and researcher at Rotterdam School of Management, Information Management and Consulting. After studying educational psychology, he gained experience in educational technology, teaching, and research on (remedial) distance education, distance supervision (e.g., of internships and thesis writing) and teacher professionalization in the field of distance education. His PhD research focused on the use of synchronous communication
Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver is the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology, Professor of Learning Sciences, and director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology in the School of Education of Indiana University. Her research interests focus on how people learn about complex phenomena and how technology can help support that learning. As part of this work, she studies problem-based learning, collaborative knowledge construction, and computer supported collaborative learning. Hmelo-Silver has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and edited seven books in these areas and has served in a variety of editorial roles in the learning sciences.
Peter T. Hogaboam is a doctoral student at Indiana University’s Department of Instructional Systems Technology. His research interest centers on problem-based learning and the development of technology supports in PBL settings. He is both a faculty fellow recipient of the IU School of Education and graduate research assistant in IU’s Center for Research on Learning and Technology.
Maedeh Sadat Kazemitabar, BEng chemical and petroleum, Sharif University of Technology MA Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, doctoral candidate, Learning Sciences, McGill University. Her research is focused on themes of emotions and emotion regulation in individual and group learning contexts, behavioral and physiological detection of emotions and their regulation, emotional communication in technologybased learning environments, and personality traits and cultural differences in applying emotion regulation strategies and interventions.
Fengfeng Ke is an associate professor in the Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies program in the College of Education at the Florida State University. Her main research interests include digital game-based learning, computer-supported collaborative learning, and inclusive design of e-learning.
Susanne Lajoie is a professor and Canadian Research Chair Tier 1 in Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University and a member of the Centre for Medical Education. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association. Lajoie explores how theories of learning and affect can be used to guide the design of advanced technology rich learning environments in different domains (i.e., medicine, mathematics, history, etc.).
Sungwoong Lee is an assistant professor of instructional design and technology at Emporia State University. His research interests include problem solving in game-based learning, immersive virtual learning environments, design of virtual learning environments for students with autism, and technology integration in the classroom.
Quan Nguyen is a PhD student in learning analytics at the Open University, UK, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. After finishing a master’s degree in information and network economics at Maastricht University, he has become passionate about the application of data analytics in education. He concentrates on analyzing big data set in educational context in order to provide meaningful feedback to educators and students.
Bart Rienties is reader in learning analytics at the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University UK. He is program director of Learning Analytics within IET and Chair of Student Experience Project Intervention and Evaluation group. As educational psychologist, he conducts multidisciplinary research on work-based and collaborative learning environments and focuses on the role of social interaction in learning, which is published in leading academic journals and books. His primary research interests are focused on learning analytics, computer-supported collaborative learning, and the role of motivation in learning. He successfully led a range of institutional/national/European projects.
Damien Sánchez is a PhD student at the University of New Mexico. He is also a research assistant for the Organization Information and Learning Sciences Program. Sánchez has led a decorated academic career publishing several papers and receiving awards for academic excellence, contributions to the Latino community, and citizenship. Prior to pursuing his PhD, Sánchez worked as a senior instructional designer for a firm that produces learning solutions for the U.S. government. He also spent six months working in Sri Lanka as a content development specialist for the Asian Development Bank.
Karen Swan is the Stukel Professor of Educational Leadership and a research associate in the Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield. Her current research interests center on online learning on which she has published and presented extensively. Karen was given the Online Learning Consortium’s (OLC) award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in 2006 and received the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award from Teachers College, Columbia University, and the 2014 Burks Oakley II Distinguished Online Teaching Award from the University of Illinois Springfield. She is an OLC Fellow and a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
Dirk Tempelaar is an associate professor in the Department of Quantitative Economics of the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. His main teaching is in the areas of statistics and research methods, and the design of problem-based learning modules in these topics. His research interests are understanding student learning in self-regulated learning contexts, investigating students’ learning patterns in blended learning environments, and the use of a broad range of learner and learning data, both consisting of survey data and computer track data, to create feedback cycles that improve learning: dispositional learning analytics.
Jeffry Wiseman, MD, FRCPC, MAEd, is an assistant professor of medicine, a general internist and medical educational scholar. He is a core member of the McGill Centre for Medical Education and an Associate of the McGill Faculty of Education ATLAS (Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings) Laboratory. He has served in the past as Chief Examiner for the Royal College of Canada oral certification examination in internal medicine, and Chair of the McGill Undergraduate Internal Medicine Education Committee, He is currently active in faculty development locally at McGill and internationally at the Royal College of Canada. He is a coinvestigator for Learning Environments Across Disciplines, an international research partnership funded by a Canadian Social Sciences and Research Council Partnership Grant.
Xinhao Xu is a PhD candidate in the instructional systems and learning technologies program in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at the Florida State University. He holds a BSc in electronic instruments and measurement, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and a MSc in digital communication systems and technology, Chalmers University of Technology. His current research interests mainly focus on technology-enhanced learning and cognition, human computer interactions for learning, immersive virtual learning environments, and game-based learning.
