Ayshah Alahmari holds a BS in English literature, and an MS in curriculum and instruction/teaching and Learning. She is currently completing her doctorate in teaching and learning at Illinois State University. She has worked for over 10 years as an English teacher in Saudi Arabia. She currently directs an online professional development program for in-service educators in Saudi Arabia.
Ray J. Amirault holds a PhD and a MSc in instructional systems from Florida State University, and a BS in computer science from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida. Amirault has held both academic and professional positions at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, Florida), Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan), Illinois State University (Bloomington, Illinois), and The Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida). Amirault has some 20 years’ experience in online education, including designing, deploying, and teaching in instructional technology online programs, serving as an instructional designer in numerous projects for academic, government, not-for-profit, and business settings, and working in the cross section of instructional design and instructional technology. Amirault has served as an editor for two award-winning books on distance learning, has served as colead editor for two special issues of QRDE, and has written several chapters for books on instructional technology and distance learning. Amirault has been published by Cambridge University Press, ETR&D, Information Age Publishing, and the Journal of Computing in Higher Education. Alongside his work for QRDE, he is also currently working on a chapter to appear in a new book published by Taylor & Francis (Routledge), Education in Digital Landscape. Amirault was born and raised in suburban Chicago.
Frank D. Appunn holds a PhD from Capella University in organization, management, and technology, and a MBA from the University of Maine, Orono. He has published on topics across technology, information security, remote collaboration, teams, and qualitative methods. His research considers the confluence of technology, people, and organizations, while information assurance forms another interest area. He teaches at multiple institutions, leading content areas in technology, security, project management, innovation, and chairs multiple dissertation committees.
Dennis Beck is an assistant professor of educational technology at the University of Arkansas, United States. His research focuses on the impact of online technologies on vulnerable populations. In this vein, he has studied special education parent and student satisfaction with cyber schooling, as well as the impact of homework on student achievement and student and parent satisfaction in cyber schools. He has published in several venues, including Computers & Education, American Journal of Distance Education, Educational Administration Quarterly, and the Journal of Educational Research.
Annika Jokiaho is an expert for online teaching and learning with more than 10 years of work experiences in the fields of advanced training and in higher education and working at the Department of Technology Enhanced Learning at Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany. She received her doctorate from Ludwigsburg University of Education. Her research focuses on teaching methods for online learning environments.
Robert Maranto is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, United States, and editor of the Journal of School Choice. He serves on the board of Achievement House Cyber Charter School. With others, he has published more than 70 refereed publications and 11 scholarly books which have sold dozens of copies, including President Obama and Education Reform. His bosses, Tony and Maya, attend public schools in Fayetteville.
Florence Martin is an associate professor in the Instructional Systems Technology program at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She received her doctorate and master's in educational technology from Arizona State University. Her research focuses on designing and integrating online learning environments to improve learner motivation and engagement to achieve effectiveness in learning.
Birgit May is the head of the Department Technology Enhanced Learning at Ludwigsburg University of Education. She has substantial experience since 2001 in developing interactive training materials and online courses, design and implementation of interactive learning activities, setup and configuration of learning management systems and workflow management systems. She received her doctorate from Ludwigsburg University of Education. Her research focuses on e-Learning engineering.
Joel D. Olson holds a PhD from Colorado State University in human resources and has extensive experience in nonprofit leadership and consultation, education, and instructional design. He has published papers on methods of qualitative research, self-regulated learning, virtual team performance, webcams, trust, and technology acceptance. His current research continues in the area of technology and virtual teams, as well as online leadership education. Most recently, he has served the Reformed Church in America and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church as a consultant for churches in crisis. Currently he serves as a professor in the School of Business and Management in Kaplan University.
Drew Polly is an associate professor in the Elementary Education program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his doctorate in instructional technology from University of Georgia. His research agenda focuses on examining how to best support teachers’ use of learner-centered pedagogies as it relates to the fields of instructional technology, mathematics education, and elementary education.
Jill Sanko is a PhD-prepared advanced practice nurse with more than a decade of experience in simulation-based education and research. She was the founding associate director the National Institutes for Health Clinical Center Patient Safety and Simulation Program. From 2008–2012 she worked with a nationally recognized team of simulationists at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Center for Patient Safety. Currently she is an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Miami. She is holds the Advanced Certification for Simulation Educators and is activate member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare serving on a number of committees and is on the planning committee for the 2017 Simulation Research Summit: Beyond Our Boundaries. She is passionate about simulation-based education, patient safety, and interprofessional education. Her research interest is focused on exploring the intersection of interprofessional and simulation-based education as impactful tools to improve patient safety and healthcare outcomes.
Sivan Tuchman is a doctoral candidate in the University of Arkansas, Department of Education Reform. Her research focuses on policy concerns related to students with disabilities and special education. In particular, Sivan focuses on the identification of students in special education and inclusion of students with disabilities. Sivan is also one of the few scholars trying to better understand the experiences of students with disabilities who participate in school choice programs such as public charter schools, private school vouchers, homeschooling, and virtual learning. She received her BA in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Yusra Laila Visser is an instructional systems design and performance Improvement professional with 20 years of applied and scholarly experience working with government, transgovernment, corporate, nonprofit, military, higher education, international organization, and school district clients. Visser holds extensive experience in all phases of systematic instructional design, including: management of instructional programs and projects; developing full-scale instructional and performance solutions for a broad and diverse range of contexts, audiences, and domains; creating learning/performance initiatives from “ground up”; and, developing learning/performance interventions based on existing requirements/systems. She is extensively published in a wide variety of key journals in the field, both as an author and editor, and has served as an editor and author for three award-winning books on distance learning and higher education. Her experience spans both international and U.S. contexts. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Dutch, and proficient in Portuguese. Visser holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the American University (Washington, DC), and a MSc and PhD in instructional systems from The Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida). She currently works for the College of Education at Illinois State University. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, walking, meditation, and (largely amateur) still life photography of people in their environment. Visser was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and grew up in sub-Saharan Africa.
