Sasha Barab is an Associate Professor in Instructional Systems Technology and Cognitive Science at Indiana University (see http://inkido.indiana.edu/barab).  As a computer teacher in an urban high school, Dr. Barab had become interested in innovative uses of the computer both as an instructional tool and as an assessment device. His current work involves the design of rich learning environments, frequently with the aid of technology, that are designed to assist children in developing their own sense of purpose as individuals, as members of their communities, and as knowledgeable citizens of the world. His research has resulted of dozens of peer-reviewed articles, numerous chapters in edited books, invited talks around the world, and he is editor of the book Designing for Online Communities in the Service of Learning. He was also recently awarded the Barbara Jacobs Chair of Technology for his distinguished contributions to the field.

Online biography: http://inkido.indiana.edu/barab/
Online bibliography: http://inkido.indiana.edu/barab/publications.html

Freely available articles:
Barab, S. A., Barnett, M. G., & Squire, K. (2002). Developing an empirical account of a community of practice: Characterizing the essential tensions. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 11(4), 489-542.

Barab, S. A., MaKinster, J., & Scheckler, R. (2003). Designing system dualities: Characterizing a web-supported teacher professional development community. TheInformation Society, 19(3), 237-256.

Project website: Inquiry Learning Forum, Indiana University

Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor of Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.  His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership.  His funded research includes a grant from the National Science Foundation to aid middle school students learning science via shared virtual environments with digitized museum artifacts, a grant from the Joyce Foundation to aid the Milwaukee Public Schools in implementing a knowledge portal for teacher professional development, and a grant from Harvard to explore applications of wireless handheld devices in higher education.

Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education’s Expert Panel on Technology, and International Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study. He serves on Advisory Boards and Commissions for PBS TeacherLine, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, and several federal educational labs and regional technology centers. Chris is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Tech Academy, an experimental small high school in the Boston Public School system, funded by the Gates Foundation. He was the Editor of the 1998 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Yearbook, Learning with Technology and has just completed a co-edited volume on Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-based Educational Innovation, published by Jossey-Bass in 2005.

Online biography & bibliography: http://hugse9.harvard.edu/gsedata/Resource_pkg.profile?vperson_id=311

Freely available articles:
Dede, C. (2004). Enabling distributed learning communities via emerging technologies: Part one. T H E Journal, 32(2), 12-22.

Dede, C. (2004). Enabling distributed learning communities via emerging technologies: Part two. T H E Journal, 32(3), 16-26.

Project website: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech

Susan J. Doubler, Ph.D. is co-leader of the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at TERC, and Associate Professor at Lesley University. She is Co-PI of the Fulcrum Leadership Institute, an NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership (MSP) with Tufts University, TERC and schools in the Boston area. She is also PI and director of Re-opening the Science Door, an NSF project that developed and implemented a fully online master’s program in science education for K-8 teachers. Her work focuses on the interface between science, technology and teacher enhancement with the aim of bringing together project-based science and technology tools to help further science learning. Before coming to TERC, she was an instructional specialist and teacher in the Winchester Massachusetts Schools.

Freely available articles:
Doubler, S.J., Mathews-DeNatale, G. & Rubin, A. (2001). Re-opening the science door. Hands On!, 24(1).

Doubler, S.J., Grisham, L., & Paget, K.F. (2003, January 26). Emerging faculty role: Teaching for deep understanding online. Presented at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. Corpus Christi, TX: Texas A&M University, College of Education. (ERIC No. ED473257)

Project website: Lesley/TERC Science Online Initiative

Thomas Duffy is the Barbara Jacobs Chair of Education Technology at Indiana University (Bloomington).  He is a professor in Learning and Developmental Sciences and in Cognitive Science.  Tom’s work focuses on design research related to inquiry learning environments.  The work focuses on defining design principles for technology supported learning environments which has most directly been realized in the work on the online professional development environment, LTTS. In evaluating the designs, there is a particular focus on understanding the effective use of technology to scaffold learning and in the variables in collaborative and mentoring activities that facilitate learning. Tom’s funded work involves three projects, in addition to LTTS. Through support from the State Department, he is working with post secondary institutions in Azerbaijan to develop their distance education capabilities. Through funding from Cisco Systems, he is evaluating the Cisco Networking Academy educational model which involves a mixture of centralized curriculum and assessment with local teaching. Finally, through U.S. Dept of Education funding to PBS, he is beginning a collaborative effort in the design of online professional development environments that support district, face-to face coaching and community based professional development initiatives. 

Online biography & bibliography: http://www.indiana.edu/~learnsci/people/duffy.html

Freely available articles:
Duffy, Thomas M. & Kirkley, J. (2004)  Learner Centered Theory and Practice in Distance Education:  Case Studies from Higher Education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Assoc  (Chapter 1)

Wise, Alyssa, Chang, Ju-yu, Duffy, Thomas M., Del Valle, Rodrigo (2004) The Effects of Teacher Social Presence on Student Satisfaction, Engagement, and Learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol. 31(3) 247-271

Del Valle, Rodrigo. & Duffy, Thomas M (in review) Online Learning: Learner characteristics and their approaches to managing learning.

Project website: http://Ltts.Indiana.edu
Guest login: NECC  pswd: guest

Ilona Holland has been involved in the evaluation of technology-based educational products since 1989. Both as an independent consultant and as a senior research consultant with Multimedia Research, a consulting group headed by Barbara Flagg, Holland has worked on projects for museums, television stations, software companies, and the DuPont Company. Projects have included the formative evaluation of educational television shows such as Between the Lions, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, Parenting Works, and Intimate Strangers; I-MAX movies such as Everest, Special Effects, and Storm Chasers; and interactive videodiscs such as CHIP (Detroit Institute of Arts); Science, Engineering, and Technology Program (New York Hall of Science); Farmer Pig's Health Farm (National Cancer Institute); and The Wonderful World of Medicine (Interactive Video Science Consortium). Holland also is the formative evaluator and a member of the design team for the creation of interactive, computerized safety-training programs for the DuPont Company at Marshall Labs in Philadelphia. She was instrumental in writing Delaware's K-12 Educational Standards for both social studies and the arts in education. While serving on the Delaware Educational Technology Committee, she helped analyze the technological needs of all Delaware public schools and libraries and helped draft appropriate recommendations to the state legislature. Holland's academic research studies how children develop vocabulary skills through the visual analysis of fine art, both in the classroom and in the museum setting. She has been a formative evaluator for numerous projects funded by sources such as the National Science Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for Educational Television, and National Institutes of Health.

Online biography & bibliography: http://hugse9.harvard.edu/gsedata/Resource_pkg.profile?vperson_id=280

Project website: Milwaukee Public Schools Professional Support Portal

Glenn Kleiman

Online biography: http://www.edtechleaders.org/about/who/staff/gk.asp

Freely available articles:
Kleiman, G. L. (2004, July). Meeting the need for high quality teachers: E-Learning solutions. White paper written for the U.S. Dept. of Education Secretary’s No Child Left Behind Leadership Summit: Increasing Options through E-Learning, Orlando, FL.

Treacy, B., Kleiman, G., & Peterson, K. [Electronic version]. (2002). Successful online professional development. Learning & Leading with Technology, 30, 42-47.

Project website: Ed Tech Leaders Online, EDC

David Perkins is a founding member of Harvard Project Zero, a basic research project at HGSE investigating human symbolic capacities and their development. For many years, he served as co-director, and is now senior codirector and a member of the steering committee. Perkins conducts research on creativity in the arts and sciences, informal reasoning, problem solving, understanding, individual and organizational learning, and the teaching of thinking skills. He has participated in curriculum projects addressing thinking, understanding, and learning in Colombia, Israel, Venezuela, South Africa, Sweden, Holland, Australia, and the United States. He is actively involved in school change. Perkins is a cofounder of the WIDE World Initiative, a distance-learning initiative for practitioners. He is the author of numerous publications, including The Eureka Effect and his latest book, King Arthur's Round Table, about organizational intelligence and learning.

Online biography & bibliography: http://hugse9.harvard.edu/gsedata/Resource_pkg.profile?vperson_id=4

Freely available articles:
Online professional development for a WIDE world of teachers. (2005, April 1). Available at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, HGSE News web site.

Project website: WIDE World, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Rob Ramsdell founded FreshPond Education in 1996 and has spent the past 10 years leading the development of innovative professional development programs for K-12 educators. Rob recently served as Senior Director of PBS TeacherLine, an online professional development initiative funded by the US Department of Education (www.pbs.org/teacherline). TeacherLine has developed more than 100 online courses for K-12 teachers in the areas of mathematics, reading/language arts, and technology integration. Rob offers a unique blend of professional development experience and understands the potential of both online and face-to-face approaches.  Rob currently works with a number of organizations supporting their development of strategies that will overcome typical barriers to effective professional development.  Rob began his career as a social studies teacher. He holds a BA from Brown University and Masters Degrees in educational administration and educational technology from Teachers College, Columbia University and Harvard's Graduate School of Education..

Online biography: http://www.freshpond.com/people1.html

Project websites: TeacherLine programs & Ready to Teach

Raymond Rose, is Vice President of the Concord consortium, a non-profit educational research and development group that assists schools internationally to realize the educational promise of technology.  The Concord Consortium is a recognized leader in the development and delivery of online courses.  Rose has provided leadership for Concord Consortium’s online education projects.  In addition to the online education efforts, other projects at the Concord Consortium are developing the next generation of electronic data sensors, developing educational applications for handheld computers, creating content-based software that will help students understand abstract science concepts, and developing curriculum and new approaches to instruction of science and math. 

At The Concord Consortium, Rose’s responsibilities include conducting research and developing educational applications that address educational problems.  He is the Consortium’s industry analyst for online delivery tools, and manages the partners.  He was Project Director of INTEC, a National Science Foundation project that developed a cutting-edge online graduate level professional development course for mathematics and science teachers.  He was assistant director for the Virtual High School project.  Currently he directs Seeing Math, a project that uses video to support online professional development.  He has provided workshops, training, and technical assistance to school districts and state departments of education access the country on topics that include: appropriate use of technology, equity in instruction in mathematics and science, instructional methodology, school improvement, assessment, policy development, and strategic planning.

Rose’s professional experience over the past 30 years includes classroom and administrative experience;  implementing policy at a state level; consultation with school administrators and policy makers on a broad variety of school improvement issues;  developing a set of tools that are widely used in educational equity.  He was recently recognized at the tenth annual Marketing Opportunities for Business and Entertainment Conference as one of the Influencers and Innovators of the Internet and Technology.  He is recognized proponent of online asynchronous education. 

Online biography: http://chroma.concord.org/about/staff/#rrose

Project websites: TeacherLine programs & Ready to Teach

Carolyn Scholten is the Teacher Liaison for the Learning to Teach with Technology (LTTS). She has been working for the project since Fall 2001. She is responsible for mentoring teachers through the process of developing courses that become part of the LTTS catalog. She is also responsible for the training of facilitators for the LTTS one-on-one mentoring provided by all courses and is a facilitator herself. Carolyn promotes teacher professional development by presenting at workshops for schools and districts as well as national conferences.  

Carolyn taught middle school mathematics for 20 years. She received her Masters in Secondary Mathematics Education at Indiana University in Spring 2001. It was during this time that she became interested in learning about integration of technology in the classroom. She developed lessons in which students would use technology to enhance what they were learning. Carolyn’s interest in professional development grew from her eagerness to share with colleagues what she was doing in the classroom as well as what students were learning.

Ted Sicker is Executive Producer for educational projects at the WGBH Interactive division of WGBH Educational Foundation. Since 1986, he has spearheaded concept development, curriculum design, and editorial and production oversight on a range of educational interactive multimedia productions Since 1997, these have been primarily on the Web, He currently serves as executive producer of Teachers' Domain, WGBH's multimedia digital library and professional development series for K-12 teachers and students, He has produced or executive produced Misunderstood Minds, Evolution, A Science Odyssey,Building Big.  Africans in America, Sister Wendy's American Collection, Culture Shock,, People’s Century, and Irish in America on pbs.org; and A Biography of America, Discovering Psychology, Teaching Reading K-2 and 3-5, Social Studies in Action, Teaching Foreign Languages, Primary Sources, Learning Math, and Teaching Math on the Annenberg Foundation's learner.org. His prior productions include Nuevos Destinos, a video and CD-ROM for Spanish language study, and science and history videodiscs, including the Interactive NOVA series.

Before working at WGBH, Ted was a high school teacher for 10 years; for most of those, he taught social studies and other subjects to special-needs students in Cambridge, MA. He received a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.S. in Education and an M.C.P. (City Planning) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Online biography: http://www.teachersdomain.org/courses/newsroom/people.html

Project website: WGBH Teachers’ Domain Online Courses

Robert V. Steiner serves as the Project Director for Seminars on Science, the online professional development program of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.   Prior to his work at the Museum, Dr. Steiner created and directed the Distance Learning Project at Teachers College, Columbia University, working closely with faculty to facilitate the design, development, implementation and evaluation of online and hybrid courses. Dr. Steiner received his B.S. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D. in experimental elementary particle physics from Yale University. He has served as a research physicist at Columbia University and a faculty member within the Department of Physics at Adelphi University and has been a principal investigator for the National Science Foundation, focusing on precision electroweak measurements in both neutrino scattering and electron-positron collisions.  He has implemented computerized physics laboratories and chaired or served on numerous faculty committees related to technology and education.  During the 2002-03 academic year he served as a guest faculty member at Sarah Lawrence College.  He is a former president of the Columbia University chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society.  He is currently a member of the adjunct faculty of the Program in Science Education at Teachers College.  Dr. Steiner lives with his wife and two young children in New York City.

Project website: Seminars on Science, American Museum of Natural History