VITA
CHRISTOPHER D. SESSUMS Post Doctoral Associate, Educational Technology Department School of Teaching and Learning College of Education, The University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 32611-7048 (352) 275-9151 (Email) csessums@coe.ufl.edu; csessums@gmail.com(WWW) http://plaza.ufl.edu/ilji http://www.csessums.com/ http://twitter.com/csessums
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS Participatory
Media in Education Online Teacher Professional Development Design-Based Research Social Learning Environments Online Learning Communities Teacher Education Social Networking Systems EDUCATION B.A. English Literature, University of Florida, 1989 M.Ed. Secondary English Education, University of Florida, 1997 Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, University of Florida, 2009
EXPERIENCE Post Doctoral Associate, Educational Technology, University of Florida (2009-present) Adjunct Instructor, Educational Technology, University of Florida, (2008-2009) Director, Distance Education, College of Education, University of Florida (2006-2008) Director, Distance Learning, Division of Distance, Continuing, and Executive Education, University of Florida (2001-2006) Director, Office of Correspondence Study, Division of Continuing Education, University of Florida (2001-2006) Coordinator, Office of Correspondence Study, Division of Continuing Education, University of Florida (2000-2001) Middle School Language Arts Teacher, P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, University of Florida (1999) British Literature Teacher (12th grade AP and Mainstream), P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, University of Florida (1997-1999) Marketing Coordinator, Exit Information Guide, Inc., Gainesville, Florida (1994-1995) Assistant Art Director, Exit Information Guide, Inc., Gainesville, Florida (1993-1994) Graphic Artist, Exit Information Guide, Inc., Gainesville, Florida (1991-1992) Infantryman, 1st 1/16 Division Infantry Forward, US Army Europe, Boblingen, Germany (1989-1991)
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS American Education Research Association International Society for Technology in Education Association for Learning Technology ASCD (nee Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
PROFESSIONAL OFFICES University Committee Activity Technology Innovations Advisory Committee, University of Florida • Member, 2009-present Distance,
Continuing, and Executive Education Operations Committee, •
Chair, 2001-2005 University Curriculum Committee, University of Florida • Member, Ex-Officio, 2003-2006 •
Member, Professional Degree Subcommittee, 2004-2005 Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Concerns Committee, • Member, 2008-current Distance Education & Online Learning Task Force, University of Florida • Member, appointed by Provost, 2007 Distance Learning Council, University of Florida • Member, 2006-2008 Information Technology Advisory Council, University of Florida • Member, Copyright Subcommittee, 2004-2005 Graduate Council, University of Florida • Member, Ex-Officio, 2003-2006 Intellectual Property Forum, University of Florida • Member, 2003-2004 Undergraduate Advisors Council, University of Florida • Member, 2002-2006 Course Management System Advisory Group, University of Florida • Member, 2002-2003
College-level Committee Membership STEM Colloquium, College of Education, University of Florida • Member, 2009-present Technology Committee, College of Education, University of Florida • Member, 2007-2008 Distance
Education Task Force, College of Education, •
Chair, 2007-2008 AWARDS Best Individual Blog, Edublog Awards, 2006 PUBLICATIONS Peer-Reviewed Journals Sessums, C. D. (in preparation) Facilitating a community of online learners. Sessums,
C. D., Dana, N. F., & Dana, T. (in preparation) The case of an online learning community in support of collaborative teacher inquiry. Dawson, K., Cavanaugh, C., Sessums, C. D., Kumar, S., & Black, E. W. (under review) Conceptualizing signature pedagogies in professional practice doctoral degrees via an example from educational technology. Sessums, C. D., Dawson, K., Cavanaugh, C., Kumar, S., & Black, E. W. (in preparation) Designing and supporting the professional practice doctorate for educational technology leaders: An Ed.D. program in educational technology. Ritzhaupt, A., Sessums, C. D., & Johnson, M. (in preparation). Where should educational technologists publish? An examination of journals within the field and factors influencing publication choice.
Book Chapters Sessums,
C. D. (awaiting publication). Afterword. In S. McLeod & C. Lehmann (Eds.),
What School Leaders Need To Know About Riffee,
W. & Sessums, C.D. (2004). Development of Quality Distance Sessums,
C.D., Irani T., Telg, R., & Roberts, G. (2005). Case Study: Bound Conference Proceedings Sessums, C. (2005). Examining the Teaching Styles of Online Instructors: A Proposed Research Study of Online Instructors At The University of Florida. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2005 (pp. 597-600). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
GRANT PROPOSAL ACTIVITY U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, July 2009, SWEET: Student Writing Enhanced via Engaging Technology. I served as a writing and technology consultant providing both proof-reading services as well as research and data on the appropriate software and services necessary to support online teacher professional development. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, July 2008, Examining the impact of Classroom Connectivity systems for increasing mathematics learning. I served as a technology consultant providing data on the appropriate software and services necessary to support participating teachers online over a three year period. EDUCAUSE Next Generation Learning Challenge (applying November 2010), Teaching to Scale: Using an Open Course Model to Engage Struggling Learners. I served as a co-PI on developing an online learning environment for students struggling to succeed in college.
INVITED ADDRESSES Sessums, C. D. &
Treacy, B. Invited Speaker for Teacher Magazine Webinar discussing Can Web 2.0 save teacher professional
development? November 15, 2009. http://bit.ly/edweekwebinar Sessums, C. D., Invited Speaker on Social Media and Education, Harvard University, August 18, 2009. Sessums, C. D., Invited Speaker: The future of teacher professional development: Re-connecting people and practice. The Future of Education Conference. University of Manitoba. June 4, 2007. Sessums, C. D., & Glogowski, K. Invited Speaker: Personal learning environments: Exploring professional development in a networked world. Webheads In Action Online Convergence. May 20, 2007. Sessums, C. D., Invited Speaker: School 2.0: Medium & Message: Teaching & Learning. Blogstreams Salon, TappedIn.org, March 04, 2007 Sessums, C. D., Invited Speaker: Is there a community with this text? Building a new view of teaching and community. Curverider Conference Series No. 1. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 05, 2006. Sessums, C. D., Irani, T., Keynote Address: Assessing Distance Learning Courses & Programs. Educational Teleconsortium of Michigan (ETOM) Fall 2003 Conference, Traverse City, Michigan, October 10, 2003.
PRESENTATIONS National/International Drexler, W. & Sessums, C. Constructing Personal Learning Environments in a Massively Open Online Course: A Level of Use Study. American Educational Research Association (AERA), New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2011. Kumar, S., Drexler, W. & Sessums, C. Mind the Gap: Defining Open Educational Resources for Professional Practice. Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) 2011 Annual Meeting, Washington, D. C., February 2011. Kumar,
S. & Sessums, C. Powerpoints to Podcasts: Students' Use of Web 2.0 in
Course Assessments in Higher Education. In Proceedings
of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications
2010 (pp. 2766-2771). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/35031. Sessums, C. D. The case of an online learning community in support of collaborative teacher inquiry. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Denver, Colorado, April 2010. Dawson, K., Cavanaugh, C., & Sessums, C. D. Using Signature Pedagogies and Design-Based Research to Develop a Blended Professional Practice Doctoral Degree for Educational Technologists. Educational Design Research: Local Change & Global Impact--A Special Conference to Honor Professor Thomas C. Reeves Upon His Retirement from the University of Georgia; Athens, Georgia, March 26, 2010. Dana, N. F., Sessums, C. D., & Dawson, K. M., Speaker: Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Coach Teacher Action Research. ASCD, Orlando, Florida, March 16, 2009. Sessums, C. D., Lecturer: Examining the Teaching Styles of Online Instructors. Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE 2005), Phoenix AZ, March 1-5, 2005. Sessums, C. D., Moderator: Evaluating Distance Learning’s Impact: Identifying Effective Models. Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) 16th Annual Conference, Beyond Boundaries: Weaving E-Learning into the Higher Education Mainstream, San Antonio, TX, November 12, 2004. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: The Best of Both Worlds: How Hybrid Courses are Changing the Face of Higher Education. Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), Orlando, Florida, January 22, 2004. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Developing a University-wide Distance Evaluation Program. The Ninth Sloan-C International Conference of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Orlando, Florida, November 15, 2003. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Evaluating Distance Education Programs: Measurement for Institutional Change. Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) 15th Annual Conference, San Diego, California, November 3, 2003. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Distance Learning: Development Processes Which Ensure Success. Ohio Learning Network (OLN) 2003 Conference, Columbus, Ohio, March 3, 2003. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Mainstreaming Non-Traditional Infrastructure in a Traditional Environment. International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)/Canadian Association of Distance Education (CADE) North American Regional Conference on Distance Education, Calgary, Canada, May 26, 2002. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Who Owns It?: Parental Involvement and Whole School Change. Coalition for Essential Schools Fall Forum, Atlanta, Georgia, October 10, 1999. State/Regional Sessums, C. D. & Drexler, W. Keynote speaker: Massively Open Online Courses & Personal Learning Environments, University of Florida Faculty Colloquium; College of Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, December 6, 2010. Sessums, C. D., Speaker: Facilitating online teacher professional learning: The teacher educator as social artist. Student Alliance of Graduates in Education, College of Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, June 26, 2009. Sessums,
C. D., Speaker: Using social software to
support teacher professional development. Florida Society of the Social
Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, October 18, 2008. Sessums, C.D., Speaker: Using social software to support teacher professional development. Student Alliance of Graduates in Education, College of Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, June 6, 2008. Sessums, C. D., Panelist: Florida Association of Departments of English Panel: Distance Learning. Florida College English Association Annual Meeting, Sanford, Florida, October 18, 2001.
DOCTORAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
I completed my Ph.D. program Curriculum and Instruction from the School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida in May 2009 with an emphasis in educational technology. My dissertation, The path from insight to action: The case of an online learning community in support of collaborative teacher inquiry, examined the ways in which participation in an online learning community (as a teacher professional development organizational structure) supported/hindered participants’ abilities to (1) deepen their understanding of the teacher inquiry/action research process; (2) deepen their understanding of coaching teacher inquiry/action research; and (3) deepen their understanding of their own evolving stance toward their coaching practice. Accordingly, my program of study specifically focused on the ways in which digital participatory media could be used to support teacher professional development. This led me into detailed investigations of organizational structures such as communities of practice (Lave & Wenger; Wenger) and professional learning communities (DuFour & Eaker), and teacher professional development models such as teacher inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle) and action research (Lewin). In terms of theoretical constructs, I examined activity theory (Leont’ev), cultural-historical activity theory (Engeström), and actor-network theory (Latour) in detail. Methodologically, my focus evolved in and around the area of qualitative research and specifically on grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss), case studies (Yin; Stake), and personal narrative analysis (Chase). |