Research Interests

Dr. Boechler’s educational background is in psychology and cognitive science with a research focus on cognition, learning and technology. She has training and experience in the areas of cognitive theory and testing, learning theory, computational modeling as well as experience in investigating navigation and learning with educational technologies such as multimedia, web-based learning, virtual reality applications, learning management systems. Dr. Boechler’s research has been interdisciplinary, incorporating aspects of psychology, technology and education, particularly in investigating cognitive and educational frameworks that can inform our use of emerging technologies. Dr. Boechler is interested in understanding how various technologies (websites, video games,) can be optimized for educational purposes. Below is a list of her current and ongoing projects:

• Virtual World, Game-based Social Skills Interventions for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Adolescents

• Place-based Learning in Virtual Environments

• Digital Literacy Measures

• Using video game creation in the classroom for teaching and learning

• Implicit learning of information in educational websites and virtual worlds and its relation to cognitive styles, literacy and spatial skills

• Virtual world student orientation to postsecondary education

• A series of studies on older adults and computer use focusing on correlations between various cognitive skills and perceptual abilities, and performance on computer tasks.

• Video game use and its effects on attributions of aggression and cognitive reasoning.

Academic Qualifications

• Ph.D. University of Alberta, 2002- Cognitive Psychology Dissertation Title: Hypertext navigation tools as mechanisms for the investigation of hyperspace properties: Spatial and conceptual relations, metric space and mental representation.

• B.A. University of Saskatchewan, 1993

Courses Taught

• EDIT 486 – Interactive Multimedia – Video Games for Teaching and Learning

• EDU 575 – Theory and Practice in Educational Technology

• EDPY 497 – Psychological Theory and Technology in Education

• EDPY 524 – The Psychology of Technology-based Learning

• EDPY 509 – Child Development: Theories and Issues

• EDPY 402 – Child Development for Educators

• EDU 510 – Fundamentals of Educational Research

Research Interests

Drawing on links between phenomenology, philosophy of technology, pedagogy, and media scholarship, Dr. Adams’ research program addresses digital media technology integration across K -12 and post-secondary educational settings; Ethical and pedagogical issues involving digital media in schools; Media ecology and critical media studies; Phenomenology, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and related qualitative research methodologies for studying technologies in education; Aesthetics of educational software architectures; K-12 Computing Science education. Dr. Adams coordinates the Faculty of Education’s Master of Education in Technology in Education. She is the Pedagogy Editor for Explorations in Media Ecology. Her current research projects include phenomenological investigations of Learning Management Systems, Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs), and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Academic Qualifications

• Ph.D., University of Alberta, 2008, Dissertation: PowerPoint and the Pedagogy of Digital Media Technology

• Master of Adult Education, St. Francis Xavier University, 1995, Thesis: Transforming Teaching Practice Through Metaphor

• B.Sc., University of Alberta, 1981, Computing Science

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses

• EDSE 317 – Curriculum and Teaching in Secondary School Career and Technology Studies I

• EDSE 417 – Curriculum and Teaching in Secondary School Career and Technology Studies II (Business, Administration, Finance; Computing Science; Media; Communication Arts)

• EDSE 451– Integrating Theory and Classroom Practice in the Advanced Professional Term (Business, Administration, Finance; Computing Science; Media; Communication Arts)

Graduate Courses

• EDSE 510 – Research Methods in Secondary Education

• EDSE 577 – Pedagogy of Technology: Teachers and Students as Cyborgs

• EDSE 611 – Phenomenological Research & Writing

• EDU 575 – Theory and Practice in Educational Technology

Research Interests

Dr. Mike Carbonaro is a professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. His research can be classified into several intersecting areas that include: curriculum design, computer games in schools, blended instructional delivery, robotics, computational modeling, health sciences interprofessional education, and, Aboriginal education. Prior to his university appointment, Dr. Carbonaro spent four years in industry developing simulation-based training systems for the Canadian military. His early research was on the development of neural network models of cognition. In 2001 he introduced the first university level Education course in Canada that explored the use of LEGO robotic technology at the k-12 level ¬creating momentum for widespread use of this technology throughout the province. Since 2004 he has been collaborating with colleagues in the Department of Computing Science, Drs. Jonathan Schaeffer and Duane Szafron, on the ScriptEase research project www.cs.ualberta.ca/~script/. In 2005 he designed and implemented a Faculty of Education Master’s program in area of Educational Technology that has graduated 29 students. From 2006-2010 he helped to develop a new graduate interprofessional program in Health Sciences Education and the creation of an educational research facility Health Sciences Educational Research Commons (HSERC). He is part of a research team that was awarded a major grant for the development of simulation-based training scenarios in Health Sciences. Dr Carbonaro also led a project to develop new blended delivery instructional models for interprofessional health sciences education. Since 2010 Dr. Carbonaro (with colleagues Drs., Stroulia and Szafron in the Department of Computing Science) has been a Collaborative Network Investigator (CNI) on two Graphics Animation and New Media (GRAND) projects. GRAND is a federally-funded Network of Centres of Excellence that supports 34 research projects divided into 5 cross-pollinating themes involving researchers at 25 universities across Canada with more than 60 industry, government, and nonprofit partners. Dr. Carbonaro’s two CNI projects are: 1) BELIEVE: Believable Characters, Behaviors and Stories in Story-based Games; 2) HLTHSIM: Multi-Modal Augmented Reality for Training Healthcare Professionals. Research from these two GRAND projects has produced 12 papers published in top venues. Recently he has been collaborating with Aboriginal colleagues at Blue Quills First Nations College to develop e-pedagogical strategies to support the Faculty of Education cohort-based Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP).

Academic Qualifications

• Ph.D. University of Alberta 1997 Educational Psychology, Basic Area Dissertation Title: Computational Modeling of Concept Attainment

• M.Sc. University of Alberta 1993 Computing Science, Artificial Intelligence Project title: Human-Computer Collaboration as a Paradigm for Knowledge-Base Systems: Compensating for Cognitive Biases

• B.A. York University 1991 Computer Science

• M.Ed. University of Alberta 1988 Educational Psychology, Computer-Based Instruction Thesis title: Computerized Test Item Banking: Features

• B.Ed. University of Alberta 1984 Secondary Biological Sciences

Research Interests

Dr. Jason M. Harley is an incoming tenure-track assistant professor in the Educational Technology Program and Educational Psychology Department at the University of Alberta. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Computer Science and Operations Research Department at the University of Montreal and research associate at McGill University in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at McGill in the summer of 2014 and his MA in the same program and department in the fall of 2011. His research examines emotions, self and co-regulated learning, and advanced learning technologies, including intelligent tutoring systems, games, and mobile augmented reality. He has published two editorials, nineteen handbook chapters, journal articles, and conference proceedings, and presented or co-authored thirty-six conference papers in peer-reviewed, international venues in education, psychology, and computer science. He has contributed to numerous research projects that have been funded by American and Canadian funding agencies and has been awarded doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). You can learn more about his scientific work that explores the intersections between advanced technology, psychological processes, and education on his website https://sites.google.com/site/jasonmharley/.