Ph.D. Students

Bryan Braul

Bryan Braul has been an E-Learning Developer with Faculty of Extension for 13 years. He works in the areas of instructional design, online course development and instructor training and support. He is presently enrolled in a PhD program in Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. His research interests are in the development of formal online learning communities and the development of online teacher/student presence.

Erik deJong

Erik deJong is a PhD student in Educational Psychology. He was previously awarded his Masters of Education in Technology in Education from the University of Alberta, also through the department of Educational Psychology. Previous to this, Erik completed his Undergraduate in Secondary Education, with a Major in Social Studies and a Minor in Mathematics, and also holds a diploma as an Electronics Engineering Technologist. While working to complete his academic goals, Erik has been a part of research projects that have included studies on the cutting edge of educational research. These include: the educational opportunities and affordances provided by Virtual Worlds in both formal education applications and those related to Health Sciences, as well as the value of constructivist tools such as video games and robotics and their possible role in the classroom. Erik’s current academic interests remain firmly grounded in field of technology in education. He has been a sessional instructor, for a number of years, of a course entitled Interactive Multimedia: Video Games and Learning, offered through the department of Educational Psychology, a course he was privileged to help develop, in small part, while acting as the Teaching Assistant to Drs. Boechler and Carbonaro for six consecutive terms.

Karon Dragon

Karon Dragon is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. She is also a practicing provisional psychologist with an area of focus on assessing culturally diverse individuals and at-risk learners in school and post secondary populations. Her current research focuses on pedagogical uses of technology in post secondary settings, with broader interests centered around technology-based education, educational assessment, and theories of learning. Related areas of interest include misidentification and disproportionality in clinical practice

Luis Fernando Marin

Luis F. Marin is a PhD student in Psychological Studies in Education, Research. Recently graduated from his M.Ed.,Technology in Education at the UofA. He has supported different instructional activities for EDU 210 Introduction to Educational Technology for the past two years. Through his research he has explored instructional possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR), uses of mind mapping for understanding, and the artful or playful uses of technology. His Master's thesis "Theoretical Bases of Understanding Blended Learning and Instructional Design" explores how to optimize the quality of the design of a blended learning experience, including the design of instructional hypermedia. His long term research interest is to learn how to observe the key learning constructs of satisfaction, performance, understanding and collaboration and their relation to changes in the design of instruction. His LinkedIn profile can be found here.

Ewa Wasniewski

Ewa Wasniewski is currently a PhD student in Educational Psychology specializing in Educational Technologies.

She has a BPE, BEd., Diploma in Special and Inclusive Education, MEd in Educational Technologies. Her areas of research interest are Mobile Learning, Digital Literates, Assistive Technologies, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Program Evaluation, Learning Management Systems, Virtual Realities and Community Engagement. Ewa has had TA Experience in EDPY 200- Psychology for Teachers, EDPY 301 Teaching Students with Disabilities, EDPY 404 Adolescent Development, EDPY 454 Teaching Students Challenging Behaviours, EDPY 497 Psychological Theory and Technology in Education, EDPY 597 Educational Psychology and Technology. She has also held research assistantships on projects in Virtual Learning Environments, FASD Report, Community Housing Initiative, Digital Literacy, Blended Learning, and Continuing Education Community Engagement.

Connie Yuen

Connie Yuen is a PhD student in PSE Research specializing in Technology in Education. Her research interests includes professional development in educational technologies, serious games, design thinking and makerspaces. Over the last few years she has also represented fellow Educational Psychology graduate students as the GSA Councillor and PSE/Tech in Ed Area Rep. Her Master's thesis (University of Alberta) focused on the nexus of technology-based educational psychology, multi-tasking and virtual worlds. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education with a specialization in Career and Technology Studies.

Connie’s research and teaching assistantships include EDIT 486 Interactive Multimedia and Video Games, EDIT 202 Technology Tools for Teaching and Learning, EDEL 325 Pedagogy and Curriculum in Music, Alberta Education Learning and Technology Policy Framework Evaluation, Virtual Campus Orientation, Virtual Environment Social Skills Training for Adolescents with FASD, Digital Learning Pilots for Blended Education, Advancing Adolescent Reading Initiative, etc.

Additionally, Connie worked at various organizations supporting technology integration and teaching at the Centre for Teaching & Learning (U of A), EdTech Services (Faculty of Education), Edmonton Public Library (Digital Literacy Initiatives - Makerspace), Department of Computing Science (U of A) and Edmonton Public Schools.