Natalie Coulter, Director of IRDL. Natalie is an associate professor in York’s Communication Studies department and is also in the graduate programme, Communication and Culture. Natalie is interested young people’s media culture, particularly in that ways that advertising, marketing and the media construct framings of young people, and how young people respond, engage and negotiate with these framings. Natalie completed her PhD from Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication where she wrote a dissertation on the Tween girl. While Vancouver was an amazing place to live, Toronto called her back home. She has two young daughters, both now tween girls themselves, and spends much of her time hanging out with them. She spent the past summer bringing fairy doors to her neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto. Her research interests are in girls’ studies, critical advertising studies, children’s media, and consumer culture. Her book “Tweening the Girl: The Crystallization of the Tween Market” was published in Peter Lang’s Mediated Youth series in 2014. She has recently published in the Canadian Journal of Communication, Journal of Children and Media, and Jeunesse. She is a founding member of ARCYP (Association for Research on the Cultures of Young People). Research She presently has two research projects underway, one on the history of children’s cultural industries in Canada, which will attempt to filled the void in the dearth of scholarship on the rich industry of children’s media that we have in Canada. Natalie’s second project entitled the embodied tween, living girlhood in global and digital spaces looks at how the cultural industries of girlhood (advertising, marketing, media, and retail industries) currently conceptualize the tween and the stage of being a tween (“tweenhood”) in relation to how girls weave “tweenness” as a potential resource of subjectivity, offered to them by the marketplace, in […]
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Dr Heather Lotherington is Professor of Multilingual Education at York University, where she is appointed to graduate schools in both the Faculty of Education, and the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (LAPS). She is an applied linguist who has taught in universities in England, Germany, Fiji, and Australia as well as Canada. Her research interests span multimodality; multilingual and plurilingual education; language, literacy and technology; and pedagogical innovation. Her current research focuses on capturing digital communicative competencies, and investigating how literacies in the post-human spectrum can be applied to language learning. Professor Lotherington’s most recent book is: Pedagogy of multiliteracies: Rewriting Goldilocks (Routledge, 2011). Current research How is human communication altered in digital environments? Historically,”second” and “foreign” language teaching was normed on face-to-face speech encounters and alphabetic print norms, and based on structural ideologies of language and national heritage concepts of culture. However, in the multimodal, interactive, networked environments of today, symbolic conventions, media, genres, discourses, identity, authority and authorship,to name but a few aspects of communication, have shape-shifted beyond recognition. My current research project ties together specialists in English language teaching and testing, intermediality, new media communication,multilingualism, and digital literacy, who are spread across four countries.Together we are developing new paradigms for understanding communication,using lifelogging technology. Presentations & Workshops Is a picture worth a thousand words? What can lifelogging tell us about media of communication? Links YorkU Profile Q&A with People for Education
Jonathan A. Obar, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. He also serves as a Research Associate with the Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law at Michigan State University, where he previously worked for four years. His teaching and research focus on information and communication policy, and the relationship between digital technologies, civil liberties and the inclusiveness of public culture. Recent academic publications address Big Data and privacy, internet routing and NSA surveillance, network neutrality, and digital activism. He is co-editor of Strategies for Media Reform: International Perspectives.
Kurt Thumlert is an associate professor in York University’s Faculty of Education. His research and teaching focus on production pedagogies and new media, the arts and multimodal literacies, and informal/DIY cultural production. Kurt’s work examines the opportunities of digital media, game-based learning, and simulation and role-play for inviting sustained engagements within multiliteracy-learning challenges, as well as for supporting authentic modes of art and knowledge making. His courses invite students to critically co-explore the sociotechnical resources and participative opportunities of emerging media ecologies, as well as related production-based learning environments. Kurt’s recent publications include several articles co-authored with Suzanne de Castell and Jennifer Jenson on educational theory, games, and technology studies. Connect with Kurt via: Serious Play Lab Twitter: @MerlotPontiac
Associate Professor Biography Dr. Winton’s critical policy research examines how education policies and policy processes support and/or undermine critical democratic commitments to equity, diversity, social justice, and public participation in policymaking. Links Faculty Page People for Education
Digital Media Program in School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) Director of Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology, based in AMPD Biography Professor Longford’s creative work and research activities reside at the intersection of photography, graphic design and digital media. He is a co-principal investigator for the Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN), a national research network developing technology and media rich content for mobile devices. He is a founding member of Hexagram: Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies and served for three years as director for the Advanced Digital Imaging and 3D Rapid Prototyping Group. He has exhibited and presented his work at national and international exhibitions and conferences. Links Faculty Page Personal Website Mobile Media Lab
Assistant Professor, Department of DesignDirector, Graduate Program in Design (MDes) School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) Biography David Gelb’s research is focused on both design and education. His pedagogic work engages the way that social technologies augment design learning with particular emphasis on artefact collaboration and building design knowledge. His practice includes interactive design, user-centered research methods and mobile interface design, . He has exhibited nationally at artist-run centres, public galleries and media festivals. As a design educator, he has taught at Ryerson University and the Ontario College of Art & Design Links Faculty Page Sideshare
Glendon College, York University Alison Harvey is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Communications program at Glendon College, York University. Her research and teaching focuses on issues of inclusivity and accessibility in digital culture, with an emphasis on gender and labour in digital games. She is the author of Gender, Age, and Digital Games in the Domestic Context (2015, Routledge) and Feminist Media Studies (2019, Polity). Her work has also appeared in a range of interdisciplinary journals, including New Media & Society, Games & Culture, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Information, Communication & Society, Social Media & Society, and Studies in Social Justice.
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and EngineeringCo-ordinator, Digital Media Program, Faculty Science and EngineeringYork University Biography Melanie is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at York University. She is engaged in a variety of research projects at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction, Digital Media, and Computational Linguistics. Her research concerns the design and evaluation of a computational systems, such as those that provide assistance for individuals with disabilities and that are used clinically for speech disorders. Her area of practise is interdisciplinary and includes science-art collaborations. She has a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and a B.Math from the University of Waterloo. Links CSE Profile Lassonde Profile Women in Computing Research Gate Profile
Dr. Abigail Shabtay is an Assistant Professor in the Children, Childhood, and Youth program in the Department of Humanities. She is also appointed to the graduate programs in Theatre and Performance Studies, Communication and Culture, Humanities, and Education. Dr. Shabtay has received awards for excellence in teaching and research in her field, including the Humanities Departmental Teaching Award (2020-2021), the York Student Accessibility Award (2020-2021), the Ada Slaight Drama in Education Award (2018-2019), the Jackie Kirk Fieldwork Award (2018-2019), and the DISE Outstanding Teaching Award (2018). Dr. Shabtay’s research focuses on children’s rights, child-centred research methodologies, theatre with children and youth, youth activism, social justice, digital performance, and drama-based participatory action research. She is currently the Principal Investigator for four SSHRC-funded projects related to children, youth, and the performing arts. She has served on organizing committees for seven academic conferences in her field and is the primary organizer and conference chair of the annual Children, Youth and Performance Conference in Toronto.
Tannaz is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Education and a Research Associate at the Canada Research Chair in Queer, Community and Diversity Education. Tannaz received her PhD from York University’s Faculty of Education. Her area of research is social media, digital literacies, social justice, and spatial justice. Her current project “Narration of Belonging: Experience of Otherness amongst Marginalized Women and Non-Binary Individuals in Higher Education” navigates the interconnection of offline and online spaces. She investigates the similarities and differences between online and offline senses of belonging, cultural identities and learning experiences of marginalized students in higher education.
Dr. Jennifer Jenson is Director Emeritus-Supremus of the Institute for Research on Digital Learning because she rode off into the sunset and is now at The University of British Columbia. Prior to this move Jen was professor of Pedagogy and Technology in the Faculty of Education at York University, Toronto. She is co-editor of Loading:The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association and President of the Canadian Game Studies Association. Working with Professor Suzanne de Castell (Dean, University of Ontario Institute of Technology), Dr. Nicholas Taylor (NC State University) and a team of students in her CFI-funded Play:CES (Play in Computer Environments) lab, she has designed a series of educational games including: “Contagion”, “Epidemic: Self-Care for Crisis”, a Baroque music game, and an iPad game for early readers, Compareware (available for free in the app store). She has completed 2 longitudinal studies of gender and digital gameplay, and held a Partnership Development Grant, Feminist in Games, since 2011 to support women and others who wanted to play and make games. She also completed a 3-year, mixed methods study of massively multiplayer online games and their players in partnership with SRI International, Simon Fraser University and Nottingham University, UK. She has published widely on education, technology, gender, design and development of digital games, and technology policies and policy practices in K-12 schooling. She has considerable experience working on and with teachers in relation to technology, pedagogy and curriculum, and authored a report for the Ontario Ministry of Education entitled “21st Century Skills, Technologies and Learning“. She has also worked with school boards, colleges, and technology companies to support the integration and implantation of technologies in the K-12 sector and she has considerable experience designing online learning experiences in higher education. Dr. Jenson has been described by a colleague as the perfect combination of smart, perky, […]
Dr. Jean Adams is currently Special Assistant Professor (Policy Specialization) at Schulich School of Business and Associate Co-Director at York University’s Institute for Research on Digital Learning (IRDL). Her research and articles focus on using new technologies to promote innovative learning, particularly by fostering a “learner in control” pedagogical approach. Other research interests include the study of organizational learning, the role of e-learning, leadership and management education, high performing teams, critical thinking, creativity and innovation. Research grants include: Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) / MaRS Innovation Proof of Principle (65K); Hewlett Packard (HP) Technology for Teaching Leadership research grant (250K); Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) Adult Learning Research Grant (70K). Jean holds a doctorate from York University. She received the President’s University-Wide Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence (2009) and the Governor General’s Gold Award (2005) for exceptional academic distinction. Current project Two challenges colleges and universities face in achieving quality education is driving effective student engagement necessary for lasting learning and equipping students with the soft skills critical to successful career launch and build. While institutions are attempting to integrate current technology trends into curricula to help drive student engagement (e.g., collaboration tools and interactive features such as in-class polling), there does not yet exist a fully integrated total learning solution that embeds self-organizing quality content with collaboration tools and interactive features while seamlessly working with institutional learning management systems (LMS) to effectively engage students in directed and self-directed learning. In short, this research project funded by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) through MaRS Innovation aims to commercialize a soft skills online total learning solution (i.e., the NewMindsets Management Education Project) built on an award-winning pedagogical approach developed at YorkU and implemented over the past ten years in business education at Schulich School of Business by Drs. Gareth Morgan and […]
Graeme leads the Canadian Operational Transaction Services practice, focusing on merger integration planning and implementation, and divestiture management services. Graeme has over 25 years of management consulting experience in mergers and acquisitions and business strategy across several industries. Selected Transaction and Management Consulting Experience in the Financial Services Industry. Assisted a large Canadian property and casualty insurer to integrate a major acquisition. Assisted all aspects of the integration program management office. Specific areas of focus included integrating brokerage organizations across Canada, combining underwriting organizations and methodologies, and merging administrative functions, including Finance, HR, Procurement and IT. Assisted a leading US property and casualty insurance company to transform its distribution strategy by reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of its nation-wide sales force of over 10,000 agents. Realigned the company’s regional management structure, implemented agent training and productivity improvement programs, and helped the client to launch a parallel direct channel and suite of auto and home insurance offerings. For a large Canadian bank, assisted with the integration of an acquisition of a global asset management and custodial business. Integration comprised four major lines of businesses and over 30 countries worldwide. Assisted client to identify and execute major synergy projects and to merge major administrative functions, including IT, Finance, HR and Risk Management. Adjunct Professor of Mergers and Acquisitions at York Univerisity’s Schulich School of Business and co-author of “Winning The Merger Endgame” (McGraw-Hill, 2002). International Experience Lived and worked as a management consultant in China and Southeast Asia for seven years Education M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College B.Sc. From Queen’s University in chemical engineering
Dean of the Faculty of EducationFounding Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies (now IRDL) Biography Dr. Owston is Professor of Education and founding director of the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies (formerly the Centre for the Study of Computers in Education) at York University. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences, and published in a variety of fields including technology in education, program evaluation, and teacher development in journals such as Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, Journal of Information Technology in Teacher Education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, and Journal of Research on Computing in Education. Links Faculty Page Educause Profile
Mary Leigh Morbey is Professor of Culture and Technology in the York University Faculty of Education, Toronto, and serves as the Associate Co-Chair of the York Institute for Research on Digital Learning. She researches, teaches, and publishes widely on the theory, history, practice, and education of Web participatory and Social Media technologies, digital literacies, and technological mediations in visual culture, with an emphasis on the Global South. Her publications are included in Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon, Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, SIGGRAPH Visual Proceedings, the International Journal of Learning and Media (The MIT Press), and the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, as well as other academic journals and books. She is currently completing a book on information communications technology access and education, and is the research team leader of the Ugandan Heritage Sites and Stories social media project of the Uganda National Museum in Kampala. Links Research Gate
Stephen Chan has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Education from York University. He is currently completing his Master’s of Education at York University.
Maureen Senoga, B.A. Hons., M.Ed., is currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education, York University. As an art educator and artist graduate of Makerere University Kampala, and a lecturer in the Department of Art and Industrial Design at Kyambogo University, Uganda, Maureen’s experience includes art and design syllabus and module development, and facilitating the Teacher Education program through distance education. Other positions include Vice Chairperson of the UNESCO Uganda Culture committee, and member of the Uganda Museum research group on preparation of the Nomination File of Bark Cloth Making Skills submitted to the Third UNESCO Proclamations of the Master Pieces of the Oral and Intangible Human Heritage List. She recently presented her research work on indigenous pottery and a Ugandan perspective of Web 2.0 development for the Uganda National Museum at conferences and guest lectures. Her research interests include art education curriculum issues and pedagogy.
Mary Pat O’Meara is a digital media specialist and certified teacher with a unique blend of technical digital media expertise and formal educational training and practice. She brings over 7 years of professional experience as a digital video editor and graphic designer to her practice, with credits that include Food Network Canada and TVO. Mary Pat recently completed a Master of Education degree at York University with a research focus on practices of multimodal digital literacy within formal and informal learning spaces. She is currently working as a supply teacher in Toronto, Ontario and holds the position of Digital Education Specialist for the EdTech consulting firm, MindShare Learning.
Dennis York is a Distance Learning Specialist at the University of Guelph and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at York University. He holds an MSc and PhD in Education, specializing in e-learning and educational technologies, from the University of West Alabama and York University respectively. He is a past recipient of an Edmund S. Muskie fellowship. He’s currently working on the development and evaluation of online and blended learning programs. His research interests include multimedia instructional design, online student engagement strategies, and the role of social media in facilitating teaching and learning in postsecondary education.
Simon Fraser University Milena is an experienced mixed-methods and qualitative researcher, with a focus on media and communication studies, sound studies, interaction design, education, and sensory ethnography. At IRDL, Milena works as a post-doctoral researcher for the Think, Design, Play project which investigates game development as an instructional tool for teaching computational literacy in the K-12 system. Milena is also a Learning Specialist for InWithForward, a social enterprise company based in the Netherlands, which is developing an innovative learning service for people with cognitive disabilities. Milena’s current research brings communication and media studies together with sensory everyday ethnography in an exploration of cultural and perceptual practices with personal mobile computing devices, focusing specifically on sound and listening. Milena has published and presented widely in the areas of sound studies, game audio, education and interaction design. Links Twitter @ambientfluff Blog: natuaural.com