Speakers

Marina Umaschi Bers, PhD, is an associate professor at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development and the Computer Science Department at Tufts University. Marina heads the interdisciplinary Developmental Technologies research group. Her research involves the design and study of innovative learning technologies to promote positive youth development. Dr. Bers received prestigious awards such as the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a five-year National Science Foundation Young Investigator’s Career Award and the American Educational Research Association’s Jan Hawkins Award. Over the past decade and a half, Dr. Bers has conceived, designed and evaluated diverse educational technology projects ranging from robotics to virtual worlds in schools, after-school programs, museums, hospitals, both in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Bers has received several NSF grants and is active in publishing her research in academic journals. Her book Blocks to Robots: Learning with Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom was published in 2008 by Teacher’s College Press. Most recently, Dr. Bers published Designing Digital Experiences for Positive Youth Development: From Playpen to Playgrounds. More on Dr. Bers at www.tufts.edu/~mbers01/

Cathleen Norris, PhD, is a Regents Professor in the College of Information, Department of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas. Dr. Norris’s 14 years in K-12 classrooms—and receiving Dallas’ Golden Apple Award—has shaped her university research agenda: helping K-12 teachers move from the 19th century into the 21st century. Dr. Norris has been President of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the leading international organization for technology-minded educators, and the President of the National Educational Computing Association (NECA), the association that organized NECC, the premier conference on technology in K-12.

Elliot Soloway, PhD, is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Dept of CSE, College of Engineering, School of Education and School of Information, University of Michigan. For the past 10 years, Dr. Soloway’s research has been guided by the vision that mobile, handheld—and very low-cost—networked devices are the only way to truly achieve universal 1:1 in schools all across the globe. In 2001, the UMich undergraduates selected him to receive the “Golden Apple Award” as the Outstanding Teacher of the Year. In 2004 and in 2011, the EECS College of Engineering HKN Honor Society awarded Dr. Soloway the “Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award.”

Gary Stager, PhD, an internationally recognized educator, speaker, and consultant, is the Executive Director of The Constructivist Consortium. Since 1982, Dr. Stager has helped learners of all ages on six continents embrace the power of computers as intellectual laboratories and vehicles for self-expression. He led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools (1990), has designed online graduate school programs since the mid-90s, was a collaborator in the MIT Media Lab’s Future of Learning Group and a member of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s Learning Team. The June 2010 issue of Tech & Learning Magazine named Gary Stager as “one of today’s leaders who are changing the landscape of edtech through innovation and leadership.” CUE presented Gary with its 2012 Technology in Learning Leadership Award. A popular speaker, Dr. Stager was a keynote speaker at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference and at major conferences around the world.

Jack Mostow, PhD, is a Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Robotics, Machine Learning, Language Technologies, and Human-Computer Interaction, and serves on the Steering Committee for CMU’s doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Educational Research. In 1992 he founded Project LISTEN to develop an automated Reading Tutor that listens to children read aloud. Project LISTEN won the Outstanding Paper Award at the Twelfth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence in August 1994, a United States patent in 1998, inclusion in the National Science Foundation’s “Nifty Fifty” research projects in 2000, and the Allen Newell Medal of Research Excellence in 2003. After earning his A.B. in Applied Mathematics at Harvard and his PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Mostow held faculty positions at Stanford, University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute, and Rutgers. He has served as an Editor of Machine Learning Journal and of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, as Program Co-chair of the 1998 National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, and as Conference Chair of the 2010 International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring System. In 2010 he was elected President of the International Artificial Intelligence in Education Society.

Gail Lovely is an independent educator with over 30 years of experience in education. Gail has a Master’s Degree in Educational Computing from Pepperdine University and a California K-12 Life Teaching Credential earned at University of California, Los Angeles. She has 10 years experience in direct classroom teaching, primarily in inner city elementary classrooms, followed by years of experience at school-, district-, county-, and state-level positions in education. Gail has served as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University, University of Houston, and University of Northern Iowa. Gail has written ongoing columns in Learning & Leading with Technology, Instructor, Electronic Learning, and Curriculum Administrator magazine. Gail served as the International Society for Technology in Education’s software review editor and is the founding director of the proposed ISTE Special Interest Group for Early Learning and Technologies. Gail is the proud recipient of the Trainer of the Year, 2006 from Texas AEYC and “The Best of NECC: 2004–2010”.  Gail currently has her own consulting practice working with schools, school systems, publishers and others to encourage the rational, thoughtful and wise use of technologies by learners of all ages.

Richard Culatta is a leader in the field of educational innovation. He has worked in K-12, higher education, corporate, and government training environments. His current focus as Acting Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education is on using data and learning analytics to create customized learning experiences for all students. Prior to joining the Department of Education, he served as an education policy advisor to U.S. Senator Patty Murray. Culatta also focuses on leveraging social media to create effective large-scale distributed learning environments. As Chief Technology Officer at CIA University, Culatta developed a collaborative online learning platform to extend training opportunities to CIA officers worldwide. Before his work with the federal government, Culatta was the learning technologies advisor for the David O. McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University and the Director of Operations for the Rose Education Foundation. He began working with instructional technology at the University of Rhode Island where he co-taught the university’s first technology integration workshops for faculty. Since then he has coached instructors and administrators in leveraging social media and data for learning, provided strategic consulting for organizations, and served on a variety of advisory boards across the U.S. and Latin America.

Chip Donohue, PhD, is the dean of Distance Learning at Erikson Institute where he is developing an online Master’s degree for experienced early childhood teachers as well as online certificate and professional development programs. Dr. Donohue is a Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media; he co-chaired the working group that revised the NAEYC/Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology in Early Childhood Programs serving children from Birth through Age Eight. Dr. Donohue is internationally recognized as a leader in the innovative use of technology and distance-learning methods to increase access, enhance learning, and improve teaching practices. He has served on the Office of Head Start Professional Education Network and is a member of the international advisory committee for The Science of Child Development project. He is also Director of the new Technology in Early Childhood (TEC) Center. Dr. Donohue currently serves on the editorial advisory panel of the International Journal of Innovation in Education.

Warren Buckleitner, PhD, a former preschool, elementary, and college teacher—is an expert on children and technology. He is the founding editor of Children’s Technology Review, he covers kids’ technology for the New York Times “Gadgetwise” blog, and he is a contributing editor to Scholastic Parent & Child. Dr. Buckleitner holds degrees in elementary education from Central Michigan University, an MA in early childhood education from the High/Scope Foundation and Pacific Oaks College, and a PhD in educational psychology from Michigan State University. He is the founder of the Mediatech Foundation, a nonprofit community technology center dedicated to “town made better with technology,” and is the founder of the Dust or Magic Institute on the Design of Children’s Interactive Media.

Dustin “Dusty” Heuston, PhD, is the chairman, founder, and CEO of Waterford Institute, a U.S. leader in preschool through second-grade software for reading, math, and science curricula. Through Waterford Institute, Dr. Heuston produced the first education videodisc for McGraw Hill as well as other computerized educational and training products, such as the award-wining Waterford Early Learning program. Dr. Heuston received his Master’s degree from Stanford University and his PhD from New York University. He was a 2011 Utah nominee for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and he teaches an Honors English class at the Waterford School. Dr. Heuston has dedicated his entire career to education since his role as educator at Brigham Young University and the head of Spence School in New York City. He recently published The Third Source: A Message of Hope for Education, which describes his conceptualization of a new delivery system that provides individualized technology education, with the help of a support team, to the home and school environments.