Current members
Anuli Ndubuisi
Anuli is a PhD student at OISE. She has an engineering and information management technology background. Prior to her studies at OISE, Anuli delivered technology trainings to global engineering project teams across multiple countries in the energy industry. She has coached and mentored professionals in engineering and information technology sectors. Anuli has facilitated many workplace, … … Continue reading
Elena Boldyreva
Elena is a PhD student in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning department at OISE. She is a graduate of the Master of Teaching program at OISE and a certified general science, biology and chemistry teacher. Elena’s background is in science (veterinary, animal and food sciences, MSc, PhD) and she has over 15 years’ teaching experience … … Continue reading
Garrick Burron
Garrick is a current MA student at OISE with interests in classroom design, technology integration, and STEM pedagogy. He is also interested in how we can build better technology that seamlessly supports teachers in their existing pedagogical practices. His previous work at the University of Alberta focused on how effective pre-service STEM teachers are at … … Continue reading
James D Slotta
I am a professor of education, interested in media and their impact on our various practices and (in turn) the communities in which those practices occur. Schools are one such place — both K-12 and university levels — and I have spent my career looking at the impact of the Internet, computers, mobile phones, social … … Continue reading
Joel Wiebe
Joel is a PhD student in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE. He is currently interested in the intersection of active learning and learning communities. His upcoming research will involve orchestration graph notation and the development of technologies and activities to engage students and produce learning community curricula. He recently completed the … … Continue reading
Kathy H. Zhou
Kathy Hong Zhou is an art educator/Ph.D. student in curriculum and pedagogy at OISE, UofT. She founded an interdisciplinary research project, Fall of Artica(FoA) in 2020. FoA (foagame.org) is a game-based teaching tool (a sandbox game) that helps STEAM educators to facilitate community-based inquiry activities in hands-on learning environments such as art studios, science labs, … … Continue reading
Meagan O’Hara
Meagan O’Hara is a front-end freelance web developer and designer based in Toronto. She is passionate about creating beautiful, intuitive and functional user experiences. She’s thrilled to have found a profession where her passion for design is seamlessly merged with her love of problem solving, and where she will always be learning. She aims to … … Continue reading
Nathan Zhao
Nathan is a Research Scientist at Encore Lab. He is also working as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Educational Technology in Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, China. Nathan got his Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies & Teacher Development from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Nathan … … Continue reading
Renato Carvalho
Renato is a PhD student in the Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning department at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE), and in the Knowledge Media Design collaborative program at the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI), at the University of Toronto. His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction Design, Knowledge Building, Learning Communities, Inquiry-Based Learning, and … … Continue reading
Rubaina Khan
Rubaina is a current PhD student within the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She is also pursuing a collaborative specialization in Engineering Education. She received a M. Sc. Degree in Computer Control and Automation from the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore … … Continue reading
Alumni
Alisa Acosta
Formerly an environmental scientist, Alisa began her career as a high school educator in 2009, with teachables in science (biology), geography, and mathematics. Her teaching experiences sparked a number of questions about her practice and the education system in general, which led to her graduate work at OISE and her research with the Encore … … Continue reading
Amy Yanhong Li
Amy is a PhD student in the Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation (REASON) program at the University of Munich. She is currently interested in the intersection of active learning, mathematical reasoning and argumentation, and human-computer interaction design. Her upcoming research will involve the development of tangible technologies and active learning activities to engage students and form … … Continue reading
Armin Krauss
I am the senior developer and system administrator of Encore Lab. My responsibilities include the planning, co-design, and creation of the technology needed to mount successful research runs with our partner schools. In addition, I am responsible for the creation and maintenance of the server infrastructure used for research and things like this blog. As … … Continue reading
Cheryl Madeira
Cheryl is a Vice Principal at the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Colin McCann
I’m a designer and developer at the Encore Lab, working with the researchers to create tablet and smart classroom technologies for education with our partner schools and other collaborators. More recently, I have been focusing on mobile technologies for health care contexts in rural African communities (CHAT). I completed my Master’s degree at the Faculty … … Continue reading
Cresencia Fong
I’m a Mitacs postdoctoral fellow, researching technology-supported collaborative inquiry learning and orchestration. My work is a collaborative effort between SMART Technologies and Encore Lab, here at the University of Toronto – OISE. My thesis is titled: Supporting Discourse and Classroom Orchestration in a Knowledge Community and Inquiry Approach. This dissertation research involved collaborating with technologists … … Continue reading
Einat Gil
I’m a postdoctoral fellow at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto, focusing on statistics education and the design of computer supported collaborative learning environments. I am formerly a graduate of Mathematics Education (Ph.D.) and Technologies in Education (M.A.) – both from the … … Continue reading
Gabby Resch
Gabby Resch is a postdoctoral researcher with the Synaesthetic Media Lab at Ryerson University where he is currently studying the effects of tangible and embodied interaction on spatial cognition. His doctoral research, conducted at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information, examined interaction with tangible and embodied representations of data. Throughout his master’s and doctoral … … Continue reading
Gaoxia Zhu
Gaoxia Zhu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Curriculum & Pedagogy Program at OISE, University of Toronto. Her research lies at the intersection of learning sciences, curriculum studies, and educational technology with a focus on understanding and supporting students’ social, cognitive, and emotional dynamics with the support of learning analytics in collaborative inquiry learning environments. … … Continue reading
Hedieh Najafi
I am a researcher with Online Learning Strategies Portfolio at U of T I Encore lab at OISE. I study learner motivation and behaviour in MOOCs and design considerations in MOOC development. My current research focuses on learner engagement in MOOC discussion forums, learner motivation and behaviour in self-directed MOOCs. In my latest project, I … … Continue reading
Maria Serevetas
Maria is a full time secondary science school teacher in the Durham District School Board with over 25 + years of classroom experience. She recently completed her PhD at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto in the Curriculum Teaching and Learning Department supervised by Professor Slotta. Her research playground was her … … Continue reading
Michelle Lui
Michelle Lui is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research lies at the intersection of the Learning Sciences and Human Computer Interaction, where she is currently investigating sensorimotor systems and cognition in virtual reality simulations for facilitating student understanding of scientific concepts. Michelle has … … Continue reading
Mike Tissenbaum
I earned my PhD from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) and Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI). My research focuses on the theory and design of learning spaces that support students in collaboratively investigating and building knowledge through authentic inquiry. My PhD thesis, “Supporting Collective Inquiry: A Technology Framework for … … Continue reading
Paul C. Alexander
Paul is a Ph.D. candidate within the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Paul spent several years abroad teaching digital media, instructional technology, course design and educational technology at the graduate-level to teacher candidates. With respect to professional … … Continue reading
Rebecca Quintana
I am a PhD Candidate in the department of Curriculum, Teaching, & Learning at the University of Toronto. I have been a member of the Encore lab since 2011. I work with a team of researchers and technologists to design a digital note-tool for elementary science curricula called Common Knowledge (CK). We have implemented various … … Continue reading
Steven Ehrlick
Steven Ehrlick has over 25 years experience practicing law within the music and film industries. He was the V.P. of Legal & Business Affairs at two major record companies, BMG Music Canada and EMI Music Canada. He also worked in New York as the V.P of Business Affairs at an EMI-owned label, The Enclave, and … … Continue reading
Stian Håklev
I am a post-doc at EPFL, Lausanne. I did my MA thesis in the Higher Education Program at OISE, with Dr. Ruth Hayhoe and Dr. Jim Slotta. My thesis focused on the Chinese National Top Level Courses project. After completing the thesis, I have been experimenting with ways of disseminating it in several formats, and through many channels. In September 2010, I began … … Continue reading
Vanessa Peters
Vanessa Peters, Ph.D., is an education researcher at SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning. Her research focuses on how emergent uses of technology can create opportunities for teaching and learning, particularly in science. Peters applies an interdisciplinary lens to her research, and has extensive experience with design-based, qualitative, and mixed methods research approaches. In … … Continue reading