Back-to-School Experts

Technology in education

Role of new technologies in learning and participation

Juan Carlos Castro is principal investigator for the Social Sciences and Humanities Council Insight funded project; MonCoin: Investigating mobile learning networks to foster educational engagement with at-risk youth (2015-2018) and the Fonds de recherche Société et culture, Établissement de Nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs project; L’enseignement des arts visuels et médiatiques en contexte d’apprentissage mobile pour le renforcement de l’engagement social et de la motivation scolaire des adolescents (2015-2018).  

Juan Carlos Castro, associate professor, Department of Art Education
514-848-2424 ext. 4787
Juancarlos.castro@concordia.ca

Martin Lalonde, a graduate student instructor, collaborated with Castro on MonCoin – meaning My Corner in English - in developing a mobile media art curriculum for engaging students with their schooling and their local environment in the hopes of lowering drop-out rates.

Martin Lalonde, PhD student, Department of Art Education
Cell: 514-267-0573
Martin.lalonde@concordia.ca
French and English interviews possible

Cellphone use in classrooms

Giuliana Cucinelli is principal investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Council Insight Development and FRQSC's (Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture) Nouveaux chercheurs program on youth media practices, social media and learning. As part of her research, Cucinelli is looking into policies regulating the use of cell phones and other digital devices in Kindergarten through Grade 12 classrooms in Ontario and Quebec.

Giuliana Cucinelli, Assistant Professor in the Educational Technology Program, Department of Education
Cell: 514-994-3836
Giuliana.cucinelli@concordia.ca
*French and English interviews possible

Reading: Print vs online

Sandra Martin-Chang is looking at whether it’s best for children to learn to read through print or online methods. She is also doing research on homeschooling.

Sandra Martin Chang, associate professor, Department of Education
514-848-2424 ext. 8932
s.martin-chang@concordia.ca

Saul Carliner is researching why students don’t buy ebooks and seem to prefer real books. His teaching and research focus on the design of learning and communication materials for the workplace, especially in emerging genres and media.

Saul Carliner, professor, Department of Education, Provost Fellow for e-Learning and Director of the Education Doctoral Program
514-848-2424 ext. 2038
Saul.carliner@concordia.ca

Language learning via technology

Walcir Cardoso is supervising research into how language instruction can benefit from tools such as:

• Skype to teach English
• An iPhone app to teach French
• Google Echo in language teaching
  

Walcir Cardoso, professor, Department of Education
514-848-2424 ext. 2451
Walcir.cardoso@concordia.ca

*Prof. Cardoso supervises the work of a number of PhD students, many of whom are comfortable being interviewed in both French and English.

Language acquisition/bilingualism

Diane Poulin-Dubois heads a research lab, focused on early cognitive and language development. She is also part of an international research team conducting a 5-year longitudinal study on bilingual and monolingual children to explore how early verbal skills predict literacy and school achievement.

Diane Poulin-Dubois, professor, Department of Psychology
514-848-2424 ext. 2219
diane.poulindubois@concordia.ca
*French and English interviews possible

Maker Education

Ann-Louise Davidson holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Maker Culture. In that capacity, she is looking at the Maker movement in education that creates hands-on (often collaborative) learning experiences for problem solving.

*Watch Davidson in an interview with Le Devoir (in French)

Ann-Louise Davidson, associate professor, Department of Education, and graduate program director for the MA in Educational Technology and the Graduate Diploma in Instructional Technology
514-848-2424 ext. 5476
Ann-Louise.Davidson@concordia.ca
*French and English interviews possible

Giuliana Cucinelli (listed above) has collaborated with Davidson on a project that involved building arcade tables and gamepads with children from disadvantaged socio-economic contexts who have trouble concentrating in school.

 Preschool education, media literacy, teacher education

Sandra Chang-Kredl’s professional experience as a certified teacher and administrator in early years’ education informs her research, teaching and pre-service field supervision.

Sandra Chang-Kredl, associate professor, Department of Education, and interim director, Individualized Program (INDI), School of Graduate Studies
514-848-2424 ext. 8632
Sandra.chang-kredl@concordia.ca