Notes on Contributors
Charlotte Abrams
began this research in sixth grade as an eleven-year-old soon to be twelve. Now she is fourteen going on fifteen and is in ninth grade. Her interests include art, reading, and sports such as basketball, soccer, and tennis.
Sandra Schamroth Abrams
is a Professor of Adolescent Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at St. John’s University. Her research focuses on the intersection of digital and nondigital literacies and practices, and the powerful meaning making that exists in and across the blurred boundaries of these spaces. Abrams’s publications can be found in Teachers College Record, Journal of Media Literacy Education, and Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Abrams also is author of Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning in 6–12 Classrooms: A Layered Literacies Approach to Multimodal Meaning Making (Routledge, 2015), Conducting Qualitative Research of Learning in Online Spaces (co-authored, Sage, 2017), Managing Educational Technology: School Partnerships & Technology Integration (co-authored, Routledge, 2018), Bridging Literacies with Videogames (co-edited, Sense, 2014), and Writing in Education: The Art of Writing for Educators (co-authored, Brill | Sense, forthcoming). She is the recipient of the 2019 USDLA Distance Learning Quality Paper Award for the article “Gamification and Accessibility.” Abrams is a co-editor of the Gaming and Ecologies Series and an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches.
Kathleen M. Alley
is an Associate Professor of Middle Level Literacy in the Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education Department at Mississippi State University. Dr. Alley’s research explores youth’s literate and social practices, and the environments that sustain literacy and motivation growth within school and informal, out-of-school contexts. Her interests include writing pedagogy, children’s and adolescent literature, technology integration, multiliteracies, rural education, and teacher preparation.
Bill Cope
is a Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include theories and practices of pedagogy, cultural and linguistic diversity, and new technologies of representation and communication. His and Mary Kalantzis’ recent research has focused on the development of digital writing and assessment technologies, with the support of a number of major grants from the US Department of Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Science Foundation. The result has been the CGScholar multimodal writing and assessment environment.
Mary Kalantzis
was from 2006 to 2016 Dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Before this, she was Dean of the Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and President of the Australian Council of Deans of Education. With Bill Cope, she has co-authored or co-edited: New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education (Cambridge University Press, 2008; 2nd edition, 2012); Ubiquitous Learning (University of Illinois Press, 2009); Towards a Semantic Web: Connecting Knowledge in Academic Research (Elsevier, 2009); Literacies (Cambridge University Press, 2012; 2nd edition, 2016); A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies (Palgrave, 2016); e-Learning Ecologies (Routledge, 2017); and a two-volume grammar of multimodal meaning, Making Sense and Adding Sense (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Molly Kurpis
started working on her adolescent research in seventh grade at the prime age of 13. She is now in the 11th grade at an international baccalaureate public high school in New York City. The 16 year old loves dancing and the arts, including drama and writing. She has been in many shows with her local drama group, such as Newsies and 42nd Street. Molly has been a dancer for 10 years and competed with her competition team for 5. Whenever she gets the chance, Molly loves to work on her original novels. Her passions are what drive her through the rigorous IB programme.
Linda Laidlaw
is a Professor in Language and Literacy Education at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on digital and mobile technologies in primary education, and she is particularly interested in the relationship between children’s digital practices at home and their experiences at school. Her latest projects, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, aim to develop new frames and strategies for literacy education in a changing world.
Guy Merchant
is Professor of Literacy in Education at Sheffield Hallam University. He specialises in research on children’s literacy with new technologies. He is widely published in international journals and is a founding editor of Early Childhood Literacy. He has co-edited a number of books including Literacy, Media, Technology (Bloomsbury, 2017) and The Case of the iPad (Springer, 2017). His latest book, written with Cathy Burnett, New Media in the Classroom was published in 2018 by Sage.
Daniel Ness
is a Professor of STEAM education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at St. John’s University. He specializes in spatial development and cognition from birth through the lifespan. His book, Spatial Intelligence: Why It Matters from Birth through the Lifespan, (Routledge, 2017) demonstrates the parallel nature of children’s spatial propensities in constructive play activities and skills possessed by professional engineers, architects, and scientists. His co-edited book, Alternatives to Privatizing Public Education and Curriculum, (Routledge, 2017) has been awarded the 2018 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award.
Eric Ness
began his child-parent research in seventh grade as a 13-year-old. Much of his research is based on his interest in music. He began playing piano when he was three years old and cello when he was seven. In addition to cello and piano performance, Eric loves to fence, to read and to explore new subjects.
“E” O’Keefe
is an eight-year-old boy who is in grade three and loves to play hockey. He is determined and tenacious, with high social acumen, a very social child—outgoing, loving, and affectionate. He participated in this study for three in his early childhood (from age two until five). His research interests have evolved from investigating loose materials, blocks, and Lego, to now researching hockey history, from player and team profiles to statistical analysis.
Joanne O’Mara
is an Associate Professor in Language and Literature Education at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. An experienced secondary English and Drama teacher, she has continued to work with young people and schools through her university research. Her research and scholarship focuses on young peoples’ emergent literacies and new textual practices; digital games; drama pedagogy; and the spatial, social and temporal dimensions of teachers’ work.
Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie
is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. In addition, he is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg; Honorary Professor at the University of South Africa; Visiting Senior Scholar, St. John’s University, New York; and an Honorary Recognised Supervisor (Online), University of Liverpool. His research areas primarily involve social and behavioral science topics, including disadvantaged and under-served populations. Additionally, he writes extensively on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodological topics applicable to multiple disciplines within the field of the social and behavioral sciences. With an h-index of 95, representing more than 60,000 citations, Dr. Onwuegbuzie has secured the publication of more than 500 works, including more than 350 journal articles, 50 book chapters, and 5 books, with 5 more books in the pipeline. Further, Dr. Onwuegbuzie has received more than 20 outstanding paper awards. Dr. Onwuegbuzie is former editor of Educational Researcher. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches and editor of Research in the Schools. He is past President of the Mixed Methods International Research Association.
Sarah Prestridge
has been a researcher, university teacher educator and classroom teacher in the field of Educational Technologies for over 25 years. Her journey began with a rather large computer in her classroom where she tinkered with her grade 6 class on the use of simulation software in the early 90s. She ran an Edu-Tech Lighthouse project that examined ICT and mathematics, studied her Masters in Educational Technologies and worked as a Curriculum Adviser. Her PhD examined models of effective professional development to enable teachers to use technologies effectively in their classrooms. Her passion for leading others along the pathway of technology integration has been fueled by the excitement both teachers and students generate while playing to learn. Sarah currently lectures in Educational Technologies at Griffith University, Australia.
Lourdes M. Rivera
is an Associate Professor in the Counselor Education Program at Queens, CUNY. She teaches courses in career counseling and assessment, college and career readiness, multicultural counseling, and counseling techniques. Prior to becoming a counselor educator, she was a counselor in a college setting providing career, academic and personal counseling to a diverse student population. She enjoys reading fiction, watching movies, and spending time with her family.
Dahlia Rivera-Larkin
is in the eighth grade and preparing herself for high school. Starting next school year, her education will focus in engineering. Her interests consist of engineering, biology, chemistry, American history, and music. She enjoys hanging out with her friends in her free time as well as practicing martial arts and playing the electric and acoustic guitars, trumpet, and bass. She also likes to read and watch fantasy books and movies.
Nora Rivera-Larkin
is in the twelfth grade and will be going to Stony Brook University in the fall. She will be following her passion for storytelling and will be focusing in English and creative writing.
Alaina Roach O’Keefe
lectures with the Faculties of Education and Arts at UPEI and is employed full-time as Corporate Human Resources Planner at PEI’s Public Service Commission. Alaina’s experiences as an educator and researcher over a decade range from Early Childhood and K-12 systems to post-secondary education and innovative adult learning. Alaina’s research interests include quantitative and qualitative projects in early learning and/or play, planning and evaluation, leadership, and professional learning communities. She has published in the Journal of Childhood Studies, the Canadian Journal of Education – Special Capsule Issue on Children’s Play, Canadian Children, Teaching Innovations Projects, and the Canadian Journal of Native Education.
Mary Beth Schaefer
is an Associate Professor of Adolescent Education and Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at St. John’s University. Much of her research focuses on middle grades students’ literacy activities as well as issues of college and career readiness for underserved populations. Her most recent publication outlets include Middle School Journal, Journal of Adult & Adolescent Literacy, and Urban Education. She is co-editor of the book (Information Age Publishing, 2015) Research on Teaching and Learning with the Literacies of Young Adolescents and recently received the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE)’s Outstanding Article Award for a co-authored paper titled, “An Historical Overview of the Middle School Movement.” Her new line of inquiry focuses on martial arts and college readiness.
Cassandra R. Skrobot
is an aspiring artist and writer. Mrs. Skrobot graduated from Mississippi State University in 2017 with a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, specializing in Fine Arts/Photography and Communications. She is a graduate student at Kennesaw State University pursuing a Masters in Professional Writing, in addition to devoting her time to her young son and husband.
Bogum Yoon
is Associate Professor of Literacy Education at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Yoon has extensive teaching and research experiences both in South Korea and the United States. Her research interest is in the areas of critical global literacies, cultural pluralism, and positional identities. Yoon’s publications including books (e.g., Critical Literacies: Global and Multicultural Perspectives, Springer, 2016) reflect her commitment to high quality teacher education for all students including English language learners.