Faculty Research Interests
| Name | Dept./Email) | Areas of Interest | Research Skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akcaoglu, Mete | LTHD-makcaoglu@georgiasouthern.edu | game-design, problem-solving, complex problem-solving, online education, distance education, social presence, sociability, social networking sites in education, instructional design, systems thinking, motivational constructs (interests, value, relevance), maker spaces, virtual reality. | |
| Arrington, Nancy | ESED-narrington@georgiasouthern.edu | Service-Learning, Self Efficacy, Arts Integration, and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). | |
| Barrow, Elizabeth "Betsy" | MSED-ebarrow@georgiasouthern.edu | Social studies teacher education, international experiences in education, technology in social studies education, secondary history, SoTL within social studies teacher education | Qualitative research; case study design |
| Beck, Scott | MGSE-salbeck@georgiasouthern.edu | Migrant, Immigrant, Mexican American, and ESOL education in the Rural South. Children's and young adult literature. | |
| Bodur, Yasar | ESED-ybodur@georgiasouthern.edu | Multicultural teacher education, diversity in general and linguistic diversity in particular, field-based teacher education, reflective practice, classroom management | |
| Brady, Anna | CFR- | Self-regulated learning, motivation, time management, self-regulated learning and motivation interventions | Quantitative research, qualitative research, quasi-experimental designs |
| Brinson, Mac | LTHD-pmbrinso@georgiasouthern.edu | Politics of education | |
| Brkich, Katie | ESED-kbrkich@georgiasouthern.edu | Elementary science education, place-based and inquiry science teaching and learning, photo-elicitation qualitative methods, science for social justice, gender, race, and socioeconomic bias in science | Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz), Photo-based data collection and elicitation methods, Researching with elementary-aged children. |
| Brown, Sally Ann | CFR-sallybrown@georgiasouthern.edu | English language learners, Latino immigrants, K-3rd language and literacy development, classroom discourse analysis, sociocultural and critical perspectives on education | |
| Cain, Elise | LTHD-ecain@georgiasouthern.edu | College students from rural areas, rural education, college access, college transition, college retention, college students identity and identity development, intersectionality, critical frameworks | Qualitative and mixed methods, narrative inquiry, phenomenology, constructivist and critical paradigms. |
| Calhoun, Daniel W. | LTHD-dcalhoun@georgiasouthern.edu | The formal and informal ways in which the preparation and development of graduate students and early career practitioners in student affairs/higher education leadership occurs. This includes areas such as mentorship, supervision, technology integration, the application of professional competencies, and the professional/academic perceptions of self and others. | Qualitative research |
| Carreon, Adam | ESED-acarreon@georgiasouthern.edu | Research, evaluation, and instructional design of innovative technology, including, the implementation of innovative technology in teacher education. Currently investigating the use of AR, VR, MR, and XR for delivering instruction to students with disabilities. | Quantitative, case study, single case design, mixed methods research. |
| Casler-Failing, Shelli | MSED-scaslerfailing@georgiasouthern.edu | Teacher education, mathematics education, productive struggle, ungrading practices, and the integration of robotics into mathematics curricula. | Qualitative research; case study design |
| Chamblee, Gregory | MSED-gchamblee@georgiasouthern.edu | Technology in all areas, integrating technology in P-12 mathematics, using differing strategies to teach mathematics, curriculum alignment | |
| Chapman, Daniel | CFR-dechapman@georgiasouthern.edu | Social and cultural foundations of education, media studies, documentary filmmaking, critical pedagogy, postcolonial theory | |
| Cleveland, Richard | LTHD-rcleveland@georgiasouthern.edu | School Counseling, Comprehensive School Counseling Programs, Mindfulness, Client Spirituality, Stress Response | Quantitative |
| Cossa, Nedra | ESED-ncossa@georgiasouthern.edu | Early Writing Practices, Literacy Professional Development for elementary teachers, Professional Development Schools, and Preservice teacher education, and alternative forms of field based experiences, parental impact and influence in early childhood literacy development, parental ethnotheories, and children's literature. | Qualitative research, specifically case study design, grounded theory and ethnography. Parental Ethnotheories, constructivism |
| Crawford, Kathleen | ESED-kcrawford@georgiasouthern.edu | Teacher education, emotions in teaching and learning, effective K-5 literacy practices, children's literature, mentoring pre-service and beginning teachers, co-teaching in higher education, humanizing online instruction, and critically applying artificial intelligence in teaching. | |
| Criss, Caitlin | ESED-ccriss@georgiasouthern.edu | Teacher education, pre-service teacher training, classroom management, students with EBD, reading instruction, writing instruction, school consultation, PBIS | |
| Devine, Stephanie | ESED-stephaniedevine@georgiasouthern.edu | Implementing person-centered planning for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, using technology to support independence and competitive integrated employment for those with disabilities, Universal Design for Learning, inclusive postsecondary education programs for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, transition, peer mentoring. | Quantitative methods, particularly single case research design; Academic writing/editing |
| Diamanduros, Terry | LTHD-tdiamanduros@georgiasouthern.edu | Childhood trauma, the psychological impact of trauma on boys, mental health consultation in schools, neurodevelopmental and psycho-educational assessment, the role of school psychologists in school and outside school settings, early intervention and infant development | |
| Doğan, Selçuk | ESED-sdogan@georgiasouthern.edu | Teachers’ professional development, online learning, professional learning communities, instructional design, learning analytics, and effective instruction. | Quantitative methodology, secondary analysis of large-scale and big data, structural equation modeling (SEM), Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), multilevel modeling (hierarchical linear modelling HLM), repeated measures, propensity score analysis, and social network analysis. Software: Mplus, R, HLM, and IDB Analyzer. |
| Downs, Elizabeth | LTHD-edowns@georgiasouthern.edu | Technology integration in instruction, online learning, e-portfolios, iPad applications for instruction, cyber bullying | |
| Flanigan, Abraham | CFR-aflanigan@georgiasouthern.edu | The interplay among self-regulation of learning, academic motivation, and mobile technology; digital distraction; the initiation and maintenance of student-instructor rapport in face-to-face and online courses | Qualitative research; Experimental design; Mixed methods research |
| Fisher, Karin | ESED-kfisher@georgiasouthern.edu | Extracurricular STEM activities and Students with Disabilities | |
| Gallard, Alejandro | MSED-agallard@georgiasouthern.edu | Understanding the complexities that contribute to students’ lack of success: such as race, ethnicity, and gender and the tensions between education policy and teaching and learning in general and science in particular. | Qualitative, polysemia, case study, Narrative, Interviewing, Contextual Mitigating Factors (CMFs), Critical theory, Neoliberalism, grant writing. |
| Griffin, Bryan | CFR-bwgriffin@georgiasouthern.edu | Student ratings of instruction, high school dropout issues, issues of motivation, research methods and designs, statistics, survey sampling and development, measurement | Linear (e.g., regression, ANCOVA) and mixed (e.g., multilevel, random effect) models, random effects logistic regression, structural equation models, sample size determination, measurement, and psycho metrics. |
| Griffin, Marlynn | CFR-mgriffin@georgiasouthern.edu | Assessment: classroom and standardized, curriculum alignment, text processing, adjunct displays as they assist with learning, instructional improvement issues, social networking and professional ethics | Project evaluation |
| Gutierrez de Blume, Antonio | CFR-agutierrez@georgiasouthern.edu | Self-regulated learning; meta cognition; comprehension monitoring; calibration accuracy and bias; critical thinking; problem solving and reasoning; errors in human judgment; motivation; the role of visual displays in learning; research methodology; statistics. | General linear model approaches--> univariate statistics (ANOVA, ANCOVA); multivatiate statistics (MANOVA, MANCOVA); latent variable modeling (structural equation modeling, factor analysis); multilevel linear modeling and related techniques; meta-analysis. |
| Harris, Kymberly | ESED-kharris@georgiasouthern.edu | Appropriate delivery of services for students with disabilities in alternative placement and residential treatment facilities, transition goals and services for incarcerated youth with disabilities, self-determination as a motivational approach, professional development schools | |
| Haughney, Kathryn "Katy" | ESED-khaughney@georgiasouthern.edu | Evaluating academic instruction strategies for students who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), Kathryn also focuses on the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, generalization for learners with the most severe disabilities, and supports for transition to post-school life. | Quantitative research- single case design, qualitative research, mixed methods |
| He, Ming Fang | CFR-mfhe@georgiasouthern.edu | Education, inquiry, and life in-between the Eastern, Western, and exile philosophy and pedagogy with a particular focus on Confucius, Dewey, Makiguchi, Ikeda, and Saïd; cross-cultural narrative inquiry of language, culture, and identity in multicultural contexts; cross-cultural teacher education, curriculum studies, activist practitioner inquiry, social justice research, exile curriculum, narrative of curriculum in the U. S. South, transnational and diasporic studies, oral histories of Chinese immigrants and their children's experience of language, culture, identity, and power in the neighborhoods; communities, and schools in the U. S. South, activist practitioner inquiry that explores life in Southern U. S. schools, families, and communities; research on the education of minority and disenfranchised individuals and groups in Asia | |
| Hobe, John | ESED-jhobe@georgiasouthern.edu | Research, Evaluation, Instructional Design for reading and content areas, differentiated instruction and assessment systems, Provide in-service requested by area schools. | Research and evaluation using the effect size statistic to explain the effect size. |
| Hodges, Charles | LTHD-chodges@georgiasouthern.edu | Learner and teacher self-efficacy, online teaching and learning, instructional design, program and product evaluation, Computer Science education | Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods |
| Hogan, Eric | CFR-ehogan@georgiasouthern.edu | Inquiry-based education, alternative assessments for the classroom, garden-based learning | Mixed Methods research, Social Network Analysis |
| Holt, Patricia | LTHD-pholt@georgiasouthern.edu | Adult Learning, Obstacles to Learning, Program Development, and Program Evaluation | Research skills: Quantitative Research, Experimental Design, Grant Writing and Development |
| Hotchkiss, Anna Kay | CFR-ahotchki@georgiasouthern.edu | Early childhood education, early childhood related field experiences, human growth and development that spans from prenatal development through adolescents, educational psychology focusing on student motivation, discipline and management techniques for maintaining a positive learning environment | |
| Howerter, Catherine | ESED-chowerter@georgiasouthern.edu | Collaboration, co-teaching, access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, preservice teacher education, and school partnerships. | |
| Huffling, Lacey | MSED-lhuffling@georgiasouthern.edu | Understanding how marginalized populations learn and experience STEM through identity development and agency. Teacher and student agency development in relation to citizen science involvement. | Qualitative research, ethnography, photo-voice, and evaluation work; Dedoose, Nvivo, and SPSS. |
| Hunt, Brandon Beale | LTHD-bhunt@georgiasouthern.edu | Counselor professional development and training, client experiences with disability, and qualitative research in counseling | Qualitative research, particularly from a phenomenological perspective; Grant writing; Writing for Publication |
| Lake, Robert | CFR-boblake@georgiasouthern.edu | Multicultural education, imaginative education, educational biography, the history of ideas, teacher identity, qualitative research and critical pedagogy | |
| Landers, Eric | ESED-ericlanders@georgiasouthern.edu | School-wide positive behavior interventions and support (all levels), functional behavior assessment (FBA) and behavioral intervention planning (BIP), emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), classroom-based behavioral interventions, systems change, inclusion | |
| Leckie, Alisa | MSED-aleckie@georgiasouthern.edu | English language learners, academic language, preparing teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students | Discourse analysis, qualitative and mixed method research design, case study approaches |
| Linderholm, Tracy | Assoc Dean-tlinderholm@georgiasouthern.edu | Cognitive and meta-cognitive processes involved in advanced reading, science text comprehension, multiple text processing, individual cognitive differences in reading such as constraints in working memory capacity and dyslexia | Think-aloud protocols, experimental design, ANOVA/SPSS, technical writing |
| Liston, Delores | CFR-listond@georgiasouthern.edu | Curriculum Studies, philosophy of education, feminism, gender studies, joy in education, ethics and education, sexual harassment in schools, trauma-informed pedagogy. | SoTL and social justice |
| Massey, Cynthia | ESED-cynthiamassey@georgiasouthern.edu | Instructional technology, flipped classroom instruction, transition and reading instruction for students with disabilities. | Students with high incidence disabilities, reading and instructional technology; transitioning and preparing learners with special needs into STEM careers; and collaboration within the special education teacher preparation programs. |
| Mayes, Robert L. | MSED-rmayes@georgiasouthern.edu | Interdisciplinary STEM teaching and learning K-20 Quantitative Reasoning in STEM, including act of quantification, interpreting and creating models; QUBES quantitative reasoning in undergraduate biology ; Affect, cognition and metacognition in mathematics learning on the high school and college level ; Application of the computer as a tool in teaching mathematics and the construction of conceptual understanding, specifically computer algebra system or geometric construction package; Effective distance education in mathematics and mathematics education, with a focus on content based professional development of teachers on 6-16 level; Articulation issues from high school to college in the STEM disciplines. | Mixed methods research |
| McBrayer, Juliann | LTHD-jmcbrayer@georgiasoutern.edu | As a scholarly practitioner, research interests include the development, implementation, and assessment of educational leadership and teacher preparation programs with a focus on purposeful, collaborative, and sustainable professional learning to ensure effectiveness and accountability. | Quantitative/Qualitative/Case Study |
| Morris, Marla | CFR-marlamor@georgiasouthern.edu | Curriculum Studies, Eastern and Central European history, Holocaust Studies, psychoanalysis, queer theory, post structuralism | |
| Muhammad, E. Anthony | CFR- emuhammad@georgiasouthern.edu | Critical Qualitative Methodology, Critical Race Theory, Black Existential Philosophy, Phenomenology, Philosophical Hermeneutics, Racial and Religious Alterity, and Black Male Studies. | Qualitative Research Design and Qualitative Data Analysis (Hermeneutic Analysis, Document Analysis, Phenomenological Analysis, and Thematic Analysis). |
| Newkirk, April | ESED-anewkirk@georgiasouthern.edu | Early childhood reading and social studies education, multicultural teacher education, teacher education through field supervision | |
| Norman, Taylor | MSED-tnorman@georgiasouthern.edu | Language arts teacher education, place-based pedagogy, rhetorical and contextual grammar instruction, interdisciplinary literacy, SoTL within language arts teacher education, social justice pedagogy | Qualitative research; narrative inquiry/ storytelling |
| Owens, David | MSED-dcowens@georgiasouthern.edu | Contexts for teaching and learning, socioscientific issues, socioscientific reasoning, gameful learning, motivation, goal setting, achievement goals, children's literature as contexts for science learning, conceptual change, science and religion, scientific literacy. | |
| Perry, Jennifer | LTHD-jperry@georgiasouthern.edu | Legal and ethical considerations in school counseling, academic self-efficacy of minority and underserved youth, minority youth academic motivation, self-efficacy and training of school counselors | |
| Prosser, Elizabeth | CFR-eedwards@georgiasouthern.edu | Critical inquiry pedagogy, sociocultural pedagogical theory, transactional theory, language and literacy development, vocabulary, struggling readers | Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Design, Formative Experiments, Action Research |
| Rahimi, Regina | MSED-rrahimi@georgiasouthern.edu | Trauma-informed classroom practice; models of clinical practice; SoTL; | Qualitative; mixed methods |
| Reidel, Michelle | MSED-mreidel@georgiasouthern.edu | Role of emotion in teaching and learning including teacher education; social studies education; teaching about race/racism. | Qualitative research; Historical research; Self- study |
| Reyes, Alex | MSED-areyes@georgiasouthern.edu | The intersections of language, culture, ethnicity, and identity for minoritized communities; representations of language, culture, ethnicity, and identity in children's and YA literature; Latinx education; arts integration; teaching for social justice and equity | Qualitative research; portraiture; case study; collaborative autoethnography |
| Reynolds, William | CFR-wrey@georgiasouthern.edu | Post-structural analysis of curriculum issues, curriculum theory, film studies, cultural curriculum studies, critical teaching, critical thinking, Freirian approaches to pedagogy, Critical media literacy, critical environmental education, social foundations, politics of education. | |
| Rhodes, Sam | ESED-srhodes@georgiasouthern.edu | Math education; mathematical problem-solving; math anxiety; executive function; metacognition | Mixed methods research |
| Rittschof, Kent | CFR-kent_r@georgiasouthern.edu | Educational psychology, human learning and cognition, instructional technology, educational/psychological measurement | Applying Item Response Theory (IRT) to assessments including those with moderate size data sets. Rasch modeling, constructing linear measures from ordinal data, and diagnostic analyses for dichotomous items and rating scale items on surveys and tests. Instrument calibration including analyses of reliability, item/person fit, item polarity, item category functioning, and sample targeting. SPSS GLM Procedures. |
| Roberts, Leslie | CFR-ldroberts@georgiasouthern.edu | Reading motivation, reading in the elementary/middle grades, content area literacy, social justice education, boys reading motivation | Design-based research, Mixed Methods research, Qualitative research |
| Ross, Sabrina | CFR-sross@georgiasouthern.edu | Critical pedagogy, teaching for social justice, black feminist and womanist epistemologies, issues of power in schools | Qualitative methods of inquiry; Action research; social justice inquiry |
| Scott, Heather | MSED-hscott@georgiasouthern.edu | Pre-service teacher education, science literacy, professional development for in service teacher through grants | |
| Serianni, Barbara | ESED-bserianni@georgiasouthern.edu | 1-Scholarship of teaching and learning (particularly online teaching and learning) 2-STEM for underrepresented populations 3-Special education | Single Subject Design, Mixed Methods, Meta Analysis |
| Shannon-Baker, Peggy | CFR-pshannonbaker@georgiasouthern.edu | LGBTQ+ people and topics in P-20 schooling; critical approaches to international education and teacher education; teacher education for social justice; mixed methods research; arts-based research; methods in educational research | Mixed methods: design and evaluation of mixed methods studies, program evaluation, integration of diverse/divergent data sets; Arts-based research and arts-informed research; Qualitative: feminist qualitative inquiry, NVivo; Aligning research design and implementation with philosophical and theoretical frameworks; Writing for publication |
| Smith, Chelda | ESED-cheldasmith@georgiasouthern.edu | Sociology of Education, critical pedagogy, critical literacy, faculty development, asset pedagogies, teacher ed, ESOL/EL | Qualitative Methodologies: Action research, CDA, ethnography |
| Smith, Janel | MSED-jjsmith@georgiasouthern.edu | Preservice teacher education, mathematics and literacy, mathematics teacher education; models of clinical practice | |
| Smithey, Montana | ESED-msmithey@georgiasouthern.edu | Culturally responsive pedagogy in the mathematics classroom; Responsive teaching in elementary mathematics, working with both teachers and preservice teachers in responding to children's mathematical thinking in productive ways; math anxiety/math teaching anxiety and how that relates to responsive teaching; experiential learning in teacher preparation | Qualitative research, mixed methods research |
| Soares, Lina | MSED-lbsoares@georgiasouthern.edu | Critical pedagogy and critical literacy, content-area literacy, adolescent literacy, teacher education, and gifted education | Qualitative Methodologies, Action Research, Mixed Methods, Discourse Analysis |
| Sorgen, Carl "Kip" | LTHD-csorgen@georgiasouthern.edu | LGBTQ students and faculty in higher education, pedagogies for teaching college students | |
| Stevenson, Alma D. | CFR-almastevenson@georgiasouthern.edu | Sociocultural perspectives on literacy, literacy in science, and the role of language and literacy in culture, identity, and academic achievement; The role of home languages and cultures as sources of affective support and positive identity formation in historically underserved populations. Education of Migrant, Immigrant Latinas/os; Bilingual Education/ESL and English Language Learners; Empowering curricula and pedagogies that advocate for social justice education, including the role of literature as a resource to foster culturally sustaining literacy pedagogical approaches. | |
| Toledo, Courtney | ESED- ctoledo@georgiasouthern.edu | Special education teacher preparation, teacher retention, effective practices in teacher preparation, preparing preservice teachers for IEP meetings | Qualitative Research |
| Townley, Amanda L. (Glaze) | MSED-aglaze@georgiasouthern.edu | Science literacy, culturally responsive teaching, conceptual change/conceptual ecologies in science teaching and learning, intersections of science and public opinion, pre-service science education, evolutionary anthropology/psychology, evolution and climate change education and public outreach. | Qualitative and mixed methods: Regression analyses, large data set collection and analysis. interpretive biography/narrative, case study, grounded theory; grant writing. |
| Unal, Aslihan | ESED-aunal@georgiasouthern.edu | Parental involvement in education, classroom management, assessment in education, online teaching, and flipped classroom. | Qualitative, quantitative and mixed research |
| Valauri, Anne | ESED-Birth-K-avalauri@georgiasouthern.edu | Family engagement, teacher education, intersection of early childhood education and multicultural and equity studies | Qualitative methods including ethnographic research methods, discourse analysis |
| Wall, Amanda | MSED-awall@georgiasouthern.edu | Middle grades curriculum & instruction; literacy integration; curriculum integration; motivation; adolescent literacy | Qualitative methods, case study |
| Weaver, John | CFR-jweaver@georgiasouthern.edu | Cultural studies of science and technology, popular culture, academic politics, using pharmaceuticals to control children | |
| Wells, Pamela | LTHD-pwells@georgiasouthern.edu | Mindfulness and counseling, counseling supervision, graduate student wellness | Constructivist grounded theory; Photovoice |
| Williams-Johnson, Meca | CFR-mecawilliams@georgiasouthern.edu | School choice, home education, rural education, parental involvement, student motivation, efficacy belief, emotions in teaching and learning. | Qualitative Research Design and Mixed Methods |
| Zinskie, Cordelia | CFR-czinskie@georgiasouthern.edu | Online teaching and learning, research methods | Quantitative and Mixed Method Research Design, Program Evaluation, Academic Writing/Editing |
Last updated: 1/11/2018