Special Invited Guests

Anna Smith, Illinois State University
​Educators as Contemporary Composers: Dispositions & Practices for Learning with New Media
Sunday, October 9  4:30-5:30 pm EST 

Anna Smith is an Assistant Professor at Illinois State University. Her research focuses on composition and rhetoric in new media, adolescent writing development and instruction, transliteracies, and emerging technologies for qualitative research methods. She is the co-author of Developing Writers: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age (with Richard Andrews, 2011, Open University Press), and is the author and co-author of articles and chapters, including a recent piece on remix in CLMOOC with National Writing Project colleagues. Her scholarly work is buttressed with 18 years of work in public schools as a teacher, district-level literacy specialist, and teacher educator. She can be found on Twitter at @anna_phd and her current work and scholarly projects can be found online at http://developingwriters.org.

Julie Coiro, the University of Rhode Island
Scaffolding Argumentative Writing from Multiple Online Sources
Sunday, October 16  3:00-4:00 pm EST

Julie Coiro is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Rhode Island, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in reading and digital literacy and co-directs the Ph.D. in Education program and the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy. Julie conducts research and speaks nationally and internationally about the new literacies of the Internet, online reading comprehension strategy instruction, collaborative knowledge building during inquiry, and effective practices for technology integration and professional development. Julie’s work appears in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Educational Leadership, and The Journal of Education. She also co-edited the Handbook of Research on New Literacies (2008) and co-authored Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times (2004). Julie recently completed work on a U.S. Department of Education funded research project to develop a series of valid and reliable assessments of online reading comprehension. She is currently leading a new funded research project with colleagues in the United States and Finland to explore how students work together in small groups to deliberate conflicting ideas across multiple online sources and construct a joint synthesis of what they've learned.   

Clarice Moran, Kennesaw State University & Carl Young,
North Carolina State University
Flipped Learning in English Language Arts
Sunday, October 16  6:00-7:00 pm EST

Clarice M. Moran, a former secondary English teacher and journalist, is an assistant professor of English education in the Department of English at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta. Dr. Moran’s research focuses on digital literacies and implementation of the flipped classroom method in English language arts. She also is interested in social justice and diversity issues. She teaches courses on writing in the middle grades and integration of digital content into the English language arts curriculum, in addition to supervising student teachers in Georgia public schools. Dr. Moran’s academic work has been published in Phi Delta Kappan, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, and the WILLA Journal, among others. She also has published journalistic work in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, The (London) Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the (Raleigh) News & Observer, The Independent, and others. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming book, Applying the Flipped Classroom Model to English Language Arts Education (IGI Global).

Carl A. Young, a former middle grades and high school English teacher, is associate professor of English education in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences in the College of Education at NC State University. Dr. Young serves as Program Coordinator for Undergraduate Middle Grades English Language Arts and Social Studies (MSL) Education and Program Leader for Literacy and English Language Arts (LELA) Doctoral Education. He studies effective methods for teaching English language arts, especially with regard to digital literacies and emerging technologies. In addition, he teaches courses addressing effective strategies for teaching composition, literature for young adults, and content area reading. Selected publications have appeared in English Education, English Journal, Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, Journal of Literacy Research, and Learning & Leading with Technology. Dr. Young is also the co-editor of Research on Technology in English Education (Information Age, 2013) and the forthcoming Applying the Flipped Classroom Model to English Language Arts Education (IGI Global).

Michael DeSchryver, Central Michigan University
“Creative Writing” with Informational Texts on the Web
Sunday, October 16  7:30-8:30 pm EST

Dr. Michael DeSchryver is an assistant professor at Central Michigan University and director of the new Doctorate in Educational Technology there. He has over 20 years of experience helping teachers integrate emerging technologies in meaningful ways while working at K-12 schools and in various roles as a doctoral student and university professor. His teaching and research interests focus on new literacies and creative thinking, increasingly essential skills and strategies needed to teach, learn, and work successfully in a largely Web–mediated world. Recent published work in the Teachers College Record provides a foundational theory for teaching and research related to new literacy skills that support creative thinking, while related work in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy focuses on how educators can begin to scaffold Web-mediated knowledge synthesis.

Kristine Pytash, Kent State University
Digital Writing Across Disciplines
Sunday, October 23  3:00-4:00 pm EST

Kristine E. Pytash is an assistant professor in Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University’s College of Education, Health, and Human Services, where she co-directs the secondary Integrated Language Arts teacher preparation program. She was a former high school English teacher. Her research focuses on disciplinary writing, the literacy practices of youth in alternative schools and juvenile detention facilities, and preparing teachers to teach writing using technology. Her recent work has appeared in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, English Education, Reading & Writing Quarterly, English Journal, and Voices from the Middle. She is also a regular contributor to the International Literacy Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group’s blog.