People
Dr. Bret Staudt Willet
I am an Assistant Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at Florida State University.
My research investigates self-directed networked learning. I’m most interested in what happens when our students, learners, and trainees finish the instruction and training we design for them. What do they do after they walk out the door or log off? How do they continue to develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need? Where do they look for resources? Who do they talk to?
My work on self-directed networked learning covers several dimensions, outlined by the categories proposed professional learning networks (PLNs): the connections and interactions between resources, people, and spaces. I study resources, people, and spaces with methods drawn from learning analytics and social network analysis.
My projects explore resources in terms of informal learning (e.g., possibilities for beginning teachers developing support systems) and invisible labor (e.g., perils for figuring things out outside work hours), people in terms of social connections and interactions (e.g., online groups, communities of practice, educators learning to identify as data scientists), and spaces in terms of affinity spaces hosted in web forums and social media (e.g., Reddit, Twitter).
Visit Dr. Bret’s website | Download CV | Linkedin | @bretsw@scholar.social
Dr. Secil Caskurlu
I am an Assistant Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at Florida State University.
My main research interest focuses on the social, cognitive, and instructinal factors that impact student outcomes and how to integrate them into the design, development and evaluation phases as they relate to learning environments, experiences, technologies and the like. My second research interest focuses on the application of learning principles derived from learning sciences to online teaching and learning, and their impacts on student outcomes. Specifically, I investigate the relationships between inputs (e.g., evidence-based instructional strategies) and outputs (e.g., student satisfaction and actual learning). Finally, I am interested in integrating computational thinking into K-12 education. More specifically, I am interested in teacher competencies required for meaningful integration of computational thinking into K-12 to foster student outcomes while they are engaged in computational thinking-related tasks.
Melissa Jones
I am a doctoral candidate in the ISLT program at Florida State University.
I have worked in higher education since 2007 and have held a variety of both faculty and staff positions. Each of these roles has contributed to my understanding of universities as dynamic systems and has greatly influenced my research agenda.
From a systems perspective, I am interested in the implementation of initiatives that focus on engaging and supporting historically marginalized populations in higher education. More specifically, as conversations regarding belonging and equity continue to evolve, how are these initiatives impacting the work of faculty? And for those faculty working to create more inclusive learning environments, what types of professional development activities are they participating in? Lastly, recognizing that professional development may include both formal and informal learning, how are designers and facilitators of DEI-focused programming navigating the increasingly complex influence of institutional, social, and political systems?
Visit Melissa’s website | Download CV
Dan He
I am a doctoral candidate in the ISLT program at FSU. I joined the program in 2019 after I earned my master’s degree in Foreign and Second Language Education at FSU in 2018.
My current research interests include international students’ use of social media for learning and cross-cultural adaptation, inclusive online course designs, and educators’ professional learning networks and professional development. The projects I have collaborated on with professors and fellow students include graduate students’ experiences of othering, networked knowledge activities, educators’ professional learning networks, invisible labor, and graduate teaching assistants. I teach an undergraduate course on educational technology and TA for several graduate-level courses in instructional design. My academic endeavors are devoted to creating learning environments that foster diversity, inclusion, and equity.
Visit Dan’s website | Visit the MEME research group website | @Dan__He | @dan.islt | Linkedin
Hui Shi
I am a second year Ph.D. student in the ISLT program at Florida State University. I earned my M.S. in Education Information Technology at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China.
My first research interest focuses on exploring student self-regulated learning, participation, and interactive behaviors in online learning contexts using data mining techniques. Specifically, I am interested in investigating what behavioral factors can determine successful academic performance and how students behave differently between successful and unsuccessful groups. My second research interest focuses on building student performance prediction models to improve automatic evaluation and the quality of teaching support in large-scale online courses.
Jiabei Xu
I am a Ph.D. student in the Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies (ISLT) program at Florida State University College of Education.
My research interest integrated instructional design, game-based learning, and learning analytics in training and professional development for graduate teaching assistants (GTA) in higher education. My current focus is designing and applying game-based adaptive training environments for GTA teaching preparation and professional development. I am conducting individual research and working collaboratively with my peers on this topic. I have been working as the TA for online courses in our department for the past semesters; meanwhile, I have been working with my advisor Dr. Fengfeng Ke on several NSF-funded projects in game-based mathematical education in K-12 settings. My current research agenda for my dissertation consists of 1. The study of game-based adaptive training design for GTA (ongoing), 2. Learning analytics in GTA informal learning in the online community of practice (Co.P.), 3. The application of learning analytics results in the iteration of adaptive training design for GTAs.
Before joining the ISLT Ph.D. program in 2021, I gained two Master’s degrees in Second Language Education (2015) and Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies (2020) from FSU.
Jaesung Hur
I graduated with my M.S. in Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies at FSU, and now I am a Ph.D. student in the same program.
I studied Educational Technology and worked as an instructional designer at a company in South Korea. I developed instructional materials for K-12 students and teachers’ guidebooks. During my internships in the US, I created e-learning modules and reviewed the online course based on Quality Matters. I love instructional design and my teaching assistant jobs since I can assist instructors and learners with attractive deliverables while expressing my creativity and professionalism.
I am interested in instructors’ and learners’ engagement in online teaching and learning in higher education. Learners’ motivation and participation are essential to learning experience and outcomes. Given that online courses should be carefully and systematically designed to provide an optimal learning experience, I hope to investigate instructional strategies and interventions to boost student engagement.
I am currently involved in projects on instructors’ perception of students’ participation, students’ feelings of othering, webcam usages, college students’ social media use and emotion, teaching assistants’ challenges and training needs, and instructional designers’ perception and experiences in learning analytics. I also plan to examine students’ minimal participation, TAs’ self-efficacy, online memes, and students’ motivation and emotions using epistemic network analysis (ENA).
Hunhui Na
I am a Ph.D. student in the Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies (ISLT) program at Florida State University College of Education. I earned my master’s degree in elementary mathematics education at Seoul National University of Education in Seoul, Korea.
My current research focuses on educators’ use of social media. Specifically, I investigate how and why early career teachers (including pre-service teachers) participate in online communities for their professional learning, and how to leverage the affordances of social media to support their professional development. Related to the use of social media for learning, I am also interested in Scratch where students can develop computational thinking skills online. Viewing Scratch as an online community for students, I explore how students’ interactions are related to developing their computational thinking skills. Designing immersive learning environments for STEM+CS education is my other research interest. Specifically, I am interested in designing Augmented Reality learning experiences for mathematics and computer science education, and understanding teachers’ role in integrating immersive technology in classroom contexts.
Shiyao Wei
I am a first-year Ph.D. student in the College of Education at Florida State University. Previously, I gained my Master’s degree in Art and Art Education (Museum Education) at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Bachelor’s degree from Communication University of China. My research interests focus on informal learning environments and collaborative learning, and technology-enhanced learning that happens in museums.
I have finished one research project on bilibili.com, a leading user-generated content video platform in China. The research explores the relationship between Danmaku, flying comments playing on the top of video, and instructors' behaviors, i.e., what kinds of instructors' behavior can bring more learners’ meaningful interaction.
Chaewon Kim
I am a Ph.D. student in the ISLT program at Florida State University. I earned my M.A. in Educational Technology and Administration at Sogang University in Seoul, Korea. I worked as a public elementary school teacher in Seoul for three years.
My research interest focuses on game-based learning, mobile-assisted language learning, and implementing AI in public school settings. I developed a mobile gamified prototype for EFL learners with storytelling for my master’s thesis and applied mixed methods to verify its effectiveness in students’ reading comprehension and writing proficiency. Also, I am interested in adaptive learning, learning analytics, and stealth assessment.
I am currently investigating the dynamic of chatbot usage in EFL classrooms through the E-rebuild Project with Dr. Fengfeng Ke and examining interaction patterns between teacher and students in a gamified learning environment.