FEATURED AUTHOR
Jonathan Michael Spector
I was President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, and have been a department chair at 2 universities (Syracuse and North Texas). I have been a research professor at 3 universities (Bergen, Florida State, and Georgia). My research interests include assessing complex learning, games and simulations, and program evaluation. I served as an evaluator on 2 large European networks of excellence (STELLAR and GaLA). I am the development editor of ETR&D.
Subjects: Education, Information Science
Biography
J. Michael Spector is a Professor and Former Chair of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas. He was previously Professor of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, Doctoral Program Coordinator for the Learning, Design, and Technology Program, and a Research Scientist at the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Previously, he was Associate Director of the Learning Systems Institute, Professor of Instructional Systems, and Principal Investigator for the International Center for Learning, Education and Performance Systems at Florida State University. He served as Chair of Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation at Syracuse University and Director of the Educational Information Science and Technology Research Program at the University of Bergen. He earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on intelligent support for instructional design, assessing learning in complex domains, and technology integration in education. Dr. Spector served on the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi) as Executive Vice President; he is a Past President of the Association for Educational and Communications Technology as well as a Past Chair of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning Special Interest Group of AERA; he is also an active member of AERA’s Instructional Technology and Learning and Technology SIGs. He is editor of Educational Technology Research & Development and serves on numerous other editorial boards. He edited the third and fourth editions of the Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, as well as the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, and has more than 150 publications to his credit.Education
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BSc, USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO (1967)
PhD, University of Texas, Austin, TX (1978)
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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computer-mediated collaborative learning and instruction; distance and distributed learning; instructional strategies for complex decision-making and problem-solving; intelligent performance support for instructional design; interactive learning environments; program/project evaluation; system dynamics based learning environments; technology integration in learning and instruction
Personal Interests
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Backpacking, hiking, reading philosophy, learning new computer technologies, studying the history of science, skiing, playing tennis, writing inspirational stories
Books
Articles
Remarks on MOOCs and Mini-MOOCs
Published: Apr 01, 2015 by Educational Technology Research & Development
Authors: J. M. Spector
A critical review of MOOCs