EdTechTeacher

Who We Are

Our primary team consists of our two Co-Directors, Senior Associate, Instructional Trainer & Presenter, and Community Relations Director, as well as a fantastic team of contributors.

Tom Daccord, Co-Director

Tom Daccord is an educational technology specialist and the author of Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Teachers and The Best of History Web Sites. A veteran "laptop teacher" who instructed in a wireless laptop environment for seven years, Tom has been featured in the Boston Globe ("Making Tech Connect," December 29, 2003) for his contributions to teaching with technology. Tom has worked with schools, districts, and colleges in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia and presents on educational technology at various national and regional conferences. A former social studies teacher, Tom currently serves as President of the National Council of Social Studies Technology Committee and is a featured speaker at the 2010 NCSS Conference. He is creator and co-webmaster of Best History Web Sites, an award-winning portal, and The Center for Teaching History with Technology, dedicated to helping K-12 history and social studies teachers effectively incorporate technology into their courses. Tom also created Teaching English with Technology, designed to guide K-12 English and Language Arts teachers in their use of technology in the classroom. Tom serves as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) project consultant, is an advisor to Massachusetts Computer Users in Education (MassCUE), and is a board member of the Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (MASCD). A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Montreal, Tom has taught in Quebec, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

Justin Reich, Co-Director

Justin Reich is co-Director of EdTechTeacher, and the author of Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Teachers. Justin is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society. He is also the founder and project manager of the Digital Collaborative Learning Communities Project funded by the Hewlett Foundation. Justin conducts statistical research on usage statistics drawn from over 175,000 educational wikis, and he has conducted observational research in schools and classrooms in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Virginia, Georgia, and California. He has written a variety of publications on education technology integration that have appeared in the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe, Educational Researcher, Social Education, and other publications. A former world history teacher at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts, Justin developed a variety of new curriculum and lesson plans around chatting, blogging, online research, and other projects involving new and emerging technologies. Justin is co-webmaster of Best of History Web Sites and co-director of The Center for Teaching History with Technology, along with Tom. Justin maintains his academic profile, research, and work in progress at EdTechResearcher.org.

Beth Holland, Senior Associate

Beth Holland joined the EdTechTeacher team in July 2011 to expand the online course offerings and instruct at workshops and presentations. She brings over 12 years of education experience, and most recently worked as the Director of Academic Technology at St. Michael's Country Day School in Newport, Rhode Island. During her tenure at St. Michael's, she worked with faculty members to integrate technology into their elementary and middle school curricula and taught students in grades 2-8 during technology classes. Before St. Michael's, Beth worked as a researcher at the Naval War College, a 9th grade English teacher, and an instructor at ActionQuest, an adventure learning summer program. Beth also has an Ed.M.  in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.S. in Communications from Northwestern University.

Greg Kulowiec, Instructional Trainer & Presenter

Greg Kulowiec is an award-winning history teacher who is passionate about the use of technology in the classroom. Greg's interest in technology has resulted in daily blogging, student and teacher-created podcasts, student blogs, websites, VoiceThreads, collaborative online writing, and iPad integration. Greg presents at conferences on his teaching strategies, including “VoiceThread in the Classroom”, “Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard,” “Using Music in the History Classroom, ”and “Twitter in the Classroom.” Greg appeared on Public Radio International’s, “The World Technology Podcast” in 2009 and contributed to the 2009 ISTE Fall Newsletter, both about cell phones in the classroom. Greg was awarded the Aieta Promising Teacher Award in 2009 by the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies.

Bev Boos, Community Relations Director

For the last two years, Jamaican-American Beverly Duperly Boos has assisted with producing the the EdTechTeacher annual Summer Teaching With Technology workshops. During this time, Beverly has been a research assistant with the Distributed Collaborative Learning Community at HGSE, measuring the degree to which wikis support the development of expert thinking, complex communication, and new media literacies. Through a focus on Education through the Arts, Beverly has created community forums for ten years on topical issues—including sustainability, climate change, war and conflict—to empower and engage communities. Beverly’s photographic work in the USA, Vietnam, Israel-Palestine and the Caribbean has been used as a foundation for traveling educational exhibits. One exhibit, Opening of the Heart: Israel – Palestine, was hosted by Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the Women in Democracy, launching a national tour. Beverly is part of a global network trained by the Hon. Al Gore to serve as a climate change presenter using materials from the film An Inconvenient Truth for the Climate Reality Project.

Our Team of Contributors

In addition to Tom Daccord, Justin Reich, Beth Holland and Greg Kuloweic, we bring in some of the most talented educators that we can find to assist with workshops, webinars, and presentations. 

Carla Beard is a veteran English teacher and educational technology specialist for the state of Indiana who has presented at conventions and workshops nationally. Carla is creator and webmaster of the award-winning Web English Teacher, a popular web portal that presents the best of K-12 English/Language Arts teaching resources: lesson plans, WebQuests, videos, biography, e-texts, criticism, classroom activities and more. She has written and presented extensively on technology in the English/Language Arts curriculum, including a National Council of Teachers of English presentation entitled "Technology and English/Language Arts." In 2004 Carla was named to the Educator Advisory Board of AOL@School and has also served as National Teacher Advisor for Cable in the Classroom. She has also evaluated National Endowment for the Humanities grant applications in technology. Currently the English Department Chair at Connersville High School in Indiana, Ms. Beard has converted all English/Language Arts classrooms at her school to computer classrooms and regularly leads in-service sessions on using technology effectively.

Suzy Brooks has been a teacher in Falmouth, Massachusetts since receiving her graduate degree from Lesley University in 1999. Her uniqueness as a 3rd grade teacher lies in that which inspires her: computers, connections, and community service. A licensed Instructional Technology Specialist and a Girl Scout for 35 years, Suzy strives to make strong, positive connections with her students, their families, and her colleagues. It is through these relationships that she has found the encouragement to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for all things technical. Over the past few years, Suzy has been invited to present at MASSCUE conferences and symposiums, EdTechTeacher's Summer Workshop Series, Cache the Wave Summer programming, and dozens of workshops within her district. Workshop participants leave her sessions with a sharp focus on students and an inspired attitude towards technology. Regionally recognized as a teacher leader, Suzy was honored with the 2011 MassCUE Pathfinder Award, is a FableVision Ambassador and Discovery Educator Network STAR. Additionally, she serves on the Massachusetts ASCD Board of Directors, and the Discovery Education Leadership Council. Visit her classroom blog at http://blogs.falmouth.k12.ma.us/simplysuzy

Richard Byrne is best known in the educational technology community for his award-winning blog Free Technology for Teachers. On a daily basis, Richard’s blog reaches a subscriber base of more than 42,000 educators. In addition to writing Free Technology for Teachers, he writes a monthly column for School Library Journal, is a contributing author to What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media, has written for Teacher Librarian, and recently launched Android 4 Schools. Richard has presented at conferences and schools across North America, as his work is focused on sharing free web-based resources that educators can use to enhance their students’ learning experiences. Richard became a Google Certified Teacher in 2009, and in 2010, he was the runner-up for ACTEM’s (Association of Computer Teachers and Educators in Maine) educator of the year award. Tech & Learning Magazine named Richard one of their “people to watch” in their 100@30 30th Anniversary celebration (http://techlearning.com/article/26660). A high school social studies teacher for eight years before becoming a full-time writer and speaker, Richard stays involved in the classroom by teaching evening courses on a part-time basis. Richard lives and works in the greater Portland, Maine area.

Angela Cunningham (@kyteacher on Twitter) is a 10-year social studies educator in Kentucky who will serve as an assistant instructor in the June workshop.

Douglas Kiang is a technology integration specialist with over 15 years of teaching experience at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Tufts University and a Master's Degree in Technology in Education from Harvard. In 2007 he was one of two Massachusetts teachers to be honored as an Apple Distinguished Educator, recognizing his innovative work with iPods in the middle school curriculum. Currently, Douglas is a Technology Resource Teacher at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Erin McCloskey is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a graduate of the Learning and Teaching program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). At HGSE she researched online teacher professional development, focusing on the relationship between technologically-mediated learning and intercultural learning. Her dissertation is a qualitative investigation of how a internationally diverse group of English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers, in the context of an online professional development course, develop their intercultural competence and build capacity to foster similar skills in their classrooms. Erin received the University’s prestigious Presidential Fellowship upon admission into the doctoral program. She has taught professional development courses about sheltered instruction for ELLs through the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT; served as an advisor to pre-service secondary school teachers in the Boston Public Schools through the HGSE Teacher Education Program; advised HGSE faculty on the incorporation of technology in instruction; and served as a teaching fellow for several HGSE courses in the Technology, Innovation and Education program, including Teaching for Understanding with New Technologies, Emerging Educational Technologies, and Engagement and Motivation: Technologies that Invite and Immerse. She is the principal consultant on a project to develop online courses for Costa Rican Spanish-literacy teachers, in collaboration with Costa Rica’s leading distance university, La Universidad Estatal a Distancia, and Amigos del Aprendizaje, an NGO dedicated to promoting research-based literacy practices in Costa Rican public schools. Prior to doctoral studies, Erin was a high school Spanish teacher, EFL teacher, and language curriculum developer. She taught at two area independent high schools (Phillips Academy at Andover and Concord Academy), the public high school in Tyngsborough, MA, the Community Day Charter School in Lawrence, MA, and a public school outside of San José, Costa Rica, where she volunteered as an English teacher through the WorldTeach program. During her time at Concord Academy, Erin served as the Wilcox Fellow Mentor Teacher and was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study Caribbean-American trans-migration at the University of Puerto Rico. Erin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, where she got her A.B. in Comparative Literature (Spanish/English), and she received her Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard University.

Alycia Scott-Hiser is Academic Technology Director at the Noble and Greenough School. A lifelong artist whose original interest in technology was as a tool for making art, Ms. Scott-Hiser has been teaching media classes at both the high school and college level, starting in the early 90s when Adobe Photoshop and other digital imaging tools were brand new. For four years she developed and taught a variety of technology classes at a one-to-one laptop school in Boston. This experience broadened her interest in academic technology across the curriculum. During her years at Nobles she has facilitated various collaborative, content-based, multimedia projects by leveraging student interest and student facility with emerging technologies.

David Strasburger is Science Department Head, Physics Teacher, and Faculty Evaluation Member at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. Winner of the Vernon L. Greene award for Faculty Excellence, David has a long interest in thoughtful integration of technology into the classroom and on the delicate interface between new, constantly-evolving tools and a teacher's instructional style and goals. He has presented at several educational technology events, including the 2008 Teaching with New and Emerging Technologies Conference. A 20-year veteran teacher, David has taught biology, astronomy, and geometry in addition to Physics.