Research & Theory
Secretary:
Spencer Greenhalgh
University of Kentucky
My name is Spencer Greenhalgh, and I am an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky’s School of Information Science. I have a BA in French Teaching from Brigham Young University and a PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University.
I focus my research on learning and other meaningful practices in digital contexts—especially social media. This research has resulted in fourteen peer-reviewed journal articles (including three in AECT-affiliated journals), ten book chapters, and forty-five conference presentations and panels (including sixteen at AECT since 2015).
I am especially proud of a chapter on social media research methods in Dr. Enilda Romero-Hall's just-published book on Research Methods in Learning Design and Technology—not least because it demonstrates how instrumental the AECT community has been in helping me develop my research agenda. I wrote the chapter with colleagues who have published at AECT, the chapter is based on research projects that we've presented at AECT, and we couldn't have written it without the input, support, and feedback from other social media researchers here at—you guessed it—AECT.
Although the entire AECT community has been helpful in my career thus far, I am particularly indebted—and eager to give back—to the Research and Theory Division. As the chapter described above suggests, most of my research explores innovative methodological approaches to educational technology research. As new computational, data-driven, and automated methods are developed, scholars are faced with important questions about how to most efficiently and most ethically apply these methods. With its focus on research and theory, I know that RTD is well-placed to lead discussions around these questions for the benefit of the broader educational technology community, and I am eager to contribute to those discussions.
|