Advisory Board

The Center for Educational Innovation and Digital Learning utilizes a board of advisors who provide insight, direction, and feedback into the activity and effectiveness of the Center.  These individuals graciously give of their time, expertise and experience to ensure the Center’s success.  Assembled from around the globe, these individuals are the Center’s most valuable asset.


Members Include:

Edem Adubra
Chief of Section-Teacher Policy and Development, UNESCO


Edem joined UNESCO in 2003 as program specialist in the Division of Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education. before being appointed in his most current role as UNESCO’s Chief of Section for Teacher Policy and Development. Prior to his career at UNESCO, Dr. Adubra spent over 16 years working as a teacher, a teacher trainer, and a high school principal in Togo. Edem holds a doctorate in Educational Administration and Comparative and International Education from Pennsylvania State University.

 

Ken Evans
President, Lamar University


Prior to being Lamar University’s president, Evans served from 2007 to 2013 as dean of the College of Business at the University of Oklahoma and held the Fred E. Brown chair. He previously served as associate dean of graduate studies, assistant dean of undergraduate studies and chair of the marketing department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has worked in a variety of research, teaching and administration positions at Arizona State University, the University of Colorado and California State University, Sacramento.

 

Sean O Gradaigh
Lecturer, Coordinator of Mobile Technologies for Initial Teacher Education in the School of Education, National University of Ireland, Galway


Sean has extensive experience as a second level teacher of Geography, History and Gaeilge (Irish language) and has published innovative curricular iBooks on the iBookstore, designed, developed and manages the first fully integrated 1:1 iPad deployment in Initial Teacher Education in Europe (MGO ITE program in NUI Galway).

 

Rena Palloff
Author; Consultant; Professor, Doctorate in Social Work, Capella University


Co-author of the 1999 Frandson Award winning book Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom (1999), Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom (2001), The Virtual Student (2003), Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community (2005), Building Online Learning Communities: Strategies for the Virtual Classroom (2007), Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty (2009), The Excellent Online Instructor: Strategies for Professional Development (2011), and Lessons from the Virtual Classroom (2013).

 

Marci Powell
Consultant, Marci Powell & Associates


Marci has served as an advisor to public and private sectors in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.Ms. Powell serves on the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), USDLA Board of Directors, and EduAlliance board (UAE). Her work with organizations such as the European Distance and Elearning Network (EDEN), Internet2, Ankabut, The Masie Center LEARNING Consortium as well as with educational institutions, various ministries of education, and businesses helps drive high quality learning environments worldwide.

 

Bill Rankin
Consultant, Unfold Learning; Former Director of Learning at Apple, Inc.


Bill’s role at Apple was to provide strategic direction for Apple Education product development and service offerings globally. He personally oversaw end-to-end transformation of schools in multiple countries and has spoken extensively around the world.

Ian Jukes
Executive Director of the InfoSavvy Group, Founder of SpringBoard21.


A former professional football player (Canada), Ian has been a classroom teacher, a school administrator, a district administrator, and provincial administrator, a university instructor, an author, an international consultant, and a keynote speaker. Ian has worked with clients in more than 80 countries and made more than 12,000 presentations.

 

Robbie Melton
Professor of Educational Leadership, Tennessee State University; Associate Vice Chancellor, Tennessee Board of Regents


Robbie serves as the chief system-level administrator to oversee the Tennessee Board of Regents' initiatives for the Strategic Mobilization Planning, Mobilization Quality Assurances, Faculty and Student Use of Mobile Devices related to teaching, learning, training, and workforce development, and the coordination of research, product testing, pilots and secure networks.

 

Steve Molyneux
Co-Founder, Tablet Academy; Former Microsoft Chair of Advanced Learning Technologies at the University of Wolverhampton


Steve spent 16 years in the multimedia and education industry working for ATARI, AriolaSoft and the German Ministry of Education and Science. In 1991, together with John Rodgers of TIME Inc, Steve founded the European Multimedia Awards, which have become the premiere awards event in the UK. As the Microsoft Chair of Advanced Learning Technologies, Steve founded and directed The Learning Lab for research into digital learning technologies. Products included one of the first Virtual Learning Environments.

 

Paul Resta
Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Texas


Paul served as the Founding President of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the world’s largest educational technology organization, and also served as President of the International Council for Computers in Education. Paul currently serves as the President of the International Jury for the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education.

 

Adrian Sannier
Chief Academic Technology Officer for ASU Online and a Professor of Practice in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Engineering at Arizona State University


Adrian is part of the ASU team pursuing general education reform that Inside Higher Education called "ground zero for data-driven teaching in higher education", combining Big Data, social networking, and evidence based instruction to drive better student outcomes at scale.

 

Kaye Shelton
Professor of Educational Leadership, College of Education & Human Development, Lamar University; former Dean of Online Education, Dallas Baptist University


As Dean of Online Education for Dallas Baptist University, Kaye led in the development of an online education program that grew to 55 fully online degrees. Kaye is the creator of the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs and is an active researcher of quality in other aspects of digital learning, having recently completed scorecards in blended learning and online pedagogy.

 

Robert J. Spina
Dean, College of Education & Human Development, Lamar University


Before assuming his current position at LU in 2013., Dr. Spina served on the faculty of Old Dominion University as professor and department chair in Department of Human Movement Sciences; interim associate dean for undergraduate education, College of Education; and interim department chair, Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Professional Studies, Darden College of Education.