About

Maya Israel, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Educational Technology and Computer Science Education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida. She is the Director of both CSEveryone: The Kenneth C. Griffin CS for All Education initiative and the Creative Technology Research Lab. Dr. Israel's research focuses on K-12 computer science teacher education and strategies for supporting students with disabilities and other struggling learners' meaningful engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with emphases on computational thinking, computer science education, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She is currently PI on two NSF projects focused on pedagogical approaches that support all students in successfully accessing computing instruction. Her work is interdisciplinary and involves collaboration with researchers, teachers, and other school leaders.

Research Interests

At Risk and Related Issues, Data Collection and Analysis, Inclusion, Intervention, Mentoring, Middle School / Jr. High, Mild and Moderate Disabilities, Mixed Methods, Primary / Elementary, Professional Development, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Theoretical Perspectives, Urban Education

Education

• Ph.D. in Special Education, 2009 University of Kansas
• M.S.Ed. in Special Education, 2004 University of Kansas
• B.A. in Elementary Education, 2001 Ottawa University

Professional Appointments

• Associate Professor, Department of Educational Technology, School of Teaching and Learning, University of Florida, 2018 - Present
• Associate Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2017 - 2018
• Affiliate Appointment, Digital Environments for Learning, Teaching, and Agency (DELTA), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2015 - 2018
• Assistant Professor, Department of Special Education, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2012 - 2017

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Books / Book Chapters

• Billingsley, B. B., Brownell, M., Israel, M., & Kamman, M. (2013). The Beginning Special Education Teacher's Survival Guide. Jossey-Bass.

Other Publications

• Israel, M. (2019). Using assistive and instructional technologies. In J. McLuskey, L, Maheady, B. Billingsley, M. Brownell, & T. Lewis (Eds.) High Leverage Practices for Inclusive Classrooms. Routledge Publishing.
• Israel, M., Shehab, S., & Wherfel, Q. (2018). Increasing science learning and engagement for academically diverse students through scaffolded scientific inquiry and Universal Design for Learning. In M. Koomen, S. Kahn, C. Atchinson, & T. Wild (Eds.). Towards inclusion of all learners in science teacher education (pp. 201-211). Sense Publishing.
• National Framework Writing team including Israel, M. (2017). The role of research in the development and future of the Framework in K-12 Computer Science Framework, led by the Association of Computing Machinery, Code.org, Computer Science Teachers Association, Cyber Innovation Center, and National Math and Science Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.k12cs.org.
• Writing team including Israel, M. (2017). Practices including Computational Thinking in K-12 Computer Science Framework, led by the Association of Computing Machinery, Code.org, Computer Science Teachers Association, Cyber Innovation Center, and National Math and Science Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.k12cs.org.
• Israel, M., Ray, M. J., Maa, W. C., Jeong, G., Lee, C., Lash, T., & Do, V. (2018). School embedded and district-wide instructional coaching in K-8 computer science: Implications for including students with disabilities. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 26(3), 471-501.
• Ray, M., Israel, M., Lee, C., & Do, V. (2018). A cross-case analysis of instructional strategies to support participation of K-8 students with disabilities in CS for All. Proceedings of the 49th Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (900-905). ACM.
• Israel, M., Shehab, S., Wherfel, Q., Melvin, O., & Lash, T. (2017). Describing elementary students' interactions in K-5 puzzle-based computer science environments using the Collaborative Computing Observation Instrument (C-COI). In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (pp. 110-117). ACM.
• Israel, M., & Ray, M. (2017). Practical strategies for including students with learning and cognitive disabilities in K-8 computer science, CSTA Voice, 13(3), 6-7.
• Israel, M. Wherfel, Q., Shehab, S., Ramos, E., Metzger, A., & Reese, G. (2016). Assessing collaborative computing: Development of the Collaborative-Computing Observation Instrument (C-COI). Computer Science Education, 26(2-3), 208-233.