Ed tech researcher cited for innovations in online learning

Posted: December 9, 2009

Cathy Cavanaugh, associate professor in education technology at UF’s College of Education, has received international recognition for advancing innovative online learning in public primary schools.

Cavanaugh received one of the inaugural Online Innovator Awards presented recently by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). The organization has more than 2,500 members worldwide—including education and school administrators, practitioners and students involved in online learning.

She was honored for “important research furthering the advancement of K-12 e-learning.” Her edited book, Development and Management of Virtual Schools, published in 2004, was one of the first scholarly books about virtual schooling. Cavanaugh also has written chapters about distance education for Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Encyclopedia of Human Development and the Handbook of Distance Education. Her two most recent edited books highlight effective practices in K-12 online learning and trace the early stories of state virtual schools.

“Dr. Cavanaugh’s publications and studies are cited in the literature and online as an important contribution to understanding the emerging realm of virtual schools,” said Kara Dawson, associate professor and program coordinator in education technology.

UF researchers led by Cavanaugh and Dawson have partnered with 29 Florida school districts to assess and improve online teaching tools and classroom technology. In a partnership with Orlando-based Florida Virtual School, They also oversee UF’s five-week, supervised student-teaching internships in the online learning environment.

Cavanaugh authored a white paper, published in May by the by the Center for American Progress, on the educational and cost-saving benefits of virtual schooling that generated nationwide news coverage and scholarly citations. National media outlets reporting her findings included the Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor, Tampa Tribune, eSchool News, and the National Center for Technology Innovation Web site.

Cavanaugh is now gearing up for the planned launch in spring 2010 of the first peer-review research journal in virtual schooling, to be called the International Journal of K-12 Online and Blended Learning. Cavanaugh and former UF education faculty member Richard Ferdig, now at Kent State University, will serve as co-editors.

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CONTACTS

   SOURCE: Catherine Cavanaugh, (352) 273-4176; cathycavanaugh@coe.ufl.edu

   WRITER: Larry Lansford, COE News & Publications; (352) 273-4137; llansford@coe.ufl.edu