Multiple University of Florida Faculty Honored with AECT Awards

Faculty and students from the University of Florida College of Education were honored with awards across Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) subdivisions. AECT Systems Thinking and Change (STC), AECT Division of Distance Learning (DDL) and AECT Culture, Learning and Technology (CLT) recognized articles and projects by researchers in our School of Teaching and Learning published in the last year. AECT is the leading organization for researchers engaged in instructional design, and awards reflect the high-quality, innovative work taking place in the college.

“AECT is the premier research organization for Educational Technology,” said Alyson Adams, director of the School of Teaching and Learning (STL). “I’m so impressed with the number of awards our faculty and doctoral students received this year. Our Ed Tech, Computer Science Education, and IALT faculty are truly movers and shakers within this organization, and represent UF so well.”

Rob Moore, Ph.D., received the Charles M. Reigeluth Emerging Researcher Award. This award, given by the STC Division, recognizes scholars who are early in their careers and “whose work is emerging as important to the field of systemic change, diffusion of innovations, systems theory or change management.” Moore’s work includes a recent publication in Distance Education, which introduces the concept of academic mesocredentials for integrating massive open online courses (MOOCs) within the higher education system and builds off of Reigeluth’s work on chaos theory.

“Systems thinking and diffusion of innovation are important frameworks guiding my research. So being recognized by the AECT’s Systems Thinking and Change Division with this award is both a humbling and affirming feeling,” said Moore. “It is touching to receive an award named after a living legend, Dr. Charles Reigeluth, whose thinking has been pivotal in my scholarship — particularly in my research on the MOOC ecosystem. I’m excited to continue developing an innovative research program that influences systems thinking and the broader field of instructional design and technology.”

Adams commended Moore for his award, saying “we could not be more proud” of him for receiving an “emerging scholar award from this international organization.”

Matthew Schmidt, Ph.D., and Kimberly Driscoll, Ph.D., received the DDL Division Crystal Award for Diabetes Journey, a mHealth intervention for adolescents. Using gamified elements in a theme park setting, Diabetes Journey presents lessons to young people with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) to enhance their self-management skills related to stress, burnout and executive dysfunction. Learning objectives are later reinforced via telehealth sessions with a trained therapist.

“The whole team was very excited to learn that the DDL Division honored Diabetes Journey this year,” commented Schmidt. “This work is cutting edge in how we applied human-centered learning design for working with a vulnerable population, which we feel is an important contribution to the EdTech field. We are very encouraged by the positive feedback about Diabetes Journey, both from those who use it and from the DDL Division.”

Albert Ritzhaupt, Ph.D., and coauthors were also recognized by the DDL Division for their quantitative analysis of research on the impact of distance and online learning published in Educational Research Review. Their findings on the effectiveness of online learning for achieving learning outcomes provide needed evidence about virtual education for policymakers and practitioners.

Congratulations again to all awardees.