Department and Faculty Highlights
Department of Curriculum & Instruction (EDCI)
Dr. Spencer Benson (Director of the Center of Teaching Excellence and Affiliate Associate Professor in EDCI) spent November 17 to December 2, 2007 studying science education in Taiwan. The work as funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Education. He was hosted by the Taiwan National Normal University. The project involved visiting six Taiwan universities and several high schools to observe how science is taught and identify the critical issues in STEM education. His report to the Ministry of Education highlighted the similarity of the STEM education issues that both the US and Taiwan face despite different educational institutional structures.
Dr. Dianne Bradley (Lecturer, EDCI and Director, Creative Initiatives in Teacher Education) is the volunteer coordinator for all of the Maryland families and high school exchange students with Youth for Understanding USA. This is a wonderful opportunity for cultural exchange for both the students and the families. The students love living in the DC area and attending the multi-cultural high schools in this area. Many of them visit colleges and universities while they are here. She and her husband have hosted 10 high school exchange students from a variety of countries—Germany, Japan, China, Greece and Russia over the last 15 years and subsequently have visited all those countries. Two of their “children” are currently attending college in the U.S.—one undergraduate at Azusa University in California and one working on a Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. Their host daughter from China will attend college in the US next year. Together, she and her husband have attended three weddings in three different countries and have learned much about others’ cultures over the years.
Dr. Mariam Jean Dreher (Professor, Reading) has been conducting on going research with Dr. Riitta-Liisa Korkeamäki of the University of Oulu, Finland on Finnish early literacy instruction, particularly as it applies to informational text and teachers' implementation of the new national curriculum framework. Dr. Dreher was a Fulbright Senior Specialist to the University of Oulu in April 2006.
Dr. Jim Greenberg (Dean’s Office; EDCI) is currently Chair of the College International Committee and Project Director for our GATE Fellows Program, funded by the Longview Foundation to enhance global dimensions in teacher education. Jim has been a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Pretoria, and was recently named Profesor Emerito at the Universidad Tecnológica Equinnoccial in Quito, Ecuador. He has worked extensively in South Africa and South America over the past 15 years, and has been a Regional Secretary for North America and co-conference convener for the International Society for Teacher Education. In April, Jim will be a keynote Speaker at the ISTE Seminar at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. In May and June, Jim will teach a course in The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, International Study of Teaching and Learning Environments, as part of a new College Alumni Board initiative involving students and alumni mentors traveling and learning together.
Dr. David Imig (Professor of Practice, Interim Associate Chair) is currently a consultant on teacher education with Naruto University of Education in Nakashima-Takushima, Japan. Dr. Imig will attend the Board Meeting and World Assembly for the International Council for Education and Teaching (ICET) at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal in July 2008.
Dr. J. Randy McGinnis (Professor, Science Education) served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for nearly four years as a teacher in Swaziland, Africa as a newly graduated college student. More recently, he was selected as a GATE Fellow to promote a global perspective in his science methods courses. Dr. McGinnis is also an editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) which has an international readership.
Dr. Rebecca Oxford (Professor, Second Language Education and Culture) is a Senior Fellow of the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland. She has presented her research in 50 countries and on all continents except Antarctica and has ongoing research relationships with colleagues in China, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, and Germany. She has authored books, including Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know, Patterns of Cultural Identity, the forthcoming Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies, and others; served as series editor for the Tapestry English program, currently in North American, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and Japanese editions; and edited books, including Language Learning Strategies around the World: Cross-cultural Perspectives, Language Learning Motivation: Pathways to the New Century, and others. She is excited to be editing an international book on the "multilevel language of peace" for Dr. Jing Lin's Peace Education Series and, with Dr. Lin, is working to integrate East and West in a major undergraduate course.
Dr. Jennifer Turner (Assistant Professor, Reading) is also an a part of the inaugural group of GATE Fellows. Her work currently focuses on multicultural materials for children and young adult readers to which she aims to bring a more international/global focus in teaching and teacher education.
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