Educational Technology Leadership - Faculty
Faculty members are university and field-based professionals who have extensive experience in school, school district, state, and national level positions.
Natalie Milman, Ph.D. University of Virginia
Program Coordinator of the Educational Technology
Leadership Program
Associate Professor of Educational Technology with a joint appointment between the departments of Educational Leadership, Teacher Preparation and Special Education
Natalie B. Milman, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Curriculum and Instruction at The George Washington University. She holds a joint appointment between the Educational Technology Leadership and Curriculum and Instruction/Secondary Education programs. Dr. Milman earned her doctorate in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education with a graduate specialization designed to prepare technology leaders. Prior to joining GWU, she was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia. Also, she has taught at the elementary school level as a second grade, a science specialist, mentor, and technology teacher in Los Angeles County, California. Her current research interests include the use of digital portfolios for professional development, student engagement and learning through online discussions, strategies for the integration of technology into the curriculum, and models for effective technology education. She has published several articles and presented at numerous conferences. She has co-authored two books about digital portfolios. She is also the co-editor of the Current Practices Section of the journal, "Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education," and is an officer in two Special Interest Groups of the American Educational Research Association: 1) Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning and 2) Portfolios and Reflection in Teaching and Teacher Education.
Michael Corry, Ph.D. Indiana University
Associate Professor of Educational Technology Leadership
Dr. Corry is intimately involved with course design and delivery as well as management of this pioneering program delivered via distance education at GWU. Dr. Corry's research interests include distance learning theory, practice and policy, faculty development using technology, E-learning, the integration of technology into K-12 and higher education settings, instructional design and human-computer interaction. He has been the principal investigator on two U.S. Department of Education grants involving "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology." He has numerous publications and presentations involving his research interests including three books - "The E-Learning Companion: A Student's Guide to Online Success (1st, 2nd and 3rd Editions)" published originally by Houghton Mifflin and now by Wadsworth/Cengage and "Distance Education: What Works Well" published by Haworth Press. He has also designed and delivered workshops involving technology and E-learning. Dr. Corry holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Instructional Systems Technology. Before coming to GWU he taught at Indiana University and high school in Utah and was an Information Systems Consultant for Andersen Consulting/Accenture.
Stephen C. Ehrmann, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Ehrmann is Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at George Washington University, as well as Associate Professor of Educational Technology Leadership. His research interests include strategies for accelerating the spread of powerful teaching-learning practices and improving the outcomes of academic programs; program evaluation strategies; online learning; cost modeling, and scalable strategies for using technology to support learning.
As a grant-maker Dr. Ehrmann supported many pioneering projects including some of the first online degree programs, the first major multimedia databases for research and teaching, pioneering approaches to faculty development, and new approaches to program evaluation. He founded the Flashlight Program for Evaluating and Improving Educational Uses of Technology and directed it until 2010. As Vice President of the non-profit Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group, he consulted with hundreds of colleges and universities around the world.
He has co-authored several books (e.g., Learning to Design, Designing to Learn: Using Technology to Transform the Curriculum and Valuable, Viable Software: Case Studies and Analysis) and has written many influential articles, including "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever," (with Arthur Chickering) and "Asking the Right Questions: What Research Tells us about Technology and Higher Learning." Recently he wrote, "Improving Higher Learning by Taking the Long View: Ten Recommendations about Time, Money, Learning, and Technology," which was published in Change Magazine and then reprinted in Planning for Higher Education.
Ryan Watkins, Ph.D. Florida State University
Associate Professor of Educational Technology Leadership
Ryan Watkins, Ph.D. is an associate professor with the Educational Technology Leadership program at The George Washington University. He received his doctoral degree from Florida State University in Instructional Systems Design with a research focus on needs assessments. He has additional formal training in both change management, program evaluation, and Website design. Dr. Watkins has designed and taught courses (both online and in the classroom) in areas of instructional design, needs assessment, system analysis and design, research methods, as well as technology management. He is an author of the top selling E-learning Companion: A learner’s guide to online success (Wadsworth, 2005, 2007, 2010), the Handbook for Improving Performance in the Workplace (Wiley, 2010), Performance By Design: The systematic selection, design, and development of performance technologies (HRD Press, 2006), and 75 E-learning Activities: Making online courses interactive (Pfieffer, 2005). In addition, he has co-authored two books on educational planning and more than 65 articles on instructional design, strategic planning, needs assessment, distance education, and performance technology. In 2005/2006 Dr. Watkins was also a visiting researcher (IPA) at the National Science Foundation. Previously, he worked as an assistant professor of instructional technology and distance education at Nova Southeastern University and before that he was a member of the research faculty at Florida State University.
Lya Visser, Ph.D. University of Twente, The Netherlands
Adjunct Professor of Educational Technology at George Washington University and Director of Human Development at the Learning Development Institute (USA and France).
Lya Visser, Ph.D. is an adjunct professor of educational technology at George Washington University and is director of Human Development at the Learning Development Institute (USA and France). Dr. Visser is Dutch and has worked in a variety of developing countries, mostly under challenging circumstances. She earned her doctorate in Educational Science and Technology from the University of Twente, The Netherlands. She did her doctoral research with the University of London, focusing on motivation and communication. Her dissertation in English was translated into Spanish and was published by the University of Guadalajara (Mexico). Before joining the ETL program, Lya was program professor at Nova Southeastern University. Her current interest is in the area of critical thinking, international education, motivation and communication. Dr. Visser has been a presenter at many international conferences and has published articles in open and peer reviewed journals. She is currently the international editor for the Quarterly Review of Distance Education (USA) and adviser for distance learning with the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi).
GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) is ranked highly in the U.S. News and World Report for online graduate education programs in 2012 - #8 for admissions selectivity, #30 for student engagement and accreditation, and #40 for student services and technology.