PROJECT VOISS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor
• Educational Technology Strategist View Bio

Adam Carreon is an assistant professor of special education in the Department of Elementary and Special Education at Georgia Southern University. He specializes in instructional design, technology, and innovation for the classroom. Carreon's research interests include the use of emerging technology to provide effective instructional, adaptive and social emotional intervention and assistance. Specifically, the use of augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and extended reality to enhance the classroom for students with disabilities. Carreon's experiences range from elementary to secondary special education, as well as the college classroom. He travels to many local, state, and national conferences working with and presenting to teachers on innovations to support all learners, especially those with disabilities. Adam can be reached via email at acarreon@georgiasouthern.edu.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Research Professor With the Center for Research
• Co - Principle Investigator
• Co - Principle Investigator View Bio

Amber Rowland, PhD, is an Assistant Research Professor with the Center for Research on Learning and Co-Director of the Advanced Learning Technologies (ALTEC) Division. She specializes in collaborative, practical and engaging adult professional learning with an emphasis on current instructional practice and the powerful integration of technology. She is particularly interested in supporting professional learning at a distance and is constantly pursuing methods for tapping into the collective capacity of educators and students. She serves as a Co-Principal Investigator on the Office of Special Education and Policy (OSEP)-funded, Stepping Up grant, called VOISS, which is building a virtual reality environment to teach students social competency skills and the teacher progress monitoring and professional learning needed to implement and generalize learned skills to the physical classroom. In addition, she is a Co-Investigator on the IES-funded grant called Personal Selves + Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction project, as well as Co-Director of the Literacy Network of Kansas, Virtual Coaching program. Her experiences range from Kindergarten to the college classroom where she has taught at multiple levels, both face-to-face and online. She has served as a technology integration specialist, project manager for the Technology Rich Classroom, Title IID initiative in Kansas, an instructor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas, and the director of multiple federal, state, and local initiatives. Dr. Rowland travels to local, state and national venues and conferences working with teachers on digital-age instruction and the general integration of technology to support all learners, especially those who struggle. In 2008, Amber was recognized as one of the 20 emerging leaders in education technology by the National School Boards Association "20 to Watch" initiative and in 2016, she was recognized as a Kansas University, Woman of Distinction.

Job Titles:

• Co - Principle Investigator
• Co - Principle Investigator View Bio

Bruce Frey, Ph.D. was trained at the University of Kansas in the areas of statistics, measurement and research design. His areas of research include classroom assessment, instrument development and program evaluation. Dr. Frey is the author of several books, including Statistics Hacks and Modern Classroom Assessment. He co-edited the Encyclopedia of Research Design. In terms of measurement instruments, Dr. Frey is a co-author of the widely used Levels of Collaboration Scale (utilized in program evaluations) and the Spirituality Index of Well-Being. Dr. Frey has won many teaching awards at the School and University level, including the ING Professor of Excellence Award, given annually by the University of Kansas to a faculty member for outstanding performance in the classroom and commitment to the profession.

Job Titles:

• Lead Programmer
• Lead Programmer View Bio

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Ehrlich taught as an associate professor at Western Illinois University, School of Computer Sciences, since 2010 in Macomb, IL. There, he specialized in data visualization, visual analytics, sport data computation and analysis, machine learning, computer graphics, virtual reality, server-side development, languages and technology. He taught several courses such as Topics of Computer Science: Data Visualization, Operating Systems, Advanced Computer Graphics, Server-Side Development, and served as chair of the Council for Instructional Technology and chair of the IT Governance Executive Committee. He previously worked as an AViSSS (Animated Visual Supports for Social Skills) lead software developer for the University of Kansas and has held roles such as ASP.net developer for Nomise Systems and lead developer for HSSportsTV.net, both in Wichita, KS. Ehrlich has published several papers in sport data visualization and analysis in Public Choice, Mathematical Social Sciences, Games, and the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sport. He has conducted many talks and live demonstrations on sport data computation, visualization, and analysis that incorporate use of Tableau (with VizQL), R, Python, and D3. Ehrlich's research has received support from the U.S. Department of Education, the U3E, and from Falk College. He was awarded the Moore Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from the University of Kansas School of Engineering, the Provost's Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching with Technology from Western Illinois University, and several awards from WIU's College of Business and Technology. Ehrlich earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Kansas in 2010. His dissertation was titled, "The Effect of Desktop Illumination Realism on Presence and Generalization in a Virtual Learning Environment." He also holds a computer science M.S. earned in 2007 from Wichita State University, and an accounting and business administration B.B.A., earned in 2004 from Friends University in Wichita, KS.

Job Titles:

• Social Skill Content Strategist and Doctoral Fellow
• Social Skill Content Strategist and Doctoral Fellow View Bio

Maggie Mosher, M.S.S.L. is a Chancellor's Doctoral Fellow in the Special Education Department at the University of Kansas. She specializes in social skill instruction, assistive technology, multisensory instructional methods, tiered systems of supports, and universal design for learning. Mosher is particularly interested in the role interoception plays in social skill development. Her experiences range from Preschool through Master's level student instruction, both face-to-face and online. Upon receiving the William E. Simon Fellowship in 2005, Mosher joined a team that opened a school in Gardner, Kansas which implemented the MTSS framework. Passionate about fully including all learners in a variety of school systems, Mosher worked as a special education teacher for six years in the public-school system and five years in the private school system before becoming a private school administrator for five years. She has worked on the implementation of programs such as Reach Out and Read at children's clinics in New Mexico and the Dreams Program in inner-city schools in Ohio. Founder of Music in the Schools in Our Nation (MiSioN) and project SMILE, which partners at-risk elementary students with assisted living residents, Mosher went on to become the Executive Director of a nonprofit she co-founded (EMBRACE) which provides free special education staff and related service providers to Catholic schools in Kansas. Mosher left EMBRACE in 2019 to pursue her research goals at the University of Kansas. To date, Mosher has trained 52 school districts in North America and 12 internationally on instructional best practices. Maggie is a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), and Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN). In 2005, Maggie was named the Horizon Award Recipient for the State of Kansas, in 2010 she was awarded the Kansas Intervention Specialist of the Year, and in 2013 became the recipient of TASN's (Technical Assistance System Network) Special Educator Award.

Job Titles:

• Principal Investigator View Bio
• Principle Investigator

Sean J. Smith, Ph.D., is the Principal Investigator for Project VOISS and a Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas. He is also the President of the technology division for the Council for Exceptional Children, Innovations in Special Education Technology (ISET), and a member of the Board for the National Down syndrome Congress. Dr. Smith's research interests focus on innovations and technology solutions to support struggling learners and those with disabilities, particularly interventions aligned with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework. Sean has authored over 100 books and articles, given hundreds of scholarly presentations both nationally and internationally, and serves on various boards for journals, organizations, and parent groups focused on enhancing the lives of individuals with disabilities. Dr. Smith, with a variety of collaborators, has received and managed over $25 million of external research and development funds. On a personal note, Sean and his wife are the proud parents of four children, with the oldest son, Nolan, having Down syndrome. Nolan, and his siblings, continue to instruct Sean on the needs of individuals, the variability in all learners, and how effective interventions can make a difference in the lives of all students. Sean can be reached via email at seanj@ku.edu or by phone at 785.312.4485.