Faculty and Staff | Learning Technologies

angel

Angelica Pazurek

Teaching Associate Professor

Dr. Angel Pazurek leads the Learning Technologies undergraduate minor program and teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses. Her scholarship focuses on critical digital pedagogy and learning design in adult and higher education. Her current research interests include learner engagement in online environments, the use of social media for connected learning in online college courses, and international initiatives in open and distance learning. Angel serves as the country director for the midwest region of the United States for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association. She also serves on the board of directors for the Association for Educational Communication and Technology, is an associate editor for eLearn Magazine, and is a member of the editorial advisory board for the Asian Journal of Distance Education.

Cassie

Cassie Scharber

Associate Professor

Dr. Cassie Scharber the Director of the L+T Collaborative, and the Assistant Dean of Professional and Online Education in the College of Education and Human Development. Her research interests span the fields of learning sciences and literacy including areas of technology integration; computer science education; (critical) digital literacies; and online teaching and learning. She is committed to community-engaged projects and scholarship. With her LTC colleagues, she engages in long-term research-practice partnerships with K-12 schools in Minnesota. Cassie is also a recipient of the Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology.

George

George Veletsianos

Professor

Dr. Veletsianos is a professor in the program and holds the Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology. He has been in the learning technologies space for nearly 20 years and has worked in the US, UK, Canada, as well as consulted with for-profit and non-profit organizations around the world. His research focuses on three areas: (1) design, development, and evaluation of online and blended learning environments , (2) the study of learning experiences with emerging technologies, and (3) learning futures. In these contexts, he studies learners’ and faculty experiences with online learning, flexible education, networked scholarship, and emerging technologies and pedagogical practices.

meyer

Lexie Meyer

Online Learning Coordinator 

Lexie Meyer is an Online Learning Coordinator at the L+T Collaborative. After obtaining her Masters in Elementary Education, she began teaching elementary online. After 3 years of teaching virtually, she joined researchers at the University of Minnesota to create the Learner Presence Project. This project was created to help overcome problems of practice seen in K-12 virtual learning. Lexie now uses research done at the L+T Collaborative to create a series of whole group and individual lessons specifically targeted to help these complex problems unique to online learning. She provides these intervention techniques to a partnered K-12 MN online school. 

Dr_Bruna

Bruna Damiana Heinsfeld 

Assistant Professor

Dr. Heinsfeld was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She holds a master’s degree in Education, focusing on digital languages and technology, and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, concentrating on learning design and technology. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in the Learning Technologies program. Alongside her academic journey, she has a career spanning over 10 years in instructional design and is a certified project manager specializing in e-learning projects. Throughout her academic and industry careers, she has collaborated with multicultural teams in numerous countries, including Brazil, the United States, Serbia, the Philippines, India, China, France, and Portugal. Her main research interests are critical perspectives on educational technology, and conceptions and discourses about technology in education.