The EdTech Research Referee

https://vimeo.com/247739469

Dr. Damian Bebell hands out yellow cards to keep clients on the right pathHear more from Dr. Damian Bebell and other innovative analysts, thought leaders, and educators at the 2018 Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC), January 23-26 in Orlando, Florida. Learn more here.

Dr. Damian Bebell, who is currently the assistant research professor at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College, spends a great deal of time examining the effects of technology on administrators, teachers, and students. Like any good researcher, he is mindful never to let assumptions get in the way of data-driven facts.

So when he is consulting with an education institution about how they can most effectively use technology in their classrooms and communities, he and his colleagues gather data in the form of surveys of the stakeholders to see their actual needs. They determine how technology is currently being used and predict how it will be used moving forward in the future.

As the industry pivots away from refresh and lease cycles into more cloud-based device technology, Damian sees his role in the industry shifting. He sees an emphasis on making the schools and institutions he works with more self-sufficient when it comes to technology purchases and decisions.

As he puts it, his transition is taking him from someone who completely designs and conducts studies to more of a soccer referee on the sideline with red and yellow cards. If he’s working with a school and they say “It seems like class size is just as important as a device. Maybe let’s get rid of our one-to-one program and focus on class size,” He can serve them a yellow card and say, “You know, that’s an assumption; let’s test that by looking at the data source.”

About Damian Bebell

Damian is currently directing multiple studies investigating the effects of 1-to-1 technology programs on teaching and learning including collaborative research with the Boston Public Schools and the New York City Public Schools. His research interests include the development and refinement of methodological tools to document the impacts of educational technology on learning, education reform, testing, and 1-to-1 computing.

Damian has been invited to give keynote presentations at conferences and meetings both in the United States and internationally and has also served on a number of advisory boards. In 2010, Damian served as guest editor for a Special Issue of the Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment producing the first collection of peer-reviewed research studies emerging from 1:1 computing environments.

He received his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Boston College.

Follow Dr. Damian Bebell at the Lynch School of Education on Twitter

This interview was first published in The Huffington Post

AuthorDr. Berger is one of many industry education correspondents for the Mind Rocket Media Group, An educator and former school administrator. He often hosts education panel discussions and develops strategic content. As an academic Dr. Berger is a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. A former assistant principal, he has been an adjunct undergraduate professor and developer of online college courses. He is a passionate Detroit sports fan who has also adopted Nashville sports teams as his own. 

Contact the Mind Rocket Media Group if you are interested in an industry interview and a placement on EdCircuit.
Further Reading

1. The Spark – Amplify Your School’s Brand to Strengthen Community
2. EdSurge – How to Build Your Teacher Brand
3. TeachThought – 22 Apps To Make Videos In The Classroom