Randall Dunn has dabbled in multiple disciplines within the field of education, notably special education, educational technology, and theories of leadership and learning. He earned his doctorate from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom with primary research in how professional educators form communities in online environments. His master's degree is in the area of special education, focusing on transition services for mild disabilities. He also holds a teaching licensure in 4-8 regular education and special education (mental retardation, learning disabilities, emotional disturbance). He has taught in both regular and special education classrooms and has enjoyed working with children of all learning abilities and needs. Randall spent five years working as a project manager in the software development industry, using the latest in technology. This strengthened his primary research interest - the use of technology in educational organizations. He has performed original research in the area of online communication and professional educator virtual community formation. Randall has recently taken on the role of coordinating the newly created M.Ed. program in educational technology. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in educational technology, post-secondary transition for students with special needs, teaching social studies in the elementary school, historical and philosophical foundations of education, and middle education curriculum.
Scholarly Presentations
Animation Overrides, Prims And Student Teaching: Managing And Collaborating With Undergraduate Teacher Candidates In Multi-User Virtual Environments, The Clute Institute Academic Conference 2012 (2012)
The mid-two thousands hinged the future of education on the use of multi-user virtual environments....
Motivating Students to Learn: Is There a Difference between Traditional Books and e-Books? (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and David Holder), Faculty Publications and Presentations (2011)
Electronic books have been identified as a current trend in education and are being increasingly...
Entering the Virtual Teachers' Lounge: Social Connectedness amoung Professional Educators in Virtual Environment, Educational Social Software for Context-Aware Learning: Collaboration Methods and Human Interaction (2010)
Of Student Teachers and Avatars: Working Towards an Effective Model for Geographically Distributed Learning Communities of Pre-Service Educators Using Virtual Worlds. (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw, David Holder, and Deborah Hodgson), Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
With greater distribution of learning communities through the expanding use of online and distance learning,...
SharePoint Collaboration: Streamlining the Dissertation Process for Online Students (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and David Holder), Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
In the era of Web 2.0, document editors and collaborative workspaces have emerged. Primary functions...
Scholarly Publications
Students' Perceptions of Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance the Social and Cognitive Aspects of Learning: Audio and Video Enhanced Wiki Texts and Second Life Discussions in Teacher and Counselor Education (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and David Holder), Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw (2011)
As a generation of technologically savvy learners enters institutions of higher education, expectations are increasing...
Using Open Source Technologies to Increase Teacher Immediacy and Presence (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and David Holder), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (2011)
Attrition rates in distance education teacher education programs is a concern for university administrators and...
Entering the Virtual Teachers' Lounge: Social Connectedness Among Professional Educators in Virtual Environments, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
As communication and connection are essential instruments for professional educators, this chapter seeks to examine...
Audio-visual Student Created Wiki Textbooks (with Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw and David Holder), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2010 (2010)
This tech-savvy generation of students, known as digital natives, desires to learn and to interact...
Overcoming Challenges in Learning Communities and Second Life (with David Holder and Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw), ISTE (2010)
The educational scholarly community has identified Second Life (and virtual worlds in general) as harboring...
Professional Presentations
iPads and Reading Instruction, Piedmont Area Reading Council Meeting (2013)
A language arts-based presentation to the PARC.
iPads and Autism: Developing Sound Approaches (with Amanda Szapkiw), VSTE Annual Conference 2012 (2012)
This presentation looks at the use of iPads with children and young people on the...
Connecting Students and Educational Products: Pedagogy, Documents and Collaboration (with David E. Holder), Liberty Christian Academy Educator’s Conference (2012)
Encouraging Digitally-Based Social Science Skills: Using Mobile Technologies in Social Studies Classrooms (with David E. Holder), VSTE Annual Conference (2011)
This session will review approaches and tools inherent in the mobile learning category useful for...
Community Presentations
Using Clickers in Higher Education, Center fo Teaching Excellence Faculty Technology Boot Camp (2012)
Using Smart Boards in Higher Education, Center for Teaching Excellence Faculty Technology Boot Camp (2012)
Unpublished Manuscripts
Entering the Virtual Teacher’s Lounge: The Efficacy of Community in Computer-Mediated Communication Based Environments for Professional Educators, Faculty Dissertations (2008)
This study seeks to illuminate an understanding of naturally forming online communities of professional educators...
Professional Development and Educational Technology Integration, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2004)
This paper examines a structure for the implementation of technological innovations using business approaches to...
Can Virtual Teacher Communities be a Reality?, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2003)
In this paper I will discuss the effects of online communication on social connectivity and...
An Examination of Online Qualitative Research Methods, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2002)
This paper is meant as an exploration into possible approaches to answering the following research...