When interviewing Associate Professor Michael Russell here in Boston College, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he did not take his first computer class until Grade 11 in High School and did not become interested in technology until he was 22 years old. I immediately thought of other late starters such as Greg Gorman who did not pick up a golf club until he was 15 or the Irish tenor Ronan Tynan whose singing career only started after age 35. This just goes to show as Mike has indicated that “it’s never too late to try your hand at something new.” In fact the subjects that interested him in school in his home town Rochester, New York were not technology but history and social studies. He went on to major in US History in Brown University with a focus on US Foreign Policy. It was only after college at age 22 when he was working for a financial consulting firm and had to build a large model to help an institution with long term planning that he developed a keen interest in technology and realized he had a flair for same. The interesting thing is that the technology he learnt was mostly self-taught, especially in his earlier years.
He completed both his Masters and Ph.D. Degrees in Boston College; his Masters in Secondary Education (1994) and his Ph.D. in Educational, Research, Measurement and Evaluation/ERME (1999). It was when completing his Ph.D. as a Graduate Assistant and later as a Research Associate that he became associated with the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) and found a valuable mentor there in the area of technology/ testing and student drawings by the name of Professor Walt Haney. Mike’s early research has led to innovations in the marketplace, particularly around computer-based testing and accommodations. Now a Senior Research Associate in CSTEEP, Director of inTASC (Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative) in BC, and Associate ERME/LSOE Professor since March 2005, Mike’s research interests lie mainly at the intersection of technology, assessment and learning. In summary his technological research “include applications of technology to testing; relationships among school district support of technology; classroom use of technology; and impacts of technology on students and their learning.”
Mike has written numerous articles on these related subjects and directs several projects in CSTEEP including some which are well publicized such as: eLearning for Educators; JTLA (Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment); The Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative; Diagnostic Geometry Assessment/DGA; Optimizing the Impact of Online Professional Development/OPD; An Alpha Smart for Each Student; Diagnostic Algebra Assessment; Talking Tactile Tablet; and numerous smaller scale projects. Let me expand on a few of the above to understand the scope of these projects. The primary aim of the eLearning for Educators Study conducted throughout eight states is to evaluate the impact of online professional development on both teacher quality but more importantly on students’ academic achievement. This study is still underway, starting 3 years ago and reports will be broadcast next year and already anxiously awaited. The blind and visually impaired benefited when the computer-based Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT) was examined as a test accommodation in one of Mike’s projects, taking the TTT’s original use of map/sign reading up a notch. Mike has also developed a Diagnostic Geometry Assessment Tool that can be given from any internet connected computer and is capable of given immediate feedback to teachers on the understanding their students have of Geometry and the problems/ misconceptions that are holding them back.
He completed both his Masters and Ph.D. Degrees in Boston College; his Masters in Secondary Education (1994) and his Ph.D. in Educational, Research, Measurement and Evaluation/ERME (1999). It was when completing his Ph.D. as a Graduate Assistant and later as a Research Associate that he became associated with the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) and found a valuable mentor there in the area of technology/ testing and student drawings by the name of Professor Walt Haney. Mike’s early research has led to innovations in the marketplace, particularly around computer-based testing and accommodations. Now a Senior Research Associate in CSTEEP, Director of inTASC (Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative) in BC, and Associate ERME/LSOE Professor since March 2005, Mike’s research interests lie mainly at the intersection of technology, assessment and learning. In summary his technological research “include applications of technology to testing; relationships among school district support of technology; classroom use of technology; and impacts of technology on students and their learning.”
Mike has written numerous articles on these related subjects and directs several projects in CSTEEP including some which are well publicized such as: eLearning for Educators; JTLA (Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment); The Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative; Diagnostic Geometry Assessment/DGA; Optimizing the Impact of Online Professional Development/OPD; An Alpha Smart for Each Student; Diagnostic Algebra Assessment; Talking Tactile Tablet; and numerous smaller scale projects. Let me expand on a few of the above to understand the scope of these projects. The primary aim of the eLearning for Educators Study conducted throughout eight states is to evaluate the impact of online professional development on both teacher quality but more importantly on students’ academic achievement. This study is still underway, starting 3 years ago and reports will be broadcast next year and already anxiously awaited. The blind and visually impaired benefited when the computer-based Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT) was examined as a test accommodation in one of Mike’s projects, taking the TTT’s original use of map/sign reading up a notch. Mike has also developed a Diagnostic Geometry Assessment Tool that can be given from any internet connected computer and is capable of given immediate feedback to teachers on the understanding their students have of Geometry and the problems/ misconceptions that are holding them back.
I enjoyed my conversation with Mike and found his technological research interesting.
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