Michael Spector is a Professor and Former Chair of Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas. He was previously Professor of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, Doctoral Program Coordinator for the Learning, Design, and Technology Program, and a Research Scientist at the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Previously, he was Associate Director of the Learning Systems Institute, Professor of Instructional Systems, and Principal Investigator for the International Center for Learning, Education and Performance Systems at Florida State University. He served as Chair of Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation at Syracuse University and Director of the Educational Information Science and Technology Research Program at the University of Bergen. He earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on intelligent support for instructional design, assessing learning in complex domains, and technology integration in education. Dr. Spector served on the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi) as Executive Vice President; he is a Past President of the Association for Educational and Communications Technology as well as a Past Chair of the Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning Special Interest Group of AERA; he is also an active member of AERA’s Instructional Technology and Learning and Technology SIGs. He is editor of Educational Technology Research & Development and serves on numerous other editorial boards. He edited the third and fourth editions of the Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, as well as the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, and has more than 150 publications to his credit.
Michael Spector’s Interview – Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education: Challenges, Approaches, and Trends