Susan Land

Susan Land is a Professor of Education and the Associate Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Education in the Learning, Design, and Technology Program at Penn State University's College of Education. She also serves as the Head of the Department of Learning & Performance Systems.

Dr. Land earned her doctorate in Instructional Systems from The Florida State University under Dr. Michael Hannafin. Prior to Penn State, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Georgia's Learning and Performance Support Laboratory and faculty at the University of Oklahoma's Instructional Psychology and Technology Program. Earlier, she worked on instructional design projects with the U.S. Air Force Academy, Citibank, and Hewlett Packard.

Her research emphasizes frameworks for technology-enhanced learning environments, particularly focusing on how learners meaningfully engage with technology in student-centered contexts. She has published over 60 manuscripts and co-edited two editions of Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments with Dr. David Jonassen, which has been reprinted repeatedly, translated into Korean, and achieved notable sales in the Instructional Technology field.

Her recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward mobile, context-sensitive learning in outdoor environments using proximity-based technologies like iBeacons. These studies examine children's scientific observations in arboretums, sense-making conversations in botanical gardens, and knowledge sharing in online affinity spaces, revealing patterns in how technology mediates learning experiences across different contexts.

• Young Scholar Award from Association for Educational Computing and Technology (AECT)
• Outstanding Article of the Year Award from AECT
• 2015 SIG-IT Best Paper Award from American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Top 10 most-published/frequently-cited authors in Educational Technology Research & Development
• College of Education 2016 Outstanding Teaching Award

Dr. Land advises graduate students and collaborates extensively with researchers including Heather Zimmerman, Priya Sharma, and Chris Millet. Her NSF-funded research with Zimmerman examines how proximity-based computing supports children's scientific sense-making in outdoor environments. She leads the Augmented and Mobile Learning Research Group, which investigates context-sensitive, place-based learning using mobile technologies and augmented reality.

Her research has been supported by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and Penn State's Center for Online Innovation in Learning (COIL). Current projects include developing the Penn State Places platform for creating iBeacon-triggered content in public spaces, with applications in arboretums, children's gardens, and community engagement initiatives.