Maryanne Shults serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at California State University, Fullerton, with primary academic focus in Business (Marketing) and secondary contributions to Humanities (Communication Studies). She has maintained active MERLOT membership since October 14, 2018, with documented engagement through July 3, 2025. Her scholarly work centers on Marketing strategy development and consumer behavior analysis within business contexts, while her Communication Studies research examines media-society interactions and digital communication frameworks. This dual-discipline approach bridges theoretical business concepts with practical communication methodologies. Through MERLOT, she has contributed 2 Learning Exercises and 2 Bookmark Collections alongside Course ePortfolios and Content Builder Materials, demonstrating commitment to pedagogical innovation in digital learning environments.
Dr. Alison Carson is the Associate Provost for Academic Innovation and Design Thinking and Director of Manhattanville's Design Thinking Center at Manhattanville College. She is also a Professor of Psychology with expertise in cultural psychology, design thinking, and culture learning. Her research interests include: Cultural Psychology Design Thinking Culture Learning Immigration and Acculturation Communities of Practice and Situated Learning Dr. Carson has conducted research comparing distributive justice reasoning between American and Filipino children and has explored how ePortfolios can catalyze transformation in teaching practices. Her cross-cultural work examines how cultural contexts shape concepts of fairness, while her educational research investigates how participation in communities of practice leads to teaching transformations through situated learning frameworks. Her scientific awards include: Nominated as Faculty Member of the Year by Student Government Association 2012 Club Advisor of the Year Award, Psychology Club, Manhattanville University 2005 Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award, Boston College 2001 Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award, Boston College 1995 Elected member of Phi Beta Kappa 1994 Elected member of Psi Chi (National Psychology Honor Society) Dr. Carson has worked closely with the Nursing school in developing creative strategies to enhance online learning environments and ran a campus-wide design thinking challenge to address pandemic-related issues including online learning challenges, social distancing, student enrollment, and community support. She has aided Manhattanville in starting their Design for America studio on campus, where students learn and apply design thinking to mission-focused issues. She explains that design thinking is 'a systematic and creative approach that supports the development of solutions to complex problems' with an emphasis on developing mindsets including 'curiosity and discovery, empathy, a growth mindset, grit, willingness to take risks, collaboration, creativity, a recognition of learning from failure.'
Maria Elisabetta Cigognini is a Researcher at Indire (Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione, Innovazione e Ricerca Educativa), where she has been working since 2014. Her research focuses on educational technologies and technology-mediated learning processes, with expertise in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), and teacher professional development. Her institutional affiliations include: Researcher at Indire since 2014 PhD in Telematics and Information Society from Università degli Studi di Trieste (2006-2009) Project coordinator for MENTEP (Mentoring Technology Enhanced Pedagogy) Researcher for NOP1 National Operational Programme Dr. Cigognini's research examines how technology can enhance educational processes, with particular focus on social networking environments for educational purposes, BYOD implementation in learning contexts, and Personal Learning Environments. She investigates the continuum of teacher professional development from initial education through continuous development, exploring documentation and reflection practices through ePortfolios and Open Digital Badges. Her work on self-regulation strategies in technology-mediated learning environments has revealed that while educators can control external distractions, emotional regulation strategies are used less frequently. Analysis of her recent publications shows growing emphasis on practical applications of educational technology, particularly game-based learning environments like Minecraft for remote laboratory teaching and immersive assessment methods for evaluating teachers' digital competencies. Her research consistently bridges theoretical frameworks with classroom applications, demonstrating how technology-enhanced approaches can directly improve teaching practices. Her scientific contributions include: Development of the MENTEP self-assessment tool for teachers' digital skills Research on Minecraft as a remote laboratory for game-based distance learning Studies on distractions and self-regulation strategies in seamless learning environments Investigations into video production processes for teacher professional development Analysis of educational robotics for active learning in primary education Dr. Cigognini employs mixed-methods research approaches, combining qualitative case studies with quantitative surveys to assess the effectiveness of innovative teaching approaches. Her work on the MineClass project demonstrated that teachers who participated in the experimentation reported continuing to use Minecraft for laboratory teaching even after the project's conclusion, indicating the practical value and sustainability of her research findings.
Prof. Reinhard Schmidt serves as Professor, Associate Dean, and Dean of Studies for the School of Computer Science and Engineering at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, where he has held faculty positions since 1993. He additionally leads the Multimedia and Virtual Reality Lab and maintains active roles in academic governance including membership on the Academic Affairs Committee. His educational foundation includes a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg with specialization in multidimensional signal processing and communications systems, followed by doctoral research at the University of Karlsruhe under Prof. Kristian Kroschel focusing on computer vision for autonomous systems. Prof. Schmidt's research integrates technical and pedagogical domains, with core expertise in Virtual Reality, Multimedia systems, Computer Vision, and IT Security. His educational technology work pioneered ePortfolio implementation to enhance flexible study programs in computer science, specifically addressing challenges in student onboarding and self-directed learning during introductory academic phases. Analysis of his 2012-2015 publications reveals consistent focus on digital learning infrastructure within engineering education, demonstrating how ePortfolio systems facilitate adaptive curriculum design and student competency tracking in technical disciplines. Administrative leadership has defined his career trajectory, including tenure as Academic Director for Communications Systems (1998-2007), Vice Dean (2006-2011), and current directorship of the Software Engineering and Media Computing program since 2013. The Multimedia and Virtual Reality Lab under his direction develops applications spanning computer graphics, security engineering, and virtual environment design, maintaining strong industry connections through partnerships like the Fraunhofer Institute where he conducted sabbatical research on virtual actors.
