Event Chairs

Bruce M. McLaren Carnegie Mellon University United States http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bmclaren

Brief Bio
Bruce McLaren is a associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University (USA). He is passionate about how technology can support education and has dedicated his work and research to projects that explore how students can learn with Internet-based educational software. He is particularly interested in intelligent tutoring systems, e-learning principles and collaborative learning and technology for supporting and analyzing collaborative argumentation. He has approximatey 200 publications spanning peer-reviewed journals, conferences, workshops, symposiums and book chapters. He has a Ph.D. and M.S. in intellige nt systems and an M.S. in computer science from the University Of Pittsburgh (USA), as well as a B.S. (cum laude) in computer science from Millersville University. ... More >>

Paula Escudeiro Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Portugal

Brief Bio
Paula Maria de Sá Oliveira Escudeiro, PhD in Computer Science/ System and Information Technology in Education/Multimedia Systems. She is a Professor at IPP-ISEP with a vast experience in project supervision and evaluation accumulated for the past 25 years. She is the Director of Research Group GILT - Games Interaction & Learning Technologies and coordinator of the Learning Technology research area.
President of the Board of the Serious Games Association.
Director and Founder of the Multimedia Laboratory of Computer Engineering Department. Subdirector of the Computer Engineering Department, Director of I nstitute of Information Systems for Technical Development, Vice-President of the Pedagogical Council, Member of the National Committee for European Projects and External Evaluator of European Projects. Director of the Center for Multimedia Products Development for the Administration National Institute. Member of the Subcommittee on Quality Assessment at the Institute of Engineering of Porto. Director of the Postgraduate Program of Information and Communication Technology.
She has a vast experience as coordinator/member in more than 20 international projects.
Author of the Patent, No. 20091000045179, 0198 Code, related process 104557 K (Software Model Quality). Author of the Mark No. 20151000046313 Code 059 (Virtual Sign). Author of the Patent No. 20151000065572, code related process 0198 (Bidirectional Translator Sign Language). Author of the quantitative evaluation model of software quality - QEF (Quantitative Evaluation Framework).
She won some research awards, including the Inclusion and Digital Literacy Prize among others. ... More >>

Gennaro Costagliola Università di Salerno Italy

Brief Bio
Gennaro Costagliola is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Salerno, Italy. His past experiences include the direction of the e-learning services for the CRUI Campus One project and the direction of the Computer Science Studies at the University of Salerno. He has participated to several national funded projects and carried out scientific activities in many Program Committees of international Workshops and Symposia. He is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Visual Lang uages and Computation (Elsevier). He is the Director of the Web Technologies and e-Learning Lab. His research interests include the theory, implementation, and applications of visual languages, human-computer interaction, data management, web engineering and e-learning as documented in more than 170 published papers. He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery since 1992 and IEEE Computer Society since 1991. He is currently a member of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the University of Salerno for the Quality Assurance. During his career he has taught and/or supported courses at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland Tri-service Education Center and University of Salerno - Department of Computer Science. Since 1998 he uses web tools to support his teaching both in web enhanced and blended learning modalities. ... More >>

Susan Zvacek SMZTeaching.com United States

Brief Bio
Susan Zvacek is Associate Provost for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at the University of Denver, where she oversees the Office of Teaching and Learning. She has worked in higher education as a faculty member, dissertation advisor, and administrator. Her publications are in the areas of distance education, instructional design, and faculty development and she is co-author of a distance education textbook (Teaching and Learning at a Distance, currently in its fifth edition) and Blackboard for Dummies. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Czech Republic and has also worked with the University of Port o (Portugal) to integrate higher order thinking skills into online and f2f engineering education. ... More >>

James Uhomoibhi Ulster University United Kingdom

Brief Bio
James Uhomoibhi, a native born of Nigeria is an academic of strong international standing in Physics, Computing and Engineering. He has a first degree in Physics from Nigeria, a BPhil degree from Italy and moved to the UK where he completed his MSc in Optoelectronics and Optical Information Processing and a PhD in Laser Physics. Following his initial appointment as lecturer in Queen’s University Belfast he completed a PGCHET in Higher Education. Today he is at University of Ulster where he was Faculty e-learning coordinator (2004-2015) and now lectures in Engineering whilst researching in computer science and edu cation. He is a visiting Professor of Physics, Computer Science and IT in two Nigerian Universities. He is also a visiting Professor of Science, Technology and Environmental Studies at the Open University in Tanzania. James is a Chartered Physicist and a member of the Institute of Physics; He is a Chartered IT Professional and a Fellow of BCS and also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. James Uhomoibhi is the African Laser Centre Representative in Europe and has served as Head of SEFI Task Force on European Cooperation with Africa. SEFI is the European Society for Engineering Education. He also sits on the Board of the International Network for Engineering Education and Research (iNEER). He is a member of Council of SEFI and of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. James Uhomoibhi is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee (DIC) and the International of the Institute of Physics (IoP). He is the founder and current Chair of the BCS e-Learning Specialist Group. In 2011 James Uhomoibhi was appointed a LEADS Scholar by the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC), charged with the responsibility of linking experts and academics in the Diaspora to the country. He is a recipient several academic and community awards including amongst others, the iNEER Global Achievement Award in Engineering Education (2011), Belfast Ambassadors Award (2012), BCS Long Service Award and the Distinguished Service Award of the Powerlist All Ireland African Leadership Excellence Award Programme, which he received in 2012. James Uhomoibhi very recently received the Sentinus Ambassador of the Year 2016 Award for outstanding works and contributions to STEM Education and Research Development and Implementation in Northern Ireland, UK. ... More >>