Staff

Lead Research Staff

Dr. Jerome Johnston is a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Jere earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Education and Psychology.  Over the last 30 years he has led major research efforts on the educational uses of media including television, computers and the Internet. He has conducted large-scale national evaluations of projects such as the Freestyle, 3-2-1 Contact, Channel One, Crossroads Café, TV411, and LiteracyLink.  For the last ten years, Jere's work has focused on the interplay of technology, teaching, and learning in adult education, with a special emphasis on Web-based learning.  He directs the Support Center as well as AdultEd Online – an OVAE-funded project to develop new Web-based tools for teachers and learners in adult education and to promote distance education. Jere's publications include books on learning from electronic media (Positive Images and Electronic Learning), and on evaluating technology's impact in educational settings (Evaluating the New Information Technologies and Assessing the Impact of Technology in Teaching and Learning: A Sourcebook for Evaluators). He teaches courses on instructional design and research methods.

Dr. Leslie Isler Petty is Associate Director of the SupportCenter.  Leslie earned her Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  For the last 20 years she has conducted studies of the educational effectiveness of various television series designed for students at levels ranging from elementary school to community college.  Leslie is the lead author on a wide array of Center publications, from the Handbook of Distance Education to papers on state and federal policy.  She oversees the Center's training activities and is the primary contact for technical support to many of the member states.

Shannon Young is the Support Center's Program Manager.  Shannon has an M.A. from The University of Michigan in Literacy, Language, & Learning.  She has worked with Johnston since 1998, managing projects and conducting research on a variety of adult education studies.  Shannon oversees the Center's work on curriculum and assessment issues and leads the design team that creates the online tools used to collect student data and support teachers in member states.  She also manages tailored research projects for individual states and directed the redesign of the project's website.  In addition to her full-time work on the project, Shannon teaches courses in developmental writing.

Support Staff

Donna Walter is the Support Center's data manager. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  Donna manages field work, data collection, data management and analyses for the Center's field studies.  Affectionately know to teachers as "Data Donna," she trains teachers in the use of the Center's Distance Student Tracker and works closely with teachers to help them collect accurate and complete student data.

Deb Walker is a master distance teacher.  She was among the first ABE teachers to use the Internet to support adult learners studying at home.  Deb has analyzed the problems many adult learners face in interacting with their teacher over email and has developed a workshop to help teachers learn how to communicate more sensitively.  Deb works directly with facilitators and trainers in member states to help them master the skills of facilitation in an online medium.

Debbie Bourque is the Support Center's Project Secretary.  Debbie is actively involved in proposal writing, contract management, and budgeting activities.  In addition, she organizes the annual Workshop in Distance Education and Project IDEAL events at COABE.

Elaine Whitaker is a Research Administrator. Elaine oversees project finances and provides support with budgeting and event planning activities for the project.