Dr. Joyce’s current professional vita is below:

VITA
Joyce Pittman, Ph.D.
CEO, Global Education Technology Research Associates, CEO
Doctoral Professor, Instructional Technology and Distance Education
North Miami, Florida USA
Consultant, Researcher, Professor, United Arab Emirates Higher Education


Dr. Joyce Pittman is a dynamic and engaging professor, author, motivational speaker and leader in Education (Teacher Education, Inclusive Education, Instructional Technology, Curriculum and Instruction, Distance Education, Training and Development and Educational Leadership). She is a professor and Director of Professional Development. She is a co-author of the book Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the divides in education (Edited by Gwen Solomon, Paul Resta and Nancy Allen) and author of Building Inclusive Learning Communities, and other works.

EDUCATION

Degree: Ph.D. in Education (Curriculum & Instruction, Instructional Technology)
Institution: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Ames, Iowa, USA
Field: Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Instructional Technology

PROFESSIONAL MISSION

Her professional mission is to promote digital equity in education and to advance the status of people of all ages with diverse learning needs. Her research agenda is centered on instructional technology and digital equity.

Digital equity is a philosophy rooted in critical pedagogy and socio-cultural theory. A critical focus is on contributing to a body of work that contributes to creating and sustaining a democratic educational system of equality in education. Her research is especially concerned with identifying research-based strategies to help those with disabilities, multicultural and bi-lingual learners achieve in the classroom.

Given the transformative effects of technology on education, social and economic development in an increasingly intercultural society, it is essential to study how new learning environments will impact learning and teaching of multicultural and English as Second Language learners. An important tenet of this research places emphasis on sustaining access to technology as essential to democratic participation in society and especially in education. Applying a Vygotskian viewpoint, her philosophy of education is that education culminates in social environments.

Dr. Pittman theorizes that changes in professional development for teachers, access to technology, pedagogy and content are needed to overcome the learning problems of learners who are at-risk of failing in the traditional education system. If students are allowed to progress from grade to grade without mastering most of the outcomes attributed to each level or course they will become more and more out of touch with the capabilities needed to complete their education successfully to meet 21st century learning expectations.

Enhanced access to technology or digital equity, therefore, cannot be conceptualized without insight into the dynamics of classrooms and curricula, and their inter-relationships with achievement and teachers’ understanding of appropriate pedagogy and technologies.