Contributors

Sean Dolan has a Masters in International Business at the University of Auckland. In his thesis he examined the role of community and culture in an online learning environment. He has also been involved in the second phase of a pilot project around web-enhanced learning at New Zealand Tertiary College. His first degree was in Latin American studies, after which he trained as a primary school teacher and a teacher of English as a second language. His research interest areas include second language acquisition, web-enhanced learning and the internationalisation of education.

Karin du Plessis has a background in psychology and a strong research interest in all areas of education, including transferring academic teaching skills to the online environment and student experiences of e-learning. She was involved with conducting the first and second phase of a pilot project around web-enhanced learning at New Zealand Tertiary College. Currently, Karin is conducting research at the Centre for Mental Health Research at Australian National University in Canberra.

Anne Grey is the Programme Leader for the Early Years Education courses at AUT University. She has been involved in Teacher Education for 12 years. She was previously a supervisor of a community early childhood centre, and a Primary teacher in the junior classes. She believes strongly in the value of teachers reflecting on their practice as a method of continuous improvement and is constantly searching for innovative ways to facilitate this.

Vivienne Hogan is currently a lecturer at the School of Education, AUT University, Auckland. Vivienne has been teaching on the Bachelor of Education, Early Childhood Education, programme since 2004 and has a particular interest in working with students in their first year. As a lecturer on the Professional Inquiry and Practice papers Vivienne supports students prior to their teaching placement. As well as lecturing in early years education Vivienne has recently been involved in the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funded project, ‘Learning for Living’ which has involved the development of resources for teaching academic writing. As a researcher Vivienne is interested in feminist pedagogy and student teachers’ understanding of equity and gender in early childhood education practice.

Satomi Izumi-Taylor teaches courses in early childhood, at the University of Memphis. She has been a preschool and Pre-K teacher in San Francisco, CA for 12 years. Dr. Taylor has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals, three book chapters, and articles regarding infant and toddler development in Japan. Dr. Taylor serves as a manuscript reviewer for International Journal of Early Childhood Education, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, He Kupu, eLearning, Tennessee’s Children, and Play Rights.

Yu-Yuan Lee is an instructor at the department of Applied Foreign Language, Nan Kai University of Technology in Taiwan., where she has taught English as a Foreign Language for 10 years. Yu-Yuan Lee is also a doctoral candidate in the College of Education at the University of Memphis. Her research interests include the application of commercial video games in ESL/EFL curricula, technology integration in EFL curricula, and language learning strategies. She has made presentations in technology and ESL related conferences. She has published papers in the SITE proceedings and TN Journal.