Campus News Society & Culture

COE professor to receive AECT Distinguished Service Award

Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia College of Education professor Michael Spector has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Spector, a research scientist in the college’s Learning and Performance Support Laboratory and a professor in the department of educational psychology and instructional technology, has been active in the AECT for more than 20 years. He is immediate past-president of the AECT and has served as a division president as well as on several committees. He has served as editor of the AECT journal, Education Technology Research and Development, and is the lead editor for the AECT’s Research Handbook.

Spector is receiving the award for significant contributions toward establishing the international presence of the AECT through facilitating a strong affiliation with the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and China. He also provided leadership for the concept of planning an AECT summer conference in the Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining the UGA faculty in 2009, Spector served as associate director of the Learning Systems Institute, professor of instructional systems and principal investigator for the International Center for Learning, Education and Performance Systems at Florida State University.

His recent research focuses on intelligent support for instructional design, system dynamics-based learning environments, assessing learning in complex domains, distance learning and technology integration in education.

He will receive the Distinguished Service Award during the AECT’s annual International Conference on Nov. 11 in Jacksonville, Fla.

For more information on the UGA department of educational psychology and instructional technology, see http://www.coe.uga.edu/epit/.