Dr. Helga Hambrock
Dr. Helga Hambrock is an Adjunct Professor of Educational Technology and Instructional Design for Masters and PhD students, as well as a Senior Instructional Designer at the Concordia University Chicago. She is on PhD committees as reviewer and external examiner for international universities. Her passion lies in the improvement of education by utilizing technologies and methodologies, with a specific focus on mobile and seamless learning. During the year of completing her PhD studies in South Africa in 2016, on the use of smartphones by students in and out of class, she moved to the USA and settled in Chicago. Over the past years her interest in global collaboration has grown to address common challenges and to find common solutions in the field of education. She joined the International Association for Mobile learning (IAmLearn) in 2016 and has been on the EXCO as member at large for two years and as VP for the past two years. The Global Research Project was initiated by her in 2018 when the mLearn 2019 conference was hosted at the Concordia University Chicago. She has published articles and book chapters and received a Global Outreach Award for initiating Blended learning training for Early Childhood Centre caregivers in Southern Africa in 2019.
Dr. Frelét de Villiers
Dr. Frelét de Villiers is a Senior Lecturer at the Odeion School of Music, University of the Free State. She is the head of the Methodology modules and Short learning programmes, lectures in piano, music pedagogy, arts management and is a supervisor for post-graduate students. Her field of expertise is piano technique, with particular emphasis on the influence of the brain and the whole-brain approach to music. She has been a guest speaker at several National and International Conferences. Her articles were published in accredited journals, and she contributed book chapters to international publications. Acting as an external examiner for several theses, dissertations and practical examinations is a satisfying part of her job. Her passion is the use of technology in the music teaching situation, and she developed a note learning app PianoBoost (Google Play). For this project, she was awarded the third prize for the most innovative project as well as being chosen as one of 20 top entrepreneurs for the South African Swizz entrepreneurship program.
Dr. Kathryn MacCallum
Dr. Kathryn MacCallum is an Associate Professor of Digital Education Futures within the School of Educational Studies and Leadership at the University of Canterbury, NZ. Prior to this, Kathryn was an Associate Professor of Computing at Eastern Institute of Technology, Napier, New Zealand. Kathryn’s research has centred on exploring how technology can be effectively used to support teaching and learning and has authored over 40 research articles around this topic. She has also been involved in a number of research projects, both in New Zealand and internationally, exploring innovative approaches to the integration of technology within all sectors of education. She also serves as Editor in Chief for a number of international journals focusing on education technology and is a current serving as an executive member for the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn).
Dr. Shamsul Arrieya Ariffin
Dr. Shamsul Arrieya Ariffin is an Associate Professor Ts. Dr. in the Faculty of Art, Computing, and Creative Industries at the University of Education Sultan Idris (UPSI), Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia. He has more than 24 years working in ICT fields. Prior to joining UPSI, he worked with local and also various international companies involved in ICT fields. He received his PhD in Software Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia in 2014. His research specialized in mobile learning with the aim being to bridge the digital gap between the cultural and technology aspects in which ICT is involved for the benefits of the community. His teaching areas are such as Software Configuration Management, Human Computer Interaction, and Introduction to Java Programming. His involvement with research includes with the receiving grants such as for FRGS for “Student Generated Activities in Mobile Learning” and external research grants from the Community Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, UKM, Malaysia to create awareness for public, regarding community public health for student generated activities in mobile learning. He has also won several awards for achievement from his innovation in ITEX and K-Inovasi. He has developed confidence and interest in researching and teaching areas to enhance creative Innovation in Engineering, Science & Technology.
Dr. Ellen Rusman
Dr. Ellen Rusman is Associate Professor at the faculty of Educational sciences – the faculty of education and research on learning, teaching and technology of the Open University of the Netherlands. Since August 2019 she is interim programme leader of the Technology Enhanced Learning and Innovation (TELI) research group and also heads the group on Mobile & Seamless Learning design. A common thread in her work is connecting people and their experiences in different (learning) contexts through (mobile) technology, so that learning knowledge and skills becomes more meaningful, appropriate, fun, effective and efficient. She has a broad experience in acquiring, working on and leading large national and international TELI design research projects. She has recently won the Dutch national Best research and practice award with the Viewbrics-project, in which an (online) method to acquire complex skills supported by video-enhanced rubrics was developed and studied. She is a fellow of ICO and SIKS research schools in the Netherlands, expert in the European EMPOWER network and has published extensively in international journals. She gained several awards and prices, both with her scientific work (e.g. best paper/presentation awards), as well with its outcomes (e.g. European Language Label and Nuffic Orange Carpet Award with ELENA, a mobile game-based scenario for supporting early language learners). In her projects Ellen loves to work closely with teachers, learners (students, pupils) and employers. She highly values and balances both the scientific as well as the practical relevance of initiated projects.
