Dr. Agnieszka Palalas

Aga is Associate Professor in Open, Digital, and Distance Education, and Program Director in the Doctor of Distance Education Program at Athabasca University. She is an experienced practitioner and researcher of technology-assisted learning and teaching with a focus on innovative pedagogy and digital technologies for human-centred learning. Aga has been teaching in both the Master and Doctor of Education programs at Athabasca, and previously at the University of New Mexico, USA. Drawing from over 25 years of experience as a face-to-face and online adult educator, instructional designer, IT programmer, and an academic, combined with her passion for teaching and learning, Aga has focused her research on providing online and digital learning for the whole person – learning that feeds the intellect, body and mind of the individual and the community.

Aga has been involved in numerous transnational projects in Canada, US, Poland, Ghana, Greece, and India. She is an internationally recognized expert in technology-assisted teaching and learning, online education, m-learning, digital learning design, and mobile-assisted language learning. She is one of the Founding Directors and the Past-President of the International Association for Blended Learning (IABL) and the Past-President of the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn). In those roles, she interacted and collaborated with scholars, learning and training experts around the globe across diverse educational and cultural contexts. Aga has published a number of articles and book chapters as well as edited books (see https://athabascau.academia.edu/apalalas and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Agnieszka_Palalas2).

She has been active in local and international professional associations and has presented keynote speeches, papers, and workshops around the globe. She is also on editorial review boards of several journals in the field of m-learning, language learning, distance education, and educational technology. Aga is excited to be able to contribute her expertise to the field of distance, digital, and open education.

Discover my research

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Research interests

• Innovative approaches to digital learning
• Disruptive human-centered digital pedagogies
• Mobile learning
• Computer-assisted language learning
• Mobile-assisted language learning
• Mindfulness in teaching and learning
• Digital wellness in online education
• Contemplative pedagogy in digital learning
• Blended learning
• Human-centered instructional design
• Ecological Constructivism as learning theory
• Design-based research

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Educational credentials

• Doctor of Education (Distance Education), (Instructional Design, Program Development & Educational Technologies). Dissertation title: Design guidelines for Mobile-Assisted Language Learning objects supporting the development of ESP listening skills. - Athabasca University, 2012
• Master of Distance Education - Athabasca University, 2006
• Advanced Graduate Diploma in Distance Education (Technology), AGDDE(T) - Athabasca University, 2003
• E-Commerce Solutions Developer Diploma (IT Programming) - The Institute for Computer Studies, Toronto, Canada, 2002
• TESL Teaching Certificate (Teaching English as a Second Language) - University of Toronto, 1999
• B.A. – Major in Linguistics and Minor in Slavic Languages and Literature - University of Toronto, 1994
• Applied Linguistics, Specialist in Teaching and Translating English and Russian - University of Warsaw, Poland, 1988

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