Biography

Roland van Oostveen has wide experience as a science and technology educator (as a teacher, department head, curriculum coordinator and consultant) in various provinces within Canada. Previously, he held the position of Teacher-in-Residence at the Imperial Oil Centre for Studies in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at OISE/UT and served as the Science and Technology Project Manager for the Toronto District School Board. His major research interests lie in the use of technology and its assistance in learning, the use of action research as a mechanism for the professional development of teachers, and the use of video cases in teacher training and development. Through his research and consultancy work in science education he has strong connections with many informal educational groups and industry organizations throughout Ontario, Canada and the United States. He has published a number of articles in a variety of journals and has contributed to several textbooks currently in use in Ontario schools. Roland joined the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Oshawa, ON Canada) in June 2003. He holds the position of assistant professor in the Faculty of Education. Recently he has been involved in the development of the Fully Online Learning Community Model, a theoretical framework that can be used to structure fully online learning environments. Other projects revolve around the development and use of tools which allow for the collection of digital competency and use data. One of these projects is referred to as the Digital Competency Profiler (see https://eilab.ca/general-technology-competency-use/) and the customizable Global Readiness Explorer, GREx.