Laurie Hansen

Ph.D. in Education, 2011
School of Education

November 1, 2008

Prior Educational Experiences Inform Laurie Hansen’s Doctoral Research

Laurie Hansen is a second year Ph.D. student specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology (LLT). She holds a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Education from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) as well as a California Professional Clear Multiple Subject (K-8) Teaching Credential and Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) Certificate.

Teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District led Laurie to be particularly interested in studying English language learners and bilingual teachers. She joined the faculty at CSUF and became involved in the bilingual teacher preparation program in 1999. While working with teacher candidates at CSUF, Laurie saw how important the teacher preparation program is in effective teacher development and began to see the potential of using technology to meet the needs of all learners. Thus the LLT program at UC Irvine is the perfect path for Laurie. As a Ph.D. student, she is able to examine (a) the literacy development of children at it relates to classroom technology use and (b) pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward and use of technology in K-8 classrooms.

Laurie has already developed a solid research agenda focusing on pre-service teachers. In her work prior to entering the Ph.D. program, Laurie examined bilingual Latino teacher candidate’s experiences with schooling and how this affected their student teaching experiences in urban and suburban schools. This research was presented at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The complete study, “Student teaching in urban and suburban schools: Perspectives of Latino preservice teachers” is published in Urban Education.

Laurie continued to focus her research on bilingual teacher candidates during her first year as a UCI student. Her first year project examined (a) bilingual and ESL pre-service teachers’ views about technology use within K-8 schools and (b) the impact of learning about technology while in a teacher preparation program with a bilingual emphasis on teacher candidate technology competence and self-efficacy. Proposals on this research are under review for presentation at the 2009 Annual Meeting of AERA and the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE). Further, two manuscripts describing this research are currently under review with educational journals.

Laurie’s current work includes two research projects. As a graduate student researcher Laurie works with Dr. Rossella Santagata on the video enhanced teaching project. Laurie assists Dr. Santagata in collecting, coding, and analyzing data, and will work on manuscripts for publication on this research as well. Laurie’s second year research project focuses on the relationship between 3rd grade children’s literacy development and attitudes toward reading and their use of a computerized reading management program in class. More specifically, Laurie is exploring (a) whether reading management program use predicts student reading achievement, (b) if there is a difference between how English language learners and native English speaking children use a reading management program, and (c) if the use of a reading management program affects reading achievement differently for English language learners and native English speakers.

In addition to her more recent research efforts, Laurie has published a book and multiple articles for teacher practitioners. Her prior experiences as a K-6 classroom teacher and a teacher educator give Laurie a unique perspective on educational issues. Her involvement in the community through afterschool sports organizations, the parent teacher association, and in faith-based education speaks to her desire to advocate for all children, especially English language learners and students of low socioeconomic status. In all, Laurie knows that her 15 years of diverse experience in education coupled with her scholarly work as part of UCI’s Ph.D. in Education program will enable her to make a positive impact on teaching and learning in the schools.

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