Michael Kennedy is an Associate Professor of Special Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia (http://curry.virginia.edu/about/directory/michael-j-kennedy). Before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in 2011 he was a high school special education teacher (2001-2007), and an elementary school teacher (1998-2001) for a total of nine years. During that time, he often worked as the special education co-teacher within content area courses such as science, mathematics, and social studies. Kennedy has master’s degrees in educational technology (Michigan State University, ‘04) and special education (University of Delaware, ‘07). His primary focus is the design, delivery, and experimental testing of multimedia-enhanced instructional tools that can support learning and performance outcomes for students with and without disabilities, and their teachers. Kennedy’s key contribution to date is his Content Acquisition Podcast (CAP) tool, which can be used to package and deliver instruction for teachers or students.
Kennedy has published over 30 peer reviewed articles, and over 10 book chapters and other disseminations of research (see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Kennedy8). He was awarded one of three inaugural early career grants from the National Center for Special Education Research within the Institute for Education Sciences in 2013, the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Publication Award in 2013, and an Early Career Scholar award from the Instructional Technology special interest group within the American Educational Research Association in 2015. Kennedy was also awarded U.Va’s Alumni Board of Trustees All University Teaching Award in 2015, which is the highest honor given to an Assistant Professor for teaching excellence at The University. He is the Co-Editor of the Journal of Special Education Technology (http://jst.sagepub.com/), and maintains several free sites that disseminate high quality learning materials for teachers and students, including www.VocabSupport.com, www.SpedIntro.com, and www.PBISVideos.com.
Hannah Mathews is a doctoral candidate in special education at the University of Virginia. After teaching in general and special education classrooms for 13 years, Hannah decided to pursue her doctorate in special education. Her research focuses on special education teacher identity and the ways that teacher preparation, induction, and school communities help to support their development. Her long term goal is to examine how teacher preparation and induction are connected to instructional practice.
Kate Peeples is a doctoral student in special education at the University of Virginia. She earned her B.A. in English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2004) and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Elon University (2009). Over the course of 11 years in the classroom, Kate taught general, special, and gifted education at middle schools in North Carolina and Virginia. She chose to pursue Ph.D. studies in special education full-time at UVA, starting in 2015. Her research interests are focused on the role of performance feedback and coaching in teacher education and professional development.