Dr. Lisa Lundgren Accepts New Assistant Professor Position

The Department of Instructional Technology at the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University proudly announces the pending arrival of its newest faculty member, Dr. Lisa Lundgren. 

When she starts at USU in the fall of 2020 as an assistant professor, Lundgren will bring expertise to the ITLS department, which will further enhance the new Human Experience Design Interaction (HEDI) bachelor of science degree as well as the ITLS graduate degree programs. Lundgren’s experience as a researcher and educator have helped her hone an understanding of the social learning processes in various disciplines.

“Dr. Lundgren brings a wealth of experience in formal and informal science learning to our faculty, as well as deep knowledge of how to work with other stakeholders during the research process,” said Dr. Kristin Searle, ITLS faculty member who hosted Lundgren’s visit to USU. “I think our students will enjoy learning from Dr. Lundgren and I look forward to collaborating with her.”

At the University of Connecticut, Lundgren’s work is currently focused on understanding how a multi-level networked improvement community implements the Next Generation Science Standards. In addition to this work, her research agenda has been centered on informal science learning in digital spaces.

“Design-based research defines my approach where I use my expertise in social network analysis, network visualization, and out-of-school science learning to understand the social and knowledge-creating structures and practices that develop in digital habitats,” Lundgren said. 

Dr. Andy Walker, ITLS faculty member and department head, said it is often challenging as scholars to represent complex ideas well to an intelligent lay audience. Some of Dr. Lundgren’s work, which intersects with communities of practice literature, is among the most semantically dense material in our field, Walker said. 

“It is exciting to see her break it down and use it both as a lens to understand a community, and then use her research to engage in substantive theory building,” Walker said. “From her social network analyses to her cosplay for science work she clearly fits well with the department and we’re honored to add her to our faculty.”

Lundgren’s teaching philosophy is based on encouraging the sharing of ideas to collectively make sense of the world. As an educator of teaching professionals, Lundgren engages her students in solving practice-based problems which they can examine to become more effective secondary STEM teachers. For example, Lundgren created an informal STEM practice course as part of a pre-service teacher training program, in which her students created PechaKucha presentations highlighting their experiences with museums or other out-of-school learning environments. 

“Students and educators all bring their personal histories with them. We should not assume they shed their past experiences to put on the mantle of an attentive, docile tabula rasa,” she said.

Lundgren said she looks forward to working with students who are interested in human-centered design and design thinking to enact change in linguistically, culturally and economically diverse settings.

“USU’s Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences is comprised of scholars engaged in high-impact and meaningful work,” Lundgren said. “I aim to add to this culture of excellence by supporting and facilitating educational opportunities through the development and evaluation of novel engagement practices.”