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Assistant Professor of Educational Studies
General Interests: Before coming to Knox College, Dr. Lei was involved in many aspects of K-12, higher education, and educator preparation. At Michigan State University, Dr. Lei taught courses in theory and research methods for undergraduate and graduate students from programs in elementary education, secondary education, special education, early childhood development, and educational technology. He also developed and collected common assessments data for CAEP accreditation. While he was a middle and high school STEAM educator, he served as mentor teacher for students from Central Michigan University. Dr. Lei has led professional development for educators from around the world, including Brazil, the United Kingdom, China, and Indonesia. Dr. Lei employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to study the intersection of emerging technologies with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in both K-12 and higher education learning environments. One of Dr. Lei's current research projects at Knox College is an investigation of how social factors, such as faculty mentors and social media figures, influence the intention to study abroad among Students of Color and White students within the context of the underrepresentation of Students of Color in the United States.
Years at Knox: 2022 to present
Education
Ph.D., Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, 2022, Michigan State University.
B.S., Education-Chemistry/Mathematics, 2011, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Teaching Interests
Diversity, equity and inclusion; emerging technologies; critical race theory; culturally responsive teaching; multidisciplinary research methods
Publications
Lei, M., Wong, E. D., & Appenzeller, K. A., (2023). The potential of on-campus study to support students’ intercultural learning and development in higher education. International Journal of Educational Research, 118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102152
Lei, M., Clemente, I. M., Liu, H., & Bell, J. (2022). The acceptance of telepresence robots in higher education. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14, pp. 1025-1042 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-021-00837-y
Lei, M., Clemente, I., & Hu, Y. (2019). Engagement data of robotic students in a synchronous-hybrid course. Data in Brief, 24. https://doi.org/10.1016/i.dlb.2019,103822.
Lei, M., Clemente, I.. & Hu, Y. (2019). Student in the shell: The robotic body and student engagement. Computers & Education, 130, pp. 59-80.
Chapman, A., Lei, M .. & Greenhaw, C. (2018). Social network application for education: The case of College Connect. In N. Dey, R. Sabo, A. S. Ashour, V. Bhatnagar, & M. S. Bouhlel (Eds.), Social Networks Science: Design, Implementation, Security, and Challenges: From Social Networks Analysis to Social Networks Intelligence (pp. 111-128). Springer.
Presentations
Lei, M., Clemente, I.M. & Uysal, H. (2023). COVID-19, Teacher Attributions, and Humanizing Pedagogy in P-12 and Higher Education. In E. Langran (Ed.) Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 383-392). New Orleans, LA, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/222179/
Lei, M. & Clemente, I. M. (2021). Culturally responsive pedagogy in education policy discourse for emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education Live Online Conference.
Lei, M. & Knowles, K. A., Wong, E. D. (2020). lntercultural learning with social media: Is it just for the likes?. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference, New Orleans, L.A. April 7-10, 2020.
Lei, M., Clemente, I. M., & Hu, Y. (2018). Robotic student engagement in class: What do you think you see?. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference, Washington, D.C., March 26-30, 2018.
Professional Affiliations
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, 2021 - Present
Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, 2017 - Present