Meet the Team

Lab Director
Dr. Julie Mueller is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has a PhD in Developmental Psychology and more than 30 years of experience in teaching from Kindergarten to Post-secondary.

Julie is a "founding faculty member" of the Faculty of Education, teaching courses in Learning and Child Development; Health and Physical Education Methods; Integration of Technology, Pedagogy, and Content; and, Graduate Capstone Seminars.

Dr. Mueller's research examines the impact of digital technology on teaching and learning in a broader sense. Her SSHRC funded research more specifically examined Computational Thinking across the curriculum and how it should be assessed. Her most recent project in collaboration with industry partner (InkSmith) was financially supported in part by the Canadian Space Agency and resulted in a freely open set of modules promoting coding and STEM content called Mission on the Moon.

See more about Dr. Mueller's research

Co-Investigator

Prior to joining the academic community at Laurier, Dr. Avis Beek was a secondary school science and mathematics teacher in Nunavut and later in international schools in Britain, Malaysia, Japan, and the Czech Republic. Avis' Biology BSc is from McGill University, the BEd in intermediate education is from University of British Columbia, and the MEd in science education is from University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Dr. Beek completed an EdD concentrated on educational research, in curriculum and learning at the University of Calgary, 2016, with dissertational focus on student international mindedness. As a lifelong space enthusiast, Avis looks forward to exploring how expansion of one's understanding of the moon can help foster intercultural understanding on Earth.

Co-Investigator

Emily Krysten Spencer-Mueller is a doctoral student in Developmental Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Krysten joined the lab to complete her comprehensive research experience as an intern on the Mitacs Accelerate research project which seeks to examine how 21st century competencies are being incorporated into preservice and in-service teacher education. Krysten's general research interests are understanding the impact of teaching and learning with technology in educational and home environments.

Co-Investigator

Joe Monks is an international educator of over 25 years. Having been a teacher and administrator working in schools in the UK, Bahrain, Malaysia, Japan and the Czech Republic he now finds himself at Wilfrid Laurier University Canada as an Outreach Coordinator. Joe graduated with a Masters in Education from the University of New England, Australia having gained his Bachelor of Education at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom

As a former Director of Student Activities Joe had been key in ensuring authentic STEM opportunities were available to students throughout their schooling. He has hosted both First Lego League (FLL) and First Teach Challenge (FTC) events and was the FTC International Partner for Central and Eastern Europe.

Co-Investigator

Dr. Steve Sider is a professor and previous associate dean and a program director in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo. He teaches courses in international education, school leadership, and inclusive education. He is the past-president of the Comparative and International Education Society of Canada and the founding Director of the Centre for Leading Research in Education, a university research centre exploring interdisciplinary aspects of education. He is a Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. His research, funded by multiple national grants, explores the intersection of inclusive education and school leadership from a comparative and international perspective.

Co-Investigator

Andrew Bieronski served as the Technology Enabled Learning and Teaching (TELT) consultant for the Waterloo Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada for 6 years, and as a secondary educator for a decade prior to that there and in the UK. He is passionate about reimagining and redesigning classrooms and schools by leveraging technology to modernize pedagogy and assessment practices to improve learning and achievement, and is a frequent conference presenter on these topics. Andrew serves as Growth and Community Lead in Canada for Quizizz, an educational technology company that is a leader in supporting educators with generative artificial intelligence tools in the classroom to foster student learning and engagement. He recently finished his Masters of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University with a focus on research in the areas of innovation in educational organizations and the use of artificial intelligence in educational settings.

Current Research Assistants

Suniti Khanduja is a fourth-year psychology student with a keen interest in marketing and consumer behaviour. She currently works with Dr. Mueller as a website and social media research collaborator, managing the department's Twitter account. Suniti enjoys expressing her creativity by making engaging social media content. She has professional experience in communications and email marketing.

Dana is in her first year of the Bachelor of Education program at Wilfred Laurier University. She is working with Dr. Mueller to help with the knowledge mobilization of Mission on the Moon.

Kay Lavery is a first year Bachelor of Education student and recent Bachelor of Business Administration graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University. Kay is passionate about providing and gaining diverse and creative learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom. She is excited to work with Dr. Mueller in the AI in education aspect of the Teach Digital Lab.

Taddy Grechanick is a fourth year BSc Computer Science student at Wilfrid Laurier University. He enjoys hobbies within the world of technology, including web development and graphic design.

Past Members

Meet Derince Orozco, a 5th-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology at the University of Valle in Colombia. Derince is passionate about art and technology and enjoys researching and tutoring others in these areas. He has a keen interest in Narrative-based learning, Videogames, and collaborative writing, and has worked on some exciting projects related to these subjects. He recently joined the Teach Digital Lab as a Summer 2023 research assistant, thanks to the Mitacs Globalinks internship, where he is working on the "Teaching Global Competencies Across Disciplines through Computational Thinking and AI" project.

Priya is an avid development and content creation enthusiast, always eager to meet like-minded individuals to expand their professional network. Their experiential background stems from various fields, including international development, writing and editing, to dance instruction and soccer coaching. Priya is incredibly passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusion, which led them to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University.

When they are not relentlessly pursuing a new study topic in international development or starting a new creative project, they enjoy spending quality outdoor time with their pets and partner outdoors, come rain or shine.

Muhammad Nadeem

Rehma Ashraf is a 4th year undergraduate student currently pursuing a BSc in Computer Science at Wilfrid Laurier's Waterloo campus. She will graduate with an Education minor along with the Computer Science major. Rehma enjoys academic tutoring, playing sports, and working with technology. Assisting with promotions, , maintaining technology, collecting participant response data, and updating the Teach Digital Website are Rehma's responsibilities at Teach Digital Lab.

Nuha Ahmed is an undergraduate student majoring in Honors Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a Summer Institute Assistant who helps with the project "Mission on the Moon" through responsibilities in promotion and social media. As a science student, Nuha has strong passion for topics
including biology, chemistry, and physiology. She hopes to interest more children in science and research. Some of Nuha's hobbies include drawing, listening to music, and going out with friends.

Dr. Eden Hennessey is a Social Psychologist who researches and mobilizes knowledge related to diversity promotion and discrimination reduction. Her most recent work assesses the consequences of confronting gender bias in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Eden advocated for equity and inclusion on university campuses, and combines arts with data to impact world--wide audiences. She is deeply committed to her work as the Manager of the Student Centre for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Wilfrid Laurier University and as Research and Programs Director for the Laurier Centre for Women in Science (WinS).

Amanda Wudarzewski graduated from University of Waterloo with a PhD in cognitive psychology and is a RunForLife Board Member. Amanda has collaborated on several research projects with Dr. Mueller, examining the cognitive and socio-emotional benefits of using an exercise bike as a tool for learning in the classroom. When not in the office, Amanda is racing mountain bikes and completes marathons.

Hafsah Ashraf is a 4th year undergraduate student currently pursuing a BSc in Computer Science at Wilfrid Laurier's Waterloo campus. She will graduate with an Arabic minor along with the Computer Science major. Hafsah enjoys academic tutoring, playing sports, and working with technology. Assisting with promotions, organizing the Mission on the Moon event, maintaining technology, collecting participant response data, and reporting are Hafsa's responsibilities at Teach Digital Lab.

Rushi Gandhi is an undergraduate student majoring in Honors Business Administration at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a Summer Institute Assistant who assists with the project "Mission on the Moon" by handling advertising and social media. As a business student, Rushi has a strong passion for topics including finance, marketing, and corporate law. He aspires to be a corporate lawyer and learn about educational research. Some of Rushi's hobbies include playing sports, watching TV shows, and going out with friends.

Sarah Cairns is the lab's Research Assistant and External Outreach Coordinator for the Mission on the Moon project. As a graduate from University of Waterloo Honours Kinesiology program, with minor in Rehabilitation Studies, Sarah is currently in her second year of Laurier's Bachelor of Education program in the Junior/Intermediate division with a teachable focused on Health and Physical Education.

Raksheka R. is an undergraduate student, majoring in Electronics Communication at Anna University, India. She has conducted projects related to IoT (Internet of Things) and Machine Learning. Raksheka joined Teach Digital Lab as of Summer 2022 for a research assistant as a Mitacs Globalinks intern. Raksheka works on the "Teaching Global Competencies Across Disciplines through Computational thinking and AI" project and is financed by the MITACS Globalink Research Internship. Music and art are two things she can't live without. Raksheka specifically loves writing songs, pencil sketching, and singing.

Lamia Ali is an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, completing an Honors Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. As a summer institute assistant, Lamia will contribute to the Mission on the Moon initiative and will collect data related to parent engagement in STEM education.

Dragos Petrus is a graduate from Laurier's Psychology and Sociology program, with minor in Anthropology, and is upgrading the two majors to Research Specialist and Social Psychology Specialization. As Social Media Master Research Assistant, he is responsible for maintaining the lab's up to date information through research and troubleshooting of this website.

Surjith S. is an undergraduate engineering student majoring in Computer Science at Anna University in India. He will assist Dr. Mueller in the "Teaching Global Competencies across Disciplines through Computational Thinking and AI" project as a MITACS Globalink research intern. Surjit's past work is in Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Other than this, he loves playing video games and watching Sci-fi movies and series.

Patricia Krisch is a Chemical Engineer who graduated from McMaster University. She is currently in her second year of Laurier's Bachelor of Education program in the Primary/Junior division. Patricia contributed to the maintenance of the lab social media accounts, including Twitter.

Julianna Jensen is a recent graduate from Laurier's Honors Psychology program, with minor in English and Education. She attends Laurier's Bachelor of Education program in the Primary/Junior stream. As a Research Assistant in her alternative placement, Julianna contributed to the maintenance of the Teach Digital Lab website and conducted research related to faculties of education across Canada.

Emma Lepine is a full-time Master of Education student at Wilfrid Laurier University. Emma joined the lab as an intern on a MItacs Accelerate research project that sought to map Artificial Intelligence onto current elementary curriculum, learning theory, and Cortic Technology software. Emma completed her Bachelor of Education at Laurier and is currently teaching Kindergarten. Outside of teaching, learning, and research, she can be found getting outdoors and active with her dog.

Michelle McCann completed a comprehensive for her Masters of Arts, Developmental Psychology with the lab exploring the impact of active learning, participating in our Run For Life study and the use of exercise bikes in Post Secondary contexts. Michelle also teaches as a Part Time instructor in the Faculty of Education.

Yoad Avitzur was a research assistant with Learning to Teach in a Digital World in its early years and was largely responsible for the creation and development of social media for the lab. He was an active participant and author in the Active Learning projects related to using exercise bikes in the classroom. Yoad went on to complete his Master of Arts in Globalization and International Development at the University of Ottawa.

Christian Awad was an undergraduate Health Sciences Student at Wilfrid Laurier University. He worked with Dr. Mueller on an active learning study.

Rifa Khan was a 4th year French major with a minor in Psychology and Education who worked with Dr. Mueller as a Website and Social Media Assistant, in charge of updating and maintaining the Teach Digital Lab website.

Ivory Li (Zhaojun Li) joined the lab on a MITACS international internship as a research assistant in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University. Ivory went on to study in a Master's program at Ohio State University. She is interested in assessment and participates in research on meta-cognitive planning and development of game-based assessment. Ivory likes travelling and sports. She also enjoys reading books and cooking at home.

Zoe Pedlar worked with Dr. Mueller as a Website and Social Media Assistant, as a social media content creator. She was a 4th year Environmental Studies major, with a minor in Global studies and Philosophy.

Justin Roth worked with Teach Digital Lab collecting data in the Computational Thinking across Disciplines study in local elementary schools. Justin completed his Bachelor of Education at Laurier and was an integral member of the leadership team for the Laurier Enriched Academic Program (LEAP).

Aitong Xin was a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University from February 2016 to February 2017. She majored in Educational Technology and works in Hunan First Normal University. She is interested in personal learning and learning support services in this field. Aitong enjoys reading suspenseful books and watching movies.