Dr. George Veletsianos Receives AECT 2025 Outstanding Publication Award

Dr. George Veletsianos, Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of Minnesota –Twin Cities, has been honored with the 2025 Outstanding Publication Award by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Culture, Learning, and Technology Division. The award recognizes the article “How do Canadian faculty members imagine future teaching and learning modalities” as the year’s most “outstanding published journal article relevant to the field of culture, learning and technology.” The paper, co-authored by Dr. Natalie Johnson and Dr. Shandell Houlden, was published in Educational Technology Research & Development. The study, inspired by the shifts in education brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, explored how Canadian university faculty imagine the future of teaching and learning by the year 2026.

Through in-depth interviews, the researchers outlined three possible futures: one where hybrid teaching becomes the norm, another where flexible and high-tech learning environments take center stage, and a third where universities return to more traditional, pre-pandemic models. Rather than predicting radical change, the study highlights what faculty hope for, and worry about, as they navigate the ongoing transformation of higher education in a post-pandemic world. “This recognition from AECT highlights the depth and relevance of Dr. Veletsianos’s ongoing work on educational futures,” said Dr. Bruna Damiana Heinsfeld, Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies and current Program Area Coordinator. “His scholarship continues to shape how we critically and creatively think about technology’s role in higher education.” The award reaffirms the University of Minnesota’s position as a leader in the global conversation on the cultural, ethical, and social dimensions of educational technology.