College of Education and Human Development

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

George Veletsianos

  • Pronouns: he/him/his

  • Professor of Learning Technologies, Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology

  • Office Hours

    Office hours by appointment.

George Veletsianos

Areas of interest

Online learning, the role and impact of technology on the future of education, education futures, speculative education, student and faculty experiences with educational technology, emerging technologies, AI in education, the role and impacts of technology on education.

Degrees

PhD, University of Minnesota 
Learning Technologies

Biography

I am a Professor in the Learning Technologies program and hold the Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology. Prior to my current position I held the Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology (2013-2023) and the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Flexible Education (2019-2022). 

I have been designing, developing, and evaluating online, blended, and digital learning environments for nearly 20 years. My research aims to understand the roles, impacts, and limitations of technology on education, as well as the experiences of students and educators in online and technology-rich settings. I apply this frame to both established and new/emerging technologies, and I'm drawn to educational innovation, both its potentials and its limits. For example, in the past I examined teaching, learning, and participation with AI, social media, MOOCs, open education, and flexible learning. I am incredibly interested in visions of the future of education . My research agenda focuses on three areas: (1) design, development, and evaluation of online and blended learning environments, (2) the study of learning experiences and participation in emerging online environments, and (3) learning futures.

What students can expect from me?

I am dedicated to collaborating with my students in projects of mutual interest. I provide students with opportunities to learn via experiential mentoring focused on supporting their professional development and involving them in authentic research activities. For example, students have been involved in developing research proposals for funding agencies, designing and developing online learning and training, co-writing publications, presenting at conferences, and designing and developing educational software.

Publications

Selected publications appear below, and the most up-to-date list is available on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Esx8Dw8AAAAJ&hl=en 

Veletsianos, G. (2020). Learning Online: The Student Experience. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/73824 

Veletsianos, G. (2016). Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press. https://www.aupress.ca/books/120258-emergence-and-innovation-in-digital-learning/ 

Childs, E., Veletsianos, G., Donahue, A., Leary, T., McLeod, K., & Scott, A. M. (2023). One speculative future for education: Who is it "good" for and why? In Czerniewicz, L. & Cronin, C. (Eds), Higher Education for Good: Teaching and Learning Future (pp. 317-334). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0363.13 

Veletsianos, G., Johnson, N., & Houlden, S. (2024). How do Canadian Faculty Members Imagine Future Teaching and Learning Modalities? Educational Technology Research & Development, 72(3), 1851 – 1868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10350-4 

Veletsianos, G., & Houlden, S. (2014). On the “university of the future”: A critical analysis of cohort-based course platform Maven. Learning, Media, & Technology, 49(3), 401-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2023.2164862 

Veletsianos, G., Houlden, S., & Johnson, N. (2024). Is Artificial Intelligence in education an object or a subject? Evidence from a story completion exercise on learner-AI interactions. Tech Trends, 68, 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-00942-5

Houlden, S. & Veletsianos, G. (2023). Impossible dreaming: On speculative education fiction and hopeful learning futures. Postdigital Science and Education, 5, 605-622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-022-00348-7 

Veletsianos, G., & Johnson, N. (2023). Canadian Faculty Members’ Hopes and Anxieties about the Near-future of Higher Education. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 48(3), 1-23. https://cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/28319 

VanLeeuwen, C.A., Veletsianos, G., Belikov, O. Johnson, N. (2021). Never-ending repetitiveness, sadness, loss, and “juggling with a blindfold on:” Lived experiences of Canadian college and university faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(4), 1306-1322. http://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13065 

Veletsianos, G., Reich, J., & Pasquini, L. (2016). The Life Between Big Data Log Events: Learners’ Strategies to Overcome Challenges in MOOCs? AERA Open, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416657002 

Classes taught

CI 5321 Foundations of Distance Education