April 2026: Faculty scholarship and recognitions
From groundbreaking research to professional honors, faculty representing Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation advance ideas that shape teaching and learning. The listings below, drawn from the college's regular scholarship survey, highlight recent contributions.
Leanna Archambault, professor, Lauren Harris, professor, and Lindsie Spengler, clinical assistant professor examining the development and implementation of micro credentials as a pathway for teacher professional learning. Specifically, they analyze the design and impact of Project ACCLaIM, a U.S. Department of Education–funded initiative. The project involved creating facilitated and self-paced courses and stackable micro credentials in civics, history, and media literacy, now housed on a professional learning platform. Using a case study approach, they highlight lessons learned in building scalable, flexible professional learning systems that align educator development with evolving disciplinary and civic priorities.
Reference: Archambault, L., Harris, L. M., & Spengler, L. (2026). Project ACCLaIM: A case study on developing and implementing microcredentials as a pathway to teacher professional learning. In R. L. Moore & K. J. Crippen (Eds.), Mapping the STEM microcredential landscape, volume II: Frameworks, applications, and future directions (pp. 65–88). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06843-9_4
Gustavo E. Fischman and Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, professors and co-editors-in-chief of AERA Open recently published an editorial vision statement outlining their priorities for the journal’s 2025–2027 editorial term. They articulate a forward-looking agenda centered on open access, innovation in scholarly communication, and responsiveness to current challenges facing education research. The article details planned initiatives to broaden what counts as a publishable scholarly contribution, expand diverse and experimental formats (including new series such as AERA ReOpened), and strengthen accessibility, transparency, and global reach — while also naming concerns related to metric-driven systems and political threats to academic freedom.
Reference: Fischman, G. E., & Amrein-Beardsley, A. (2026). Strengthening education research publications through open, principled, and pragmatic experimentation: AERA Open editors’ vision statement 2025–2027. AERA Open, 12. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23328584251410164
Kathleen M. Farrand, associate professor, joins Jae Young Jung, a doctoral student in MLFC’s Learning, Literacies and Technologies program, in demonstrating that therapy-dog interventions can positively influence students’ emotional support and overall well-being when intentionally paired with traditional Tier 3 interventions, which are the most intensive, individualized level of support provided to students with the highest academic or behavioral needs.
Reference: Farrand, K. M., & Jung, J. Y. (2025). Exploring how a therapy dog intervention in a tier 3 classroom influences mental health components of well-being: A case study. Behavioral Sciences, 15(11), 1585. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15111585
MLFC faculty are invited to submit their scholarship through the faculty survey form.