Carpenter, associate professor of education and director of the Teaching Fellows Program, was honored in the spring with the Distinguished Scholar Award for his research and scholarship.
Jeffrey Carpenter, associate professor and director of the Teaching Fellows Program, will deliver the 2019-20 Distinguished Scholar Award Lecture on Monday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. in LaRose Digital Theatre in the Koury Business Center.
Carpenter was honored in the spring with the award, which recognizes a faculty member whose research has earned peer commendation and respect, and who has made significant contributions to his or her field of study. Carpenter is the 20th recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, which has been presented annually since the 1999-2000 academic year.
Monday’s lecture is titled, “Social media and education: Mortal enemies or a match made in heaven?” A description of the lecture:
Social media is at the heart of modern culture, but its role in educational settings is contested and uncertain. Often stereotyped as the domain of callow teens, celebrity stalkers, and narcissists, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have nonetheless played key roles in political campaigns, community building, protest movements, charity fundraising, and other serious matters.
This session presents three case studies from recent and current research projects that shed light on the opportunities, challenges and tensions associated with the use of social media in formal and informal educational settings. These case studies serve as a jumping-off point for discussion regarding the future of social media in schools.
Carpenter joined the faculty in the School of Education in 2010 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2016. The past nine years have been marked by high levels of scholarly productivity, with his work widely read and cited and other researchers actively seeking out collaborations with him.
Since coming to Elon, Carpenter has given more than 110 research presentations, many of which were delivered at top-tier national and international conferences such as the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education Annual Conference, and the International Society for Technology in Educational Annual Conference. Since 2010, he has published 40 articles, including 26 during the past three calendar years, along with three book chapters and 14 papers in conference proceedings, with one colleague noting that “quite simply, his scholarly output rivals many top teacher education scholars. I have marveled at his productivity and even sought his suggestions to understand how he maintains the intensity of productivity in his scholarship.”
Among his journal articles, 25 have focused on the use of social media as an educational and professional development tool, with three of his publications already having been cited more than 100 times and all of his publications cited 369 total times in 2018, according to Google Scholar. Carpenter writes and presents for both scholarly and practitioner audiences so that he can have an impact in the world of teacher education and K-12 education. His practitioner-oriented articles have been featured in publications widely read by K-12 educators including Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan and Education Week.
Carpenter is the 20th recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes a faculty member whose research has earned peer commendation and respect, and who has made significant contributions to his or her field of study.