Curating and Creating with Care:
History / Social Studies
Guiding questions for critiquing resources from online educational marketplaces
Catharyn C. Shelton, PhD
Assistant Professor of Educational Technology | Former K-12 Teacher
About
Catharyn Shelton, PhD
Biography
Catharyn Shelton is an assistant professor of educational technology at Northern Arizona University's College of Education. Since joining the faculty in 2020, Catharyn has taught undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in educational technology, while conducting research around how teachers learn and lead online. Catharyn brings a background as a K-12 teacher (high school Spanish, special education, and bilingual elementary). As a fourth-generation Arizona teacher, she is passionate about empowering teachers as leaders to realize equity and justice outcomes in education.
Catharyn's research explores how teachers enact leadership and learn together in online spaces. Most recently, she has focused on how teachers enact (or learn to, try to, or fail to enact) social justice and anti-bias, anti-racist work in online spaces such as TeachersPayTeachers or Instagram. Catharyn's published work appears in Teachers College Record, Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, as well as Slate and Edutopia. Catharyn is a mom to two little firecrackers and is based in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Education and Experience
Catharyn previously served as an Assistant Professor of educational technology at California State University, Stanislaus. Her passions for cognitive psychology, critical digital pedagogies, and social justice drive her academic pursuits in the field of educational technology.
Expertise
Awards
2020, Recipient, National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) Fellowship Award for "exemplary research related to technology in social studies education," College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies
In the News
Lesson plan platforms for teachers have a racist problem in Slate, August 2020
How to design a culturally responsive Bitmoji classroom in Edutopia, October 2020
Resources for Teachers
Print-and-go guidance for P-12 teachers, inspired by our research.
Guiding questions for critiquing resources from online educational marketplaces
Research
Catharyn Shelton, PhD
Teachers Learning and Leading Online
Teachers are turning to online sources for classroom inspiration and support, ranging from teachers' blogs, social media, and virtual marketplaces. Online teacherpreneurs are current and former P -12 teachers who share their ideas and resources in the teacher-to-teacher marketplace of ideas - spaces including TeachersPayTeachers.com, Instagram, and Pinterest, often for financial gain (Shelton & Archambault, 2018). This practice may represent a novel way to empower teachers as leaders in their profession, rather than corporate curriculum distributors. It may also pose challenges around the quality of teacher-created content and who gets to have a voice in the creation of curricula. In response, Catharyn and colleagues have called for the need to support the development of critical digital literacies centered on anti-racist and anti-bias approaches in teacher education coursework (e.g., Shelton, Schroeder, & Curcio, 2020).
Humanizing Online Learning
How can online teacher education courses be (re)designed with a humanized and democratic approach? In one project, we applied critical, humanizing approaches to design and support online learning experiences for teachers that are humanized and culturally responsive (Shelton, Aguilera, Gleason, & Mehta, 2020).
Preparing Teachers to Integrate Emerging Technologies for Sustainability Literacy
How can we change teacher education courses to infuse innovative online technologies that not only connect with today's teachers but support them in using tech to explore wicked problems of sustainability with their future students? In a series of studies, we have examined preservice teachers' experiences learning from and creating digital storytelling videos in the context of an undergrad class on sustainability education (see Sustainability Science for Educators; Archambault et al., 2018; Hale et al., 2017; Shelton et al., 2017, 2016).
Teaching
Catharyn Shelton, PhD
University Teaching
Northern Arizona University
2020-present
California State University Stanislaus
2018-20
K - 12 Teaching
Arizona State Secondary Certification in Spanish, English, and Psychology
Most of Catharyn's K-12 classroom teaching was spent in the high school Spanish classroom, working with linguistically and culturally diverse students at a large urban public school. During that time, she was named the Arizona Language Association's Early Career Educator of the Year and was awarded a $10,000 Century Link grant for classroom iPads for her project-based learning proposal. She also brings K-12 experience as a bilingual elementary teacher, professional development coordinator, mentor of student teachers, and special education paraprofessional.
Publications
Catharyn Shelton, PhD
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Harris, L., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (accepted 2/2021). Getting serious about sourcing information: Considerations for teachers and teacherpreneurs. Social Education
Shelton, C., Geiger, T., & Archambault, L. (accepted 2/2021). Becoming a better teacher through online teacherpreneurship? Factors influencing online teacherpreneurs’ perceived gains in teaching practice. Elementary School Journal (Invited Special Issue).
Dalal, M., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2021). Developing international teachers’ TPACK through a semester-long technology literacy course. Australaisian Journal of Educational Technology.
Koehler, M., Shelton, C., Carpenter, J., & Greenhalgh, S. (2020). Where does all the money go? Free and paid transactions on TeachersPayTeachers.com. Teachers College Record.
Shelton, C., Schroeder, S., & Curcio, S. (2020). Instagramming their hearts out: What do edu-influencers share on Instagram? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 20(3).
Shelton, C.C., & Archambault, L. M. (2020). Learning from and about elite online teacherpreneurs: A qualitative examination of key characteristics, school environments, practices, and impacts. Teachers College Record, 122(7), 107-132.
Shelton, C.C., & Archambault, L.M. (2019). Who are online teacherpreneurs and what do they do? A survey of content creators on TeachersPayTeachers.com. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 51(4), 398-414. doi: 10.1080/15391523.2019.1666757
Geiger, T., & Shelton, C. (2019). Learn to calculate Cronbach’s alpha in SPSS with data from a school dropout prevention program (DPP) study (2017). SAGE Publications. doi: 10.4135/9781526469601
Shelton, C.C., & Archambault, L. M. (2018). Discovering how teachers build virtual relationships and develop as professionals through online teacherpreneurship. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 29(4), 579-602.
Archambault, L., Hale, A. E., & Shelton, C.C. (2018). Using digital stories to address sustainability literacy: Designing a university hybrid course to inspire and engage millennial learners. Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 7(1), 17-25.
Hale, A. E., Shelton, C.C., Richter, J., Archambault, L. M. (2017). Integrating geoscience and sustainability: Examining socio-techno-ecological relationships within content designed to prepare teachers. Geoscience Education, 65(2), 101-112.
Dalal, M., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2017). Professional development for international teachers: Examining TPACK and technology integration decision-making. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 50(3), 1-17.
Martin, A., Shelton, C.C., & Sommerville, J.A. (2017). Once a frog-lover, always a frog-lover?: Infants’ goal generalization is influenced by the nature of accompanying speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(6), 859-871. doi:10.1037/xge0000268
Shelton, C.C., Archambault, L.M., & Hale, A.E. (2017). Bringing digital storytelling to the elementary classroom: Video production for preservice teachers. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 33(2), 58-68. doi: 10.1080/21532974.2016.1276871
Archambault, L., Kennedy, K., Shelton, C., Dalal, M., McAllister, L., & Huyett, S. (2016). Incremental progress: Re-examining field experiences in K-12 online learning contexts in the United States. Journal of Online Learning Research, 2(3), 303-326.
Shelton, C.C., Archambault, L.M., & Warren, A.E. (2016). Exploring the use of interactive digital storytelling video: Promoting student engagement and learning in a university hybrid course. Tech Trends, 60(5), 465-474.
Sommerville, J.A., & Crane, C.C. (2009). Ten-month-old infants use prior information to identify an actor's goal. Developmental Science, 12(2), 314-325.
Sommerville, J.A., Hildebrand, E., & Crane, C.C. (2008). Experience matters: The impact of doing versus watching on infants' subsequent perception of tool use events. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1249–1256.
Peer Reviewed Chapters
Shelton, C.C., Aguilera, E., Gleason, B., & Mehta, R. (2020). Resisting dehumanizing assessments: Enacting critical humanizing pedagogies in online teacher education. In Ferdig, R.E., Baumgartner, E., Hartshorne, R., Kaplan-Rakowski, R. & Mouza, C. (2020). Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216903/, pp 125-129.
Editorially Reviewed Articles
Archambault, L., Harris, L, & Shelton, C. (accepted 3/2021). Teacher-Buyers Beware and Vet with Care: Searching for Expanded Perspectives on Online Educational Marketplaces. Phi Delta Kappan
Shelton, C. (2020, October 9). How to design a culturally responsive Bitmoji classroom. Edutopia.
Shelton, C. & Archambault, L., Harris, L. (2020, August 7). Lesson plan platforms for teachers have a racist problem. Slate.
Shelton, C. & Archambault, L. (2019, November 14). Teachers paying teachers? Four guidelines for school leaders. International Society for Technology in Education Blog.
Commissioned Research and Reports
Archambault, L., Kennedy, K., DeBruler, K., Shelton, C., Dalal, M., McAllister, L., & Huyett, S. (2016). Examining teacher education programs and field experiences in k-12 online learning environments. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University.
Conference Proceedings and Presentations
*Shelton, C., Curcio, R., Carpenter, J., & Schroeder, S. (2021, April 12). Pandemics, Social Justice, and Social Media: Anti-bias, Anti-racist Edu-Influencers’ Instagram Messaging During COVID-19. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
* Best paper award nominee, 2021 Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning (TACTL) Special Interest Group
Schroeder, S., Curcio, R., & Shelton, C. (2021, April 11). Activism and capitalism on edu-Instagram. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
Shelton, C., Harris, L., & Archambault, L., (2021, April 11). Let the Teacher-buyer Beware: What Metrics Predict Expert-evaluated Quality in TeachersPayTeachers.com Resources. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
Shelton, C., Geiger, T., & Archambault, L., (2021, April 11). Becoming a better teacher through online teacherpreneurship? Factors influencing online teacherpreneurs’ perceived gains in teaching practice. In Educators Meet the Fifth Estate: Social Media in Education [Symposium]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
Carpenter, J., Shelton, C., Curcio, R., & Schroeder, S. (2021). The Education Influencer: New Possibilities and Challenges for Teachers in the Social Media World. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. xx-xx). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Carpenter, J. & Shelton, C. (2021). How and why teachers use TeachersPayTeachers.com. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. xx-xx). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
*Harris, L., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2021, March 31). Examining issues of quality on Teachers Pay Teachers: An exploration of best-selling U.S. history resources. Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, Virtual Conference.
*Winner of the National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship
Harris, L., Shelton, C., Archambault, L. (2020, December 5). Striving for social justice in online educational marketplaces: Recommendations for teacher buyers and sellers. Invited presentation at the annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, Virtual Conference.
*Harris, L., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2020, December 2). Examining issues of quality on Teachers Pay Teachers: An exploration of best-selling U.S. history resources [Paper presentation]. National Council for the Social Studies College and University Faculty Assembly Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
*Winner of the National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship
Shelton, C. C., Geiger, T. & Archambault, L. M. (2020, Apr 17 - 21) Becoming a Teacher Influencer: Factors Influencing Online Teacherpreneurs' Perceptions of Themselves as Leaders [Symposium]. AERA Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA http://tinyurl.com/sx9whma (Conference Canceled)
Shelton, C. C., Geiger, T. & Archambault, L. M. (2020, Apr 17 - 21) Online Teacherpreneurship and Reskilling: Factors Influencing Online Teacherpreneurs' Perceived Gains in Teaching Practice [Paper Session]. AERA Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA http://tinyurl.com/s7euja2 (Conference Canceled)
Mehta, R., Aguilera, E. & Shelton, C. C. (2020, Apr 17 - 21) Decolonizing Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogies as a Way Forward [Roundtable Session]. AERA Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA http://tinyurl.com/rxbto5m (Conference Canceled)
Shelton, C., Koehler, M., Carpenter, J. & Greenhalgh, S. (2020). Taking Stock of TeachersPayTeachers.com: Analyzing Four Million Classroom Resources. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1477-1482). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215916/
Shelton, C., Curcio, R. & Schroeder, S. (2020). Instagramming their Hearts Out: Teacher Influencers on Instagram. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1470-1476). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215915/
Archambault, L., Shelton, C. & Harris, L. (2020). Design Quality and Technology Use in the Top 100 U.S. History Activities on Teachers Pay Teachers. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1442-1447). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215911/
Aguilera, E., Shelton, C.C., Mehta, R., & de Roock, R. (2019, May). Against the cult of efficiency: Humanizing pedagogies as acts of decolonizing teacher education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, Vancouver, Canada.
Shelton, C. C., & Archambault, L. (2019, April). Exploring the Teacher Side Hustle: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Online Teacherpreneurship. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada. http://tinyurl.com/yau9ckmq
Shelton, C., & Archambault, L. (2019). Teachers Paying Teachers? A Guide for Teacher Educators Seeking to Understand Online Teacherpreneurship. In K. Graziano (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 855-860). Las Vegas, NV, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/208371/
Archambault, L., Hale, A., Shelton, C. & Puga, S. (2019). Inspiration by way of Pinterest: Tracking educators’ use of social media to locate and share classroom resources. In K. Graziano (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 736-740). Las Vegas, NV, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/208369/
Shelton, C.C., & Archambault, L. (2018). What does it mean to be an online teacherpreneur? A qualitative investigation of highly experienced and successful authors on Teachers Pay Teachers. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2018 (pp. 1724 - 1728). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Shelton, C. C., & Archambault, L. (2017, November). Online teacherpreneurship. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communication and Technology, Jacksonville, FL, USA.
Shelton, C. C. & Archambault, L. (2017, April). Online teacherpreneur collaborations: Exploring participation in, an online community of practice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Shelton, C.C., & Archambault, L. (2017). What is online teacherpreneurship and why does it matter for education?. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2017 (pp. 1817-1822). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Shelton, C.C., Archambault, L., & Warren, A. (2016). Creating engaging openers through story: Developing pre-service teachers’ understanding of sustainability using digital video. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2016 (pp. 746-749). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Shelton, C.C., Archambault, L., Warren, A., Ahmad, O., & Nevárez, V. (2016). Examining preservice teachers’ beliefs, experiences, and expectations regarding the use of video in education. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2016 (pp. 470-473). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Dalal, M., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2016). Examining TPACK and technology integration decision-making among international teachers. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2016 (pp. 3005-3010). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Warren, A., Crane, C., Archambault, L., Ahmad, O., & Ross, A. (2015). Check out my website: Enhancing sustainability literacy with digital artifacts. In Proceedings of ELearn Conference 2015.
Archambault, L., Warren, A., & Crane, C. (2015). Examining the use of embedded assessment in video content. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2015 (pp. 524-526). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Updated April 8, 2021 by Catharyn Shelton
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