Curating and Creating with Care:
History / Social Studies
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. Catharyn teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in educational technology while researching how teachers learn and lead online. Catharyn brings a background as a P-12 classroom teacher (high school Spanish, special education, and bilingual elementary). As a fourth-generation Arizona teacher, she is passionate about supporting teachers as leaders to realize equity and justice outcomes in education.
In her recent research, Catharyn focuses on how teachers share and enact (or learn to, try to, or fail to share and enact) justice-oriented education approaches on platforms such as TeachersPayTeachers or Instagram. Her work has critiqued the role that for-profit online platforms play in dictating what teachers see, produce, and engage within such spaces. Catharyn's published research appears in Teachers College Record, Learning Media and Technology, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, as well as in popular presses including Slate, Kappan, and Edutopia. Catharyn is a mom to three little firecrackers and is based in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Education and Experience
Prior to joining the faculty at NAU, Catharyn served as an Assistant Professor of educational technology at California State University, Stanislaus from 2018-20. 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
Authored by Catharyn:
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
Mentions:
What Teachers Pay Teachers is learning from bad lessons and upset teachers, EdSurge, February 2021
TikTok teachers go viral in these Covid times, EducationHQ, 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 turn 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 empower teachers as leaders in their profession, rather than corporate curriculum distributors. It also presents challenges around the quality of teacher-created content, who gets to have a voice in the creation of curricula, and the platformization of teachers' work. In response, Catharyn and colleagues have called for supporting teachers' development of critical digital literacies centered on justice-oriented approaches, while also advocating that for-profit platforms operating in the education sphere be held accountable.
Humanizing Online Learning
How can online teacher education courses be (re)designed with a humanized and democratic approach? Recently, 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). An example of my humanized approach to online learning is showcased on Feminist Pedagogies Online's Annotated Assignments, where my annotated assignment, Dissecting Current Events Through Collaborative Virtual Mind Mapping with Google Draw is shared.
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
If you need access to any of the publications below, please email me and I'd be happy to share: catharyn.shelton@nau.edu.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Shelton, C., Curcio, R., Carpenter, J., & Schroeder, S. (2022). Instagramming for justice: The potentials and pitfalls of culturally relevant professional learning on Instagram. TechTrends. Advanced online publication.
Carpenter, J., Shelton, C., & Schroeder, S. (2022). The educational influencer: A new player in the educator professional landscape. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2022.2030267
Harris, L., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2022). Issues of quality on Teachers Pay Teachers: An exploration of best-selling U.S. history resources. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2021.2014373
Shelton, C., Koehler, M., Carpenter, J., & Greenhalgh, S. (2022). Lifting the veil on TeachersPayTeachers.com: An investigation of educational marketplace offerings and downloads. Learning, Media and Technology, 47(2), 268-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2021.1961148
Harris, L., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2021). Getting serious about sourcing information: Considerations for teachers and teacherpreneurs. Social Education, 85(5), 260-266.
Shelton, C., Geiger, T., & Archambault, L. (2021). Becoming a better teacher through online teacherpreneurship? Factors influencing online teacherpreneurs’ perceived gains in teaching practice. Elementary School Journal (Invited Special Issue). Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1086/715521
Dalal, M., Archambault, L., & Shelton, C. (2021). Developing international teachers’ TPACK through a semester-long technology literacy course. Australaisian Journal of Educational Technology, 37(1), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.5964
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.
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.
Peer Reviewed Chapters
Shelton, C., Schroeder, S., Curcio, R. (forthcoming). The Teacher-to-Teacher Online Marketplace of Ideas (TOMI): A Future of Curriculum? In R. Hartshorne, Handbook of Social Media in Education, Consumer Behavior, and Politics.
Harati, H., Shelton, C., Sujo-Montes, L., Tu, C., & Armfield, S. (forthcoming). Illuminating the marginalization of international students in the United States and ways forward: A collaborative autoethnography.
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., Shelton, C., & Harris, L, (2021, May). Teachers beware and vet with care: Online Educational Marketplaces. 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.
Updated May 28, 2022 by Catharyn Shelton
All site images are personal photos of C. Shelton or Srikingly stock images.
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