Books Published By Faculty
News and Events | College of Education

Here is a listing of recent books published by faculty in the College.  The titles reflect faculty interests and research and provide a range of  approaches to education.

Hilve Firek published  10 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the English Classroom (2003), which is in its second printing and continued to get laudatory reviews in 2005.  The book’s impetus came when an English teacher in EDUC 485 Technology in the Classroom asked, “can you teach me something I can use in my classroom tomorrow?”  Though 10 Easy Ways… does that, it doesn’t simply present ten lesson plans.  Instead, it presents ten techniques for using technology in creative and insightful ways (with a number of examples for each) and invites teachers to adapt the techniques to their classrooms.  Dr. Firek is currently working on a new book presenting ways to integrate writing into the content areas. Dr. Firek is an assistant professor teaching in Secondary Education and has redesigned two of the program’s courses for online delivery.

Gregory Hauser and Dennis Koutouzos co-authored The Standards-Based Digital School Leader Portfolio: A Handbook for Preparation and Practice (2006), which will be available in January, 2006.  Providing a comprehensive, step-by-step process for developing digital portfolios, this volume includes activities, rubrics, and worksheets to help school leaders or school leader candidates.  In addition, the accompanying CD includes digital templates and a four-month subscription to TaskStream.  Dr. Hauser is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Educational Leadership, and Mr. Koutouzos is Assistant to the Dean.

Martin Jason published Evaluating Programs to Increase Student Achievement: Leadership Strategies, (2001)  an outgrowth of a paper presented in 1999 at the Phi Delta Kappa International Conference on Effective Schools.  The book covers the roles of the principal and evaluation team leader in the assessment process and provides a step-by-step guide for practitioners conducting evaluations.  Dr. Jason directs the Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and also teaches in the program.

Tom Thomas co-authored Curriculum Books: The First Hundred Years (2002).   A comprehensive chronology of curriculum books in the United States from 1900 to 2000, the book is divided into chapters on each decade, each of which includes an insightful commentary into the trends and developments of the decade.  These commentaries, coupled with the breadth of the booklist, led one reviewer to characterize the book as “an essential scholarly tool for anyone who works in curriculum.  Dr. Thomas is an associate professor teaching in the Secondary Education department, and he is currently editing an Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies.