TAA member Susan W. Bontly is a PhD student at New Mexico State University and an academic author in the curriculum & instruction, education, information technology, library science, educational, and instructional design disciplines.

Her most recent publication is titled “Impact of Technology on Post-Secondary Classroom Culture: A Critical Literature Review”.

What are you currently working on?
My top priority is my multi-article format dissertation. Other articles include: (1) Starting the conversation: A working definition of Critical Digital Pedagogy (article expanded from conference presentation), (2) Integrative Literature Review of Learning Communities (first article in dissertation), and (3) Transforming learning environments: Co-constructionism in higher education classrooms (article expanded from conference presentation).

Share a recent accomplishment.
Successfully proposed and was accepted by the Graduate School and College of Education to use my dissertation as the test case for piloting the multi-article alternative dissertation format in my College, and hopefully, for all humanities and social sciences PhD students.

What is your favorite textbook writing tip or strategy?
I have found a very prolific academic, Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega, who has thinking and writing styles close to mine. He’s very organized and shares many helpful strategies and academic writing tips on his website and through Twitter. His Abstract-Introduction-Conclusion (A-I-C) strategy for evaluating potential research references is extremely timesaving.

What is your best TAA experience so far?
I attended my first TAA Conference in Santa Fe in June. I enjoyed meeting the authors whose webinars I attended and blog posts I had read. It was a little intimidating but I was welcomed by all I met. It’s really a very encouraging and supportive group of people.