Deborah Cockerham

Faculty
Clinical Assistant Professor
Director of Masters in Science Program

Discovery Park Building, G175

(940) 565-4470

Deborah.Cockerham@unt.edu

UNT Eagle

Education

PhD, University of North Texas

  • Major: Learning Technologies
  • Degree Specialization: Behavioral Science
  • Dissertation Title: The Impact of an Inquiry-Based Learning Environment upon Digital Awareness and Well-Being Among Middle Schoolers with Learning and Attentional Disabilities

MS, University of Texas at Arlington

  • Major: Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction
  • Degree Specialization: Mind, Brain and Education
  • Dissertation Title: Visual Recognition of Fear and Anger Cues by Children on Autism Spectrum and Neurotypical Peers: An EEG Study

Research Interests

  • AI in education
  • Human relationships with technology
  • Strategies and tools for students with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder 
  • Learning and motivation in immersive environments
  • Impact of sensory stimuli upon learning
  • Socioemotional learning, well-being, and communication
  • Inquiry-based learning and critical thinking
  • Higher education collaborations with community

Dr. Cockerham founded and directed the Research and Learning Center at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and has been a Visiting Research Scholar at Texas Christian University. She has over twenty years of experience in teaching children and adolescents with a wide range of learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and/or autism spectrum disorders.

Awards

  • 2024 UNT Research Seed Funding
    • Project: AI in Mathematics Education (Naresh,  N. and Cockerham, D.)
    • Role: Co-PI   Sum: $10,000
  • Lupe Murchison Foundation Award
    • Project: Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Developing Social and Communication Skills for the Workforce.
    • Role: PI  Sum: $10,000
  • 2023 COI Faculty Excellence Award
  • 2020 John Cotton Dana Award for Leadership
    • American Alliance of Museums
  • 2023-24 LASER Scholar
    •  Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research Institute

Recent Publications

Cockerham, D., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Foshay, W., & Spector, M. (2023). (Eds.) Reimagining education: Studies and stories for effective learning  in an evolving digital society. New York: Springer.

Cockerham, D. (2023). Participatory action research: Building understanding, dialogue, and positive actions in a changing digital environment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10294-1

Cockerham, D., Lin-Lipsmeyer, L., and Tyler-Wood, T. (2024). An Inquiry-Based Approach to Understanding Well-Being and Smartphone Usage: Constructing Research with Adolescent Students. Mind, Brain and Education Journal.

Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Cockerham, D., & Ferdig, R. (2023). The impacts of ambisonic sound and immersion on learning in high-immersion and low-immersion virtual reality. British Journal of Educational Technology.

Cockerham, D. (2023). Reimagining higher education pedagogy: Building an active understanding of the research process. In Cockerham, D., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Foshay, W., and Spector, M.  (Eds.) Reimagining education: Studies and stories for effective learning practices in an evolving digital society. New York: Springer.

Cockerham, D. & Tyler-Wood, T. (2023). Impacts and interventions for central auditory processing disorders: A case study. In Sofologi, M., and Kougioumtzis, R. (Eds.) Perspectives of cognitive, psychosocial, and learning difficulties from childhood to adulthood. IGI Global.

Kaiser, S., Strawn, S., & Cockerham, D. (2023). Teacher self-assessment of technology proficiency and adoption during the COVID-19 crisis. In Cockerham, D., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Foshay, W., and Spector, M. (Eds.) Reimagining education: Studies and stories for effective learning practices in an evolving digital society. New York: Springer.

Ndolo, S., & Cockerham, D. (2023). Reimagining PBL to Develop Critical Thinking Skills for All Learners. In  Hokanson, B., Exter, M., Schmidt, M., & Tawfik, A. (Eds.) Toward Inclusive Learning Design: Social Justice, Equity, and Community. Springer.

Cockerham, D., Lin, L., Ndolo, S., and Schwartz, M. (2021). Voices of the students: Adolescent well-being and social interactions during the emergent shift to online learning environments. Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10601-4.

Cockerham, D. (2021). Neuroscience applications in educational technology. In M.A. Peters and R. Heraud (Eds.), Encyclopedia of educational innovation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2262-4_253-1

Shen, Q., Wang, L.Y., Cockerham, D., & Lin, L. (2019, October). Media multitasking, attention, and news evaluation: A study based on undergraduates’ news reading. Educational Innovation through Technology (EITT). The 8th International Conference of Educational Innovation through Technology (pp. 184-189). IEEE.

Tyler-Wood, T. L., Cockerham, D., & Johnson, K. R. (2018). Implementing new technologies in a middle school curriculum: a rural perspective. Smart Learning Environments, 5(1), 22.

Tyler-Wood, T., Johnson, K.R., and Cockerham, D. (2018). Factors influencing STEM career choices: Gender differences. Journal of Research in STEM Education, 4(2), 179-192.

Parker C., Cockerham, D., and Foss, A. (2018). Communicating climate change: lessons learned from a researcher-museum collaboration. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. doi:10.1128/jmbe.v19i1.1499.

Gu, X., Zhang, T., Lin, L., & Cockerham, D. (2017). Gender and race differences among children's anthropometrics and mental health. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sports, (Vol. 88, pp. A85-A85).

Cockerham, D., and Malaia, E. (2017). Neuroscience-based approaches to teaching students on the autism spectrum. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 224(4), 290-293.

Malaia, E., Cockerham, D., & Rublein, K. (2017). Visual integration of fear and anger emotional cues by children on the autism spectrum and neurotypical peers: An EEG study. Neuropsychologia, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.06.014

Cockerham, D., Chang, Z., Schellen, M., and Lin, L. (2016, July). Cognitive task performance in technology-enhanced learning environments. Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), 2016 IEEE 16th International Conference on Learning, (pp. 360-362). IEEE.

Lin, L., Cockerham, D., Chang, Z., and Natividad, G. (2015).  Task speed and accuracy decrease when multitasking. Technology, Knowledge and Learning,  21(3), 307-323.

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