Melissa Courtney

Ph.D. Student
Department of Education

Email: courtnem@uci.edu

Biography

Melissa Courtney joins the PhD in Education program at UC, Irvine in Fall 2008 as a member of Cohort II. Her specialization is Language, Literacy, and Technology. She received her bachelors from UC, San Diego in 2008 in Cognitive Science and Human Development. During this time she worked as a research assistant on several projects on flexible cognition, morpheme development, and developing programming software for school age children. Her senior thesis was on the use of behavioral management over various settings in a preschool classroom.

Her research interest is focused on technology and the culture of a classroom. She explains, "Children develop a strong sense of what is work and play early on which effects their motivation in the classroom. Children also learn to curb their answers to a distinct right or wrong answer when in many subjects the scholars would find the area grey." Ms. Courtney's studies focus on the possibility for classroom cultural change with the introduction of computers and alternative peripheral use in preschool and elementary school children.

Ms. Courtney's professional goals include researching technology in the classroom and developing curriculum and training methods to assist teachers in implementing technology in their classrooms.