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The Office of Academic Affairs and the Center for Faculty Development are pleased to announce that Dr. M’hammed Abdous, is the new Associate Director for Faculty Innovation and Teaching with Technology at the CFD.  He started in this position in October, expanding the staff to include three personnel and bringing a new range of expertise to the Center. 

Dr. Abdous earned both his MA (Social Psychology of Language) and his Ph.D. (Education Planning and Management) from Laval University (Quebec, Canada). He was most recently director at 51�鱨վ’s former Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT), where he earned several awards including the John R. Bourne 2015 Outstanding Achievement Award in Online Education. Under his leadership, 51�鱨վ’s Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) was recognized in 2016 as a Center for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology during the 27th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, Jacksonville, Florida.

During his tenure as the Director of 51�鱨վ’s CLT, Dr. Abdous provided institutional leadership in: (1) leading online learning programs; (2) developing faculty development programs; and (3) implementing, processes for integrating technology into teaching and learning practices. He oversaw the development of over 34 online degree programs, totaling over 800 online courses as well as the production of ten different online tools and platforms, ranging from a Personal Online Learning Environment and an Online Syllabus Generator to an Online Course Quality Assurance platform.  With CLT he also designed and facilitated tens of workshops ranging from application-based topics to certificates on Online Learning and Computer Literacy.

Dr. Abdous has co-edited a book on Academic Podcasting and published 27 journal articles in some of the top journals in educational technology. His eclectic research areas span topics from course design to student anxiety in online environments. He has presented 44 papers at national and international conferences, and has received several awards for his research, including the Research Paper Award (NUTN 2010, Colorado Springs, Colorado), the Outstanding Paper Award (Journal of Information and Management Systems, 2013) the Best Paper Award (SITE 2006, Orlando, Florida; DLA 2008, Jekyll Island, Georgia & ICCTL 2016, Jacksonville, Florida).

Dr. Abdous is also a renowned international expert who has worked with national and international organizations (such as UNICEF, IBE-UNESCO, and USAID). In this role, Dr. Abdous has shared his research on various topics related to online learning development, learning management systems development, teacher professional development, ICT integration, curriculum development, and program evaluation.

As director of the CFD, Dr. Finley-Croswhite underscores “Dr. Abdous brings a wide range of tremendous talent and experience to the Center for Faculty Development.”  He will work closely with Dr. Finley-Croswhite and the new Educational Program Developer, Ms. Kristal Kinloch-Taylor, creating a team committed to expanding knowledge of innovative pedagogical practices.  Dr. Abdous looks forward to collaborating with 51�鱨վ faculty on meaningful, deep, and engaging learning experiences for our students. His most recent work at the Center has focuses on preparing faculty to work with new AI tools (Artificial Intelligence) that are transforming education such as ChatGPT and DALL●E2.