SPEAKERS

Tutaleni Iita Asino is an accomplished researcher, educator, and designer committed to advancing accessibility within STEAM and finding innovative ways to use technology for learning, teaching, and organizational performance. He is a Co-Director of the Learning Sciences for Innovators Program (LSFI) and Special Faculty in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Before joining the LSFI program, he was a tenured Associate Professor of Learning, Design, and Technology and the Director of the Emerging Technologies And Creativity Research Lab in the College of Education and Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University.

 

Tutaleni positions himself as a culturally responsive, comparative, and interpretive researcher who uses qualitative inquiry and interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the relationships among people, technology, culture, and learning. His work demonstrates the value of studying technology not in isolation, but as something embedded in particular social, cultural, historical, and educational contexts.

 

His scholarly pursuits traverse the boundaries of formal and informal learning environments and are characterized by an international comparative research approach. His areas of research include: the adoption and use of emerging technologies in learning environments; diffusion of innovations; mobile learning; Indigenous Knowledge(s); Open Education; Comparative and International Education; and how culture, agency, and representation manifest in education. Featured in his approaches is his attention to culture and context. His scholarship asks how technologies interact with local knowledge systems, cultural practices, identities, and existing educational structures. This perspective is especially important in his work on African contexts, where he challenges assumptions that position Africa primarily as a consumer of technological innovation and instead highlights African agency, knowledge, and contribution to technology and education.

 

His work has received various recognitions, including being named an OER Fellow for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (2021 – 2024), Distinguished Early Career Faculty Award from Oklahoma State University (2020), Emerging Scholar Award from the Comparative & International Education Society African Diaspora SIG (2019), and the Special Service Award from AECT, the association’s second-highest award (2019). He has received grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship to go to the University of Johannesburg, visiting scholar appointments at The Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) in Mexico, and a visiting scholar in residence at the Namibian Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM).

 

He has produced over 100 publications, including peer-reviewed articles & book chapters, conference proceedings, and numerous non-refereed manuscripts.  He has co-edited various special journal issues such as Social Media and Emerging Spaces for Professional Development in the 21st Century (TechTrends), Special issue focusing on Culture, Learning and Technology (TechTrends), and Indigenous Knowledge and Practices contributing to new approaches in learning/educational technologies (Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal (IxD&A) 

 

He is an active member of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), where he serves as President Elect of the Association; the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) where he has served as Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Special Interest Group for seven years and is the chair-elect/chair for 2023-2025; the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education where he served as Co-Chair of the African Perspective Group.

Dr. Arceli H. Rosario is the president of the Adventist University of the Philippines, bringing a 43-year teaching career in the basic, undergraduate, and graduate education. Her leadership journey includes being a high school registrar, principal, vice president for academic affairs, college president, and graduate school faculty and chair. As a researcher, she served as the Asian Qualitative Research Association as executive secretary and, later, as president. Currently, she is the president of the Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association-Asia Chapter. Her scholarly contributions include co-editing The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in the Asian Context and publishing book chapters and journal articles. Beyond academia, she authors My Bible Treasures, a four-volume children’s book series. Dr. Rosario balances her professional legacy with a rich family life as a mother of four and grandmother of three, alongside her husband.