Jim Dorward, Ph.D.

Jim Dorward

Professor of Elementary Education
Graduate and Undergraduate Faculty
Appointed 1991 Email: Jim.Dorward@usu.edu
Phone (435) 797-1471
Office: Jones Education Building, Room 453

Academic Degrees

  • Ph.D. University of Oregon 1991 Science Education and Program Evaluation
  • M.A. University of Wyoming 1985 Science & Mathematics Instruction
  • B.S. The Ohio State University 1978 General Science/Elementary Education

Professional Experience

  • 1997-2005 Utah State University, Associate Professor of Elementary Education
  • 1991-1997 Utah State University, Assistant Professor of Elementary Education
  • 1991-1995 Western Institute for Research and Evaluation, research associate
  • 1988-91 University of Oregon, graduate teaching fellow
  • 1986-87 Vail Mountain' School, teacher
  • 1985-86 Eagle County School District, substitute teacher
  • 1984-85 University of Wyoming, graduate teaching assistant
  • 1980-83 Jackson Intermediate School, teacher

Faculty and Administrative Load

Fall Semester, 2006
  • Interim Department Head
  • Associate Dean for Research
Spring Semester, 2007
  • Interim Department Head
  • Associate Dean for Research

Other Collegiate Assignments, 2006-2007

  • College of Education's Research Council
  • Advisor: 2 doctoral candidates

Current Professional and Academic Association Memberships

  • American Evaluation Association

Current Professional Assignments and Activities

  • Reviewer/Referee, Teaching Children Mathematics, and Teaching Mathematics at the Middle Level

Selected Publications

  • Recker, M., Dorward, J., Dawson, D., Mao, X., Liu, Y., Palmer, B., Halioris, S., and Park, J. (2005). Teaching, Designing, and Sharing: A Context for Learning Objects. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects (1), 197-216. Available at: http://ijklo.org
  • Recker, M., Dorward, J., & Nelson, L. (2004). Discovery and Use of Digital Library Learning Resources: Case Study Findings. Educational Technology & Society (7) 2. Available on-line at: http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/7_2/index.html.
  • Dorward, J., Recker, M., & Reinke, D. (2002, July). An Evaluation Model for a Digital Library Services Tool. Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries: Portland, Oregon July 14-18. The Association of Computing Machinery (322-323).
  • Dorward, J., Recker, M., & Reinke, D. (2002, July). An Evaluation Model for a Digital Library Services Tool. Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries: Portland, Oregon July 14-18. The Association of Computing Machinery (322-323).
  • Cannon, L.O., Dorward, J., Heal, E.R.(2002). Virtual Manipulatives in Mathematics: Addressing the Conceptual Dilemmas. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2002(1), 1056-1060
  • Dorward, J. (2002) When Research Findings Differ From Intuition. Focus issue of Teaching Children Mathematics 8(6) 329-332. Acceptance rate: 30%.
  • Dorward, J., Hudson, P., Drickey, N., Barta, J. (2001, Spring). Standards, instruction, and accountability: Teaching to test or testing to teach? Teaching and Change 8(3), 247-258.
  • Marshall, J., & Dorward, J. (2000). Revisiting Inquiry and Prescriptive Laboratory Experiences in Introductory Physics. American Journal of Physics, Summer.
  • Dorward, J., & Saunders, W. L. (2000). Middle Level Science Teacher In-service: A Case Study on Introduction of the Learning Cycle Method of Instruction. Researcher 15(1), 27-31.
  • Dorward, J., & Archibald, S. (1994). Linking Teacher Interests or Backgrounds to Real -World Experiences for Students . Arithmetic Teacher 41(6), 304-07

Papers Presented

  • Reinke, D., & Dorward, J. (2002, November). "Informing the Reform Process: An Evaluation Model for a Digital Library Services Tool" Paper session at the American Evaluation Association conference. Washington, D.C.
  • Dorward, J., & Heal, R. (2002, April). "Engaging Students with Web-Based Virtual Manipulatives and Tools." Workshop session presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics National Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • Recker, M., Dorward, J., Dawson, D., Liu, Y., Mao, X., Palmer, B., Park, J. & Halioris, S. (2006, April). Learning Objects: Resources for Teacher
  • Design? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Dorward, J. (2005). "Online Logic Model Development Tool." Paper session at the Joint International Conference of the American Evaluation Association and the Canadian Evaluation Society, Toronto, Canada. October 29.
  • Recker, M., Dorward, J., Dawson, D., Halioris, S. (2005). "Teacher Use of Online Learning Resources: Assessing the Impact of a Participatory Workshop Model." Paper session at the American Educational Research Association conference. Montreal, Canada.
  • Dorward, J. & Callow-Heusser, C. (2004). "If We Build It, Will They Come?" Insights from Three National Science Foundation Research , Evaluation, and Technical Assistance Projects Funded to Provide Evaluation Assistance to Math and Science Partnership Projects. Paper session at the American Evaluation Association conference. November 3, 2004, Atlanta, Georga.

Research and Grants

  • 25 Grants written or co-written for approximately $17,150,000 and funded for $17,105,699. Outgrowths of grant work include: the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website (recording over twenty million visits a year), the Consortium for Building Evaluation Capacity (a leading provider of evaluation technical assistance), the Instructional Architect (service software for the National Science Digital Library), the Substitute Teaching Institute (the country’s leading advocacy organization for substitute teachers), a computer lab for undergraduate mathematics education students, and several distance education programs for rural teachers.
  • Writer and Co-principal investigator of eMath@USU: Center for Electronic Mathematics Education, a one-year business plan development project submitted to the Utah Centers of Excellence program. This proporal requested $50,000 to support a team of business consultants and was fully funded in May, 2006.
  • Co-writer (With Brian Drayton, Joni Falk, Tamara Ledley) and external evaluator of Expanding the Data Cycle: Empowering Middle Level Teachers and Students to Integrate Information Technology, Data Skills, and Science Content, an Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation on February 9, 2005. This proposal requested 1.2 million over 3 years and was funded in May, 2005.

Upcoming Deadlines

  • October 1
    Apply to the Teacher Education Program

  • October 1
    Apply for Student Teaching