Vera Michalchik is Sr. Associate Director for Learning Sciences and Technology at Stanford’s Center for Teaching and Learning, where she takes a design-based research approach to applying the principles of connected learning to university initiatives. Vera also is a Senior Research Advisor at SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning, having directed the informal learning practice at SRI for many years. Trained in educational psychology and anthropology, she has studied the relationships and differences between learning in and out of school, with an emphasis on the social interactions and material experiences that support everyday learning in community, peer-based, online, and family settings and also on ways to document the effects of these experiences. Her research and evaluation work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the US Dept. of Education, the Intel Foundation, and numerous other funders. She has also served several National Research Council committees focused on informal STEM learning.

Vera Michalchik, Stanford University | Twitter: @verasafa