Torrey Trust at commencement in 2014
The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) chose UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School alumna Torrey Trust (Education, Ph.D., ’14) and her co-authors for its 2020 Annual Achievement Award. AECT honored the article “The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning” published in EDUCAUSE Review on March 27. This annual award recognizes a significant high profile achievement to the advancement of educational communications and technology. “This team of authors,” a nomination letter wrote, “offered critical clarity for distinguishing emergency remote teaching from well-designed online learning at a key time during the pandemic.”
The article was written at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the corresponding shift to online delivery of instruction at all levels of education. The article was viewed more than 253,000 times by early July 2020. It currently has 362 citations.
An analysis of Web of Science citations of the article shows it has been cited in diverse fields of study including educational research, library science, communication, computer science, engineering, healthcare sciences, behavioral sciences, linguistics, cardiology, nursing and public administration.
The article also has already been translated into at least three languages—Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Torrey Trust is an Associate Professor of Learning Technology in the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is the co-coordinator of the Learning, Media and Technology master’s degree program and the Digital Media Design and Making in Education online graduate certificate program. Her research and teaching focus on how technology can support teachers in designing contexts that enhance student learning. Specifically, Dr. Trust studies educators’ professional growth through digitally-enhanced professional learning networks (PLNs), the influence of social media on teaching and learning, how makerspaces and 3D printing facilitate new learning experiences, and the design and use of open educational resources in college and graduate level courses. Dr. Trust has published a number of research articles in high impact journals, including Computers & Education and Internet & Higher Education. Her articles have been viewed more than 40,000 times and cited more than 600 times. Dr. Trust has served as a professional learning network leader for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for five years, including a two-year term as the President of the Teacher Education Network from 2016 to 2018.
Dr. Trust’s research, teaching, and service to the field of educational technology has received noticeable recognition, including the 2016 ISTE Online Learning Network Award, 2017 Outstanding Research Paper Award for the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 2017 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Instructional Technology Special Interest Group Best Paper Award, 2017 ISTE Emerging Leader Award, 2017 Association for Educational Communication & Technology (AECT) Division of Distance Learning Crystal Award (2nd Place), and 2019 AERA Technology as an Agent of Change for Teaching & Learning (Special Interest Group) Early Career Scholar Award. In 2018, Dr. Trust was selected as one of the six recipients worldwide for the ISTE Making IT Happen Award, which “honors outstanding educators and leaders who demonstrate extraordinary commitment, leadership, courage and persistence in improving digital learning opportunities for students.”