Ken Sterling, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, presented three papers at the most recent Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education. Sterling was chosen from a selective pool of graduate students from around the world to participate in the 13th annual conference that was attended by over 1300 participants from 38 countries. With only a handful of student papers chosen for presentation, Sterling was honored with the opportunity to present his papers that related to online learning in the higher education setting.
The primary goal of the Hawaii International Conference on Education is to provide those with cross-disciplinary interests related to education to meet and interact with others inside and outside their own discipline. The international aspect of the conference brings a truly diverse variety of viewpoints shaped by different cultures, languages, geography and politics. This diversity is also captured in the conference’s unique cross-disciplinary approach. The resulting interaction energizes research as well as vocation.
Sterling is currently an advisee of Dr. Sharon Conley and Dr. Michael Gerber in the area of Policy, Leadership and Research Methods at the Gevirtz School. His research focuses on online learning in higher education settings, specifically, how aspects of human interaction impact students’ experiences with online classes. Other areas of research and interest include leadership, entrepreneurship programs, project based learning, and instructional design.