SEC scholar 29 April – 30 June 2025
Daniela, who goes by Ela, is an Assistant Professor in Learning, Design, and Technology at North Carolina State University. She is part of the Digital Transformation of Education interdisciplinary cluster. Dr. Castellanos-Reyes approaches her research with the belief that online and distance learning improve women’s lives, and ultimately society. She is an educational researcher within the fields of instructional design, online learning, and learning analytics. Her research focuses on supporting online learners’ social presence through network analysis. She is a 2022-2023 National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow and 2023-2023 Bilsland Dissertation Fellow. Her dissertation work won the Mary Kay Sommers Dissertation Award. Her work has been supported by the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.), and the National Science Foundation. She received her PhD and Master’s degrees from Purdue University. She earned her B.A. in English Philology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
The goal of this visit is to develop a sociometric instrument to investigate Communities of Inquiry within the field of Data Science Education in online learning environments. In this project, Ela and her host at KTH, Stefan Stenbom, are developing a Delphi study to gather input from experts around the world about the validity of sociometric instruments to analyze online communities.
Contact: dcastel2@ncsu.edu
