We’ve assembled a group of education technology and new media experts to help shape the GradeGuru community and build out our value proposition for college students. The GradeGuru Academic Advisory Committee will help us determine what students need most out of a collaborative learning platform and advise us on key development decisions. Tune-in to our blog throughout the semester for guest posts from our advisory committee members on issues regarding open access learning, the academic social web, digital publishing, and various perspectives surrounding emerging media trends.

Jonathan Becker, J.D., Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Educational Leadership Department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Prof. Becker teaches courses in school law and educational research methods. His research agenda includes continued study of digital equity in education, legal issues in education, and the intersection between educational technology and educational leadership. Prior to beginning his professorial career, he served as Research Director at Interactive, Inc., an educational research and consulting company based in Huntington, New York.

Keith Hampson, Ph.D is the Director of Digital Education Strategies at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He is co-author of Mastering Digital Research: A Guide for Students and founder of LinkedIn’s “Higher Education Management Group” with more than four thousand members. Dr. Hampson is an experienced higher education consultant who has worked with companies such as Flat World Knowledge, Eduventures, Pearson Education, WebCT, Ninthhouse Communications, Digital Learning Interactive, Nelson Education, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Convergence Management Consultants, Canadian International Development Agency, NEXTMove Communications and has served on the advisory boards of Flat World Knowledge Inc and EdTek Services Inc. He is a regular speaker at higher education conferences on topics including content development models, productivity strategies and competition between institutions.

Paul Levinson, Ph.D is a Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City. His eight nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), and Cellphone (2004), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into ten languages. New New Media, exploring blogging, Twitter, YouTube and other “new new” modes of communication, was published by Penguin Academics in September 2009. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel), Borrowed Tides (2001), The Consciousness Plague (2002), The Pixel Eye (2003), and The Plot To Save Socrates (2006). His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards. Paul Levinson appears on “The O’Reilly Factor” (Fox News), “The CBS Evening News,” “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS), “Nightline” (ABC), and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

David Parry, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas. His research focuses around digital literacy and networked culture within universities. He has taught classes at The University at Albany and Simon’s Rock College in philosophy, literature and new media.

Chris Penny, Ph.D is a Professor of Educational Technology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Pr. Penny is an Apple Distinguished Educator and a Google Certified teacher. His research focuses on technology integration into education. In his most recent research project, Pr. Penny embarked on an e-reader pilot program using the Kindle DX electronic reader. The goal of the pilot was to determine if the convenience and features of an e-reader are more useful than the physical qualities of a print book.