Symposium

Event Chairs

Dr. John Thompson

The Co-Chairs of the TCEA Educational Technology Research Symposium are Dr. John Thompson and Dr. Stephen Rainwater.

Dr. Thompson is an Associate Professor at Buffalo State College where he is the coordinator of the Educational Computing graduate program. He also operates his own consulting and training business, Global Learning Institute, Inc. As a college instructor, Dr. Thompson teaches most of his graduate courses 100% online, having taught close to 70 online courses. He enjoys working and teaching from his home office at all hours of the day and night.

His previous career experience includes working in K-12 education in urban, suburban, and rural schools as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher (general education and special education), curriculum coordinator, principal, and school superintendent. He also was director of training for two state governments and director of a corporate computer training organization at a university.

Dr. Thompson’s Ph.D. is in Education Administration from the University at Buffalo where his doctoral dissertation researched connections between adult education principles and writers of computer documentation.

Dr. Stephen Rainwater

Dr. Stephen Rainwater is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Tyler. His professional career spans thirty years as a teacher of computer science at the high school, community college, and university levels…the last twenty-five years as a faculty member at U.T. Tyler. Over the course of this time, he has taught more than thirty-five undergraduate and fifteen graduate courses in computer science and mathematics. His research interest has primarily focused on the effectiveness of using low/no-cost software tools and techniques for teaching computing concepts.

Dr. Rainwater’s professional leadership has included service as President of the Texas Computer Education Association, President of the East Texas Council of Teachers of Mathematics, program co-chair of the 1988 NCTM Southwestern Regional Conference, and mathematics section chair of the Texas Academy of Science. Currently he serves as the Computer Science Representative on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). His professional organization affiliations include ISTE, ISTE SIGCT, ACM, ACM-SIGCSE, and Phi Delta Kappa. At U.T. Tyler, he has served as President of the Faculty Senate and director of an NSF-funded undergraduate research program which endeavors to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing careers in STEM fields.

Dr. Rainwater holds a doctorate in education from Texas A&M University-Commerce as well as graduate degrees in computer science and mathematics. His doctoral dissertation researched the predictive effects of community college student characteristics on academic achievement in computer science at the university level.