Amber L. Rowland, PhD
- Associate Research Professor
- Co-Director of the ALTEC
Contact Info
1200 Sunnyside Ave.
Lawrence, KS 66045
Biography —
Amber Rowland, PhD, is an Associate Research Professor and Associate Director of the Center for Research on Learning. She specializes in collaborative, practical, and engaging adult professional learning with an emphasis on current instructional practice and the powerful integration of technology. She is particularly interested in supporting professional learning at a distance and is constantly pursuing methods for tapping into the collective capacity of educators and students. She serves as a Co-Principal Investigator on the Office of Special Education and Policy (OSEP)-funded, Stepping Up grant, called VOISS, which is building a virtual reality environment to teach students social competency skills and the teacher progress monitoring and professional learning needed to implement and generalize learned skills to the physical classroom. In addition, she is a Co-Investigator on the Office of Special Education and Policy (OSEP)-funded Stepping Up grant, called APLM-WRITE, which is developing and testing an online dashboard to support professional developers and coaches who are facilitating educator implementation of evidence-based writing practices.
Her experiences range from Kindergarten to the college classroom, where she has taught at multiple levels, both face-to-face and online. She has served as a technology integration specialist, project manager for the Technology Rich Classroom, Title IID initiative in Kansas, an instructor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas, and the director of multiple federal, state, and local initiatives.
Dr. Rowland travels to local, state, and national venues and conferences, working with teachers on digital-age instruction and the general integration of technology to support all learners, especially those who struggle. In 2008, Amber was recognized as one of the 20 emerging leaders in education technology by the National School Boards Association “20 to Watch” initiative and in 2016, she was recognized as a Kansas University Woman of Distinction.
Education —
Research —
Research
- Technology Integration
- Inclusion
- Supporting All Students
- Professional Learning
- Conversation as Professional Learning
- Education
- Collaboration
Selected Publications —
Rowland, A., Mosher, M., Smith, S.J., Lowrey, K.A., Carreon, A. (accepted). Mastering Social Skills with VOISS and VOISS Advisor: From Assessment to Real-World Application. TEACHING Exceptional Children.
Rowland, A., Smith, S., Mosher, M., Carreon, A., & Goldman, S. (accepted). Fewer clicks matter: AI’s ability to improve online professional development for educators (Manuscript submitted for publication). Journal of Special Education Technology.
Myers, S., Washburn, J., Rowland, A., & Smith, S.J. (2025). Developing an adaptive professional learning model: educator insights on their infrastructure needs. Teacher Development, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2025.2511739
Carreon, A., Rowland, A. Smith, S.J., Lowrey, K.A., & Mosher, M. (2024). Designing for Successful Educational Experiences in Virtual Reality Environments. Journal of Special Education Technology. 01626434241277191.
Mosher, M., Frey, B., Carreon, A., Smith, S., Rowland, A., & Lowrey, A. (2024). The Technology Immersive Presence Scale (TIPS) Proof of Concept: Creating a Student Accessible Measure of Presence in Virtual Environments. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 35(1), 101-133.
Mosher, M. A., Lane, K. L., Rowland, A. L., Carreon, A. C., Smith, S. J., Frey, B. B., Sailor, W. S., Kingston, N. M., Jackson, H. A., Goldman, S. R., Ruhter, L., Williams, A., & Bhattashali, A. (2024). The social validity of video modeling versus virtual reality for improving students’ social communication.Issues and Trends in Learning Technology, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.2458/itlt.5830.
Mosher, M., Rowland, A., Carreon, A., Sulaimon, T., Smith, S., & Frey, B. (2024). Artificial intelligence techniques and best practices to improve motivation and learning. Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference, 1-12.
Smith, S., Mosher, M., Rowland, A., Goldman, S., & Carreon, A. (2024). A guide for special education leaders to utilize artificial intelligence: Students' perspectives for future consideration. Journal of Special Education Leadership, 37(2), 77-92
Smith, S.J., Rowland, A., Lowrey, K.A., Craig-Hare, J. & Frey, B. (2024). Integrating Assistive Technology into the Writing Process: An Example for Future Implications. Assistive Technology Outcomes & Benefits (ATOB). 18. 36-50.
Rowland, A., Myers, S., Elford, M. & Smith, S. (2023). Coaching Virtually to Support Professional Learning. Journal of Special Education and Technology. 38(1).75-85. doi: 10.1177/01626434211036098
Smith, S.J., Rowland, A., & Lowrey, K.A. (2023). Formative Assessments in Today’s Digital Learning Environment: WRITE PM for Middle School. Teaching Exceptional Children. 56(2). 108-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/00400599231171672
Carreon, A., Smith, S.J., Frey, B., Rowland, A. & Mosher, M. (2023) Comparing immersive VR and non-immersive VR on social skill acquisition for students in middle school with ASD. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, doi:
10.1080/15391523.2023.2182851
Carreon, A., Smith, S.J., Mosher, M., Rao, K. & Rowland, A. (2022). A Review of Virtual Reality Intervention Research for Students with Disabilities in K-12 Settings. Journal of Special Education and Technology. 37(1). 82-99. doi:10.1177/0162643420962011
Rowland, A., Smith, S.J., & Lowrey, A.K. (2021). Connecting Evidence-Based Writing Strategies with Readily Available Technology Solutions. TEACHING Exceptional Children. 53(3). 253-255. doi:10.1177/0040059920954778
Rowland, A., Smith, S.J., & Lowrey, A. (2020). Aligning technology tools with the 6-Traits of Writing: Solutions to support struggling writers. Journal of Special Education and Technology. 10.1177/0162643420945600
Rowland, A., Smith, S. J., Lowrey, A.K. & Abdulrahim, N. A. (2020) Underutilized Technology Solutions for Student Writing. Intervention in School and Clinic. 56(2), 99-106. 10.1177/1053451220914893.
Smith, S.J., Lowrey, A.K., Rowland, A. & Frey, B. (2020). Effective Technology Supported Writing Strategies for Learners with Disabilities. Inclusion. 8(1), 58-73. 10.1352/2326-6988-8.1.58.
**Carreon, A., Smith, S.J. & Rowland, A. (2019) Augmented Reality: Creating and Implementing Digital Classroom Supports. Journal of Special Education Technology. DOI: 10.1177/0162643419882423
(**Article of the Year in JSET)
Rowland, A., Craig-Hare, J., Ault, M., Ellis, J., & Bulgren, J. (2017). Social media: How the next generation can practice argumentation. Educational Media International, 3987 (August), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2017.1362818
Craig-Hare, J., Ault, M., & Rowland, A. (2017). The Effect of Socioscientific Topics on Discourse within an Online Game Designed to Engage Middle School Students in Scientific Argumentation. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health (JESEH), 3(2), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.21891/jeseh.325783
Grants & Other Funded Activity —
She serves as a Co-Principal Investigator on two Office of Special Education and Policy (OSEP)-funded, Stepping Up grants. The first is Project VOISS, which is building a virtual reality environment to teach students social competency skills and the teacher progress monitoring and professional learning needed to implement and generalize learned skills to the physical classroom. The second OSEP project is APLM-WRITE which is designing a online coaching platform to support professional developers and educators as they integrate WRITE, a progress monitoring tool that auto-scores student writing samples. In addition, she is a Co-Investigator on the IES-funded grant called Possible Selves + Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction project.