Grant Administrative Team

Kathryn Lewis, Project Director

Kathryn Roots Lewis is the retired Director of Libraries and Instructional Technology for Norman Public Schools in Norman, Oklahoma. Prior to this position, Kathryn served as a classroom teacher and librarian at all levels. She holds a MLIS from the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma.

Kathryn is a past president of  the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a past chair of the AASL Supervisors Section, and served on the AASL Standards and Guidelines Editorial Board. She was part of the first LILEAD Fellows group, a national professional development program for school library supervisors.  She is a past president of Oklahoma Library Association, and serves on the Oklahoma Technology Association Board, of which she is also a past president.

Kathryn was recognized with the 2018 Oklahoma Library Association Distinguished Service Award, the 2013 University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies Outstanding Alumni Award, the ISTE Making IT Happen Award, Oklahoma's 2012 Outstanding Technology Leader, and the 2010 Oklahoma Library Association (OLA) Library Legend.  

Shirley Simmons, Project Co-Director

Dr. Shirley Simmons is the former Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for Norman Public Schools and has been in education since 1983, working in Norman since 2000. For seven years she taught middle school and elementary school in Rose Hill, Kansas; Fort Riley, Kansas; and in two Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Wertheim and Wurzburg, Germany.

For four years she served as a principal and assistant principal in Newton, Kansas and five years as principal of Derby Middle School in Derby, Kansas. Since living in Norman, she served as assistant principal at Irving Middle School for one year, as Truman Elementary principal for seven years, as the Director of Staff Development and Student Achievement for Norman Public Schools for four years, and as the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for eight years. Dr. Simmons was named as the 2018 Oklahoma School Librarians Oklahoma School Administrator.

Lee Nelson, Project Co-Director

Dr. Lee Nelson has been the Norman Public School's Technology Integration Specialist since 1998. She plans, designs, and leads technology professional development for certified and support staff at all levels, participates in technology planning and support committees, and promotes and supports district instructional initiatives such as the district's 1-to-1 laptop implementation, Guided Inquiry Design, and Making. 

She earned her Masters in 1997 and then her PhD in 2011 in Instructional Psychology and Technology from the University of Oklahoma.

Kyungwon Koh, Principal Investigator

Kyungwon Koh is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois. She earned her MS and PhD at the Florida State University's iSchool and a BS from Yonsei University Department of Library and Information Science in South Korea. Her areas of expertise include digital youth, the maker movement, learning and community engagement through libraries, human information behavior, and competencies for information professionals.

Koh has received several research grants and awards, including a 2016 IMLS National Leadership Grant, 2016 ALA YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Midwinter Paper Presentation Winner, 2014 IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Program Early Career Development Grant, 2010 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and 2010 ALISE Research Grant Award. Her work has been published in leading IS/LIS journals such as JASIS&T, LISR, Information Research, JRLYA, JELIS, and Library Trends. She currently serves as a co-chair of the ALISE Youth Services SIG (2018-2019) and an editorial board member of the School Library Research journal (2018-2020). 

Xun Ge, Co-Principal Investigator  

Dr. Xun Ge is a professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology in the Department of Educational Psychology, Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, at the University of Oklahoma. She holds a PhD in Instructional Systems from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ge’s primary research interest involves scaffolding students’ complex and ill-structured problem solving and self-regulated learning through designing instructional scaffolds, cognitive tools, learning technologies, and open learning environments, including virtual learning community, game-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and problem- based learning. Over the past decade, her scholarly inquiry has evolved from cognition and metacognition to their linkage with motivation, and from studying the design of instructional strategies and tools to assessing the impact of the design of a learning environment on students’ skill development in representation, constructing arguments, and proposing solutions in ill-structured problems.

Dr. Ge has conducted extensive research in STEM education, from K12 to higher education settings, and she has collaborated with researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines around the world.  Dr. Ge’s research has been published as numerous refereed articles in many leading journals in the field of instructional psychology and technology, multiple book chapters with well regarded books and publishers, and two major books published by Springer (one on game-based assessment, and the other on STEAM education).

Dr. Ge has been recognized for a number of academic awards by Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), including 2012 Outstanding Journal Article, 2004 Outstanding Journal Article, and 2003 Young Scholar Award. Dr. Ge has been serving on the editorial board of several major refereed journals, including Educational Technology Research & Development, Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, and Technology, and Knowledge and Learning. Currently Dr. Ge is the president of AECT, and also serves as the Chair for the Problem-based Education Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association. 

Dr. Janessa Doucette, Grant Project Manager (2016-2018)

Arian Davis, Grant Project Manager (2018-2019)

School Librarians

Teresa Lansford, Lincoln Elementary School

Teresa Lansford is a school librarian and National Board Certified Teacher with a MLIS from the University of Oklahoma and 15 years of experience in education in Norman Public Schools. She was Norman Public School’s 2018 Teacher of the Year and has been the recipient of the Oklahoma Library Association Technology in Education Award, Oklahoma Central Regional SKIE Award, the Oklahoma Technology Association Teacher of the Year: Making IT Happen Award, the Oklahoma School Librarians Polly Clarke Award, and was a finalist for the 2019 Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year.

Mrs. Lansford is passionate about letting students make and create and has developed a thriving Maker area at her school site. She presents at the local, state, and national level on best practices in both integrating technology and using data to drive practice.

Kelsey Barker, Longfellow Middle School

Kelsey Barker is the school librarian at Longfellow Middle School in Norman, OK. She earned her MLIS from the University of Oklahoma and is the winner of the 2016 Outstanding New Librarian Award from the Oklahoma Library Association (OLA), as well as the 2017 Oklahoma School Librarians Technology in Education Award. She is a member of the OLA GOLD leadership class of 2016. Kelsey has written for Teacher Librarian, YALSA’s YALS, and AASL’s Knowledge Quest. In addition to being active in AASL and YALSA, she holds positions on the executive board of the Oklahoma Library Association and the OLA Sequoyah Book Award reading team. Within Norman Public Schools, Kelsey is a Guided Inquiry Design district trainer, sits on the Longfellow Leadership Council, and serves as a mentor teacher.

Martha Pangburn, Norman High School

Martha Pangburn has been a school librarian in the Norman Public Schools for 20 years.  She has a Master's Degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor's of Science in Education from Oklahoma Baptist University.  She achieved her National Board Certification in 2005, and recently renewed her certification through 2025. She is a district Guided Inquiry Design district trainer.  

Martha has presented at local, state, and national conferences, including the American Association of School Librarians conferences, and has been active in the Oklahoma Library Association, serving as member and chair of the Sequoyah Book Award High School Reading Team and chair of the Sequoyah Book Awards Administrative Team.  Martha received the 2018 Oklahoma School Librarians Technology in Education Award.

Chloe Summers, Norman High School

Chloe Summers is a school librarian at Norman High School in Norman Public Schools.  She is passionate about reading, learning, and making. She served as a summer school librarian for Norman Public Schools during 2018 and interned at a middle school within the same district the semester prior. She also worked on a research project involving Guided Inquiry Design and Making with Norman Public Schools. Prior to working in school libraries, Chloe worked for Pioneer Library System with all age groups. She is currently a member of the Marketing and Intellectual Freedom committees within Oklahoma Library Association.

Taryn Kingery, Norman High School (2016-2018)

Grant Advisory Board

Dr. Leanne Bowler: Dr. Leanne Bowler: Leanne Bowler is an Associate Professor, at the School of Information, Pratt Institute, in New York City. Her teaching and research focuses on young people and their experiences interacting with information, data, and technology. Her research explores the intra-personal competencies and practices of young people as they use, create, learn, and play in socio-technical environments, as well as the role that their families and out-of-school organizations like libraries play in this arena. Dr. Bowler is currently directing an IMLS-funded project, Exploring Data Worlds at the Public Library.

Dr. Leslie Maniotes: Leslie Maniotes, NBCT, M.Ed, Ph.D. is co-creator of Guided Inquiry Design and co-author of the Guided Inquiry Design series. Leslie is a curriculum specialist with 11 years of classroom experience, 5 years as Teacher Effectiveness Coach, K–12 literacy specialist and urban leadership experience. Leslie leads professional development institutes building capacity in collaborative teams of librarians and teachers for inquiry based learning. 

 Leslie Preddy:  Leslie Preddy is a school librarian; Instructional Leadership Editor for School Library Connections magazine; and author in book, journal, and social media; national and online speaker and consultant. She is a recipient of the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Collaborative School Library Media, AASL School Library Program of the Year,  ALA (American Library Association) Sara Jaffarian awards, Perry Township Schools Teacher of the Year and a 2010 Finalist for Indiana State Teacher of the Year. Leslie is a Past President of both AASL and AISLE (Indiana).