Research Network Chairs

Bill Cope

Bill Cope


Bill Cope is a professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He and Mary Kalantzis are directors of Common Ground Research Networks, a not-for-profit organization developing and applying new publishing technologies. His research interests include theories and practices of pedagogy, cultural and linguistic diversity, and new technologies of representation and communication. His and Kalantzis’ recent research has focused on the development of digital writing and assessment technologies, with the support of a number of major grants from the US Department of Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. The result has been Scholar, a multi-modal writing and assessment environment.

Mary Kalantzis

Mary Kalantzis


Mary Kalantzis was dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States from 2006 to 2016. Before this, she was dean of the Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and president of the Australian Council of Deans of Education. With Bill Cope, she has co-authored or co-edited: New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education, Cambridge University Press, 2008 (2nd edition, 2012); Ubiquitous Learning, University of Illinois Press, 2009; Towards a Semantic Web: Connecting Knowledge in Academic Research, Elsevier, 2009; Literacies, Cambridge University Press 2012 (2nd edition, 2016); A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies, Palgrave, 2016; and e-Learning Ecologies, Routledge, 2016.

José Luis Ortega

José Luis Ortega

José Luis Ortega is an Associate Professor in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language at the University of Granada, Spain. From 2004 to 2008 he was Vice-Dean in charge of International Relations and from 2011 to 2015. He was Secretary of the Local Organising Committee of the International Learning Conferences held in Granada (2005), Montego Bay (Jamaica, 2006), the International Social Science Conference held in Granada in 2007, and the International Conference on Diversity (2016). A member of the scientific committee of several international journals, Dr Ortega has lectured and taught at numerous European and American universities. He is the author of more than fifty scholarly publications including books, chapters and peer reviewed papers on bilingualism, TEFL, teacher training, classroom management, and student motivation. Dr Ortega is currently heading a national Project in Spain on bilingualism funded by the British Council and the Spanish Ministry of Education.

The Learner Research Network Advisory Board

  • Michael Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
  • Carl Bagley, Queens Univeristy, Northern Ireland
  • David Barton, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
  • Anita Bright, Portland State University, Portland, USA
  • Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Daniel Madrid Fernandez, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
  • James Paul Gee, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA
  • Juana M. Sancho Gil, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • Kris Gutierrez, University of California, Berkeley, USA
  • Joanne Hughes, Queens University, Belfast, UK
  • Carey Jewitt, University of London, London, UK
  • Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Pierpaolo Limone, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
  • Sarah Michaels, Clark University, Worcester, USA
  • Denise Newfield, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • José-Luis Ortega, University of Granada, Spain
  • Pam Parker, City, University of London, London, UK
  • Thomas Ryan, Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario
  • Yingjie Wang, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
  • Nicola Yelland, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

The Learner Research Network is grateful for the foundational contributions, ongoing support, and continued service of our Advisory Board.