Dr. Gary R. Morrison

 

Brief Vita

 

 

Teaching, Professional Responsibilities, and Research

During the past 30 years, Dr. Morrison has worked for three Fortune 500 companies, a research and development center, and three universities. Gary’s research has focused on the design of instructional and message design strategies that enhance learning, distance education theory and research, and technology integration. His current research interest focuses on instructional strategies related to cognitive load research. Dr. Morrison has authored or co-authored more than 35 refereed journal articles, 25 book chapters, and over 100 national and international conference presentations on instructional design and technology. He is senior author of the fifth edition of Morrison, Ross, and Kemp’s Designing Effective Instruction that was named as one of the top 10 books in the field of instructional technology. He is also co-author of Morrison & Lowther’s Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom.

Dr. Morrison is the editor of the Journal of Computing in Higher Education; and he is on the editorial boards of Quarterly Review of Distance Education and Computers in Human Behavior. He is also a reviewer for British Journal of Educational Technology, Review of Educational Research, Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, and Learning and Instruction: The Journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.

Dr. Morrison is president-elect of the Association for Educational Communication and Technology’s Distance Learning Division and past president of the Division of Instructional Design and Research and Theory Division. Two of his doctoral students have received the prestigious Gagne award for the outstanding dissertation in instructional design. His collaborations with doctoral students have resulted in articles published in Computers and Human Behavior, Educational Technology Research and Development, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational Communications and Technology Journal. He has also collaborated with students on presentations at the annual meetings of the Association of Educational Communications and Technology and American Educational Research Association.

Professional Activities and History

Gary received a doctorate in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University in 1977. After graduation, he worked as instructional designer for the University of Mid-America where he designed college level distance education courses. One of the courses he designed was accepted for broadcast on PBS. After two years at the University of Mid-America, Gary worked as an instructional designer for Solar Turbines International, General Electric’s Corporate Consulting Group, and Tenneco Oil Company where he designed courses in a variety of formats for customers and engineers. In 1984, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Memphis where he guided the development of the instructional design and technology program for the next 14 years. In 1998, Gary accepted a faculty position at Wayne State University. In 2004, Gary accepted a position at Old Dominion University as a professor in the Instructional Design and Technology program.