Scott Tunison is currently in a dual role of being a doctoral student at the University of Saskatchewan and performing both teaching and course development duties with the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School.

Scott has been employed by the Saskatoon Catholic School system since 1988 as both an English teacher and a band instructor. His most recent in-school appointment was as head of the English Department at Bishop James Mahoney High school. In 1999, the Saskatoon Catholic School system decided to begin developing and delivering on-line high school courses. Scott was asked to join the cyber-school team in 2000 as an English language arts course developer. He is now teaching the on-line course he developed, English Language Arts A30, and has begun the developmental process of a new course, Journalism 20. Before moving to Saskatoon, Scott was employed as a teacher in Churchbridge, in the Potashville School Division.

Scott grew up in Regina, matriculating from Miller Comprehensive High School in 1982. He completed his B. Mus. Ed. in 1986 and began his teaching career immediately following convocation. In 1997, Scott completed his M. Ed. degree in Educational Administration at the University of Saskatchewan and in the spring of 2001, he began his doctoral studies.

Scott's research interest is in the use of technology in education; particularly, the place of virtual schools in the educational landscape. His dissertation research will examine the effectiveness of virtual schools. Through this travel award, Scott will visit schools which use technology in innovative ways including: the Florida SmartSchool technology demonstration school, the Florida virtual school (one of the oldest virtual schools in existence), and two co-NECT schools (which are hybrid technology-based schools). Through this visitation, he hopes to bring back information that will guide both his research in technology in schools and help him develop more effective cyber-school courses.

The Kirkpatrick Travel fund is administered jointly by the University of Saskatchewan College
of Education, the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association, and the Saskatchewan
Teachersí Federation. The annual award celebrates the contribution the late Dean Emeritus
Balfour Kirkpatrick made to education in Saskatchewan.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Cecilia Reynolds

Dean, College of Education

University of Saskatchewan

966-7647