Daniela (Ela) Castellanos Reyes

View CV

Bio

Dr. Castellanos-Reyes is an Assistant Professor in Learning, Design, and Technology at North Carolina State University. She received her PhD and Master’s degrees in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Learning Design and Technology from Purdue University. Dr. Castellanos-Reyes approaches her research with the belief that online and distance learning improve women’s lives, and ultimately society. She is an educational researcher within the fields of instructional design, online learning, and learning analytics. Her research focuses on supporting online learners’ social presence through network analysis. Specifically, Dr. Castellanos-Reyes is interested in how peer-influence shapes learning communities in online learning environments. Her recent work examines the relationship between student retention and social media affordances (e.g., like buttons) in Massive Open Online Courses. Dr. Castellanos-Reyes’ methodological expertise includes network analysis, survey research, and hierarchical linear models. Her work has been published in Computers in Human Behavior, the Journal of Computing in Higher Education, and TechTrends. Her work has been supported by National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) and the Frank DeBruicker Graduate Award in Educational Technology. Prior to her doctoral studies, Ela earned her B.A. in English Philology and English Education from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Area(s) of Expertise

Online learning | Social Presence | Learning Analytics | Evidence-informed practices | Educational Data Science | Meta-Analysis | Latina/o/e/x in Higher Education | Network Analysis | Culture in Online Learning

Publications

• The evolution of social presence: A longitudinal exploration of the effect of online students' peer-interactions using social network analysis , INTERNET AND HIGHER EDUCATION (2024)
• The i-SUN process to use social learning analytics: a conceptual framework to research online learning interaction supported by social presence , Frontiers in Communication (2023)
• Analyzing problem-solving using process data and transitional networks: The case of Colombia and Singapore , Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK’22) (2022)
• Mobile learning in emergency situations: Four design cases from Latin America , Global Perspective on Educational Innovations for Emergency Solutions (2022)
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Education: A Meta-Narrative Review , TechTrends (2022)
• The Process of Developing a Digital Repository for Online Teaching Using Design-Based Research , TechTrends (2022)
• Instructors’ conceptualization and implementation of scaffolding in online higher education courses , Journal of Computing in Higher Education (2021)
• Introduction to the Special Issue: Highlighting AERA's Online Teaching and Learning SIG 2021 , Online Learning (OLJ) (2021)
• Investigating intentionality in preservice teachers’ personal and professional social networking site usage , Social Media: Influences on Education (2021)
• The dynamics of a MOOC's learner-learner interaction over time: A longitudinal network analysis , Computers in Human Behavior (2021)

View all publications