Edward Downs Email & Phone Number

I am a Media Psychologist with 18+ years of credentials researching and teaching media effects, human-computer interaction (HCI), media literacy, and social scientific research methods courses. My published work has examined pedagogical best practices for the use of technology in learning spaces, including: MP3 players, virtual-reality and augmented-reality spaces, simulators, personal computing technologies, and online environments. A corpus of programmatic work explores the psychology of the individual-avatar relationship in digital environments. My methodological training and experience include both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and I am well versed with psychophysiological data collection procedures.I have been the director of the Communication Research Lab at UMD since 2017. This collaborative space has been designed for experimental work with students and faculty interested in understanding more about technological affordances and learning.I am an author and editor of a media literacy textbook, titled: Dark Side of Media and Technology: A 21st Century Guide to Media and Technological Literacy, that was published by Peter Lang Publishing, New York, NY in 2019.