Michael Barbour is currently an Assistant Dean for Academic Integration and Innovation and a Professor of Instructional Design at Touro University California (TUC) in Vallejo, CA. Previously, he served as Director of Faculty Development for the College of Education & Health Sciences. He is also a Fellow for the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching at TUC. Within the larger Touro University System, Michael holds the role of Director of Micro-Credentials.
Prior to his time at Touro, he served as the Director of Doctoral Studies for the Isabelle Farrington College of Education and an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Sacred Heart University in Fairlfield, Connecticut. Michael began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he taught Instructional Technology and Education Evaluation & Research. He was also been an adjunct professor for the Department of Educational Technology at Boise State University from 2011 to 2019.
He completed his Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia (Athens, GA), his Master of Education (Teaching and Learning), with concentrations in Literacy and Computers in Education, and his Bachelor of Education (Intermediate and Secondary) from from Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John’s, NL). Prior to his studies in education, Michael completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours), with a major in Political Science and a minor in History, from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario). Following his doctoral studies, he completed a Certificate in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University (Antigonish, Nova Scotia) – which he had actually begun after completing his Master’s degree.
Outside of his academic endeavours, Michael was a teacher at Discovery Collegiate for four years. During this period, he served as a classroom teacher, web-based distance education teacher, and held district-level positions. These positions included the Partnership Development Co-ordinator for the Vista School District and the Web-based Initiatives Facilitator for the Centre of Distance Learning and Innovation in District 8.
As a classroom teacher, Michael was active in the field of providing Advanced Placement courses to secondary students at his own school and throughout North America in an asynchronous, web-based format through the Centre for Advanced Placement Education. As the Director of this centre, he was responsible for research into various e-teaching methods, student use of instant messaging and asynchronous discussion forums (and how the latter affects student performance), and retention rates in both classroom-based and web-based Advanced Placement courses. The Centre and Michael’s contribution to e-teaching Advanced Placement courses received international attention, as evidenced when he was invited to develop and team-e-teach a course with the Illinois Virtual High School . Michael also joined a group of educators to form St. Brendan’s College, an incorporated virtual entity that operated from 2003 to 2005 offering web-based Advanced Placement courses to students worldwide.
Based on these experiences, Michael’s research has consistently focused on K-12 distance, online and blended learning.