Hi everyone! Bret Staudt Willet here. I’m so happy to serve as the Chair for the Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning (TACTL) special interest group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) this year. I have been fortunate enough to be part of this wonderful group for many years now, and I am honored to give back a small fraction of the benefits I have received. We will continue to build upon the good work of past years, focusing on the TACTL mission statement we refined and affirmed last year (see below), with a particular focus on developing a mutual understanding of what it means for technology to be an agent of change in times like these, an agent in our current time and contexts. Toward this end, the SIG will continue to send out bimonthly newsletters like this one (be on the lookout for the next one in October!), host several webinars throughout the year, offer opportunities specifically geared toward graduate students, and of course host a fantastic slate of scholarly sessions and social connections at the AERA 2026 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

I’m excited to send out our first newsletter for the 2025–2026 term as many of us start into new academic years. It’s a time of many beginnings. As we get started, first off, I want to acknowledge the efforts of our new SIG-TACTL leadership team; we’ve already been hard at work over the summer setting things up for year. You can see the full roster of TACTL leaders below.  

Second, I’m extremely grateful to our panel of reviewers who are now busy evaluating TACTL proposals for AERA 2026. The full timeline leading up to AERA 2026 is below.

Finally, thank YOU for your continued interest in AERA SIG-TACTL. This group has been in service for 23 years now and continues to grow as a scholarly community dedicated to preparing teachers to be agents of change in a technology-driven world. Members like you bring many varied perspectives and methodologies to this work, and we coalesce around supporting educators and understanding technology.

I'd encourage anyone reading this to join or renew their membership with SIG-TACTL and participate in the scholarly and social activities with us in the coming year. As members, you will be added to our listserv and receive information related to conferences, publications, and awards. Members are also welcome to promote their publications, jobs, or scholarly events via our listserv or social media.

If there’s anything you think SIG-TACTL can offer or support this year, please don’t hesitate to reach out. If we don’t connect before then, I look forward to seeing you all at the 2026 AERA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles!

Bret Staudt Willet | Florida State University

Chair, AERA SIG-TACTL

bret.staudtwillet@fsu.edu

Your SIG-TACTL leadership team, serving through the 2026 AERA Annual Meeting:

• Chair: Bret Staudt Willet, Florida State University
• Chair-Elect: Matthew Wilson, Kennesaw State University
• Past-Chair: Ai-Chu Elisha Ding, University of Georgia
• Program Chair: Yin Hong Cheah, University of Idaho
• Program Chair-Elect: Lauren Bagdy, University of Georgia
• Secretary/Treasurer: Lauren Weisberg, University of Texas at Arlington
• Graduate Student Representative: Kristin Hemingway, Georgia State University

• Prepare educators to be agents of change in a technology-driven world through teacher education and professional development in formal and informal learning settings
• Examine how educators and technology impact learners and their learning processes from diverse research perspectives.

• Facilitate communication and increase the shared professional knowledge necessary to reach the purposes;
• Capture research findings from these projects and extend them into future programs of practice.

• August 1, 2025: Proposals due
• August 16–September 5, 2025: Proposal review period
• November 7, 2025: Official notification of acceptance or rejection sent to proposal submitters
• April 8–12, 2026: AERA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles 

Below are the TACTL By-Laws approved in 2025.

TACTL Bylaws 2025