Baker’s work will draw on her extensive experience supporting ePortfolios in teacher education, particularly through her role as edTPA coordinator for Elon’s teacher preparation programs.
Katie Baker, associate professor of education and associate chair of the Department of Education and Wellness at Elon University’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, has been selected as the 2026–28 Center for Engaged Learning (CEL) Scholar. Baker will focus her research on ePortfolios as a high-impact educational practice.
CEL Scholars are faculty members who engage in sustained, multi-year inquiry around engaged learning practices, contributing to the center’s research, publications and national outreach. Baker’s work will draw on her extensive experience supporting ePortfolios in teacher education, particularly through her role as edTPA coordinator for Elon’s teacher preparation programs.
Since joining Elon in 2017, Baker has played a central role in implementing and sustaining the edTPA, a required performance-based ePortfolio assessment for teacher licensure in North Carolina. The edTPA requires teacher candidates to demonstrate their planning, instruction, and assessment through a digital portfolio that includes lesson artifacts, reflective commentary, and video recordings of classroom instruction. In her coordinator role, Baker supports teacher candidates, faculty and community-based clinical teachers across multiple content areas and licensure programs.
Baker’s scholarly work includes national and state-level presentations and publications on teacher education, mathematics education and performance-based assessment. She has served in leadership roles within the mathematics education community and has contributed to externally funded research focused on equitable and high-quality instruction. Her selection as a CEL Scholar enables her to build on this record of engaged scholarship and institutional leadership while exploring ePortfolio research and practices across other disciplinary contexts.
The Center for Engaged Learning supports research and dialogue on evidence-based teaching practices that foster deep student learning. CEL Scholars play a key role in advancing that mission by connecting disciplinary expertise with broader conversations about engaged learning in higher education.
Baker will join an esteemed group of previous CEL Scholars, including David Buck, Caroline Ketcham, Amanda Kleintop, Ketevan Kupatadze, Buffie Longmire-Avital, Phillip Motley, Amanda Sturgill, Aaron Trocki and Cora Wigger. Applications for the 2027-29 CEL Scholar will open in Fall 2026.