Carpenter was honored with the award during the American Educational Research Association conference on April 18 in Toronto, Canada
William S. Long Professor and Professor of Education Jeff Carpenter was honored with the Career Impact Award from the Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group.
TACTL promotes the development and evaluation of preservice and in-service programs aimed at transforming teacher education, preparing technology-proficient educators to meet the needs of 21st-century learners.
“The TACTL board honored Jeff with this award because of his tremendous impact in terms of time (his many years of contributions to the field), reach (he has collaborated with colleagues around the world and is cited everywhere), imagination (he has changed the way the world thinks about teachers and social media), and care (he has done all this while being a mentor to countless students and early career colleagues, and he consistently uplifts everyone around him),” said Bret Staudt Willet, chair of the Teachnology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Board.
Carpenter was honored with the award during the American Educational Research Association conference on April 18 in Toronto, Canada. Several of Carpenter’s colleagues spoke at the event and also recorded special video messages recognizing his work and accomplishments.
“You gave me wings, twice, in two different ways,” said Hermann Dzingel, a research associate and Ph.D. candidate from Universität Potsdam. “When we visited you in Elon in 2025, you picked me up from the airport, and you took me straight to a restaurant and treated me to chicken wings because I was really hungry (…). The second way was more important metaphoriclaly because I went into research four years ago, having been a teacher for a long time, having great imposter syndrome, not belonging here and meeting you in 2024 and remmebering sitting with you (…) you told me about your life (…) and this gave me the wings to carry on in research and I wouldn’t be here (without) you.”
Carpenter previously served on the leadership team of the Special Interest Group and was previously awarded the Best Reviewer and Best Paper Awards. He says TACTL-SIG and its members have had a positive impact on him and his career.
“The Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group gave me a home in the American Educational Research Association,” Carpenter said. “This was particularly the case at the AERA Annual Meeting, as the SIG made a potentially impersonal event that draws 16,000 attendees start to feel like a chance to see and catch up with valued friends. It was particularly meaningful that 16 kind folks (including many of my co-authors) shared generous and humbling words about my impact on them, and the SIG. The award was a complete surprise, and I was fortunate to have my father in attendance to share in the moment.”