Postdigital Learner Agency Scholar. Speaker. Educator.

welcome.

I am researcher, educator, and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia. My work examines how agency shapes and is shaped by digital, social, and virtual learning environments, with a focus on learning, engagement, and well-being. As Director of the ALIVE Research Lab, I study how learners enact agency across online, hybrid, and immersive contexts.

I am also a two-time heart transplant recipient, heart failure survivor, and co-founder of the HeartLife Foundation, an international organization of patient advocates and partners dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering people living with heart failure and heart disease.

Please check out my profile and contact me if you would like to collaborate.

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Profile

I am a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Assessment for Learning in Immersive and Virtual Environments (ALIVE) Research Lab.

My research examines how learner agency develops across digital, social, and immersive learning environments. I study how technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, games, and artificial intelligence influence how learners set goals, self-regulate, and reflect on their progress. My work bridges educational psychology, learning sciences, and media studies to design and evaluate systems that promote active, equitable, and well-being-oriented learning.

Through projects such as ALIVE, NARRATE, and PATIENT-FOCUS, I collaborate with interdisciplinary teams in Canada and internationally to advance theory, assessment, and practice related to agency in education and health. My research also informs digital and patient education initiatives through the HeartLife Foundation and HeartLife Academy, linking academic inquiry with lived experience and real-world impact.

CONTACT

postdigital learner agency.

Where humans meet machines in learning.
Think critically. Act ethically. Shape the system.

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MY RESEARCH IS FUNDED BY

SCHOLARSHIP

RESEARCH

My research contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship by examining how learner agency emerges in postdigital contexts shaped by hybrid, algorithmic, and immersive systems. It explores how these environments influence learning, equity, and the democratization of knowledge across education and health.

TEACHING

Empowering learners to take an active role in their education guides my approach to teaching, mentorship, and community engagement. My courses explore agency in postdigital contexts, where learning is shaped by both human and technological interactions. Through reflection, collaboration, and critical inquiry, I create learning experiences that are dynamic, participatory, and responsive to contemporary digital life.

COMMUNITY

Following my heart failure diagnosis and surgeries for an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) and Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), I became a public health advocate. After receiving two heart transplants, I co-founded the HeartLife Foundation, an international organization of patient advocates and partners dedicated to improving the lives of people living with heart failure and heart disease.

documentary.

THIS IS MY STORY

My Broken Heart is a feature-length documentary shot over 5-years. The documentary follows the lives of Jillianne Code, Mark Wilson, and Cody Halfpenny as they face the challenges of heart transplantation.

Exploring the journey from end-stage heart failure, LVAD, heart transplantation, and organ rejection, My Broken Heart is an unflinching look at the possible complications and consequences of organ transplantation.

WATCH