Michael Thomas BA (Hons) Cert. TESOL M.Ed. MBA Ph.D. FHEA is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and International Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He has held positions at universities in the UK, Germany and Japan. His research interests are in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), task-based language teaching (TBLT), online and distance education, and educational policy. He has recently completed a four-volume major work for Sage Publications entitled Online Learning. He is the Commissioning Editor of a new book series with Palgrave Macmillan USA entitled βDigital Education and Learningβ and βAdvances in Digital Language Learning and Teachingβ (Continuum).
Among his book publications are Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning (2009), Interactive Whiteboards for Education: Theory, Research and Practice (with Euline Cutrim Schmid) (2010), Task-Based Language Learning & Teaching with Technology (with Hayo Reinders) (Continuum, 2010), Digital Education: Opportunities for Social Collaboration (Palgrave, 2011), Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies (Routledge, 2011), Online Learning (Sage, 2011) and The Reception of Derrida: Translation and Transformation (Palgrave, 2006). He is editor of the International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, associate editor of the International Journal of Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, executive editor of Journal of Second Language Teaching & Research, and has guest edited special editions of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, the International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, and Digital Education and Culture. He has organized numerous international conferences on digital technologies in education.