Dr. Ludmila Smirnova

AACE, Kappa Delta Pi

Innovation, Web 2.0 environment, teaching with technology

Ludmila Smirnova is Associate Professor of Education at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. Prior to coming to the U.S., she was professor of education at Volgograd State Pedagogical University, Russia, where she also served as Dean of the School of Foreign Languages. During her 25-year Russian career, Dr. Smirnova was known for her work in innovative approaches to teaching. She played a key role in creating a model Ecological Gymnasium and other experimental “charter schools” in Southern part of Russia. A number of her Ph.D. students and scores of Masters students worked with her to produce comparative studies of successful innovative efforts in education. Dr. Smirnova has been a Montessori trainer, and has run seminars and training programs for Montessori teachers in Russia, Holland and the U.S. Moving to the U.S. in 2000, she brought this focus on innovation into the realm of emerging Web technology, where she quickly became recognized for her leadership in Web applications to education. She has used her own teaching to drive her learning, regularly offering such courses as Curricular Planning, Methods of Teaching, Nature of Schools and Society and Teaching with Technology.