Longer biography

Gary S. Stager, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor: Pepperdine University
Executive Director: The Constructivist Consortium
Teacher educator, author and consultant, Dr. Gary Stager, has spent the past twenty-seven years helping teachers on six continents make sense of their roles in the digital age. In 1990 he led development efforts at the world's first two "laptop schools" in Australia. Since then, Gary has worked with countless laptop schools from Maine to Melbourne to Mumbai. Stager is a Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology where he has taught since 1993 and in 1998 helped create its groundbreaking Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree program. In 1982, Gary created one of the nation’s first computer camp programs and was the Director of Professional Development for NJ’s Network for Action in Microcomputer Educator from 1983-93.

Gary was Senior Editor for District Administration Magazine, Editor of The Pulse: Education's Place for Debate and Editor of ISTE’s Logo Exchange. He is a frequent conference presenter, workshop leader and keynote speaker at conferences across the USA, Canada, China, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Brazil, Mexico, India, Switzerland, France, Bermuda, Costa Rica, South Africa, The Slovak Republic and Venezuela. Dr. Stager is an Associate of Thornburg Center and worked with Seymour Papert to create the Constructionist Learning Laboratory at the Maine Youth Center. Gary’s work with incarcerated youth in Maine was the subject of the PhD. dissertation from the University of Melbourne. Dr. Stager is also a collaborator in the MIT Media Lab's Future of Learning Group and the Executive Director of The Constructivist Consortium.

Gary has a degree in elementary education and once studied to be a jazz musician. He has worked with public schools, private schools, gifted students, at-risk learners and homeschooling communities, Dr. Stager’s corporate clients have included: Disney, Microsoft, LEGO, Apple Computer, Compaq, Tom Snyder Productions, Universal Studios, Toshiba, Logo Computer Systems, Inc. and Claris. Converge Magazine named Gary Stager a “shaper of our future and inventor of our destiny.” He was a finalist for best columnist in the 2006 Association of Education Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards. Dr. Stager was a keynote speaker at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference before an audience of more than 4,000 educators.

Most recently, Gary was the new media producer for The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmeri Project - Simpatíco, 2007 Grammy Award Winner for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. The album also won the a similar award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Dr. Stager is also a contributor to The Huffington Post.