Dr. Ali Sakkal
Ali Sakkal
Associate Teaching Professor, Foundations of Education
Dr. Ali Sakkal completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis where he divided his time between the Learning and Mind Sciences and School Organization and Education Policy programs. He received his M.S. in Adolescent Education through a joint Americorps and New York City Department of Education program and was a music educator at the middle and elementary school levels for five years in the New York City public schools. He is interested in how students integrate their knowledge across contexts and in how innovative educational designs can facilitate this process. His research interests draw from the fields of experiential learning, informal learning contexts, sociocultural theory, image-based field research, and gaming for learning. His dissertation thesis, The Culture of Home Away from Home: Embracing the Travel Experience for Learning and Development, integrates many of these topics, focusing on student learning on the road while traveling in Latin America. In current years, he has focused on issues of higher education, having recently returned from research in Colombia, South America where he established an investigation regarding the current state of the country’s university system. This study investigates Colombia’s drastically changing university system through an analysis connecting larger policy initiatives to the sentiments and perceptions of stakeholders at the ground levels of university functions. Also, having received a B.M. in Saxophone Performance, Sakkal can also be found making music through various musical contexts and touring projects.
- Associate Teaching Professor, Foundations of Education
- Ph.D., Education: Learning & Mind Sciences and School Organization & Education Policy (double emphasis), University of California Davis, 2013
- M.S., Adolescent Education, Mercy College, 2004
- Bachelor of Music, Classical Saxophone Performance, San Francisco State University, 2001
- Associate Instructor, School of Education, UC Davis
- Teacher, Don Pedro Albizu Campos – Public School 161, New York, NY
Taught Pre-K through 6th grade, 2007-2008 - United Nations Development Program, Uzbekistan, 2007-2008
- Population Services International, Uzbekistan, 2007
- Teacher, Mary White Ovington – Intermediate School 30, Brooklyn, NY,
Taught 6th through 8th grades, 2005-2006 - Poverty Reduction Team Program Associate, United Nations Development Program Iraq, Amman, Jordan, 2005
- Teacher, Ditmas – Intermediate School 62, Brooklyn, NY
Taught 6th through 8th grades, 2002-2004
- EDU 201: Educational Policy and Practice
- EDU 311: Learning and Cognitive Science
- EDU 373: Comparative and International Education
- EDU 368: Professional Experiences in Education
- EDU 304: Social Justice Issues in Education
- FYS 100: Meet Me at the Fair
- FYS 100: Play in Physical and Digital Worlds: Learning from Games
- INS 150: Preparation for Study Abroad
- Sakkal, A.; Harlan L. (2024). Connecting Hand and Mind: Fostering student creativity and confidence through makerspace projects. In: 10th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’24). Valencia, 18-21 June 2024. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd24.2024.17359
- Sakkal, A., & Martin, L. (2019). Learning to Rock: The role of prior experience and explicit instruction on learning and transfer in a music videogame. Computers & Education, 128, 389–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.10.007
- Zhou, C. & Sakkal, A. (2019). Perception of Healthy Eating in Amsterdam’s Primary Schools. Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 9 (1): 43-52.
- Sakkal, A. (2018). Investigating the Colombian University System: What Does the Future Hold? In J. Domenech, P. Merello, E. Poza, & D. Blazquez (Eds.), HEAd’18: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Higher Education Advances (pp. 793-798). Valencía: Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València.
- Correia, J. & Sakkal, A. (2015). A Study of School Meals: How Cafeteria Culture and Role Models Shape the Eating Habits of Students. Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6(1).
- Sakkal, A. (2013). The Culture of Home Away from Home: Embracing the Travel Experience for Learning and Development (Doctoral dissertation). University of California, Davis.
- UNDP (2005). Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004. Baghdad: United Nations Development Program and Iraqi Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology, Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation.
- Sakkal, A., & Harlan L. (2024, June). Connecting Hand and Mind: Fostering student creativity and confidence through makerspace projects. Presentation at 10th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, Valencia, Spain.
- Sakkal, A., (2022, October). Making New Standards for 21st-Century Stewardship Meaningful. Presentation at Critical Questions in Education Conference, Denver, CO.
- Sakkal, A., (2022, March). The WakerSpace: Real Learning for All. Presentation at Tech-X, Winston-Salem, NC. (Recorded presentation available here)
- Sakkal, A., (2022, February). Connecting Hand & Mind: Makerspaces for inspired teaching & learning. Presentation at Critical Questions in Education Conference, Charleston, SC.
- Sakkal, A., (2018, June). Investigating the Colombian University System: What Does the Future Hold? Presentation at 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, Valencia, Spain.
- Sakkal, A., (2017, May). Global Understanding through Travel: The struggle to define learning while on the road in El Salvador. Global Conference on Education and Research, Sarasota, FL.
- Sakkal, A., (2017, February). Traveling Together: Making schools a place students and teachers want to be by hitting the road. Critical Questions in Education Conference, New Orleans, LA.
- Sakkal, A., (2016, June). American Higher Education at the Crossroads: Experiences and opportunities of minority and low-income students. Social prejudice on campus: What do we know, what do we need? Osnabrück, Germany.