Dr. Ali Sakkal

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.