Farmington Faculty


Mike Muir, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Education

Ed.D., University of Maine
M.Ed., Lesley College
B.A., Colby College

In the Classroom: Engaging Students — Setting High Academic Expectations
Mike Muir emphasizes project-based learning in his middle and secondary education courses. His students create culminating projects utilizing different types of multimedia such as podcasts and video podcasts, and write journal articles on the topic of technology as a tool in the classroom.

Mike introduces his students to his inquiry process and guides them as they discover how technology can improve and complement teaching pedagogy and techniques. He and his students routinely discuss the integration and impact of technology in a classroom setting and analyze how it can motivate and engage students in learning.


Outside the Classroom: Innovation and Excitement — Putting Theory into Practice
Mike directs the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning, which is currently conducting research on the 1-to-1 Learning With Laptop initiative (one laptop for every student). Across the country, school districts and entire states are at various stages of implementing 1-to-1. He and his student research assistants are also working on a 1-to-1 Stories Project, which is an attempt to gather the collective wisdom of the nation-wide initiatives to help those considering, or at the early stages of adopting, 1-to-1. The mission of the project is to help bring about the positive change to schooling that 1-to-1 promises.


A True Academic — Areas of Special Interest
Mike Muir is interested in how technology in the classroom contributes to change in the schools and how it has the ability to connect schools to the world. Mike classifies himself as a critical theorist who wants schools to work for everyone.

His scholarly interests include the classification of technology into two categories. Type-1 technology refers to technology that supports or automates existing practices such as how a typewriter is an implementation of pen and paper. This type of technology provides incremental payback. Type-2 technology has a significant payback and can be disruptive to the status quo. It allows the user to achieve things they couldn't ordinarily achieve — such as word processing on a computer keyboard.


Respected in the Field — Noteworthy Accomplishments
In addition to serving as the director of the Maine Center for Meaningful and Engaged Learning, Mike also serves on the Maine Association for Middle Level Education (MAMLE) Board of Directors and is a former Middle Level Educator of the Year.

He is the recipient of the University of Maine at Farmington Trustee Award, which provides course release time for him to complete his work on his book, Doing 1-to-1 Right, which takes a look at learning with laptop initiatives.


Outside of Academia — Personal Interests and Activities
Mike's professional and personal lives share many of the same passions as he finds himself continually teaching others. He is particularly passionate about motivating underachieving children and developing ways to get them involved and engaged in school.


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