Dr. Abbas Aubteen Darabi
Associate Professor
Profile
Dr. Darabi is an Associate Professor with Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (EPLS) teaching graduate courses at the Instructional Systems Program. He also works at the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) as the Principal Investigator for research and development contracts and grants. His latest award was a $6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security, to develop a training curriculum for port security personnel. In previous years, he has managed several similar grants from the United States Navy and US Department of Education. The projects focused on developing performance support systems or in Navy’s case providing empirical evidence for developing an integrated learning environment. Prior to his teaching assignment, Dr. Darabi worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Performance Technology at LSI for close to 10 years. During that time he was one of the Project Directors for the Job Skills Educational Program (JSEP), a multi-million dollar contracts with the US Army, which produced over four hundred hours of job related instructions for soldiers on two mainframe computer systems. He also developed a recognized expertise in conducting occupational analysis for restructuring of organizations, redesigning jobs, and developing training programs in federal, state, and private agencies.
Education
Ph.D. in Mass Communications: Theory and Research, Florida State University
M.S. in Communication, Florida State University
Research
Dr. Darabi’s research interests in training and instruction of complex cognitive skills led to creating a Center for Research in Training and Transfer of Complex Cognitive Skills at LSI. This center includes a research lab equipped with workstations and simulation software. Using this lab in partnership with the School of Engineering, he and his team of students have conducted several experiments focusing on the impact of different training strategies on learning how to troubleshoot a complex system such as a chemical engineering plant. These activities produced numerous publications in collaboration with students. His grants and expertise in developing training program has created an opportunity for conducting research on learner performance, self-regulated learning, and evaluation of training program as well as support for graduate students.
Association Memberships
Association of Educational Communication Technology (AECT)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI)
Florida Educational Research Association (FERA)
Publications
Dr. Darabi has numerous publications in refereed professional journals, several book chapters, a number of refereed proceeding publications and many technical reports on hi contacts and grants deliverables.
Services
Dr. Darabi is actively supporting LSI and the IS program with his involvement in variety of services. As a member of the LSI Faculty Council, Dr. Darabi participates in various functions in addition to the research grants he is managing. He has chaired several search committees for recruiting and hiring faculty at LSI.
At EPLS, he is a member of the Admission Committee for the Instructional Systems Graduate Program and a member of the department Faculty Evaluation Committee. He has served on the IS Masters Degree Reviewing Committee upgrading its requirements, student competencies, and portfolio process.
He is an associate editor for the Journal of Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D). He has served as reviewer for conferences conducted by International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI), Florida Educational Research and Association (FERA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and International Association for Development of Information Society (IADIS)
| Courses Frequently Taught | |
| EME 6691 | Performance Systems Analysis |
| EME 6636 | Systematic Approach to Change Management |