Ali Söken
Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies
Ali Söken is a Ph.D. student in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at UMass Amherst. As a first-gen college student, parent, and international student from Turkey, my research focuses on critical media literacy in teacher education. My dissertation examines how future teachers learn and effectively teach critical media literacy. I also instruct a course on Education and Film, exploring themes of race, gender, and social class. Previously, I worked on projects related to computational thinking, scientific literacy, and technology integration. I have taught courses including Theories of Learning and Introduction to Special Education. Before my Ph.D. program, I served as an instructional designer for an e-learning company and a project manager for a non-governmental organization.