Overview

Dr. Dosun Ko is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Program Chair of the Elementary Education Program. He joined WSU in 2020. His scholarship centers primarily on equity issues in special/inclusive education at the intersection of different social markers and community-driven participatory design research.

Information

Academic Interests and Expertise

Education:

  • Ph.D.    Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020.                Program: Special Education
  • M.Ed.   Elementary Educational Methods, Seoul National University of Education, 2011
  • B.Ed.    Elementary Education, Seoul National University of Education, 2008

Academic Interest and Expertise:

  • Racial disproportionality in special education identification and school discipline
  • Critical Disability Studies in Education
  • Equity-oriented and culturally sustaining inclusive education
  • Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT)
  • Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs)
Areas of Teaching Interest

        Wichita State University

  • CI 320 Introduction to Diversity: Exceptionalities 
  • CI 401 Professional Collaboration in Schools and Communities 
  • CI 411-2A Pre-Teaching Internship 
  • CI 504 Special Education Law
Publications

Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  1. Ko, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Orie, L. & Mawene, D. (accepted). Learning lab as a utopian methodology for future making: Decolonizing knowledge production toward racial justice in school discipline. Mind Culture and Activity.

  2. Ko, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Orie, L. & Mawene, D. (2022). Indigenous learning lab as prefigurative political act to dismantle settler-colonial system of exclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2022.2119488

  3. Ko, D., Bal, A., & Artiles A. J. (2022). Racial equity by design: Forming transformative agency for inclusive systemic design to addressing the racialization of school discipline. Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221081774

  4. Afacan, K., Bal, A., Artiles A. J., Cakir, H., Ko, D., Mawene, D., & Kim, H. (2021). Inclusive knowledge production at an elementary school through family-school-university partnerships: A formative intervention study. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2021.100569
  5. Ko, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Sannino, A., & Engeström, Y. (2021). Transformative agency for justice: Addressing racial disparity of school discipline with the Indigenous Learning Lab. Race Ethnicity and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2021.1969903

  6. Ko, D., Bal, A., Cakir, H., & Kim, H. (2021). Expanding transformative agency: Learning lab as a social change intervention for racial equity in school discipline. Teachers College Record. 123(2).1-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812112300201

  7. Ko, D., & Mawene, D., Roberts, K., & Hong, J. (2021). A systematic review of boundary crossing partnerships in designing equity-oriented special education services for culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education. 42(6). 412-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932520983474

  8. Ko, D., & Hong, J. J. (2020). Social production of space and everyday microaggressions: A case study of (im)migrant youth in South Korea. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 33(9). 987-1006. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1697468

  9. Ko, D., & Bal, A. (2019). Rhizomatic research design in a smooth space of learning: rupturing, connecting, and generating. Critical Education. 10(17). 1-20 https://doi.org/14288/ce.v10i17.186433
  10. Love, L.*, Ko, D.*, & Bal, A. (2018). Black exceptionality in academia: a cultural-historical re-conceptualization of Black male students identified with learning disabilities in higher education. Journal of Research Initiatives. 3(2). Available at: https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol3/iss2/2 *Co-equal first authorship

Conference Proceedings 

  1. Bal., A., Bird Bear, A., Ko, D., & Orie, L. (2022). Indigenous learning lab: Inclusive knowledge-production and enacted utopias toward decolonizing school systems. In Chinn, C., Tan, E., Chan, C., & Kali, Y. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2022 (pp.1317- 1320). Japan: ISLS.

Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

  1. Bal, A., Mawene, D., Ko, D., Orie, L., & Bird Bear, A. (in press). Fostering an equity-oriented family-school collaboration toward a culturally responsive multi-tiered system of supports: Learning lab as a case in point. In A. Garbacz, D. Minch, & M. Weist (Eds.), Family-School Collaboration in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support in Schools. Guilford Press.
  2. Ko, D., Bal, A., Orie, L., & Bird Bear, A. (in press). Indigenous students and disproportionality. In M. Winn & T. Winn (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Justice. Bloomsbury.
  3. Bal, A., Bear, A. B., Ko, D., & Orie, L. (2021). Indigenous learning lab: Inclusive knowledge-production and systemic design toward indigenous prolepsis. In W. Cavendish & J. F. Samson (Eds.), Intersectionality in education: Toward more equitable policy, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.

Selected Presentations

  1. Mawene, D., Mayer-Jochimsen, M., Bal, A., Ko, D., Bird Bear, A., Orie, L., & Yoo, J. (accepted). Learning Lab methodology: Materializing critical policy analysis. The 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

  2. Ko, D.  (accepted). Race-conscious systemic design to address overrepresentation of students of color with and without disabilities in school discipline. The 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

  3. Orie, L., Bird Bear, A., Bal, A., Ko, D., Mawene, D., Mayer-Jochimsen, M., Krichevsky, B., & Yoo, J (accepted). Indigenous insights driving systemic change at Northwoods high school. The 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

  4. Ko, D. (accepted). Future-making systemic design to address racialization of school discipline. The 2023 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

  5. Ko, D., Bal, A., Lim, S., & Orie, L. (accepted). Empowering voices, amplifying sociopolitical imaginations, and designing new possible futures. Submitted to the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) 2023 Convention & Expo. Louisville, Kentucky.

  6. Ko, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Orie, L., & Mawene, D. (April 2022). Facilitating collective prefigurative political acts to restructure settler-colonial system of exclusion. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA
  7. Salinas, S., Tefera, A., Gallegos, B., & Ko, D. (April 2022). Equity Recommendations for Re-Opening Schools Post-Covid-19 for students at the intersection of race and disability differences. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA
  8. Ko, D., Mawene, D., & Krichevsky, B. (April 2022). Organizing possible futures: Designing equity-oriented inclusive teacher education. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA
  9. Ko, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Orie, L. & Mawene, D. (April 2022). Learning lab as a utopian future-making to address racial justice in the settler colonial school system. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA
  10. Mawene, D., Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Ko, D., & Orie, L. (April 2022). From the margins to the center: Creating “Thirdspace” through indigenous learning lab. Paper presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA

  11. Bal, A., Bird Bear, A., Bravo, F., Ko, D., Orie, L., & Waitoller, F. (February 2022). Researching culturally responsive innovations in schools. Panel presentation at the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) 2022 Convention & Expo, Orlando, FL.

  12. Ko, D., Bal, A., Cakir, H., & Kim, H. (April 2021). Promoting transformative agency: Learning Lab as a social change intervention for racial equity in school discipline. Paper presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Orlando, FL (Vitrual Conference).

  13. Bal, A., Bear, A. B., Ko, D., & Mawene, D. (April 2021). Indigenous learning lab: Inclusive systemic design toward Indigenous praxis. Paper presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Orlando, FL (Vitrual Conference).

  14. Afacan, K., Bal, A., Cakir, H, Ko, D., Mawene, D., & Kim, H. (April 2021). Toward the fourth generation cultural-historical activity theory: A formative intervention for systemic transformation at an elementary school. Paper presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Orlando, FL (Vitrual Conference).

  15. Ko, D., & Mawene, D., Roberts, K., & Hong, J. (April 2020). Boundary-crossing collaborations and partnerships towards culturally responsive special education. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. (Conference canceled)

  16. Bal, A., Afacan, K., Cakir, H., Love, L., & Ko, D. (April 2018).  Radical possibilities of transforming schools with local stakeholders: A formative intervention study for expansive learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

Awards and Honors

Awards and Honors:

  • Service Learning Faculty Scholar, Wichita State University, 2022
  • Young Faculty Risk-Taker University Award, Wichita State University, 2022
  • Student Research Travel Grant Award, ($1,200), Graduate School, University of Wisconsin- Madison. 2020
  • Dr. Brenda Pfaehler Award of Excellence in Teaching for Underserved Students, Center for              Educational Opportunity, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019
  • Student Research Travel Grant Award, ($600), Graduate School, University of Wisconsin- Madison, 2019
  • Graduate Student Best Paper Award with Travel Grant, ($600), Korean American Educational Researchers Association, 2019
  • Network Fellows Research Grant, ($1,000), The Network: Wisconsin  Collaborative Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018
  • Network Fellows Research Grant, ($1,000) The Network: Wisconsin Collaborative Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017
  • Travel Award with Grant, ($600), The Department of Rehabilitation Psychology   and Special Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2017

  • Academic Excellence Prize of Elementary School Teacher Training, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Seoul, Korea, 2011

Grants

Research Grant Experiences

Principal Investigator (funded). A Participatory Design of a Culturally Sustaining, Inclusive Support System through Building a University-School-Family-Community Partnership. University Research/Creative Projects Award (URCA), State of Kansas. 2021-2022. Amount: $4,317.

Principal Investigator (unfunded). Community-Driven Systemic Design and implementation of a Culturally Sustaining, Inclusive Support System at an Urban Middle School. Research Grant on Education: Small, Spencer Foundation. 2021-2023. Amount: $50,000. Co-Principal Investigator: Heidi R. Cornell.

Research Associate (funded). Indigenous Learning Lab Phase 2: Implementation and Sustainability of a Culturally Responsive Behavioral Support System to Address the Racialization of School Discipline. Research Grant on Education: Small, Spencer Foundation. 2021-2023. Amount: $50,000. Principal Investigator: Aydin Bal. Role: Data analysis, writing manuscripts for publication.

Project Assistant (funded). Building a community-school-university partnership for systemic transformation: Toward a culturally responsive Indigenous Learning Lab. Grand Challenges Transform Grant. School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2018-2020. Amount: $254,656. Principal Investigator: Aydin Bal, Aaron Bird Bear. Role: Grant proposal writing, research activity coordination, data management, writing manuscripts for publication.

Areas of Service

Member of

  • Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)         
    • Kansas Council for Exceptional Children
    • Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL)
  • American Educational Research Association (AERA)
    • Division G: Social Contexts of Learning
    • Division C: Learning and Instruction
    • Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group
    • Special and Inclusive Education Research Special Interest Group
    • Cultural-Historical Research Special Interest Group
  • Korean-American Researchers Association (KAERA)

Professional Services

  • President, Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL) 2023
  • President-Elect, Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL) 2022

  • Vice President, Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL) 2021