Dr. Yiran Zhao obtained her Ph.D. degree in Educational Theory and Policy from the Pennsylvania State University in the USA. Prior to that, she completed her Ed.M. degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the USA. But her undergraduate training was in Communications with a concentration in media market survey and analysis. Dr. Zhao has a wide range of future-oriented research interests including the development of 21st century competencies, particularly creativity, the psychological processes that enable self-directed learning, technology in education, education equity, and education innovations. Dr. Zhao has also worked with the OECD on the Future of Education and Skills 2030 project where she contributed to the development of the Learning Compass, assisted the curriculum analysis, and led efforts to incorporate student voice into international policy initiatives. Her passion in helping young people develop the ability to navigate their own life has also led her to work with Flow Learning, a San-Francisco-based education start-up that provides young people with life design courses and life coaching services.
Qualifications
BA, Communication University of China, Beijing, China-2011
EdM, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Boston, MA, USA-2013
PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA-2020
Research interests
Equity in education
Creativity
21st century competencies
Technology in Education
Comparative and International Education
Education policy
Articles
Zhao, Y., Lu, J., Woodcock, S. & Ren, Y. (2022). Social Media Web 2.0 Tools Adoption in Language and Literacy Development in Early Years: A Scoping Review. Children (9), 12, 1901
Zhao,Y. R., & Breslow, L. (2013). Literature Review on Hybrid/Blended Learning. Cited by 38 according to Google Scholar by the end of 2020. Current citation counts unavailable because the MIT website temporarily made the article unavailable during site maintenance. The article just recently became available again at the following website: https://tll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/library/Blended_Learning_Lit_Reveiw.pdf
Zhao, Y. R., & Ho, A. D. (2014). Evaluating the flipped classroom in an undergraduate history course (HarvardX Research Memo). Cited by 30 according to Google Scholar. Available at https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Evaluating-the-Flipped-Classroom-in-An-History-Zhao-Ho/8d52f9a8987045aceae3929df206a1570e6dfab3
Zhao, Y. (2012). 《米老鼠》对国内少儿读者的导向分析[Guiding tendencies for domestic readers from Mickey Mouse Journal]. The Guide of Science& Education, 2, 252-254.
Zhao, Y. (2012).《米老鼠》对少儿读者的影响分析[ An analysis of Mickey Mouse Magazine’s impact on children]. Journal of Southwest Agricultural University：Social Science Edition，10,（2）208-210.
Zhao, Y. (2012). 例谈国外少儿期刊在中国的本土化道路 [A research on the localization of foreign children’s journal]. Literature Education,03, 122-123.
Li, L., Yang, S.H., Han, Y. M., & Zhao, Y. (2012). 城乡义务教育学校标准化建设优化研究—基于学龄人口变化趋势预测 [Optimizing the standardization of compulsory education in urban and rural China: An analysis based on projection of school-age population]. Educational Research and Experiment.4, 20-24.
Zhao, Y., & Chang, J. D. (2013). Evaluating the implementation of the no-fee teacher education policy [Special Issue]. Chinese Education & Society, 46, (2-3), 132-143.
Li, L., & Zhao, Y. (Eds.). (2013). No-fee teacher education: Case study of Southwest University [Special Issue]. Chinese Education & Society, 46, (2-3)
Zhao, L., Li, L., Huang, C., Song, N., & Zhao, Y. (2015). Shengji jiaoyujingfei tongchou gaige de fenpei xiaoguo [The distributive effect of the overall planning reform of provincial level educational funding]. Social Sciences in China, (11), 111-127+207-208.
Chapters, cases, readings and supplements
Zhou, A.P., & Zhao, Y. (2011). 职业教育法律制度 [Vocational Education Law]. In T. Yang, Y. Long, & E. L. Chen (Eds.), Education law (pp.207-229). Chongqing, China: Southwest China Normal University Press.
Zhou, A.P., & Zhao, Y. (2011). 学生法律制度 [Laws pertaining to Students]. In T. Yang, Y. Long, & E. L. Chen (Eds.), Education law (pp.158-188). Chongqing, China: Southwest China Normal University Press.
Conference presentations
Cheung, A., Zhao, Y., Jiang, J., & Li, X. J. (2013, October). An “appropriate way to protest”: Discourses regulating civic protest in China. Paper session presented at the 39th Association for Moral Education annual conference, Montreal, Canada.
Zhao, Y. (2013, March). Renewable weighted student funding as a pathway to equal access to compulsory education for migrant children in China. Paper session presented at the 2013 Comparative and International Education Society annual conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.
Zhao, Y. (2014, November). Chinese secondary school students’ perceptions of pathway to success. Paper session presented at the 2014 Association for Moral Education annual conference, Pasadena, California, U.S.A
Courses taught
EDS 404 The School of Tomorrow: Managing Change in Global Education
IR708(SIP Campus-International Research Centre) Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou P.R.China 215123
