Rate My Professor John Williams

Dr. John Williams serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota School of Education, where he teaches elementary and secondary STEM methods courses and instructional technology in STEM education. He earned his Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Dakota in 2022, an M.A. in Science Education from the University of Iowa in 2011, and a B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College in 2009. Williams holds professional teaching licenses from the Minnesota Department of Education, South Dakota Department of Education, and Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

Williams' research interests focus on STEM professional development, science media literacy, and emerging technologies in STEM education. His publications include 'A Clear-eyed View: Do Preservice Teachers' Self-evaluations of teaching performance vary with video modality used during self-reflection activities?' in Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (2025); 'Educators’ Enacted Beliefs About the Use of Print and Digital Media in Early and Middle Childhood Classrooms' in Discover Education (2024); 'Considering it from all Angles: Preservice Teachers’ Perception of 360-degree Video use in the context of Self-Reflections' (2024); 'Gaining a New Perspective: A Pilot Program to use 360-degree Video for Student Teacher Self-reflections' (2024); 'Becoming ambitious from afar: Understanding teacher beliefs about implementing ambitious science teaching practices through a remotely delivered professional development workshop' in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (2023); 'Robots for Science: Analysis of Preservice Teacher Outcomes through a Robotics and Coding Integration Unit in a K-8 Science Methods Course' (2023); and 'Professional Development Gone Remote: Analysis of In-Service Teacher Beliefs about the Implementation of Ambitious Science Teaching Practices and Science Teaching Self-Efficacy through a Workshop Delivered on Zoom' (2022). He received the Excellence in Research Award from the USD School of Education (2025), Friend of Science Award from the South Dakota Science Teachers Association (2023), and Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award, First Place Recipient, from the University of South Dakota (2022).