Diana Sharp

About

Diana Sharp leads the Florida Virtual School Partnership and Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation. Dr. Sharp served for three years as RMC's REL Southeast Project Director and currently manages the REL's work with Florida Virtual School, focusing on effective online teaching and family engagement practices for grade K-5 literacy and math. She also supports the Region 7 Comprehensive Center's work with Florida in grade PreK-3 literacy. Prior to joining RMC, Dr. Sharp spent thirteen years on the research faculty of Vanderbilt University's Learning Technology Center. She also formed a consulting company for educational leaders. In 2010, she created the free Reading Machine iPhone/iPad app for beginning and struggling readers, which has been featured by the University of Michigan's DyslexiaHelp center and Reading Is Fundamental. Dr. Sharp is currently partnering with the Florida Center for Reading Research to create universal decoding and phonics support that can be integrated into every digital device.Dr. Sharp can be contacted at Dsharp@rmcres.com.

Associated IES Content

Blog

Where the rubber meets the road: Exploring ideas of "use and usefulness" in a virtual school partnership

This blog post describes the REL Southeast's current work with Florida Virtual School.
Date published:
Nov 19, 2022
resource Video

Wrap Up and Next Steps

We highlight a research synthesis and an action-planning template developed by REL Southeast. These resources can be used to identify evidence-based, trauma-sensitive practices and plan strategies to address the needs of students and staff and promote their well-being.
Jul 13, 2021
resource Training Material

Support for Online Teachers In Overcoming Challenges to Student Engagement

Time: 4:15pm to 5:15pm Eastern Time Location: Virtual Description: The goal is for participants to learn introductory knowledge about social presence research and its application to increasing student engagement in online learning. The objective is for participants to develop a working knowledge of research in social presence along with initial strategies to implement with their students for increasing student engagement. Research Alliance: Florida Virtual School Partnership on Student Succe...
Apr 20, 2021
report Descriptive Study

Exploring Teachers' Influence on Student Success in an Online Biology Course

Instruction plays a critical role in student success. However, most studies of teachers' effects on student learning focus on face-to-face settings. Some aspects of online courses, such as the choice of synchronous or asynchronous instruction and the course structure, might reduce teachers' influence on their students. This study of an online high school biology course offered by Florida Virtual School examined the variation in students' course segment (similar to semester) completion rates, ...
Jan 01, 2021
Publication number:
REL 2021 056
resource Training Material

Social Presence Matters: Connections, Research, Strategies, and Practice

Time: 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. ET Location: Virtual Description: The goal of this webinar is to help teachers of online courses develop a working knowledge of research in social presence along with strategies for increasing student engagement. Guest speaker Dr. Aimee Whiteside from the University of Tampa will present an overview of theory and research in this area and related strategies for online teaching. Participants will also learn about recent Social Presence products from the REL Southeast. ...
Dec 11, 2020