Founder - Krystle Merry, Ph.D., NBCT
Dr. Krystle Merry is a lecturer at the University of Maine in the College of Education and Human Development, School of Learning and Teaching, a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) Exceptional Needs Specialist, and a digital accessibility specialist. Merry has over 17 years of experience in inclusive secondary and post-secondary education, with a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Special Education from the University of Arkansas, an M.S.Ed. in Gifted and Talented Education, and a BS. Ed in Middle Childhood Education, and graduate certificates in ESOL, Autism, and Transition Programming. During her doctoral program, she was selected as a U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Scholar and Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) National Scholar for women in research.
Merry also works in the private sector as a special education advocate, virtual case manager, grant evaluator, and user research and user interface (UX/UI) designer to train new edtech companies, higher education institutions, pre-service educators, and PK-12 schools on accessible practices for website, document, presentation, social media, and mobile app development. Prior to joining UMaine, she worked with the US Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to provide accessible grant support and worked in qualitative research and data analysis for the Center for Inclusive Technology and Education Systems (CITES) at the Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST), the developers of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Currently, her research interests, presentations, and publications focus on artificial intelligence (AI), netnography or education in social media spaces, special education in virtual schools, online work-based learning experiences for students with and without disabilities, digital community resource mapping, and assistive technology (AT) case law.
Awards and Certificates
PEO National Scholar
Krystle Merry, a Ph.D. student in Special Education Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions at the U of A, was one of 110 doctoral students in the U.S. and Canada selected to receive a $20,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was sponsored by Chapter DX of Fayetteville.
National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) - Exceptional Needs Specialist
The NBCT Exceptional Needs Specialist is a National Board certification for teachers who work with students with disabilities or other exceptional needs from early childhood through young adulthood (ages birth–21+). It is based on 14 rigorous standards that describe accomplished practice, including knowledge of students, assessment-driven instruction, communication, social development, and collaboration with families and professionals. Certified Exceptional Needs Specialists are expected to design individualized supports, adapt curriculum, and use specialized strategies so that students with a wide range of abilities can access learning and develop independence.
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