J. D. Walker is a Research Associate in the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) at the University of Minnesota, where his work focuses on investigating the impact of digital technologies and other educational innovations on student learning outcomes in higher education, as well as on student engagement and the faculty teaching experience. In collaboration with CEI and faculty colleagues, he has conducted studies of the effectiveness of new, technology-enhanced classroom spaces; flipped and blended-format classes; multimedia and mobile technologies; classes delivered as MOOCs; and the social context of teaching and learning. Walker earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996, and he taught as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, the University of Pennsylvania, and Franklin and Marshall College. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Quantitative Methods in Education from the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 2010.