Erika Nelson, PhD, MEd, BEd, BA

Area of Study / Keywords

Educational Leadership Netnography & Digital Research Social Media Digital Surveillance Professional Identity K-12 Schools Qualitative Research

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About

I am an incoming Assistant Professor in the Studies in Educational Leadership program in the Faculty of Education. I completed my PhD in Educational Administration and Leadership in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. My academic path began on the east coast, where I grew up and completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees (University of New Brunswick, University of Maine at Machias, and Crandall University), and I carry that east coast sensibility (some would say "charm") with me in how I work, how I connect with people, and how I think about community. Before returning to the academy, I spent fifteen years as a K-12 educator and school administrator, working in both English and French. I taught students, led schools, and worked alongside staff in the daily realities of public education. I also spent time at the Alberta Ministry of Education, where I gained a system-level view of policy and a clear sense of the interplay between government direction and classroom reality. I also have the privilege of navigating the education system as a parent to two young boys. 

I am a scholar-practitioner. I remain connected to the field, and I am committed to research that means something to the people leading schools and school systems, and shaping the future for teachers, students, and communities. I love teaching undergraduate and graduate students. Walking alongside future teachers and current school leaders as they think hard about the work they do and the people they are becoming is one of the privileges of this role. 

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Research

I am a qualitative researcher studying the inner lives of school leaders. My research examines who principals understand themselves to be — and who they are becoming — under conditions that the field of educational leadership has not yet adequately named. I work in the humanistic tradition: organizations are made of people, and that attending to their values, perceptions, and lived experiences is the central task of educational leadership. What does sustainability really mean in school leadership?

The Power of the Post

My doctoral research examined the impact of parents' social media use on the professional identity of K-12 school principals. The study, recognized with the 2026 Thomas B. Greenfield Dissertation Award from the Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration, drew on netnographic immersion in professional Facebook communities for school leaders and interviews with principals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The dissertation introduces three main contributions to the field: the Continuum of Role Conceptualization, which explains why principals facing similar external pressures arrive at different identity outcomes; the collapsed dramaturgical space, which extends Goffman's dramaturgical framework into the digital age; and the premise that perhaps the poison is in the dose when examining the accepted parental involvement imperative currently dominating scholarship in this field.

Methodological Commitments: Netnography in Educational Leadership

My dissertation was, to my knowledge, the first application of netnography to professional identity research in educational leadership. Netnography, developed by Robert Kozinets for the study of online communities and cultures, treats digital spaces as genuine social environments — places where meaning is made, culture is produced, and community is enacted. I remain committed to the methodological argument that the digital conditions of contemporary professional life call for research designs the field has not yet fully embraced. Traditional approaches were built for a pre-digital world; they remain valuable, but I believe the field of educational leadership has much to gain from a capacious methodological imagination, one that meets the work of leadership where it is happening.

Evolving Research Directions

My current research program develops three lines of work. First, mapping the middle of the Continuum of Role Conceptualization through study of principals who have experienced sustained digital scrutiny and stayed in the role. Second, using netnography to explore the geographies of digital reputation, examining how the dynamics of the digital fishbowl vary across context - rural, urban, francophone, and Indigenous-led school divisions in Alberta and beyond. Third, the mobilization of this scholarship into principal preparation programs, school division professional learning, and the standards that govern principal certification.

Practitioner-Engaged Scholarship

I am committed to research that is built with practitioners, not merely for them. I work with school divisions, professional associations, and the principals doing the work of leading schools, and I treat their voices as central rather than supplementary in the study of educational leadership. 

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Teaching

Teaching is my heartwork. I treat it as a vocation, not a job. After many years in K-12 classrooms and school leadership, teaching future educators and current school leaders is the next step in my evolution. Teaching and learning are, to me, inseparable concepts. I learn just as much from the people who enter my classroom as I do from any text I assign.

Pedagogical Commitments

My approach to teaching is grounded in three commitments. First, I treat the classroom as a bridge between theory and practice. Aspiring leaders need more than a literature; they need a way to recognize themselves and their work in the literature, and the literature in their work. I also have the ability to draw on my experience to navigate the grey areas of education in regulation, ethics, and professional identity.  Second, I am a committed advocate of Universal Design for Learning. Whether teaching online to a cohort of rural school leaders or in person to a class of urban undergraduates, I design my courses for accessibility and engagement rather than uniformity. The classroom should be an active lab for leadership learning, not a passive transmission of content. Third, I teach the students in front of me, not the students the syllabus assumes. A pedagogy responsive to who is actually in the room; to their professional contexts, their lived experiences, and the diverse landscapes from which they come, is the only kind of pedagogy I am interested in practicing. I treat my classroom as a site of access and belonging, where difficult topics can be engaged with care and without compromise to academic rigour.

Teaching is an evolutionary practice — never the same twice — and I want my students to leave my courses equipped, empowered, and resilient enough to face the realities of contemporary educational leadership.

EDPS 410 - Ethics and Law in Teaching

This course will examine the ethical and legal responsibilities of teachers. Among the topics addressed will be the following: punishment and child abuse; freedom of speech and academic freedom in schools; parents' rights and teachers' professional autonomy; issues of quality such as inclusive education and the problems of racism and sexism; fairness in assessment and evaluation; teachers' private lives and public obligations; indoctrination and the teaching of value. Prerequisite: EDFX 200.

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EDPS 531 - Supporting Educator Professional Growth

This course is designed to support participants as they increase their knowledge about historical and contemporary challenges and issues in supporting educator professional growth. Topics covered in the course will be relevant to teachers, school leaders, system administrators, teacher educators, and policy-makers. May contain alternative delivery sections; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations section of the Calendar.

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EDU 511 - Introduction to School Improvement

Introduces the current state of knowledge, research and theory in the field of education. Focuses upon teaching and learning within schools and other educational organizations in ways that synthesize educational experience with professional research knowledge. Studies educational change that improves organizations. Prerequisite: Registration in the Master of Education in Educational Studies program. Sections may be offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.

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EDU 512 - Leadership in Educational Settings

Examines the historical context of current thinking about educational leadership. Explores how leadership literature informs practice, while critically examining that literature from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Analyzes values and ethical principles in school leadership; complex dilemmas of educational leadership; and, works to develop a personal philosophy of educational leadership. Prerequisite: Registration in the Master of Education in Educational Studies program. Sections may be offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.

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Browse more courses taught by Erika Nelson

2026 May;

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Erika Nelson

Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education. 2023 December;

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Erika Nelson, Bonnie Stelmach

Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy. 2023 January; 10.7202/1095487ar

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