Research Statement

My dissertation entitled, “An Exploratory Study of the Implementation of Computer Technology in an American Islamic Private School,” focused on describing the implementation of computer technology and identifying the underlying themes about the implementation of technology in the school. My findings indicated that the historical interactions of marginalized groups with technology and their culture play a major role in the use of technology by such groups. This sparked my interest in using culture as a lens to examine the implementation of technology and curricula (a form of technology) in schools. Some key questions that continue to drive my current research are: How might the implementation of technology be richly, fairly, and appropriately described in a variety of contexts? What personal stories do users of technology tell about their implementation of technology and what themes may be drawn from them? How do various cultures view any moral, political, religious or cultural values that speak to the implementation of technology?



We live in a technological culture. Our identities, responsibilities, communities we belong to, our hopes, dreams, and nightmares are shaped by rapidly evolving technology. There are some important questions to take into consideration when investigating the role of culture in the use of technology. How does each culture negotiate its relation with technology? Are there any moral, political, cultural, or religious values that restrict or guide technological advancement? Does technology follow its own internal logic, or should it be regulated and contained in relation to the specific needs and cultural priorities of different societies? If yes, who does determine these values and priorities and how? For example, my dissertation explored the appropriation of Western technology by a Muslim minority living in the West and in the process examined the existing tensions between innovation and tradition. A framework was proposed to understand the varying but pragmatic approaches members of that Muslim community utilized while making decisions on the use of technology.



I view technology to be a multi-faceted reality, not just hardware but also skills and organization, attitudes and culture. It is the ordering of knowledge to achieve practical ends or as things made or implemented and the method of making or implementing them. My research attempts to understand the interplay of culture with technology in this general sense. In this sense, even the curriculum in a school not only becomes a piece of technology but a piece of technology with a particular message. This was the focus of my study titled, “The Reporting of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks in American Social Studies Textbooks: A Muslim Perspective.” In my work I am also attempting to explore ways existing and innovative technology can be used to facilitate teaching and learning across cultures and to close the digital divide. My research primarily relies on qualitative methods such as ethnographic methods, case study, and constructivist grounded theory. Qualitative methodology and methods because of their flexibility allow for the examination of multiple dimensions of technology implementation and appropriation.



Saleem, M. (2018). Action Research as a Reflective Tool for Teachers in a Multicultural Education Class. Colleagues. 15 :1 , Article 6. Retrived from https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol15/iss1/6 

This article documents the use of action research as a teaching approach in a graduate level course on Multicultural Education at a regional state university.

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Saleem, M. M. & Thomas, M. K. (2011). The reporting of the September 11th terrorist attacks in American social studies textbooks: A Muslim perspective. The High School Journal, 95(1), 15-33.

This study analyzes the reporting of the September 11th terrorist attacks in social studies textbooks from a Muslim perspective and reports on findings from a study of the responses of American Muslim children to the treatment of the events of September 11th in social studies textbooks. Constructivist grounded theory was used to centralize the participant’s perspective in the readings of social studies textbooks leading to emergent themes that developed into a theoretical framework about basic social processes within the reading. Propaganda-making is suggested here as a theoretical conceptualization of the processes undertaken by textbook authors, and the category “Muslim reactions” is suggested as a typology of Muslim responses to these characterizations. Exploring how readers engage with the text and how the text engages with the reader in the construction of knowledge, the framework developed in the study can be used to inform a culturally relevant pedagogy and curricula in the teaching of 9/11 in social studies classrooms.



Saleem, M. (2009). An Exploratory Study of the Implementation of Computer Technology in an American Islamic Private School (Ph.D.). University of Wisconsin, Madison.

This exploratory study of the implementation of computer technology in an American Islamic private school leveraged the case study methodology and ethnographic methods informed by symbolic interactionism and the framework of the Muslim Diaspora. The study focused on describing the implementation of computer technology and identifying the underlying themes through observations, document analysis, and teachers' personal stories about the implementation of technology in their school. The study also examined Muslim teachers' views about technology and its implementation in the Islamic school. The findings of the study were contextualized within the work of Becker, Cuban, and Saettler on the implementation of computer technology in American public schools and within the historical interaction of Muslims with technology.

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Work in Progress

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Saleem, M. The Ijtihadi Framework: Deconstructing Muslims’ Use of Computer Technology in Islamic Schools.

Informed by the implementation of computers in American public schools as well as research on the historical and current interaction of Muslims with technology in general, this case study seeks to deconstruct the various responses to computer technology by Muslim educators in Sunni American Islamic schools. Teachers’ holistic interpretation of Islam as Dīn motivates them to see themselves as a murabbī rather than as just a teacher. Thus, issues of ḥalāl and ḥarām become important factors in the implementation of computer technology. Teachers views on technology are also shaped by the context of living in the Muslim Diaspora within the United States. A framework that explains the various responses of Muslim educators in Islamic schools to computer technology is proposed.



​Saleem, M. & Vandermolen, R. (?). A case study of digital literacy development of future school leaders at a university principal preparation program. Unpublished. Status: IRB application approved. Collecting data.

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​Saleem, M., Choi, B., Topper, A., Lancaster, S., Steenstra, C., & Houtman, R. (?). An Exploratory Study of a Professional Learning Community of K-12 Instructional Technology Specialists. Unpublished. Status: Preparing IRB proposal.