Alyssa Tormala is the Instructional Technology Coach and the Information Science Department Chair at St. Mary's Academy in Portland, Oregon. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and practiced law for over six years before switching to education to become an English and social science teacher, at which point she obtained both her M.A.T. and M.Ed in Education from Portland State University.
When SMA initiated its 1:1 iPad program, Alyssa became fascinated with how technology and pedagogy could work hand-in-hand to create new learning opportunities for students and teachers, and that fascination led her to becoming more involved with coaching and professional development work both inside and outside SMA. She is also adjunct instructor in educational technology at Concordia University's College of Education, and frequently presents at local and national educational technology conferences such as ISTE, NCCE, and IntegratED.
In her downtime, Alyssa enjoys being with her husband and daughter, her dog, two cats and five horses.
