Dr. Gísli Þorsteinsson (cdt@hi.is) er prófessor í hönnun og smíði við Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands. Hann lauk doktorsgráðu frá Háskólanum í Loughborough á Englandi 2011 sem fjallaði um notkun veflægs námsumhverfis til að styðja við hugmyndamyndun (e. ideation) nemenda í nýsköpunarmennt. Gísli var formaður Félags íslenskra smíðakennara frá 1995–2005, formaður Félags norrænna handverkskennara frá 2001– 2005 og í stjórn norrænu rannsóknarsamtakanna Nordfo frá 2000–2005. Árið 1999 tók Gísli þátt í mótun nýs námssviðs fyrir upplýsinga- og tæknimennt og var einn af aðalhöfundum aðalnámskrár fyrir hönnun og smíði. Gísli hefur ritað fjölda greina um nýsköpunarmennt og hönnun og smíði og gefið út nokkrar kennslubækur.

Gisli Thorsteinsson, is a Professor at Iceland University of Education, in the Department of Design and Craft Education. At present, he is also a PhD student at Loughborough University in England, where he is exploring the pedagogical values of using Virtual Reality Learning Environment for improving ideation in the context of Innovation Education in Iceland.

Gísli has previously served as chairman of the Association of Icelandic Design and Craft Teachers (1995-2005) and as NST chairman of the Nordic Sloyd Association (2001-2004). He was also a board member of NordFo (the Nordic Research Association in sloyd) during the period from 2000 to 2004.

He was the coordinator of the European project InnoEd (2001-2003). Different institutions have granted him several scholarships for his work in education and research.

In 1999, Gísli helped write Iceland’s Guidance for the National Curriculum for Information Technology and Technology Education. He wrote the curriculum text of the curricula for Design and Craft Education.

He has written many articles on Design and Craft Education and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in education. He is also the author of several textbooks on Innovation Education.