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Michael with his latest book co-authored with Jenae Cohn, Design for Learning (2023) 

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August 23, 1961 — September 26, 2023

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When I first joined GSOLE, Michael served as the editor of ROLE. His passion and dedication at our board meetings was infectious. Under Michael's leadership, ROLE became a critical aspect of GSOLE's contribution to scholarship.

When Michael suddenly had to step down from his role as editor, his missing presence at GSOLE's Executive Board could not be replaced. We all miss him and could never properly thank him for all the good work he did.

- Cat Mahaffey

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My first publication as a graduate student was with ROLE when Michael was editor. I was so intimidated by the thought of publishing, but Michael made the process approachable and gave me clear direction while still encouraging me as a writer. Michael balanced being great at what he was doing (editing, writing, teaching) with being a kind and good human to the people around him. My interaction with Michael as an editor was just another signal that I wanted to stay a part of GSOLE, and I later ran for the Executive Board.

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When GSOLE was first imagined by Scott Warnock, Heidi Harris, and me, we knew right away that we would love to have Michael Greer as our initial ROLE journal developer and editor. It was a huge job, bigger than I could have imagined, but Michael took it on with alacrity and thoughtfulness. His other ideas for GSOLE were important, too, in a nascent scenario where we were all making it up as we went along (with a map to guide us that required a number of recalculations). It's difficult to imagine a world without Michael in it--a kind, generous human being who happened to be a stellar scholar, too. GSOLE was lucky to have him. He is greatly missed.

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First, read what Beth wrote: As usual, she captures much of what I want to say perfectly, especially about GSOLE. I met Michael in 2011 when he was assigned development editor for a book project I was working on with Pearson. The project was bumpy, but my interactions with Michael were a pleasure. I still have an email folder “Greer Pearson communications,” and before writing this I spent bittersweet moments reading those scores of emails. Michael was so encouraging—he was a great writing teacher! As I finished those messages, just how competent, smart, and kind Michael was all came rushing back. If we made a word cloud of descriptions of Michael—I think he would have appreciated that!—words like “competent,” “smart,” and “kind” would be massive. He’s sorely missed.--Scott Warnock

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I wouldn't claim to have known Michael well but we shared a very...."interesting"....period re: GSOLE together!! He was inventing/editing ROLE and I was inventing/editing what we then called the Online Literacies Open Resource. We were truly building those planes mid-air! I had many, many conversations by phone and Zoom with Michael as we talked through what our journals could be, should be, shouldn't be!, and, of course, generally how to make the entire world a much better place. His legacy truly lives on in ROLE and in GSOLE as a flourishing organization.

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I only knew Michael through his work, the positive impact of which is impossible to effectively describe here. So instead, I decided to review his editor's note for the very first issue of ROLE, where he outlined the vision for the journal--and by extension, it seems, for GSOLE itself. Some highlights from this editor's note follow, and it's hard not to see how instrumental Michael was in creating the ethos of GSOLE in his capacity as ROLE's founding editor.

It is time to bring together a more inclusive, interdisciplinary conversation around teaching and learning literacy online.

Teacher-research and reflective practice is a foundation of our work.

Above all, we want to provide a venue for new voices to speak and be heard.

These ideals are what attracted many of us to GSOLE, and the feelings of welcome and inclusion I've experienced in this organization resonate through his first introduction to ROLE. As Jason said, his legacy lives on, and he is certainly missed.

Meghan Velez

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I met Michael through Heidi. He was brilliant, thoughtful, and comfortable. He was more than willing to share his wisdom, which was much appreciated. There are certain people you meet in your life that you just feel comfortable around--Michael was that kind of person. He is and will be deeply missed...Craig A. Meyer

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I met Michael through Heidi. He was brilliant, thoughtful, and comfortable. He was more than willing to share his wisdom, which was much appreciated. There are certain people you meet in your life that you just feel comfortable around--Michael was that kind of person. He is and will be deeply missed...Craig A. Meyer

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Although I knew Michael for a very short time, I remember being impressed by his commitment to Online Literacy Instruction and especially to GSOLE, both in his work with Research in Online Literacy Education (ROLE) and on the GSOLE Publications Committee.

Michael worked with Jason Snart and Ashylyn Walden to propose a revision for the GSOLE publications model, one that would shift from a traditional serialized model toward a curated resources hub linked to resources beyond GSOLE’s own publications. The committee’s 2020 proposal stated that the goal of this revisioning was “to help OLI instructors (the majority of the field) by synthesizing research, connecting research explicitly to practice, and providing a curated resources hub that would be more accessible and more useful than anything currently available.”

Not only was Michael advocating for ways to help OLI practitioners gain access to research and scholarship–and to help them apply it to their teaching–but he also wanted to provide more venues for OLI practitioners to publish their own research and scholarship. His truly visionary approach to Online Literacy Instruction will sustain this work for years to come.