--Originally published at Ask the Flipped Learning Network
In this episode Ken joins Sarah Thomas, PhD to discuss her work projects. Sarah is an amazing educator who has done excellent work in flipped and blended learning but the work that I find the most important is her founding of the EduMatch project to help educators connect globally. We talk about her work with that project, her transition from the classroom to spending more time working with educators, listening to podcasts at 3 time speed, sharing on the web, self care and more.
Access the podcast here (play MP3 or access/subscribe via podcasting services)
There were a few audio issues (totally my fault, I am still learning). I tried to edit to make it not sound like we were cutting each other off but audio editing is difficult! Sorry Sarah!
Working on not having so much time between recording and releasing. My comments on not spoiling her “upcoming” talk sends me to guilt-land for taking so long on these productions. If you do get a chance to see Sarah speak, I highly recommend it. I’ve heard so many great comments about her talks. This episode interview was recorded on December 1st, 2018.
If you would like to support The Flipped Learning Network which is a not-for-profit, we have added a full selection below.
About our Guest
All rights reserved, Sarah Thomas.
Sarah-Jane Thomas, PhD is a Regional Technology Coordinator in Prince George’s County Public Schools. Sarah is also a Google Certified Innovator, Google Education Trainer, and founder of the EduMatch project, which promotes connection and collaboration among educators around the world. Through EduMatch, Sarah has published several collaborative and individual books, and serves as President on the Board of Directors for EduMatch Foundation, Inc. Sarah is also on the leadership team of the ISTE Digital Equity PLN, and Affiliate Faculty at Loyola University in Maryland. Sarah is a co-author of the ISTE publication series, Closing the Gap, focusing on digital equity.
Sarah graduated from George Mason University with a doctoral degree in Education, and a concentration in International Education. She also holds a Master’s degree from Howard University in the field of Curriculum and Instruction.
Sarah was designated an ASCD Emerging Leader in 2016, and was named Prince George’s County Public Schools Outstanding Educator Using Technology in 2015. She was named by the National School Board Association as one of the “20 to Watch” in 2015. She was part of the Technical Working Group that refreshed the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Educators in 2016-2017, and in 2017, she received the ISTE “Making IT Happen” Award.
Links from the Show
- EduMatch, Sarah is the founder.
- Sarah on Twitter
- Sarah’s Personal Webpage
- timehop app
- Ben Wilcoff‘s Google Hangout that I mentioned in this episode:
“Project Roundtable: What is the Moral Imperative as Educators to share our work?“ - Official Twitter Education Chat Schedule
Ken’s Take
My favourite quote during this episode is the following. A few years back my friend and colleague Nancy White called me “a connector”. It took me awhile to parse that but I have realized how important it is to me personally to help others make connections. This is one of the key reasons that I love Sarah’s work. I do this small scale, she does this as she does many things, with style and high energy:
“At that point I was just like, wait a minute, is there something that will like do this for people?” – Sarah Thomas.
(at the 3:39 time point in the podcast)
Support the Show and the FLN
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Transcript
I’ve been personally negligent in not pursuing an option to improve accessibility with transcripts of the show. I see the work that Bonni Stachowiak has done with her “Teaching in Higher Ed” podcast as well as the work of Deepak Shenoy on his podcast “Open Education Rising”. The trick here is cost and I don’t know the solution just yet. Producing about 90 minutes of podcasts per month would require about USD$100 per month. We would love to have a sponsor for that or perhaps link that as one of our goals on our Patreon Page.
Podcasters and Guests
We now have a stable crew of two podcast hosts with Matthew Moore and myself Ken Bauer alternating episodes. Lately Matthew has been busy with his own podcast “The Teachers Lounge” which is also hosted here at the Flipped Learning Network. You should check out that podcast as well. I hope to personally keep a bi-weekly schedule going forward.
If you would like to join us as a guest on the podcast or would like to suggest someone to be a guest, please contact either Matthew or myself via Twitter.
I would also like to remind everyone that anyone contributing to the community that is the Flipped Learning Network actually *is* part of the Flipped Learning Network. We are a community and grow together by pooling our resources. See how you can contribute to this community through contributing blog posts, joining us on this podcast as well as participating in our Slack community.
Music Credit
The music (titled Aloft) clip at the start and end of the podcast is copyright by Kelly Walsh and used with permission.
Podcast Logo Credit
The image of a microphone used in the logo for our podcast is courtesy of Eric Harvey.
