Opening Plenary, ETSA18 Mitchell House, Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa

Board Member BIO

Karen, known as K2, is the co-founder of the NPO EdTech Global Africa (ETGA) and the annual EdTech Summit Africa (ETSA) conferences. She currently serves as a senior Professional Development facilitator and Coordinator of International Professional Development working in U.S. schools and with international teacher and leadership groups for the Center for Technology and School Change at Teachers College, Columbia University., in the city of New York. Her job is focused on STEM/STEAM integration, technology implementation, and innovative teaching and learning strategies, K2 has over twenty years experience teaching and providing professional development opportunities in a variety of learning environments, both formal and informal, and in a variety of areas (e.g. STEM project development, curriculum design, technology implementation, leadership). She employs her engineering background working with educators to develop authentic STEM learning experiences that seek to empower teachers and engage learners with creative technology strategies. Karen has worked with students, teachers and education leaders in the U.S., Sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti, and Bangladesh. Her professional development interests lie largely in working with underserved and under-resourced populations designing strategies aimed at building technology capacity, teacher confidence, and an agility for creative integration into context and practice.  In 2013 Karen co-founded the free annual edtech conference EdTech Summit Africa (www.edtechsummitafrica.com), now in it’s seventh year.

A filmmaker, music video producer and audio engineer/producer interested in creative digital and technical arts, Karen is passionate about helping schools and organizations create a culture receptive to implementing technology for creative teaching and learning. Karen has worked with schools to launch coding, robotics, makerspace and visual design programs. She has a BA in Broadcast Engineering from San Francisco State University and she completed her MA in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University. Karen is now pursuing her doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University in Adult Learning and Leadership with a focus on professional development and technology integration.