Sara Schoen2015 Rising Alumni
Sara Schoen’s passion is to make Online learning accessible, interactive and relevant to learners from highly diverse backgrounds. As an instructional designer within CEHD’s Office of Information Technology she serves as a consultant and information resource for instructors seeking to effectively transfer course content to Online and hybrid learning platforms in clear and imaginative ways. She is dedicated to enabling University faculty to become increasingly comfortable with engaging Online teaching in creative ways that reveal the dynamics of their disciplines. By bridging pedagogical best practices within a multicultural context and integrating them within a distance-learning platform, Sara’s M.A. project examined ways to apply equity pedagogy across various content disciplines while maximizing technology as an effective teaching tool.
Employer
Instructional Designer
University of Minnesota, CEHD Academic Technology Support Services
CEHD Degree
M.A., Multicultural College Teaching and Learning
What professor(s) or course(s) were most influential during your time in the College of Education & Human Development (CEHD)?
Susan Staats Action Research really helped me touch base with a variety of people, places and jobs I was potentially interested in pursuing. Irene Duranczyk (my advisor) was instrumental in guiding me through my final capstone project and in hooking me up with presentation and publication opportunities.
What was the impact and benefit of your educational experience in CEHD?
I remembered how much I love formal learning. I also have a new job thanks to my M.A.
What gets you excited about work?
Always doing something new. I get to learn a little about a lot of things.
What's a good book you'd recommend to others?
The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
Who has inspired you the most during your career?
Jean Stilwell and Jim Swearingen (former teacher colleagues) in that they always brought it back to the students by asking... what are we doing for our students or how is this helping our students?
How do others describe you? How do you describe yourself?
Energetic, outgoing, extroverted…and one friend said if she had to put together an army from her friends, she'd want me leading the charge (as I can rally people together).
When you have 30 minutes of free time, what do you do?
Read, watch Netflix, garden, play with my 4 cats, and during the winter play broom ball (or basketball).
What's a "fun fact" about you?
I used to play on a women's full contact semi-pro football team (with real football pads and helmet and everything).