Visiting US-UK Fulbright Commission scholar - Shana Ferguson
My name is Shana Ferguson, and I am the teacher librarian at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Washington. I have received a Distinguished Award in Teaching from the US-UK Fulbright Commission to support an independent project that is supervised by Professor Judy Robertson at the Centre for Research in Digital Education. I joined the Centre in January 2019 and have so far enjoyed learning more about Judy and her team’s work to support digital learning in schools.
The Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program was launched in 2009 to provide K-12 teachers with the opportunity to take a leave of absence from regular teaching duties to do practical research abroad. The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. I am one of 38 teachers in the United States awarded this grant for 2018/2019.
I have over twenty years of teaching experience with a master’s degree in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Library Media Education from Portland State University. In addition to teaching and managing my school’s library program, I serve on state and district digital leadership committees and am a member of a Washington Library Association cohort that facilitates training for other teacher librarians.
Working closely with secondary teachers in the Edinburgh area, l plan to design and publish social media literacy lessons to support digital literacy efforts in Scotland and the United States. My plan over the next 2 months is to study how evolving technologies shift the way students consume, create and analyze information as they participate in the global community. I hope this project will empower young users of technology and help teachers adapt to the continually shifting digital education landscape.
This project closely aligns with the goals of my school’s International Baccalaureate college and career programs. I am thankful for the support of my Principal and the entire staff of my school as I take a leave of absence from January – March 2019 to complete this project.
Get in touch: shana.ferguson@vansd.org