As the Kentucky Derby comes into town, it’s a time of not only excitement, but reflection over the past few months.
It’s been fun to see my fellow colleagues and friends share their presentations from their classes and discuss final exam preparations. It marks the end of the spring semester, and my sabbatical to some degree.
The past four months have been some of the best professional and personal experiences I’ve had as a professor at the University of Louisville. It has certainly been jammed packed (several of my friends have joked with me on how I may need to take a sabbatical to recover from my sabbatical!).
This was the goal I had when I was planning out my sabbatical for this semester. I didn’t want to just take a sabbatical or break from teaching. I wanted to take a sabbatical that could help me become a modern day educator and researcher in the social media space.
What does this exactly mean? Let me show you:
Embracing what it means to be a modern day educator. Most of the time, sabbaticals are used to do research projects or work on presentations at various universities. However, I wanted to make sure to do activities that fulfilled new qualities that are expected by others for educators to have.
I actually presented on this very topic related to educator influencers a few weeks ago in St. Louis. My goal was do showcase a new model of how educators need to be evaluated beyond research, teaching, and service. I added the components on consulting, personal branding, speaking engagements, and community.
How did I do this past semester on these tasks? I was able to:
- Was an invited speaker at several schools and programs
- Spoke at two sessions at MDMC
- Participated in Adobe Insiders at Adobe Summit
- Invited as an Invited Speaker for the Adobe Creative Campus event in Melbourne
- Worked on finalizing details for the Cannes Lions Educator Summit
- Worked with Brian Solis on creating his Lifescale University certification (ongoing)
- Collaborating with a *new* certification and educator/student program for one of the largest global brands in the social media business (stay tuned!!).
Think of creating impactful and purposeful learning and professional experiences. This summarizes my time in Australia and New Zealand. This month was so amazing to learn, grow, and contribute. I am forever grateful to Karen, Lisa and Dan for continued support, help, and kindness.
You still have to do the traditional work. Even with the modern day approach to a sabbatical, you still have to show you have done something with the time off. That’s still important. I had to report on this back to Louisville on what I was able to do that fulfilled the traditional expectations of this time off.
Here’s what I was able to report back to UofL:
- Submit five research papers in for publication
- Working on several book chapters with collaborators
- Published two solo book chapters
You may be thinking – what are some things I need to consider when applying or even planning your sabbatical? There are definitely some lessons and best practices I’d like to share.
Plan, plan, and plan! You got to make sure to plan ahead of time. I knew when I was going to be able to go on my sabbatical, but I wanted to make sure I was able to do what I could to achieve my goals for the time off.
I knew I wanted to learn from Karen Sutherland and the great work she was doing in Australia teaching and practicing social media. I reached out to her in Fall 2017, and I had my sabbatical in Spring 2019. This gives you an idea of the time you need to get everything in order.
With that being said, be open to additional plans and even having to go to Plan B, C, or D if things don’t work out. Be flexible and have room to move things around or take on new projects/opportunities as they come up.
Document details of your sabbatical for your report. I had to submit a report to UofL on what I was able to do for my sabbatical. What I realized – after asking many of my friends who are also on their sabbatical – there is no standard report form or details of what needs to go into a sabbatical report.
Here are some details I included in my report:
- A cover letter outlining the highlights of my sabbatical (takeaways, deliverables, etc)
- Updated CV to reflect the additions made by the work for the sabbatical (bold and noted)
- Letters from hosts of my work and presentations (3)
- A detailed event and activities calendar (I outlined what I did each day during my sabbatical)
- Evidence of work (ex. submitted manuscripts, manuscript decisions, presentation invitations, etc)
Set clear boundaries. You are on your sabbatical, and you need time away from campus. Some colleagues still went to their office for meetings, work, etc. Me? Since December 2018, I have been on campus once. I was of course available via phone, email, Zoom, etc – but I made a promise to myself to not go on campus at all during the time I was off.
Document and create. I’m all about branding and sharing what I am experiencing, so that’s why I created the #FrebergSabbatical hashtag. This was one way for me to not only organize my content from my sabbatical as documentation for my report, but also for my friends and family to follow what I was doing for these past few months.
Educate others about sabbaticals. I had a lot of people say to me – Karen, this means you have a lot of time off to relax on your sabbatical. Honesty, I think I’ve actually been busier on my sabbatical than any other time!
Create a support group of fellow friends on sabbatical. Reach out to others to see what they have done for their sabbatical to generate some ideas for what you can do. Ask each other questions on what has worked, what are things you are looking to do, and any challenges as well. I had several friends who did their sabbatical this term and we were able to discuss all about what we were experiencing, thinking, and sharing resources. This community was super helpful for me!
Summary
These past few months being part of #FrebergSabbatical have been super rewarding and I can’t wait to bring back all of the things I have learned, people I have connected, and insights gathered in my classes.
However, while the spring semester is over, the summer is here and it’s looking like it’s going to be as productive as this past spring. That’s how I like things to be!
Stay tuned for more updates!
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
