Today is the day.
This has been in the making for nearly a year and a half, and the day has finally come to where I will be actually doing something that has been a lifelong bucket list item for me. All of the planning, coordinating, and working towards this time is finally here.
I am going to be heading down to Australia and New Zealand to teach, research, and speak at industry events.
I couldn’t be more excited. This has been something on my list of things to do for years. To have the opportunity to do this and be able to learn from some incredible scholars, professionals, and students – wow.
As I have mentioned in previous posts and exchanges with friends, students, and colleagues, I will be spending nearly a month down in Australia (and New Zealand!).
You may be saying – Karen! A month is a huge amount of time to be down there! You’re going to have a lot of free time!
Actually, my schedule is pretty jammed packed, which is fantastic! I will literally be hitting the ground running (hopefully with coffee in hand) when I land in Australia.
What all will I be doing? Here are just some of the list of things I will be working on while down in Australia:
Research and guest talks. I am thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to work with Karen Sutherland, who is one of the leading scholars, researchers, and professionals in social media.
Karen’s done amazing work, and she’s the one who has helped start the new social media program down at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), which will be launching in a few weeks. I’ll be able to see this in person and I am so excited! We will be working on a few talks together and a few research projects.
I am also looking forward to meeting all of the colleagues and students at USC.
Invited talks at three universities. Along with USC, I will be doing talks and meeting colleagues at two other universities. I am excited to finally meet with Dan Laufer (Victoria Business School in Wellington) and Lisa Tam (QUT in Brisbane). Super excited to chat with you all!
Industry talks. I have been asked to do an industry talk with Adobe in Melbourne during the time while I am in Australia. As you all know, I am a HUGE fan of all of the work Adobe has been doing and I just was accepted in their Adobe Educators Leaders (AEL) program. This will be a presentation for Australian higher education professionals and educators, and I am thrilled to be asked to do this. Stay tuned for more on this and what I’ll be discussing at this event!
Why is it important to document and work on all of these professional activities? This is the nature of what the sabbatical is for – is to not just have “time off” to do whatever, but be able to work on projects and partake in experiences you would not have had the opportunity to do so otherwise.
I want this experience to help create and foster impactful experiences.
This is the ultimate goal here to be able to create experiences that are impactful for not just for me, but for those who I am able to help and support in a variety of projects. In addition, my goal is to use this experience as a jumping off point to continue the discussions, lessons learned, and insights gathered to bring back into my classes and work in the US. At the end of my sabbatical, I have to show UofL what I was able to accomplish during this time and what was gained from the experience.
Sharing #FrebergSabbatical
You may be asking:
Karen – you will be doing all of this work, what will you be doing to share your experience?
Well, that’s a good question and I have given this a lot of thought. I want to document this experience like I have done in my previous travel adventures. I will continue to write and work on my blogs – but that’s just the beginning. I am planning on doing some video recaps with the hashtag #FrebergSabbatical and share them across my different channels. I’ll be utilizing of course Adobe Premiere Rush to share these (best tool!).
If there is anything you all would like to see from my experience – please let me know!
Well, it’s time to get ready and prepared for this 15+ hour flight down to Australia! See you all soon!
Best Wishes,
