Karen Franker
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Stout
140E Voc Rehab Bldg
Menomonie, WI 54751
Phone: (319) 665-6171
E-mail: frankerk@uwstout.edu
Karen Franker teaches Inspiration and Kidspiration: Strategies to Build Study Skills and Comprehension.
Karen Franker has been a school library media specialist since 1978. She has a B.A. in French and a Master's in Library Science from the University of Iowa.
Her professional library career began at Keokuk Senior High School in Keokuk, Iowa, and continued in Iowa City, Iowa with the Iowa City Community School District from 1984 to the present.
She is currently the library media specialist at the new James Van Allen Elementary School in North Liberty, Iowa, which opened in the fall of 2005.
In 1992-93 she served as the first technology staff development facilitator for the Iowa City Schools. She has taken graduate-level professional development courses from Drake University and the University of Northern Iowa.
While working as a library media specialist Karen has developed a strong interest in using technology to facilitate instruction. Out of her dissatisfaction with "one-shot" technology workshops she created a peer mentoring program at Longfellow Elementary that was later adopted as a model for the Iowa City School District technology staff development program. Longfellow was selected as an Apple Distinguished School for innovation in technology use and participated in a pilot program using thirty-two Apple eMate portable computers.
Karen developed Longfellow School's Web site, and served as its Webmaster for six years. She is currently the Webmaster for James Van Allen Elementary School. She has been an active member of the Iowa City School District's Technology Council for over fifteen years, with service on staff development and district technology plan subcommittees.
Karen has taught numerous technology workshops and presented at conferences. She was selected to chair the Elementary Library Media Specialist Expert Panel for the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Project. This three-year project seeks to gather opinions from technology experts around the United States to help determine the critical skills that today's teachers need to use technology effectively in their classrooms.
She is fully convinced that online learning is fun and effective. Karen says, "I find the World Wide Web to be an incredible resource, and I confess to being an avid Web surfer! Online courses have been a wonderful way for me to share ideas with other educators and to update my knowledge."
In her spare time Karen enjoys hiking, biking and travel. She has most recently visited the spectacular central Oregon coast.
E-mail your comments or questions to Karen.