Dr. Kara McBride

Dr. Kara McBride is an expert in teacher training, curriculum design, and online and distance learning. Since joining World Learning in 2016, Dr. McBride has worked on a variety of education projects in both face-to-face and distance learning settings. The online teacher training courses and MOOCs that she designed for the U.S. Department of State OPEN program have been completed by more than 25,000 participants from over 100 countries. In her capacity as the headquarters English specialist for QITABI 2, a USAID-funded project in Lebanon that targets literacy, math, and social and emotional learning (SEL), Dr. McBride and her team are working with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to create structured teaching and learning materials for both in-person and distance learning, grades 1-6. Other projects have included curriculum design and training of trainers for Syrian Refugee Kids Can Code in Iraq, developing a Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo, and training teachers in Costa Rica on using technology to teach indigenous languages and cultures. Dr. McBride serves as co-chair for the Education for Development workgroup for the Society for International Development Washington, D.C. chapter (SID-W). Before coming to World Learning, Dr. McBride was a tenured professor in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Cultures at Saint Louis University, where she served as director of both the basic Spanish program and, later, the Spanish MA program. Dr. McBride holds a doctorate degree in second language acquisition and teaching from the University of Arizona, a master’s degree in applied linguistics – TESOL from Indiana University, a master’s degree in Spanish and Latin American studies from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Oregon. Her publications include journal articles and book chapters on online task design, interculturality, and language learning, including her 2018 co-edited book on preparing foreign language teachers, written in Spanish, A enseñar: Una guía práctica para los maestros de idiomas (Let’s Teach! A Practical Guide for Language Teachers). She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Expertise: TESOL; education technology; literacy education; teacher professional development; mixed methods research design