Instructors
Kas is the current Teacher in Residence at the KCI. She is in charge of curriculum development, course management, and instruction. She is also the Director of the KCI’s Makerspace and Makerspace programs. Kas has long been a KCI affiliate, being a 2012 MERIT Fellow, the miniMERIT Program Director for several years, and a guest instructor in many programs. Most recently, she has been an adjunct faculty member for Foothill and a Lead Maker in the KCI’s Makerspace before stepping into her current role.
Kas comes to the KCI from a background of sixteen years teaching high school, the last twelve in the East Side Union High School District in San Jose. As a teacher of Film, Media, and English, she has run the Yearbook along with a daily broadcast television show for several years. Kas has also served as the WASC Coordinator, the Professional Development Coordinator, and a Department Chair at her school site. Most recently, she was one of the co-founders and the Director of the Quicksilver Innovation Program (QuIP), a small learning community for freshmen and sophomores that focuses on cross-curricular and project-based learning. Kas has a B.A. in Literature from UC Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Educational Best Practices and an M.A. in Educational Leadership from San Jose State University, as well as an administrative credential, and a single subject teaching credential in English with a supplementary authorization in Graphic Arts.
Dedicated and student-focused educational professional with over 11 years of teaching experience in post-secondary classrooms. Committed to consistently refining pedagogy and teaching tools that reflect cultural sensitivity and an integrated learning approach that is appropriate for students being served. Proficient at utilizing technology, manipulatives, and laboratories to supplement traditional learning and support student-centered instruction. Talent for empowering students to achieve their educational goals and to support training and resources needed for students to thrive. Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to maintain strong relationships with students and faculty.
- Extensive experience teaching post-secondary students Engineering, Mathematics and tool based courses. Skilled at teaching traditional, online, blended, flipped, and emporium style classrooms.
- Built curriculums that provided professional development programs for middle and high school teachers. Developed framework and timelines for blended learning. Served on both the blended and traditional learning faculty teams to establish fidelity and quality control.
Martin Ricardo Cisneros (@TheTechProfe) is a Modern Learning Advisor, speaker, GeekDad, TechJedi, SuperMariachi and a Director of Technology, from Silicon Valley! At his current position, he provides strategic leadership in anticipating and developing appropriate and innovative systems to future needs and challenges regarding the District’s information technology program and blended learning in the workplace and classroom.
Rachel Freed is a co-founder and the President of the Institute for Student Astronomical Research (InStAR), as well as a seminar instructor, with a mission to incorporate true scientific research into secondary and undergraduate education. She is a co-author on over 20 published papers with students and educators from around the United States. Rachel helps to coordinate international conferences around the use of telescopes in education and is currently working on a PhD in astronomy education. She is also a faculty lecturer in the School of Education at Sonoma State University. She has a B.S. degree in Biology from UC Davis and an M.S. in Neuroscience from Northwestern University, where she studied neural transmission using confocal microscopy and electrophysiology.
Rachel taught high school chemistry and astronomy for 10 years, and has conducted research on chemistry education, helping to design, build and evaluate an online formative assessment system for high school chemistry. She is involved in curriculum design and implementation and trains educators in the use of technology and remote telescopes for research. She has been an amateur astronomer for over 20 years and is involved in public outreach. Rachel is a public speaker with a focus on bringing telescopes to students around the globe as well as promoting changes in education that build on a student’s intrinsic motivations and interests.
I have been an educator for over 30 years. I have experience teaching elementary, middle and high school, here in California and also in bilingual schools in Honduras and Mexico City. Currently I teach social studies and P.E. at Renaissance Academy middle school in east San Jose, where I am also the varsity volleyball coach. I graduated from the MERIT program in 2013 and have been a trainer for the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) since 2016. I live in Santa Cruz, and love cycling, yoga, and walks on the beach.
Rushton Hurley has worked and studied on three continents as a Japanese language teacher, school principal, teacher trainer, and inspirational speaker. He founded and directs the educational nonprofit Next Vista for Learning, which houses a free library of creative educational videos at NextVista.org, and holds masters degrees in Education and East Asian Studies from Stanford University.
The author of three books, Rushton’s fun and thoughtful talks center on inspiration and creativity, technology and leadership, avenues for engaging learning, the power of digital media and tools for collaboration, and personal and professional perspectives in a technology-infused, ever-changing world.
Rushton loves to travel, makes occasionally successful attempts to take a good picture, cleans up after his cats, and considers himself to have married up.
