Biography

Kara Sage joined Fielding Graduate University as an adjunct faculty member in 2021. She received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Oregon in 2012, where she examined digital and social learning across infancy, childhood, and adulthood. She also received a master's degree in educational psychology from the University of Washington in 2008, where she focused on human development and cognition alongside conducting research with families of children with autism spectrum disorder. She has extensive experience in higher education, having taught psychology courses at several institutions for over 10 years. She also has a passion for online education and the distributed learning environment, which has reflected itself in both her teaching and research. Her current research has focused most heavily on the effectiveness of different technologies for college students' learning in addition to the underlying factors that contribute to that effectiveness. She has published extensively in primarily educational technology journals and often offers her knowledge to colleagues on topics pertaining to technology in education.

Dr. Sage has 3 young children, which provide many useful examples in her developmental psychology courses. Her own experiences raising children have deepened her passion for focusing on developmental psychology from an applied lens and emphasizing the interconnectedness of many life factors. Outside of her role as educator and parent, she also enjoys cooking, playing board games, and sipping on pour-over coffee.

Areas of Expertise (4)

Educational Psychology

Digital Learning

Child and Infant Development

Social Learning

Education (4)

University of Oregon: Ph.D., Developmental Psychology 2012

Dissertation title: Attending to action at your own pace: Benefits for knowledge acquisition?

University of Oregon: M.S., Developmental Psychology 2009

Thesis title: The effect of pedagogy on infants’ ability to understand and use tools

University of Washington: M.Ed., Educational Psychology 2008

Concentration: Human Development & Cognition Thesis title: Beliefs and experiences of disability in young children who have siblings with autism: Pictorial and narrative representations

University of Washington: B.A. Summa Cum Laude, Psychology & Sociology 2007

Articles (8)

Equal in effectiveness but not yet perception: Smartphones and laptops for completing brief academic tasks.

(under review)

Sage, K., Jackson, S., Mauer, L., & Stockdale, K. (under review). Equal in effectiveness but not yet perception: Smartphones and laptops for completing brief academic tasks.

Entries for: Zone of Proximal Development, Ability Grouping, Groupwork.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Psychology in the Real World, Education

Sage, K. (in press). Entries for: Zone of Proximal Development, Ability Grouping, Groupwork. Routledge Encyclopedia of Psychology in the Real World, Education (R. Gurung, Ed.).

The virtual COVID-19 classroom: Surveying outcomes, individual differences, and technology use in college students.

(2021) Smart Learning Environments

Sage, K., Jackson, S., Fox, E., & Mauer, L. (2021). The virtual COVID-19 classroom: Surveying outcomes, individual differences, and technology use in college students. Smart Learning Environments, 8(27), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-021-00174-7

Flip it or click it: Equivalent learning of vocabulary from paper, laptop, and smartphone flashcards.

(2020) Journal of Educational Technology Systems

Sage, K., Piazzini, M., Downey, J., & Ewing, S. (2020). Flip it or click it: Equivalent learning of vocabulary from paper, laptop, and smartphone flashcards. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 49(2), 145-169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239520943647

Reading from print, laptop computer and ereader: Differences and similarities for college students’ learning.

(2020) Journal of Research on Technology in Education

Sage, K., Piazzini, M., Downey, J., & Masilela, L. (2020). Reading from print, laptop computer and ereader: Differences and similarities for college students’ learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 52(4), 441-460. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1713264

Print, computer, and tablet: Equivalent learning in the digital age.

(2019) Education and Information Technologies

Sage, K., Augustine, H., Shand, H., Bakner, K., & Rayne, S. (2019). Print, computer, and tablet: Equivalent learning in the digital age. Education and Information Technologies, 24(4), 2477-2502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-09887-2

Flip, slide, or swipe? Learning outcomes from paper, computer, and tablet flashcards.

(2019) Technology, Knowledge, and Learning

Sage, K., Krebs, B., & Grove, R. (2019). Flip, slide, or swipe? Learning outcomes from paper, computer, and tablet flashcards. Technology, Knowledge, and Learning, 24(3), 461-482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-017-9345-9

Moving reading and studying to the screen: A discussion of e-books and online study tools.

(2018) The Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning

Sage, K. (2018). Moving reading and studying to the screen: A discussion of e-books and online study tools. Chapter 20 in R. J. Harnish, K. R. Bridges, D. N. Sattler, M. L. Signorella, & M Munson (Eds.). The Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology website: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/