About

I am a multilingual educator and researcher with over 15 years of experience in K–12 education and 5 years at the college level, teaching across the United States and Latin America. My expertise includes second language acquisition, instructional technology, and cross-cultural pedagogy.

Education

• Doctorate in Education and Research (Ed.D.), in progress
  Dissertation: Integration of multimodal artificial intelligence in bilingual education and digital literacy to support academic and economic mobility in adult learners
• Master of Education in Applied Linguistics and Higher Education, Universidad de Jaén, Spain
• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Teaching for Language Acquisition, Harvard University
• Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and Advertising, UDI Panamá

Certifications

• Florida Department of Education – Certified Educator
• Cervantes Institute Certification, Spain
• College Board – AP Spanish Reader & Table Leader

Professional Experience

Higher and Secondary Education:

• St. Petersburg College
• Moore Marine College
• Shorecrest Preparatory School
• Florida Virtual School
• Clearwater Central Catholic School

Courses taught include:

• Spanish I-IV, AP Spanish Language and Culture
• ESL Writing 5 & Speaking, Listening & Critical thinking 4
• Conversational Spanish I–IV

Governmental & International Work

• Managed OAS-funded development projects with the Ministry of the Presidency of Panamá, serving national and indigenous communities

Author

• Published under the pen name Nayka Barrios Jaén
• Author of bilingual readers and novels for CEFR levels A1–C1

Professional Memberships

• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
• American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP)
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

My commitment to global engagement is reflected in ongoing academic collaborations and regular travel between the United States, Panamá, and Spain.