Tonner-Saunders, Sharon

Sharon Tonner-Saunders is lecturer in Education in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law. She joined the University in August 2008 after working for seven years as a primary school teacher, where the last four years were spent teaching ICT to all primary pupils.  During this time, Sharon was awarded the British Council's eTwinning Award for Excellence due to using innovative methods to connect children with their peers around the world. This followed shortly with Sharon becoming a British Council Ambassador where she shares her knowledge and expertise of intercultural learning with educators around the world.  Since 2018, Sharon has led an innovative intercultural project called Voices of the World (VOTW) that uses a range of communication forms (Music, Makaton and Art) to connect learners together to develop their intercultural awareness of others and preserve their linguistic identities.  This project has won eTwinning Quality Labels from countries around Europe, the European eTwinning Quality Label and the prestigious British Council National eTwinning Award for best project in the UK (2019 and 2020).  The success of Sharon's intercultural work has led to her being invited to be the keynote speaker at conferences around the world where she shares her passion for creating educational opportunities that enable young people to be connected with their global peers whilst preserving their identities. In December 2024, she was selected by the British Council in India to be an invited guest speak for their Great India Talks, where she shared her knowledge of using the Performing Arts to enable communication, collaboration and connectivity to universities around the north of India.

Sharon's innovative approaches to using technologies in education has been acknowledged at the University where she has been awarded:

• DUSA Student-led Teaching Award: Accessible Education - 2024
• University of Dundee Difference Award: Inspiring Colleague - 2024
• The School of Education and Social Work's Innovation in Teaching Award - Oct 2019
• CASS Award for Professional and Public Research Graduates - Jan 2012
• DUSA Innovation in Teaching Award - May 2011
• Honorary Graduates Award for Innovative Teaching - May 2010

Her work is also recognised by students where in the past two years she has been nominated for a range of student-led teaching awards with the most recent being The Student Teaching Award in 2025 and previously the Innovation in Teaching in 2024.

Sharon's innovative and forward-thinking approach to using technologies has also been acknowledge by a wider community where she was awarded the prestigious titles of:

• Apple Distinguished Educator - Jan 2011
• SMART Exemplary Educator - March 2011

Sharon is also a trained Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Ambassador, where she delivers workshops pertaining to protecting young people online.

Sharon's work evolves mainly around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 which states that:

4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

Sharon undertakes extensive scholarship work with local and global schools and has developed strong partnerships with external organisations, with her recent scholarship work being:

• British Council Learning Sectors F1 in collaboration with British Council UK and India and primary schools in UK and India.
• School Tasking in collaboration with Dundee primary schools, University of Dundee student primary teachers, V&A Dundee and Warwick University.
• STEM Racing in collaboration with STEM Racing and University of Dundee student primary teachers.
• Voices of the World in collaboration with 30 schools from around the world.

She has also been part of the MA (Hons) and PGDE management teams since 2008 through her roles as Assessment Convener, Professional Practice Convener and Recruitment Convener. 

Sharon's current teaching remit is:

• Intercultural Learning
• Makaton
• Digital Literacies - AI Literacy, Digital Skills and Online Safeguarding
• Digital Pedagogies - Assessment, Collaborative Learning, IWBs, Online Platforms and Responsive Digital Applications
• Digital Technologies -  Assisstive Technologies, Augmented Reality, Coding, ICT in Early Years, Moving Image Education/ Stop Motion Animation, Podcasting/ Radio Shows, Talking Avatars, QR Codes and Scavenger Hunts.
• Music 
• Theories of Learning - Memory and Information Processing
• Pedagogies - Motivation, Relationships and Classroom Management & Organisation

At University she has also taught:

• Programming
• Digital Mapping
• ePortfolios
• Social Media Tools

One of her research interests stems from the United Nations SDG 4 (Education) where she has an interest in how intercultural learning can be successfully implemented into higher education.  She is also interested in:

• preserving linguistic identities
• breaking down communication barriers using music and Makaton
• effective digital pedagogies including the use of AI in education
• psychosocial enablers and barriers to learning.