Career Goals

My name is Jóhanna Birna Bjartmarsdóttir, and I'm an international online student from Iceland. I'm majoring in Education Science, minoring in Health Promotion, and dual specializing in Educational Psychology and Research, and Educational Technology at the University of Florida to become a curriculum developer and instructional designer.

 

Moreover, I'm the founder and owner of the Icelandic company HARTS, which stands for Health, Access, Research, Technology, and Schools. The company works to promote health and access in Iceland by using research and technology in schools and is currently working towards designing the first world-class online course in the Icelandic higher education system and creating a comprehensive health literacy curriculum for K-12 that enables students to make informed decisions, lead healthy lives, and overcome adversities. I'm also the host of the podcast My Atypical Life, where I advocate and educate people about autism, dyslexia, ADHD, the effects of trauma, and how to overcome obstacles.

 

The health literacy curriculum that I aim to create would be a comprehensive curriculum that teaches students about nutrition, mental and physical health promotion, CPR training, coping strategies, and communication. I’m currently conducting a scoping review of mental health literacy curricula in K-12 education as my university scholars project at UF. In the future, I will be conducting similar reviews of the other aspects in the health literacy curriculum, before finally doing a complete review of health literacy curricula in K-12 education. After that, I aim to create the curriculum, do a pilot study, and eventually implement it into the K-12 Icelandic education system.

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My high honors project at UF will be creating the first world-class online course at a university in Iceland to promote accessibility to higher education for all students, but especially those who have been underrepresented in the academic community, such as students with learning disabilities and other disabilities. As a student with multiple learning disabilities, the online education platform at UF has allowed me to pursue my dreams of becoming a curriculum developer and instructional designer, so I feel a responsibility to ensure that others like me in Iceland also have access to the online learning environment I have access to, so my final project at UF will be the first step to the direction of Iceland offering accessible online higher education for all. 

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Furthermore, I plan to be the role model I never had for students with dyslexia, ADHD, or autism and to be a visible representation for students like me by showing that individuals with learning disabilities do belong and can excel in higher academia. Not only do I want to be a role model for these kids, but I want to help implement more inclusive environments and tools for these students into the Icelandic, and hopefully the universal, education system one day.