As Generative AI (GenAI) rapidly reshapes industries and knowledge work, educational institutions face a critical question: should students be trained to use AI, or empowered to help build and define its role in society? At Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU, a new model is emerging, one that positions students not just as learners but as active contributors to the evolving AI ecosystem.

In this conversation, Kellie Kreiser and Euvin Naidoo discuss a series of initiatives that bring this philosophy to life. These include a recent AI conference and hackathon where students used AI tools to rapidly develop case studies in high-stakes contexts; the Principled Innovation for Global AI Fellows program, where students collaborate with faculty on research into the ethical and practical dimensions of AI; and student-led workshops that teach peers how to integrate AI into their career development processes.

Looking ahead, they also introduce the concept of an “AI Hatchery,” a model that connects students with real-world AI projects, providing training, tools, and opportunities to build solutions with real impact. The discussion will also focus on the Thunderbird Case Lab, its newly released Global AI Case Collection announced at the annual Thunderbird AI Case Conference, and the planned new immersions for global educators on “Teaching with AI”.  Together, these efforts reflect a broader shift: from teaching AI as a subject to embedding it as a participatory, practice-based experience. This conversation explores what it means to design learning environments where students are not just prepared for the future, but are actively shaping it.

About our guests:

Kellie Kreiser

Kellie Kreiser is Executive Director of Global Impact and AI at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. She leads initiatives that integrate artificial intelligence into global education, workforce development, and social impact programs. Over nearly two decades at Thunderbird, she has designed and scaled programs that have reached more than 285,000 learners across 180+ countries, often in partnership with organizations such as Goldman Sachs, the U.S. Department of State, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Her work focuses on building platforms and partnerships that expand access to entrepreneurship, education, and opportunity worldwide. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Arizona State University, where her research explores the intersection of AI, creativity, and emerging technology adoption.

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelliekreiser/

Euvin Naidoo

Euvin Naidoo is Distinguished Professor of Practice in Global Accounting, Risk and Agility at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He teaches financial reporting and controls (Accounting) and leads one of the school’s flagship programs on artificial intelligence and the future of work. He also serves as Chairman of Thunderbird’s Curriculum and Learning Outcomes Committee (CLOC) and directs the award-winning Thunderbird Case Series and Lab, which, under his leadership, has been ranked Top 10 in the US and Top 20 globally for the past three years in a row.

Prior to joining Thunderbird, Euvin served on the full-time faculty at Harvard Business School, his alma mater, where he pioneered the school’s first Agile Short Intensive Programs focused on best practices for enterprise-wide agile transformations. A global consulting and banking veteran, Naidoo brings deep industry experience to shape programs—he was previously a Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group, co-leading banking, insurance, and public sector practices across Africa, and served on the senior leadership team at Barclays Africa as Head of Strategy, supporting and helping manage a 10+ country banking ecosystem across retail, business, investment and private banking.

In 2024, Prof. Naidoo received the global award from the UK’s Case Centre for Outstanding Professor for Case Teaching, recognizing the world’s most innovative management and business school professors in the classroom. In 2025, he was recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the Top 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors globally.

Selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, he has served two terms on the WEF's US Global Agenda Council focused on supporting US competitiveness across education, energy, and digital innovation, and most recently on the WEF's Global Future Council on the Future of Job Creation, examining the impact of AI and other frontier technologies across sectors.

• https://poetsandquants.com/2025/12/21/the-50-best-undergraduate-business-school-professors-of-2025/
• https://www.weforum.org/people/euvin-naidoo/
• https://www.ted.com/speakers/euvin_naidoo
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/euvinnaidoo/

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In addition, Punya brilliantly posted an additional reflection this past Saturday March 21 on the 6-year journey of Silver Lining for Learning (using some of the data generated by Claude). His blog post was titled, “Six Years, 266 Episodes, and One Persistent Question,” March 21, 2026, by Punya Mishra; https://punyamishra.com/2026/03/21/six-years-264-episodes-and-one-persistent-question/. Notably, SLL has had over 500 guests from 30+ countries and 265 shows during the past 6 years. These shows have generated 2.6 million words.

In Episode #267 of Silver, we continue our journey into Year #7 of Silver Lining for Learning. In particular, we will talk to students and teachers in a secondary school in Jeju Island, Korea about their a week-long educational program called a “Week Without Walls” (WWW).

A Week Without Walls is an annual program which allows students to step out of their traditional student roles in 4-walled classrooms and begin to engage in experiential, hands-on learning. Week Without Walls is one part community service, and one part adventure learning in outdoor learning environments. It is also one part a cultural immersion program which is intended to foster life skills like teamwork and collaboration, empathy and global perspective taking, resilience, self-directed learning, and overall personal growth and perhaps even transformation. Recently, there have been many different locations and environments for students to choose from for their adventures including Chiang Mai, Thailand, Japan, Bali, Indonesia, Italy, etc.

One of the people we will talk with during the hour is Tim Bray. A decade ago, he was Director of EdTech at a school in Incheon, Korea where he established the first Educational Technology Department. From 2020-2022, Tim was the Director of Professional Development at Cheongna Dalton School in the Seo district in Incheon, Korea. In 2022, Tim was an International Principal at Westview Cambodian International School in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Next, he was appointed Founding Principal of American STEM Prep (ASP) Daegu in South Korea where he served from 2022-2024. Currently, Tim Bray is Director of Technology at St. Johnsbury Academy, Jeju Island, Korea. He can be contacted via LinkedIn.

With several students and teachers from St. Johnsbury Academy in Jeju Island, this promises to be a rich and exciting show.

Week Without Walls (WWW): https://weareworldchallenge.com/international/week-without-walls/

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Julie Young is an edupreneur, an educator, innovator, and visionary leader renowned for pioneering virtual, blended, and technology-enhanced learning models. As founding President and CEO of Florida Virtual School in 1997, Young didn't just embrace virtual schooling, she helped create an entire industry. Over 17 years, she transformed FLVS from a startup serving 77 students with a $200,000 grant into the largest state virtual school in the US, reaching over 2 million students globally. Her work established Florida as the epicenter of virtual school innovation and set precedents for digital education that continue shaping the field today.

She went on to serve as a VP at Arizona State University. In that role, she served as CEO and Senior Advisor to ASU Prep Academy, founding ASU Prep Digital and ASU Prep Global. Her north star is and always has been designing learning models that put the student at the center of every decision. Today, she leads Julie Young Education LLC, partnering with and advising organizations on educational innovation and strategic initiatives.

Julie Petersen (Co-Editor) is a freelance writer and editor based in California. As a former nonprofit communications director and journalist, her work has been published by Stanford Social Innovation Review, Harvard Education Press, EdSurge, and Education Next. Julie began her career as a venture capital reporter for Red Herring Magazine, where her print cover story on educational technology was featured in Best Business Stories of the Year. She went on to lead communications at venture philanthropy firm NewSchools Venture Fund. Since 2012, Petersen has written and edited papers, articles, case studies, strategic plans, grant proposals, impact reports, and other publications in partnership with more than 40 education nonprofits, companies, philanthropists, and government agencies. Julie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Kay Johnson (Co-Editor) is a strategic communications leader with over two decades of experience at the intersection of education, policy, and innovation. She has supported national initiatives that shaped the early growth of online learning, including legislative efforts that led to the first statewide virtual school funded through public education dollars. Kay has led executive communications, research, and thought leadership for education organizations across the K–12 and higher education spectrum, including Florida Virtual School. Her work spans policy analysis, internal and external communications, and strategic advising for executive teams. A seasoned ghostwriter and editor, she has contributed to numerous articles, white papers, and books on digital learning and education reform. Kay currently serves as Director of Strategic Communications for ASU Prep Academy, where she supports national partnerships, research, and storytelling that advance future-ready learning models.

• Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America, Pioneer Institute
• Video (2:26): https://pioneerinstitute.org/book/virtual-schools-actual-learning-digital-education-in-america/
• Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America
• Video (2:26): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt_qRCBZBxA&t=68s

“Virtual Schools, Actual Learning helps explain what online learning and schooling have and have not accomplished and lays out a vision for its potential to level the playing field for all kinds of learners.”— Sal Khan, CEO of Khan Academy

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Let's turn to Sandbox Labs for a moment. Sandbox Labs is promoted as a research and innovation team that has a distinct social mission. They are the experimental arm of Sandbox Inc. that initiates “new projects and collaborations with partners around the world to analyze individual and social challenges and conceptualize solutions.” This approach most definitely requires a complex set of multidisciplinary skills for conducting research and associated analyses as well as “developing actionable recommendations,” and, perhaps, most importantly, “designing new learning experiences and human-first, user-focused technology tools.” It is worth noting that publications and research reports emanating out of Sandbox are developed in collaboration with their project partners (which Isaac and Patricia will speak to during the Episode #264 of SLL). These research reports attempt to offer documentation on the process that the teams engaged in as well as the research findings and ensuing recommendations. What we shall discover during this episode is that Sandbox’s ultimate goal is to provide innovative solutions that respond “to the real-world challenges and complex contexts of the people and organizations we support.”

Patricia Mangeol
Patricia Mangeol is the Director of Research and Digital Learning Initiatives at Sandbox Inc., a Canadian agency focused on helping public and nonprofit organizations achieve their education and outreach objectives. She leads the work of Sandbox Labs, the company’s R&D arm, forging partnerships in North America and Europe to leverage research methodologies and technological innovations to advance education and learning. Previously, Patricia led higher education research and policy projects at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and was a policymaker in the Ontario government (Canada). She advised governments in Canada, France, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, and the United States on policies spanning higher education, the labour market, immigration and digital education. Alongside her work at Sandbox, Patricia is conducting doctoral research within the Open University of Catalonia’s Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences on how higher education institutions and leaders respond to AI-driven labour market changes. (Contact via LinkedIn or email).

Sandbox: https://www.sandboxinc.ca/about

https://www.sandboxinc.ca/

Isaac Kwakye

As Deputy Executive Director of the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), Washington State’s higher education agency, Isaac Kwakye champions the advancement of education and economic opportunity across the state. He supports the Executive Director in leading the agency’s management and leadership team, overseeing daily operations, and stewarding critical resources and personnel toward educational success for all Washingtonians. In this capacity, Isaac drives the implementation of WSAC’s strategic education policy agenda, ensuring alignment with the Council’s vision for an equitable and prosperous Washington. His leadership transfers strategic action plans into impactful outcomes while strengthening executive governance to advance the agency’s financial and operational goals. Through this work, Isaac helps position Washingtonians for long-term success by expanding access to high-quality postsecondary pathways and fostering statewide economic mobility. Contact via: LinkedIn or Email.

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After interviews, focus groups, and consultations with over 500 students, teachers, parents, education leaders, and technologists across 50 countries, a close review of over 400 studies, and a Delphi panel, we find that at this point in its trajectory, the risks of utilizing generative AI in children’s education overshadow its benefits. This is largely because the risks of AI differ in nature from its benefits—that is, these risks undermine children’s foundational development—and may prevent the benefits from being realized.

A lot of the risks seemed to come from “wide” AI use that includes unscaffolded open ended discussions students having with frontier model chatbots that occur in and out of school time. In our next episode, we will have a discussion with one of the authors of the report, Dr. Rebecca Winthrop, about the findings and possible future directions of AI in schools.

Rebecca Winthrop is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on education globally, with special attention to the skills young people need to thrive in work, life, and as constructive citizens.

Winthrop works to promote quality and relevant education, including exploring how education innovations and family and community engagement can be harnessed to leapfrog progress, particularly for the most marginalized children and youth. She advises governments, international institutions, foundations, civil society organizations, and corporations on education issues. She currently serves as a board member and adviser for a number of global education organizations and lectures at Georgetown University.

She currently leads the Brookings Global Task Force on AI in Education and co-leads the Family Engagement in Education Network. She has served as the chair of the U.N. Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative’s Technical Advisory Group, helping to frame an education vision that focuses on access, quality, and global citizenship. With UNESCO Institute of Statistics, she co-led the Learning Metrics Task Force that involved inputs from education professionals in over 100 countries to identify how to measure what matters in education systems. She has been a member of numerous other global education initiatives including the G-20 Education Task Force, the Mastercard Foundation’s Youth Learning Advisory Committee, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils on education, and an education adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Prior to joining the Brookings Institution in June 2009, Winthrop spent 15 years working in the field of education for displaced and migrant communities. As the head of education for the International Rescue Committee, she was responsible for the organization’s education work in over 20 conflict-affected countries. She has been actively involved in developing the evidence base around and global attention to education in the developing world. In her prior position, she helped develop global policy for the education in emergencies field, especially around the development of global minimum standards for education in contexts of armed conflict and state fragility.

Winthrop has authored numerous articles, reports, books, and book chapters, including most recently “The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better” with her co-author, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson. She has also authored “Transforming Education Systems: Why, What, and How” with Hon. Minister David Sengeh; “Collaborating to Transform and Improve Education Systems: A Playbook for Family-School Engagement” with Adam Barton, Masha Ershadi, and Lauren Ziegler; “Leapfrogging Inequality: Remaking Education to Help Young People Thrive” with Adam Barton and Eileen McGivney; “Beyond Reopening Schools: How Education Can Emerge Stronger Than Before COVID-19” with Emiliana Vegas; “Addressing Education Inequality with a Next Generation of Community Schools: A Blueprint for Mayors, States, and the Federal Government” with the Brookings Task Force on Next Generation Community Schools; and “The Need for Civic Education in 21st Century Schools.” Her work has been featured in the BBC, ABC News, CNN, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time Ideas, NPR, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Guardian, Bloomberg News, Glamour, and CSPAN, among others.

She was educated at Columbia University Teachers College (Ph.D., 2008); Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (M.A., 2001); and Swarthmore College, (B.A., 1996).

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In this episode, we plan to have a discussion with Bob Greenberg to learn what he has learned from these interviews and what motivated him to carry on a project for so long.

*******

Bob Greenberg has spent 30 years as a public school teacher, 15 years in Stamford, CT and 15 years in Bridgeport, CT. In between he spent 15 years as a full time professional magician working trade shows and hospitality events for corporate clients including IBM, 3M and CIGNA.

The Bridgeport Public Education Fund recognized him as an Outstanding Teacher in 2007. The Connecticut Association of School Librarians honored him with the 2012 Pellerin Classroom Teacher Award, for “collaborating to advance student learning”. His project “Bringing Books to Life” used stop-motion animation and green screen video. He has presented this project at ISTE Philadelphia and CECA Hartford, Tech Forum New York and BLC Boston. He was twice invited to bring his students to Tech Expo in Hartford where they shared their work with the State Legislature and met with the Governor. He also wrote the technology presentation that helped his school become a Lone Pine Award winner.

Bob’s classroom had no walls, his students, known as “The Brainwaves”, had their own class blog where they shared their work and communicated with classes around the world. To prepare his students for the future, where they will live in a global economy, his class participated in global project based learning. Bob’s second and third graders Skyped with students in: Argentina, Canada, Guatemala, New Zealand, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Russia as well as the USA. He helped organize a Global Newspaper with contributions from children from seven countries. He also helped organize a global video project for the International Day of Peace. Drawing on his contacts, he enlisted 26 classes from 18 countries from every continent except Antarctica.

While teaching he posted over 150 student videos SchoolTube. Since retiring in June 2013 he has traveled the country filming the thinkers and doers in Education; including Sir Ken Robinson, Noam Chomsky, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bryer, Herb Kohl, Jonathan Kozol, Linda Darling Hammond, Ken Burns, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Diane Ravitch, Yong Zhao and Jerome Bruner. His YouTube Channel, The Brainwaves Video Anthology, is a growing collection of more than 2,500 five-minute bite sized video lectures from thought leaders at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UCLA, MIT, Stanford and more. It has more than 6 million views in 195 countries.

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In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we explore how 1EdTech Consortium, a nonprofit, neutral, trusted convener, is working at the intersection of interoperability, data, and artificial intelligence to help education systems better serve its learners with technology. The conversation introduces what 1EdTech is, who it convenes, and why shared interoperability standards—such as Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)®, learning analytics frameworks, and competency standards like Competencies and Academic Standard Exchange® (CASE®)—are foundational to a connected digital learning ecosystem. Through concrete examples, the episode shows how interoperability standards reduce complexity for institutions and their technology providers while enabling more consistent, meaningful access to learning data.

Artificial Intelligence is an example of a technology in which context and structure matter if AI is to positively impact teaching and learning. Panelists examine how interoperable data pipelines make it possible to use AI for personalization, analytics, and learner-centered insights—without sacrificing trust, transparency, or human judgment. By highlighting 1EdTech’s emerging work in areas like AI-enabled learning analytics and outcomes tracking, the episode emphasizes the opportunity for institutions and technology providers to collaborate in ways that unlock data for learning and research, while keeping learners and educators firmly at the center.

Readings and Resources:
https://www.1edtech.org/program/labs

https://www.imsglobal.org/resource/AI-Generated_Content_Best_Practices/v1p0

https://www.1edtech.org/workstream/analytics

https://www.1edtech.org/standards/ai-rubric

https://www.1edtech.org/about/hed

Episode Guests

Michael Feldstein is the Chief Strategy Officer of 1EdTech. He helps drive the strategic vision and implementation of an open, trusted and innovative ecosystem of interoperable products and digital credentials by identifying needs and collaboratively developing solutions to increase learning impact with the 1EdTech community. Michael brings more than 30 years of educational technology experience to the organization, most recently as CEO of the Empirical Educator Project, Co-Founder of Argos Education, and Chief Accountability Officer of e-Literate.

Blaine Helmick, Vice President of Software at 1EdTech, is an accomplished education technology product director with career expertise creating innovative products, services, and content that reach new markets, bring solid ROI, and add tangible value. Combine a BA in Information Systems and an MA in Instructional Design to conceptualize enterprise technology solutions and drive successful development teams. Contribute technology and educational industry knowledge and collaborate with cross-functional teams to synthesize solutions and deliver emerging technologies.

Suzanne Carbonaro is the vice president for postsecondary education and workforce programs at 1EdTech. In this role she serves as liaison across the education sector to enable discussion and collaboration that helps to foster the use of interoperability standards across digital ecosystems, and their external applications. Suzanne spent much of her career in higher education as a leader of curriculum and assessment, instruction and student success, institutional effectiveness and planning, and accreditation. Over the last five years, Suzanne served as a subject matter expert for two edtech companies and supported the growth of interoperability standards, strategic planning processes, and the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) across the colleges and universities she served.

Suzanne’s research interests and publications are in the areas of digital credentials and CLR, high-impact practices, co-curricular assessment, and integrated strategic planning. Previously, Suzanne served as Director of Assessment at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Rider University’s College of Education and Human Services. Through her leadership, these institutions were re-accredited and received recognition for their assessment practices, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy 2019 Award for Excellence in Assessment. Suzanne managed New Jersey Department of Education and Janssen Pharmaceuticals grants to advance STEM Education, teacher leadership, recruitment, and retention in NJ public schools. Suzanne currently serves on the Grand Challenges in Assessment, a national collaboration of ten organizations and over 400 higher ed leaders seeking to advance assessment of student learning through discourse, research, and professional learning.

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Chris Foley, Associate Vice President, IU Online, Department: Office of Online Education, cfoley@iu.edu

• Homepage: https://rcoe.iu.edu/about/leadership/foley-chris.html
• Teaching Online at IU: https://teachingonline.iu.edu/about/staff/foley-chris.html
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-foley-7b629619/

Chris J. Foley is associate vice president and director of online education for IU. He leads the development and implementation of online programs across IU’s seven campuses, servicing 30,000 students involved in online education. In addition, he is an adjunct assistant professor of organizational leadership at IU Indianapolis and teaches graduate courses in leadership, organization change and ethics. Foley has served IU for more than 20 years; before his current role, he worked in admissions and enrollment management at both IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis. He has presented and published extensively on enrollment management, marketing and recruitment.

Mark Baer joined the IU Online team in May 2024 as Interim Assistant Vice President for Online Academic Affairs and transitioned to Assistant Vice President of Online Academic Programs in October 2025. In this role, Baer oversees new online program development across Indiana University and leads a team that supports proactive management of existing online and hybrid collaborative programs, including curriculum evolution and assessment support. Since stepping into this leadership position, Baer has expanded collaborative partnerships across an increasingly interconnected university, fostering relationships that enhance program quality and delivery.

Baer is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts with tenure at IU Northwest, bringing a strong faculty perspective to his administrative work. With a robust record of faculty leadership, Baer served as President of the IU Northwest Faculty Organization from 2020 to 2023 and has long contributed to intercampus collaboration through the University Faculty Council and Regional Faculty Caucus. He holds an MFA in Theatre Direction from Illinois State University and a BS in International Business and Theatre from the University of Findlay. More information on Mark can be found at: https://rcoe.iu.edu/about/leadership/baer-mark.html

Whitnie Powell was appointed Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Services in November 2023, following three successful years as the Director of Enrollment Management and Student Services. In her current role, Whitnie leads the Enrollment Management, Online Student Services, Online Undergraduate Advising, Online Graduate Support, and EM&SS Operational Systems teams within IU Online. Together with her team, she collaborates closely with all IU campuses and University Administration units to create a seamless and supportive online student experience, enhance operational efficiencies, drive online enrollment growth, and positively impact student persistence, retention, and completion.

Before joining IU, Whitnie served as the Senior Associate Director for Graduate Studies and Adult Learning at the University of Indianapolis, where she developed and led a centralized recruitment and enrollment team serving graduate, adult, and online students. Her leadership roles also include serving as Enrollment Manager at Indiana Wesleyan University, where she oversaw recruitment, enrollment, and student services for three central Indiana regional campuses. At Chamberlain College of Nursing, Whitnie was the Interim Director of Admissions, where she led the development of recruitment strategy, admissions processes, and student services during the initial startup of the Indianapolis campus.Whitnie's career also includes roles as a high school recruiter, online admissions counselor, online student services coordinator, intake coordinator, and student admissions recruiter.

She earned both her B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in Management from the University of Indianapolis and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a focus on Higher Education Leadership at Indiana State University. Whitnie is actively involved in councils, steering committees, and task forces across IU, representing IU Online. She has earned national recognition for the IU Online Enrollment Management and Student Services model through conference presentations and national association awards, including being honored with the UPCEA 2024 Dorothy Durkin Strategic Innovation Award. More information on Whitnie can be found at: https://rcoe.iu.edu/about/leadership/powell-whitnie.html

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This episode of Silver Lining for Learning features a deep dive into a new book on artificial intelligence and education systems, with a special focus on the Global South—where most of the world’s young people live and where educational challenges are most acute. Rather than taking a techno‑optimistic stance, the book adopts a systems perspective, examining how AI intersects with curriculum, teaching, assessment, school organization, and governance under real‑world constraints of resources, capacity, and policy. Framed around three guiding questions—whether education systems can build broad AI literacy, whether AI can actually improve foundational learning, and whether it can make curricula more relevant to 21st‑century social and economic needs—the conversation explores what it would take for AI to support genuine transformation rather than isolated pockets of innovation.

Drawing on international evidence, case studies, and early implementations of AI in classrooms and systems, the episode highlights both the possibilities and the serious risks of deepening inequality if AI is adopted without attention to access, teacher support, cultural relevance, and ethics. We’ll discuss how current AI applications tend to benefit more privileged groups, what a truly systemic approach would look like in the Global South, and why teacher development, educational leadership, and coherent regulation (on issues like data privacy and algorithmic bias) are non‑negotiable. We will discuss what a critical, human‑centered roadmap for leveraging AI as a tool for equity, dignity, and the full development of all students, rather than as a new driver of division.

Readings and Resources:

Artificial Intelligence and Education in the Global South https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-11449-5

Episode Guests

Fernando Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor at Harvard University, USA and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative. He is an elected member of the US and the International Academies of Education. His research focuses on 21st-century global education, sustainable development, and responses to educational challenges such as COVID-19.

Zainab Azim is a Teaching Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA. Her work bridges. education policy and learning science with AI in global development. She’s led AI training for STEM educators in LMICs, evaluated AI in Uganda and Canada, and founded the Harvard AI and Education Conference. Zainab has a background in neuroscience, formerly worked at the Ministry of Finance in Canada and was an Oval Office Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, USA.

Maria-Renée Palomo holds degrees from Harvard University, USA and Sciences Po Paris, France. Born in El Salvador, she spent a decade in France working in public sector consulting. She is assistant director of the Education Lab for Latin America and a teaching assistant at Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA, she was also in the founding team of the AI and education in the Global South conference at Harvard.

Callysta Thony is a graduate and Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA where she focused on global education policy. She formerly worked with GovTech Edu Indonesia supporting the Indonesian Ministry of Education in nationwide digital transformation. She is interested in exploring how the effective use of technology can address key challenges in education. She was part of the leadership team which initiated the inaugural Harvard AI & Education Conference.

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AI literacy is perplexing, everyone seems to want it taught, but few people can adequately describe or define it. AI is also different than the arrival of previous learning technology; it did not enter schools and university as the result of deliberate institutional plans and policies; instead, students and teachers simply began using it. As a result, institutions of higher learning as well as K-12 schools are scrambling to adjust; many are rapidly adopting policies and designing courses, events, and resources intended to make learners fluent or proficient in AI literacy. Fortunately, Justin Reich and his colleagues in the Teaching Systems Lab (TSL) have provided a vision of how K-12 schools can design a rich ecosystem for a more AI literate populace. See their new guidebook, “A guide to AI in schools: Perspectives for the perplexed. MIT Teaching Systems Lab.” Available: https://tsl.mit.edu/ai-guidebook/  and https://tsl.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GuideToAIInSchools.pdf

As part of these efforts, they have produced books, films, podcast shows, and other timely resources to promote a more active and engaging pedagogical approach with AI tools and platforms. In fact, Justin and his colleague Jesse Dukes recently designed a 7-episode podcast series called “The Homework Machine.” As schools continue to grapple with the arrival of and experimentation with generative AI, “this timely series explores how the technology is reshaping the daily lives of K–12 teachers, staff, and students.” In Episode #259 of Silver Lining for Learning, you will discover how The Homework Machine takes listeners inside real classrooms and conversations to get a reality check in terms of generative AI in education. As Dr. Reich details with candid interviews and stories from K-12 students themselves, the series lays out both the promise and peril of this new tech in education.

Justin Reich is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools and Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education, and he is the host of the TeachLab Podcast.  In addition, Justin is the co-host of The Homework Machine, a limited series podcast about AI in schools. Justin Reich earned his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was the Richard L. Menschel HarvardX Research Fellow. He is a past Fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. His writings have been published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other scholarly journals and public venues. He started his career as a high school history teacher, and coach of wrestling and outdoor adventure activities. Follow Justin on Twitter or Google Scholar. More about Justin can be found at:

https://tsl.mit.edu/team/justin-reich/

Jesse Dukes is a veteran journalist, podcast producer, and researcher. He was a senior producer of podcasts at WBEZ, Chicago for seven years, serving as the longtime audio producer at Curious City, and producing Season 4 of Motive. He has taught audio storytelling at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke, and Denison University. Jesse is the co-host of The Homework Machine, a limited series podcast about AI in schools.

Resources:

• Justin Reich (PI and MIT Teaching Systems Lab Director), Jesse Dukes, Josh Sheldon, Julie M. Smith, Manee Ngozi Nmani, & Natasha Esteves (2025, November). A guide to AI in schools: Perspectives for the perplexed. MIT Teaching Systems Lab. Available: https://tsl.mit.edu/ai-guidebook/  and https://tsl.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GuideToAIInSchools.pdf
• Justin Reich (2025, November 5). Stop Pretending You Know How to Teach AI; Colleges are racing to make students ‘fluent.’ One problem: No one knows what that means. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Available:
   https://www.chronicle.com/article/stop-pretending-you-know-how-to-teach-ai
• MIT Teaching Systems Lab: https://tsl.mit.edu/

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Purpose statement

How can teachers rehearse the toughest moments of teaching—without real students in the room? This episode explores how authentic simulations, powered by new technologies and AI, are transforming teacher preparation and professional learning. Guests Lisa Dieker, Julie Cohen, and Rhonda Bondie discuss how simulation can personalize feedback, deepen reflection, and build more effective educators.

Description

How can teachers learn the art of teaching in the same way pilots learn to fly or nurses learn to save lives? 

This episode of Silver Lining for Learning explores how authentic simulations are transforming teacher preparation and professional growth. Advances in technology now allow teachers unlimited opportunities to practice the hardest moments of teaching, with immediate feedback and opportunities to try again. For example, teachers can rehearse listening and responding to caregivers during difficult conversations. They can also practice responding to a wide variety of students’ learning needs, in the moment, on their feet.. However, simulations are not risk-free, this episode explores the opportunities, benefits, and dangers of simulated teaching practice with and without AI driven tools.

Our guests, Rhonda Bondie, Julie Cohen, and Lisa Dieker, share their insights on the design, research, and implementation of simulated practice in education. Together, they trace the evolution of simulation technologies, discuss how these tools can be personalized to educators’ needs across their careers, and examine the opportunities and risks posed by AI-driven teaching simulations.

Join us to imagine how simulation could reshape what it means to practice teaching.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/yIMSgs4AoSc

Readings and Resources: 

• Dieker, L., Hughes, C., & Hynes, M. (2023). The Past, the Present, and the Future of the Evolution of Mixed Reality in Teacher Education. Education Sciences, 13(11), 1070. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13111070
• Bondie, R., Zusho, A., Wiseman, E., Dede, C., & Rich, D. (2023). The potential of differentiated and personalized teacher learning through mixed reality simulations. Technology, Mind, and Brain, 4, (1) Spring 2023. Special Collection: Learning in Immersive Virtual Reality. doi: 10.1037/tmb0000098 https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/4gk68mil
• Cohen, J., Wong, V., Krishnamachari, A., & Berlin, R. (2020). Teacher coaching in a simulated environment. Educational evaluation and policy analysis, 42(2), 208-231.https://doi.org/10.3102/016237372090621

Episode Guests

Rhonda Bondie is an associate professor in special education at Hunter College, Deans Fellow, and the director of the Hunter College Learning Lab. Rhonda spent over 20 years in urban public schools as both a special and general educator. Rhonda’s co-authored book, Differentiated Instruction Made Practical, was recently translated into Portuguese, is used by teachers in more than 30 countries to ensure all learners are thriving every day. Rhonda’s research examines how teachers develop inclusive teaching practices through new technologies available at https://agileteacher.org/.

Julie Cohen is the Charles S. Robb associate professor at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on teacher learning and skill development. For the past nine years, she has led the TeachSim lab at the University of Virginia where her team has designed over seventy simulation-based learning experiences for teachers. Her published work has documented the benefits of mixed reality simulations as both a practice space and assessment platform for beginning teachers.  With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, she is working with Mursion to design a curriculum of AI-driven simulation modules for teachers.

Lisa Dieker, Ph.D. is Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas and Director of FLITE (Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology and Education). Her research examines inclusive education, teacher preparation, and the use of technology, including AI and mixed-reality simulation, to support students with disabilities in STEM. She co-founded the TeachLivE™ simulator and holds six patents in education and technology. She has authored seven books and over 100 scholarly publications. She has received numerous awards, has provided over 200 keynotes, and served as editor for four academic journals.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Walker Swain is a Principal Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute, where he specializes in developing equity-oriented policy research and advising state and federal education policy. Currently, he works with LPI’s Educator Quality and Equitable Resources and Access teams. He has coauthored studies in academic journals including Educational Researcher, Sociology of Education, Economics of Education Review, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and the American Educational Research Journal on a range of education and broader public policy issues.

Before joining LPI, Swain served as an American Educational Research Association/American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow in the United States Senate working on education and labor policy for Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He was also previously Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of Georgia, where he was honored with the Mary McCleod Bethune Educator Award for efforts to advance social justice in the classroom and beyond. He began his career as a middle school science teacher and basketball coach in Louisville, KY. Swain holds a PhD in Leadership and Policy Studies from the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, an MPP From Duke University, an MAT in Secondary Science from the University of Louisville, and a BA in Political Science and Biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Anna Maier is a Senior Policy Advisor and Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute and co-leads the Whole Child Education team, with a focus on community schools. She is the lead author of Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence and Technical Assistance for Community Schools: Enabling Strong Implementation. Her policy work and research focuses on federal, state, and local investments in community schools, with a particular focus on California. Maier has experience with a variety of roles in K–12 education. She began her career managing an afterschool program for elementary school students in Oakland and went on to teach 2nd and 3rd grade in the Oakland Unified School District and Aspire Public Schools. She was also a member of the research and evaluation team at Coaching Corps, a youth sports nonprofit in Oakland. As a graduate student fellow with the Center for Cities & Schools at UC Berkeley, she worked with West Contra Costa Unified School District on implementing a full-service community schools initiative. Maier received an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, a Multiple Subjects CLAD teaching credential from the New College of California, and a BA in Psychology and Education Studies from Carleton College.

Melanie Leung-Gagné is a Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute. She is a quantitative researcher focused on school discipline and the educator workforce. Her analyses combine complex survey data sets to identify high-leverage opportunities for federal and state policy interventions that will improve education quality and equity. Her specific issue areas include discipline disparities, school climate, teacher shortages, teacher diversity, principal professional learning, and curricular access. Prior to joining LPI, she worked as an education journalist in Hong Kong and as an education researcher in India and the United Arab Emirates. She was also an English and music teacher at an elementary school for migrant workers’ children in mainland China. Leung-Gagné holds an MA in International Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University and a BSc in Journalism and Communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Cassandra Rubinstein is a PhD Candidate in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University and works as a Research and Policy Consultant at LPI. At LPI, she supports a range of projects dedicated to school and system redesign, including strengthening systems to support community schooling as a strategy for school transformation. She has years of experience managing district intervention programs and serving as a district grant coordinator in California public schools. Her research explores topics such as school segregation, equity-focused principal preparation, curricular interventions, and programs for multilingual students in public schools.

Some relevant links:

• Learning Policy Institute
• Community Schools Impact on Student Outcomes: Evidence From California
• This report can be found online at https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-community-schools-impact-student-outcomes.
• Swain, W., Leung-Gagné, M., Maier, A., & Rubinstein, C. (2025). Community schools impact on student outcomes: Evidence from California. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/541.498

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Stephanie and Marie’s book is designed as a practical guide for teachers and students navigating the complicated intersection of artificial intelligence, education, and justice

Artificial intelligence is rapidly integrating into today’s classrooms, and like other technologies, AI has the potential to harm, though at a larger scale, making it difficult to take advantage of its benefits. In Critical AI in K–12 Classrooms, Stephanie Smith Budhai and Marie K. Heath draw attention to the biases embedded within AI algorithms, such as those powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E, to guide students and teachers in developing strategies to best incorporate AI—or not—into equitable learning.

AI’s reliance on existing data and knowledge systems means Black, queer, those with disabilities, and other marginalized students are at greater risk of being harmed by built-in limitations and bias. Budhai and Heath show how to circumvent if not actively resist such harms as machine learning, NLPs, LLMS, and GenAI enter the classroom, with practical examples rooted in culturally sustaining, abolitionist, and fugitive pedagogies across disciplines. Their practical guide creatively answers the concerns of educators committed to forward-thinking yet fair instruction and the needs of students eager to use AI for just ends.

Critical AI in K–12 Classrooms meets the challenges of a key STEM technology with an eye toward cultivating a more just world. Balancing responsible learning with the joy of discovery, Budhai and Heath build a framework for AI instruction that all educators can confidently use.

About our guests:

Dr. Marie K. Heath (she/her) is not a robot, but she refuses to prove it to Google’s CAPTCHA. She currently works as Department Chair for Education Specialties and as an Associate Professor of Learning Design and Technology at Loyola University Maryland. Prior to her work in higher education, Marie taught high school social studies in Baltimore County Public Schools. Her scholarship interrogates schools and technologies as current sites of encoded oppression, and labors to advance more just technological and educational futures. She is co-editor of the CITE Social Studies Journal, co-founder and co-executive director of the Civics of Technology project, and a Faculty at the Center for Research and Evaluation at Loyola University Maryland. If you ask generative AI a question about Marie, it replies with the Mariah Carey “I don’t know her” meme.

Stephanie Smith Budhai, PhD, is an associate professor in the Educational Technology program at the University of Delaware and is the recipient of an Excellence in Teacher Education Award from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Her interdisciplinary research and practice lies at the intersections of technology, equity and civic engagement, across myriad K-16 settings. She is a council chair for the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) and advisory board member for the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Center of Excellence for Publishing. Stephanie has published over eighty practitioner articles and nine books to support teaching, learning, and technology in education, two of which have been translated into Arabic.  Most recently she published, Critical AI in K-12 Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Cultivating Justice and Joy (Harvard Education Press) and Culturally Responsive Teaching Online and In Person (Corwin). She holds K–12 teaching certifications in technology education, instructional technology, elementary education, and special education.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In this episode, we'll take you inside a journey of transformation that started over a year ago as a quest to provide an accredited, asynchronous, and self-paced high school education to young women and girls in Afghanistan. The program is funded by the Alekain Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in the State of Arizona, offered by Smart Schools International, an accredited private high school that provides high-quality academic programs and curriculum paired with the flexibility and support students outside the U.S. need to be successful, and complemented by group therapy education sessions to help students process stress, strengthen emotional well-being, and build the resilience to keep growing.

Today, the program supports 29 bright, resilient girls in its inaugural cohort, representing five ethnic groups and nine provinces. Through this initiative, Alekain provides no-cost secondary school classes between grades 9 and 12, culminating in an internationally accredited high school diploma that opens the way for higher education. The program follows a fully asynchronous model, allowing students to complete courses and milestones at their own pace, based on their availability. Each student is paired with a female American college student who provides academic, personal, and psychological support through a robust peer mentorship program. And because access to technology is a significant hurdle, the Foundation provides each girl with a laptop and a monthly internet plan.

But the support goes deeper than academics and technology. Parents are engaged from the outset—they attend interviews to express consent and elaborate on their hopes and dreams for their daughters, then sign a parental agreement during onboarding. English as a Second Language courses are offered to ensure inclusion of students who don't initially qualify, facilitating their potential entry in future admissions cycles. In June 2025, the Foundation launched mental health support through two professionals who provide group therapy education to students, along with mentorship and training for peer mentors. This focus on mental and emotional well-being is a necessary innovation that ensures students achieve academic success and meet program milestones. After graduation, the Foundation intends to offer advising and assistance with college admissions to help students pursue higher education abroad.

The Foundation is committed to supporting 30 students annually between 2026 and 2029. And the need is urgent: for over four years now, nearly 4 million girls have been barred from secondary schools in Afghanistan, with the number denied access to higher education remaining unknown. This isn't a COVID-like loss of learning—it's a denial of basic human rights and a crisis for the future of an entire generation.

The theory of change driving this work is simple yet critical. When girls can access secondary education, they can build better, more stable, and resilient futures for themselves, their families, and societies. They are less likely to marry young, more likely to lead healthy and productive lives, they earn higher incomes, and they can make better decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities.

In today's episode, you'll hear how this initiative is working to turn that theory into reality—one laptop, one mentor, one diploma at a time.

More about our guests below

Nasir Kaihan

Nasir Kaihan is the founder and president of the Alekain Foundation. He is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy and Evaluation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, where he also serves as an Assistant of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning for the Education for Humanity Initiative. He graduated with a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University and was a distinguished Fulbright program fellow in 2018.

Nasir has over eight years of experience working in programming, program reviews, monitoring and evaluation, and policymaking focused on migrants, IDPs, returnees, and host communities with UNESCO; advancement in higher education with the American University of Afghanistan and International University partnerships with USAID, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mexico. His career and research interests lie in the access, success, retention, and graduation of refugee and bilingual learners, girls, and other disadvantaged segments of society. Nasir has led, attended, and presented at more than ten conferences and workshops in Afghanistan and internationally.

Laura Payne

At Smart Schools International, academic manager Laura Payne transforms the lives of students across the globe by helping them earn their American high school diplomas. Her role is more than academic support—it’s a cultural exchange that bridges differences and inspires learning for both her and her students.

Laura works with students from diverse cultures, languages, and life experiences, which she describes as the most enriching part of her job. “Speaking with my students is educational for me,” she says. “I learn through them and discover how vast and varied the world truly is.”

This mutual learning also opens the door for her students to better understand American culture and customs. For Laura, this exchange is vital to their growth. She encourages them to ask questions freely, no matter how simple or unfamiliar the topic may seem. “What may be common knowledge for Americans can be entirely new to them,” she explains. “That’s why I always say: Ask, ask, and ask again.”

Laura’s mentoring style goes beyond academics. Many of her students dream of studying at American universities or working in the U.S., and they rely on her as a trusted source of guidance. She takes pride in being more than an advisor—she’s a mentor, a cultural guide, and a problem-solver for their aspirations.

Her students span the globe, from Saudi Arabia to Latin America, England, and beyond—anywhere with access to the internet. For many, the program is a practical and affordable way to achieve their American diploma. Some even pursue dual diplomas, completing Smart Schools’ program while continuing their education in their home countries.

Laura’s dedication ensures that each student, regardless of their background, feels supported, informed, and empowered to reach their goals. Her advice? “Make the most of me as your advisor—ask anything and everything. I’m here to help you succeed.”

Through her commitment and curiosity, Laura Payne exemplifies what it means to be a mentor in a global education program, enriching lives one student at a time: I have worked in education for over 20 years and found this to be my passion. I have pursued psychology in my undergraduate and postgraduate work. I am ABD with a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and I am working on a Master’s in counseling. I find motivation as an area that I strive to help build in students and people. Motivation can be tricky, as what motivates one does not motivate another.

Ginger Smith

I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in Indian, Ohio and Kentucky.  I have a Bachelor's Degree from Johnson University in Knoxville, TN and a Master's Degree from Indiana Wesleyan University.  I am grateful for the training and passion that both of these schools instilled.

I spent several years in Owensboro, KY working with the International Center to help resettle and provide mental health support for refugees who have found safety from their country of origin.  It changed my world view, more than any missionary work I have ever been a part of.  I have learned so many beautiful lessons and experienced some of the most powerful reminders of  hope from the men, women, and children that I have worked with.

The funding provided curriculum and the opportunity to help newly resettled individuals and families in Owensboro find hope in the idea that their experiences in the resettlement are in many ways universal to the experience of fleeing from a home that has become unsafe to a new home that feels anything but that. Using the curriculum, we formed groups that  focused on the common phases of resettling to expect, the common mental health and physical challenges that are seen, and ways to manage and seek help when they  need more support in finding emotional wellness.  I was fortunate enough to find ways to continue supporting families in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area when we relocated in 2021.

I have spent nearly 20 years working with families who need support to improve their marriages, their parenting, and their view of self. I have also spent nearly 20 years working with children, teens and adults who have experienced trauma.  I have seen the ways these memories and experiences have affected relationships, mental health, view of self and others.

I love my work and feel so honored to get to participate in any way that I can in supporting and learning from families who have experienced such traumatic circumstances that fleeing from their homes was the only option.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Rather than accepting predetermined futures, YFS empowers young people to imagine and articulate alternatives. The studio operates on a simple but radical premise: futures exist only in our imagination, making them a powerful tool for understanding how megatrends will affect us. And crucially, no trend is destiny—at any moment, multiple possible futures exist, waiting to be shaped by the choices we make today.

More about the YFS program and our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/SweZpYX_iis

YFS focuses on three pillars:

1. Understanding how young people are experiencing megatrends
2. Building capacity of young people to imagine alternate futures through futures thinking pedagogy
3. Bring youth voices to the decision making table

The studio began with climate change, developing an emancipatory climate futures literacy pedagogy that helped young people move from individual understanding of climate issues to systemic thinking—and from there, to imagining their preferred climate futures. Now, YFS has turned its attention to another force reshaping young lives: artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. The team recognized something urgent: AI is already laying the foundations of the world young people will inhabit, yet these young people feel they have no agency in influencing that change. They feel trapped into passively accepting futures being decided for them.

YFS engaged with over 200 young people in government secondary schools and vocational training institutes to understand their digital lives. The results were striking: 2 out of 3 young people couldn't clearly define what Artificial Intelligence was—yet AI is already reshaping their education, employment prospects, and daily lives. Without reliable information or critical engagement tools, young people were making meaning of these technologies entirely on their own terms, filling the knowledge gap with whatever they could piece together.

The Response: Critical AI Futures Pedagogy

This gap led YFS to create a Critical AI Futures pedagogical framework that goes beyond simply teaching young people what AI is—it empowers them to engage critically and imagine differently. The framework enables young people to understand AI and situate it within their social context rather than seeing it as an abstract or inevitable force, articulate their anxieties about probable AI futures not to dwell in fear but to transform those anxieties into critical questions, challenge and reject dominant AI narratives that position them as passive users, imagine and articulate alternate community-centered AI futures, and ultimately claim agency to create their preferred futures rather than accepting what's handed to them.

This engagement culminated in something unprecedented: India's first Youth AI Charter: A Critical AI futures pedagogical framework that helps young people to:

1. Understand AI, engage with it critically and situate it in their social context
2. Enables them to articulate their anxieties about probable AI futures
3. Use anxiety as a site of transformation to challenge and question and reject the dominant AI narratives
4. Empowers them to imagine and articulate alternate AI futures which are community-centered
5. Empowers them with agency to imagine and create their preferred AI futures

In this document, young people refuse their assigned role as passive consumers of AI and instead articulate how AI should serve their communities and shape their lives. They propose a reversal of priorities—prioritizing care over efficiency, focusing on human and environmental wellbeing, centering labor dignity. Their vision is building a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) with a genuinely human, environment, and labor-centric approach to AI—not despite artificial intelligence, but by reshaping how it's developed and deployed.

The Youth Futures Studio's work reminds us that the future isn't written yet. Young people aren't just subjects of change—they're architects of possibility. By giving them the tools to think critically, imagine boldly, and articulate clearly, we're not just preparing them for the future but ensuring they have a hand in creating it.

Our guests

Bhawna Parmar: Bhawna is a researcher-designer working at the intersection of youth, digital cultures and participatory futures. She has set up and currently leads the Youth Futures Studio at Quest Alliance, India.

Tanvi Negi: Tanvi is the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research at Quest Alliance.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Bringing together Kazakhstan’s AI & Entrepreneurship Initiative, Korea’s AI Coach program, and a global K-12 AI Competency Curriculum, the talk introduces meta-AI competency—the ability to creatively harness AI to solve complex problems. Grounded in the 6Cs—collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, compassion, and commitment—it shows how education in the A.G. era must engage students in meaningful, timely learning experiences that build purpose, adaptability, and human-centered innovation.

Readings and Resources:

• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/07356331251314222
• https://primeminister.kz/en/news/ai-sana-business-acceleration-programme-for-startups-to-be-launched-in-kazakhstan-29792

Episode Guest

Paul Kim

Dr. Paul Kim is the Founder and President of Seeds of Empowerment, a global social innovation incubator he established in collaboration with Stanford University graduate students in 2004. He served as the Chair of the International Expert Committee on Education Technology at the World Bank and advises Silicon Valley venture capital firms including Lumos Capital and Roble Ventures.

As the former Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer of Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, Dr. Kim dedicated 24 years to advancing learning technology for marginalized communities worldwide. He also launched the Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) Program and developed a learning innovation design challenge, serving as an edtech startup incubator for Stanford students.

Dr. Kim now focuses on global learning technology and entrepreneurship initiatives in the Eurasian region, including designing advanced learning labs in Beijing centered on smart farming, VR/AI, biotech, and aerospace mobility. He also spearheads an entrepreneurship & AI education program with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Science and Higher Education. In addition, he launched an AI-powered student learning journey planner for the Metro School District of Incheon, Korea.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Transforming How We Teach Inquiry with Raaghav Pandya and Talya Stein

Reimagining STEM education: How contemplation and self-inquiry create innovative learning experiences that empower students through making, design, and creative problem-solving.

This episode explores how two innovative educational initiatives are transforming STEM learning in New York City and beyond, creating powerful experiences that engage students through making and creative problem-solving.

Dr. Raaghav Pandya and Talya Stein represent complementary approaches to STEM education that emphasize hands-on learning and student empowerment. Through NYC FIRST's STEM Centers, Talya has spent a decade designing learning environments where students discover their capabilities by building robots, using advanced equipment, and participating in collaborative competitions. As the Senior Program Manager who helped launch two STEM Centers, she's witnessed how making—when students design, build, and experiment—creates the most powerful learning moments and complements traditional classroom education.

Dr. Pandya’s work, in education, design, and beyond, builds on this foundation of first-person experience, informed by the philosophies of contemplative and wisdom traditions. In fact, as Director of the Innervate Makerspace and co-founder of The ROOTS Movement, he designs experiences at the intersection of science, aesthetics, and self-inquiry - thereby adding dimensions of well-being and inner exploration to technical education. Together, these educators demonstrate how STEM learning can be enriched to develop not just technical skills but whole human beings ready to approach challenges with creativity, purpose, and a balanced perspective.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/dFPj-YURdIk

Our Guests

Dr. Raaghav Pandya is a professor, scientist, writer, and designer, whose work is centered on revolutionizing learning through the integration of self-inquiry and creativity. Former NASA scientist, he currently serves as Assistant Professor in teacher education at the CUNY New York City College of Technology. There, he is also Director of the Innervate Makerspace: a design and engineering classroom that concentrates on developing STEM professionals, educators, & curriculum through contemplative philosophy. As a faculty fellow at Columbia University’s Gordon Institute for Advanced Studies, he studies the intersections of wisdom traditions, activism, and nature of science. He is also co-founder of The ROOTS Movement, a non-profit organization working in classrooms and media spaces through the intersection of wisdom philosophies, creativity, and wellbeing.

Links

• LinkedIn
• The Roots Movement

Talya Stein is a Senior Program Manager at NYC FIRST, where she has spent the past decade designing and leading innovative STEM learning experiences as part of a passionate team. She helped launch the NYC FIRST STEM Center on Roosevelt Island eight years ago and, more recently, worked with colleagues and community partners to open a second center in Brooklyn’s District 13 focused on K-8 education. Talya collaborates with teachers, students, and fellow makers to build curricula, coach robotics teams, and bring FIRST LEGO League to every middle school in the district. She believes the most powerful learning happens through making—when students design, build, and experiment—and that the STEM Center’s role is to complement and support what schools are teaching, enriching classroom lessons.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

1. National Credit Value and Transfer System and Micro Credentials Framework in Mauritius, Professor (Dr) Romeela Mohee, CSK, April 11, 2005; Available: https://inq.gov.ao/pt/programas/ppt-3_mauritius_ncvts-and-mc_hec_prof-r-mohee.pdf
2. Micro-credentials in Mauritius: towards a national framework for TVET and higher education (2025). Michaela Martin and Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl, UNESCO

https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/publication/micro-credentials-mauritius-towards-national-framework-tvet-and-higher-education; Available: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000392521

1. Micro-credentials in Mauritius (2024, June 18). Dr Ramesh Ramdass

Prof Romeela Mohee, the Higher Education Commissioner of Mauritius 

Prof Romeela Mohee is currently the Higher Education Commissioner of Mauritius, whereby she is responsible for regulating all public and private universities, as well as funding of public universities in Mauritius. She is driving transformative projects at national level, and the Technology-Enabled Learning Project for public universities. Recently she had led the development of AI guidelines for Higher Education and AI capacity building for academics in Mauritius. Prof Romeela Mohee holds an engineering degree in Energy and Environment from a Grande Ecole d’Ingenieurs, the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, France, (under a French Scholarship) and a PhD from the University of Mauritius. She has been decorated by the Mauritian government in 2014 as the Commander of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean and decorated by the French government as ‘Officier dans l’Ordre National du Merite in 2016. Prof. Mohee has 36 years of academic experience as a Professor and Head of Department in the field of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, as well as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 2009 to 2012. She has also held the position of Vice Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, the national university regrouping 10,000 students from 2013 to 2016. She was also the National Research Chair in Solid Waste Management at the Mauritius Research Council.

Prof Mohee is an experienced Education Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the development of higher education models and policies. She has worked at the Commonwealth of Learning from 2017 to 2020 as an Education Specialist and has assisted many Commonwealth member states in their development of higher education policies and strategies. She expertly guided governments and institutions on e-learning for sustainable development, quality assurance and employability. She has published over 200 international research and conference papers, edited 8 books, 4 book chapters, and has supervised to date more than 50 undergraduate and 30 masters and doctoral students in the field of energy and environmental engineering. Scopus ID: 19934178700 and h-index: 29. Professor Mohee has received a number of awards and recognitions including the winner of the African Union best woman scientist award for Science Technology and Innovation in 2009. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and a Fellow of the Mauritius Academy of Science and Technology (FMAST), Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers UK (F IChemE) and she is among others an Associate member of the International Association of Universities (IAU). She is also a Member of the Steering Committee for the Research Management Programme in Africa (ReMPro Africa).

Dr. WJ Green, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education

Dr Green is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education, an organisation mandated to conduct research on higher education, monitor trends in higher education, provide advice to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, and the apex organization for quality assurance of higher education in South Africa. He was previously the Chief-Director: Teaching, Learning and Research Development in the South African Department of Higher Education and Training. Dr Green has worked in a range of education settings, having served as a high school teacher, as a teacher education college lecturer, and as lecturer and senior lecturer at university level. He holds a Bachelor of Science, Higher Diploma in Education, Bachelor of Education Honours, Master of Education, all from the University of Natal/KwaZulu-Natal he earned his PhD from the University of Stellenbosch.

Kirti Menon, Programme Director for the University of Johannesburg

Associate Professor Kirti Menon is the Programme Director for the University of Johannesburg - Department of Higher Education Future Professors Programme Phase 2. She is the Project Lead for UJ on the EU funded project the Potential of Microcredentials in Southern Africa. Until 2024 she was the Senior Director of the Division for Teaching Excellence at the University of Johannesburg. She has served on several national task teams, and her research focus is higher education with a focus on access, exclusion and redress. She is a Research Associate affiliated with the UJ Faculty of Education. She is widely published in the field of higher education, curriculum transformation, social exclusion and access. More recently, publications include a focus curriculum transformation commissioned by the CHE based on institutional audit reports.

• Kirti Menon: Google Scholar Profile; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZePBm3sAAAAJ&hl=en
• Research Profile available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kirti-Menon

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

We need teachers. Despite the rumors of AI replacing teachers, in 2025, the country and the entire world is in need of teachers . And we need a society concerned for and supportive of education. In Michigan, there is one solution called Talent Together. Is it a success? Well, it is currently the largest registered apprentice program for teacher certification in the country. Listen or watch Episode #247 of Silver Lining for Learning and find out more.  During this episode, we will hear from Dr. Sarena Shivers who is the CEO and Excecutive Director of the program. Dr. Shivers will describe how Talent Together helps Michiganders become certified teachers. Amazingly, candidates receive their education FREE while earning an income. Importantly, it offers flexible pathways that center on each candidates needs. For more information, see Talent Together:  https://mitalenttogether.org/team. See Talent Together

Dr. Sarena Shivers- Talent Together CEO/Executive Director

Dr. Sarena Shivers is currently the CEO/Executive Director of Michigan’s Talent Together, the nation’s largest registered apprentice program for teacher certification in the country and the largest grow-your-own program in Midwest. With over three decades of experience in education – including over 20 years as an administrator. Dr. Shivers has a profound background of serving children, families and educators. Her career has spanned roles as a teacher, principal, program director, assistant superintendent and superintendent. In 2018, Dr. Shivers was recognized as a nominee for Michigan’s Superintendent of the Year. Most recently, she served as the Deputy Executive Director of Professional learning for the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators (MASA), where she supported and fostered professional growth for superintendents and education leaders statewide.

In addition to her storied career as a school leader, Dr. Shivers has also earned national recognition, including serving a four-year term on the Board of Directors for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASDC). Known for her compassionate, adaptive, and resilient approach Sarena has made a tremendous impact on the education landscape here in the state of Michigan. In 2022, Dr. Shivers founded The Elijah Shivers JPS Foundation of Hope, a non-profit focused on research, awareness and patient advocacy for a rare disease, juvenile polyposis syndrome that her son was diagnosed with in 2012. In 2025, Dr. Shivers also launched her own leadership pipeline program—Midwest School Leaders of Color Network. Sarena is focused on leaving a legacy of BIPOC principals, central office administrators and superintendents in Michigan and 5 surrounding Midwest states.

Dr. Shivers stays close to teaching, learning and leadership and remained on faculty at Eastern, Concordia and Madonna Universities working with undergraduate, graduate and doctoral level education candidates. On a personal level, Sarena is a writer and enjoys writing poetry and short stories. Dr. Shivers for years has worked across business, ministry and the healthcare sector and trains in ministry, public speaking, and public safety. She is active in the community through various board appointments, organizations, volunteerism and social justice/equity activism. Education at every level and in every way has and will always be her purpose and passion!

Amy Peterson-Talent Together Regional Program Director.

Amy Peterson Bio. Ever since childhood, I’ve had a passion for teaching. After graduating from Central Michigan University, I spent 27 years at Collins Elementary in Houghton Lake, Michigan, serving as a preschool teacher/director, first grade teacher, and elementary/middle school principal. I then became Superintendent/Principal of Mackinac Island Public School, where I worked to expand opportunities and build strong connections with stakeholders. Now as Regional Program Director for Talent Together in Northern Michigan, I’m committed to supporting educators, fostering collaboration, and helping students and staff succeed. I live in Thompson in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where my husband and I enjoy visits from our three adult children at our cabin on Lake Michigan.

Chelsea Burke- Talent Together Educator Development Specialist

Chelsea Burke is an Educator Development Specialist with Talent Together, supporting teachers across Northern Michigan, primarily in the Upper Peninsula. She earned her undergraduate degree in K–12 Special Education from Northern Michigan University, a master’s degree in special education with a focus in Autism from Oakland University, and an Education Specialist degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from Northern Michigan University. Before her current role, Chelsea spent over a decade as a special education teacher and served as a behavior and autism consultant. Over the last decade she has worked as a contingent instructor at Northern Michigan University, supporting future special educators. She lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her two daughters and enjoys hiking and exploring the outdoors whenever possible.

Ken Taylor- Talent Together Teacher Graduate 

Ken Taylor Bio. My path to the classroom has been anything but traditional—but every step led me closer to where I was meant to be. I began with a degree in Theatre & Entertainment Arts from Northern Michigan University, followed by careers in law enforcement, funeral service, and over a decade as a school resource officer at the Hannahville Indian Community. With an inspiration to make an even greater impact in children’s lives I applied and was accepted as a Talent Together Resident Apprentice for the 2024-2025 school year.  I have since graduated from Talent Together and am now teaching my own 4th grade classroom at Menominee Elementary School in Menominee, Michigan.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In a week-long summer camp held in Beijing, China last month (August 2025), over 100 middle and high school students from multiple cities in China and Australia explored these questions. The camp was organized by YEE Education under the Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship Education (ICEE) philosophy, which focuses on personalized learning to enable students develop their personal strength and interests, problem finding and solving to encourage students to find and solve authentic and meaningful problems, and building human interdependence through collaboration and problem solving for each other. In this camp, students from different backgrounds and with diverse expertise and interests used AI to explore their strengths, discover and refine problems and solutions, and investigate the meaning of human interdependence. The camp did not use traditional teachers. Instead, it used graduate students from different colleges in China as mentors.

The camp significantly affected students' perspectives on education and learning. In this episode, we invite a group of students and teachers from University Senior College (USC) to reflect on their experiences at the camp and helps understand the question: What Is Worth Learning in the Age of AI?

More after the video

https://youtu.be/iQSwdD_7xPM

Read more about the theoretical discussions about the program:

If Schools Don’t Change, the Potential of AI Won’t Be Realized published in Educational Leadership. Available at: https://ascd.org/el/articles/if-schools-dont-change-the-potential-of-ai-wont-be-realized

1. Artificial Intelligence and Education: End the Grammar of Schooling published in ECNU Review of Education. Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20965311241265124
2. Paradigm Shifts in Education: An Ecological Analysis published in ECNU Review of Education. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20965311241296162
3. From Meritocracy to Human Interdependence: Redefining the Purpose of Education published in ECNU Review of Education. Available at:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20965311251351988

Participants:

Students include Anita, Ari, Anika and Shayanne.

Shayanne Lim is a Year 11 student at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. She is currently studying Legal Studies, Politics, Business Innovation, Philosophy, and Accounting as part of her SACE pathway. Being immersed in USC’s university-style learning environment has strengthened her interest in pursuing further study in Law and International Relations, with a major in Business. Outside of her studies, she has worked in a range of part-time roles that centre on teaching, mentoring, and connecting with children, from volunteering at kids’ church on Sundays, to teaching sport, and hosting parties. In 2025, she participated in her first YEE Camp, where she especially enjoyed the new experience of learning alongside the young participants. The highlight for her was interacting with the children, and despite language barriers, she found it fun and rewarding to engage with them and share conversations across cultures. Her passions are in learning, helping others, and embracing new opportunities. She is particularly interested in Law and International Relations to advocate for social justice and global collaboration. She is also drawn to entrepreneurship and hopes to use her passion in educational reform and to contribute to a better society, whether through improving education systems for children or creating meaningful social initiatives.

Anika Anantula is a Year 11 student at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. She is currently studying English Literature Studies, Mathematical Methods, Biology, Psychology, Philosophy, and Economics as part of her SACE pathway. Being immersed in USC’s university-style learning environment has strengthened her interest in pursuing further study in Neuropsychology, specifically a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) with a focus on Cognitive Neuroscience. She hopes to use this knowledge to better understand the human brain, contribute to improving educational and social systems, and support individuals in reaching their potential. Outside of her studies, Anika has gained experience working in roles that involve teaching, mentoring, and supporting others, including volunteering at a scout group, babysitting, and working in Coles’ online department. In 2025, she participated in her first YEE Camp, where she particularly valued learning to communicate beyond words, using gestures and symbols to connect across language barriers. The experience of teaching the children fostered a deep appreciation for educators’ resilience and highlighted the importance of patience, creativity, and adaptability, which she recognises as especially important skills in the rapidly evolving age of AI. Anika is passionate about helping others, exploring new experiences, and working outside her comfort zone. Her interest in neuropsychology is driven by a desire to understand the brain and use that knowledge to help people flourish. She is particularly committed to creating opportunities for children to thrive, both through educational initiatives and meaningful social contributions, aiming to make a positive impact on society.

Ari Stevens is a Year 11 student at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. She is currently studying Math methods, English literature, Economics, Design, Psychology, and currently undertaking AIF. USC’s unique learning environment has allowed her to fulfil her learning interests through the support of teachers and peers. She plans to further her studies at university and build a career path into the business field. Outside of School, Ari has gained experience working at several part time jobs and competed for 7 years in local baking competitions. This has allowed her to learn how to work independently, while supporting a team setting. She participated in the 2025 YEE Camp held in Beijing, where she valued the opportunity to meet international students and the chance to collaborate in their learning. The unique experience allowed her to grow new hope the future of education in the age of AI through the different perspectives she was able to encounter. Ari finds passion in learning about how others behave and in turn how the world works. She plans to fulfil these passions through her love of business, which will open the opportunity to find and discover new ways to benefit people. The invitation to YEE Camp was especially beneficial as she hopes to have the chance to travel with her career and work alongside teams worldwide to discover new insights about people around the globe.

The teachers are:

Michael Jacobsen

Michael Jacobsen works at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. USC is a Senior High School located on the University of Adelaide’s main CBD campus and teaches Economics and Business Innovation to students in Years 11 & 12 (final two years of high school) and they progress through USC’s academic and pastoral care programs while being immersed in the ‘university experience’ on campus. He has taught at the school since it commenced in 2002 and previously taught in Sydney (Australia) and London (United Kingdom). He spent 10 years as the Dean of USC’s International Program 2010-2020. He is currently the President of the Economic Teacher’s Society of South Australia. In addition to his teaching load, he is also has a role organising and facilitating the USC Yr11 & 12 Mentoring Program at USC.

Michael’s passion is working with and mentoring his students, early career teachers and experienced colleagues. At this stage of his career his goals include being as helpful as he can to these groups of people and helping them flourish. He loves nothing more than time with his family and friends, surfing and playing guitar; and walking the family dog with his wife.

In 2023, 2024 & 2025 Michael and his USC colleague (Sam Franzway) have taught their cross-curriculum HIP Project course to five cohorts in Adelaide with their Society & Culture and Business Innovation students – they are also now ‘veterans’ of two YEE Education International Camps in China (Chongqing August 2024 & Beijing August 2025).

Sam Franzway

Sam Franzway is an early-career teacher of English and Humanities at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. Before Sam became a teacher, he worked in the Graduate and Student Academic Assistance units at Flinders University, and the University of South Australia. This experience, in addition to two Masters degrees and a PhD, has informed his passion for teaching English, Humanities, and research skills in the senior school environment.

Sam is also a writer, comedian, and photographer. He publishes two podcasts: Why Teach? Australia and Just Going For A Drive. In Why Teach?, Sam interviews experienced teachers about why they became a teacher, their experiences in schools, and what advice they would give themselves when they first started out. Just Going For a Drive is a comedy podcast about Sam’s hobby of cars and driving.

In 2023, Sam and his USC colleague (Michael Jacobsen) were part of the YEE HIP Pilot in Adelaide with their Society and Culture, and Business Innovation students – they are back in 2024 to ‘do it all again’!

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

ASU Prep Academy is an innovative, tuition-free public charter school network, serving students from Pre-K to grade 12. They also partner with other innovative schools to serve students across the US and around the world.

In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we explore how ASU Preparatory Academy is designing innovative new school models that center student agency, hybrid learning, and real-world relevance. From microschools and flexible high schools to project-based learning across all grade levels and immersive tech experiences, ASU Prep is redefining what learning can look like. Its mission is to prepare students for college, careers, and life by combining rigorous academics with innovative learning models. Through options that include in-person campuses, hybrid programs, and ASU Prep Digital, students can personalize their educational experience and, in many cases, begin earning university credit while still in high school. With a strong emphasis on access, innovation, and preparing students for the future, ASU Prep Academy provides opportunities for learners across Arizona and beyond.

These efforts are powered by the unique opportunity of being embedded within Arizona State University, one of the most innovative universities in the world—providing access to cutting-edge resources, partnerships, and a culture of experimentation that helps turn visionary school design into reality. Our latest models include a partnership with famous economist and author of Freakonomics, Steve Levitt, to create The Levitt Lab at ASU Tempe, Khan World School with Sal Khan of Khan Academy, and embedding real-world learning on ASU campuses and beyond through our Digital+ programs.

Our guests, Megan Hanley, Executive Director of School Design, and Rachna Mathur, Senior STEM Strategist and AI researcher, share how their work blends personalized learning, emerging technologies like generative AI and VR, and bold pedagogical design.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/EWmBuwpByFw

About our guests:

Megan Hanley, Executive Director of School Design @ ASU Prep

Megan Hanley is the Executive Director of School Design at ASU Prep. In this role, Megan helps to lead the innovation teams at ASU Prep including the Professional Development and Learning Initiatives, new school models including Khan World School and The Levitt Lab, college and career awareness, and STEM related projects. Megan has 16 years of experience in the field of education in Washington DC and Arizona, covering Pre-K–12th grade, having worked as a teacher, family advocate, program manager, educational and admissions coordinator, and as an Assistant Principal.

Originally from Tempe, Arizona, Megan attended George Washington University where she received her Bachelor’s in Arts and George Mason University where she received her Master’s in Education.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-hanley-238261a/
• The Levitt Lab: https://asuprep.asu.edu/tempe-levitt-lab/
• Khan World School: https://asuprep.asu.edu/khan-world-school/

Dr. Rachna Mathur, Sr. STEM Strategist @ ASU Prep

Rachna Mathur is a STEM educator, computer engineer, and Kathak dancer with over two decades of experience bridging industry and education. A former software architect at Intel, she now serves as the STEM Strategist at ASU Preparatory Academy and founder of STEMology Club, championing K–12 initiatives in AI, robotics, and emerging tech. Rachna holds an Ed.D. from Arizona State University, where her research focused on AI literacy and ethical adoption of GenAI in schools.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachnamathur/
• Personal: https://www.rachnamathur.com/ 
• Upcoming Event: https://tinyurl.com/microspark-2025

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

India stands at the cusp of a transformative era in education, fueled by the integration of AI and digital technologies across its vast and diverse school ecosystem. With trailblazing leaders like Dr Vinnie Jauhari, Director Education at Microsoft Elevate, Swati Ganguly, CEO and Founder of Juana Technologies, and Meenakshi Uberoi, CEO and Founder of De Pedagogics, driving the movement, schools are embracing innovative tools that personalize learning, bridge educational divides, and empower both educators and students. From adaptive learning platforms and AI-powered assessments to immersive digital classrooms, these advancements are fostering critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration while making education more inclusive and accessible. Indian educators are leveraging digital content, real-time analytics, and cloud-based solutions to create engaging learning experiences that cater to students’ unique needs, regardless of their geography or background.

This transformation, however, is more than just the adoption of new tools—it signifies a cultural shift towards lifelong learning and digital citizenship. AI-driven insights are enabling teachers to identify learning gaps early, offer targeted interventions, and ensure holistic development. Meanwhile, initiatives led by organizations such as Microsoft Elevate, Juana Technologies, and De Pedagogics are equipping teachers with the skills and confidence needed to navigate this digital landscape, fostering a mindset of innovation and adaptability. As India continues to invest in digital infrastructure and upskilling, the promise of AI in education lies not just in boosting academic outcomes, but also in preparing the next generation to thrive in a rapidly evolving global economy, making the dream of an empowered, future-ready India a tangible reality. The podcast focuses on how partnership between Microsoft and Training partners alongside Education leaders and teachers enabled creation of light house institutions. It also focuses on what it took hundreds of schools to make that transformative leap and get global recognition for their work. The podcast shares insights into some unique partnerships with State and National Boards of Education in India and scale interventions for skilling and teachers have been initiated.

More below the video

https://youtu.be/gE2J-uwyg7E

Readings and Resources:

1. Explore MS Learn for assets for skilling of Educators and students- Training | Microsoft Learn. This has free access to over 4500 modules on various areas such as AI, Security, Data Sciences, Cloud courses, pedagogical innovation for teachers. Create a profile and join for free and start a great skilling journey with Microsoft Learn.
2. Explore MS Elevate to explore offerings for supporting skilling and education initiatives in Schools Elevating Communities | Microsoft Elevate
3. Explore the AI for Education Resources on the link AI for education | Microsoft Learn
4. Innovate with Teaching Pedagogy. The link to Educator Center on  MS Learn is here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/educator-center/programs/msle/overview
5. Develop Applied AI Skilling through Hands on Labs here Microsoft Applied Skills | Microsoft Learn
6. What does MS report say on leveraging AI in Education. Read more 2025 AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report
7. Link to Shikshana Intervention on AI in Govt Schools Bing Videos
8. Learning Accelerators in Education- Do the complete pathway for free at the link here Learning Accelerators for educators - Training | Microsoft Learn. It helps with increasing reading fluency with Reading Coach, Maths Skills with Maths Progress, confident presentations with Speaker Progress, Search Coach, Analytics
9. AI for Educators- AI for educators - Training | Microsoft Learn

Episode Guests

Dr. Vinnie Jauhari – Director Education, Microsoft Elevate, Microsoft Corporation

Dr. Vinnie Jauhari is a distinguished leader in education transformation at Microsoft India, where she spearheads strategic initiatives with the Ministry of Education, universities, and education boards. With a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi and a Postdoctoral Fellowship from United Nations University, Tokyo, she brings deep expertise in  Education technology, evangelism and AI-led innovation.

Her work has impacted millions of educators and students across India, notably through large-scale skilling programs such as the Andhra Pradesh initiative, which certified nearly 100,000 students in AI, Data Science, and Cloud technologies. She has co-developed curricula in AI, Coding, and Data Science with national boards like CBSE and IB, earning recognition from India’s Minister of Education in 2023.

Vinnie has cultivated vibrant educator communities, including the Microsoft Expert Educator network and Showcase Schools, driving national and global acclaim. A prolific academic, she has authored 13 books and published over 100 research papers. Her contributions have earned her multiple global awards, she was recently invited to speak at Harvard University’s AI Conference in March 2025. She won the Education Trailblazer award in August 2025 by InkWomen x Second Act for her contributions to the realm of Education.

She has launched International Journals such as Journal of Services Research and Journal of Technology Management for Growing Economies and has led several global conferences in the realm of Services Management in partnership with international universities such as Oxford Brookes University, UK; Virginia Tech University, USA, Penn State University. She has edited several editions of International Journals like Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Her work in Education at Microsoft had significant impact on  Education ecosystem in India leading to skilling of teachers in School and Higher Education, skill initiatives in School and Higher Education and adoption of AI curriculum in School Boards and Universities.

Swati Ganguly – Director & Co-Founder – Juana Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Swati Ganguly is the Director and Co-Founder of Juana Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and a pioneering force in India’s EdTech landscape. With over 27 years of experience spanning academic leadership, curriculum innovation, inclusive education, and large-scale teacher training, she has positioned herself at the forefront of digital transformation in K–12 education. Under her visionary leadership, Juana Technologies has pioneered hands-on, AI-integrated learning solutions such as the AI-Plex kits and the NEXO LMS platform, which have been widely adopted across CBSE and state-affiliated schools in India. Swati’s work extends beyond technological innovations. She has been instrumental in enabling real systemic change through her grassroots initiatives. Through Project Nawal, she has brought digital literacy and foundational technology skills to underprivileged children in urban slums, while the Unnati Program empowers LGBTQ+ youth with access to training in emerging technologies, paving the way for equitable employment opportunities.

A Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and NABET-certified auditor, Swati has also served as a resource person to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) since 2009, also contributing to the design and delivery of contemporary curricula in AI, coding, and digital pedagogy. With a Post-Graduation in the Comprehensive Management of Children with Learning Disorders, from the Spastic Society of Karnataka, Bangalore, she has also been a Special Educator since 2008.

Adding to her role as a Special Educator and an Educationist, she also holds a diploma in Counselling Skills, from Banjara Academy. Her ability to lead and monitor, made her become a Certified Auditor from National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET). In her role as an Auditor, she actively Monitors, Supervises and Audits the organizations who partner with National Accreditation Board for Education and Training, for accreditation.

Her partnerships with institutions such as AICTE, NASSCOM Foundation, and SMART Technologies have further amplified her national footprint, particularly in building capacity among educators to adapt to 21st-century classrooms. Swati’s academic grounding—bolstered by a Ph.D. in Education and Social Welfare, and advanced qualifications in special education and counselling—reflects her deeply inclusive approach to learning. Her leadership represents a rare fusion of strategic foresight, empathetic pedagogy, and scalable innovation, making her a powerful advocate for future-ready education that is both transformative and human-centered.

Meenakshi Uberoi – CEO, Education Evangelist and Founder, De Pedagogics

Meenakshi Uberoi is a passionate education consultant committed to helping schools and educators reimagine teaching and learning through thoughtful pedagogy, purposeful technology integration, and sustained professional development. With over two decades of experience, she is a well-established name in the education industry for providing high quality, innovative and non-traditional approach to teaching-learning. Through high-level consultancy, training services, and student workshops, she along with her team has supported over 600 schools, trained over 200,000 teachers and equipped over 100,000 students with future-ready skills over the few last years and they continue to grow their outreach each year. She has collaborated with hundreds of schools across India to support meaningful shifts in classroom practice and build inclusive, learner-centered environments.

As a certified AI-in-Education trainer, Microsoft Educator Fellow, Adobe Express Trainer, and author for Cambridge University Press and Assessment, Meenakshi works at the intersection of pedagogy, content, and emerging technologies. She leads initiatives such as the AI School Program by De Pedagogics, which empowers educators to explore AI with intention, redesign tasks, and create engaging, personalized learning experiences. Her community-driven programs include Tech Talk Tuesday for Teachers, a weekly series on digital pedagogy, and Pedagogy Pods, an open-format talk show where educators share real classroom stories about fostering collaboration, reflection, and innovation in education.

Meenakshi’s approach is rooted in digital pedagogy, ethical reasoning, storytelling, and a deep commitment to learner agency. She shares her work and insights on global platforms including DIDAC, TIESS, FICCI ARISE, and others, contributing to international conversations on equity, AI, and innovation in education. Her mission is to support educators in building dynamic, responsive learning ecosystems that meet the needs of today’s diverse learners equipping them to be future-ready.

LinkedIn: Meenakshi Uberoi                                                                           
Email: meenakshi@depedagogics.com

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Extended Introduction:

What does it really take to learn creativity? Join renowned creativity researcher Keith Sawyer and award-winning artist and educator Steve DeFrank as they explore the world's most prestigious art and design schools. Sawyer, author of the new book Learning to See: Inside the World's Leading Art and Design Schools, shares groundbreaking insights from his extensive interviews with over 100 leading artists, designers, and educators across New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. DeFrank brings his unique dual perspective as both a successful professional artist—whose work is held in collections including the New Museum of Contemporary Art and has been featured in publications like The New York Times and Vanity Fair—and an experienced educator at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Far from the romantic myths of tortured genius or sudden brilliant inspiration, this episode reveals the day-to-day reality of creative work at the highest professional levels. You'll be surprised to learn that many successful artists and designers actually resist using words like "creative" or "original" to describe their work. Instead, they focus on something far more practical and teachable. Through the articulate voices of top art and design educators like DeFrank—professionals who have mastered both creating and teaching—we explore what these institutions are really teaching their students, and why their methods might revolutionize how we think about learning and education more broadly.

This conversation challenges conventional wisdom about creativity while offering concrete insights that educators, students, and anyone interested in creative learning can apply. Whether you're curious about artistic education or looking to understand how creativity actually develops, this episode provides a rare window into the studios and classrooms where tomorrow's leading creators are being shaped today.

About our guests 

Dr. Keith Sawyer is one of the country's leading scientific experts on creativity. He is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He hosts the podcast “The Science of Creativity,” available on all platforms. His 2025 book Learning to See: Inside the World's Leading Art and Design Schools is a groundbreaking account of how nationally known artists and designers teach in the world's top art BFA and MFA programs. His 2024 book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation, known as "the creativity bible," is an authoritative review of all creativity research. His 2013 book Zig Zag identifies the 8 stages of the creative process, and contains over 100 techniques to enhance your personal creativity.

• Podcast: The Science of Creativity
• Substack: The Science of Creativity
• Instagram: @creativityprofessor
• Facebook: @creativityprofessor
• YouTube channel: @creativityprofessor (includes all podcast episodes)
• LinkedIn: @drkeithsawyer

Steve DeFrank: has had numerous solo exhibitions and participated in group shows across the U.S. and abroad, earning  Fulbright, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Lillian Orlowsky/William Freed awards. While on his Fulbright in Mexico, he trained as a luchador, the best preparation, he says, for being an artist. Lucha Libre, after all, is painting brought to life in front of exuberant crowds. DeFrank is an academically trained painter with a deep love of materials, especially casein, a demanding medium dating back to the Egyptians. His work blends meticulous craft with a wry queerness that resists cliché, creating paintings that provoke thought while inviting pleasure. He’s a passionate, terrible salsa dancer, he believes it’s more important to have fun than to be good. Far better at eating great food, playing cards, and talking about art, often all at once, he brings humor, curiosity, and tenacious joy to both his studio practice and the classroom, where he has taught since 1995.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

On this episode, CAMFED CEO Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa will share her journey from a young girl on the brink of dropping out of school in rural Zimbabwe to leading one of the most powerful grassroots movements for girls’ education in Africa. A founding member of CAMFED’s alumnae network, The CAMFED Association, Angie will reflect on how a scholarship and community support transformed her life, and how she and hundreds of thousands of CAMFED graduates are now doing the same for millions more. She’ll speak to the power of investing in girls, the peer-led model that’s scaling opportunities across Africa and the bold vision to reach eight million more girls by 2030.

Linda will speak on her experience receiving support from CAMFED to complete her education and her role as the IT Officer at CAMFED Zimbabwe. Linda will also touch on what being a part of a sisterhood like CAMFED means to her, and the support it offered. She will speak on her passion for technology and seeing the rural communities embrace and make the most out of it. Linda can also speak on co-creating the Learner Guide Hub and the role that having empathy played in its development.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/UevaUBUGHls

Readings and Resources: Why girls education, What CAMFED does, The Learner Guide Program

Episode Guests

Angeline Murimirwa, Chief Executive Officer

Angeline (Angie) Murimirwa was one of the first girls to receive support from CAMFED to go to secondary school. She is now CAMFED’s Chief Executive Officer, uniquely positioned to bring the expertise of girls and women once excluded from education to inform policy and strategy at every level. Angie understands from experience both the desire for education and the enormous hurdles girls face in securing their right to education.

Linda Bhebhe, IT Officer and CAMFED Association Member  

Linda was born in the rural Kwekwe District of Zimbabwe. Raised by a single mother, her family could not afford the fees and supplies required for secondary school. CAMFED stepped in to provide support allowing Linda to continue and finish school. After finishing school, Linda joined the CAMFED Association (CAMA) — the network of young women supported through education by CAMFED. Linda is an active leader in the CAMFED Association and has volunteered her time teaching Mathematics and forming study groups at her local school to help students pass their exams.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Dr. Helen Crompton is the Executive Director of the Research Institute for Digital Innovation in Learning at ODUGlobal, and Professor of Instructional Technology at Old Dominion University. Dr. Crompton earned her Ph.D. in educational technology and mathematics education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recognized for her outstanding contributions, Dr. Crompton is on Stanford's esteemed list of the Top 2% of Scientists in the World. She has published over 200 papers and her work in technology integration has garnered her numerous accolades, including the SCHEV award for the Outstanding Professor of Virginia. Dr. Crompton's expertise extends beyond academia to practice, as she frequently serves as a consultant for various governments, bilateral and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank, leveraging her knowledge and experience to drive meaningful change in the field of educational technology. Her ODU email is crompton@odu.edu. Dr. Crompton’s CV and further information can be found here http://ww2.odu.edu/~crompton/

John Traxler, FRSA, MBCS, AFIMA, MIET, is Professor of Digital Learning at the University of Wolverhampton, Institute of Education in the UK where he is the UNESCO Chair in Innovative Informal Digital Learning in Disadvantaged and Development Contexts. In a unique and unprecedented combination, he also holds a Chair from the Commonwealth of Learning. He is currently Academic Director of the Avallain Lab, leading research on ethical and pedagogic aspects of educational AI. His papers have been cited over 12,000 times and Stanford continues to list him in the top 2% of researchers in his discipline. He has written hundreds of papers (with an impressive h-Index of 40 and i10 Index of 95) and seven books. Dr. Traxler has consulted for a variety of international agencies including UNESCO, ITU, ILO, USAID, DFID, EU, UNRWA, British Council, and UNICEF. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art in London, UK.

Dr. Traxler was a pioneer of mobile learning in the 2000s. For example, he was a Founding Director of the International Association for Mobile Learning. He also was a co-editor of the definitive book on mobile learning, Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers. Among his other books are: (1) Mobile Learning: The Next Generation, (2) Mobile Learning and Mathematics, (3) Mobile Learning and STEM: Case Studies in Practice, (4) Mobile Learning in Higher Education: Challenges in Context, (5) Critical Mobile Pedagogy, and (6) Digital Learning in Higher Education: COVID-19 and Beyond. In addition, he has contributed to many keynotes, panels, papers, journal articles, and book chapters on all aspects of learning with mobile technology. Over his career, he has worked on myriad digital learning projects and missions. John Traxler has been responsible for large-scale mobile learning implementations, small-scale mobile learning research interventions, capacity building, major evaluations, landscape reviews, and curriculum development. In the 2010’s, Dr. Traxler became increasingly concerned with the impact and consequences of learning technology and pedagogy on societies, cultures, and communities of massive mobility, and connectivity, and on the nature of disadvantage, especially for those far from the national or global mainstream, established, and secure. Currently, he is interested in the impact of AI on global and individual disadvantage and on the decolonisation of the digital technologies of learning and education. John can be contacted at johntraxler@live.co.uk or John.Traxler@wlv.ac.uk. His homepage is at: https://www.johntraxler.net/.

About Mike Sharples: I have a first degree in Computational Science and a PhD from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. My research focus is human-centred design of technologies for learning. My main current interest is 'citizen inquiry' - a fusion of citizen science and inquiry-based learning. I lead development of the nQuire platform, in collaboration with the BBC, to support mass participation in social science experiments. As Academic Lead for FutureLearn (www.futurelearn.com), I informed its social learning at massive scale, based on a pedagogy of  'learning as conversation'. I established the Innovating Pedagogy annual report series, to inform teachers and policy makers of new developments in teaching, learning and assessment for a digital world. Other current interests include blockchain for education, and strategies for digital transformation in higher education. My personal website is www.mikesharples.org

Bio: Mike Sharples is Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK. His research involves human-centred design of new technologies and environments for learning. He inaugurated the mLearn conference series and was Founding President of the International Association for Mobile Learning. He is Associate Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. He established the Innovating Pedagogy report series and is author of over 300 books and papers in the areas of educational technology, science education, human-centred design of personal technologies, artificial intelligence and cognitive science.

Mike Sharples' previous appearance on SLL: Episode 65 | Innovative Learning at Massive Scale: Let’s nQuire about the Future of FutureLearn (Mike Sharples). https://silverliningforlearning.org/episode-65-innovative-learning-at-massive-scale-lets-nquire-about-the-future-of-futurelearn/. Video (104:40): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7XgYcQTSxw

Weblinks to Mike's work:

1. About nQuire: https://nquire.org.uk/about
2. FutureLearn: https://www.futurelearn.com/
3. Innovating Pedagogy reports from the OU: http://www.open.ac.uk/innovating/
4. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-sharples-1633153/
5. Mike Sharples Homepage: https://www.mikesharples.org/
6. Mike Sharples on nQuire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHgczZeKX18
7. nQuire: https://nquire.org.uk/
8. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sharples
9. Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharplm?lang=en
10. Mike Sharples in Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0KzFF40AAAAJ&hl=en
11. Institute for Educational Technology at the Open University: https://iet.open.ac.uk/people/mike.sharples
12. Practical Pedagogy: 40 New Ways to Teach and Learn: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Pedagogy-Mike-Sharples/dp/1138599816

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As education systems around the world navigate increasing challenges from climate disruptions and deepening inequality to examining the impact of emerging technologies, there is a need for clear, actionable evidence on what works in EdTech. Policymakers and decision-makers are often forced to act without contextual insights and rigorous evidence to guide their choices. This evidence gap is particularly notable in regions with limited infrastructure, rapidly evolving needs, and pressures to improve learning outcomes. EdTech Hub was created in response to this need. Launched in 2019 and funded by FCDO, the World Bank, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EdTech Hub is a global research partnership that bridges evidence and practice to help stakeholders make evidence-backed decisions about the use of technology in education. Through the combined expertise of its consortium partners in research, innovation, and stakeholder engagement, EdTech Hub’s work has spanned seven focus countries as well as a number of regions to address long-standing as well as emerging needs in education, locally and globally.

This episode focuses on EdTech Hub’s approach through the lens of its work in one of its focus countries, Pakistan, and how local and global connections are central to its impact. In many ways the country is a great microcosm of the EdTech Hub approach - a thriving EdTech ecosystem, support of public, private and development sectors, and the complex challenges of implementation, scale and climate vulnerabilities - Pakistan offers a compelling snapshot of how local and global dynamics intersect in the education space. We will also broaden the lens and draw connections of the work in Pakistan with the Hub’s regional and global work, where the need for contextual, grounded research remains high. This is particularly pertinent as emerging technologies like AI gain rapid attention and raise questions on the effectiveness of new tools as well as concerns about their impact, while the system faces increasing threats from disruptions to education. We discuss how the Hub is contributing to the evidence base by diving into new thematic areas and engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, researchers, implementers, and EdTech entrepreneurs. This contextually-rooted work helps bridge the gap between local realities and global research and innovation making way for more equitable, effective, and evidence-informed uses of EdTech.

Readings and Resources:

• For support with your EdTech research, implementation, and innovation, keep updated with our publications from our evidence library.
• Understand “How EdTech Can Be Used to Help Address the Global Learning Crisis” in our blog.

Episode Guests

Amal Hayat works across EdTech Hub’s portfolio in Asia and beyond, where her focus is on supporting EdTech initiatives by strengthening implementation, and advancing evidence-based approaches to improving learning outcomes - particularly for marginalized children, out-of-school youth, and those affected by emergencies and climate change. She holds a Master’s in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and brings prior experience in instructional design, educational consulting, and user research, to offer a learner-centered, evidence-informed perspective to her work in EdTech. Amal views supporting EdTech rooted in a specific context as inherently interdisciplinary - and is interested in exploring intersections with climate, equity, innovation and technology and policy systems. Her work bridges research and practice, helping governments, implementers, and partners navigate complexity and use evidence to design evidence-informed and  context-sensitive EdTech implementation.

Asad Rahman is the Practice Lead for Venturing at Brink where he designs funds, manages portfolios, and works side-by-side to help ideas grow and leads the EdTech Hub’s Sandbox approach, supporting teams to test and grow EdTech interventions, and share what we’re learning with the world. He’s passionate about the appropriateness and ethics of different technologies in solving the global learning crisis.

Asad has many years of experience supporting growth and change in all types of organisations. Prior to this, he worked in strategy consulting and corporate strategy and innovation for a large professional services firm. He learnt that shifting how big companies work is about shifting the behaviours, incentives and mechanisms around people. So, he joined Brink as its first employee to dive deeper into how to do that.

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CARE Academy facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/people/CARE-Academy/61575858563750/

About our guests 

Jimmy Edwards is the Director of CAREducation, an education non-profit connecting and empowering both families and educators to thrive in a future of non-traditional learning. Jimmy is passionate about leading the Care Revolution and has served as a teacher, instructional coach, and researcher in public, private, alternative, international, and adult learning settings.

Rebecca Ferree is a passionate educator, learning coach, and homeschooling mom with over 15 years of teaching experience. After leaving traditional public schools in 2023, she began homeschooling her daughters and joined the innovative WEquil School, where they embraced self-directed, project-based learning. In 2024, she founded WEquil Academy—a part-time learning center in Northern VA—where she now collaborates with Jimmy Edwards to create real-world, project-based learning experiences that empower students to grow with confidence, curiosity, and care.

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What happens when you stop treating school buildings as the centre of learning and start treating the learner as the centre instead? In this episode we meet the founders of Beyond 8—and one of their students—to explore a high-touch, hyper-personalised model that is helping Gen Z learners design futures they’re truly excited about.

Across much of the world, high-school “success” still hinges on rigid timetables, batch-processing classrooms, and marks that often miss what matters most to teens: purpose and agency. Beyond 8 (https://beyond8.in)—a learner-determined high-school ecosystem in Chennai and Bengaluru—flips that script. Each teenager begins with a Dream-Mapping session, then receives a dynamic timetable that blends Cambridge or NIOS academics, internships, service projects, and wellness and learning habits. An AI-driven scheduler personalises every week, while a 1:1 mentor model and 50-learner “pod” structure ensure guidance stays deeply human.

Founded by long-time educators Naveen Mahesh and Raaji Naveen after 25 years of experimentation at HLC International School (https://hlcschool.in), Beyond 8 now counts 90 % of its graduates entering their first-choice universities and an equal share reporting higher confidence in navigating adulthood. Their approach—“Beyond Bricks” learning—has inspired micro-school start-ups and will likely get policy pilots going across the world. In this conversation we unpack the design choices, challenges, and future possibilities of hyper-personalised pathways for GenZ

Naveen Mahesh, Co-founder, Beyond 8

Social entrepreneur, Managing Trustee of HLC International School, and Harvard GSE alum. Naveen advises start-ups on learner agency, serves on the boards of NalandaWay (which serves over 10 million learners in Government schools), and Youth For Conservation Action Network and Gnanodaya Rehabilitation Association, which provides education to children coming from families affected by leprosy.  LinkedIn

Raaji Naveen, Co-founder, Beyond 8

A Social Entrepreneur, Vision-to-Strategy-to-Execution Specialist for Transformative Impact and a Champion of Learner-Determined Education. Raaji is an Ambassador for the Certificate Of Advanced Educational Leadership Course at Harvard. Raaji also serves as a trustee on the board of HLC International school. LinkedIn

Tara Srinivasan

Alumni Beyond 8 - Cohort of 2025

Tara Srinivasan was one of the first learners to join us—and she’s made every moment count. With a passion for Physics and Chemistry, she’s led peer sessions and designed math papers for state board students. She’s also a Bharatanatyam dancer, pianist, and composer of our school’s progression song, leading our music and dance teams for three years. Tara’s voice shines through student publications on LGBTQIA+ inclusion and cyberbullying, and she’s interned with organizations and artists to create content that inspires. A true example of learner agency in action.

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More on your guests and the books below the video

Two books on Blended Learning in Higher Education and Open Universities

• https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-9388-4
• https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-0722-8
• Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education: An Interview with Sanjaya Mishra By Stefanie Panke for AACE Review, February 18th 2025
  • https://aace.org/review/case-studies-on-blended-learning-in-higher-education-an-interview-with-sanjaya-mishra/

Dr Sanjaya Mishra is one of the leading scholars in open, distance, and online learning with extensive experience in teaching, staff development, research, policy development, innovation, and organisational development. With a multi-disciplinary background in education, information science, communication media, and learning and development, Dr Mishra has been promoting the use of educational multimedia, eLearning, open educational resources (OER), and open access to scientific information to increase access to quality education and lifelong learning for all. He has designed and developed award-winning online courses and platforms, such as the Understanding Open Educational Resources, Commonwealth Digital Education Leadership Training in Action, and COLCommons.

Recipient of the ISTD-Vivekanand National Award for Excellence in Human Resource Development and Training in 2007, Dr Mishra has conducted in-person and online training in over 30 countries. The Satija Research Foundation for Library and Information Science conferred Dr Mishra with the Indian Library Leaders Award 2012. Dr Mishra received the Prof G Ram Reddy Social Scientist Award 2013 from Prof G Ram Reddy Memorial Trust for his contribution to distance education and OER.

He has written and edited over 300 publications in the form of books, chapters, peer-reviewed journal papers, conference presentations, book reviews, and distance learning materials. While at UNESCO, as Programme Specialist (ICT in Education, Science and Culture), he facilitated the adoption of a strategy and policy for open access to scientific information and research. Dr Mishra serves on the Editorial Board of several peer-reviewed journals in the field of distance and online learning. He served as a Board member of Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (2021-2022).

Professor Santosh Panda is a National Fellow at the National Institute of Educational Planning & Administration, Government of India https://www.niepa.ac.in/National_Fellows. He recently retired as Director, Staff Training & Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE), Indira Gandhi National Open University. Started university teaching in 1984, and has above 42 years of experience in university teaching, research and administration, including 37 years for open and distance learning at IGNOU. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at UNM/Albuquerque; Chairperson of National Council for Teacher Education (national regulator), Government of India; Director of Policy & Research, Association of Indian Universities; and Director of Distance & Flexible Learning, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.

An internationally recognised leader of distance and online learning from the Global South, he has presented keynotes and workshops in above 30 countries; and has consulted for ADB, COL, DfID, Ford Foundation, GTZ, IDRC, SADC, UNESCO and the World Bank. His recent books include: Handbook of Open Universities Around the World (2025/ Routledge); Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education – design, development and delivery (2025/ Springer); Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education - policy, planning & quality assurance (2024/ Springer), Pedagogy in Practice (2022/ Bloomsbury), Technology Enabled Learning (2021/ COL-Canada), Planning & Management in Distance Education (2017/ Routledge), Economics of Distance and Online Learning (2008/ Routledge). He is the Chief Editor of Scopus-indexed Journal of Learning for Development, published by the Commonwealth of Learning/ Canada (https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d).

One of the global Leaders & Legends of Online Learning: https://onlinelearninglegends.com/podcast/084-professor-santosh-panda/

Prof. Pradeep Kumar Misra is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE) at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. He has made significant contributions to the fields of higher education, educational technology, and teacher education. His academic journey is a testament to his global recognition, underscored by the numerous prestigious international research scholarships he has received. These include Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship of the USIE, the Commonwealth Academic Fellowship of CSC, UK; Doctoral and Senior Researcher Scholarship of DAAD, Germany; Erasmus Mundus Visiting Scholar Scholarship of the European Commission; National Scholarship of Slovak Republic; MASHAV Scholarship of the Israel Government; and Research Exchange Scholarship of FMSH, France. He is also the recipient of the Joint Research Project under ICSSR (India) and NIHSS (South Africa) and a member of the academic bodies of several institutions and organizations in India and abroad.

Prof. Misra has published extensively both nationally and internationally, completed research and development projects, and developed educational media programs. His recent books, Teaching Competencies for 21st Century Teachers: Practical Approaches to Learning (Routledge, 2024) and Learning and Teaching for Teachers (Springer, 2021), are not just publications but prime examples of his impactful work that resonates with teachers globally. His recent books include Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education: Policy, Planning and Quality Assurance (Springer, 2024), Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education: Design, Development, and Delivery (Springer, 2025), and India Higher Education Report 2023: Higher Education Research (Routledge, 2025). Prof. Misra has also developed educational media programs and supervised Ph.D. scholars. His extensive experience in education has taken him to many countries, spanning continents and cultures.

Forthcoming book from Sanjaya Mishra and Santosh Panda:

The Handbook of Open Universities Around the World: (in press) https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Open-Universities-Around-the-World/Mishra-Panda/p/book/9781032754055

Per book homepage from Routledge: "The Handbook of Open Universities Around the World is the first collection to provide a comprehensive and critical overview of open universities internationally. Over 80 open universities have been established across five continents to provide a distance-orientated, class-inclusive, and high-quality education for learners left behind by existing formal systems for higher and continuing education and lifelong learning. This mission has been continually reshaped by major developments in open education, learning technologies, and online social networking, as well as by the evolution of specific concerns such as the massification of education, employability, financial trends, artificial intelligence, and development agendas on the regional, national, and global levels."

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Its foundation lies in the principles of constructionism and computational action: the belief that people learn best when actively engaged in building projects that are personally meaningful and useful to themselves and those around them. Through teacher and student education programs, along with global app challenges in partnership with local governments and nonprofits, App Inventor inspires users to develop apps that benefit their communities, fostering both digital literacy and civic engagement.

About our guests 

Natalie Lao (photo, LinkedIn): Dr. Natalie Lao is the Executive Director of the App Inventor Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by professors and engineers at MIT and Google with the mission of empowering students to create meaningful technologies that can transform their lives and uplift their communities. She received her B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. in EECS from MIT CSAIL (the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), where she developed database and AI components, and led research, curriculum development, and teacher training for MIT App Inventor initiatives across the globe. At MIT, she was Co-creator and Instructor for the undergraduate course 6.S198: Deep Learning Practicum, and led the trajectory team for the MIT Inclusive AI Literacy and Learning project. Natalie serves as Expert on Mission for UNESCO's AI & the Futures of Learning project, where she co-authored the United Nations's AI Competency Framework for School Students.

Maura Moore-McCune (LinkedIn) is a student in Kings Hospital School and has created VIPMOD: Vision Impaired Person’s Moving Object Detector - an award-winning app which detects fast-moving objects for use by vision impaired people so that they can live safer and more independent lives. Vision Ireland will be testing VIPMOD in the WayFinding Centre – an indoor environment replicating the real-world experience of using public transport for vision impaired people.

Tianyi (Tony) Huang (LinkedIn) is a rising senior at American High School in California and the founder and president of App-In Club, a global student-led nonprofit that empowers students of all ages to create impactful apps. Since learning about MIT App Inventor in 9th grade, Tony has created numerous apps and won the Congressional App Challenge and the World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY).

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Some links to the TV episode and post episode reflection and chat with Anderson Cooper are below. They were on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper in December: Khan Academy partnership with Hobart School District in Indiana (60 Minutes feature with Anderson Cooper; December 9, 2024): https://www.hobart.k12.in.us/our-district/scoh-khan-aacademy

1. Meet Khanmigo (60 Minutes): The student tutor AI being tested in school districts | 60 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia3CPhVkUtg
2. How Khanmigo AI can help kids in emotional distress; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ltnjJu4NM
3. Special Episode - Creating Opportunities for Career Success with Anderson Cooper; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RELN9cxB_E

Dr. Peggy Buffington, Ph.D. is the Superintendent of School City of Hobart. Peggy Buffington served as co-chair of Ready NWI, the education arm of the One Region, One Vision leadership team to improve the quality of life in Northwest Indiana. Ready NWI meets once a month with its partner sponsors of the Center of Workforce Innovation, and Higher Education Partners, to raise the percentage of people with postsecondary degrees in the area to 60 percent. The group has grown to include 30 sister school districts. They are paving the way for students to Be Ready for College and Careers!

Peggy earned two degrees from Purdue University Calumet including a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education/Reading Endorsement and a Master of Science in Instructional Design. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Technology from Purdue University. She has received several awards including the Purdue Calumet Outstanding Alumni Award, Outstanding Achievement Educator Award from the Hobart Chamber of Commerce, the Educator of the Year Award from the American Legion Post 54, Teacher of the Year for The Great Gateway Region of the United States for Technology & Learning, Indiana Teacher of the Year, One Region’s Outstanding Contribution Award, Excellence in Education from AdvancEd, District 1 Indiana Superintendent of the Year, the Indiana School Board Association Lorin A. Burt Outstanding Educator of the Year, and was inducted into Ivy Tech’s Society of Innovators. Peggy has been published in several education journals. She serves on the board of the St. Mary Medical Hospital. She believes there is no greater mission in life than to serve others, especially children. She can be reached at Dr. Peggy Buffington: peggyb@hobart.k12.in.us

Melissa Higgason, M.S.Ed., is a passionate educator with over 20 years of experience in science education, curriculum development, and research development. As a Chemistry Teacher at Hobart High School, she leverages inquiry-based teaching methods and cutting-edge tools like Khanmigo, an AI platform developed by Khan Academy, to inspire curiosity and innovation in her students. Previously, Melissa served as Associate Director of the Center for Science and Technology Education at Purdue University Northwest. In this role, she developed and implemented technology-enhanced curricula for K–12 science educators, led professional development workshops, and taught alongside teachers to model best practices in STEM instruction. She also supported grant-funded initiatives to advance STEM education and analyzed teacher and student performance data to enhance program outcomes. In addition to her work in education, Melissa has extensive experience in research development. At Purdue University Northwest, she partnered with faculty and administration to secure funding for interdisciplinary research projects, providing detailed guidance on grant proposals and building relationships with national funding agencies. Her efforts supported the growth of collaborative research initiatives that bridged education and innovation. Melissa’s career reflects her dedication to fostering collaboration, empowering educators, and advancing science education through research, technology, and strategic initiatives. Melissa remains dedicated to supporting students and educators by fostering collaboration, integrating technology, and promoting innovative approaches to teaching and learning. She can be reached at: higgasonclass@hobart.k12.in.us

Alaina Richter is in her fourth year of teaching 4th grade math in a departmentalized setting at Hobart—where she also graduated from. After playing basketball and earning her degree at Indiana University Northwest, she came back to her hometown to follow her longtime passion for teaching. Alaina especially loves teaching math and enjoys finding ways to make it click for her students. She’s all about building confidence, encouraging curiosity, and making her classroom a place where kids feel supported and capable. She can he reached at  arichterclass@hobart.k12.in.us

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GOC is also committed to fostering gender equality that can enable Afghan girls and women to have access to quality education. The mission of the leaders at GOC is make the needs of these girls and women more salient while striving for educational policy changes that can help the world become more just and equitable. Through their educational platform, they connect students with highly quality educators and trainers for around the planet, and, in turn, begin to create a global network of rich knowledge sharing and collaboration. As that occurs, brighter futures open up for girls in Afghanistan who are the future leaders of the country. By empowering girls and women, GOC is playing a vital role in breaking cycles of poverty and oppression. Empowerment, inclusivity, connection, collaboration, integrity, empathy, and unlocking potentials of Afghan girls and women are the principles underlying GOC.

• homepage (https://gocafghanistan.org/the-goc) and
  team (https://gocafghanistan.org/who-we-are-1) and watch the short video below.
  Generation of Change Organization Anniversary video (1:52)

Safar Mohammad Hamrah is an Afghan-Canadian computer science student at Indiana University (IU) in the United States. He is deeply passionate about blending technology with meaningful social impact. Originally from Afghanistan and having lived in Canada, Safar is now pursuing his undergraduate studies at IU. Safar is the founder of Generation of Change (GOC); a volunteer-led organization that provides online education to Afghan girls who are unable to attend traditional schools. Through GOC, Safar leads a dedicated team focused on promoting educational equity and empowerment. Building on this foundation of service, Safar’s people-first leadership style is shaped by his background and values, He is currently pursuing a minor in Leadership and a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, along with a strong interest in prompt engineering. He is widely recognized for his empathy, creativity, and unwavering commitment to supporting underserved communities. A lover of Persian poetry, photography, and mindful living, Safar merges tradition with technology to create tools that educate, empower, and inspire. His email contact is: smhamrah@iu.edu

Mohammad Naweed Hesan is a multitalented creative expert with over six years of professional experience in branding, graphic design, and 3D illustration. He has freelanced with startups, NGOs, and established brands globally, delivering efficient visual solutions that amplify identities and spark engagement. Side by side with his artistic pursuits, Naweed is a driven Coordinator at Generation of Change Afghanistan (GOC), His mail contact is: naweedullahhessan@gmail.com

Parwin Hamrah, is an economics major with a finance minor at the Asian University for Women (AUW). She is deeply passionate about making complex ideas accessible and relatable through storytelling. As an international student, she believes in education's transformative power, especially for girls and women. Being a member of Generation of Change (GOC), she has dedicated herself to empowering young women who have been denied their fundamental right to education. She holds that the key to societal development lies in the enlightenment and participation of every individual, particularly women and girls. When women are silenced or excluded, the entire nation suffers. Through GOC, her team has worked to inspire and enhance our sisters, advocating for education as a tool of liberation and progress. Our mission is to contribute to a world where education is a right, not a privilege, and where every girl has the opportunity to unlock her full potential. Parwin's email contact is: Email : parwinhamrah4@gmail.com

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Rendy Schrader is Chair of Indiana University’s Refugee Task Force, Rendy Schrader has led the campus effort to admit and serve refugee students for the past four years.  She is based in the IU Office of International Services, where she is a Senior Director for International Student & Scholar Programming and Initiatives.  After graduating from IU in 1982, she moved to Washington, DC and began a career in international education and has worked in it ever since. Working with this population has been among the most rewarding work she’s done.

Nicole Bennett is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Geography with a minor in Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the Assistant Director of the IU Center for Refugee Studies. She uses her experience working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development in Uganda, and other humanitarian and development agencies to critically interrogate the turn towards data-driven solutions in the humanitarian space. Ms. Bennett is interested in physical/digital interaction and how technology intensifies these spaces of interaction.

July 25, 2024, IU’s relationship with refugee resettlement organization helps with fresh starts, self-sufficiency: https://news.iu.edu/live/news/37243-ius-relationship-with-refugee-resettlement-organization, Indiana University News.

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As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into educational contexts, its potential to support—not replace—student learning is generating both excitement and important questions. In the field of language education, this moment offers a compelling opportunity to rethink how writing is taught, especially for beginning learners. In Episode 230 of Silver Lining for Learning, we are joined by Nicole Mills, Arnaud Dressen, and Hannah Kim to discuss their innovative work on the design and evaluation of an AI-powered writing companion for foreign language learners.

Their research centers on a multimodal, process-oriented writing platform that encourages students to engage in “reading to write” activities through dynamic interactions with a chatbot thought partner. Grounded in both the psychology of language learning and user experience design, their study explores how features like teaching presence, anthropomorphism, and writing self-efficacy influence how students perceive and engage with the tool.

What they discovered was striking: students who reported greater enjoyment using the platform were also more likely to value the writing process and feel more confident in their foreign language writing abilities. At the same time, a strong perception of the AI’s teaching presence surprisingly correlated with reduced enjoyment of learning French. While students appreciated the human-like qualities of the chatbot, anthropomorphism alone did not predict better outcomes—suggesting that enjoyment and thoughtful design may matter more than simply making AI seem lifelike.

In this episode, we explore the implications of these findings for future AI design in education, including the importance of customization, credibility, and learner agency. Join us for a discussion about how AI tools, when rooted in sound pedagogical research and theoretical foundations, can reshape the language learning experience for the next generation.

Readings and Resources

Link to published article in the Foreign Language Annals:

• Mills, N., Hok, H., Dressen, A., & Veillas, Q. (2025). Design and Evaluation of an Interactive AI Companion for Foreign Language Writing. Foreign Language Annals, 58(1), 1-30. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/SVAUFFDRNA68HATQD6BP?target=10.1111/flan.12790
• Substack feature from Open AI for Education: Teaching with ChatGPT: Immersive Language Learning with AILink: https://edunewsletter.openai.com/p/immersive-language-learning-with

Episode Guests

Nicole Mills

Nicole Mills is the Joint Director of Language Programs in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures and lecturer in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. She teaches courses in French, language pedagogy, and technology enhanced language learning and serves as the advisor for Harvard’s Bok Certificate in Teaching Languages and Cultures. Her research interests are associated with the psychology of language learning and their intersection with virtual and simulated environments in language learning, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and virtual reality applications. Her book Perspectives on Teaching Language and Content (co-authored with Stacey Katz Bourns and Cheryl Krueger) was published in 2020 with Yale University Press and she has various publications in the Modern Language Journal, the Foreign Language Annals, Language Learning, the CALICO journal, the International Journal of Applied Linguistics and in various edited volumes. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Studies and French from Emory University.

Hannah Hok Kim

Hannah Hok Kim is currently a postdoctoral researcher split between the MIT Libraries with the Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences with saxelab, and Harvard University’s Department of Psychology with the Thomas Lab. She previously received her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago working with Alex Shaw. Hannah studies social and moral cognitive development. She is particularly interested in children’s early emerging intuitive theories about the use of rules and procedures in coordinating group-decisions.

Arnaud Dressen

Arnaud is the CEO and founder of Wonda, a cutting-edge web platform focused on immersive learning.

Driven by a passion for using technology to enhance human creativity and foster collaboration, Arnaud has spent more than two decades at the forefront of media and education. His previous achievements include the creation of one of the first community-driven investigative journalism platforms, supported by the United Nations and the Ford Foundation, and pioneering innovative interactive documentaries featured at SXSW and the Cannes Film Festival.

Arnaud's recent endeavors with Wonda have been focused on providing educators with innovative tools to facilitate the teaching and learning of vital 21st-century skills by leveraging the power of spatial computing and generative AI. His work, in collaboration with leading universities and creative studios, has earned Wonda recognition as one of the top 8 XR education startups by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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In Episode #229 of Silver Lining for Learning (SLL), we will explore the topic of editing journals in the field of learning, design, and technology. In this hour, we will hear from three distinguished editors:

• Dr. Peter Shea from the University of Albany, current editor of the Online Learning Journal (OLJ). In fact, he was the Founding Editor as OLJ emerged from the ashes of the Journal of Synchronous Learning Networks (JALN).
• Dr. Som Naidu from Melbourne, Australia, who until recently served as the editor of Distance Education (DE) for the past quarter century. In fact, he too was the Founding Editor.
• Dr. Vanessa Dennen from Florida State University has served the field in several editorial capacities, including a decade as co-Editor in Chief of The Internet and Higher Education (2014-2024), and 3 years as an Associate Editor for Educational Researcher. She is presently an Associate Editor for Computers in Human Behavior Reports and has edited special issues for Educational Technology Research & Development, Online Learning, Distance Education, The Internet and Higher Education, and Technology, Instruction, Cognition & Learning.

More about the topics we hope to cover and our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/2rK38Af5bnc

Among the topics we'll discuss:

• How the rankings of educational technology journals have skyrocketed since COVID.
• Recent trends in the educational technology field.
• Recent and upcoming special issue topics in their journals.
• Significant challenges they face as editors.
• Present journal goals.
• Trends for the future that SLL might consider.

As always, we will ask our guests to recommend future guests for SLL.

About Our Guests

Dr. Vanessa Dennen

Dr. Vanessa Dennen is the Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies in the Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at Florida State University. She joined the faculty at FSU in 2003. In 2024 she was named a Fellow of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. She has a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology and MS in Educational Psychology from Indiana University and an MS in Instructional Design, Development & Evaluation from Syracuse University.

Vanessa's research focuses on pedagogical, social, and ethical aspects of learning and interacting in online environments. She began her academic career studying student discussion and engagement in online classes. She has expanded this work to now focus more broadly on networked knowledge activities in professional development settings, the use of emerging online technologies (including artificial intelligence) to support formal and informal learning, and the development of identity and community in online environments. She leads two research groups at FSU, Mediated Environments for Meaningful Education (MEME) Research Group and the Students, Social Media & Schools Research Group.

Vanessa has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. Additionally, she has co-edited four books: Virtual Professional Development and Informal Learning in Online Environments (2012), Social Presence and Identity in Online Learning (2019), Reshaping International Teaching and Learning: Universities in the Information Age (2021), and Global Perspectives on Educational Innovations for Emergency Situations (2022). She was a section editor for the 2023 Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education.

As a practitioner, Vanessa has worked as an instructional designer and evaluator in corporate, government and higher education settings. Projects have included developing and teaching a MOOC, evaluating online learning programs, designing standards-compliant Web-based training programs, and developing online community supports. She is also a trained leadership and performance coach, working with graduate students, faculty, and institutions to promote personal growth, professional development, and help people reach their individual and organizational goals.

Vanessa delivers keynote speeches, professional development workshops, and webinars internationally for instructors and instructional designers on topics such as fostering online presence, online learning communities and networks, open educational resources, and instructional design for active learning. During the pandemic, she became known for her, “People First, Content Second, Technology Third” humanist approach to online teaching.

Find her homepages at: https://annescollege.fsu.edu/vanessa-dennen or https://vanessadennen.com/

Som Naidu, PhD; D. Litt., PFHEA

Dr. Som Naidu, PhD; D. Litt., PFHEA

Professor Som Naidu is former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Flexible Learning), and Director of the Centre for Flexible Learning at the University of the South Pacific, and currently Principal Associate of Technology, Education and Design Associates—a Melbourne based educational technology consultancy service.

Dr. Naidu has spent most of his professional life in the higher education sector in a variety of roles to do with enhancing learning and teaching in open, flexible, distance, online learning and distributed learning, and education more generally in a variety of jurisdictions. He possesses undergraduate qualifications in Education from the University of Waikato in New Zealand and graduate qualifications in Educational Technology from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. A former president of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Som has served as Executive Editor of the journal Distance Education (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdie20/current) for over 30 years.

In May 2014 the Open University of Sri Lanka awarded Dr. Naidu a D.Litt. (Honoris Causa), in recognition of his extensive contribution to the field of open, flexible, distance and e-learning both regionally and internationally. And in July 2020, Advance Higher Education, UK, admitted Dr. Naidu as Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy for his commitment, contribution and strategic leadership in the scholarship of learning and teaching globally.

• ORCiD: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7480-8120
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/som-naidu-phd-d-litt-346a7199/
• Email: sommnaidu@gmail.com
• Twitter: @sommnaidu
• Profile, Legends of online learning: https://onlinelearninglegends.com/podcast/050-professor-som-naidu/ and https://www.acode.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=4039

Dr. Peter Shea

Dr. Shea is a Professor in the department of Educational Theory and Practice with a joint appointment with the Department of Informatics in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on technology-mediated teaching and learning in higher education. He is the author of numerous articles and several book chapters on the topic of online learning and co-author of The Successful Distance Learning Student. He is a co-recipient of several national awards including the EDUCAUSE Award for Systemic Progress in Teaching and Learning for the State University of New York, and Sloan Consortium Awards for Excellence in Faculty Development and Asynchronous Learning Networks Programs, and was named a Sloan-C Fellow in 2011.

Dr. Shea has also been the recipient of significant external funding for his recent work. This includes three grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to research faculty and student experiences in complete online learning environments and support for the development of hybrid learning environments at the University at Albany. He was also principal investigator on a US Department of Education grant to research and develop an online system to support the teaching of Chinese to children in K-12 public schools.

Previously, Dr. Shea was Associate Provost for Online Learning at UAlbany, providing leadership and strategy for online teaching and learning in collaboration with academic, administrative, and support units across the University. He was also Director of the SUNY Learning Network, the online education system for the 64 colleges of the State University of New York.

Don't miss this exciting episode - join us on April 5th!

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Cross-cultural differences can be acute in societies with a history of conflict such as Israel. Its main cultural groups are secular Jews, religious Jews and Muslim Arabs, co-living with other minorities from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This diversity is also reflected in how the state and society are organized. Israel’s education system is divided into sectors with schools that do not interact with one another. In this complex context—where historical and ongoing tensions create additional challenges—educators bear the critical responsibility of nurturing students' intercultural sensitivity, creating an urgent need for specialized training while technology-facilitated virtual spaces offer neutral ground for meaningful interaction across cultural boundaries. The TEC Center's work takes on renewed significance as it continues fostering dialogue in this challenging environment.

The TEC Center designs and implements simulations within virtual environments, utilizing advanced technologies to create immersive and interactive learning experiences. These simulations are applied in various educational settings to enhance intercultural communication, collaboration, and understanding. These carefully crafted simulations serve as transformative educational tools across various settings, specifically designed to enhance intercultural communication, foster collaboration, and deepen cross-cultural understanding.

Simulations in teacher education provide preservice teachers with practical, hands-on experience in a controlled, low-risk environment. Unlike traditional theoretical instruction, simulations allow repeated practice and experimentation, helping future educators develop essential teaching skills. These simulations range from simple text-based formats to immersive virtual reality environments (Gibson et al., 2007; Marburg et al., 2017).

Research suggests that incorporating simulations into teacher training programs enhances preparedness for real-world classroom challenges (Zibit & Gibson, 2005; Archambault et al., 2010; Badiee & Kaufman, 2014). By engaging in these controlled yet dynamic settings, preservice teachers gain valuable insights into classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies. Simulations also allow educators to role-play different scenarios, improving their ability to respond to diverse classroom situations effectively.

Furthermore, virtual simulations create an opportunity for preservice teachers to refine their teaching methods without the fear of making mistakes that could negatively impact actual students (Amichai-Hamburger et al., 2002). These safe-to-fail environments cultivate both confidence and competence, ensuring that future educators are better equipped to navigate the complexities of modern, culturally diverse classrooms. These environments foster confidence and competence, ensuring that future educators are better equipped to handle the complexities of modern teaching. As a result, simulations serve as an essential tool for enhancing teacher education worldwide.

AI is significantly transforming intercultural education by enhancing students' intercultural communication competence and promoting inclusive learning environments. The strategic integration of AI tools—including sophisticated chatbots, adaptive language learning applications, and culturally responsive digital assistants—facilitates highly personalized learning journeys and authentic cultural interactions, making education more accessible and effective for diverse learners. Additionally, AI-powered cultural simulations provide students with authentic global experiences, fostering deeper understanding and empathy in a rapidly globalizing world. These advancements not only improve communication across cultures but also contribute to a more inclusive and interconnected educational landscape.

The TEC center has received multiple recognitions including

• The Minister of Education Prize for a pedagogic initiative that brought about change in teacher education (2013),
• The Jerusalem Unity Prize in the presence of the President of the State (2018).
• Most recently one of our guests Dr. Shonfeld received the 2025 Outstanding Service to Digital Equity award at the SITE 2025 Conference in Orlando, Florida.

More at: https://mofet-web.macam.ac.il/tec/en/center/

About our guests

Prof. Miri Shonfeld is Vice President of the International Association of Intercultural Education, IAIE. She is the head of the Technology, Education, and Cultural Diversity (TEC) Center at MOFET Institute and the head of the thesis graduate program in Technology in Education at Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel-Aviv. Her research deals with intercultural education, online learning environments, collaborative work, virtual worlds, AI and faculty development.

Dr. Manal Yazbak  Abu Ahmad is a  Senior Lecturer, pedagogical supervisor, former Dean of Student Affairs, ex-department chair in the English Department at Sakhnin Teacher’s College, and a board member of the TEC Center. She has been coordinating TEC International Online Day for the last 6 years. Furthermore, she is an expert in using innovative digital tools in instruction and has been executing collaborative learning strategies in an online multicultural environment for more than 14 years. Her primary research areas are Intercultural Exchanges, Multicultural Education, Changing Attitudes, Intergroup Dialogues, and Online Collaborative Learning.

Dr. Wafa Zidan, Head of Digital Teaching and Learning Unit, at The Arab Academic College of Education in Israel-Haifa. She is a Lecturer in the field of ICT, computer science and research methodology, Internship workshop facilitator, a pedagogical trainer at the college, and online course developer.

Her research interests are, online teaching, implementing technology in education, developing, and implementing online courses, as well as the in the field of Internship and entry into teaching profession.

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David Wiley is the Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning. His work and research happen is at the intersection of open educational resources, generative AI, learning analytics, continuous improvement, and professional development. he's one of the founders of the open educational resources (OER) movement. David is also adjunct faculty in Brigham Young University's graduate program in Instructional Psychology and Technology where he was previously a tenured Associate Professor, and Director of The Brad D. Smith Student Incubator in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Marshall University.

As an academic, he's been fortunate to receive several recognitions for his work, including an National Science Foundation CAREER grant and appointments as a Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, a Peery Social Entrepreneurship Research Fellow in the BYU Marriott School of Business, and a Shuttleworth Fellow. As a social entrepreneur, David has founded or co-founded numerous entities including Lumen Learning, Degreed, and Mountain Heights Academy, and was named an Ashoka Fellow. In 2009, Fast Company named me one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. In my professional community, he was Education Fellow at Creative Commons from 2013 - 2016 and one of the original authors of the CC Certificate Program, as well as President of the international Association for Educational Communications and Technology from 2022 - 2023.

David Wiley began my teaching career in 1996 as adjunct faculty at Ashland Community College in Kentucky where I taught Introduction to E-Business. He then taught Advanced Web Techniques as an adjunct in Marshall University's Computer Science Department. And then Educational Psychology at Brigham Young University as a graduate student. Next, David held tenure-track faculty appointments at Utah State University and Brigham Young University, where he taught courses in instructional design, grant writing, open education, social entrepreneurship, social media in education, and other subjects. As an adjunct, he most recently taught IPT 515R, Generative AI for Instructional Designers, at BYU and ENT200h, The Brad D. Smith Student Incubator, at Marshall University during 2024. Find out more about David Wiley at his homepage: https://davidwiley.org/ or contact him directly at: david.wiley@gmail.com.

Lin Lin Lipsmeyer is a Professor of Teaching and Learning at the Simmons School of Education & Human Development, Southern Methodist University (SMU, https://www.smu.edu/simmons/about-us/directory/teaching-learning/lipsmeyer). Currently, Dr. Lipsmeyer is serving as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Director/Officer on an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment. Lin earned her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College Columbia University. Lin’s interdisciplinary research spans between learning sciences, STEM education, artificial intelligence, and innovative technologies. She has co-edited 9 books and reports, authored or co-authored over a hundred refereed journal articles and book chapters, and delivered more than a hundred presentations at national and international conferences. Dr. Lipsmeyer has also served as PI or Co-PI on multiple grants. Her leadership roles include department chair, center director, conference president, and program chair. From 2018 to 2024, Lin was the Development Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D), one of the top 20 educational research journals. Her SMU homepage is at: https://www.smu.edu/simmons/about-us/directory/teaching-learning/lipsmeyer and her LinkedIn page is at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lin-lin-professor/. She can be contacted at: llipsmeyer@smu.edu

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Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Participating in Everyday AI helps teachers learn to implement the Developing AI Literacy (DAILy) 2.0 Curriculum (link) in their diverse classrooms, grow comfortable teaching foundational AI topics, and develop a deep understanding of AI concepts including AI ethics and its societal impacts. As teachers reflect on how they would modify the materials to make them more accessible, relevant, inclusive, and equitable for their diverse students, they gain ownership over the material. As teachers complete the program, they return to serve as Facilitators in subsequent years to grow new cohorts of knowledgeable AI teachers.

In this episode, we dive deep into the experiences of two teachers who've been on the front lines of integrating artificial intelligence into their classrooms. We hear from Wanda and Racquel about their journey through the Everyday AI teacher professional development program. They will share their insights on everything from the AI Book Club and summer practicum to the rewards of mentoring other teachers and ultimately facilitating the program themselves!  Finally, we'll get a glimpse into their current classroom practices, discovering how they implement the DAILy 2.0 curriculum, address student misconceptions, and create impactful learning experiences. Tune in as we uncover the practical applications and transformative potential of AI in education!

About our guests 

Wanda Jones, Computer Science Teacher

Wanda Jones is a Computer Science educator with over twenty-four years of secondary and undergraduate teaching experience that incorporates her unique background of computer science, education technology, and computer information system management. Ms. Jones was named one of the Amazon Future Engineer Teacher of the year 2022 - 2023 and she is currently a National Winner of the 2024 CS Teaching Excellence Award by the Computer Science Teacher Association. Ms. Jones has worked with the Everyday AI project as a piloting teacher as well as a facilitator.

Racquel Herring, Robotics & Digital Literacy Teacher

Racquel Herring is a Robotics and Digital Literacy educator with over twenty-five years of experience teaching first graders to adults. She has served as a mentor to new and veteran educators through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Broward County’s New Teacher Academy. Racquel pursues educational experiences that open the world of science and technology to her students. She is one of the initial implementers of the Everyday AI Project.

Kate Moore, Research Scientist at the MIT STEP Lab

Kate Moore is a research scientist who studies how to teach middle and high school students about systems and ethics of artificial intelligence and machine learning. She earned her doctoral degree at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studied cooperative learning and collaborative problem solving, and worked part-time as a professional development coach for STEM teachers in New York City public schools with the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers (CPET). Before entering the world of research and design, Kate served as a middle school science and special education teacher for 10 years. She has worked in public, independent, and charter schools in New York City NY, Newark NJ, and Pittsburgh PA.

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Luddy Professor of Computer Science
Director of Luddy Artificial Intelligence Center
Director of Center for Machine Learning

• David Crandall Website:http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~djcran/
• David Crandall IU Homepage: https://luddy.indiana.edu/contact/profile/index.html?David_Crandall

David Crandall received the Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University in 2008 and the M.S. and B.S. degrees in computer science and engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, in 2001. He worked as a postdoctoral associate at Cornell from 2008-2010, and as a research scientist at Eastman Kodak Company from 2001-2003. Dr. Crandall’s main research interest is computer vision, the area of computer science that tries to design algorithms that can “see”. He is particularly interested in visual object recognition and scene understanding. He is also interested in other problems that involve analyzing and modeling large amounts of uncertain data, like mining data from the web and from online social networking sites. Take a look at Dr. Crandall's Computer Vision Lab website. IU Homepage: https://luddy.indiana.edu/contact/profile/index.html?David_Crandall

Since joining IU in 2010, he has been PI or Co-PI on over $24 million in research grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, Yahoo, Google, Meta/Facebook, NVidia, the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the U.S. Navy, NASA, Toyota Research Institute, the IU Office of the Vice President for Research, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Office of Naval Research, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3), the U.S. Department of Defense, and Eastman Kodak Company. He has published over 200 technical articles in top international venues, and has received best paper awards or nominations in CVPR, WWW, CHI, ICCV, and ICDL. He has received an NSF CAREER award (2013), two Google Faculty Research Awards (2014 and 2020), an IU Trustees Teaching Award (2017), a Grant Thornton Fellowship (2019), a Luddy Professorship (2021), and Distinguished ACM Membership (2022).

Selma Šabanović is a Professor of Informatics and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington. She studies social robotics and human-robot interaction, with a focus on exploring how robots should be designed to assist people in various use contexts, including mental health, wellness, education, and social participation. She works with existing and potential robot users of all ages, from children to older adults, and in various cultures, including East Asia, Europe, and the US. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs for the Luddy School and as an Associate Vice President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Educational Activities Board. She previously served as the Editor in Chief of the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction from 2017-2024. She received her PhD in Science and Technology Studies in 2007 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

• Story in Wired Magazine, Feb. 8, 2024: https://news.luddy.indiana.edu/story.html?story=Wired-story-highlights-differencemaking-Luddy-School-dementia-research
• January 4, 2024: https://www.wired.com/story/parents-dementia-robots-warm-technology/
• May 10, 2024, News at IU, https://news.iu.edu/live/news/35667-future-of-social-robots-showcased-in-iu

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The podcast will focus on a generative-AI-based virtual teaching assistant, Jill Watson. Developed by researchers at AI-ALOE, Jill Watson is deployed on the class learning management system to engage in extended, cognitively-rich and factually grounded one-on-one conversations with students about topics in instructor-approved course materials anytime and anywhere. With its reach, Jill Watson affords opportunities for improving and democratizing post-secondary learning.

Readings and Resources: https://aialoe.org, Taneja, Karan, Pratyusha Maiti, Sandeep Kakar, Pranav Guruprasad, Sanjeev Rao, & Ashok K. Goel. "Jill Watson: A Virtual Teaching Assistant powered by ChatGPT."

Episode Guests

Ashok Goel

Ashok K. Goel is a Professor of Computer Science and Human-Centered Computing in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Chief Scientist with Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities. For almost forty years, he has conducted research into cognitive systems at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cognitive science with a focus on computational design and creativity. For almost two decades, much of his research has increasingly focused on AI in education and education in AI. He is a Fellow of AAAI and the Cognitive Science Society, an Editor Emeritus of AAAI’s AI Magazine, and a recipient of AAAI’s Outstanding AI Educator Award as well as the University of System of Georgia’s Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Award. Ashok is the PI and Executive Director of National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (aialoe.org) sponsored by the United States National Science Foundation.

Sandeep Kakar

Sandeep Kakar is a Research Scientist in the Design & Intelligence lab of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interest centers around using artificial intelligence to improve learning outcomes in online education. He holds an MS in Computer Science. His previous education includes a Ph.D. in Physics and an MBA.

Kristy Singletary

Kristy Singletary has 15 years of experience in Georgia’s technical colleges. She currently serves as the Dean of General Education at Georgia Northwestern Technical College, as an English faculty member at Southern Regional Technical College, and as a teaching fellow at the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE).

Dr. Singletary is a passionate advocate for equitable access to higher education, with research focused on identifying and addressing barriers to student success in higher education. Recently, she has become an active contributor to research on the ethical integration of AI to enhance learning outcomes in TCSG classrooms. As an educator, administrator, and researcher, Dr. Singletary is deeply committed to providing exceptional education for students across northwest and southwest Georgia.

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As generative artificial intelligence has begun to impact the educational landscape, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has emerged as a leading voice in understanding and guiding AI adoption in schools. Their recent research has shed light on how early-adopter school districts are implementing AI technologies and the challenges they face. From teacher-centered AI tools to professional development initiatives, CRPE's findings reveal a diverse range of approaches being taken by forward-thinking districts across the US.

CRPE's work has also explored significant gaps in AI readiness, particularly in teacher preparation programs. Their study of U.S. teachers colleges indicates a concerning lag in AI training for future educators, raising critical questions about how well-equipped the next generation of teachers will be to navigate an AI-infused education system. As schools grapple with the opportunities and challenges presented by AI, CRPE's research prompts important discussions about policy development, ethical considerations, and the future of teaching and learning in a post-ChatGPT world.

More about our guests and their work below the video

https://youtu.be/J7HAxlNbgYc

Some links

• What can be learned from early adopters of AI? | K-12 Dive
• New Survey Says U.S. Teachers Colleges Lag on AI Training. Here are 4 Takeaways – The 74
• Think Forward: Learning with AI

Michael Berardino is a Senior Research Analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Michael’s prior research focuses on issues of equity in public education policy, with a concentration on racial equity and Multilingual Learners and creating more equitable and inclusive assessment and instructional practices. Before joining CRPE, Michael was a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education, studying the development of alternative assessment and accountability systems and innovative high school practices promoting post-secondary educational success. Michael has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a BA in Government from Georgetown University.

Steven Weiner is a research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, where he brings an interdisciplinary lens to understanding transformative change within educational systems. His previous research has leveraged elements of organizational theory, design studies, learning sciences, and foresight methodologies to explore the institutional challenges schools face when adopting innovative educational practices. As a doctoral student, Steven received the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship and was named a University Innovation Fellow by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. Steven began his career as a high school physics teacher and later helped envision, design, and run a community-centered educational makerspace at a major US science center. Steven holds a BA in Classical Studies from the University of Florida and a PhD from Arizona State University’s College of Global Futures.

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Collaborative Artificial Intelligence for Learning (CAIL) is a research and design project focused on integrating innovative AI tools in the classroom to support learning in collaborative groups. Students interact with AI-powered conversational agents in group work and discussions. The agent is envisioned as a peer who would promote deeper thinking on the topics instead of an efficiency tool. We also aim to provide real-time information to teachers and students to support teachers’ formative assessment and students’ self reflection. As part of the project, we are building out CAILA (Collaborative Artificial Intelligence for Learning and Analysis) to process the real-time data while keeping with human- and child-centered design principles and keeping humans in the loop. To date, we have created conversational agents to work with high school students in PBL data science workshops and investigated potential roles the agents could play in team-building exercises. Our lines of inquiry span from the personas and roles of the agents to analytic tool development to formative and reflective assessments for learning.

The goal of the RAICA curriculum is computational action with artificial intelligence for late primary, middle and secondary students. In order for students to take computational action with AI, RAICA has designed lessons that provide opportunities for students to apply computational thinking and responsible design while growing their AI fluency. We approach all of our work with a constructionist pedagogy, a belief that students learn best by constructing their own knowledge and being creative. We use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) frameworks to guide the design of RAICA’s materials to support student and teacher learning.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/QtGKHYBKgoE

About our guests

Grace Lin: As an assessment scientist, Grace Lin is particularly interested in measurement and playful assessments for and of learning. Her research centers around different areas of cognition and how games can be implemented to not just help people learn, but also measure elusive constructs. She received her PhD in Education from University of California, Irvine, an Ed.M. in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in Psychology from New York University. At UC Irvine, she was trained as a Pedagogical Fellow and conducted teaching assistant and course design PD workshops for both first year graduate students and postdocs across various disciplines. Prior to joining MIT, Grace was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oregon, working with nonprofit organizations and on an early childhood measures repository.

Christina Bosch: Christina Anderson Bosch is a research scientist on the RAICA project. Over the last 15 years, she has pursued a range of experiences with/in education systems in various U.S. contexts and internationally, focusing on evidence-based instruction, inclusive curriculum design and evaluation, teacher professional development, and partnerships that advance access, equity, and interest in life-long learning. Dr. Bosch’s various lines of work share creativity, rigor, and global citizenship as values. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a M.Ed. in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard University, a M.A. in Special Education from American University, and a B.A. in English from the University of Vermont and is grateful for the many lineages that have shaped her perspective.

Emma Andersen: Emma Anderson has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She holds an MA from the University of Buffalo in geology and an BA from Smith College in sociology-anthropology. Her research centers around science, art, making, and play. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked at Baltimore Woods Nature Center as an environmental educator bringing science lessons into urban kindergarten through 6th-grade classrooms and leading summer campers around the woods.

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The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) is the backbone of workforce development in Georgia, serving every corner of the state through 22 colleges and 88 campuses. TCSG delivers high -quality education and careers that empowers Georgians with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for success in high-demand professional and emerging fields. From innovative programs in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity to robust partnerships with industries statewide, TCSG is preparing Georgia’s workforce for the jobs of the future. Each year, TCSG serves more than 500,000 Georgians through its technical education, adult education, and customized workforce training programs.

Georgia has been named the #1 state for business for 11 consecutive years by Area Development magazine, and TCSG plays a critical role in earning and sustaining this recognition. With affordable tuition, cutting-edge programs, and a strong emphasis on experiential learning, TCSG ensures that education and career advancement are accessible to all. The system has experienced significant enrollment growth in recent years and had the highest number of graduates in its history in 2024. Beyond technical programs, TCSG leads the state in adult education, high school equivalency initiatives, and workforce training for business and industry, cementing its role as a vital force in Georgia’s economy.

Areas of interest  for the Podcast and the individual most knowledgeable in that area:

Georgia Match - Dr. Daniel

• GEORGIA MATCH is a workforce initiative created by Governor Kemp, and championed by Chancellor Perdue, Commissioner Dozier, and State School Superintendent Woods.
• Direct Admissions initiative - letter to every public and private high school senior. The letter identifies all the TCSG & USG colleges that the student is academically qualified to attend based on their HOPE GPA.

Articulation Agreements ) Tammy Bryant  

• 28 TCSG courses transfer to University System of Georgia Colleges (USG)
• 894 one-to-one articulation agreements

Nursing  programs and their articulation agreements

Career Plus  -  Dr. Daniel

• Career Plus is a high school diploma program (vs. high school equivalent program) for students 21 years old and older.
• Students must complete nine high school core courses plus either a two-TCC pathway, a diploma, or an associate degree

Dual Achievement and Dual Enrollment – Dr. Daniel

• Students will graduate high school with a high school diploma and college credentials. Students must earn either two Technical Certificates of Credit or a Diploma or an associate degree
• Be between the ages of 16-21
• Student is not considered a drop-out from their high school

Georgia Quick Start – A highly accomplished department of the Technical College System of Georgia  -    (All)

• #1 Workforce Training Program in the country for 15 years, per Area Development Magazine
• Provides FREE workforce training for companies moving to Georgia or expanding operations in Georgia

Worksource Georgia – Dr. Daniel

• Provides workforce development and career services to more than 196,000 Georgians
• Launched an online labor exchange portal that connects employers with job seekers. worksourcegaportal.com

Leadership through Local Board of Directors - Adie Shimandle

National Science Foundation Artificial Intelligence institute in Adult Learning and Online Education Program– Adie Shimandle

• 11 colleges participating in the ALOE Fellowship program

Episode Guests

Dr. Andrea Daniel President Athens Technical College

Dr. Andrea Daniel currently serves as the President at Athens Technical College. She has served the College for over 27 years. Dr. Daniel began her career working in the office of Senator Sam Nunn and supported the work of the Armed Services Committee. Dr. Daniel previously worked as a senior planning analyst for the Atlanta Regional Commission on projects such as the Outer Loop Study, Vision 2020 Education Stakeholder Committee, planning and zoning studies, and Olympic Transportation Planning.

Dr. Daniel has completed the Executive Leadership Academy of the Technical College System of Georgia, and she is a graduate of L.E.A.D. Athens Class of 2008. She has also successfully completed the Georgia Tech Annual Basic Economic Development Course, and the Georgia Regional Academy for Economic Development Essentials of Economic Development course. In January 2020, Dr. Daniel was elected and nominated by a group of her peers to serve on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board of Trustees. For her efforts in demonstrating excellence, creativity and success in business and furthering the goals for other professional women, Dr. Daniel was presented the Athena Award in February 2020. In November 2020, Dr. Daniel received the Elbert County Native Citizen Award during the annual meeting of the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Daniel has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Lander University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate in Business Administration specializing in organizational leadership from Northcentral University

Adie Eleaze Shimandle: Executive Director of the Technical College Directors' Association of Georgia

Ms. Shimandle is the Executive Director of the Technical College Directors' Association of Georgia (TCDA) under the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). In this role, she oversees education and certification programs for local boards of directors across Georgia's 22 technical colleges and has trained and certified more than 600 local board members.  She spearheaded the creation of TECH Talks, an initiative technical showcase of pioneering entrepreneurs in disruptive technologies and co-host of the Technical College System of Georgia Statewide Leadership Conference. These explosive new technologies and innovations are driving Georgia's industries and workforce. In addition to her work with TCDA, Ms. Shimandle actively advocates for technological advancements, serving as an ambassador to Georgia legislators, locally and at the federal level, and engaging in discussions on transformative innovations that enhance education and industry.

Ms. Shimandle has held senior level position in marketing, business analyst, project management and education. She is a graduate of Leadership North Fulton, created the Community Partner's Fair for the Taste of Alpharetta, Georgia, former member of Habitat for Humanity North Fulton and provided computers underserved students in the Norcross, Ga area. She was inducted into Marquis Who's Who in 2024 and recently was honored to be named the recipient of Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award December 2024.  She will appear in the 2025 edition of Who's Who in America.

Ms. Shimandle earned an Associates of Science in Education from Manatee Junior Collee (now the State College of Florida),  then earning a Bachelor of Science in Instructional Psychology, Training, and Technology at the University of Georgia, where she achieved academic distinction and was recognized for her leadership and scholastic excellence as a straight "A" student. She was honored to be selected as one of two graduating seniors to give the graduation speech at a UGA satellite campus.  She is a founding member of the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (ALOE), and currently resides on the executive board assisting researchers with ongoing data and advice on adult learners.

Tammy Bryant, MSN, RN, Director of Curriculum for Allied Health at TCSG

Tammy earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Brenau University and a Master’s degree in Nursing from Walden University. Her first career was that of a Labor and Delivery Nurse in the Atlanta area. She then started as a nurse educator with the Technical College System of Georgia at Southern Regional Technical College (SRtC) in 1994 as a full-time instructor in the LPN Program; as she continued her educational journey she developed one of the first Gerontology Diploma Programs for the Technical College System, served as instructor, and program chair for the ASN program from 2010-2022. In 2023, she served as Dean of Nursing for SRTC from June – January of 2023.   Most recently in January 2023, she accepted the position within the Technical College System as Executive Director of Health Initiatives.

Tammy received the Southern Regional Technical College’s Rick Perkins Award for Excellence in Technical Instruction twice while teaching. She has served as a member of the Nursing Education Committee for the Georgia Board of Nursing and the Steering Committee for the Inaugural Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing - Nursing Education Accreditation Conference.  She was appointed to the Georgia Board of Nursing (GBON) in 2017 and reappointed in 2021 and served as the President of the GBON for 2 years.

Additionally, she is active in her community where she has served as a Board Member for the Lives without Limits non-profit organization, a member of Thomasville Health Department Committee, as well as a Member of the Georgia Association of Nursing Deans and Directors.  Tammy and her husband, Danny, have one daughter and live in Thomasville.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

About the Ewant Open education platform: https://www.ewant.org/

The ewant Open Education Platform, established in 2013 by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan, is a pioneering initiative in the realm of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As Taiwan's first MOOCs platform, ewant has made significant strides in democratizing education, offering over 1,100 courses to a diverse audience that includes more than 650,000 enrollments. This platform collaborates with 110 educational institutions and organizations to provide high-quality learning resources across various disciplines. Over the past two years, approximately 200,000 registered users were high school students.

Ewant aims to enhance accessibility to education by breaking geographical barriers and offering courses in both Mandarin and English. Its innovative approach includes hybrid learning models that combine online and offline experiences, fostering peer-to-peer interaction and collaboration among learners. The platform has gained international recognition for its engaging content and successful partnerships, such as its collaboration with the National Palace Museum and renowned educators like Professor Barbara Oakley. With a commitment to promoting lifelong learning, ewant continues to expand its course offerings, including specialized programs in emerging fields like Artificial Intelligence and Medical Science. One notable achievement is the collaboration with the National Palace Museum, which resulted in the award-winning course "A Visit to Treasures in National Palace Museum." This course received a gold medal at the 2021 World Fest Houston International Film and Video Festival, highlighting its innovative approach to education and cultural engagement.

Additionally, ewant partnered with Professor Barbara Oakley to create a Chinese version of the highly popular course "Learning How to Learn." This collaboration expanded the course's reach, allowing Mandarin-speaking students to benefit from its insights into effective learning strategies. The platform also launched a high school version and a teacher education variant, further enhancing its educational offerings. Courses like "Mandatory Credits for College Students: Emotional Education," developed by Professor Fei-Juan Chen, have seen significant enrollment success, with over 30,000 students participating in its first semester on a major credit-sharing platform in China. Such initiatives demonstrate ewant's commitment to providing accessible, high-quality education that resonates with diverse audiences and fosters global connections among learners.

Sample project: NYCU Partners with VIS to Launch Digital Semiconductor Course: Advancing Educational Equity and Providing Quality Resources for Remote and Offshore High Schools: https://www.nycu.edu.tw/nycu/en/app/news/view?module=headnews&id=552&serno=fcf843a0-00da-4a97-b26d-bcb89cffaac8

Kenzen Chen, Associate Professor of e-Learning; and also Associate Dean of the College of humanities, arts, and social sciences; Associate Director of Higher Education Resources for Openness (HERO Center); Associate Director of faculty choir (many associates, LOL); National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.

Dr. Ken-Zen Chen is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Education at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan starting September 2015. Prior to becoming an academic, Kenzen was an instructional designer and research analyst at eCampus Center, Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A. Kenzen specialized in retention research & provided instructional design consultation to support the design & delivery of online courses & programs at Boise State. In line with the state government’s mission of Complete College Idaho 2020, he assisted with learning analytics to improve online student success and provide faculty support with research collaborations for online scholarship of teaching & learning. Kenzen completed his Ph.D. in math, science & technology education in 2012, & M.S. in applied statistics in 2010 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); he also received an M.A in curriculum & instruction & a B.Ed. from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). With his experience in educational foundations, MIS, and instructional design tools, he has broad research interests & backgrounds in the areas of educational technology, learning sciences, big-data analytics in education, and curriculum & instruction. Starting 2016, Dr. Chen collaborates with Dr. Barbara Oakley to transform her famous “Learning How To Learn” MOOC into a series of culturally responsive MOOCs for Chinese-speaking learners and won great success. Currently, the “landing” LHTL is onboarding in five MOOC platforms and one Podcast platform. Dr. Chen uses these MOOCs as research sites to generate a sustainable model for MOOC development. Presently, Kenzen co-directs the ewant Open Education Platform (https://ewant.org, literally: the education you want) - Taiwan’s flagship Mass Open Online Courses platform.

Dr. Hsin-Yun Wang (Jill)

Dr. Jo-Chi Hsiao (Anna)

• Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for Teacher Education at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology;
• Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University;
• Community leader of Dance with Stars, a professional learning network for high school English teachers in Taiwan
• English teacher at National Hsinchu Senior High School

Her research focuses on teacher professional development, TESOL, and Computer Assisted Language Learning

Dr. Wen-Li Chang (Wendy)

Post Doc Fellow, Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Lecturer, General Education Center and Language Center, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Lecturer, Department of English and Language Center, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan

Her research field encompasses English-medium instruction, technology-enhanced language learning, self-regulated language learning, and open educational practices.

Dr. Yi-Fang Lo (Elva)

English Teacher and The Chief of Curriculum, Yong Zhen Elementary School, Miaoli County, Taiwan

Doctoral Student, Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Lecturer, Cool English website, MOE (The Ministry of Education), Taiwan

Review Expert of Examination, “Test My English” CEFR English Test System, MOE (The Ministry of Education), Taiwan

Community leader, a professional learning network for elementary school English teachers in Taiwan

Research fields:

• motivation on English learning
• online escape room game design on learning
• technology-enhanced language learning in elementary education
• self-regulated language learning

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Silver Lining for Learning will start 2025 with a phenomenal project called Christel House International (https://christelhouse.org/) involving youth around the world. Christel House is a global network of schools in India, Mexico, South Africa, Jamaica, and Indianapolis in the United States. Its mission is to provide high-quality, free education from preschool age until they can secure employment after their tertiary education. For the past 25 years, Christel House has strived to provide a comprehensive approach that involves not just educational programming but also healthcare, nutrition, and family assistance. Such an approach helps to ensure the complete holistic development and well-being of every young person in their program. At its core, Christel House has been dedicated to helping empower children from under-resourced communities to maximize their potential, and, in effect, transform lives around the planet. Across their 25 years of existence, Christel House has impacted over 20,000 students across the world with the establishment of 9 schools in 5 countries. They are currently spearheading a new fully funded Fellowship program called the Global Pathbuilders Fellowship which hopes to identify and support high-potential visionary leaders and entrepreneurs in establishing Christel House schools in new countries. Among the countries under consideration are Peru, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, and Bangladesh. They are presently looking for partners in those countries. Selected Fellows will receive customized support to design and launch new schools, including opportunities to be embedded in different Christel House schools to learn from their experienced CEOs and their teams. Clearly, Episode #218 of Silver Lining for Learning will be one of great interest to those seeking innovative solutions to educational problems around the world.

David Harris – President and CEO, Christel House International

David Harris is President & CEO of Christel House International. Before joining Christel House, he was a partner with The City Fund. David founded The Mind Trust in 2006, which became a national model for driving urban education reform. Before founding The Mind Trust, David spent five years as Mayor Bart Peterson’s Charter Schools director, where he built a charter school office that received Harvard University’s Innovations in American Government Award. In 2024, David was recognized with the Leader in Education Innovation Award from The Mind Trust. The Indianapolis Business Journal named David one of the city’s 40 Influential People of the Past 40 Years in 2020. He has received College Summit’s Let Talent Shine Award, Teachers’ Treasures Caring Spirit Award, Hope Academy’s Faces of Hope Award, Marian University’s Franciscan Values Award, and Indy’s Best and Brightest Award from Junior Achievement of Central Indiana. He was featured as part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s 2013 Profiles of Change series. He also was named one of Indianapolis Business Journal’s ‘Forty Under 40’ and was the inaugural winner of the St. Richard’s Episcopal School’s Eugene S. Pulliam Founders Medal for alumni who “demonstrate creative leadership and service that has benefitted society.” David received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Indiana University.

Adri Marais – CEO, Christel House South Africa

In April 2018 Adri Marais joined Christel House South Africa as CEO. Adri has a Masters in Biochemistry, an MBA and a Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education Studies (cum laude). Science, business and education inform her view of the world. As a social entrepreneur, she is passionate and tenacious. As a leader, deeply empathetic, straight-talking and standing in her integrity. She drives innovation from conceptualization to implementation, balancing risk and reward with humanity. The business of education was a natural home for her work towards social change. In 2004, together with three co-founders, she started TSiBA (Tertiary School in Business Administration) dedicating her life full-time to post-apartheid redress. TSiBA is a private not-for-profit business school that provides all students with full, or part, tuition scholarships to study towards an enriched, fully accredited BBA degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Lauren Daniels

My name is Lauren Daniels; I am 25 years old and currently residing in South Africa. I attended Christel House South Africa from 2013-2017, which was my high school career. I matriculated top of the class in 2017 and was also the valedictorian. I went on to study business and marketing for one year at a private college on a full scholarship, and then proceeded to complete my undergraduate degree at Stellenbosch University, a Bachelor of Arts in Social Dynamics in 2021. I completed my BA Honors in Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University in 2022. I graduated in March 2023, and I am currently working as Project coordinator in the Bursaries and Student Recruitment management division at the Growsmart Educational Program at Growthpoint Properties CSR department. I am currently pursuing my master’s degree in medical Anthropology, with a focus on public and reproductive health at the University of Johannesburg.

• Indianapolis Star (front page article from January 4, 2025) This high school mentors its students long after they graduate, and it’s seeing results
• The 74 – Op-Ed by David Harris: How Indiana is leading the way in measuring schools by what matters most
• Mail & Guardian – Op-Ed by Adri Marais: There is a way to address poverty in South Africa
• Chalkbeat Indiana – (College & Careers Collaboration): Christel House expands postsecondary support program to traditional public, charter schools
• South Africa - The Good News (CH Expansion): Christel House SA to open a new high school

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

More about our guest below the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53Y4ARlf1E

Dr. Julie Lindsay is a highly accomplished and influential figure in the field of education, with over 35 years of experience spanning K-12 schools and higher education. She is a passionate advocate for the integration of educational technologies and innovative pedagogies to drive digital transformation for teaching and learning. Notably, Julie worked in international schools for fifteen years as an educational technology and online learning leader across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She has designed and implemented numerous online global projects for K-12 classrooms utilizing a collaborative "working with" approach to global learning. This rich experience has informed her scholarship, leading to the publication of two influential books: "Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds" and "The Global Educator: Leveraging Technology for Collaborative Learning and Teaching." Julie continues to deliver presentations, workshops, and consultations on global collaboration in education internationally through her consultancy “Learning Confluence.”

Julie completed a PhD in 2019 entitled, “Online global collaborative educators and pedagogical change.” This research offered innovative insights into educator beliefs, competencies, and conceptual change as enablers to adopting a Global Collaborator Mindset with attributes of connection, openness, autonomy, and innovation. These findings have helped to shape her current research, which centers on exploring practices and approaches to embedding online global collaborative learning in higher education with a view to establishing an open community of practice and a robust framework to guide effective learning design and implementation.

Currently Julie holds the position of Senior Education Technology Advisor in the Learning and Teaching Futures Portfolio at the University of Southern Queensland. In this role, she is a thought leader and change agent seeking to reimagine traditional approaches to education and foster innovation. Artificial Intelligence is firmly on her agenda and in 2023 she established the AI for Learning and Teaching Collective, an internal, open community of practice with links to external partners that meets to share practice and develop better approaches for AI integration in higher education. In 2020, Julie was the recipient of the Research in Educational Leadership and Management Award from the Australian Council for Educational Leaders. In 2023 she was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for University Educational Leadership "For fostering student reflective learning, employability and professional identity through a university-wide, sustained initiative leading to changed academic practice through integration of online portfolios."

She is actively involved in several initiatives that promote the effective integration of technology in education, including leading the global Technology and Innovation Network (TIN) in partnership with the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), further demonstrating her dedication to fostering innovation in education on a global scale. In June 2024 Julie was the recipient of an Erasmus+ Staff Mobility nomination and spent time in Germany with partner university, Justus Liebig University, Giessen. Julie can be reached via email at: julie.lindsay@unisq.edu.au and via LinkedIn at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/julieannelindsay

• Julie Lindsay’s ORCID #: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6220-8785
• Curriculum embedded global collaborative learning research website: https://create.usq.edu.au/global/
  Learning Confluence: https://learningconfluence.com/
• Video #1: Online Global Collaborative Learning (7:08): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz78Cb-JR44
• Video #2: Exploring curriculum-based global collaboration in higher education (3:42): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhuBAxF31U

Recent Publication:

• Beyond borders: how to make online global collaborative learning work, by Julie Lindsey, Times Higher Education, October 16, 2024
• As higher education strives to ‘reset’ in the age of AI to become more flexible, interdisciplinary, open, focused on real-world learning and with authentic assessment, curriculum-embedded online global collaborative learning (OGCL) is a key path to future-ready graduates
  https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/beyond-borders-how-make-online-global-collaborative-learning-work

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Goodwill was founded in Boston by Reverend Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister and early social innovator. Helms created the Goodwill philosophy of “not charity, but a chance” when he collected used household goods and clothing, then trained and hired people who were destitute to mend and repair the used goods. The goods were then sold or given to the people who repaired them. 120 years later, Goodwill remains a household name and leading nonprofit provider of educational and workforce-related services. The Goodwill enterprise is a network of more than 150 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 12 other countries. To meet the needs of their local communities, each local Goodwill organization designs and operates its own programs and services to help people find work near where they live.

Most Goodwills did not recover their mission services to the size, scale, and performance after they were forced to shut down or significantly change during and after the pandemic. Collectively, the Goodwill movement went from placing approximately 230,000 Americans into work in 2019 to around 141,000 in 2023 which is almost a 40% decrease. Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers (Columbus, Ga), however, served more people than ever before starting during and after the pandemic, and Goodwill of North Georgia (Atlanta), significantly improved the quality of mission services increasing the % of people we placed into employment in living wage jobs from 16% to 87% from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic, while simultaneously recovering the high volume of people employed annually (22,083 last year) to remain the #1 Goodwill 5 years in a row for # placed into employment. To combat some of the issues of the wider movement, to utilize the lessons learned and solutions applied by these two Goodwills in Georgia, and to co-create a solution that fits with the various sizes and different territories around the country, we have convened more than three dozen decision-makers from varied Goodwills. The hybrid-era of using live synchronous video instruction from one agency paired with in-person hands-on, paid, work-based learning, case management and work supports at another in local markets has begun to renew the more than century-old model and when taken to scale, is poised to make a significant impact in moving people out of poverty.

Resources and more about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/zREutYQtcVI

Readings and Resources:

link to Course Catalog and Goodwill of North Georgia’s Mission Impact Report: https://careerconnector.org

Episode Guests

Jenny Taylor. Jenny Taylor is a sought-after public speaker on the topics of successful large-scale public/private partnerships, employer engagement, career pathways, economic mobility, using data to drive mission impact, and employment outcomes for people with significant barriers. She is Vice President of Career Services and Chief Mission Officer at Goodwill of North Georgia, the largest in the nation for mission job placement outcomes, leading evidence-based programs with outcomes in the top 10% of the industry, as measured by the National Benchmarking Project. Her agency has a $200 million-dollar budget and operates programs that placed 22,113 people in competitive employment last fiscal year in North Georgia. The vast majority (87%) of people placed into employment in competitive, unsubsidized jobs were at or above living wages, according to the MIT living wage calculator for Georgia.

She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Metro Atlanta eXchange (MAX) for Workforce Solutions, leads the technical assistance for the SNAP Employment and Training National Partnerships Grant for USDA-FNS since 2020, and is a member of the National and Georgia Rehabilitation Associations, Chief, and Mensa. She holds a Master of Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Kentucky, a Certificate in Design Thinking from Harvard University Extension, a Bachelor of Business Administration with Non-Profit focus, and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.  Jenny’s favorite role is being a mom; she lives in Athens, Georgia.

Nick Espinosa

Nick Espinosa has 27 years of experience working within social services and has served in a variety of roles at the state and federal levels, as well as within non-profit organizations. Nick is currently a Branch Chief at USDA-FNS’ Southeast Region office in Atlanta where he works to support Technology, Nutrition & Integrity. Prior to federal service, Nick worked for the State of Washington as a Program Manager for both the TANF and SNAP programs. He also held positions at local and national non-profit organizations focusing on helping low-income individuals to achieve self-sufficiency. Nick is best known for co-developing the first third-party SNAP E&T model in the country and for his work promoting the untapped potential of E&T programs across the nation. Nick received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Nick will bring an outside perspective from a partner who relies upon Goodwill to serve people.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Nearly 3.4 million children require speech and language services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and are at risk of falling behind in their academic and social-emotional development without timely intervention by Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs). Unfortunately, there is a significant shortage of SLPs and the COVID pandemic has further exacerbated this gap, making it almost impossible for SLPs to provide individualized services for children. The National AI Institute for Exceptional Education (AI4ExceptionalEd) aims to close this gap by developing advanced AI technologies to scale SLPs’ availability and services such that no child in need of speech and language services is left behind. Towards this end, the Institute proposes to develop two novel AI solutions: (1) the AI Screener to enable universal early screening for all children, and (2) the AI Orchestrator to work with SLPs and teachers to provide individualized interventions for children with their formal Individualized Education Program (IEP).

In this podcast, Dr. Jinjun Xiong, the Scientific Director of the Institute, will discuss one of the many projects going on at the Institute. The project is called AutoRSR, led by the Institute’s PhD student Mr. Dancheng Liu. AutoRSR aims to leverage the power of AI to automate an evidence-based screening method developed by an SLP expert, Dr. Sean Redmon. Evidence-based early screening for children with speech and language challenges is critically important as it provides opportunities for those impacted children to receive diagnostics early and hence the needed invention. But conducting screening instruments is typically time-consuming and requires specialized training for those who conduct the screening. Can we leverage the power of AI to automate some of those screening processes so that more children can receive such a screening test? What would be some of the research challenges and capability gaps in developing such a solution? What are some of the dos and don’ts of carrying out such interdisciplinary research? Through this podcast’s discussion about the AI4ExceptionalEd Institute and the development of the AutoRSR project, we hope to shed some light on those questions.

More resources and information about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/ollQZW7JID8

Readings and Resources:

Hadley, P. A., & Xiong, J. Researchers Partner on AI to Free Up SLPs for Direct Services. https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/leader.FTR1b.28092023.AI-ethics-slp-aud.50/full The ASHA LeaderLive, 2023.

Episode Guests

Jinjun Xiong

Dr. Jinjun Xiong is an Empire Innovation Professor with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB). He also serves as the Scientific Director for the $20 M National AI Institute for Exceptional Education (http://ai4exceptionaled.org), Director for the SUNY-UB Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (https://www.buffalo.edu/ai-data-science.html), and the AI Thrust Lead for the $10M National Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI (CELaRAI). Prior to UB, he was a Senior Researcher and Program Director for AI and Hybrid Clouds Systems at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. He was the former co-founder and co-director of the IBM-Illinois Center for Cognitive Computing Systems Research (C3SR), the success of which in 5 years has led to the 10-year $200M expansion of the center to the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute. His research interests are in across-stack AI systems research, including AI applications, algorithms, tooling, and computer architectures.

Professor Sean M. Redmond is a Fellow of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and Board-Certified Specialist in Child Language. Dr. Redmond received his PhD from the University of Kansas in 1998 and joined the faculty at the University of Utah shortly thereafter. He has over 45 peer-reviewed publications as well as book chapters on the topics of pediatric language disorders, socioemotional behavioral disorders, and differential diagnosis. His scholarship has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr Redmond has served as Editor in Chief for the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and is a founding member of the website https://dldandme.org/

Dancheng Liu is a PhD student in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University at Buffalo, where he is also affiliated with the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education. Before joining UB, he completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of California, San Diego. His current research explores the intersection of AI and speech-language pathology, with a particular focus on advancing AI technologies to scale the availability of speech-language pathologists. He aims to create innovative tools to streamline SLPs’ tasks with state-of-the-art deep learning models and advanced algorithms. He led the development of AutoRSR which enables fully automated Redmond Sentence Recall assessments, allowing the entire process to be automated, opening up the potential for enabling universal speech disorder screening in the future.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Susan Patrick is currently an independent consultant and author. Susan is the former President & CEO of Aurora Institute and iNACOL. She is the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior, Patrick served as legislative liaison for Governor Hull from Arizona. She served as legislative staff on Capitol Hill. She is a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow and an USA Eisenhower Fellow. She was awarded the AECT System Change Leader Award 2020 for making significant contributions to the evolution of learning, demonstrating systems thinking and positive impact aligned to future-focused education. She was awarded a 2024 Women in AI Fellowship from EDSAFE. She can be reached in LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-patrick-0a90a64/ and in Twitter/X: https://x.com/susandpatrick?lang=en

Susan Patrick Bio Continued:

Susan Patrick is a deep content expert in education innovation who has garnered significant influence and impact within the field of K-12 education. With a track record of success, she has founded successful organizations, provided professional learning and advised federal, state, district and classroom leaders, convened global, state, and local leaders, and shaped policy conversations at the highest levels. As the former leader of Aurora Institute and iNACOL, Susan cultivated a membership base of practitioners in the thousands, solidifying both her own reputation and creating the largest community of active practitioners in a networked organization serving as a resource and a national force in educational change for advancing policy and breakthrough practices for innovation in education.

Her expertise has been sought by several presidential administrations (including being the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education) and numerous states, districts, and foreign governments, where she has played a pivotal role in rethinking and reshaping approaches to education transformation. Susan is globally recognized for her leadership in making educational opportunities more equitable and effective. She champions competency-based and personalized learning, advocating for approaches that support human-centered approaches to building skills and knowledge with flexibility, learning anytime, anywhere, over traditional "seat time" requirements. She has published 120 publications on online, blended, and competency-based learning. She grounds efforts in research on how people learn, aiming to modernize education on a scalable level to meet the needs of a changing world.

Throughout her career, Susan has been dedicated to breaking away from the industrial-age model of education, working tirelessly to provide greater access and better opportunities for success to a wider range of students of all ages throughout their lifetimes. Her work has supported the growth of successful online and place-based learning opportunities. In the face of resistance to educational innovation, Susan has demonstrated exceptional foresight, listening to concerns, building relationships, and organizing networks to advance important ideas and threshold concepts. She has catalyzed discussions about the future of education worldwide, influencing key stakeholders and shifting the conversation towards student-centered, personalized approaches.

Susan’s impact extends beyond vision; she possesses the capacity to engage with key stakeholders, effecting deep cultural change necessary for meaningful progress. Her dedication and persistence have empowered others to take ownership of these vital ideas, making her a true change leader in the field of education. As co-author of a necessary future, Susan continues to contribute to the ongoing evolution of education. Her work ensures a brighter future for learners and communities of all backgrounds, solidifying her legacy as a pioneering figure in educational innovation.

• Aurora Institute: https://aurora-institute.org/
• Video (6:58): iNACOL Is Now the Aurora Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYLA9T_N6z8&t=1s
• Getting Smart Podcast: Susan Patrick on Transforming Education Systems for Equitable High-Quality Learning (August 28, 2019): https://www.gettingsmart.com/podcast/podcast-susan-patrick-on-transforming-education-systems-for-equitable-high-quality-learning/
• One Good Question with Susan Patrick: How Can We Build Trust in Our Education System? (December 16, 2016): https://aurora-institute.org/blog/one-good-question-with-susan-patrick-how-can-we-build-trust-in-our-education-system/

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we live, work, and learn, creating significant changes in the workforce, education, and society. In education, AI is increasingly integrated to facilitate personalized learning experiences, as discussed in the OECD Digital Education Outlook 2023, which outlines the necessity for adapting pedagogical models to embrace these evolving technologies and prepare the workforce for this era. This rapid shift brings the need for Hybrid Intelligence, where humans and AI work together to achieve more than either could alone. Hybrid Intelligence combines human abilities - like creativity, empathy, and ethical thinking - with  AI's computational power, precision, and data processing speed. This approach is not just about working together but evolving together.

As Hybrid Intelligence continues to develop, understanding the nature of human-AI interactions across multiple modalities becomes increasingly critical. These interactions are not limited to text and speech but extend into rich, multimodal environments where gestures, visual cues, and even emotional responses come into play. Within the multiverse - a convergence of digital, physical, and augmented realities - these evolving interactions take on new dynamics and dimensions. The multiverse brings forth opportunities to innovate how we learn, work, and collaborate. Educational environments are no longer restricted to a classroom or a digital platform; they are expanded into immersive spaces where physical and virtual worlds merge, allowing entirely new forms of interaction. These hybrid environments offer unprecedented possibilities for experiential learning, critical thinking, and collective knowledge construction. Understanding how to optimize these interactions will be key to harnessing the full potential of Hybrid Intelligence in the years to come and that is what we hope to build in our team https://www.letxresearch.com/home

• https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-digital-education-outlook-2023_c74f03de-en.html

About our guests 

Andy Nguyen is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in Hybrid Intelligence: Human-AI Co-evolution and Learning in Multi-realities (HI) profiling program and working at the Learning & Educational Technology (LET) Research Lab, Faculty of Education and Psychology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He holds the title of Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Applied Artificial Intelligence at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) at the same university. He is also a Research Council of Finland (formerly Academy of Finland) Postdoctoral Research Fellow. His work has been published in well-known journals and conference proceedings in the field of Educational Technology and Information Systems (IS), including in Studies in Higher Education and the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) (Basket of Eight IS Journal, A*-ranked under ABDC list). He is currently a co-chair of the Advances in Teaching and Learning Technologies minitrack at Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), an Associate Editor of ICIS2024 “Digital Learning and IS Curricula” track, an Editorial Advisory Board Member of Artificial Intelligence in Education (Emerald), an Associate Editor of the journal of Policy Futures in Education, and an Editorial Board Member of British Journal of Educational Technology.

• Research Team Website: https://www.letxresearch.com/home
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andynguyenxuan/

Belle Dang is a researcher at the Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET) at the University of Oulu, where she focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and education. Her work investigates how AI can enhance learning environments, particularly through understanding and supporting how learners regulate their own learning processes. Her business background has shaped her interest in conducting research that not only advances theoretical understanding but also has practical applications with real-world impact.

• Research Team Website: https://www.letxresearch.com/home
• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8734-6697.
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belle-dang-402252b0/

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Richa Suri: Richa completed high school and now preparing for the earning a placement at a US institution. Amazingly, she ran two workshops on taking MOOCs for the teachers and students in her district last year. It had the participation of around 70 participants.

Sneha Adhikari: She completed her high school and now is studying Software Engineering at Pokhara University, Nepal. She has been fortunate enough to learn from Massive Open Online Courses since she was in Grade 10 and used them for her studies at her undergraduate level too.

Bivushi (Manushi) Timilsina is originally from Pokhara, Nepal. She is now a sophomore at Sweet Briar College, majoring in Engineering Science with a 4.0 GPA. Last year, she was honored with the Emerging Leader Award (2023-2024) during the annual Student Involvement Recognition Ceremony. Over the summer, she became the first-ever counselor from Nepal at Kennolyn Camps, serving as a STEM counselor. Recently, she received the Emilie Watts McVea Scholar Award (2024-2025), given to the highest-ranking member of each class. She is also involved on campus through leadership roles such as Vice President of the Multicultural Communities Council, Resident Advisor, and Communication Lead for the Google Developer Student Club, among others. This semester, she is exploring courses in Cybersecurity and Web Development through CodePath, deepening her passion for tech and community engagement.

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This episode will feature the NSF-funded National AI Institute for Engaged Learning (EngageAI). The EngageAI Institute is one of the five education-focused AI Institutes supported by the National Science Foundation’s National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes Program. The EngageAI Institute is guided by a vision of learning that supports and extends the capabilities of students and teachers with AI. The Institute conducts research on narrative-centered learning technologies, collaborative narrative-centered learning, and multimodal analysis of engaged learning to create deeply compelling story-based learning experiences. Driven by a learner-centered vision of AI-augmented learning, the Institute develops learning environments that create narrative-centered learning experiences designed to promote student engagement. The Institute’s AI-enabled narrative-centered learning environments build on rapid advances in AI spanning natural language processing, computer vision, and machine learning. Woven throughout the Institute’s activities is a strong focus on ethics, with an emphasis on creating AI-augmented learning that is deeply informed by considerations of fairness, accountability, transparency, trust, and privacy.

This episode will feature a discussion of AI-enabled narrative centered learning, collaborative narrative-centered learning, and multimodal learning analytics. The discussion will explore how narrative-centered learning capabilities draw on emerging advances in large language models to create interactive narrative planning and generation technologies as well as emerging narrative-centered learning authoring technologies that leverage generative AI to support both authoring and customization that will enable designers and educators to meet the specific needs of their students, classrooms, curricula, and research programs. It will also include a discussion of the Institute’s advances in core AI technologies that support its design and development of narrative-centered learning environments, as well as a discussion of the Institute’s connections with diverse stakeholders that ensure that the learning environments it creates promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Readings and Resources

James Lester, Mohit Bansal, Gautam Biswas, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, Jeremy Roschelle, and Jonathan Rowe. The AI Institute for Engaged Learning. AI Magazine, 45(1), 69-76, 2024.

Episode Guests

James Lester

James Lester is the Goodnight Distinguished University Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at North Carolina State University. He is the Director of the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Engaged Learning. His research centers on transforming education with artificial intelligence. His current work ranges from AI-driven narrative-centered learning environments and virtual agents for learning to multimodal learning analytics and sketch-based learning environments. He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, four Best Paper Awards, and the International Federation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems Influential Paper Award. At North Carolina State University, he has been recognized with the Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, the Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Gautam Biswas

Gautam Biswas is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, where he is also a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems. He is Co-PI of the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Engaged Learning. His research focuses on AI-enabled learning technologies, including open-ended learning environments for learning and instruction in STEM domains. He has developed innovative learning analytics frameworks for studying students’ learning behaviors and linking them to their metacognitive and self-regulated learning strategies. His current work focuses on multimodal learning analytics. He is on the editorial board of International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. He is a Fellow of the IEEE Computer Society, the Prognostics and Health Management Society, and the Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Kip Glazer

Dr. Kip Glazer is Principal of Mountain View High School in Mountain View, California. She is a native of Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States in 1993 as a college student.  In 2002, she graduated Cum Laude from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She earned her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Chapman University in 2004, while receiving her California Single Subject Teaching Credential in both Social Studies and English. Since then, she has earned additional teaching credentials in Health, Foundational Mathematics, and School Administration. She earned a Doctorate in Learning Technologies from Pepperdine University in 2015. ​She has won numerous teaching and service awards. Most notably, she was named the Kern County Teacher of the Year in May of 2014. She received the 23rd Congressional District of California Inspirational High School Educator Award in May of 2015. In June of 2016, she won The Best of NMC Judges' Award from the New Media Consortium Idea Lab. She has appeared numerous on podcasts such as Principals of Success and Politico.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

“What should the classroom of the future look like? And what is the role of AI in these classrooms of the future?” These are central questions studied by researchers at the NSF National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (iSAT). Research on how people learn has converged toward a perspective of learning as fundamentally interactive, collaborative, and supported by tasks that are authentic to students’ identities and interests. Yet, dominant approaches to learning—and by extension the incorporation of artificial intelligence in education (i.e., AIED)—still primarily operate with a vision where students individually interact with technology that “optimizes” learning. iSAT aims to reframe the role of AI in education, expanding from a current emphasis on intelligent tools supporting personalized learning through unimodal, individualized, unidimensional, instruction toward a future where AI is viewed as a social, collaborative AI Partner.

In iSAT’s envisioned future, classrooms have been transformed into knowledge-building communities, where student-AI teams engage in inquiry, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving as they investigate a scientific phenomenon, solve real-world problems, or develop solutions to a design challenge. Distinguishing characteristics of these communities are the ways in which teachers, students, and AI Partners systematically construct conversations that probe deep and sustained reasoning, enable all students to share and build on each other’s ideas, and collaboratively solve challenging problems. Yet, the field of AI currently lacks methods and processes to ensure that AI technologies reflect the needs, interests, and values of diverse community stakeholders. Accordingly, in this episode we chat with two members of the iSAT research team as well as a teacher practitioner about their experiences developing and navigating the emerging research field of Student-AI teaming.

Readings and Resources: [anything interested folks can reference ahead of the Episode]

From Learning Optimization to Learner Flourishing: Reimagining AI in Education at the Institute for Student-AI Teaming (iSAT)

Episode Guests

William R. Penuel is a professor of learning sciences and human development in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. His current research examines conditions needed to implement rigorous, responsive, and equitable teaching practices in STEM education. With colleagues from across the country, he is developing and testing new models for supporting implementation through long-term partnerships between educators and researchers. Currently, Penuel has partnerships with large school districts and a national association of state science coordinators focused on implementing the vision of science education outlined in a Framework for K-12 Science Education. As a co-Principal Investigator of the Research+Practice Collaboratory, he is developing resources to help people build and sustain research-practice partnerships. Penuel is currently Principal Investigator for the National Center for Research in Policy and Practice, which is focused on how school and district leaders use research. He is one of the developers of an approach to improvement research called Design-Based Implementation Research.

Thomas Breideband is an Associate Director at the NSF Institute for student AI-Teaming (iSAT). He is also a research associate who leverages his interdisciplinary background to support research conducted in each Strand and to conduct internal research studies that facilitate better cross-strand collaborations. In addition to investigating how the integration of Artificial Intelligence in the classroom affects the user experience, Breideband studies how iSAT’s in-house AI Partner may also meaningfully support collaborations beyond the classroom. He holds PhDs in English and Cultural Studies with a focus on Rhetoric and Digital Media from Georgia State University and Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany).

Mai T. Vu, J.D., is the AI Program Manager at the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley School District in the greater Denver area. With a decade of teaching experience in both the US and Singapore, she leads initiatives to integrate artificial intelligence into educational programs, fostering innovation and preparing students to solve real world problems with AI.

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In this episode, we discuss the NSF-IES INVITE AI Institute that seeks to address the question of how AI-enabled educational technologies can address the grand challenge of “Education for All”? The INVITE Institute is motivated by the pressing need to address educational inequities and broaden participation in STEM fields, particularly for underserved and underrepresented students. By developing AI-driven learning technologies that support not only cognitive skills but also crucial noncognitive factors such as persistence, academic resilience, and collaboration, INVITE seeks to create more inclusive and effective learning environments. The institute's research goals include advancing foundational AI techniques in areas like machine learning, natural language processing, and adaptive systems, while simultaneously applying these innovations to create personalized, culturally responsive learning experiences that foster both academic success and personal growth. INVITE research focuses on formal K-12 STEM education with deep involvement of teachers and partnering organizations who are engaged in research with the INVITE team.

Beyond its core research agenda, the INVITE Institute is committed to extensive outreach and community engagement. INVITE is working to build capacity for AI in education through teacher training programs, undergraduate research experiences, and partnerships with K-12 schools and community organizations. The institute's efforts extend to creating a diverse pipeline of future AI researchers and practitioners through initiatives like summer internships for underrepresented students and the development of new AI-focused courses at the university level. By bridging cutting-edge AI research with evidence-based educational practices, the INVITE Institute aims to make a lasting impact on STEM education, ultimately working towards a future where all students have the opportunity to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world.

More resources and information about our guests below the video.

https://youtu.be/upeaq2xI7PM

Readings and Resources:

• http://invite.illinois.edu
• https://invite.illinois.edu/publications/
• Some resources that inspired us:
  • https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/teaching-adolescents-become-learners-role-noncognitive-factors-shaping-school
  • https://paultough.com/how-children-succeed/
  • https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262533461/stuck-in-the-shallow-end/

Episode Guests

Charity Freeman serves as K-12 CS Education Advisor and Community Engagement Lead at the INVITE AI Institute. As a certified high school CS teacher, professional development facilitator, and curriculum developer, she brings a wealth of expertise and perspective to the co-design processes of INVITE’s research agenda. Her work as a teacher educator and research advisor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign involves strategizing broadening participation in computing (BPC) initiatives to improve equitable access and outcomes in CS education throughout the state.

Charity is a Governor-appointed member of the Illinois P-20 Council, as well as a Co-Chair of its statewide task force on Scaling Equitable CS Education. She also serves as Chairperson and Teacher Education Representative for the Computer Science Teachers Association’s (CSTA) national Board of Directors.

Chad Lane is a Professor of Educational Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also the Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Director of the NSF INVITE AI Institute. Chad’s research focuses on the design, use, and impacts of intelligent technologies for informal STEM learning. He has over 100 publications in a variety of areas, including intelligent tutoring, educational games, computer science education, and narrative-based learning environments. Broadly, his work involves blending techniques from the entertainment industry (that foster engagement) with those from artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring systems (that promote learning), as well as running studies to better understand whether and how the resulting learning experiences impact learners. His PhD is in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2004), and prior to joining UIUC, he spent ten years as a research scientist and Director of Learning Sciences Research at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He can be reached at hclane@illinois.edu. For more on Chad, see http://hchadlane.net.

Blair Lehman is a Research Scientist in the Personalized Assessment area of the Research Institute at ETS and serves as the co-lead of the Learner Modeling research strand on INVITE. Blair’s research focuses on understanding students’ experiences with educational activities (assessment, learning) and leveraging that knowledge to design tasks that promote positive experiences (e.g., engagement), provide personalized support to facilitate recovery from negative experiences, and leverage knowledge of students’ experiences to provide contextualized feedback reports. These different lines of research come together in the Culturally Enhanced Caring Assessments framework that has guided my research since 2017 and seeks to provide personalized educational experiences that consider who the student is outside of the activity through understanding of their personal, social, cultural, and linguistic characteristics along with their experience completing the activity.

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Anyone seeking a degree from a higher education institution today realizes that learning is more open and available (often for free) with the push of a button or blink of an eye. Not surprisingly, there are seemingly countless words that have sprung up to describe this increasingly "open" world. There are open access journals, open educational resources (OER), opencourseware (OCW), open teaching, open pedagogy, open educational services, open education practices, open-source software, and open universities. Clearly, there is a push toward open forms of education. This newfound sea of openness is moving us from an age of information scarcity to one of information abundance. Enter the Open University of China (OUC). The OUC is one of the largest open universities in the world, with an enrollment of five million adult learners for higher education and 20 million elderly learners. The OUC is dedicated to providing its learners with a wide range of educational opportunities and learning resources. The advance of digitalization has brought many opportunities for the development of the OUC, and challenges as well. We will share our understanding of these opportunities and challenges in this episode. We will also present an AI-supported language English teaching innovation project initiated by the Faculty of Foreign Languages at OUC. The project aims to promote large-scale and personalized learning with the integration of AI technologies. Join us for Episode #206 of Silver Lining for Learning and discover what makes OUC so unique and important in the lives of millions of people.

Dr Li Wei is an associate researcher and serves as Director of Department of Learning Resources of the Open University of China, and Deputy Secretary General of the Scientific Research Institute Working Committee of the Chinese Association of Adult Education. Her research areas include lifelong learning, online education, and digital resources. Dr. Li Wei has published five monographs, including "OECD and the Development of Lifelong Learning for All" and "Comparative Study of the World Open Universities." She has published more than 30 SSCI and CSSCI papers, led 6 national projects from the Ministry of Education, and participated in the drafting of more than 10 policies on lifelong education and continuing education. Dr. Li Wei won the Best Paper Award of the 26th ICDE World Congress and the National Young Adult Education Academic Scholar in China. She can be reached at: liwei@ouchn.edu.cn.

Dr. Qi Li is Vice-Chair of the Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, at the Open University of China. She is a lecturer of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). She teaches EFL courses to both English and non-English majors at college levels. Qi Li’s research focuses on technology-enhanced language teaching and learning, CALL teacher education, and AI and open education. Before that, she received her PhD from Indiana University Bloomington, U.S.A., where she majored in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, and minored in Instructional System Technology. Her dissertation project was a design-based research study of building an optimal language learning environment by integrating multiple technologies to support authentic input, sufficient output, timely feedback, and personalized learning. Dr. Qi Li can be reached be at sophia.liqi@hotmail.com or at liq@ouchn.edu.cn.

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Shameem Farouk graduated Indiana University with a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology (IST) and an MBA from Kelly SoB, in 2010. From 2013-2016, she was a Senior Talent Specialist at Axiata in Malaysia in change of group-wide talent management accountability which involved the identification and development of high potential leaders. She is now the Executive Vice-President and Head of Digital Skills Development, Malayan Banking Berhad, Malaysia. In this role, she is responsible for the development and implementation of the Group's FutureReady programme which was the first Digital mass up-skilling programme launched among financial institutions in Malaysia. In August 2022, Shameem presented in the first Global and International Engagement webinar at Indiana University of 2022-2023 in August, entitled, “Empowering Malaysian women in the FutureReady Workforce.” She is currently conducting research on innovative methods to accelerate Workforce Learning and Development in the U.S. as part of the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Research Programme. See video on Empowering Malaysia Women in the Future of Work (with Shameem Farouk and Curt Bonk; 1:01:54: https://youtu.be/z5QRT_XTeh0

Dr. Farouk is an organizational development practitioner-researcher in the Banking industry based in Malaysia with a regional leadership role in the Southeast Asian region. She has been conducting a variety of professional development (PD) programs for Human Resource and Organizational Development practitioners in the areas of organizational change management, organizational culture development, and instructional development training in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Additionally, with the advent of digitalization she has implemented and trained human resource professionals on the adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the Human Resources and Learning functions. For more on Shameem, see https://www.linkedin.com/in/shameemfarouk/

Philip M. Parker is a Professor of Marketing at INSEAD and the INSEAD Chaired Professor of Management Science. Before joining INSEAD, he was a Professor of International Strategy and Economics at the University of California, San Diego. He has taught at Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, and UCLA, and delivered courses in various countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, North America, and Europe. He has degrees in Finance and Economics, and a PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is an economist and his research explores why existing theories governing macroeconomic growth and firm level competition yield unreliable forecasts of actual market outcomes. He introduced the idea that physical sciences (physics and physiology) should be directly integrated into macroeconomics. His contrarian research concludes that certain economic development measures, such as income per capita, can dramatically exaggerate the levels of poverty in a country, but also be poor indicators of future economic growth. Some of his work was published in his book Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision-Making Approach and Physioeconomics: The Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth (MIT Press, 2000) in which he forecasts global economic and demographic trends to the year 2100. He argues that critical economic axioms violate laws of physics and shows that convergence across nations is unlikely, if not impossible, in the long run. Free markets will, however, allow countries to converge to similar levels of well-being across individuals, but at dramatically different levels of income-based consumption (i.e. low-income countries may remain so, but will not be “poorer” than high-income countries) provided that citizens are given economic liberty. Wealth redistribution, from “richer” countries to “poorer” countries, in these cases, is not justified for the sake of “poverty reduction”, and may actually increase poverty.

He has also studied how firms generate market inefficiencies by relying on common forms of information asymmetry (creating markets for “sweet lemons” where low-quality products drive higher-quality products from the market, at higher prices). His work also debunks the notion that allowing more competitors in regulated markets (e.g. telecommunications) will lead to competition if remaining firms are allowed to cross-own or vertically integrate. His work has appeared in the leading journals including Rand Journal of Economics and the International Journal of Industrial Organization. For more details on Phillip Parker, see https://www.insead.edu/faculty/philip-m-parker

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Andrew Swindell has over 15 years of experience in international development, education, and research, and is passionate about advancing inclusive and quality education for all learners. He holds a PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA and has worked in both online and in-person settings across the USA, Bangladesh, Liberia, Thailand, and Myanmar, specializing in emergency and forced migration contexts. He has published on topics like AI, digital literacy, education in emergencies, and curriculum studies in both popular and academic outlets, demonstrating an ability to convey rigorous evidence-based findings and complex ideas in varied formats for different audiences. He currently serves as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) consultant with education NGOs based in Thailand where he investigates multilingual education for migrant and ethnic-minority students. He has also worked as a K-12 teacher and his other research interests include online and digital learning, AI, and global citizenship. His career has been driven by a commitment to making education work better for all people, guided by principles of compassion and human dignity. More on Andrew can be found in LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/swindellandrew/ and he can be contacted at: aswindell@ucla.edu.

Wanida Lertvorapreecha Chong is currently a part-time lecturer at Maejo University, in the North of Thailand with seven years of full-time position teaching experience working at the Faculty of Liberal Arts. She is from Thailand and earned her PhD in Multicultural Education from Chiang Mai University. Her work focuses on the study of migrant education and global citizenship education on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. She enjoys collaborating with migrant teachers in designing the Thai curriculum that is meaningful and relevant to the migrant community. She has served as a board member for Child Dream Foundation and been actively coordinating with any projects related to migrant education. Wanida aspires to work as an International Student and Scholar Services Advisor (ISSS) in Florida. You can find out more about Wanida at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanida-chong-58aa13255/ and she can be contacted at: wanida.lertchong@gmail.com.

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As moms, friends, and educators, Jessica & Victoria came together in 2009 to design a new school model that would better serve the needs of individual students, offer creative and flexible solutions for families, and provide a safe space for teachers to truly teach what, how and when they wanted - all while building a physical space and community that is more reflective of a village than of a traditional school. They started with 1 student and through a lot of hard work and sweat equity, they have grown The REALM to be sustainable - serving over 3500 families over the past 14 years. As they say, on their website:

The REALM stands for our transformational goal: Redesigning Education and Living Meaningfully. Walking in, you can feel the difference in the fluid design or our spaces, the excitement of our teachers, and the sheer joy in the kids. Parents have freedom to create their children’s schedule, students take classes they are genuinely interested in, and our students score widely above “grade level” on Standardized Tests such as the Star 360 (conducted through charter schools) in core academic subjects. 100% of our graduates are now attending their high school or program of choice, with some rising 9th graders jumping straight into college courses.

Families come to The REALM seeking a learning environment for their kids and a community for their families where they feel heard, trusted, valued, and loved.  They are looking for a choice in how, when and what their kids are learning and seek a customized educational experience. They are looking for passionate, inspiring teachers and relevant, experiential classes.  Parents are frustrated with the outdated educational model that no longer serves our students or their future success and happiness. Parents want their children to be seen and treated as the unique individuals that they are, filled with possibility rather than a sum of test scores and grades.  Parents want their children to be on a pursuit of discovery of their own strengths, passion and interests and be allowed to try on various learning styles and preferences.

At REALM, we offer customized experiential learning. Families have freedom, and every schedule is centered around the students and what they are interested in learning that semester. We actively help kids find their strengths and understand their areas of struggle. Students are not given labels to define their learning preferences or unique abilities. We do not issue grades or scores. Kids demonstrate learning through projects, written essays, spoken word performances, science projects - we value and showcase real-world knowledge.

The REALM trusts kids and families to discern for themselves who they are, what they need to learn, and which choices will contribute to their sense of living a meaningful life. We trust their self-determination and curiosity. We trust that their varied ways of knowing are valid, and their interdisciplinary interests add richness to our shared worlds.

Check out their website at at: www.realmlearning.com and on Instagram: @realmlearning

 Our guests 

Jessica Slayback, Co-Founder/Director

Jessica Slayback, a pioneer in non-traditional education, believes that we have the urgent responsibility to reinvent how we educate our children.  Immediately after graduating from The University of Chicago, summa cum laude, Slayback taught 4th grade for two years in Harlem with Teach for America while obtaining her Master’s in Education. Through her 20+ years of experience in public, charter, independent, and private schools, Jessica has developed and run youth theater programs within inner city schools in Chicago and NYC, created and implemented a 6-12 grade Music and Theater Curriculum for North Star Academy, obtained a grant to travel with Newark High School students to New Zealand and spearheaded the development of a thriving K/1 program in Santa Monica. 

Witnessing sparks of greatness and moments of brilliance when children are honored for who they are and are presented with opportunities in which to shine led her in 2009 to develop and co-found The REALM Creative Academy. This thriving center combines a unique and innovative approach to education. It offers creative and diverse educational experiences, igniting students’ minds with a passion for learning while allowing students to guide and shape their educational journey. While raising two beautiful boys with her video game designer husband, Sean, she relentlessly strives to innovate education to promote the growth of aware, empathetic, joyful, creative, purpose-driven humans.

Victoria Forsman, Co-Founder/Director

Victoria is a person who has a vision for greatness in all things and believes that change and creative freedom can guide us toward new levels of accomplishment. After graduating from Stevens College with a BA in Early Childhood Education, she received her MA in Education and Administration at Loyola Marymount. Throughout her 13 years in alternative education, she has recognized trends, disparities, successes, and the promise of education. She has witnessed schools producing successful lifelong learners and struggling to reach and inspire students during their journey. She has watched and experienced the roller coaster of trends impacting schools in Los Angeles, realizing the uphill battle many schools face. She has joined fellow professionals in the classroom, hearing their commitment, passions, and frustrations about the school system and its bureaucracy.

Victoria has discovered what works the best; a diverse, rich, individualized, supportive learning experience in which learning is meaningful, accessible, relevant, and memorable. She believes that when individuals diversify their experiences and dabble in every area simultaneously and with support, academics, leadership, arts, outdoors, structure, creative freedom, participation, observation, research, organization, problem-solving, processing emotions, and taking risks, it paves the way for pretty extraordinary people. Unfortunately, too few of these opportunities exist in a supported setting. It is because of this need that Victoria is committed to redesigning education.  She passionately experiments with ideas and programs, encouraging a love of life and learning. 

Hayden Harrower, High School Founder/Assistant Director

After studying instructional and small-group communication at San Diego State University for his master's program, Hayden began his teaching career in the university and community college ranks. After seeing so many students struggle to manage the workload like he had as a student, he began dreaming of a better way to prepare teenagers for the transition into adulthood and higher learning. After coaching hundreds of students to manage themselves better outside of class, he took a job working in an education department at a substance abuse and mental health program for young adults. Through this program, Hayden coached young adults into rebuilding their lives from the ground up, teaching them the necessary executive function skills while boosting their own beliefs about themselves to pursue what they found meaningful. Hayden continued this work when he transitioned to a facility that focused on high school students struggling with acute mental health issues. Hayden designed and led a program to help high schoolers regain confidence in approaching schoolwork, develop new work processes to better handle the load, and help them identify passions and interests to motivate them through the hard times. 

After almost five years of helping countless students and families, Hayden arrived at REALM in the summer of 2023 where he is setting out to expand REALM into the high school ages, creating a program that is just as flexible and choice-driven while meeting the specific needs of high school students and the differing pathways they can enter. Overall, Hayden is focused on creating a "meaning-centered" high school experience, that will not only better prepare students for the world they enter, but will be a much more engaging and fulfilling journey as well.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

To help us tackle these big questions, we've brought together four guests who are each making waves in different areas of educational research and scholarship. From rethinking how we use technology in schools to exploring new ways of training teachers, from leveraging AI for personalized learning to reimagining educational spaces, our panel has a wealth of insights to share. We'll hear from Dr. Marie Heath, Dr. Merve Basdogan, Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi, and Priyank Sharma - each bringing their unique experiences and perspectives to the conversation. Join us for what promises to be a lively and thought-provoking discussion about where education is headed and how we can all play a part in shaping its future.

Our guests

Dr. Merve Basdogan is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the College of Education, Texas Tech University. As a post-phenomenological scholar, Merve’s research focuses on a diverse array of topics, including the philosophy of technology, technology-enhanced teaching and learning environments, critical AI literacy, digital ethics, and cyberbullying. In 2023, Dr. Basdogan was awarded an AT&T Foundation Grant for her project, "Fostering Digital Literacy in Rural Communities: A University Student-led Technology Mentoring Program," which connects adults over 65 with teacher candidates in west Texas.

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/education/our-people/Faculty/merve_basdogan.php
https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?trk=d_flagship3_profile_self_view_public_profile

Dr. Marie Heath (she/her) is not a robot, but she refuses to prove it to Google’s CAPTCHA. She currently works as an Associate Professor of Learning Design and Technology at Loyola University Maryland. Prior to her work in higher education, Marie taught high school social studies in Baltimore County Public Schools. Her scholarship interrogates schools and technologies as current sites of encoded oppression, and labors to advance more just technological and educational futures. She is co-editor of the CITE Social Studies Journal, co-founder of the Civics of Technology project, and a faculty fellow at the Center for Leadership and Social Justice Education at Loyola University Maryland. If you ask generative AI a question about Marie, it replies with the Mariah Carey “I don’t know her” meme.

https://www.civicsoftechnology.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-heath-a26870240/

Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi is an Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Florida, where he directs the Game-based Assessment & Measurement in Education (GAME) Lab. His research enhances students' 21st-century skills, focusing on creativity, and STEM knowledge, focusing on physics, through technology-rich learning environments (e.g., educational games) using Stealth Assessment, Learning Analytics, and AI models. He holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies and M.S. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from Florida State University, and an M.A. from Multimedia University, Malaysia. Dr. Rahimi has extensive experience in instructional design, funded projects by IES and NSF, and has published and presented widely in top journals and conferences. His accolades include the Diane E. Haines Teaching Excellence Award from UF’s college of Education and recognition as one of the “rising stars” of creativity research by the Creativity Research Journal, where he now serves as an Associate Editor. He also consulted for the PISA 2021 Creative Thinking Assessment. Dr. Rahimi's AI in education work creates adaptive learning environments, supporting real-time, personalized student assessment and learning.

https://education.ufl.edu/faculty/rahimi-seyedahmad-ahmad/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yDnHbAMAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seyedahmad-rahimi-3870a673/

Priyank Sharma, an engineer turned educator, is a faculty at Indus Training and Research Institute where he trains teachers of IB and Cambridge Boards. Pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy at NIEPA, Priyank focuses on the "Grammar of Schooling" in alternative educational spaces. Priyank's career is marked by significant contributions to educational research, policy analysis, and grassroot implementation. Beyond academia, Priyank has played pivotal roles in various educational initiatives. His work at OpenCurriculum involved building edtech products aimed at enhancing curriculum and instruction delivery and learning science research for K-12 education. Priyank is an ambassador for HundrED, a global organization focused on educational innovation. And, he also serves as an advisor to organizations like CITTA India, and CoLab, where he mentors teams to create equitable and inclusive educational experiences.

priyankeducator.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyankeducator/

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Thus far, the guests have included prominent educators, educational leaders, practitioners from Facebook (now Meta), Google for Education, the World Bank, UNESCO, Sesame Street, Contact North in Ontario, Quality Matters, several open universities, and many others. These guests have come from places like Italy, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Bhutan, Myanmar, Antarctica, Finland, the UK, France, Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Canada, Chile, Afghanistan, Australia, Greece, Peru, New Zealand, Korea, Israel, Gaza, Mexico, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Nepal, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Thailand. SLL has touched on a broad range of topics including student autonomy and self-determination, remote learning, novel learning organizations, pioneering curricula and programs, school reform, grassroots innovations in teaching and learning, cross-cultural collaboration, and assorted ground-breaking pedagogical and technological inventions. No matter the location, topic, or initiative featured, each episode has contributed to a rich tapestry of knowledge and experience.

Some of the most exciting shows have featured passionate students working on meaningful projects while others have shown the spotlight on award-winning educators pioneering creative teaching methods and emerging digital technologies in challenging environments. Each conversation has offered a unique perspective on transforming education, making these 200 episodes a valuable resource for anyone interested in the evolving landscape of learning. As we celebrate this milestone, we look forward to continuing these important conversations and inspiring change in the education community.

We feel most fortunate to have had SLL recognized for several awards and recognitions over the past couple of years. It is hard to believe that we are in the fifth season of SLL. Each episode requires extensive planning, networking, coordination, and creativity.

This episode is also a testament to the dedication and synergy of our hosting team: Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra, and Yong Zhao. Not to be forgotten are two of our starter members Shuangye Chen and Scott McLeod. And last but not the least, our newest co-host Lydia Cao. Over these four years, we've thoroughly enjoyed collaborating on this entirely unfunded project, driven by our shared passion for education and curiosity about the future of learning. Each episode has been a labor of love, reflecting our commitment to exploring and sharing innovative ideas in education.

For our 200th episode, we are thrilled to welcome two distinguished emeritus faculty members, David Berliner from Arizona State University and Tom Reeves from the University of Georgia. David is renowned for his extensive research in educational psychology and has significantly contributed to understanding teaching and learning processes. Tom Reeves, a leading figure in educational technology, has dedicated his career to improving educational practice through innovative research and development. Their participation will not only help us celebrate this milestone but also provide valuable insights and wisdom, enhancing our discussions on the future of education.

About our guests 
David Berliner

David Berliner is a Regents Professor Emeritus in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College in the division of educational leadership and policy studies. He has taught at the universities of Arizona and Massachusetts, and Stanford University, as well as at universities in Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Professor Berliner is a member of the National Academy of Education, a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). He is the recipient of awards for distinguished contributions from APA, AERA, and the National Education Association (NEA). He received the AERA's Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award in 2016.

Professor Berliner has authored more than 200 published articles, technical reports, and book chapters.  Among his well-recognized works is the best seller "The manufactured crisis,"  coauthored (with B. J. Biddle). He was also of the coauthor (with Ursula Casanova) of "Putting research to work," and coauthor (with N. L. Gage) of the textbook "Educational psychology," now in its 6th edition. He is coeditor of the first "Handbook of educational psychology" and the books "Talks to teachers, and Perspectives on instructional time." His book, "Collateral damage" (with Sharon Nichols) is about the corruption of professional educators through high-stakes testing. His most recent book, "50 Myths and Lies that Threaten American's Public Schools," was co-authored with Gene V. Glass and students in 2014.

Tom Reeves

Thomas (Tom) C. Reeves, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Learning Design and Technology in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at The University of Georgia. Professor Reeves has designed and evaluated numerous interactive learning programs and projects. In recognition of these efforts, in 2003 he received the AACE Fellowship Award, in 2010 he was made an ASCILITE Fellow, and in 2013 he received the AECT David H. Jonassen Excellence in Research Award. He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Peru and has given invited presentations in the USA and more than 30 other countries, including Australia which is one of Tom's favorite places. He is the former editor of the Journal of Interactive Learning Research, and the author of nearly 200 scholarly papers. His co-authored books include Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation (with John Hedberg), A Guide to Authentic E-Learning (with Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver), Conducting Educational Design Research (with Susan McKenney; two editions), MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (with Curt Bonk, Mimi Lee, and Tom Reynolds), and MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South (with Ke Zhang, Curt Bonk, and Tom Reynolds). His research interests encompass educational technology in developing countries, authentic tasks for learning, educational design research, medical and public health education, and prison education. Tom currently lives at The Spires at Berry College in Rome, Georgia with his wife, Patricia M. Reeves, Professor Emerita of Social Work at The University of Georgia, and their West Highland Terrier, Button. He can be reached at treeves@uga.edu and his homepage can be found at http://www.evaluateitnow.com/.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Frustrated by the challenges of remote learning during the pandemic, two young sisters—Sumay Lu, 14, and Aila Lu, 11—took matters into their own hands. Instead of waiting for the education system to adapt, Sumay and Aila founded their own online homeschooling platform, which has since grown into the WEquil App, a digital learning platform, now serving families, students, and educators in nearly 50 states and more than 50 countries.

Families around the world are looking for alternative education for their children beyond traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Examples of alternative education include homeschools, microschools, learning pods, learning co-ops etc.  Educators around the world are building solutions to leverage their strengths to serve students who can uniquely benefit from what they provide. WEquil App is building software that connects these families and educators as well as allowing educators to provide personalized education for all students at a low cost. 

WEquil App is a global school connecting families, educators, and entrepreneurs in nearly 50 states and more than 50 countries. They provide a complete technology solution for homeschoolers, educators, microschool founders, and edupreneurs who lead hundreds of personalized learning communities on their platform such as clubs, classes, co-ops, learning pods, and microschools, streamlining communication, security, payments, assessments, and more!  WEquil App is also free! You can check out "WEquil App" on any mobile device or visit the link below! https://WEquil.App

Our guests 

Aila Lu is CEO of WEquil School, a global microschool that employs a project based learning philosophy to empower students to become self directed. Her program demonstrates a unique model for how educators can leverage technology and innovative learning philosophies to empower students to find success in the digital age. She has published hundreds of projects on various topics including the nature of learning, education in the digital age, personalized success, entrepreneurship, health, philosophy, and more. Her work has been featured on Scripps National News, Stand Together Trust, GoGaurdian and Falls Church News Press. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/3jYx

Sumay Lu, CEO of WEquil App, is a multifaceted entrepreneur, writer, and developer with deep insights into the future of education. Her platform connects a vast global network of teachers, parents, and microschools. Formerly the CEO of WEquil School, she has contributed extensively, publishing a vast array of projects ranging from interviews, music compositions, and essays on emerging technologies to literary works and educational content. Recognized as a pioneer in leveraging technology for personalized learning in the digital age, Sumay has been a prominent voice in forums like Stand Together Trust, Scripps News and as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Education Innovation Conference and VELA Con. Her expertise was sought twice as a guest lecturer at Iowa State University. A Black Belt from Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do, Sumay's passions extend to cooking, learning Chinese, creating educational YouTube content, and connecting with her global educational community. She resides in Falls Church, Virginia, with her family. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/Ebw9

Allyson is the WEquil School Activities Director and a mentor at WEquil School, helping younger students follow a project-based learning philosophy to become self-directed. She has written projects on a wide range of subjects such as technology, mental health, education, history, mathematics and more! Allyson runs several learning communities on WEquil App including a debate club, art community, virtual museum community and homeschool game room. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/w1jd

Justin Shell, COO of WEquil App, spent more than a decade as a marine engineer and yacht designer before finding his passion in the education field. In 2018, he began developing a software platform to navigate alternative educational options, often described as 'Google Maps for Alt Ed.' Recognizing that parents were struggling to envision non-traditional approaches, he expanded the business to include producing videos of innovative educators, showcasing possibilities beyond the conventional classroom. As COO of WEquil App, Justin leverages his experience with innovative educators to build a platform that expands educational opportunities, enabling students and families to create truly personalized learning journeys. Outside of WEquil, he is a homeschooling dad with 4 crazy, amazing kids who help him test out all the new educational tools he comes across.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Vickie Cook, Ph.D. is the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Retention Management and a Research Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Springfield. She has provided consultation to over 50 institutions seeking to expand or evaluate their online learning programs and leadership. She has published multiple journal articles and book chapters in a variety of national educational publications, and serves as a peer reviewer for six of the top journals in the field of Online Learning. She is one of the co-authors of the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership and a co-author for the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Alternative Credentials. She was named a 2017 University of Illinois President's Executive Leadership Fellow; 2017 Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellow; and 2020 University Professional and Continuing Education Outstanding Leader.  She will receive the Mildred B. & Charles A. Wedemeyer Award recognizing her work in scholarship in the field of distance learning this summer. More on Vickie Cook can be found at: https://www.uis.edu/directory/vickie-cook.

Michele Gribbins, Ed.D., is the Director of the Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield. She is a Vice Chair for the Online Administration Network of the University Professional & Continuing Education Association and was the Treasurer of the Illinois Council on Continuing Higher Education for six years. She has been teaching online since 2005 for the Department of Management Information Systems and the School of Education at UIS. More on Michele can be found at: https://www.uis.edu/directory/michele-gribbins.

A nationally respected and connected leader in higher education online learning, Ray Schroeder is Senior Fellow of UPCEA (https://upcea.edu/) the Online and Professional Education Assocation, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield (see https://www.uis.edu/). After several years as an instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he came to the university in Springfield 1977, beginning as assistant professor, then associate, then full professor, prior to becoming an emeritus professor.  During his tenure, he launched the online learning program at UIS in 1997.  He founded the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service and became Associate Vice Chancellor for Online Learning in 2013, a position held until 2021. To continue research, publication and presentations, Ray was appointed Senior Fellow for Online Learning in the Provost's Office beginning in August, 2021, returning to Professor Emeritus in August, 2022.

Dr. Ray Schroeder is the recipient of numerous national awards and citations for individual excellence and leadership from many associations and entities including the Sloan Consortium (OLC), US Distance Learning Association, American Journal of Distance Education, Illinois Council for Continuing Higher Education, University of Wisconsin and University of Illinois, Ray received the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2023 from UIS and the inaugural UPCEA Leadership Award for the Advancement of Digital Learning also in 2023. That award is now named the Ray Schroeder Leadership Award for the Advancement of Digital Learning. Ray is the author of book chapters, articles, widely read curated reading lists, blogs and social media feeds on news and research in online learning / educational technology. Ray is a noted speaker, consultant, researcher, and author on topics related to online learning, emerging educational technologies, and technology-enhanced learning. For more details on Ray Schroeder, see https://rayschroeder.com/.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Rebecca Stromeyer has made significant contributions to digital learning, EdTech, and international education. As the Managing Director and Founder of ICWE GmbH and co-founder and co-owner of ICEF GmbH since 1991, she has played a key role in establishing these organisations' events as leaders in their fields. Rebecca co-founded OEB (Online Educa Berlin) Global, the global, cross-sector conference on technology-supported learning and training, in 1995. She co-launched ONLINE EDUCA MADRID, the leading annual online learning event for Spain and Latin America in 2000, as well as similar events in Iceland (2017), Russia (2015), Singapore (1997), Korea (1996), and the Arab world (2003). In 2005, she founded eLearning Africa, a network and annual conference focusing on digital learning, training, and skills development across the African continent, bringing together over 1,200 African education experts each year.

Her expertise has been sought by international organisations, and she has served on various boards, including the International Council on Badges and Credentials and the Drucker Society. She has also been Vice-Chair of the Global Business School Network and a board member of the Global Development Learning Network. In 2012, Rebecca launched the eLearning Africa Report, further establishing her influence in ICT and digital learning. Her work continues to impact education and skills development worldwide, driven by her vision of a more connected and educated global community. She can be found in OEB Global and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-stromeyer-abb4645/ and contacted at: rebecca.stromeyer@icwe.net.

Ambassador Rudo Chitiga is the Permanent Secretary in the newly established Ministry of Skills Audit and Development in Zimbabwe. She is a strategic thinker and negotiator with over 30 years senior management experience in government, civil society and inter-governmental organizations. Rudo Chitiga has held senior management positions in government, civil society, and international organizations including Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Women Affairs Community Small and Medium Enterprises Development in Zimbabwe, Ambassador of Zimbabwe to France, Spain and Portugal and the Vatican and permanent Representative and member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and the UNWTO. She is currently a member of the governing board of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. She is the team leader of BellaRue Consultants offering services in governance peace building and conflict resolution, gender mainstreaming, relationship brokering, project management, capacity building and organizational development. In addition, she is also a Results Coaching Systems trained life coach. For more information on Ambassador Rudo Chitiga, you can find her on on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudo-mabel-chitiga-822703/ and contacted at: rudo.chitiga@gmail.com.

Ify Obidi-Essien is a distinguished Edu-Tech Consultant and Microsoft Global Training Partner in Nigeria, renowned for her steadfast dedication to advancing digital transformation in education. As CEO of Tech-Savvy Teacher International, a leading EdTech Consultancy firm, Ify leads initiatives encompassing comprehensive technology services. “Tech-Savvy Teacher International is a leading Education and Technology solutions provider focused on equipping the African educator with technological skills so as to drive digital transformation in the classroom.” Her expertise spans training, consultation, school management software integration, and cutting-edge classroom technology installation, providing an educational transformation framework aligned with stakeholders' objectives.

A trailblazer, Ify's impact transcends borders. As a Speaker at the T4 Education conference in March 2022, she enriched the discourse on transformative education. Media features in The SUN, Wazobia TV, Wazobia FM, TVC, Kids and Mum TV show, and Guardian Woman Publication underscore her industry recognition. In February 2020, Ify organized the 12th Tech-Savvy Teacher Master class in Dubai, advocating for the Flipped Classroom Model's integration in Nigeria. Her global outreach continued with an Education Tour to Rwanda in October 2023, collaborating with the African Leadership University, exposing delegates to technology's impact on teaching and learning.

Beyond education, Ify champions young women's empowerment through the B.I.G Girls Foundation, while recently completing the Women in Leadership Program from the European University of Luxembourg with distinction. Furthering her influence, Ify launched the Animation Kids Club, fostering digital content creators through an e-learning platform in prestigious institutions like Corona Schools Lagos, Greenspring School Gbagada, and Learning Ladder Abuja. This initiative embodies Ify's vision to cultivate creativity and exploration in animation from an early age. Ify can be found in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ify-obidi-essien-980341116/ and contacted at: techsavvyteacherinternational@gmail.com.

Paul Birevu Muyinda, is a Professor of Open, Distance and eLearning (ODeL) and the Director of the Institute of Open, Distance and eLearning at Makerere University in Uganda (Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa). Paul is a certified blended learning developer and online instructional designer. He has research interests in digital pedagogy and andragogy where he has worked with different education and training institutions to champion this cause. He led a team that scaffolded Makerere University and other universities in Uganda to remain afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Prof. Muyinda is the author of more than 100 research articles in open, distance, and e-learning. He has recently consulted with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and other agencies on policy and strategy for open distance learning. He is the Principal Investigator of several internationally funded research grants, including: NORHED II, Mastercard Foundation e-Learning Initiative, KOICA distance education enhancement project, just to mention but a few. As per Bob Little’s 2018 ranking of online pedagogy gurus, Prof. Muyinda was ranked among the top 100 movers and shakers of online corporate education in Africa (see article). Paul can be found in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-birevu-muyinda-479600158/ and contacted at: mpbirevu2013@gmail.com.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Social-emotional skills are widely recognized as vital tools for youth to thrive in society, sparking a growing interest in integrating their development into the Chilean educational system. What better way to systematically equip children with such a crucial tool? Yet, despite recognition and inclusion in the national curriculum by the Ministry of Education, social-emotional learning (SEL) remains vaguely implemented in Chilean classrooms. Why?

This episode delves into the story of Eventuras, a Chilean non-profit born from addressing a major issue in vulnerable schools: disruptive student behavior. Along the journey, Eventuras realized that behavioral issues were an expression of a lack of socio-emotional skills, but that this was just the tip of the iceberg, revealing deeper challenges like a lack of problem-solving abilities, social skills, low self-esteem, depression, and dropout rates. Hence, Eventuras was founded to help vulnerable schools systematically implement SEL. In our 5 years, we've identified and tackled key barriers, bringing evidence-based programs to Chile, rigorously addressing this issue. Joining us in this episode are Francisca Astudillo and Francisca Saéz, founders of Eventuras, and Sofia Larraín, one of the pioneering teachers Eventuras has worked with and who has become a local SEL advocate and trainer.

Readings and Resources:
Eventuras website: www.eventuras.org
Sofia’s school website: www.colegiotrigales.cl
SEL Curriculum: https://pg.casel.org/second-step%E2%93%A1-elementary/
Teacher Training:https://pg.casel.org/incredible-years%E2%93%A1-teacher-classroom-management-program-dinosaur-school/

Episode Guests
Francisca Astudillo- Eventuras Founder
Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Master's in Education from Harvard. Her passion for education stems from her involvement in the scout movement. In 2019, she founded Eventuras after 10 years of working in various non-profit organizations, gaining insights into the challenges faced by public schools in Chile and the main concerns of their stakeholders. She declares herself a staunch admirer of teachers, and her motivation is to find engaging and simple ways to train and support them, encouraging them to become more than just content transmitters but real mentors and role models for children.

Francisca Sáez- Eventuras Founder and Executive Director
Francisca pursued her physics degree at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. During her undergraduate studies, she worked at a small school in southern Chile, igniting her passion for education. This experience became the driving force behind her initiative to establish a venture aimed at assisting teachers in collaborative classroom practices. In 2022, she crossed paths with Eventuras and joined the team to channel her fervor for education towards addressing the socio-emotional challenges encountered within the Chilean education system. Her primary motivation lies in ensuring that children, irrespective of their social, cultural, or economic background, acquire skills that empower them to become fulfilled and happy adults.

Sofia Larraín- Elementary teacher and Socioemotional Skills Trainer
Sofia Larrain graduated as an Elementary Teacher with a Major in Spanish language from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and is currently a Master’s candidate in School Management and Direction at Los Andes University. Since 2020, she has been teaching at a highly vulnerable public school in Santiago, where she discovered her passion for helping teachers and young learners develop social-emotional skills. She has been training her colleagues to create a safe and nurturing learning environment and to equip their students with essential social and emotional tools. This year, she has taken on a new role as Primary Years Coordinator, overseeing more than twenty teachers in this challenging setting.

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Some of the most powerful principles of learning in the 21st century relate to collaboration and teamwork, hands-on doing, and learning relevancy and meaningfulness. As such, Episode #193 of Silver Lining for Learning promises to be highly unique and inspirational. Why? Well, the “Pythoneers 52402” team in Dallas, Texas recently won the state championship for robotics, and, then, they did something even more inspiring which kids all over the world only dream about. What did they do? Well, they won the First Robotics world breakthrough award at the world competition in April 2024. Come to this session and meet the “Pythoneers 52402” team. Find out how this team elevated to new heights in terms of collaboration and successful performance.

Below is a list of the brilliant students on this team. They are the future leaders of not just Texas, but the world. Come to this session and find out how these young people in Texas learned the skills and competencies to win this global robotics competition.

David Xiao, 7th grade, St. Mark’s School of Texas, Dallas, TXEvan Huang, 7th grade, Greenhill School, Addison, TXWanni Zhu, 7th grade, Rice Middle School, Plano, TXAndrew Li, 6th grade, Rice Middle School, Plano, TXNicholas Lipsmeyer, 8th grade, Carroll Middle School, Southlake, TX

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What-if Hypothetical Implementations of Minecraft (Project WHIMC) is the brainchild of Chad Lane and Jeff Ginger at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (see 3:37: Gameplay Trailer). In Episode #192 of Silver Lining for Learning, they will discuss Project WHIMC and the "Connected Camps" that they coordinate with kids in the summers. Project WHIMC takes advantage of many free and open Web resources to foster engaging and interactive learning and cultivate student interest in STEM. Utilizing Minecraft, Chad and Jeff get learners to ask what-if scientific questions such as “What if the earth were twice its current size?,” “What if the earth were twice its current size?” and “What if the earth had no moon?” Of course, they also nudge their young players of Minecraft to ask: “How do we mine asteroids?” In effect, this episode will likely touch on many topics including video game behavior, exploration, playfulness, immersive learning, and how to foster learner engagement in formal and informal educational settings. Those seeking more might listen to the podcast show in the Philippines that Chad and Jeff were recently on to kick off a 3-year collaboration with Ateneo University in Manila regarding WHIMC.  

H. Chad Lane is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also the Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Director of the NSF INVITE AI Institute. Chad's research focuses on the design, use, and impacts of intelligent technologies for informal STEM learning. He has over 100 publications in a variety of areas, including intelligent tutoring, educational games, computer science education, and narrative-based learning environments. Broadly, his work involves blending techniques from the entertainment industry (that foster engagement) with those from artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring systems (that promote learning), as well as running studies to better understand whether and how the resulting learning experiences impact learners. His PhD is in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2004), and prior to joining UIUC, he spent ten years as a research scientist and project director at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He can be reached at hclane@illinois.edu. For more on Chad, see http://hchadlane.net.

Jeff Ginger is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Educational Psychology and Adjunct Faculty in the School of Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is helping to lead Project WHIMC, What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft, an NSF-funded research collaboration between University of Illinois/Maine, PBS Nova Labs and the Fiske Planetarium. Prior to that, Jeff was the Director of the CU Community Fab Lab and adjunct faculty at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His focus on community informatics and education has led him to specialize in public engagement, teaching and research. He can be reached at ginger@illinois.edu. For more on Jeff, see https://jeffginger.com/#intro.

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The hosts explored the concepts of self-directed learning versus personalized learning,  noting self-directed learning empowers learners with more autonomy over their path. They examined how the nature of expertise is shifting, requiring continuous, self-directed lifelong learning to adapt and stay relevant.

Reflecting on national educational technology plans, the hosts acknowledged their aspirational value though they lack enforceability, while suggesting they may have more impact internationally. The episode also touched on recent campus protests at the hosts' universities, which they contextualized as smaller in scale compared to historical social movements.

Throughout, the conversation highlighted the hosts' diverse global perspectives as they discussed emerging educational trends, technologies, and the evolving role of educators in an era of rapid change.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

EDLS Documentary: https://youtu.be/yuGNpURvryk?si=9XX8Y0cMdQSBdQ8v

Team Composition for the Podcast

1. Dr Jon Mason (Australia) – Principal Advisor and Director EDLS Australia Chapter
2. Dr Abha Gupta (USA) – Head of International Advisory Team EDLS
3. Faisal Bin Badar (Australia) – Founder EDLS
4. Alya Iqbal (Pakistan) – Head of Operations EDLS

Dr. Jon Mason is an Associate Professor in Education within the Faculty of Arts & Society at Charles Darwin University in Australia, where he has been for 12 years. Previously he worked as a consultant in digital learning and knowledge management in the government and education sectors, engaging in a range of international standardization activities since 1998. Earlier appointments included a number of senior roles for education.au limited, a ministerial non-profit agency formed in 1997 for the purpose of leading collaborative projects focused on ICT for the Australian Education and Training sector. Jon serves on several journal editorial boards and is a member of the executive committee of the Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education. His research interests span most things related to how we engage ‘with & within’ the digital environment with specific interests in questioning, sense-making, and the cultivation of wisdom.

Dr. Abha Gupta is a seasoned educator, researcher, and author specializing in reading, literacy, and language education. She has been a Professor and Graduate Program Director of Reading Education at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Presently on sabbatical at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, she is focusing on two forthcoming books that pivot on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Effective Teaching Strategies for ESL educators. Her research delves into the integration of yoga in educational frameworks and innovative applications of technology in language instruction. Leading the International Advisory Board of EDLS, she fosters collaboration and advancement within the educational sphere. For several years, she has also engaged with a school for underprivileged communities near New Delhi, spearheading academic studies on the repercussions of Covid-19 on educational inequalities and the enhancement of academic performance through therapeutic breathing techniques during her tenure as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University. Besides her academic endeavors, Dr. Gupta has co-edited two volumes, "Empowerment of Women, Language and Other Facets" and "At-Risk Population: Socio-linguistic and Educational Issues."  Her research findings have been presented at several national and international conferences, while her consultancy role for Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the American Institute of Research (AIR) in Washington, DC, highlight her commitment to fairness in educational assessments. At the International Literacy Association, she has notably co-chaired the National Task Force for Urban Diversity and contributed to the National Title One Committee. Beyond academia, she finds fulfillment in practicing and teaching yoga, offering complimentary classes to local and national communities, alongside her editorial contributions to a yoga therapy newsletter.

Faisal Bin Badar, the brains behind EDvantage Digital Learning System (EDLS), is revolutionising education for underprivileged children worldwide. He has over 30 years of diverse experience across industries like education technology, systems engineering, business and project management, and entrepreneurship. With his PhD in Education Technology in the final stage, Faisal's vision is to provide free, quality, and inclusive education to those who need it most. Through the innovative Digitally Operated One-Room Schoolhouses (DOORS) model, he brings education to the doorsteps of marginalised communities, overcoming socio-cultural and financial barriers. Faisal's leadership extends beyond academia; he leads a dedicated team of 45 full-time members and collaborates with over 50 global experts and volunteers to ensure international standard education delivery. Faisal's vision doesn't stop at education; he aims to empower entire communities by providing employability skills to women and youth, fostering self-sustainability. With a heart for transformation and a commitment to ethical leadership, Faisal is shaping a brighter future for generations to come.

Alya Iqbal is the Head of Operations for the EDLS Pakistan Team at EDvantage Digital Learning System (EDLS), where she passionately oversees EDLS operations to provide quality education to underprivileged out-of-school children. With a background in education and cost and management accounting, Alya brings extensive expertise to her role to lead the EDLS Pakistan Team. Alya's areas of expertise include operational management, financial analysis, and educational leadership. She is driven by a commitment to continuous improvement, constantly seeking ways to optimise processes and maximise outcomes. Alya is not only dedicated to her professional endeavours but also motivated by her faith, striving to align her work with a higher purpose. Her ultimate goal is to serve and make a meaningful impact in the world through her role at EDLS.

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Special Issue; Special Show: Exploring Higher Education Futures at the Intersection of Hope, Justice, and EdTech

Session Abstract:

In Episode #189 of Silver Lining for Learning, we will explore a special issue of the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. Edited by a team of experts in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia our guests ponder higher education futures at the intersection of hope, justice, and educational technology. Join us in this thought-intensive session and help us imagine bright and hopeful futures of higher education.

Dr. George Veletsianos (Γιώργος Βελετσιάνος) is a Cypriot-Canadian academic, born and raised on the divided island of Cyprus. He now lives and works on the lands of the Dakhóta Oyáte (Dakota People), in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota), where he is Professor in the Learning Technologies program at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He holds the Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology, and prior to his current position he held the Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology (2013-2023) and the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Flexible Education (2019-2022). He is a former Fulbright scholar, a D’Arcy McGee Beacon fellow, a BCcampus Open Education and Advocacy fellow, and an early-career fellow of the EU Network of Excellence in Technology Enhanced Learning.

Dr. Veletsianos has been designing, developing, and evaluating digital learning environments for nearly 20 years. His research agenda is focused on addressing complex problems related to education and society, such as inequitable access and harassment that academics and knowledge workers are subjected to when they share their scholarship online. Because possible solutions to these difficult problems cut across multiple disciplines, his research has embraced collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and methodological pluralism. His research agenda focuses on three strands: (1) design, development, and evaluation of online and blended learning environments , (2) the study of learning experiences and participation in emerging online environments, and (3) learning futures. In these contexts, he studies learners’ and faculty experiences with online learning, flexible education, networked scholarship, and emerging technologies and pedagogical practices. Dr. Veletsianos wrote and/or edited four books, and has individually and collaboratively published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reports. His latest book is Learning Online: The student experience (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). He is recognized as one of the most cited researchers in the fields of education, online learning, and instructional design and technology (Baas, Koyak, & Ioannides, 2021; Bodily, Leary, & West, 2019; Bozkurk et al., 2015; Ioannides, 2023; Ratnasari, Chou, & Huang, 2024), but is skeptical of metrics and concerned about their (mis)use. He has received funding from such organizations as the Canada Research Chairs Program, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, National Science Foundation, and the Commonwealth of Learning.

Dr. Camille Dickson-Deane is the Deputy Head of Research for the School of Professional Practice and Leadership at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She is a Fulbright and Organisation of American States (OAS) scholar with her research focusing on pedagogical usability, individual differences and contextualized online learning designs. She serves on two Q1 editorial boards Educational Technology Research and Development and Internet and Higher Education, along with serving as an advisor for the open science publishing project EdTechnica and an Associate Editor for Journal of Computing in Higher Education. She is also an Australian representative on the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report panel of experts having served since 2021.

Sakinah Alhadad is an educator and researcher working at the intersection of psychology, learning sciences, and education. The broad goal of my translational research and educational practice work is underpinned by equity and social justice. My research lives at the intersection of psychology, education, the learning sciences, and digital design-based methods. I am adept at interdisciplinary research methods, adopting quantitative and qualitative methodologies as appropriate per project. I have a particular interest in critical methodologies. In working towards justice-oriented higher education, I focus on the minoritised and the racialised, from an intersectional perspective. My overarching research interest is in how knowledge may be constructed, evaluated, integrated, and valued for a diverse, justice-oriented future. This program of research honours and centers conceptual and methodological tools that treat education inequity as a social and historical problem. I am concerned with understanding the social, cultural, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of human learning as they contribute to educational wellbeing, equity, and justice. To this end, I study the processes that people engage in within settings that cultivate transformative learning, as situated in pedagogical mediation, and in epistemic thinking and feeling (or epistemic cognition and emotion). Methodologically, I am interested in what forms of inquiry, language, and environments can most generatively, authentically, and respectfully illuminate issues relevant for educational justice in learning and teaching. Thus, I am interested in how we can engage in educational research that researches with rather than on people. Hence, I prioritise collaborative approaches to research and design, partnering with teachers, students, and stakeholders to study the conditions that foster educational wellbeing, equity, change, and justice. Teaching: I prioritise the pedagogy of care, equity, and justice to foster culturally-inclusive epistemic fluency. As I subscribe to philosophies of teaching that focus on educating the whole person (à la Paolo Freire; bell hooks), I consistently apply evidence-based, learner-centered, digitally-enabled pedagogical strategies with educational dignity and liberation for diverse students at the heart of my practice. I design, develop, facilitate, and evaluate innovative curricula and teaching approaches with the aim of enhancing learning wellbeing, student retention, and success, whilst fostering knowledge and capabilities for the changing world of work as entangled with societal and environmental challenges. I work to optimise student learning such that students are equipped to meaningfully contribute to (and be in!) society as efficacious, purposeful, empowered, metacognitive lifelong learners and civic citizens. My teaching expertise is extensive and deep (across the spectrum of undergraduate-postgraduate-professional learners; and all teaching modes: blended, online, hybrid), spanning from large first year courses in psychological science and education, to specialist undergraduate and postgraduate level courses, to that of academic development in University L&T.

Jen Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Education, co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education, and Education Futures fellow at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, where I am programme director for the MSc in Education Futures. I research, teach, and publish on online and open education, digital cultural heritage engagement, and digital cultures and futures. I'm one of the team behind the Manifesto for Teaching Online and the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC. I co-ordinate the Digital Cultural Heritage cluster in the Centre for Data, Culture and Society, and lead the Digital Cultural Heritage Research Network.

Shandell Houlden is an interdisciplinary cultural theorist, writer and communication specialist. Her work uses feminist, creative and anti-colonial methods to examine topics in internet and media studies as well as education technology. With an expertise in social and environmental justice, she publishes across disciplines, including in education, health communication, and media studies, and teaches using flexible and open design to facilitate equitable access to learning. Houlden is also a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Roads. Her work focuses on COVID-19 misinformation and health communication strategies, as well as education futures in a post-COVID-19 and climate emergency world. She is a volunteer member with the Sooke Climate Action Committee as well as a volunteer with local nature connection communities that work with both youth and adults, which inform her practices as an educator.

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Dr. Beth Holland is a Partner at The Learning Accelerator (TLA), where she leads the organization's research and measurement initiatives. She has over 25 years of experience working as an educator and researcher examining challenges of equity, technology, and leadership within K-12 public school systems. Prior to joining TLA, she led the Digital Equity and Rural initiatives for the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Rhode Island. She has also worked as a teacher, administrator, and professional learning developer. Beth earned her doctorate (Ed.D.) from Johns Hopkins University, Master's (Ed.M.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.

Listed as one of EdTech Magazine’s K-12 IT influencers for 2020, Greg Bagby is currently the Coordinator of Instructional Technology for the Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this position, Greg works with 1:1 schools, assisting them in integrating technology into their curriculum. Before this position, Greg was a principal, band director, computer teacher, and technology integration specialist. He presents in his home state and nationally on technology integration, tech tools and artificial intelligence. He is one of the co-founders of EdCampGigCity and the host of the Books with Bagby Podcast. Most recently, Greg was a part of the Technical Working Group for the National Educational Technology Plan and led a panel discussion for its release at the White House.

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Some questions that the report fosters include:

Are there ways that schools can effectively form partnerships with families and caregivers to ensure that students have the sufficient support to maintain their wellness, digital health, and learning related energy and active inquiry?
What are some of the strategies to empower educators in collecting stories as well as data. What is some other evidence of the utility, effectiveness, and results of educational technology?
How can various departments of education across the 50 states of the USA help support school districts and schools to improve their educational technology decision making and training.
Describe some of the ways that the Educational Technology Evidence Toolkit can better inform technology-related decision making and instructional practices among educational leaders in different educational sectors?
Are there proven ways for schools to address digital divides issues and attitudes and attempt to enhance access learning across students and provide more equitable opportunities for all learners?

Press Release (January 22, 2024): New Report: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-2024-national-educational-technology-plan

Team: https://tech.ed.gov/team/

Zac Chase: Digital Equity Impact Fellow
Zac Chase serves as Digital Equity Impact Fellow within the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. In his third decade in public education, Zac is leading OET’s development of the new National Education Technology Plan. Zac is returning to OET where he previously led the development of the 2016 NETP, represented ED on President Obama’s Broadband Opportunity Council. and led efforts to improve technology preparedness for novice teachers. Zac has worked nationally and internationally with schools and school systems on designing equitable and accessible learning experiences. Most recently he worked at St. Vrain Valley School District where he undertook the development of the district’s first open-licensed, freely-available curriculum for 6-12 English language arts.

Susan M. Bearden, CETL is the CEO of Bearden Education Technology Consulting, supporting district leaders, edtech vendors, and non-profit organizations. She co-authored the 2024 update to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Educational Technology Plan. For nearly 3 years, she was the Director of Digital Programs for InnovateEDU, where she led Project Unicorn, a collaboration of 18 organizations seeking to support and promote data interoperability in K12 education. A former teacher and K12 technology leader, she previously served as the Chief Innovation Officer for CoSN and as a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Education Technology. The author of “Digital Citizenship: A Community-Based Approach” is passionate about facilitating best practices in education technology to support innovative teaching and learning.

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In this episode we celebrate 4 years of Silver Lining for Learning and we are joined by some of our previous guests to catch up with them and to just have a good self-congratulatory time. More about about our guests below the video.

Shirley Eadie
Shirley Eadie is the founder of Whole Human Studios, a future skills education consulting company that works with organisations and governments interested in equipping children with the skills they need to thrive in the fast-changing world of work and life. Shirley is a technical advisor to the South African Education Ministry on their future skills strategy. Together with the Ministry, she led the development of the South African Competency Framework, adopted as the national skills framework for k-12. Shirley has an M.Ed in International Education Policy from Harvard University. Her career has focused on education innovation and research.
Previously, Shirley founded and led the Edhub, an education innovation unit at the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT). Prior to her work in education, she was founder and CEO of Pondering Panda – Africa’s first quantitative mobile research company, and was Business and Research Director of Instant Grass International, ethnographic youth research agency.

She had joined us previously for Episode 156: Preparing Children in Africa for a Fast-Changing World

Khendum Gyabak

Khendum has a background which intersects Design, Technology and Education. She has a Masters’ in Education Technology from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington. She has a grounded understanding of theories of learning, developing online education, innovating hybrid, and face-to-face instructional programs, and collaborating on curriculum design with educators and community leaders in a variety of teaching and learning contexts, at both the international and national level. Khendum is a Roster Member for the Fulbright Specialist Program until 2023.

Khendum’s knowledge and professional experience positions her to scope out the nuances existing in any system of human development. She is adept at facilitating curriculum mapping workshops, leading the design and evaluation of graduate and undergraduate academic programs. She has a long history of facilitating faculty learning in higher education, and has also designed and facilitated workshops, academies and talks for K-12 teachers, health care workers and community stakeholders in the U.S, Bhutan, Nepal and Papua New Guinea.

She had previously been on Episode 74 | The Push for Equitable Learning in Inequitable Learning Spaces: Taking a Journey to Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, and Nepal

Aakash Sethi

Aakash is empowering unemployable youth to navigate the future of work & learning in India by mastering 21st century skills through self-learning. He is integrating the culture, tools and practise of self-learning in the Indian education and vocational training system and transitioning teachers as champions of 21st century skills. By doing so, institutions and teachers are enabling young people to experience purpose and autonomy and take charge of their own learning and career pathways.

Prior to starting the QUEST Alliance, Aakash worked with Microsoft's regional office in Istanbul covering Middle East and Africa. He was in the Regional Community Affairs & Citizenship team that developed a 3-year regional plan for digital inclusion programs with a strong focus on IT Skills development for employment. He was the Country Director of the International Youth Foundation and helped set up the Quest Alliance in partnership with USAID in India. He was an active member of AIESEC, the world’s largest youth organization that helps young people gain vital leadership & cross cultural experiences, for over 4 years where he held various local, national and global leadership positions. He has worked extensively on training & facilitating youth leadership programs in over 10 countries.

He is passionate about exploring the role of business in poverty alleviation and the role of networks in taking collective action through a multi-stakeholder approach. He is an Ashoka fellow & Asia 21 leader and on the board of Children's Movement of Civic Awareness (CMCA). He has a graduate degree in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad.

He had previously been on Episode 43 | Designing for learners to take charge: Kiran Sethi and Aakash Sethi

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Pasi Sahlberg is Finnish educator, teacher, and author. He has worked as a schoolteacher, teacher-educator, academic, and policymaker in Finland, and he has advised schools and education system leaders around the world. He served as a senior education specialist at the World Bank (Washington, DC), lead education specialist at the European Training Foundation (Torino, Italy), director general at the Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture (CIMO), and visiting professor of Practice at Harvard University. He is a recipient of several awards for his lifelong service in education, including the 2012 Education Award (Finland), the 2014 Robert Owen Award (Scotland), the 2016 Lego Prize (Denmark), Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Resident Fellowship in 2017, and Dr Paul Brock Memorial Medal in 2021. In 2013 his book “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” won the Grawemeyer Award (U.S.) for an idea that has potential to change the world. His most recent books include "Let the Children Play: How more play will save our schools and help children thrive" (2019, with William Doyle), "Finnish Lessons 3.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” (2021), and "In Teachers We Trust: The Finnish way to world-class schools" (2021,  with Tim Walker). He is currently Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Pasi lives in South Melbourne with his wife and two sons.

Pasi joined us previously for Episode 63 | Let children play

Ariadne Trapote: Born and raised in Mexico City, after completing a BA in Actuarial Science at ITAM, Ariadna worked almost 6 years for BBVA Bancomer where she was portfolio manager for equity markets. Ari also holds a Diploma in Econometrics (ITAM, Mexico) and a Masters in Pensions (U. Alcalá, Spain).

In 2013 Ari moved to Cambridge, MA with her family (spouse, two children and dog) to study a Masters in Finance at Harvard University. While studying in Harvard, she devised her book lending concept. One of her favorite activities was to take her children to the Cambridge Public Library so, when it was time to come back to Mexico, she didn’t want her kids to lose the habits of reading together every night and practicing the English language. Public libraries were far from her house (almost two hours each way), and printed books were expensive to buy, with limited options of books in English. So Ari created Little Bookmates: a way to have access to hundreds of different books, at your doorstep, at affordable prices. This way, her children still ask to spend time together reading books every night while learning about different topics through a world of books.

Ariadne joined us for episode 157, back in July 2023 in an episode titled: The Little Bookmates Smart Library as a Literacy Initiative

Dr. Lin Lin Lipsmeyer is Professor and Department Chair of Teaching and Learning in the SMU’s Simmons School of Education & Human Development. Prior to coming to SMU, Lin was Professor of Learning Technologies and Director of the Texas Center for Educational Technology at the University of North Texas. Lin received her doctorate in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College Columbia University.

Dr. Lin Lipsmeyer has conducted interdisciplinary research in learning sciences, cognition, and innovative technologies. Her research has resulted in over 110 scholarly publications including journal articles, books, and book chapters. In addition, she has been PI, Co-PI, or researcher on numerous NSF and foundation grants bridging learning sciences, artificial intelligence, and STEAM learning.  Lin also serves as the Development Editor-in-Chief of one of the top journals in education and educational research, the Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D, https://www.springer.com/journal/11423).

Lin Lin Lipsmeyer joined us back in September 2022 for a special hosts reflect episode

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About our guests 

Prakash Nair, AIA: As the Founding President & CEO of EDI, Prakash is a futurist and visionary architect recognized globally for his contributions to school design. His work, which spans 58 countries, has garnered numerous international awards. Prakash's publications, including "Blueprint for Tomorrow: Redesigning Schools for Student-Centered Learning," highlight his commitment to rethinking educational spaces to support modern pedagogies.

Dr. Parul Minhas: As EDI's Director of Research & Digital Innovation, Parul's groundbreaking research in learning environments, neuroarchitecture, and biophilic design showcases her commitment to creating spaces that enhance student health and well-being. Her collaborative efforts with Prakash Nair have led to influential studies and tools that assist in the design of educational excellence.

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Guests: Lev Gonick, Chief Information Officer and Elizabeth Reilley, Executive Director AI Acceleration at ASU join us for a conversation on the role of generative AI in higher Education, ASU’s initiative in this space and more.

About our guests 

Lev Gonick is an educator, technologist, and smart city architect. He has been teaching, working, and living on the Net for more than 25 years.

He currently is Enterprise Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University. Enterprise Technology at ASU leads the design and agile management of all enterprise infrastructure, applications, products, services and analytics. Lev also chairs the Sun Corridor Network, Arizona's Research and Education Network. In 2023, Lev has been recognized by the ORBIE Awards as Arizona’s top large Enterprise CIO. In 2022, EdScoop named him as a Top 50 Educational Technology influencers and leaders. Before joining ASU in 2017, Lev Gonick was co-founder and CEO of DigitalC, the award-winning non-profit organization enabling and celebrating innovation, collaboration, and productivity through next generation broadband networks, big open data solutions, and IoT for public benefit

https://tech.asu.edu/about/meet-the-uto/lev-gonick

https://www.linkedin.com/in/levgonick/

Elizabeth Reilley 

Dr. Elizabeth Reilley is the Executive Director, AI Acceleration, with Enterprise Technology at Arizona State University. Previously at ASU, she worked in the area of Data and Analysis also within Enterprise Technology. Elizabeth has 15 years of experience in higher education working in Academic Affairs, Information Technology, and Strategy and Policy. She has a PhD in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BA in Philosophy and Community and Justice Studies from Guilford College.

https://search.asu.edu/profile/3742704

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethreilley/

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For next episode, Episode 181, we will feature students and teachers from South Australia. The teachers and students have taken part in the Human Interdependence Project (HIP), which aims to help students develop global competency, empathy, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking. Joining us will be teachers Michael Jacobsen and Samuel Franzway as well as student Gabby from University Senior College in Adelaide.

Michael Jacobsen. Michael Jacobsen works at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. USC is a Senior High School located on the University of Adelaide’s main CBD campus and teaches Economics and Business Innovation to students in Years 11 & 12 (final two years of high school) and they progress through USC’s academic and pastoral care programs while being immersed in the ‘university experience’ on campus. He has taught at the school since it commenced in 2002 and previously taught in Sydney (Australia) and London (United Kingdom). He spent 10 years as the Dean of USC’s International Program 2010-2020. He is currently the President of the Economic Teacher’s Society of South Australia. In addition to his teaching load, he is also has a role organising and facilitating the USC Yr11 & 12 Mentoring Program at USC. Michael’s passion is working with and mentoring his students, early career teachers and experienced colleagues. At this stage of his career his goals include being as helpful as he can to these groups of people and helping them flourish. He loves nothing more than time with his family and friends, surfing and playing guitar; and walking the family dog with his wife. In 2023 Michael and his USC colleague (Sam Franzway) were part of the YEE HIP Pilot in Adelaide with their Society & Culture and Business Innovation students – they are back in 2024 to ‘do it all again’!

Sam Franzway is an early-career teacher of English and Humanities at University Senior College (USC) in Adelaide, South Australia. Before Sam became a teacher, he worked in the Graduate and Student Academic Assistance units at Flinders University, and the University of South Australia. This experience, in addition to two Masters degrees and a PhD, has informed his passion for teaching English, Humanities, and research skills in the senior school environment. Sam is also a writer, comedian, and photographer. He publishes two podcasts: Why Teach? Australia and Just Going For A Drive. In Why Teach?, Sam interviews experienced teachers about why they became a teacher, their experiences in schools, and what advice they would give themselves when they first started out. Just Going For a Drive is a comedy podcast about Sam’s hobby of cars and driving. In 2023, Sam and his USC colleague (Michael Jacobsen) were part of the YEE HIP Pilot in Adelaide with their Society and Culture, and Business Innovation students – they are back in 2024 to ‘do it all again’!

Gabby Ireland. Hi, I’m Gabby, a University Senior College student. I am currently studying Business Innovation, Economics, English Literacy Studies, Philosophy and Legal Studies in year 12. I am very passionate about Economics and Business and last year (2023) I received the merit award for my HIP Business Innovation ideas. I have recently moved to Adelaide, from Queensland, after joining USC in year 11. My passions outside of school include horse riding, playing video games and hanging out with friends and family. I am very excited to continue my Business ideas in 2024 and enjoy year 12.

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Over the past five years, some Chinese schools have embarked on the journey to make significant changes to engage students in a new type of learning. This is especially difficult in a country where testing is considered a high priority for parents, teachers, and school leaders and test scores really matter for all involved. In this episode, we have invited four students from two cities in China--the capital city of Beijing and Chongqing in Southwest China--to share with us their experiences with a new education paradigm: the Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship Education or ICEE. Together with them are two adults who have helped leading the experiments. The students are from Beijing Academy, a relative new school in Beijing and Chongqing #8 Secondary School, a school of a long history. The experiments have been supported by YEE Education in Beijing.

Bo Hu, vice director of the Academic Affairs Office at Chongqing No.8 Secondary School, is one of the coordinators for ICEE at No.8. With 11 years of experience in teaching English in China, Bo strives to create a dynamic and engaging learning environment to unlock students’ potential. Currently, Bo is pursuing a doctoral degree in education.

Gao Mengchan graduated from Beijing Normal University in 2016. At the same year, she started her teaching career in Beijing Academy. Having been an English teacher for almost eight years, Gao gained a new identity in August, 2023 as one member of YEE- GLocal program. It has been a brand new experience for both Gao and her students as they are exploring and practicing the key ideas of “innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship education”. In today’s conversation, Gao will introduce what their students have been doing in GLocal and what she has learned from a teacher’s perspective.

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In 2007, David McGowan from Chicago was in Uganda filming a documentary about Envirovet, an organization that brings veterinary medicine to wildlife health. A Ugandan veterinarian shared with him a story about the death of silverback gorilla and the subsequent mourning rites exhibited by the other gorillas. It was a behavior not seen before among the other veterinarians nor recorded in the literature of gorilla behavior. The veterinarian told McGowan that if he had had a film camera and knew how to use it, the incident he witnessed would have been international news and an incredible find for science.

McGowan understood that this was one of the missing pieces in the global effort of wildlife management. It is critically important that the people who work closest with wildlife; rangers, trackers, and guides, should have access to the knowledge and equipment of filmmaking.

McGowan met Greg Bakunzi through mutual friends at Gorilla Doctors based in Musanze, Rwanda. Bakunzi offered his eco-tourism compound, Red Rocks, as a location to teach the first class in 2022. Bakunzi shares McGowan’s passion for conservation and also looks to conservation as a way to help the surrounding communities supplement their farming incomes. He invited McGowan to conduct the wildlife filmmaking course at the Red Rocks compound in Musanze, Rwanda.

The first class, August 2022, was a stellar success. Ten students attended ten 4-hour sessions and produced two films: One Health Rwanda and Birding in Rwanda. The next class, September 2023, attracted 12 new students. Students from the 2022 class helped McGowan teach the new class. The 2023 class is working on two films, Virindyana, Traditional Healer and Planet Birdsong. One of the advanced students, Roger Irakoze, has used his new skills to produce, for pay, a film for a local business.

David McGowan is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker who has dedicated the last 30 years of his career to conservation and environmental films. His clients include government agencies; US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, USDA Forest Service and many state agencies, also included are non-governmental organizations; The Nature Conservancy, Bat Conservation International, Envirovet, among others. McGowan began his filmmaking career in 1979 as a grip on “The Blues Brother” feature film. Throughout the 1980s, he worked as a grip, camera assistant, sound recordist, and editor. The variety of filmmaking roles provided the requisite skills required for documentary production. McGowan began his own production company, Ravenswood Media, in 1989. McGowan has enjoyed a career full of adventure and curiosity. He has filmed mountain gorillas, stood at the foot of Angel Falls, dragged cameras/lights miles into caves, and climbed Devils Tower. However, the best part of his job is advancing the goals of conservation and imagining a new, nurturing relationship between humans and the environment.

Greg Bakunzi has gained experience working as a Rwandan tour organizer and guide for various international tour operators. His professionalism and reliability, along with his exceptional understanding of the needs and desires of international visitors, have gained Greg much renown among clients and respect among the members of local communities. He is a co-founder and president of the Ruhengeri Community Eco-Tourism Association, a local association of people collaborating to enhance tourism development in Rwanda. He relies on a network of contacts in the area, all of whom are happy to take part in his project. As he notes, “With my experience, know-how and contacts, l am able to make your bespoke visitor experience memorable, while also benefiting the locals as much as possible. I work with an experienced and highly motivated local staff team responsible for client contacts, as well as tour development and facilitation. I achieved great honor and milestone when Red Rocks was awarded a certificate for being a TOP 100 mid-sized company for the year 2012/2013. The certificate was presented by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Business Excellence Awards.”

He adds that his philanthropic efforts have also not gone unnoticed. He molded Red Rocks Rwanda to be community-based organizations, where the local community can gain from tourism activities, and in the process, have a sustainable income. Red Rocks brings under-served communities into the tourism supply chain and supports community development projects that help people help themselves through our initiatives (http://redrocksinitiative.org/).

In August 2015, Greg’s name was added to the A- Team for Wildlife ‘Wall of Fame’ for his contribution during their Giving Grid Fundraiser. A-Team is an organization that fights to save endangered species of animals. In 2015, on the occasion of the 36th edition of the International Tourism Fair of Madrid (FITUR), the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), FITUR and Casa Africa jointly organized the 7th edition of the Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa (INVESTOUR) on 21 January 2016 in Madrid, Spain. He was invited as a panelist in the second roundtable and shared with the audience his experiences on the topic, Africa-The future is now. Greg has been recognized by several Rwanda based organizations for my efforts in promoting responsible tourism and community development agenda. In January 2019, at the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain, an event that was organized jointly by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), FITUR and Casa Africa, he was awarded in recognition for Red Rocks Initiatives for Sustainable Development activities to promote tourism, conservation, and community development in and around the Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda. Recently, he was appointed by African Tourism Board to be in their steering committee representing the interest of African members on the platform.

Wonjung Bae is a non-fiction storyteller/documentary filmmaker/news producer. Bae made her first film, Grand, Father and Me, at age sixteen and has won numerous awards for her work, including the 38th Student Academy Award, the 16th Annual Directors Guild of America Student Film Award, and the Kodak Cinematographers Scholarship, among others. Before joining Johns Hopkins, Bae was the Seoul Producer for BBC covering stories including the South-North Korean division on land and mind, Korean women’s emerging voice against sexual violence, and the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic for the last seven years. Her team’s investigation on the Gangnam sex scandal was a winner at the Asian Academy Creative Awards for Best Single News Story/Report of Korea, 2019. Before joining BBC, Bae led a production company specialized in international co-productions for character-driven social justice films. One of its features Dollar Heroes was shown at the European Parliament and the UN, and broadcasted through more than 70 public stations including BBC Panorama and Storyville as well as numerous international film festivals. The film was nominated for a 2019 Grierson Documentary Award for Best Documentary Series and won the 59th Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Awards for Best Documentary. Bae completed her MFA in Film and Video at Columbia College Chicago and her internship at PBS Frontline, WGBH Boston. Bae cut her teeth in Chicago as a documentary editor for Emmy Award-winning producer Tod Lending and Kartemquin Films. Born in Busan, South Korea, Bae studied political science at Korea University for her undergraduate degree and is an aspiring flutist.

Roger Irakoze lives in Musanze in the northern province of Rwanda. He is a passionate tour guide and a wildlife filmmaker who works at Red Rocks Culture Center, a place located in Musanze, Nkotsi village in the valley of the volcano's mountains. His daily work at Red Rocks is all about conservation of the mountain gorillas and the local community who live around the volcanoes national park through community-based tourism. As Roger notes, “Here at Red Rocks community comes first, whatever we do is to make sure that the community is benefiting from the tourism activities that take place at Red Rocks through different programs such as women guiding association by where the local women get engaged in tour guiding, also there is an art for conservation program where the women and the youth make different handcrafts and bring them to the art gallery to be sold and the money that have been paid for the crafts goes back to the owners of those crafts a hundred percent.”

Rwanda wildlife filmmaking is a program that was introduced in August 2022 in cooperation of red rocks initiatives and Ravenswood media a company based in Chicago in the USA. The mission of the project is to promote the conservation of wildlife, nature, and community through providing the trainings to the tour guides, rangers and other people who have relationship with conservation by teaching them the basic skills of filmmaking by where they can be able to deliver the message of conservation through short movies and videos that they have been taught to do. In this program Roger works as a film director and editor as he is one of the students who attended the first class, and the trainings are still taking place with new students who are committed to learn about wildlife filmmaking.

Roger Irakoze has a bachelor’s degree in travel and tourism management. In addition, he is a certified Kivu belt bird guide and have attended the 6 months training of inspiring managers program provided by African management institute in cooperation with Mastercard foundation. He has advanced skills in information technology where he received his international computer driving license (ICDL) certificate. The way he got to know red rocks was from an internship during the completion of his bachelor’s degree. After three months of internship, Red Rocks offered him a chance of working there as a volunteer in community tourism and nature conservation from 2019 until today. He points out that there are a lot of benefits of being a guide whereby he gets paid when conducting various tours with tourists. Roger adds that tour guiding is the best way of interacting with various people from different countries and through tour guiding as he gets the chance to promote the culture and the beauty of his country in general. It is also the best way to interact with nature and participate in the conservation of nature, wildlife, and community. He definitely enjoys it.

Final Note: For those who are inspired by this particular episode of Silver Lining for Learning and would like to help out, Ravenswood Media has created a filmmaking course for national park rangers, trackers and guides. Check out 'Rwandan Wildlife Filmmaking Course' on Indiegogo. Crowdfunding Website. https://igg.me/at/hNAnRwf02nA/x/3010600#/ 

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The students speaking on the show were part of the League of Innovative Students (LOIS), a cohort of 30 high-school students from League of Innovative Schools member districts, representing a network of more than 150 forward-thinking school districts in 38 states. These students were invited to conduct research on top equity challenges for Digital Promise’s Challenge Map. Each one of them identified an education equity challenge that was prevalent in their respective school communities and conducted research to gather additional student perspectives about the challenge. They will share what they learned from their research, including the ideas they gathered from their student peers for how to address some of the most common challenges in education. They are:

Hailey Godin, San Ramon Valley Unified School District
Julia Aguas, San Ramon Valley Unified School District
Kaonna Hyacinthe, Richland School District 2
Nethra Dhamodaran, San Ramon Valley Unified School District

Briza Diaz of Digital Promise will accompany the students. Briza Diaz is an Education Researcher at Digital Promise’s Center for Inclusive Innovation, where she works on program evaluation and development. Her experience in different aspects of education has culminated in her current work to further education equity and stakeholder voice in education. One of Briza’s projects includes the Challenge Map, which was created to communicate shared challenges that districts across the country are addressing in order to surface promising solutions. The map aims to gather solution ideas to top education challenges from the perspectives of different members of school communities, including students, teachers, school and district leaders, parents/caregivers, and community members.

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Silver Lining for Learning is an ongoing conversation on the future of learning with educators and education leaders from across the globe. Hosted by Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra & Yong Zhao, these conversations began under the “dark cloud” of the COVID19 crisis and continue today. We see these conversations as space to discuss the creation of equitable, humanistic and sustainable learning ecosystems that meet the needs of all learners. These conversations are hosted live on YouTube every Saturday and are archived on https://silverliningforlearning.org

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In Episode #174 of Silver Lining for Learning, Louise Edwards (lead developer and 3D artist) and her teammate Tiffany Duong (writer) will take us on an adventure (or edventure) into the fjords of Norway not by plane, car, or boat but via immersive learning technology. Their work is literally changing the landscape of education to teach about ecological systems that are currently in the midst of extreme flux yet are vital to life on this planet. Learners can now leap into Arctic waters and experience firsthand how the orca of North America are adapting to a rapidly changing ocean and planet overall. Learn how juvenile orcas experience their first winter in Arctic fjords and navigate threats and opportunities such as those brought by the annual winter herring run. Attend this session and have your mind stretched, your emotions stirred, and life outlook forever altered.

Links and Resources:  

Found in the Fjords website: http://foundinthefjords.org/
Found in the Fjords (1 minute teaser): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJqcHWQV_ug
Virtual World Society Nextant Podcast: https://www.virtualworldsociety.org/virtual-world-society-podcast/episode/760b283d/episode-23-dr-louise-edwards
VR in Education podcast: https://cfrehlich.podbean.com/e/episode-97-vr-to-educate-people-about-the-earth/
Over Coffee podcast: https://blubrry.com/overcoffee/98201223/whale-culture-in-vr/

Dr. Louise Edwards is an educational consultant and VR developer situated at the nexus of science education, exploration, and immersive technology. She has carved a unique career path that encompasses experimental research in Earth science, environmental consulting, education and training across K-12, post-secondary and corporate sectors, and VR design and development. She specializes in creating immersive and interactive experiences that help people develop a relationship with the Earth and the scientific literacy required to engage with the modern world.

Website: https://www.dredwardsvr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-louise-edwards/
Instagram: : https://www.instagram.com/dredwardsvr/

Tiffany Duong is an explorer and expedition storyteller. She holds degrees from UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Inspired by an epic dive trip, she left corporate law to campaign for our planet. Now, she writes, speaks and leads from dense jungles to remote oceans to the changing Arctic. Through her varied work, Tiff gives voice to what's happening in the natural world to inspire meaningful action and lasting change. Follow her on Twitter/Instagram @tiffmakeswaves.

Specialties

Field/expedition reporting, science communication, storytelling, writing, campaign design, coalition building, and intersectional and environmental advocacy

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.tiffanyduong.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tiffanyduong
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffmakeswaves/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TiffMakesWaves
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanytvduong/

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Aline Sara is the co-founder and CEO of NaTakallam, an award-winning social enterprise that hires refugees and displaced persons and their host community members as online tutors, teachers, and translators. With a background in journalism, Aline is working to disrupt the ways in which we typically think of humanitarian aid and leverage the digital economy to promote sustainable solutions to major crises such as forced migration. Under Aline Sara’s leadership, NaTakallam has distributed $1,700,000+ in self-earned income to conflict-affected populations by connecting them to 12,000+ learners and dozens of organizational clients, worldwide. Aline is a Cartier Women’s Initiative, Summit & Halcyon fellow and has been a speaker at numerous high-level events, including TechCrunch Berlin & several OECD, UN, and World Bank events. She was named ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Elle Impact Awards, winner of the World Bank Youth Summit, and regional winner of the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (Asia). She is a passionate advocate for women’s rights and intercultural exchange.

Some links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alinesara/.
NaTakallam: https://natakallam.com/
About: https://natakallam.com/about/
Article. WISE Profile: https://www.wise-qatar.org/biography/aline-sara/
NaTakallam: A Different Kind of Language Learning: https://www.wise-qatar.org/project/natakallam-connecting-refugees-and-language-learners-worldwide/ 
Video (2022; 7:15): Creating Digital Livelihoods for Refugees: Breaking the Wall to Integration. https://falling-walls.com/discover/videos/creating-digital-livelihoods-for-refugees-breaking-the-wall-to-integration/
Video (2022; 15:01): Connecting Refugee: Falling Walk Breakthrough Conversation with Aline Sara
https://falling-walls.com/discover/videos/connecting-refugees-falling-walls-breakthrough-conversation-with-aline-sara/

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From the visionary perspective of H.E. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the transformation of digital education from a concept into a thriving reality has been nothing short of remarkable. Since its inception on November 11th, 2020, this initiative has been driven by unwavering dedication, with a resolute aim to reach one million students and beneficiaries by the year 2026. Today, our footprint spans eight countries, where we proudly extend the benefits of digital education to over 100,000 beneficiaries.

The strength of TDS lies in its diverse range of offerings, designed to bridge educational gaps in underserved communities. We work tirelessly at both the strategic and technical levels, collaborating with countries to facilitate the transformation of their education systems into digital paradigms. A key facet of our mission is empowering educators – we provide professional development teacher training, empowering them to attain certification as digital educators. Additionally, we engage in pilot programs in close partnership with each host country's ministry of education. These pilots allow us to gauge the feasibility of a full-fledged implementation, which stands as our ultimate long-term goal.

The core of our TDS model is its adaptability. We start by aligning with the national curriculum of the country where we operate, and then we methodically digitize it. Our education team crafts comprehensive lesson plans for various subjects, making these resources readily accessible through our Learning Management System. In summary, our approach to the digital school model is both unique and contextualized, tailored to the distinct needs of each country we serve. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here; our commitment lies in meeting the educational aspirations of diverse communities worldwide.

And last, but not least, the heart of The Digital School is in its educators – the facilitators and teachers who support the learning of TDS students. Many of our educators have no prior experience of using technology in the classroom. We have purposefully designed a sequence of professional development courses that orientate, guide and inspire them to be effective digital practitioners.

Readings and Resources: The Digital School progress and impact report https://thedigitalschool.org/

Episode Guests

Dr.Waleed Al-Ali is Secretary General at The Digital School.

Dr. Waleed Al Ali – is the Secretary General and board member for The Digital School Initiative, He also holds responsibilities in a number of leading initiatives in Dubai including senior advisor at Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives (MBRGI), the general coordinator for Madrasa.org e-learning initiative and the coordinator for Dubai Future Council for Humanitarian Aid. Dr.Waleed has extensive experience in the areas of strategic planning, educational strategies, digital transformation, and social & development innovation. Waleed has worked with leading private and public organizations in UAE including Dubai Holding, UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, and Mohammed Bin Rashid’s Smart Learning Program. Dr.Waleed holds a PhD in Project and Innovation Management, Master’s degree in IT Management and Bachelor’s degree in Information Security.

Dr. Fuzan AlKhalidi is Education and Strategy Advisor at The Digital School.

Dr. Fuzan AlKhalidi is a seasoned education strategy advisor at the Digital School, part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives. With over 18 years of experience, Dr. AlKhalidi has held various leadership roles in strategic planning, healthcare management, and the implementation of national education and healthcare projects. Dr. AlKhalidi is known for his visionary thinking and a strong track record of turning plans into successful outcomes. He holds a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Science in Healthcare Management from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Dr. Lesley Fern Snowball – Education Director - The Digital School

As the Education Director, Dr. Lesley Snowball directs and leads all aspects of The Digital School education strategy, including pedagogy, content and professional development for educators. With more than 30 years as an educator, Dr. Lesley’s educational passions and specific areas of expertise include students’ self-directed learning, curriculum design, multilingualism, inclusive education, and school improvement. Dr. Lesley has incorporated technologies into her classroom since volunteering to pilot a Sinclair ZX81 in the 1980s with her special needs students, and since 2010, has designed and taught online courses as Adjunct Professor of Education with George Mason University in Fairfax VA. She co-authored and published the Intemational Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and published more than 100 education resources with Pearson Education and Paramount Publishing. Dr. Lesley has a Doctorate in teachers’ professional development, a Masters’ degree in curriculum design, and an Advanced Diploma in language learning, A passionate multiculturalist, she has lived and/or worked in more than 50 countries worldwide.

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In this episode, we invite two people from Australia to share their stories of creating a school within a school. Belinda Provis is the principal of All Saints College in Perth, Western Australia and Esther Hill is Director at Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute of All Saints’ College. Together they have taken at least five years to create the The Studio School, which is part of All Saints College but practices a different paradigm of education.

Esther Wilkes Hill, Director of Teaching and Learning at All Saints’ College, Perth, has been one of the driving forces in establishing The Studio School (TSS), an Australian first model of personalised studio learning in Fremantle, WA. Focusing on the individual student and personalising pathways, TSS offers an alternative to mainstream schooling structures and systems through a studio model that sees students combining their studies with real-world projects and engagements. In addition, Esther has continued her leadership as director of the Beyond Boundaries Institute and its advisory group. Bringing together the creative and expert minds of Australia’s foremost educators and thought leaders in the advisory group brings value not only to All Saints’ College but to the wider education community.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In this episode, we navigate the intricate dynamics of the youth bulge in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where approximately 60% of the population is under the age of 30. We will delve into the opportunities and challenges this demographic trend presents for both higher education and employment. One pressing challenge we tackle is the persistent issue of skills mismatch and high youth unemployment rates in MENA. Despite the increasing number of graduates, there exists a significant disconnect between the skills acquired through higher education and the demands of the job market. We will engage in a thoughtful discussion on strategies aimed at bridging this gap, aligning education with the evolving needs of the job market, and highlight success stories and promising programs that are already making a difference in addressing this crucial issue.

Our guests will provide insights into key topics such as the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the localization and contextualization of reform efforts, curriculum modernization, and teacher development. We'll also explore the integration of technology to enable digitization and strategies for addressing the complex issue of the skills gap. Join us for a grounded, informative conversation that conversation that not only explores the challenges but also offers practical strategies and solutions that are actively shaping higher education in the MENA region.

Episode guests
Shireen Yacoub: An EdTech pioneer in MENA and Managing Partner at Istidama Consulting, working at the intersection of research and education with a primary focus on upskilling vulnerable communities, including refugees, and harnessing educational technology for enhanced economic mobility. Prior to joining Istidama, Shireen was the the CEO of Edraak, the leading open online learning platform reaching 7 million learners across the MENA region. She holds a master's degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, specializing in Education, Innovation, and Technology.

ELYAS FELFOUL, Director - WISE, Qatar Foundation: Elyas joined WISE in 2013, he has been in charge of managing and establishing the summit's platform as well as overseeing the EdTech Accelerator Program. With his extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, Elyas brings vast and rich knowledge and expertise to WISE. Before joining WISE, he worked as a political advisor to the Quebec Vice-Prime Minister, and later held a position at a Toronto-based firm specializing in M&A. Elyas studied International Relations at University of Sherbrooke in Canada and obtained a Masters in Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore.

About WISE: WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate and purposeful action. WISE has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education. Through both the biennial Summit and a range of ongoing programs WISE is promoting innovation and building the future of education through collaboration.

Rami Qubain: Rami is a Director at PwC Middle East Education and Skills Advisory services, He has more than 20 years of experience in North America and MENA regions developing a track record managing transformation projects in different sectors including education, non-profit, community development, and public sector. He gained a solid skill-set working and managing projects to enhance operational efficiency, regulatory and academic governance frameworks, and stakeholder management. Prior to joining PwC in 2014, Rami worked across multiple higher education institutions including the American University in Cairo, Manhattanville College, and other start-up educational institutions and regional governmental entities

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Amid tightening budgets, challenging demographics and uncertainty in enrollment forecasts, the overall health of the education abroad sector remains at a critical crossroads. Recent global student flow forecasting by the international research firm HolonIQ suggests that a rapid return to pre-pandemic enrollment is not a foregone conclusion. A variety of global and economic factors, including affordability, could continue to limit access to education abroad programs. In this context, schools need a more precise and actionable understanding of demand for education abroad. A more detailed understanding of demand can also help ensure that education abroad programs are more readily accessible and available to the full spectrum of undergraduate students.

Academic Programs International (API), an award-winning provider of experiential learner programming is addressing these challenges through the development of its Experiential Learner Mindsets. This conversation will explore both the current state of the education abroad sector, and the potential impact that an understanding of learner mindsets may have on expanding access and lowering barriers of entry to these experiences.

Episode Guests

Howard Lurie has been the Senior Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Academic Programs International (API) since 2021.  He is responsible for establishing and leading API’s research and evaluation services, focused on assessing the preferences and motivations of both prospective and alumni learners seeking study away/abroad and experiential learning opportunities.

Prior to joining API, Howard served for seven years as the Principal Analyst for Online and Continuing Education at Eduventures, an independent research and advisory firm. At Eduventures, Howard designed and directed nationally representative research studies investigating the adult learner market, competency-based education (CBE), alternative credentials, and Online Program Management (OPM) services. Howard was the principal investigator for Eduventures’ 2016 – 2019 study Deconstructing CBE: An Assessment of Institutional Activity, Goals and Challenges in Higher Education.  Previously, Howard served in management and leadership roles at Acrobatiq, EdX, and WGBH where he co-founded and directed PBS LearningMedia, a free digital resource used by millions of secondary and postsecondary students.

Anastasia Vrachnos works with leadership, academic partners, and business units to advance the scope of the university's global partnerships and immersive learning opportunities. She also coordinates strategic planning implementation and communications, oversees academic planning at Star Route Farms, and helps lead cross-divisional strategic initiatives that advance the academic enterprise.

Before joining USF in 2019, Anastasia was the Vice Provost for International Affairs and Operations at Princeton University, and prior to that, served as dean of international and professional experience for Yale-NUS College in Singapore. She draws on a wide range of professional experience in the fields of education, nonprofit administration, finance, and journalism. She was the executive director of Princeton in Asia, worked as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley, taught middle school in the Bronx, and was an award-winning photojournalist in Indonesia and East Timor.

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Virtually all the districts that switched to 4 days are in rural areas or small towns. The original cause of this switch from 5 to 4 days was largely financial and related to staffing, although research shows that the actual financial saving for a district is less than 2%. The results for some schools have been quite positive in terms of reactions of parents, students, and staff, who have overwhelmingly welcomed the change. The impact on academic outcomes, however, is not clear, with some analyses showing little or no negative impact, while others identified more significant negative effects over a longer time.

The 4-day school week is no doubt a significant change in education. It has been, however, unfathomable for the majority of schools to even consider the possibility of a different attendance construct. Indeed, some U.S. states have attempted to block schools from moving to this model and insisted schools offer at least the required number of school hours. Schools that have switched to 4 days per week have also had to deal with numerous legal and practical issues.

In a recent article Rethinking the time spent at school: Could flexibility improve engagement and performance for students and teachers? published in Prospects, Jim Watterston and Yong Zhao discuss the potential implications of significant time changes in schools. And in this episode, we invite John Kuhn, Superintendent of Mineral Wells ISD in Texas, Bethani Carter, a teacher in the district, and Janelle, a student in the district to discuss their experiences of moving toward the 4 day school week.

More about our guests below the video

John Kuhn is superintendent of Mineral Wells ISD in Texas and is a long-time advocate for public education. He’s written three books and numerous articles and essays about education, and he has spoken nationwide on the importance of supporting teachers and defending the right to a free public education in the United States. He lives in Mineral Wells with his wife and daughter. He has a son studying pre-law at Texas A&M University and another son who recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in computer science.

Bethani Carter is a Pre-K teacher in Mineral Wells ISD. She is been teaching for six years and currently teaches Pre-Kindergarten at Lamar elementary.  She graduated from the University of North Texas in 2014 with a degree in psychology.  While going to school she was a substitute and fell in love with teaching, which led her to pursue her teaching certification.

Janelle is a Junior in high school and is involved in the National Honor Society, Student Council, she is a theatre officer and a Ram Scholar. She volunteers at the senior center on Fridays and leads a crochet class.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

The hype and promise of immersive learning such as virtual reality or augmented reality has been around for decades. Immersive environments can draw learners into highly engaging experiences unlike any other medium.  However, adoption of high quality immersive learning in higher education is uneven, though there are by now examples and institutions finding reliable success. What are the latest examples of immersive learning in higher education, what can we learn from these examples, and what might we do to improve the future?

Three expert leaders of immersive learning get together for this episode of Silver Lining for Learning to discuss the trends and highlights of what’s happening with immersive learning experiences across the higher education space through three very distinct organizational lenses  - Marcy Drummond of MetaCity in Los Angeles, Greg Heiberger in South Dakota, and Jonathon Richter with the Immersive Learning Research Network. With special focus on strategic approaches for accessible and meaningful learner engagement, our guests may discuss immersive learning with respect to current trends such as the idea of the metaversity, low/no cost deployment, the drift from Metaverse to eXtended Reality (XR), games, game design and gamification in immersive learning, the wild array of immersive learning possibilities springing up across the curricula, the range of platforms and approaches for higher education professionals to consider in co-designing with students, integrating AI into immersive learning experiences, and the nature of hype versus evidence-based simulations to be found across higher education, and out into the workforce and other field-based settings.

Resources

MetaCity:
https://www.lacitycollege.edu/about/why/meta-city

South Dakota State University:
https://www.sdstate.edu/news/2023/03/sdsu-selected-one-seven-original-metaversities

Immersive Learning Research Network’s Champions in Higher Education for XR (CHEX):
https://www.immersivelrn.org/initiatives/champions-in-higher-education-of-xr-chex/
 Free and Lo/No-Code -

Immersive experiences used be expensive and reserved for the “techies”. Now, with drag and drop functionality in graphic and immersive spaces, students can collaborate and prototype and codesign spaces WITHOUT have much technical skill. Check out this recent Geekflare article on empowering students with no-code for Augmented Reality development.  [ . . . } At the crossroads between two current trends, Artificial Intelligence is taking over the Lo- or No-Code development space.
Artificial Intelligence & Generative Text impacting Immersive Learning -
VR software company ENGAGE has ChatGPT embedded into virtual “bot” beings in their virtual environment - a project called Athena worth investigating. Many informal reports of higher education engaging in projects using text and image generating AI to design and develop immersive experiences - particularly with educational character design, world/level design, and dialogue customized to specific faculty expert-context.
Accessible Tech -
Look to the emerging power of WebXR, such as: FrameVR, Mozilla Hubs, Alakazam, Spatial.io - if you can access the web (a relatively low bar), you can thus, get into the virtual 3D space, as WebXR operates in the web browser - no need to download and install a separate program. Mobile phones can then become a common demoninator access point - something many learning institutions already practice. Ruth Le at the University of Michigan has a good summary of the limitations vs. benefits of eXtended Reality regarding accessibility and learning.

Digital Twins - This is a popular buzzword in higher education and thus, operates at all levels of conversation. Digital Twins are digital models linked to physical reality. There is some tangible reality - some real benefits being actually realized out of this old concept and institutions are finding success innovating with the idea: from digital twins of municipal areas, sports arenas, bridges, and the many ongoing digital twin projects of universities in partnership with Victory XR. Graphics Card maker NVIDIA has a 5-step guideline on Getting Started with Digital Twins.

Metaversities - What is a Metaversity and should you build one? (Forbes, Jan 2023); Previously mentioned Victory XR and Virbela are two companies that offer different kinds of metaversity solutions.

Simulations and Training - Companies like TaleSpin offer enterprise software and toolkits that universities and other orgs can use to design and integrate their own XR solutions. Other solutions, such as those offered by the company BodySwaps provides “soft skills” training and accreditation pathways for universities to build & reinforce cultural expectations and cultivate professional behavior. Focused on specific job-related skills and career pathways, companies like Transfr collaborate with universities and businesses with active work sites.

Games, game design, and gamification - Some universities are hoping that gamification can stem the tide of declining enrollment. Generative text is being used to customize complex narratives, curated by higher education experts as a core aspect of the design of highly engaging customized learning experiences. The ethical implications and consequences that we face are worth careful consideration. ChatGPT has a free version but the AI visual image generators such as Bing’s, Open AI’s DALL-E2, or MidJourney - which are NOT free but still relatively accessible - are potentially transformative for use in teaching and learning in higher education. The Immersive Learning Research Network has explored and experimented with Alternate Reality Games in education for the past few years.

Evidence-based Design of Immersive Learning experiences - In 2022, in support of the mission of the IEEE Technical Committee on Immersive Learning Environments, the iLRN FAIDS initiative worked with the iLRN community to crowdsource  emerging design standards for developing high quality immersive learning experiences.

Episode Guests
Marcy Drummond led the development of the MetaCity XR teaching and learning program as Vice President for Economic and Social Mobility Innovation at Los Angeles City College. Marcy’s prior positions were at the ACT Foundation and the  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Marcy also served more than ten years as Los Angeles Trade-Technical College’s Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Innovation and as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Workforce Development where she led major education and workforce development initiatives, several of which received national and international recognition, including the Pathways to Academic, Career, and Transfer Success (PACTS) model, the Regional Economic Development Institute, the Transportation Workforce Institute, and the Green Technology Incubator.

Dr. Heiberger’s 20 years of innovation at South Dakota State University (SDSU) includes curricular, co-curricular and outreach programming. His professional career spans 5 years in student affairs, 10 years as pre-med advisor/instructor and he currently serves as Associate Professor & Coordinator of the accelerated master’s in Human Biology and Associate Dean in the College of Natural Sciences. His active research projects include a social listening study exploring the change in STEM career sentiment throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and is the PI for an NSF funded project titled: The Wokini Undergraduate Biology Education Network. In 2022, SDSU was named one of the first 10 Metaversity campuses in the US. Greg currently leads SDSU’s Metaversity initiative and additionally he has cultivated internal and external investment in VR initiatives supporting over 150 headsets deployed in physical VR labs, and a mobile VR lab project aimed at engaging regional rural communities in STEM activities and careers through VR.

Jonathon Richter, is co-Founder and the current Chief Executive Officer of the Immersive Learning Research Network, or iLRN - where he has led in the co-creation of the iLRN Virtual Campus since 2020 with partner platforms such as Virbela, Frame, Mozilla Hubs, and Alakazam. In collaboration with universities such as San Diego State University, Harvard University, University of Roehampton, and Goethe University, the iLRN Virtual Campus

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

The war raging in Ukraine has been front page news for the past 18 months. The co-hosts at Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) have been concerned about the educational situation in Ukraine; what is happening in the classroom as well as online. In this episode of SLL, Dr. Hanna Bondarenko, Associate Professor at the Institute of International Education at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, will share her perspectives on education in this time of crisis. V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, founded in 1804, is a prestigious academic university and the second-oldest university in Ukraine. In Episode #163, Dr. Bondarenko explores and discusses how K-12 and higher education are practiced under war conditions and what she sees as the future of education with such changing circumstances. During the hour, we will also discuss its’ impact on culture and life in general. As the person responsible for directing international education on her campus, she will also discuss the present circumstances for domestic and international students in a post-pandemic world and amidst forced conflict. As you will learn from this episode, Hannah’s insights will speak to the resilience of the human heart, the fortitude of the human mind, and the possibilities for education despite the plethora of challenges posed to educators, students, and parents by the current political, social, and economic landscape.

Hanna Bondarenko (PhD in History) is Associate Professor at the Institute of International Education V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. She is also a visiting scholar at Indiana University. Her scholarship and teaching address international education and Ukrainian history and culture. Her recent international project includes: "Kharkiv as a Multicultural City of Eastern Ukraine: Advantages, Contradictions, Challenges and Prospects for Development (1991-2020)," funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. She is the Project Coordinator of "City and War" (Destruction, Preservation and Rethinking of the Cultural Heritage of Large Cities in Eastern and Southern Ukraine During the Russo-Ukrainian War) (https://en.cityface.org.ua/projectheritage.html) (2022 - to date).

Hanna teaches many courses intended for international students. These courses include: "History of Ukraine," "Culture and Traditions of Ukraine," "History of Kharkiv Region," and "History of Kharkiv University." She participated in the following international projects: "Kharkiv as a Multicultural City of Eastern Ukraine: Advantages, Contradictions, Challenges and Prospects for Development (1991-2020)." This project was funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (2020). In addition, she was involved in: "Practices of the Self-Representation of Multinational Cities in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Era" (2018-2021) that was supported by the Kowalski Program and the Program for the Study of Modern Ukraine of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta (https://cityface.org.ua/). A third international project was: "Integration and Adaptation of Foreign Students / INTERADIS Erasmus+. Her latest publication on the topic of education in Ukraine (in English): Bondarenko, H. Ukrainian Education in Wartime: Challenges and Problems. The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: History, no. 62, 2022, pp. 142-159. https://www.doi.org/10.26565/2220-7929-2022-62-06. She can be contacted at: abondarenko@karazin.ua.

Suggested readings: 

• Nazarenko, Y., Kohut, I., & Zheriobkina, T. (No date). Education and War in Ukraine (February 24-April 1, 2022). Cedos, 1-10.
• Impact of the War on Higher Education in Ukraine
• Ukrainian Education in Times of War: Ukrainian Education in Times of War

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Learning engineering is an emerging field that integrates educational psychology, data science, and technology to design, implement, and assess effective learning experiences. Through data-driven insights, learning engineers bridge the gap between educational research and practical application, devising personalized and adaptive learning environments tailored to individual learner needs.

The newly instituted Learning Engineering Institute at Arizona State University will bring together multidisciplinary experts, encompassing cognitive science, computer science, and instructional design, to collaboratively undertake cutting-edge research and development. By harnessing the potential of learning analytics and artificial intelligence, guided by evidence-based understanding of learning and learners, the institute aims to revolutionize education, fostering accessibility, effectiveness, and customized learning experiences for all. Through this initiative, ASU  empowers learners and educators to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape of learning technologies and pedagogical approaches.

Our guests
Danielle S. McNamara
https://search.asu.edu/profile/1805468

Danielle S. McNamara is the Executive Director of the newly formed ASU Learning Engineering Institute, Director of the Science of Learning and Educational Technology (SoLET) Lab, and a Professor in the Department of Psychology. She is an international expert in the fields of cognitive and learning sciences, comprehension, writing, natural language processing (NLP), intelligent tutoring, and artificial intelligence in education. She and her team have developed several intelligent tutoring systems, including iSTART and Writing Pal, for comprehension and writing instruction and practice. Research on these technologies have explored methods for improving student engagement via game-based practice, enhanced adaptability functions, and assessed the feasibility and usability of these systems in real world settings such as high school classrooms. Dr. McNamara has also led the development and testing of multiple NLP tools that have been used in various contexts and learning environments involving essay writing, reading comprehension, second language learning, and creativity. Such tools allow for quick, efficient, and reliable analyses of large text corpora, which is particularly relevant and valuable when analyzing big data. She is an APS, AERA, and ST&D fellow, Founding Editor of APA Technology, Mind, & Behavior, and served as associate editor for the Cognitive Science Journal, Journal of Educational Psychology, Learning & Instruction, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, and founding AE of Topics in Cognitive Science.

Scotty Craig: 
https://search.asu.edu/profile/1978855

Scotty D. Craig is the Director of Research, Assessment, and Evaluation at the ASU Learning Engineering Institute and is an associate professor of human systems engineering within The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Dr. Craig is a learning engineer with expertise in cognitive science, design science, and the science of learning (specifically learning technology). He has contributions at the intersection of psychology, education, and technology within the areas of multimedia learning, virtual environments, distributed learning as well as development and evaluation of learning technology within laboratory and applied settings. Dr. Craig is currently the Graduate Chair for the Human Systems Engineering Program and the University Senate Past President of the Polytechnic Campus.

Rod Roscoe
https://search.asu.edu/profile/1809961
Rod D. Roscoe is the Director of Inclusion for the ASU Learning Engineering Institute and he is an associate professor of human systems engineering in the Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and was a Diane and Gary Tooker Professor of Effective Education in STEM. He is affiliate faculty of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and a member of the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming (CHART). His research investigates how the intersection of learning science, computer science, user science, and equity science can inform effective and innovative educational technologies. He is also interested in how cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational learning processes can be scaffolded by educational technology. Recent work has explored inclusive language analytics and emphasizing inclusive approaches to assessment and AI in education

Other links

• Google Scholar
• SLATE Lab

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What if we started by listening to students?

That’s the question that lives at the heart of our professional development. At the core of every school are the students. We’re building a platform for educators, administrators, and families to connect with young people, breaking barriers toward learning and building engaging practices. Our process begins by working with multiple groups of young people of all age levels to learn about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations, connecting each to their school experience. We learn about what they love and wish could be improved.

Human Restoration Project takes these conversations and analyzes them, utilizing a high-quality transcription and collaborative discussion tool from MIT-partner Cortico. This enables us to build a multi-day interactive, hands-on professional development model that not only provides the latest in research-driven practice, but is directly built on the aspirations of young people.

Consistently, we find young people telling us the same issues that need addressed (which mirrors what we see in research):

• Classrooms need to be increasingly collaborative, hands-on, purpose-focused, and meaningful. They should be more active and less passive.
• Schools need to draw upon students’ lived experiences and with the assets of their local communities.
• Assignments and projects must aim toward an interdisciplinary focus, leading to increasingly authentic learning experiences.
• School is, well, boring. Reimagining education (see above) would lead to more engagement, higher academic achievement, and better social emotional health.
• There’s a mental health crisis, and school structures and systems are in-part to blame, and need to change.

We’re former public school teachers and we understand that PD rarely feels worthwhile: only 29% of teachers say they are satisfied with their PD. We believe that the research-driven interactive, discussion-based model we are passionate about in our classrooms should also be how we learn with adults. Through a workshop model, educators co-design changes to their classroom.

Through our work, we have led large scale focus-group analysis with young people and community members, directed workshops, embraced PBL and interdisciplinary learning, redesigned schedules and classrooms, and co-designed entire “schools-within-schools.” One thing remains consistent: the vast majority of educators and young people want and desire change. Imagining and building a better schooling system – a better future – isn’t naivety, it’s essential for a thriving world. Individual actions snowball and propagate through systems, and each act of service, each pushback, each classroom decision can fundamentally build a better future. It’s up to us to make that tomorrow a reality.

Let’s restore humanity together.

Human Restoration Project is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on restoring humanity to education: providing free resources to educators looking to make change, and working directly with schools to develop partnerships with young people, educators, and administrators in systems-based design.

Guests:

Nick Covington is a former high school Social Studies teacher in Iowa public schools and Creative Director of Human Restoration Project, who promotes progressive education across the board. Nick aims to reestablish the idea of what school could be to one of student-centered success that relies on their ideas and knowledge, instead of a dictated “future ready” curriculum.

Chris McNutt is obsessed with the benefits of progressive education and wants a practical place to find everything, for free, under one roof (hence HRP!) He was a public high school digital media & design educator who centered his practice on experiential learning, purpose-driven pathways and community involvement. He is the Executive Director of Human Restoration Project.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Silver Lining for Learning is an ongoing conversation on the future of learning with educators and education leaders from across the globe. Hosted by Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra & Yong Zhao, these conversations began under the “dark cloud” of the COVID19 crisis and continue today. We see these conversations as space to discuss the creation of equitable, humanistic and sustainable learning ecosystems that meet the needs of all learners. These  conversations are hosted live on YouTube every Saturday and are archived on https://silverliningforlearning.org

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Fabrício Cararro, originally from Brazil, was a very curious child. The first moment he was faced with foreign languages was around 2nd or 3rd grade, when a couple of kids who studied in the same class with him started speaking English to each other. Their parents had a lot of money, so they could afford private English lessons. Fabrício felt admiration, but also a little bit of jealousy. He would also like to have a secret language to talk to other classmates and friends. Fabrício has always been interested in other countries and other cultures but could only speak some English. Everything started to change when he was 18. He got the chance to take an intensive Italian course in Brazil, which was a birthday gift from his godmother. At that moment, he saw that learning foreign languages was possible.

Soon, Fabrício became a programmer, while keeping language learning as a hobby. However, the languages would keep calling him. So, when he was 27, he got a job in Europe and has not stopped traveling since then. On this journey, he learned from the world’s leading polyglots how people succeed in learning foreign languages, attended several polyglot conferences, and tested countless language learning methods. He can now speak 14 languages (at different levels). His current mission is to help people from all over the world to learn languages faster and more effectively, in order to show them it’s possible and for them to be able to reach their goals.

Lucas Bighetti is a language enthusiast and polyglot who has dedicated his life to mastering multiple languages. Growing up in a monolingual family, he really struggled to learn languages at school, but decided to give himself a second chance. He conducted a lot of research and started implementing his own unorthodox methods for language learning. After realizing that the key to success was having a good method rather than natural talent, he began to thrive in his language studies. Today, Lucas speaks a total of 16 languages and uses his skills to help others learn languages more efficiently. He is a sought-after speaker at international events, where he shares his insights and experiences as a polyglot with audiences around the world. Through his work, Lucas is committed to helping others achieve their language learning goals and overcome the same challenges he once faced. He is passionate about sharing the techniques and strategies that have helped him succeed, and he is always seeking new opportunities to share his knowledge and inspire others to pursue their language learning dreams.

• LanguageBoost: https://languageboost.biz/
• LanguageBoost (About): https://languageboost.biz/about-us/

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Margaret Korosec is an innovative strategic leader bringing creativity, intentionality, and systems perspective to her leadership in scaling online and digital education. She is the Dean of Online and Digital Education at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom leading on establishing a design ecosystem to support and scale online education and a digitally-enabled student experience. As part of her role, she has academic oversight of the Digital Education Service. The service provides specialist learning design, development, production, media, creative and learning systems management for online and digital education. She led the development of a digital learning accelerator, Helix; a creative space to encourage experimentation, iteration, and exploration fostering sense making of emergent technology and enabling radical internal and external collaboration.

• Online Educa Berlin Keynote: https://oeb.global/oeb-insights/
• OEB Interview with Margaret (Creating an Ecosystem of Design): https://oeb.global/oeb-insights/creating-an-ecosystem-of-design/
• Interview: Inside Track | Expanding online education at Leeds, June 20, 2023, Margaret Korosec, Dean of Online and Digital Education, shares a view on how online degrees support lifelong learning at Leeds.

Jeff Grabill is Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Education at the University of Leeds. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Grabill was at Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States for nearly 20 years. He served Michigan State University as the Associate Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. In that role, he was responsible for facilitating innovation in learning and educator professional development via his role as Director of the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology. Grabill’s research focuses on how digital writing is associated with citizenship and learning. That work has been located in community contexts, in museums, and in classrooms at both the K-12 and university levels. Grabill is also a co-founder of Drawbridge, an educational technology company.

• Book: Design for Change in Higher Education
• Curriculum Redefined https://www.leeds.ac.uk/curriculum-redefined

Niels Floor, a Dutch LX Design pioneer, is the author of the new book: This is Learning Experience Design - What it is, how it works and why it matters. He is a pioneer in the field of Learning Experience Design (LXD/LX design). In fact, in May 2007, the term learning experience design was coined by him. At the time he started this website, mainly as a resource for the students he taught at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Over the last couple of years there has been a growing interest in learning experience design. So now is the time to turn this website into a platform that supports and connects the global LX Design community. He is on a mission to apply, develop, and promote learning experience design (LXD) around the globe. He believes that well-designed learning experiences can improve people’s lives and contribute to a wise world.

• Homepage: https://www.lxd.org/nielsfloor/
• Book: https://lxd.org/lxdbook/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsfloor/

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This episode will air on Saturday July 8, at noon EDT.

The Little Bookmates Smart Library as a Literacy Initiative with Ariadna Trapote and Federico Suarez.

If the large majority of printed books in the world are in many households’ bookshelves, why not share these effectively instead of having them sitting idly for 99% of the time? Through a subscription model, lean algorithms and hard copy books, Little Bookmates’ clients have already read more than 100k books across Mexico, Colombia and soon the US. What started as a small-scale enterprise in Ari’s house has grown into a franchise model with a powerful platform that can virtually turn any living room in the world into a book lending hub.

In 2017, Ari and Fede created Little Bookmates. It works as a library at home for Mexican families. Our goal is to help families to create long-lasting memories by providing printed books in the native language to read with their children. We have found that, when kids read at home without the academic pressure, it’s more likely they will start reading for fun, which will result in a love of reading.

Little Bookmates is a subscription business, where our algorithm assigns the right next books for each child, administered by our platform. Each month families receive their books at home and are rotated to new ones over the next month. So far, we have sent more than 100,000 books across Mexico, with an office space of less than 3 hundred square feet and higher book rotation than any public library in Mexico.  After the pandemic, we created franchises, so now we are still lending books but with zero office space.  That is how we can scale this model anywhere; we have an active franchise in Colombia and a pending one in Spain, in addition to the 4 operating in Mexico.

This month we are starting our new endeavor focused on the US market: 311Literacy. Over 10 million Hispanic students in US public schools read below grade level. Research shows that 67% of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or welfare. We help kids to love to read, so they can read to learn. We do this through an integrated student-centered solution that sends a tailored series of bilingual books to their homes. Subscribers will also get support by mentors and an online reading platform with assessment tools. Through 311Literacy children are able to increase their reading abilities so they can have a brighter future, while teachers can be relieved of some of their work in personalizing instruction.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/9Ti-xU6kw8Y

Readings and Resources:
Note from Publishing Perspectives

Episode Guests

Ariadna Trapote

Born and raised in Mexico City, after completing a BA in Actuarial Science at ITAM, Ariadna worked almost 6 years for BBVA Bancomer where she was portfolio manager for equity markets. Ari also holds a Diploma in Econometrics (ITAM, Mexico) and a Masters in Pensions (U. Alcalá, Spain).

In 2013 Ari moved to Cambridge, MA with her family (spouse, two children and dog) to study a Masters in Finance at Harvard University. While studying in Harvard, she devised her book lending concept. One of her favorite activities was to take her children to the Cambridge Public Library so, when it was time to come back to Mexico, she didn’t want her kids to lose the habits of reading together every night and practicing the English language. Public libraries were far from her house (almost two hours each way), and printed books were expensive to buy, with limited options of books in English. So Ari created Little Bookmates: a way to have access to hundreds of different books, at your doorstep, at affordable prices. This way, her children still ask to spend time together reading books every night while learning about different topics through a world of books.

Federico Suárez

Born and raised in Mexico City, Fede’s background in Engineering and his high energy have taken him across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. While studying engineering, Federico worked in camps as a staff member and rapidly became director and consultant for many camps in Mexico and abroad. He also launched a company serving them with doctors and health insurance.

A bit later, he was pulled into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. As such, he expanded a smart mobility company across Latam that was acquired by BlaBlaCar. Subsequently he launched a couple of tech startups, one of which strove to measure reading. His passion for reading and learning resulted in his partnering with Ari; they have been working together for the last 6 years.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

The world is undergoing rapid changes across multiple sectors, driven by trends such as digitalization, migration, automation, and societal polarization, among others. This volatile and uncertain context presents society with complex and interconnected social, economic, environmental, and political challenges. These circumstances require a broad range of social, emotional, and cognitive competencies to successfully navigate and transform the world for a more just and sustainable future. In this context, there is growing recognition of the integral role that education can play in enabling young people to fulfill their individual potential and aspirations, to think critically about the world in which they live, and to participate meaningfully in society as empathetic, ethical citizens with a concern for the ‘common good’.

In this episode, we are joined by Shirley, Salome, and Hana, who will share their experiences in developing a breadth of skills in students across Kenya, South Africa and other countries in that region, to better prepare them for the fast-changing world. Shirley will provide insights into efforts by the South African Education Ministry to incorporate a breadth of skills more deliberately and systematically in the taught curriculum in schools. Salome will share lessons learned in Kenya, following their transition to a competency-based curriculum in 2017. Hana will share how UNICEF is working in the region to collaborate with countries in designing and implementing the Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE) framework.

More about our guests below the video

https://youtu.be/BuXmc_IUGFI

Episode Guests

Shirley Eadie (South Africa)

Shirley Eadie founded and leads the EdHub, the Education Innovation Unit at the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT ). Shirley is a technical advisor to the Department of Basic Education on their integration of skills and competencies for a changing world in basic education.

Shirley has an M.Ed in International Education Policy from Harvard University. Her career has focused on education innovation and research. Prior to her work in education, she was founder and CEO of Pondering Panda - Africa’s first quantitative mobile research company, and was Business and Research Director of Instant Grass International, ethnographic youth research agency.

Salome Wenyaa (Kenya)

Salome Wenyaa  is a Regional Director Quality and Standards, Nairobi Ministry of Education, state Department  of Basic Education, Kenya. Salome is an expert in ECDE, Kiswahili, National Master Trainer of Trainers in Competency Based curriculum and Seasoned Quality Assurance and Standards.

Salome has M.A Kiswahili and B.ed Arts from Kenyatta University. Her career has had a great impact in education  through policy development and dissemination. Before joining  civil service, Salome was a teacher as well as an examiner. Besides Education, Salome together with other stakeholders in resolving conflict and conserving the environment, mother 🌎

Hana Yoshimoto (UNICEF, South Africa)

Hana is Chief of Education at UNICEF South Africa, overseeing programmes related to Early Childhood Development, Quality, and Youth Skills Development. She is a former Regional Chief of Education at UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States and co-authored “COVID-19 Learning Losses: Rebuilding Quality Learning for All in the Middle East and North Africa” – a joint report by UNESCO, The World Bank, and UNICEF. Before UNESCO, she served as Chief Education at UNICEF Egypt and Somalia and as an Education Analyst at The World Bank HQ.

Hana holds an M.A. in International Education and recently completed her Executive MBA at TRIUM Global EMBA Programme

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

More resources and information about our guests below the video

Resources:

• Jason K. McDonald, & West, Richard E. Design for Learning: Principles, Processes, and Praxis (1st ed.). EdTech Books. Available: https://edtechbooks.org/id
• Richard West, Editor, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology (second edition in process). https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations
• McDonald, J. K. (2023). The future of the field is not design. In R. E. West, & H. Leary (Eds.), Foundations of learning and instructional designtechnology: Historical roots & current trends (2nd ed.). EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/foundations_of_learn/the_future_of_the_field_is_not_design

Richard E. West (@richardewest on twitter) is a professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University. He teaches courses in instructional technology, academic research and writing, creativity and innovation, design psychology, and product/program evaluation. He studies how to innovate and advance education through improved and open educational Content, strong learning Communities, and open Credentials that better recognize student learning. He has presented his research in 11 countries, and has over 150 academic publications, along with several open textbooks for undergraduate/graduate students in the field, including:

1. Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology
2. Design for Learning: Principles, Processes, and Praxis
3. Becoming an LIDT Professional
4. Failing Forward: Stories of Academic Rejection and Succes
5. Teaching with Asynchronous Videos: Strategies for Online Practitioners
6. Open AIMS: Assessments, Instruments, and Measurements for Educational Research

His personal website is http://richardewest.com. Rick's University homepage is at: https://education.byu.edu/directory/view/richardwest.com and his Google Scholar page is at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KZP3yKEAAAAJ. Rick can be contacted at rickwest@byu.edu.

Jason McDonald is currently Professor of Instructional Psychology & Technology at BYU, having started in Fall 2016. He also received his PhD from BYU in Instructional Psychology & Technology in 2006. He currently teaches Introduction to Instructional Design, Project Management, Advanced Instructional Design, Design Theory and Learning Theory. He brings over twenty years of experience in industry and academia, with a career spanning a wide variety of roles connected to instructional design: face-to-face training; faculty development; corporate eLearning; story development for instructional films; and museum/exhibit design. He gained this experience as a university instructional designer; an executive for a large, international non-profit; a digital product director for a publishing company; and as an independent consultant. Dr. McDonald's research focuses on advancing design practice and design education. He studies design as an expression of certain types of relationships with others and with the world, how designers experience rich and authentic ways of being human, the contingent and changeable nature of design, and design as a human accomplishment (meaning how design is not a natural process but is created by designers and so is open to continually being recreated by designers). At BYU, Dr. McDonald has taught courses in instructional design, media and culture change, project management, learning psychology, and design theory. His work can be found at https://jkmcdonald.com/ and university page is at https://innovation.byu.edu/directory/jason-mcdonald and https://education.byu.edu/directory/view/jason-mcdonald. He can be contacted at jason@byu.

Royce Kimmons received his Ph.D. in Instructional Technology / Learning Technologies within the curriculum and instruction department at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. He is currently an Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University where he studies technology integration in K-12/higher education, open education, and social media. His personal homepage is: http://roycekimmons.com/ and his faculty website at BYU is at https://education.byu.edu/directory/view/royce-kimmons. He can be contacted at  nope@roycekimmons@byu.edu.

Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Credentials. Seems everyone wants more credentials these days in a quest to find value in this fast-changing world. And they have scant time to wait for them or to move to a campus-based program. Coursera has its various “Specializations” and edX has its “MicroMasters.” And then there are “Nanodegrees” from Udacity and likely many other terms used to describe programs of study that are typically much shorter in length and overall course requirements than traditional master’s degrees. But what types of Specialization and MicroMaster topics and credentials do people tend to seek and what types of benefits do they typically perceive that they offer? As we will learn in Episode #153, the United States, India, Brazil, Canada, and Germany are the top five countries where participants are enrolling. But where else? Our guests will inform you of that while also describing the demographics of those seeking such credentials including details by age, gender, race, income, etc. But what are the opportunity costs associated with these decisions? At the same time, what are the potential payoffs? And what might be the common learner plans for further education after completing them? In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, Dr. Fiona Hollands, Founder and Managing Director of EdResearcher, an independent research, evaluation, and development organization in New York and her team, Aasiya Kazi, Katherine Javier, and Yuan Chang Ginsberg will discuss the results of their February 2023 report, “Benefits and Costs of Participation in MOOC-Based Alternative Credentials” addressing both MicroMasters and Specializations. Hollands and Kazi initiated this longitudinal research in 2017 and built on it with reports in 2018 and 2019. The 2023 report is based on over 25,000 non-duplicated responses collected between 2017 and 2021. As such, this session promises to be both rich in data and rich in thought.

Fiona Hollands, Ph.D., is the Founder and Managing Director of EdResearcher, an independent research, evaluation, and development organization. Previously she was a Senior Researcher at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she conducted quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation in education for almost 25 years. She collaborates with other researchers and with education agencies on grant-funded research, R&D, and technical assistance projects that aim to improve the use of various types of evidence by education decision-makers including school, university, and district leaders. She applies methods such as cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and program value-added analysis to educational programs and practices with the aim of helping policymakers and education decision-makers optimize the use of resources in education. She uses qualitative methods to understand decision-making processes in education and how they can be best informed and improved.

While Fiona has a particular interest in the use of technology in education, she has studied a wide variety of educational topics including high school completion, early literacy, elementary school reading, online/digital learning, social-emotional learning, out-of-school instruction, gifted & talented identification, automated detection of learner affect and engagement, alternative credentials, MOOCs, student information systems, school nursing, and professional development for educators. Fiona has also led the development of multiple tools and resources to support others in the application of economic evaluation methods and systematic decision-making frameworks in education. Current projects include evaluating Day of AI, an AI literacy initiative developed by MIT and i2Learning. She can be reached at fiona_hollands@edresearcher.net and more details can be found at: https://www.edresearcher.net/biocv.

Aasiya Kazi is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include gender, education, and human rights. She holds a B.A. in Government from Smith College, an M.A. in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, and an M.Phil. in South Asian Studies from the University of Oxford.

Katherine Javier has over ten years of experience designing, evaluating, and monitoring public policies and development programs, as well as conducting social and economic research. In her roles in the Dominican government, the private sector, in civil society, and with multilateral organizations she has gained extensive experience carrying out data analysis and implementing qualitative methodologies. Her fields of expertise include education and employment policies, youth policies, rural development, competitiveness, and strategic planning. Ms. Javier is currently a partner at Grupo Linea Base, a social and economic boutique consulting firm based in the Dominican Republic. Katherine holds Master’s degrees in International Development from the University of Manchester in the UK and in Applied Statistics from Columbia University.

Yuan Chang Ginsberg acquired her M.Ed. degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. Currently, she works at Metro Nashville Public Schools as an education program evaluation analyst, where she dedicates her efforts to assessing the implementation and effectiveness of educational programs within the school district. Her other research interests include ethnic disparities in early childhood education, culturally responsive pedagogy, and cost analysis in education.

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The notion of open educational resources (OER) as well as opencourseware (OCW) sprung up on April 4, 2001 when Charles Vest, President of MIT, declared let’s make education free and put all our courses on the internet for people to browse and use (see press release). With that one heavily publicized announcement, it seemed that there was a transformative shift or earthquake in the world of education. During the ensuing two decades since that announcement, myriad educational rebels have emerged to develop and promote free and open educational resources (OER) to counter the high price of textbooks, research articles, and courses. They believe that education is a human right, and, as a result, it needs to be more free and open. Two such rebels from outposts in Europe who are experts in the open education world will join us in Silver Lining for Learning on Saturday May 27 at 11 am Eastern. In this episode, we will talk Mark Brown, Chair of Digital Learning and Director National Institute for Digital Learning at Dublin City College in Ireland. We will also be visited by Juliane Granly from Olso, Norway. Juliane is project and development management coordinator with the International Council on Open and Distance Education. She will discuss the ENCORE+ project (https://encoreproject.eu/) which is the European Network for Catalyzing Open Resources in Education. This episode should prove to be informative, lively, and fun.

Mark Brown has over 30-years experience of working in Higher Education and has played key leadership roles in the development, implementation and evaluation of several major university-wide digital learning and teaching initiatives. Before taking up his current position, Mark was Director of the National Centre for Teaching and Learning at Massey University, New Zealand. His is a recipient of a National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching and remains a member of the New Zealand Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence. He is an EDEN Fellow and was recognised in 2017 by the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) as a world leader in Open, Online and Distance Learning. In 2019, Mark was Chair of the ICDE World Conference on Online Learning, which DCU hosted in Dublin. Mark is an active researcher, has a strong publication record and contributes to a number of leading international bodies working in the area.

Professional Contribution
Mark is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Distance and e-Learning Network (EDEN) and previously chaired (2014-2018) the Innovation in Teaching and Learning Steering Committee for the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU). He serves on the Supervisory Board of the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and is a member of the Advisory Board for the US based Online Learning Consortium's Research Center for Digital Learning and Leadership. In Ireland, Mark has previously served (2016-2018) as an Irish Universities Association representative on the Board of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Mark is past President of the New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ now FLANZ) and served as Treasurer as well as an Executive Committee member of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. ASCILITE is known as the peak professional body for blended, online and digital learning in Australia and New Zealand. Mark continues to have strong links down under and in 2019 was elected to the Executive Committee of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (OLDAA), which publishes the journal Distance Education (Q1).

• Mark Brown homepages: https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/people/mark-brown
• https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/director-nidl
• Mark Brown in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-brown-dcu/

Juliane Granly is project and development manager in ICDE (International Council for Open and Distance Education), the leading, global membership organisation for open, flexible and distance learning. Juliane holds a Bachelor’s in Business Economics from BI Norwegian Business School and a Masters in International Business and Development from the University of London. She is the coordinator for The ENCORE+ Network (European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education), a multi-stakeholder, collaborative network responding to the need for increased collaboration, sharing of best practices and coordinated efforts for increased adoption, use and impact of OER and open education. Juliane has a long background from education in development contexts, including as the director of an education NGO in Uganda. Inclusive and innovative education is at the core of her experience and interests, with a strong focus on access to relevant, quality education for all, and skills development for employment. LinkedIn; Article: ICDE page.

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We feel a moral obligation to challenge inequities. We listen in order to develop understanding which informs our educational designs. We aim to promote hope and empowerment for individuals and, in turn, their communities.

Research tells us that geographic remoteness and gender are two substantial factors impacting educational opportunity – particularly in STEM fields. To address this inequality, and to provide professional experience to our pre-service teachers during the covid-related lockdowns, we teamed up with the Invergowrie Foundation to begin a 'virtual' school in Victoria, Australia in 2020.

During the first year, 12 of our pre-service teachers delivered senior high school revision classes to 300 school students.

In 2022, the Virtual School grew to involve more than 50 pre-service teachers who taught 56 free online STEM classes. Over 25,000 students from more than 200 high schools registered that year. 80% of those participants lived in regional or remote locations, and 87% of participants identified as female. As a result of attending these revision classes, 92% of students reported enhanced self-confidence.

The growth of the Monash Virtual School has attracted international attention from others who seek to provide opportunities for pre-service teachers and disadvantaged students. We now proudly support the work of David Falconer and Classrooms Without Walls who provide opportunities for young people in conflict zones, including Ukraine, Myanmar and Ukraine.

David Falconer's volunteer work began in March 2022, soon after Russia invaded Ukraine. Witnessing the impact of conflict on students' education, David immediately volunteered to support Smart Osvita NGO, a Ukrainian non-profit organization, to coordinate an international volunteer program to deliver online lessons in English. The support David received from volunteers like retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, the Smithsonian Institution, the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the Edmonton Public Library, Winspear Centre, and teachers and non-teachers from around the world inspired him to start CWW, an organization that currently offers free online schooling to students living in conflict zones.

By partnering with organizations such as Smart Osvita NGO, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Ocean Wise, Edmonton Public Library, OverDrive, Monash Virtual School, and hundreds of volunteer teachers, CWW is providing a lifeline to students who have been forced to abandon their education due to conflict. By offering free online schooling, CWW is breaking down barriers and providing access to education to those who need it the most. Most importantly, CWW is letting students in these countries know that the world has not forgotten them and that they can continue to dream, and set goals.

Currently, CWW offers three programs for volunteers to join, Teachers for Afghanistan, Teachers for Ukraine, and Teachers for Myanmar.

More below the video

https://youtu.be/EzD7KOAckUk

In the news

• The Guardian, 2 April 2023: ‘Algebra under air raids’: the children in a Ukraine war zone who attend class in Australia
• ABC News, 24 February 2023:  Learning During War
• eLearn Magazine, 25 October 2022: How Monash and a volunteer army is helping Ukrainians meet their educational goals with Michael Phillips
• ABC News, 31 July 2022:  Monash University joins international effort to educate thousands of Ukrainian children

About our guests 

Tara Mannix is the Manager of the Monash Virtual School in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. Before managing the Monash Virtual School, Tara was a school leader and an experienced classroom teacher. Tara’s role involves supporting and mentoring teaching staff, developing curriculum programs and fostering a culture of innovation and growth for all students and teachers involved in the program. In 2022 Tara received the Monash Education Faculty Award for Equity and Inclusion, and the Vice Chancellor's Award for Professional Staff in recognition of her involvement in the Monash Virtual School.

Mike Phillips is the Associate Professor of Digital Transformation in the Faculty of Education, Monash University and the academic director of the Monash Virtual School. His work aims to enhance teachers’ capacities to understand the opportunities and limitations of educational technologies. By enhancing educators’ critical perspectives of such technologies, Mike’s teaching and research seek to enhance opportunities for all students to receive higher quality educational experiences. Prior to joining Monash University in 2013, Mike was a senior teacher for 15 years in secondary schools and in 2023, Mike won the Outstanding Global Educator of the Year award from the Society of Information Technology and Teacher Education. (Mike's research profile)

David Falconer is a name that is synonymous with education, passion, and dedication. With 34 years of experience in the field of education, David is an accomplished educator, a graduate of the University of Alberta, and Gonzaga University. He has served as principal, Head of School and Director in several schools across different parts of the world, including British Columbia, China, Myanmar, Nunavut, and is currently a Principal of a private STEM school in Calgary, Alberta.

David's love for education and his ongoing desire to make a positive impact on the world led him to establish CWW (Classrooms Without Walls). A volunteer based non-profit organization dedicated to providing free online education and support to students living in conflict zones. The organization currently has three programs, Teachers for Ukraine, Teachers for Myanmar, and Teachers for Afghanistan, which combined have served thousands of students.

• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/davidfalconerkolle
• CWW: https://classroomswithoutwalls.ca/

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This episode will discuss the Dominican Republic's innovations in education, specifically focusing on three initiatives that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first initiative is the virtual training program for teachers and technical-pedagogical personnel that aims to provide the necessary elements for remote teaching. The second initiative is the Multi-platform Educational Content infrastructure, which provides students and teachers with access to educational resources through various digital platforms. The third initiative is the Presidential Project for Educational Excellence, which uses the methodologies of Theory U and Design Thinking to develop an inventive educational management project to improve student learning outcomes. The episode will cover the successes, challenges, and impact of these innovative programs on the Dominican educational system.

Readings and Resources: Innovations in education in the Dominican Republic

Episode Guests

María Waleska Álvarez is Executive President of NAP del Caribe and President of the board of directors of EDUCA, which is the leading private-sector think tank in education in the Dominican Republic and one of the most influential institutions in the education policy debate in the country. María Waleska is also a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of AMCHAMDR and member of the board of directors of Adofintech. In 2019, due to her leadership at an early age, she was recognized by the UK Government as part of the International Leaders program, becoming one of the 300 leaders worldwide to be part of this program. Due to her experience and expertise in digital transformation and technology, she actively participated in the negotiation process of the World Summit on the Information and Knowledge Society of the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union.

Dr. Eladio Jiménez, Digital Education Specialist for UNICEF, is an education expert with over 20 years of experience in the sector with a special focus on the intersection of learning and technology integration. Currently serving as digital education specialist for UNICEF in the Dominican Republic, he currently leads the development and implementation of the digital education agenda at UNICEF DR. Previous to his role in UNICEF, Eladio dedicated his time to pre-service and in-service teachers’ professional development and to research focused mainly in the use of technology to bridge STEM learning at elementary school grades. Other areas of research have included MOOCS and teachers’ tech integration skills. Eladio holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a masters in technology, learning and education and is a doctoral candidate in the same discipline.

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“Learning engineering is a process and a practice that applies the learning sciences, using human-centered engineering design methodologies and data-informed decision-making, to support learners and their development.”

In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, Drs. Janet Kolodner and Sae Schatz, and Jim Goodell discuss the application of learning engineering. As a relatively nascent field, learning engineering extends principles of learning science and combines those approaches with human-centered design, technology, data, and organizational dynamics to scale-up learning to the speed and scope that today’s world demands.

A core tenet of learning engineering is the multidisciplinary integration of various tools, and today’s guests reflect that diversity. They have experience from industry, academia, and government as well as different backgrounds in science, technology, and enterprise strategies. They’ll introduce learning engineering from these various lenses and then offer practical take-aways for viewers interested in studying learning engineering or applying it to their own work.

Readings and Resources 

• Dede, C., Richards, J., & Saxberg, B. (Eds.). (2019). Learning engineering for online education: Theoretical contexts and design-based examples. New York: Routledge.
• Goodell, J., and Kolodner, J. (2023). Learning Engineering Toolkit: Evidence-Based Practices from the Learning Sciences, Instructional Design, and Beyond. New York: Routledge.
• Schatz, S. & Goodell, J (2022). Learning Engineering at a Glance (Infographic). https://drive.google.com/file/d/12tVKiS2VJnT-P9uDLOxibWcOrPbr6w8J/view?usp=share_link
• Walcutt, J.J. & Schatz, S. (Eds.). (2019). Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem. Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office. ISBN-13: 978-1097414925

Episode Guests

Jim Goodell is co-editor and co-author of Learning Engineering Toolkit. He is Director of Innovation at Quality Information Partners, where he helps lead development of the US Department of Education sponsored Common Education Data Standards. He is Chair of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, chairs the IEEE Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering Competencies, Curriculum, and Credentials SIG, the IEEE Competency Data Standards Workgroup, the Adaptive Instructional Systems Interoperability Workgroup, and serves on the ICICLE Steering Committee. He supports the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s T3 Innovation Network and co-led development of the Learning and Employment Record (LER) Wrapper Specification. Prior to QIP, he was Executive Vice President at the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology where he led the development of interactive learning technologies and provided information-driven process improvement solutions to state education agencies and school districts throughout the United States.

Janet Kolodner is a  Regents’ Professor Emerita of Computing and Cognitive Science at  Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing and Professor of the Practice at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Her research has addressed a wide variety of issues in learning, memory, and problem solving, both in computers and in people. She pioneered the machine learning method called case-based reasoning, which allows a computer to learn from its experiences, and she used its underlying model to design a project-based approach to education called Learning by Design. She is lead author of a comprehensive middle-school science curriculum, Project-Based Inquiry Science, and is a collaborator on other curriculum design projects. Kolodner was Founding Director of Georgia Tech’s EduTech Institute, and she coordinated Georgia Tech’s Cognitive Science program for many years. She is founding Editor-in-Chief and Editor-in-Chief Emerita of The Journal of the Learning Sciences. She is a co-founder of the International Society for the Learning Sciences and served as its first Executive Officer. Kolodner was a program officer at the US National Science Foundation and led efforts to establish and sustain the Cyberlearning Program (now called SETTL). Currently, she is co-director of Boston College’s MA program in Learning Engineering, and she led its design and development. She is a co-author and co-editor of Learning Engineering Toolkit.

Dr. Sae Schatz works at the intersection of learning, technology, and data. She recently founded The Knowledge Forge LLC, a boutique consulting company. From 2015 to 2022, Sae served as the director of the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, a U.S. Department of Defense program for research, development, and policy stewardship. Under her leadership, the U.S. ADL Initiative sparked the community’s pursuit of the “future learning ecosystem,” in part with her popular book Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem.

Before joining the civil service, Sae worked as an applied human–systems scientist in both business and academia. From 2011 to 2014, she was the chief scientist at MESH Solutions (a defense contractor), where she led the U.S. Marine Corps’ Making Good Instructors Great project and the U.S. Joint Staff’s award-winning Blended Learning–Training effort. Prior to that, she held an assistant professorship with the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Institute for Simulation and Training, and she was an instructor in the UCF Digital Media Department. Sae is a prolific writer and professional presenter as well as a graphic designer who often uses those skills to enhance books, presentations, and infographics. She holds a doctorate in Modeling and Simulation (M&S), with an emphasis on human systems.

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When talking about Finland, the discussion always begins with the welfare society and quality pre-college education. But what is going on in the higher education scene in the happiest country in the world, chosen for the 6th time in a row? Do strong societal values have an impact on universities, their infrastructure, and national higher education development initiatives?

The experts from the two biggest universities in the country, University of Helsinki and Aalto University discuss what a student-centered approach means for the university administration and how these institutions turn free education into quality education. How are these universities planning to keep up with the demands coming from society and corporate life? What kind of initiatives do they currently have to be able to educate students ready for real-life with cutting edge learning technologies such as AI and XR?

Related Readings and Resources:

• University of Helsinki
• Aalto University
• National Digivisio 2030 project: https://digivisio2030.fi/en/frontpage/
• Global campus project: Global campus – Re-imagining online learning (helsinki.fi)
• Corporate collaboration at Aalto University: https://www.aalto.fi/en/corporate-collaboration
• Entrepreneurship at Aalto university: https://www.aalto.fi/en/advancing-entrepreneurship-and-innovations
• Lifewide learning at Aalto University: https://www.aaltoee.fi/en/lifewide-learning
• Aalto Studios - Media Labs: https://studios.aalto.fi/

Episode Guests

Ulla Hemminki-Reijonen, Project Lead for University of Helsinki EdTech Development
 

As the Project Lead for the university-wide EdTech development project at the University of Helsinki, Ulla is testing with her team the limits of what online learning can look like. With bold AI and XR experiments with the university lecturers, own product development and partnerships with EdTech start-ups, the goal is to create a platform for innovative Edtech experiments at the university and help the faculties to offer new kinds of online learning experiences globally. Her previous work with over 100 EdTech start-ups at the EdTech start-up and innovation center and her work experience from varied tasks in EdTech product development has been of great use in this work.

Ulla holds a M.Ed from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Technology, Innovation and an Education and M.A in linguistics from the University of Helsinki. She is an advisor for EduTECH Europe and the Finnish Virtual Reality Association.

Kati Kettunen, Director of Learning Environment Services, University of Helsinki
 

Kati Kettunen has worked in many roles in Academic Affairs and Student Services since 2000 at the University of Helsinki. Currently she is Director of Learning Environment Services. She also leads a large development program of the whole University Services aiming to foster the digitalization and turn the service development truly customer centered. Focus on the development is to add value for students, teachers, researchers, staffs and societys processes  by enhancing the cooperation between different service areas and outside university partners in e.g. utilizing the data formed in different service processes and developing jointly digital service platforms. Kati has also been a member (2019-2022) of the steering group of one of the largest national digitalization projects in education, the Digivisio 2030 program .

Kati holds a Master in Health Science from the University of Helsinki and is Certified Coach and Consultant for Organizations. She is also a member of the board of Unigrafia Inc. which is inhouse company owned by University of Helsinki and three other Universities in the Helsinki area. Unigrafia provides e.g. studio, streaming, video and graphic design services essential and customized for learning, research and communications. https://unigrafia.fi/en/

Outi Toijala, Head of Corporate Relations, Aalto University

Outi Toijala has 20 years of experience in international business development and strategic partnerships. She has created local and global B2B partnerships with world’s largest enterprises, SMEs as well as the most innovative high tech startups. She has versatile experience of collaborating with different industries ranging from telecoms to health and manufacturing. Previously she has worked with Nokia, EIT Digital and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She joined Aalto University as the Head of Corporate Relations in fall 2020. At Aalto she enjoys making societal impact with corporate partnerships and ecosystems, and solving major global challenges together.

Outi holds a Master of Science in Economics from University of Helsinki and is AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

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Maxim Jean-Louis is President – Chief Executive Officer of Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education and Training Network, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Prior to arriving at Contact North | Contact Nord in 1996, Maxim worked in senior management roles for over 15 years at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada’s open university. At Contact North | Contact Nord, Maxim leads a team of 300 staff supporting the delivery of education and training opportunities from the province’s 24 public colleges, 22 public universities, and 250 literacy and basic skills and training providers to Ontarians in 600 small, rural, remote, Aboriginal and Francophone communities through 112 online learning centres covering 1 million square kilometres. These local online learning centres are equipped with web conferencing, videoconferencing and audioconferencing distance delivery platforms, as well as computer workstations and high-speed internet for students to participate in their synchronous and asynchronous courses. Support services are available in English and French. Maxim is author and/or coordinator of major publications in the area of online learning and distance education and has been a participant / presenter at major conferences on distance education and alternative forms of delivery, such as the International Conference on Distance Education (ICDE) and the conferences led by the Canadian Association of Distance Education (CADE). He is married with two adult sons and lives in Sudbury, Ontario.

• https://teachonline.ca/about-us/maxim#
• https://contactnorth.ca/

Contact North’s AI initiatives

• https://teachonline.ca/ai-resources
• https://studyonlinequicktips.ca/

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Kiran Bir Sethi is a Designer who became a Teacher, a Principal who grew into an Education Reformer and subsequently morphed into a Social Entrepreneur. A trained Graphic Designer, she uses the language of Design to develop not only curriculum innovation, but also community-based Social Programs. 20 years ago, she founded The Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India, aimed at all-round development of children. As their website says, “Over the last 20 years, Riverside has designed, implemented and shared a unique user centered curriculum … which focuses on quality of learning AND student well-being. … The school has regularly been honored for its academic achievement as well as its unique philosophy of ‘Doing Good AND Doing Well.’ In 2009, Kiran launched Design for Change to instill an I CAN mindset in children. It asks kids to feel any problem that bothers them, imagine a way to make it better, do an act of change, and share their story of change with the world. It is today one of the world’s largest movement of change, led by children— impacting over 2.2 million children and 65,000 teachers in more than 60 countries. (Her TED talk and other videos are given below)

• TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/kiran_sethi
• https://www.designforchange.us/about-us

Dr. Paul Kim is the Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. An education technology entrepreneur, Dr. Kim leads initiatives involving the design of learning technologies, educational research, and community development. In a trans-disciplinary project aiming to promote innovation and competition by constructing a Programmable and Open Mobile Internet (POMI 2020), Dr. Kim designs and implements mobile technologies and social learning environments.

In 2009, Dr. Kim founded Seeds of Empowerment, a 501(C3) non-profit global education incubator for social innovations leveraging mobile technologies. Under his direction and leadership, Stanford undergraduate and graduate students carry out mobile-social educational research and development in real-world classrooms and virtual learning environments. Some of the student-initiated projects he has helped develop and sponsor include the multiple award-winning TeachAids, a global HIV/AIDS education NGO, Adina’s Deck, an award-winning internet safety education program, SMILE (Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment), a mobile platform that has been implemented in over 20 countries, ROSE (Remotely Operated Science Experiment), and 1,001 Stories, a global micro creative economy project. These and other Seeds of Empowerment initiatives have been recognized in global competitions sponsored by organizations including the Sesame Workshop, WISE by the Qatar Foundation, the Marvell 100K Challenge, Vodafone, etc.

Dr. Kim has dedicated himself to international development through education and information technology strategies and has advised Saudi Arabia’s national online education initiative, the national evaluation of Uruguay’s One Laptop Per Child project, Rwanda’s national ICT planning, and institutional advancement efforts for numerous universities. Dr. Kim serves on the Board of Directors of WestEd, the Committee on Grand Challenges in International Development for the National Academies of Science, and the advisory committee for the National Science Foundation’s Education and Human Resources Directorate. Dr. Kim was born in South Korea and received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California in 1999.

Paul Kim:

1. Paul Kim’s Stanford Homepage: https://gse-it.stanford.edu/about/team/paul-kim
2. CV: https://cap.stanford.edu/profiles/viewCV?facultyId=30964&name=Paul_Kim
3. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kim_(academic)

Sophia Mendoza (bio), who began her career at Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) as a kindergarten student, is now director of the Instructional Technology Initiative where she oversees the implementation of instructional technology across the nation’s second-largest school district. Mendoza says it’s important to her to give back to the district that opened so many doors for her. She is an innovative, systems-level collaborator with over 20 years of experience as an education leader in L.A. Unified (which serves 589,000 students). Mendoza leads the implementation of computer science education and digital citizenship programs across 1,300 schools. She is committed to cultivating leaders and learners ready for a growing digital world. As evidence, Mendoza was named a NextGeneration Leader by EdScoop and CoSN as well as 2018 Most Influential People in EdTech by Tech & Learning. In addition, she received an ISTE Impact Award honoree for 2019, an honor that recognizes her work in establishing strategic partnerships and programs that expand instructional technology opportunities for all students, such as collaborations with Common Sense Media and Code.org. Note that she also received awards in 2022 for Best Overall Implementation of Technology, Best Overall Implementation of Technology, Latino Technology Champion of the Year 2022.

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiamendoza/
• https://connect.iste.org/network/members/profile?UserKey=114d29ed-3d32-4a56-97b4-690fddbe147f
• https://www.laschoolreport.com/tag/sophia-mendoza/

Chuangye Chen, Professor East China Normal University 

Dr. Chen is an educational researcher with wide social science interests who seeks to decipher and theorize patterns and mechanisms shaping Chinese education in the changing society from macro and meso levels of policy and leadership. With empirical enquiry and theoretical building, I explore to develop alternative scholarly perspectives helping break down stereotypes, challenge misunderstandings, and interrogate oversimplifications in comparing China and Western contexts. 

http://www.kcs.ecnu.edu.cn/EN/TeaShow.aspx?info_lb=20&info_id=3669&flag=20

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