Silver Lining for Learning

Education is highly valued in Palestine--a ccording to a data report by the United Nations in 2018, nearly 95.4 percent of children attend schools. Yet, access to a high quality education is the point of contention. Students’ access to quality education is an ongoing economic, social and political upheaval. The arrival of the pandemic compounded to these challenges causing an unexpected disruption to the education system. Despite this fact, people were to find alternative ways to continue learning while socially distanced. In this episode we discuss how schools in Palestine were able to cope with the pandemic disruption. How did their remote learning model(s) look like? What are the opportunities that these models were able to offer? What are the associated challenges? What was the administration role to deal with the ongoing challenges, such as limited electricity, devices, and internet? And, how teachers were able to overcome these challenges?   Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Hosts Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra & Yong Zhao gather to reflect on the past three episodes (#89 - #91) and provide commentary. Tune in to our past episodes!Episode 91 | Innovations during the COVID‑19 Pandemic around the WorldEpisode 90 | Technology Education Innovations, from 1 to 1,000 Schools and BeyondEpisode 89 | Learning Losses or Learning Gains: The Sky is the Limit When Youths Take ActionConversation topics include citizen education, Wordle, and the potential and passion of our youth. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This conversation gives an overview of educational innovations which emerged during the pandemic, examined through the framework of educational change proposed in the recent OECD book: How Learning Continued during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the UNESCO report on the Futures of Education https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/Diving into the entrepreneurial use of existing resources, to meet the emerging needs created by the social distancing which was adopted in many jurisdictions as a way to contain the spread of the pandemic. These innovations tackle challenges that predated the pandemic and, as such, have value beyond the conditions created during the emergency. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Over the past decade, Computer Science (CS) education has been the fastest growing subject area in K-12 and postsecondary instruction. In this episode, we will talk with two Harvard alumni who have spent the past 20 years in this space in a variety of different roles, discussing their unique perspective on the growth of CS education, how they found their way in their journey, and what’s next. Kevin and Brett will share how they created a philanthropic program that utilized previously untapped expertise and built an organization that helped 1,000 high schools across the US and Canada develop successful, sustainable, and equitable CS programs. They will describe the process of starting and growing a novel education-based social impact organization that helps tech students at smaller less well-known colleges navigate and launch their careers. They will also discuss unexpected career journeys and their progression of roles as teaching fellows, engineers, curriculum designers, founder, professor, advisor to education organizations and state board of education member. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

As noted in an October 2021 article in EdSurge, the pandemic allowed many high school students in Colorado to self-direct their learning. Through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), young people were leading lives of inquiry, resourcefulness, and innovation. In this episode of SLL, researchers Ben Kirshner, Carlos Hipolito-Delgago, Arturo Cortex and Beatriz Salazar talk about the ingenuity and creativity that youth in their project showed when their schools shifted to online learning. From a thematic standpoint, they will focus in on “LEARNING” that happened during the pandemic and how that is different from “SCHOOLING” in their experiences. Second, they will question and challenge several assumptions that are embedded in the prevailing discourses of learning loss and social isolation associated with online learning. Throughout their show, they will express solidarity with teachers as they navigate the politics and health risks of this pandemic. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This episode is a reflection on the impact of the last two years on learning and learners. What can we do now and in the future to push for new learning methods and opportunities to meet the new world perspective post-pandemic? 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, Shuangye Chen, 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 (typically 5:30 PM Eastern US time) and are archived on https://silverliningforlearning.org Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In this episode, Balaji Venkataraman, Director for Technology and Knowledge Management, Commonwealth of Learning, Canada and Tadinada V. Prabhakar, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), India, explore how teachers in developing countries, with minimal familiarity with online learning, participate in design and delivery of MOOCs. They will discuss a series of case studies involving MOOCs in food and agriculture in India and parts of Africa using MobiMOOC technology as the platform. Their findings reveal that innovative deployment of messaging systems and opportunities to access content offline can increase engagement in the learning process. This project is sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning (https://www.col.org/) in Burnaby, BC, Canada. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

How is learning changing in the workplace? In this episode we hear from two professionals and their journeys. We will take a virtual tour to the newly established “Experience Center” at PwC in Cyprus, an innovation and entrepreneurship hub, where Dr Maria Solomou designs and develops interactive, participatory experiences with the application of cutting-edge technologies, aiming at immersing users in the optimal possible experiences. Also in this episode, Dr. Theano Yerasimou will discuss how she manages large-scale training projects and programs for clients across the globe and in various industries. Both are involved in designing and developing highly interactive interventions in a wide array of modalities (i.e., blended, face-to-face, virtual (live), self-paced eLearning, microlearning, mobile learning, gamified, etc.). Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

MOOC discourses originating from the Global North can appear potentially colonizing to educators in the Global South. In this session, we contextualize open from an Egyptian perspective and refer to different open educational practices we have been involved in, including the creation of Arabic content based on Western models (e.g., Edraak MOOCs, Wikipedia Arabic, and Tahrir Academy), the creation of local OERs using local models, the reuse of existing English-language Global North content (e.g., MITx with AUC/AUB, translating EdX content in Edraak, etc.), and participation in existing connectivist MOOCs as facilitators. We highlight how openness, when contextualized to different regions, can look different and have multiple faces. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This discussion is an overview of the last three episodes, but also celebrates the entire series from the beginning. This Thanksgiving episode is an opportunity for the crew to say thank you to the listeners and to celebrate the conversations that have taken place over the past 2 years. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org