Silver Lining for Learning

While the immediate and longer-term repercussions of the pandemic should not be minimized, there are also examples emerging of ways in which the pandemic may “leapfrog” and accelerate scaling innovations in education. Rebecca Winthrop, co-director and senior fellow, and Jenny Perlman Robinson, senior fellow, at the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic may provide opportunities for greater experimentation, innovation and scaling in global education, drawing from the experiences of partners in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.Rebecca also discusses her recent piece co-authored with Emiliana Vegas titled Beyond Reopening Schools: How education can emerge stronger than before COVID-19.

Guest, Sheila Jagannathan Head of the Open Learning Campus at the World Bank Group discusses her work and lessons from delivering MOOCs for global audiences on development topics such as maternal health and learning to realize education’s promise.

Students are at the core of all these conversations. The hosts want to know what students have been thinking, and what they expect from educators. Students as young as 12-year-olds share their inspirational educational experiences during and post-COVID-19. 

A conversation with experts about new models of education that are emerging during the pandemic. Guests professor Zoraini Wati Abas, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the Wawasan Open University in Penang, Malaysia, Professor Tian Belawati expert in open distance education (ODE) from Indonesia, Melinda Bandalaria, Chancellor and Professor at the University of the Philippines Open University, Jintavee Khlaisang, Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Technology and Communications and Thapanee Thammetar the director of Thailand Cyber University Project, Office of the Higher Education Commission in the Ministry of Education in Thailand.

China has controlled COVID-19 and has opened schools for all children. Our hosts invite three distinguished guests to discuss lessons from China. Dr Chuang Wang, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Macau discusses how his institution has responded to the pandemic. Cobby Abbey, project manager at Rural Education Action Program (REAP) at Stanford University discusses a computer systems learning program in rural China that aims to narrow the urban-rural gap in China. Ouyang Bin, the Founder and CEO of Lingyun Education, and his work training over 5000 teachers in China in the very early stages of the pandemic.

The hosts of Silver Lining for Learning gather together to reflect on previous conversations with guests over the past few weeks. Thinking about lessons learned from bottom-up innovators as well as what the global economy is going to be like when the pandemic ends in a few years from now. 

The need to connect the underserved and marginalized to rich, relevant, and robust education and training opportunities has been mounting during the pandemic. Our guest this week, Maxim Jean-Louis, discusses his work as President and CEO of Contact North; a progressive, thought-leading organization that is expanding its footprint within Canada and throughout the global education community. 

Over the spring and summer there was one name I heard on the lips of P-12 educators more than any other. On August 29 at 5:30pm Eastern (USA), we are delighted to have Dr. Catlin Tucker as our guest on Silver Lining for Learning.

Tina Grotzer discusses how virtual worlds hold promise for helping the next generation learn to think about complex causality and describes her work on the EcoXPT Project. Ahmad Rahimi discusses how stealth assessments and game-based learning methods can be used to enhance students’ learning and the educational package in Farsi called “The first-aid kit for emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic” 

Professor Stephen Heppell discusses his broad range of experiences with technological innovations in education. The conversation goes beyond what has been done and we will imagine together what’s coming in the future.