Silver Lining for Learning

The hosts of Silver Lining for Learning gather together to reflect on previous conversations with guests over the past few weeks and also look forward to the future. They ask what’s been the impact of these conversations so far and what they can do differently

#Silverliningforlearning is a show about educational transformations during or prior to COVID-19. We have been talking with guests from all over the world and we know a lot of educators have been working to change education for all children. In this episode welcome Greg Whitby to be our guest to talk about changing education in Australia and in the world.

NGOs and private organizations across Africa mobilize to provide educational innovation for equity & immersive learning. In this episode, three guests discuss the impact of the pandemic on the work they've been doing and the opportunities that lie ahead for education on the continent. Pertulla discusses her work bringing equal access to quality education and learning in Cameroon. Through her organization Leap Girl Africa,  Judith discusses VR for Schools, a virtual reality education project run by her XR creation lab Imisi3D in Nigeria and funded by UNICEF. The discussant for the conversation Toks Bakare provides insights about educational innovation across Africa and in Global South countries.

Today, the educational world spins on collaboration and knowledge sharing. We have rapidly departed from an age when few teachers opened their doors to guest observations and putting on display one’s best practices, to an age filled with the sharing of open educational resources, courses, and practices. As this has happened, open content has become an increasingly accepted part of the curriculum, especially with the rise of COVID-19.One is no longer a lone ranger when designing, developing, using, or assessing course content and associated pedagogy. Inter-institutional collaboration is the new normal in this age of fully online e-learning and various forms of blended learning. There is an increasing need to share best practices about open educational resources and effective online learning environments. Our guests this week, Miri Shonfeld and Eli Shmueli, are pedagogical and technological experts in bringing people together from around the world to discuss vital educational ideas, issues, trends, and movements. They create consortia, mobilize educational expertise, and engage in timely faculty development and training. This episode includes the use of slides, and may be best optimized for viewing on the SLL Website. 

Simulations can be a powerful tool for learning, and we focus on simulations for educators. This is our first of two episodes on simulations. In this week’s episode, Dr. Sara Dexter, Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, and Ken Spero, CEO of SchoolSims. Creating and curating virtual environments that emulate the real world with particular learning goals and journey paths that allow learners to discover valuable insights can instigate an experiential learning experience. Check out the episode page on the SLL website for the simulation learning resources provided by our guest speakers.

The hosts of Silver Lining for Learning gather to reflect on the conversations that we have had with our guests over the past few weeks and look forward to the future of the series. With topics that include learning adaptations during the pandemic, augmented and immersive learning technologies, as well as developmental psychology, the conversation is engaging and insightful. Tune in!

In this episode, we feature student guests from three widely spaced geographic location: Beijing, Hawaii, and Sydney. Shen Shuowen and Guo Xingyan are 12th graders from the Dalton Academy at the Affiliated School of Peking University, Beijing, China. Ivanni Jamin is a 12th grader from Hawai’i Preparatory Academy in Kameula, Hawaii, USA. Paranjay Jadhav and Ellie Sifis are two students from Lindfield Learning Village in Sydney, Australia. We asked students, “What can we do to help students learn better?” Students reflect upon their how people learn, their intellectual interests, and education as field. You will be delighted by the maturity of their responses, the deep insights and sophisticated reflection, as well as their passion for learning.  

Joined by not one but three highly accomplished pioneers in the K-12 educational technology space who are all affiliated to ISTE. We discuss all about what ISTE attempted to inspire - creation of solutions & connections that improve opportunities for all learners by delivering: practical guidance, evidence-based professional learning, virtual networks and thought provoking events & the IST Standards. Join us for this thought-provoking session where we learn about recent activities and initiatives of ISTE that are impacting students and teachers from across the United States.

Nina Lim share her personal experience of distance teaching first grade students in California and Seoul. She describes what instruction looked like during remote learning for her elementary school students. She compares the differences and similarities between remote instruction in US and South Korea. Chee-Kit Looi will describe how, in Singapore, the actual practices of online learning brought more awareness about how inequality begins at home.

We are joined by two authors of a great book called Writers in the Secret Garden: Fanfiction, Youth, and New Forms of Mentoring provides an in-depth examination of the novel ways young people support and learn from each other through participation in online fanfiction communities.The two authors, Cecilia Aragon and Katie Davies, both from the University of Washington, studied fanfiction writers and consider how distributed mentoring could improve not only other online learning platforms but also formal writing instruction in schools.