Silver Lining for Learning

The hosts of Silver Lining for Learning gathered to reflect on the conversations that we have had with our guests over the past few weeks and look forward to the future. They discuss how COVID-19 impacted how so many students think about their next few years, how teachers may leave teaching and amongst other things, how silver learning lining can evolve.

Our guest this week is Dr. Shawn Loescher, an active practitioner in educational innovation and school system redesign. As CEO of Urban Discovery Schools, he discusses the school as well as the COVID-19 crisis response. He talks about design thinking, about structure vs flexibility in the school system as well as how they think about assessments at the school.

Italy was one of the countries to be hit early and hard by the Coronavirus. Partial lockdown began late February, expanding to the entire country within 2 weeks. This Saturday on Silver Lining for Learning, we will hear first-hand from Dr. Nicoletta Di Blas and Dr. Tommaso Agasisti from the Politecnico di Milano about how their institutions and the system overall responded to the crisis, from both the point of K12 educators and school leaders.

Our guest Dr. Kim discusses what does asking not just a good question, but a great or better question entail. He shares his work with SMILE (Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment). And how it is time for students to generate and evaluate great questions and find firm footing on the path toward inquiry-driven learning, instead of being sedated with a fact-driven route 101. We talk about mobile learning, collaborative technology, online learning, youth literacy, creating engaging environments for disadvantaged youth, learning ecologies, MOOCs, and much more. Take a look at this follow-up blog post: https://silverliningforlearning.org/episode-8-as-a-sketch-note-thanks-meenu-pillai/

Learn about Plan Ceibal's approach to providing equal opportunities and inclusion for all students in the public education system in Uruguay through the use of technology and teacher training. Plan Ceibal is unique, as it is the only country to provide every student with a computer and free Internet access. The program is 13 years old, and has gone through three stages: accessibility, training, and deep learning to focus on different aspects of the program. From providing devices and internet connection to teachers and students, to developing teaching approaches based on the students' needs. This episode will give you an insight on how Plan Ceibal is addressing the need for equal opportunities and inclusion in education using technology.

Hear the hosts discuss what stood out for them as they conducted the silver learning linings series. They discuss how the learning revolution is not equally distributed, equity and access plays a big role in how people respond to the COVID-19 crisis, what the crisis does for the future of learning, the increasing important role internet has played in education, how deeply important schools have come to be for the social fabric and the relationship between a student and teacher.

Will Richardson walks us through his beliefs on how schools need to change. We start with discussing why we are so resistant to this change, unpacking why assessment is a big lever to change, how self-directed learning will impact schools, what the role of how we tell our stories can impact the narrative, and how we cannot replace the one-size fits all model to another one-size fits all model.Follow will’s work here:willrichardson.comWill’s blog@willrich45 on Twitter

In this episode, we discuss the challenges faced by the education system due to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the lack of access to quality educational resources. Our guests represent the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), an inter-governmental organization based in Canada that is committed to promoting sustainable development through distance and online learning technologies. They share their work on developing Open Educational Resources (OER) and reports that are accessible, affordable, and available to the last person in the queue. They discuss their latest report, "Keeping the doors of learning open COVID-19" which includes an array of high-quality free and open educational resources across educational sectors from primary and secondary school to college and university level and beyond. They also talk about the organization's commitment to providing timely and quality reports that address the needs of millions of people spanning the globe.  Our guests are:Sanjaya Mishra is Education Specialist, eLearning at the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in Vancouver, Canada since January 2015. Previously, he served COL as Director of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) from 2012 to 2014. Dr Mishra is one of the leading scholars in open, distance, and online learning. Prior to joining COL, he was Programme Specialist (ICT in Education, Science, and Culture) at UNESCO, Paris. Dr Mishra has over 25 years of experience in design, development, and management of open, distance and online learning programmes and he is a leading advocate of open educational resources.Tony Mays is Education Specialist for Open Schooling at the Commonwealth of Learning. His work is to conceptualise, develop and manage the Open/Innovative Schooling initiative to promote secondary education using open, distance and technology-based approaches in accordance with COL’s Strategic Plan. He is passionate about contributing to universal access to educational opportunities by using Open Educational Resources (OER), employing Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) methods and working collaboratively through Open Educational Practices (OEP). Tony is a former secondary school teacher and has been involved in teacher and school development through ODL for many years. He holds a DEd in curriculum studies from Unisa.Frances Ferreira joined the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) as Education Specialist, Basic Education and Open Schooling in January 2007, a position she held for 9 years, after which she was appointed as the Senior Adviser, Women and Girls. Before joining COL, she had a long and successful career in the Namibian education sector. Prior to joining COL, she was the Director of the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL). As the institution’s first Chief Executive, she facilitated the strategic positioning of NAMCOL, both nationally and internationally. Outside the education sector, Ms. Ferreira has followed the political aspirations that emerged during her student years at the teacher’s training college in South Africa, where she was a student leader and 1993, she was elected as the first female mayor of Grootfontein, Namibia. Her  most significant achievements at COL to date has been her leadership of the multi-county OER4OS  initiative and the COL’s GIRLS Inspire Project.

With COVID-19 bringing forth one of the largest experiments in education - 200 million students attending “School” online. February 2020 brought with it alot to learn. Three guests from three different perspectives come in to share their experiences. Shuangye Chen, Professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, shares research findings at the national level, discussing models, policies and practices. Running a school from afar: Spencer Fowler, CEO & Superintendent of the Affiliated High School of Peking University’s Dalton Academy, shares his experience of providing education with a staff forced to be distributed around the world. While Mina Dunstan, Principal of Quarry Bay Primary School in Hong Kong, will reflect on the opportunities and challenges to deliver high quality online experiences to young children at the primary level.  Guests’ Bios:Dr. Shuangye Chen is Professor and Associate Director of the Institute of Curriculum and Teaching at East China Normal University, Executive Editor of the ECNU Review of Education. Professor Chen received her PhD in Educational Policy from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is committed to furthering the development of educational theory and internationalization within Chinese education. Her areas of interest include curriculum policy, curriculum leadership, social change and educational development, and educational policy research methods.Dr. Spencer Fowler is a former professional athlete, firefighter, and educational leader who presently serves as the CEO and Superintendent of The Affiliated High School of Peking University’s Dalton Academy. Spencer’s academic career began at Queen’s University where he earned a Bachelor’s (Hons) in Film Studies and a Bachelor’s (Hons) in Education. Spencer spent the past 15 years working in international education as a K-12 teacher and administrator in Chile, Egypt, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam and China, earning his Master’s and Doctorate of Educational Leadership along the way. Much of Spencer’s research concentrates on educational reform practices, bridging the gap between education and industry by connecting teachers and students to resources that tackle universal issues. His leadership style empowers teachers and students to have a voice and reach their true potential. This approach has led to the development of China’s first Access Scholarship, which aids marginalized and displaced youth from the Middle East to complete their high school education in Beijing and obtain full funding to attend universities overseas. The approach has also led to numerous patents, businesses, and publications – academic and otherwise.

Episode 02 of Silver Lining for Learning focused on the topic of Where (When) There Is No School. Our special guest was Sugata Mitra, winner of the 2013 TED Prize. Professor Mitra has long been focused on the study of self-organized learning environments (SOLEs). His book, The School in the Cloud: The Emerging Future of Learning, outlines some of the possibilities that are inherent when we utilize technology to spark curiosity and let children drive their own learning. The School in the Cloud documentary is available at Vimeo On Demand. If you’re not familiar with Professor Mitra’s work, here are his TED talks:2008 – Kids can teach themselves [20:48]2010 – The child-driven education [17:07]2013 – Build a school in the cloud [22:25]If you joined us live, thanks! Happy viewing!