Silver Lining for Learning

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, higher education has become increasingly limited for young women and often suspended and banned. According to a January 24, 2023 article in Inside Higher Ed, Reviving the College Dreams of Afghan Women, by Liam Knox, there are several initiatives currently underway to help Afghani women get access to educational opportunities, from online experiences at the University of the People to residential ones at higher education institutions in the United States like Arizona State University (see “61 young Afghan women arrive to begin new life as Sun Devils” ASU News, December 16, 2021 and the ASU Foundation for Afghan refugees). Enter the Asian University for Women in which has opened its doors to Afghani women to come to Chittagong, Bangladesh and enroll in a Master’s of Arts in Education. The Asian University of has Women Teaching Women, Women Learning from Women (WTW-WLW) initiative that is intended to nurture the next generation of woman leaders through a network of secondary schools for young women and girls who are refugees and located in displaced communities (website).The Asian University for Women (AUW) Masters of Arts in Education is a unique program launched with aspirations to empower women in education, particularly the brightest young female reformists/educational entrepreneurs dedicated to creating an impact through educational development and their leadership in society. The majority of the students are Afghan evacuees and/or belong to minority communities seeking reform in education. As Israt Jahan Oeeshi, a Teaching Fellow in the Graduate Program in Education at AUW, explains, “I chose this particular program to begin my academic career because it allows me to improve my pedagogical skills and provides me with a purpose: assisting an exceptional cohort of students.” Attend this episode of Silver Lining for Learning and learn firsthand from the Founder of AUW, Kamal Ahmad, as well as one of the instructors, Dr. Stefanie Panke, and three Afghani graduate students who had been evacuated with the help of Asian University for Women in 2021 and are currently in a Master’s of Education program in Chittagong, Bangladesh. All their bios are below. They will discuss their class project with Dr. Panke which was a Pressbook titled “Strong Schools.”

Many job roles and responsibilities are rapidly changing here in the third decade of the twenty-first century. According to a December 19, 2022 article in the Evolllution, A Time for Learning Experience Designers, Mark Milliron, President of National University and Kim Round, Associate Dean in the Teacher’s College of Western Governors University (WGU) argue that we need to better engage students in the learning process by rethinking the instructional approaches and supports that can be provided for learners. Milliron and Round point to the need to craft richer and more meaningful learning experiences. They argue that these new approaches are more empathy-based and sensitive to student wellness. Among those jobs in the midst of transformation is that of instructional designer and educational technologist. It is time for the learning experience designer (LED) to lead us into this new learning age.In addressing this concern, in this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, Drs. Milliron and Round will discuss a new Master of Science in Learning Experience Design and Education Technology (MSLxDET) from Western Governors University that will launch in the summer of 2023. As they sagely write in the Evolllution, “25 years of advancements in competency-based education, personalized learning, its commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, support for Social Emotional Learning, advanced use of data, and innovation with skills-based learning are working to help our diverse array of students—particularly historically underserved students—successfully navigate personalized pathways to possibility.” In a personal conversation (January 20, 2023), Milliron further observed that we need to talk about “the new possible,” not “the new normal.” Attend Episode #139 of SSL and hear about the new possibilities of learning experience designers and the types of learning that they might design. You can find out whether “Is it Time to Lead or About Time We LED.”

The dominant schooling system in India today is a product of the colonial era. It follows the factory model of education and emphasizes rote learning. But in a future where many routine tasks can be performed by machines, there is a need to transform the education system and focus on foundational critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Inspirit VR and MakerGhat are two organizations grappling with this challenge by engaging youth in experiential learning at the K12 level, virtually and in person. To enable change, they have been working on scaling through school partnerships, public and private. In this episode, the founders will talk about their vision to build a movement towards experiential learning in India, as well as challenges faced when working at scale. 

The podcast explores the importance of mental health and mindfulness in education, discussing the benefits and concerns of implementing mindfulness practices in schools. They emphasize the need for individualized mindfulness practices, creating regulated and safe environments, and integrating mindfulness into daily interactions. The speakers also explore the connections between mindfulness and creativity, highlighting the potential for transformation in education.

A thought-provoking conversation featuring guests from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford discussing their recently published reports on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning, and the potential for innovations and advances in learning that this disruption helped to reveal. Guests share their thoughts on how digital education could transform their universities over the next decade, including how higher education might move forward from the pandemic with a renewed focus on meaningful and impactful transformation.

Coming back from the holidays, the hosts talk about the key ideas from the last few episodes. Young wonders about technology in education coupled with the four-day school week and the possibilities with that. Curt Bonk spotlighted how young people are taking the lead with many on the technology in learning initiatives, Chris Dede highlights how the education industry does not take into account time children spend outside of the school day as an opportunity for them to learn. Punya is on vacation in India!

What might the future of education look like? Google for Education collaborated with research partner Canvas8 to conduct a study across 24 countries on the future of education. The result is a three-part global report highlighting insights from around the world from Google for Education released in December 2022. Part III of this report is called Reimagining Learning Ecosystems. It covers three trends: (1) upgrading learning environments, (2) empowering educators with data, and (3) re-evaluating student progress. Join Jennie Magiera the Global Head of Education Impact at Google and Kimberly Lane Clark Senior Program Manager at Google for Education as they share the top trends from the report and what they mean for educators and education leaders around the world.See Future of Education report: See Future of Education report: https://edu.google.com/future-of-education/Part 1: Preparing for a New FuturePart 2: Evolving How We Teach and LearnPart 3: Reimagining Learning Ecosystems

We are joined by Robin & Travis from The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE | crpe.org) which is a research organization at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. CRPE researches classrooms, schools, and systems to identify the systemic barriers to equity and excellence for every student and ways to overcome them. Since March 2020, CRPE has been the go-to source for high-quality research about the threats to student success and equity posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the innovations that have emerged from the crisis

We are joined by Dan Krutka and Marie Heath from Civics of Technology who tell us more about the project, its origin, where they are now and their future plans and ideas. The Civics of Technology (CoT) project aims to empower students and educators to critically inquire into the effects of technologies on their individual and collective lives. The team conducts research, develops curriculum, and offers professional development and through that seek to advance democratic, ethical, and just uses of technology in schools and society.While humans have wrestled with their relationships with technology for centuries, the rapidly changing technological landscape of facial recognition, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and other pervasive technologies requires citizens who can address associated social problems. The CoT team of primarily social studies and educational technology educators and researchers seeks to develop approaches, curricula, and research to help students grow as citizens in a highly technologized world.CoT, therefore, seeks to revive an older idea, largely lost to school curriculum dialogues, for technology education that challenges students to critically inquire into the collateral, disproportionate, and unexpected effects of technology on our lives. Across their projects, they work to advance the civics of technology in schools and society that struggles for just democracy. Some important linksCivics of Technology  Main PageCivics of Technology ConferenceCivics of Technology Book clubsCivics of Technology CurriculumMore about our guests below the video

Life is filled with challenges and adventures. Imagine teaching over 10,000 students in a single class. Sounds quite daunting, doesn’t it? Now what if those learners come from 120 different countries with their unique cultural norms, languages, backgrounds, expectations, technology access issues, and educational opportunities? Would you be a tad worried? Well, what if these people have come to your course to learn a very employable skill called computer coding? Most of them would have at least some expectations of being able to immediately apply the skills that you are teaching. The pressure mounts. And those 20,000 eyes would all be on you…or would they? Not exactly. With the “Code in Place” project from Stanford University, you would actually have around 900 volunteer teachers supporting and helping to individualize the instruction. This online army of volunteers would certainly lighten the load. The Code in Place project has likely the most people virtually assembled to ever teach a single class. Attend this session and find out what is working as well as the challenges and solutions to date for those challenges. Can Code in Place be replicated, expanded, and appreciated in other universities or parts of the world? We will see. More about our guests after the video.