The Learnit Podcast

Valued at $1 billion, digital study platform Quizlet has 50 million active users in 130 countries, and has seen growth of 300-400% during Covid. CEO Matthew Glotzbach discusses the perils and possibilities of self-directed learning, shocking insights from Quizlet’s data on how the pandemic has affected study habits by country and how to address the very real mental health issues of young people today.Show notes:- Twitter: @quizlet & @mglotzbach- More about Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/en-gb- Series C funding round: https://www.uktech.news/featured/quizlet-raises-24m-series-c-20200514- How pandemic has shaped how we educate: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/digital-learning-covid-19-changed-way-we-educate-children/- Favourite book about learning: Benedict Carey, ‘How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens’ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19288640-how-we-learn- Favourite book not about learning: Ijeoma Oluo, ‘So You Want to Talk About Race’, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099718-so-you-want-to-talk-about-race- Binge-watching: Jack Ryan, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5057054/

As CEO and Co-Founder of Teach For All, Wendy Kopp leads a global network of over 50 independent organisations cultivating leadership through locally rooted social entrepreneurs. We talk about successful innovations from around the world, the nature of leadership, what this moment means, and whether she thinks we will decide to do anything with it.Show notes:- Twitter: @wendykopp, @TeachForAll- More about Teach For All: https://teachforall.org/- Recent blogpost on Medium: https://medium.com/teach-for-all-blog/how-we-can-ensure-that-covid-19-does-not-cast-a-lifelong-shadow-over-todays-young-people-fa962351fee9- Favourite book about learning: ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’, by Carol S. Dweck: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40745.Mindset- Favourite book not about learning: ‘Humankind: A Hopeful History’, by Rutger Bregman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52879286-humankind

We could all use strategies to help us cope, and where possible, positively navigate the continual stresses of pandemic life. Dr. Laurie Santos, Head of Silliman College, Professor of Psychology at Yale University, and founder of The Happiness Lab, is a leading specialist on human cognition and the cognitive biases that can negatively impact our life choices and decision making. Her course, “Psychology and the Good Life” is Yale’s most popular course in the university’s 300+ year history. Dr. Santos wants her students to be more grateful, procrastinate less and increase social connections in order to decrease mental health issues, increase motivation, and ultimately, increase happiness.This session was recorded as part of a wider workshop and audience Q&A as part of Learnit Live.Show notes:- Dr. Laurie Santos’ work: https://psychology.yale.edu/people/laurie-santos- Twitter: @lauriesantos- ‘The Science of Wellbeing’ course, Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being- ‘The Happiness Lab’: https://www.happinesslab.fm/

As Co-founder & CEO of Summit Public Schools, a network of 11 public charter schools in Washington State and California, Diane has built a model focused on mentoring, building student agency and supporting learning through projects. We talk about how their focus on self-directed learning paid off during the pandemic, whether tech can be used to build connection and the risks of too much emphasis on learning loss.Show notes:- More about Summit Public Schools, https://summitps.org/- More about Summit Learning Programme, https://www.summitlearning.org/- Favourite book about learning: Linda Darling Hammond, The Right to Learn, A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/321109.The_Right_to_Learn- Favourite book not about learning: Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51152447-caste- Binge-watching, Bridgeton, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740790/

As President of one of Israel’s largest teaching colleges, Yuli is reforming their entire teaching curriculum, focusing on resilience and adaptability, to allow teachers to be more autonomous and build the support system they need for an age of uncertainty. We talk about Israel’s cautionary tale of how not to open schools, their vaccination programme, the risks of inequality and what Covid-19 has taught us about ourselves.Show notes:More about Yuli Tamir, https://yaelyulitamir.com/More about Beit Berl College: https://www.beitberl.ac.il/englishFavourite book about learning, Charles M. Payne, So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3229041-so-much-reform-so-little-changeBinge watching The Crown: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/

A network of 18 affordable, globally competitive independent schools in Gauteng and the Western Cape regions of South Africa. We talk about their values-led model; what that means, how they measure it and how it positively impacts academic performance. We also talk about navigating COVID and the importance of relationships when keeping a private school afloat while families are facing unprecedented levels of hardship.Correction on the detail given in the intro to this episode - SPARK Schools have a network of 18 schools.Show notes:- Twitter: @SPARKSchools- More about SPARK Schools: https://www.sparkschools.co.za/- More details on Sparks Fly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyN0S4EdP0c- Bailey’s TEDxJohannesburg talk on their core values: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tFe-Xn7Ipo&t=29s- Launch of their vision, "South Africa leads global education": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOU0TYnNsZo&t=9s- Favourite book about learning: The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization, Jon R. Katzenbach, Douglas K. Smith, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/170486.TheWisdomof_Teams- Favourite book not about learning: The Book of Embraces, Eduardo Galeano, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9490.TheBookof_Embraces- Binge-watching: New Girl, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1826940/

With 53k students and a budget of $13 million, University of the People provides a nonprofit, tuition free, online university. And last September, they established the first Arabic language, online degree program, after seeing students, in particular refugees, flocking to their program. We discuss their peer to peer learning model, their liberal arts foundation and how they manage to keep costs down.Show notes:- Twitter: @ShaiReshef @UoPeople- Find out more about University of the People: https://www.uopeople.edu/- More about Arabic language programme: https://www.uopeople.edu/about/worldwide-recognition/press-releases/university-of-the-people-launching-first-arabic-language-program-in-september/- Favourite book about learning: John Sexton, Standing for Reason: The University in a Dogmatic Age, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41833036-standing-for-reason- Favourite book not about learning: Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/ - What are you binge watching? Queen’s Gambit, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10048342/

Frustrated at the lack of market intelligence for the education sector, Maria co-founded HolonIQ, to synthesize the billions of data points into rich global insights. We explore how Covid-19 has affected the education market, and discuss five predictions about the future of learning - including what people hope will happen versus what they expect to happen.Show notes:- Twitter: @marialspies1 @holoniq- More about HolonIQ - https://www.holoniq.com- Global Learning Landscape (Periodic Table) - https://www.globallearninglandscape.org/- Education in 2030 Project - https://www.holoniq.com/2030/- Favourite book about learning is Clayton Christensen, https://claytonchristensen.com/ideas-in-action/books/- Currently binge-watching The Crown, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/

Having spent two decades as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Pamela’s work with Turnaround for Children translates scientific knowledge about how children develop and learn, so that teachers and schools can support children where they are, and help them get where they need to be. We talk about the relationship between our genes and what we become and designing schools for the whole child rather than sorting based on narrow academic measures.Content Warning: Please note, there are references to sexual abuse in this episode.Show notes:- Twitter: @Turnaround @DrPamelaCantor- More about Turnaround For Children: https://turnaroundusa.org/- More about Pamela Cantor, M.D.: https://turnaroundusa.org/team/pamela-cantor/- Book Pamela references, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook, Bruce D Perry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/129909.The_Boy_Who_Was_Raised_as_a_Dog- More about the building blocks for learning: https://turnaroundusa.org/what-we-do/tools/building-blocks/- Benjamin S. Bloom’s The 2 Sigma Problem http://web.mit.edu/5.95/www/readings/bloom-two-sigma.pdfThe 180 Podcast: https://turnaroundusa.org/the-180-podcast-dr-pamela-cantor/- Favourite book: Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., Brainstorm. The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain https://drdansiegel.com/book/brainstorm/- “A Talk to Teachers”, by James Baldwin: https://www.spps.org/cms/lib010/MN01910242/Centricity/Domain/125/baldwin_atalktoteachers_1_2.pdf- Binge watching, Queen’s Gambit, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10048342/- Binge watching, The Biggest Little Farm, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8969332/- Binge watching, My Octopus Teacher, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12888462/

Over the last 15 years, Remake Learning has invested $100M, making a series of "small bets" to support and invest in a network of people igniting change, and empowering those ready for it. Their first annual Remake Learning Day saw 30,000 families take part in what he calls an “amusement park of innovative learning”, bringing to life what the future of education could look like. We talk about measuring the success of those small bets and how to mobilize a community around the future of learning.Show notes:- Twitter: @remakelearning, @RemakeDays, @greggbehr- More about Remake Learning: https://remakelearning.org/- More about Remake Learning Days: https://remakelearningdays.org/- More about Grable Foundation: https://grable.org/- Remake Learning Playbook: https://playbook.remakelearning.org/- Book: Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, Philip Paul Hallie https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167405.Lest_Innocent_Blood_Be_Shed- Binge-watching: Vikings, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2306299/