The Learnit Podcast

Today we talk to Pia Pakarinen, Deputy Mayor for Education, City of Helsinki.Finland has long been viewed as an educational success story, and appears to be the outlier during COVID-19; teachers had the tools they needed, and the training and support to respond, parents felt equipped to help their kids, and children fared well as a result. We discuss these areas, alongside the extensive data collection underway and the resulting changes being put in place as a result.Show notes:- Twitter: @Pia_Pakarinen - More about Pia's work: https://www.piapakarinen.net/

During the pandemic, demand for Khan Academy sky-rocketed, with usage of the site rising to 75 million minutes a day. With a huge sense of purpose and endless energy, Sal has led his team to build further ways to help students, parents and teachers during this time. Today we discuss the COVID-19 learning loss, 'in terms of progress around equity, I think we could lose decades', what works and doesn’t with online learning, the range of ‘back to school tools’ they’re developing, the role tutoring can play, and how he came to his decision to establish the company as a non-profit. Show notes - - Twitter: @salkhanacademy- One World Schoolhouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUHRaoD7d34- Schoolhouse.World: https://coda.io/@schoolhouse/welcome- The Diamond Age, Neil Stephenson: https://www.nealstephenson.com/the-diamond-age.html- Isaac Asimov, Foundation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29579.- Foundation Avatar, The Last Airbender: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN_u5w69V9wUZYG8WeJWuNg

If you want to start a heated discussion in global education circles, mention the name Andreas Schleicher. As head of the OECD’s education unit, he is the face of PISA, a test administered to 15 year olds around the world every 3 years. Depending on who you ask, Schleicher, a German data scientist, is responsible for launching a global education arms race, or he is one of education’s most enlightened reformers, committed to changing what is measured in education so it better reflects the world in 2020. In this episode, we talk about how different countries are trying to battle the COVID-19 learning loss, the elevated role of wellbeing during the pandemic, where online learning has and hasn't worked, the role of motivation and self-regulation, parents as faculty, the future of assessment and how tutoring could help the most disadvantaged kids catch up, if designed and funded well.Show Notes:- Twitter: @SchleicherOECD | @jandersonQZ | @Learnit_World- More information on the OECD's work: http://www.oecd.org/education/ - OECD Report 'Schooling Disrupted, Schooling Rethought'- Yuval Noah Harari, '21 Lessons for the 21st Century'

Thirteen years ago Michael Sorrell saved Paul Quinn College, a historically Black Methodist college in Dallas, Texas, from financial collapse, transforming it into America’s first urban work college. Today, he explains why he won’t welcome students back on campus this fall unless he can keep them safe, what America’s anti-racism protests mean for higher ed, and why the single best piece of advice he ever got was to “lead with love.” “At the end of the day we are fighting for something bigger than the perpetuation of ourselves as an institution. We are fighting for the salvation of our students. That’s a bigger cause.”Show notes:- Twitter: @michaelsorrell | @jandersonQZ | @Learnit_World- Paul Quinn College website for more information on their work: https://pqc-edu.squarespace.com/- More details regarding the reality of social mobility in US college system, available via corresponding Quartz article, written by Jenny Anderson: https://bit.ly/3e0jOhs- Michael Sorrell, ranked 34 in Fortune's 50 Greatest Leaders: https://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/2018/michael-sorrell/- Michael Sorrell's SXSW Edu 2018 talk: https://bit.ly/3fxj4B5