Future Learning Design Podcast
Tim Logan
We are stuck in an old paradigm, with institutional structures that were built for a world that no longer exists. Within education, passionate entrepreneurs & committed citizens are no longer waiting for these broken formal institutions to be reformed. All over the world, they're designing & building their own local responses with relationships at their core. These are the education ecosystems that our young people need and out of which new institutions will emerge. This podcast is an inquiry into these fundamental changes and an invitation to join the movement to help nurture positive change.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 19, 2026 • 38min
Community-Based Design & the Whole Child Model - A Conversation with Cynthia Robinson-Rivers and Jeff Wetzler
Jeff Wetzler, Transcend co-founder and author of Ask, and Cynthia Robinson-Rivers, education leader and creator of the Whole Child Model, explore community-based school design. They discuss building change from local convictions, balancing expertise with participation, and creating the conditions for lasting transformation. Topics include belonging, student agency, structured recess, behavior, attendance, and adapting the model across diverse communities.
Sep 14, 2026 • 14min
How does Embodiment Science shift how we think about Memory? (with Guy Claxton & Emily Poel)
Cognitive scientist, author, and educator Guy Claxton joins Emily Poel to rethink memory through embodiment science. They explore why the brain is not a warehouse, how lived experience shapes neural activity, and why words need grounding in action. The conversation also challenges traditional views of working memory, cognitive architecture, and fact-heavy education.
9 snips
Sep 12, 2026 • 39min
Education's Role in Strengthening Community - A Conversation with Sonia Bautista León
Sonia Bautista León, a Zapotec-speaking education leader from Oaxaca, works with Indigenous and rural communities through Radix Education. She recalls growing up with multilingual schooling and limited resources, then explores community-led education, teacher wellbeing, culturally grounded learning, and the tension between education, mobility, and returning home. A thoughtful conversation about listening, belonging, and teachers as community leaders.
Sep 7, 2026 • 15min
How does Embodiment Science shift how we think about Learning? (with Guy Claxton & Emily Poel)
After last week's inquiry into Guy Claxton and Emily Poel's theory of "real-world intelligence", this is the second of four short episodes exploring the fuller implications of embodiment science to our core concepts and deep grammars of schooling and education.Today we are exploring the concept of how learning might be described differently from an embodiment science perspective, and how it is an integral part of the process of making our way in the world intelligently, balancing concerns, capabilities and circumstances as we explored last week.
20 snips
Sep 5, 2026 • 50min
An Ecological Approach to Teacher Agency - A Conversation with Prof. Gert Biesta and Prof. Mark Priestley
Prof. Mark Priestley, an education researcher focused on curriculum and teacher professionalism, and Prof. Gert Biesta, an educational theorist specializing in pedagogy and public education, explore teacher agency through an ecological lens. They unpack agency versus autonomy, why agency is not automatically beneficial, and how culture, relationships, policy, and resources shape professional action. They also discuss diversity, collective action, standardization, and AI’s potential impact on teaching.
Aug 31, 2026 • 19min
How does Embodiment Science shift how we think about Intelligence? (with Guy Claxton & Emily Poel)
Guy Claxton, British cognitive scientist and author of *Bodies of Learning*, joins Emily Poel to explore how embodiment science transforms ideas about intelligence and education. They discuss intelligence beyond IQ, 4E cognition, whole-body creativity, habits, surprise, active inference, and how people learn to act intelligently even without knowing exactly what to do.
Aug 29, 2026 • 1h 2min
Education Through the Anthropological Lens - A Conversation with Zineb Mouhyi, Corina Enache, Patrick Alexander and Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard
Patrick Alexander, social anthropologist and research lead in education; Zineb Mouhyi, scholar-activist focused on decolonization and youth-led reform; Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard, social psychologist specialising in collective intelligence and cooperative learning; Corina Enache, cultural anthropologist and systems worker in leadership and organisational development. They explore anthropology’s knack for making the familiar strange, studying power, attending to particulars for system renewal, and reshaping schooling and learning spaces.
23 snips
Aug 1, 2026 • 47min
The Secret Ingredients of System Transformation at Scale - A Conversation with Dr. Iwan Syahril
Dr. Iwan Syahril, former Director General at Indonesia’s Ministry of Education who led Merdeka Belajar reforms, shares lessons from steering national change. He talks about keeping a relentless focus on students. He discusses translating global ideas into local culture and the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. He explains why simple purpose and community values sustain large-scale transformation.
Jul 28, 2026 • 58min
Exploring the Biological Roots of Cognition - A Conversation with Jinan KB
Jinan KB, a researcher of natural cognition and author of Awakening Beauty, explores how humans naturally create knowledge through lived, sensory engagement. He discusses clay and hands-on making, how play and materials teach, the ways literacy reshapes thinking, and practices for deconditioning toward sensorily grounded sense-making. Short, provocative reflections that challenge common assumptions about learning.
Jul 24, 2026 • 48min
Experiential Learning, Rural Systemic Development and the Hawkesbury Experience - A Conversation with Richard Bawden
Richard Bawden, Professor Emeritus who led radical systemic and experiential learning at Hawkesbury, reflects on farm-based immersion and group-led, spiraling learning. He discusses institutionalizing hands-on practice across faculties. The conversation also touches on Indigenous ways of knowing, communal leadership and how systemic change can be lost through institutional pressures.
