Future Learning Design Podcast

This week is a really special episode where we get to hear from some incredible students and teachers from around the world with one thing in common! They are all doing amazing work to explore the possibilities that come when we invite learners to be much more involved in who directs the learning process, what gets learned and what the role of the educators is in our schools.  We will hear from Amalia, Mehrbanoo, Bruno and Ollie at International School of the Hague, Natalia, Bryant, and Mark at Avenues School, New York, Michaela, Lauren, and James at Northern Bay College in Geelong, and lastly Charlie, Josie, Dylan and Nathan at Prahran High School in Melbourne. Despite working in very different contexts and being at different stages of the process, what you'll hear is that many of the challenges and successes are the same! How much structure is the right amount to give learners freedom but also support at the right time? What skills and approaches to learning do students need and quickly develop as part of this work? How do we reduce the 'fear-factor' of these changes among parents, teachers, school leaders and sometimes amongst students themselves? How do assessments and curriculum structures also need to develop to make sure that these shifts are well-supported rather than working against the system? Because when you hear these students tell their stories, there is NO QUESTION about how significant and real the benefits are of giving them more ownership and control over their learning. For more background on the theory and practices around supporting student agency, you can check out episode 86 with Larissa Raymond and Jayne-Louise Collins. The schools featured in this episode are: International School of the Hague: https://www.ishthehague.nl/academic/myp/pathfinder-curriculum Contact - Pathfinder Programme Lead: Anne Tabak Avenues, New York: https://www.avenues.org/open-ed/what-do-students-really-learn-in-mastery  Contact - Global Academic Dean: Mark Gutkowski Northern Bay College, Geelong: https://www.nbc.vic.edu.au/  Contact - Year 9 Learning Community Leader: James Bayard Prahran High School, Melbourne: https://prahranhighschool.vic.edu.au/   Contact - Executive Principal: Nathan Chisholm

Dr. Theo Dawson is the founder and CEO of Lectica, Inc. Since the early 1990s, Dawson's research has focused on developing and building an alternative assessment infrastructure and the technologies to support it. She received her Ph.D from the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. Her award-winning dissertation presented a new approach to measuring learning and describing learning pathways.  She is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and papers on issues related to human development in journals such as Cognitive Development, Mind, Brain, and Education, The European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, The Journal of Applied Measurement, and Developmental Review, has contributed chapters to several edited books, has made many presentations at professional conferences and events.  Dr. Dawson has run several successful organizations, including Lectica, Inc., and its predecessor, the Developmental Testing Service, LLC. She has secured more than $1.5 million in grants from funding agencies like the Spencer Foundation, the NSF, and IES, and has held appointments at the University of California at Berkeley, Hampshire College, the Medical Center at Louisiana State University, and the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Dr. Dawson has also acted as a consultant to institutions like the U.S. Federal Government, Harvard University, the University of Texas at Arlington, JFK University, the University of Ireland, the University of Cyprus, and a variety of businesses and schools, both in the US and abroad. Social Links Twitter: @theodawson  LinkedIn: @theo-dawson

Sanjay Sarma is the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering. From 2012 until 2021, Sanjay led MIT Open Learning, first as director, then as dean, and finally as vice president. MIT Open Learning includes the Office of Digital Learning, the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili), the Center for Advanced Virtuality, and the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL). In 2020 Sanjay published Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn, which he co-authored with Luke Yoquinto. Previously, Sanjay co-founded the Auto-ID Center at MIT and developed many of the key technologies behind the Electronic Product Code suite of radio frequency identification (RFID) standards now used worldwide. He was also the founder and CTO of OATSystems, which was acquired by Checkpoint Systems in 2008. Sanjay has authored over 100 academic papers in computational geometry, sensing, RFID, automation, and computer-aided design, and is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching and research, including the MacVicar Fellowship, the BusinessWeek eBiz Award, and InformationWeek’s Innovators and Influencers Award. Social Links LinkedIn: @mit-open-learning Twitter: @mitopenlearning

Julie Stern has nearly two decades experience facilitating adult learning, and feels lucky to partner with educators to take their practice to the next level. She is passionate about synthesizing the best of education research into practical tools that support educators in breaking free of the industrial model of schooling and moving toward teaching and learning that promotes sustainability, equity, and well-being. She is a four-time best-selling author of Learning that Transfers, Visible Learning for Social Studies, The On-Your-Feet-Guide to Learning Transfer and Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding, Elementary and Secondary. She is a certified trainer in Visible Learning Plus and Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction.  Julie is also a James Madison Constitutional Fellow and taught social studies for many years in Washington, DC and her native Louisiana. She moves internationally every few years with her husband, a US diplomat, and her two children. You can find further info and resources at Julie's website is edtosavetheworld.com. Social Links LinkedIn: @julieharrisstern Twitter: @JulieHStern

Meredith and Sara taught Design & Technology at ABA Oman International School, with a focus on students learning about and engaging with real word issues and the ethical challenges that arise. From this teaching collaboration they established Harbord & Khan Educational Consultants. Meredith and Sara are curious about what it is to be human from personal, community and global perspectives, and how this impacts student learning. Their unique approach of embedding ethical dilemmas in curriculum encourages deep inquiry about DEIJ and promotes empathy and expansive thinking, while being fun for students. The Harbord & Khan Ethical Modelⓒ is grounded in ethical approaches, drives inquiry and is compatible with all curriculums. Areas of interest include sustainability, community building and biomimicry. Recent projects include a PBL inquiry based summer school project for SPARC, Fort Worth and STEM curriculum and resources for DATTA (Design and Technologies Teachers Association, Victoria, Australia). Harbord & Khan present regularly at international conferences and are available for professional development. Their publications include ‘Interdisciplinary Thinking for Schools: Ethical Dilemmas MYP 1, 2 & 3’ and  ‘Interdisciplinary Thinking for Schools: Ethical Dilemmas 4 & 5’ (2020) and they are regular columnists for Intrepid Ed News. Harbord & Khan Educational Consultants - www.harbordandkhan.com Social Links Twitter: @harbordkhan; @sara_riaz_khan LinkedIn: @meredith-harbord; @sarariazkhan

Lene Rachel Andersen is an economist, author, futurist, and Bildung activist. After studying business economy, and theology, she wrote entertainment for Danish television before becoming a full-time writer, focusing on technological development, big history, and the future of humanity. Since 2005, Lene has written 20 books and received two Danish democracy awards: Ebbe Kløvedal-Reich Democracy Baton (2007) and Døssing Prisen, the Danish librarians’ democracy prize (2012). Among her books are The Nordic Secret (2017), Metamodernity (2019), Bildung (2020) and Libertism (2022) and a publicly available paper on Bildung commissioned by the Erasmus+ Programme for the European Union. She is a full member of the Club of Rome, president of the Copenhagen based bildung lab Nordic Bildung, and initiator of Global Bildung Network, Global Bildung Day, and European Bildung Day. This season's Global Bildung Day is approaching on 21st September and you can sign up and find out more here:  https://www.globalbildung.net/gbd2022-september/

Carlota Perez is a British-Venezuelan researcher, lecturer and international consultant. She studies the mutual shaping of technical change and society and the lessons provided by the history of technological revolutions for economic growth and development. In Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages (Elgar 2002), Carlota put forward her theory of the emergence and diffusion of technological revolutions and of the role of finance in the process. She is currently working on a sequel, Beyond the Technological Revolution, funded by Anthemis UK, which will analyse the roles that government, business and civil society play in the deployment of the potential of each revolution. Carlota is Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) at University College London, UK and at SPRU, the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, UK; Adjunct Professor of Technology and Socio-Economic Development at the Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance at TalTech, Estonia.  Her long career has spanned civil service, consultancy, academic research and teaching, beginning in the 1970s with an investigation into the structural causes of the energy crisis in her home country of Venezuela. After working on international technology transfer at the Institute of Foreign Trade in the 1970s, she became the founding Director of Technological Development at the Ministry of Industry (1980-83) – where, alongside other policy instruments to promote innovation, she created the first venture capital fund in the country. Carlota has acted as consultant for several Latin American governments and for international organisations and multilateral agencies such as UN Industrial Development Organisation, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), the Andean Pact, the World Bank, the OECD and the EU, where she chaired the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Expert Group for Green Growth and Jobs. Social Links Twitter: @CarlotaPrzPerez Youtube: @CarlotaPerez

Dr. Jayne-Louise Collins is Co-director and lead designer and researcher at EdPartnerships International. Her interests include organisational and system learning through a regenerative and ecological paradigm of change. Jayne-Louise’s work is focused on educational research and building learning capacity in organisations through a partnering approach. She has had extensive experience in partnering with a range of education systems and schools across Australia to build connected leadership capacity, creating the conditions for regenerative change, and in turn flourishing and hopeful cultures of learning. Jayne-Louise also brings a depth of knowledge and understanding of recent research and practice in the field of learner agency – for both young people and adults. Her learning designs privilege internal research processes that activate the voice of young people and adults and invite collaborate analysis and collective sense making; an important anchor for ongoing co-design with partners. Larissa Raymond is a designer and leader of professional learning at EdPartnerships International. Prior to joining EdPartnerships she was Head of Teaching and Learning at Caulfield Grammar School. Larissa has a wealth of experience and insight in partnering with young people and adults in primary and secondary school contexts and local communities. She recently designed, researched and published the outcomes of a longitudinal research project exploring the structural, material, and cultural challenges encountered by a secondary school when conceptualising and enacting learner agency: Beyond Student Voice: Navigating Challenges in a Time of Neoliberalism (co-authored with Anne Cloonan). Jayne-Louise, Larissa and their EdPartnerships colleagues completed a two-year qualitative research project exploring learner agency in partnership with young people, their teachers and principals (2019-2021).  This resulted in the publication of a series of papers and a conceptual framework which continues to shape learner agency initiatives in various education sectors: Learner agency as a living ecology: A way of being in the world and being in the world with each other. This is the introduction in a series of short podcast spotlights on schools around the world who are putting many of these ideas into practice in which we speak with young people, teachers and leaders. Social Links LinkedIn: @dr-jayne-louise-collins / @larissa-raymond Twitter: @Jayne_Louise_C / @PartnershipsEd

Glenn Whitman is a History teacher and Executive Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) at St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Glenn is the co-author of Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education, the co-designer of Neuroteach Global and Neuroteach Global Student and co-editor of Think Differently and Deeply, the international publication of the CTTL. Glenn earned his MALS from Dartmouth College and a BA from Dickinson College and has shared the work of the CTTL through publications such as Edutopia, ASCD Express and EdSurge and presented around the world at public, private, and international school conferences including: Learning Forward, New Teacher Center, Learning & Brain and SXSWedu. Social Links Twitter: @gwhitmancttl LinkedIn: @glenn-whitman

Dr. Nandini Chatterjee Singh is a cognitive neuroscientist and currently Senior Project Officer at UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development), in New Delhi, India. UNESCO MGIEP focuses on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 towards education for building peaceful and sustainable societies across the world by developing programmes that promote social and emotional learning, innovate digital pedagogies and empower the youth. Their mission is to 'build kinder brains.' After receiving a PhD in physics from the University of Pune in India, Nandini studied auditory learning mechanisms in songbirds at University of California Berkeley. She returned to India in 2002 and the first cognitive and neuroimaging laboratory in India at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) in India, where she set up SALLY (Speech and Language Laboratory). Using behavioral and functional neuroimaging experiments, her laboratory sought to understand neurodiversity especially children with autism and dyslexia. Her research laboratory at NBRC also conducted research on how Indian ragas elicit distinct emotions. Since 2017, Nandini has been at UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) where she has led the development of EMC², a neuroscience-based framework that builds SEL competencies of Empathy(E), Mindfulness (M), Compassion (C) and Critical Inquiry (C). She is focused on designing new interactive curricula using innovative digital pedagogies like digital games, digital dialogue to cultivate SEL and she conducts cross-cultural research to assess their efficacy in school education systems. Social Links LinkedIn: @nandini-chatterjee-singh Twitter: @nanchatter; @UNESCO_MGIEP