Future Learning Design Podcast

Anne Fischer is a learning leader and innovator turned UX Designer. With two decades of experience in designing and leading for change and adaptability in schools in Germany, France, Switzerland, Dubai and US. Anne is an expert in Design Thinking and Agile methodologies. She is the Assistant Principal and Curriculum Coordinator at Phorms Campus Berlin Süd. Anne is also the co-founder of WomenEdDE with Angeline Aow. Anne earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and a Master in Science from the London School of Economics. Social Links:  Twitter: @EdtechAnne LinkedIn: @Anne-Fischer Email: annefischer.uxdesign@gmail.com

Leading projects around the world for clients in education and industry, Ewan McIntosh is the passionate and energising tour de force behind NoTosh.  As the name suggests, NoTosh is a jargon-free but game-changing strategic consultancy with a passion for learning and a conviction that innovation and creativity can change the way people think, the way they learn and the way they work A highly regarded keynote speaker at events around the world, Ewan is also the author of How To Come Up With Great Ideas and Actually Make Them Happen and regularly writes about learning on his blog (and previously here). Ewan’s professional career started as a French and German high school teacher in Scotland back in the 1990s. He wanted to find new ways to help students engage with their learning and felt strongly that technology was both critical to this and underused in the classroom, so his classes were among the first in Europe to podcast and blog as part of their daily learning. Ewan then became the National Advisor on Learning and Technology Futures for the Scottish Government, and in 2006, with some friends in a pub in Edinburgh he began Teachmeet as a way to enable teachers to network and learn from peers and disrupt the traditional model of prescribed teacher professional development. In 2008, Ewan became the Digital Commissioner at Channel 4. It was there that he became fascinated by the strategies and tactics that colleagues were using to create imaginative and engaging digital services for young people. So he founded notosh in order to make similar impacts for young people in education. You can connect with Ewan on the links below, and check out the NoTosh team’s new suite of online offers at learn.notosh.com. Social Links Twitter: @ewanmcintosh  LinkedIn: @ewanmcintosh Facebook: @ewanmcintosh  

Paul Magnuson attributes his progressive views on education to over twenty years of experience working in summer camps. He's done with command and control models that tend to favor conformity and compliance over self-regulation, whether it be for students or teachers. Paul leads educational research at Leysin American School and is a frequent blogger for the international school organizations, The International Educator and ECIS. Opportunities for workshops in innovative teaching and learning can be found at peakchallenges.ch. In our conversation, Paul draws on inspiration from eduScrum, Agora schools and we talk about NEASC's ACE Learning accreditation protocol. If you are interested in contributing lessons to Paul's collection (with Nicola Cosgrove) Pulling Agile into Education, please see the template in the link and write to them at pmagnuson@las.ch and ncosgrove@las.ch. Social Links Email: pmagnuson@las.ch Twitter: @zebmagnuson LinkedIn: @paulmagnuson

Greg Curtis is an author and independent education consultant.  He is currently based in Beijing and has spent much of his career working with international schools around the world in all-school capacities. Greg has been a technology director, a curriculum and professional learning director and a strategic planner for schools in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. Greg has been heavily invested in deep, systems-focused school improvement efforts for his entire career. With over 27 years of experience working from early years through high school programs, he has developed considerable experience in leading curriculum revitalization, 21st century learning, technology infusion, assessment shifts and change initiatives. Greg is the author of the three books:  Moving Beyond Busy: Focusing School Change on Why, What, and How (Student-Centered Strategic Planning for School Improvement) (2019) Leading Modern Learning: A Blueprint for Vision-Driven Schools (foreword by Jay McTighe) (2015) Learning Personalized: The Evolution of the Contemporary Classroom (co-authored with Allison Zmuda and Diane Ullman) (2015) Greg has recently been working with the Mastery Transcript Consortium as they develop their alternative to the High School GPA-focused transcript to one which "authentically and holistically captures student learning, progress, and interests." Greg is also the creator of LearningBoard® - a software solution that supports schools make the shift to a focus on transformational learning. It enables schools to plan curricula and collect, organize, analyze and report evidence of student learning against performance indicators for transformational learning goals such as leadership, creativity, and critical thinking, as well as against academic standards.  Social Links Email: greg@gregcurtis-consulting.ca Twitter: @jgcurtis LinkedIn: @greg-curtis

Oluwatosin Olowoyeye-Taiwo is an activist and social entrepreneur campaigning for equity and access to education for at-risk children in Nigeria. She founded her organisation Street to School Initiative in 2009 to sponsor out-of-school children back to school. Through her educational sponsorship programs and school support scheme, Tosin has been able to support more than 20,000 vulnerable pupils into schools. In 2015, she established a tuition-free school in Alimosho, strictly for out-of-school children in Nigeria. She has also supported children's entries into national examinations such as IGCSEs, A-levels, West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. Tosin is a 2013 recipient of the United States Consul General Award, and a 2014 alumnus of the US government-sponsored International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). In 2017, Tosin received the Yemisi-Ransome Kuti Leadership Award. At the Street to School Centre, children are taught, mentored & provided learning materials & free school meals, this is to boost school attendance and improve learning outcomes. In 5 years of establishment, 78 children have transitioned into high school, with 198 children currently enrolled and in various classes. Street to School Initiative is being supported by terrific individuals, and corporations such as Stanbic IBTC Bank, United Parcel Service, the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria, and the US Embassy. Tosin is a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Lagos and Social Sector Management from Pan-Atlantic University.  Social Links Twitter: @Street2SchoolNG LinkedIn: @Oluwatosin-Olowoyeye-Taiwo Facebook: @Street2SchoolNG

Charles Cassidy is the Director of the Evidence-Based Wisdom project. The site translates academic research regarding the science and psychology of wisdom into understandable and helpful resources for the wider public. Charles studied Physics at the University of Manchester in the UK. Following the development of educational research projects with The British Council across South America and Asia, Charles taught Mathematics and Science in London for 15 years. Since the start of the project, he has conducted interviews with many leaders in the field of wisdom research, compiled and translated many of the key papers from the field and created many public-facing resources, including video animations, info-graphics, articles and podcasts. He has also written about wisdom research for publications including Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, as well as appearing on talk radio across the United States. Igor Grossmann is a social-cognitive scientist and world traveller. Born during the downfall of the Soviet Union on a day of October revolution, and growing up in Ukraine and Germany, ever since childhood he has been wondering about how people make sense of complex social challenges. He is the Director of the Wisdom and Culture Lab at the University of Waterloo, Canada.  He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His work has been published in such outlets as PNAS, Proceedings of the Royal Academy: B, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His contributions have been recognized through numerous awards (e.g., SAGE Young Scholar award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science, APA Dissertation Award, USERN Prize for Social Sciences). Igor is an Associate Editor of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science and co-hosts the On Wisdom Podcast, disseminating scientific insights from psychology, philosophy and cognitive sciences to the general public. Social Links Email: Charles - charles@evidencebasedwisdom.com; Igor - igrossma@uwaterloo.ca Twitter: Charles - @EBasedwisdom; Igor - @psywisdom; On Wisdom podcast - @onwisdompodcast LinkedIn: @CharlesCassidy; @IgorGrossmann

Steve Peha is the founder of Teaching That Makes Sense, an education consultancy specializing in literacy, student engagement, and instructional innovation. He has written extensively on developing young people’s literacy and his book ‘Be a Better Writer’, written with his wife, Margot Carmichael Lester, was an Amazon #1 “Hot New Release” in teen writing. The book also won a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award, a 2016 Best Book Gold Medal Award in Young Adult Nonfiction. It has also received an award nomination from YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association, part of the American Library Association. Steve’s new novel ‘Jordan's Run’, a near-future dystopic look at American culture, won the 2019 Spark Award at New York's BookCon. He is also working right now on an essay collection for the 2020 election called "We All Breathe the Same Air" based on JFK's famous American University speech. Since 1995, Steve has written widely on teaching, learning, and writing for publications like The Washington Post, The National Journal, Psychology Today, Edutopia, Education Post, and many others. In 2001, he created The Effective Learning Series for The Seattle Times and received an Innovators in Education from the Newspaper Association of America. In particular, Steve wrote a very prescient piece for InfoQ in June 2011 entitled, ‘Agile Schools: How Technology Saves Education (Just Not the Way We Thought it Would)’. He has also spoken at Yahoo, Google and Paypal on the topic of introducing Agile strategies into education. Prior to starting Teaching That Makes Sense, Steve held top management positions with several technology companies. As founder of Music Technology Associates, a multimedia consulting company, he developed Music Mentor, an award-winning music education program for the Windows Multimedia PC platform. Social Links Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevepeha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepeha/

A versatilist and somewhat of a polymath, Carla started her career in the performing arts, before moving into the digital domain. Becoming captivated by the international education landscape and the role of technology for learning, her focus turned to learning with technologies in diverse contexts. For many years, Carla managed international transformation programmes and innovation initiatives for education publishers. She was Global Digital Director of Education for Cambridge University Press and Director of Futures at UCL – Institute of Education, where she led the mentoring and training of 250 edtech start-ups. This summer Carla launched the Refracted! Inter- and transdisciplinary learning community - free to join - in order to facilitate essential dialogue and knowledge sharing that pierces through the education silos. Prior to this, Carla also set up and ran the Tmrw Institute, a thought leadership and catalyst organisation focused on the role of technologies for education and learning, from policy to practice. She runs the Next Billion EdTech Prize for start-ups working in resource-poor contexts, a Varkey Foundation initiative. Carla speaks at international conferences: including Les Rencontres à Aix, Global Education and Skills Forum, FT Live, Reimagine Education, EdTechX, e-Learning Africa, etc. Carla was involved in the 2019 workshop that led to the publication of the World Economic Forum Generation AI report, developed in partnership by UNESCO, CIFAR and WEF. Twitter: https://twitter.com/underthebanyan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlaaerts/

In this episode, Tim Logan is joined by Ulrike Suwwan (from Guide and Lead) and Graham Brown-Martin to talk about the challenges and opportunities of rebuilding something different and more regenerative in our current situation. How can we lead our teams through a great depression, or enable a great transformation?  Graham is a hugely inspiring and restlessly innovative thinker and leader who has challenged and disrupted many industries, years before it was cool and mainstream to do so (check out his epic bio here - it’s well worth a read!). He continues to evolve his fascinating career in the education, technology and entertainment sectors and contribute to the human project of preparing ourselves for the future by bringing together social, economic, political and technological trends and adding a bit of his own unique and anarchic take to keep everybody on their toes! He is the author of Learning {Re}imagined, the best selling book on global education published by Bloomsbury. He is the founder of Learning Without Frontiers (LWF), a global community bringing together renowned educators, technologists and creatives to share provocative and challenging ideas about the future of learning. He is the founder of BeyondTomorrow.Global a growing international intelligence network of interdisciplinary thinkers designing a blueprint for society to thrive beyond the 22nd century. He is co-founder of regenerative.global with William Rankin, a transformative learning consultancy based in London and New York using circular economy principles to inform innovative learning and design practices. Today he runs a strategic insight and leadership coaching practice to help organisations and their leaders navigate the future, achieve their goals and maintain resilience.

Doreen Kessy is a Chief Business Officer at Ubongo. At Ubongo, she is instrumental in the growth of the organization, innovating, and finding ways to continually deliver fun learning to over 17 million families in Africa. She has expertise in business development and leadership in the edtech and fun learning space. Doreen has an MBA and BSc in International Business and Economics from Liberty University and has worked at the International Justice Mission in Washington DC, Wells Fargo and Smile for Africa in Zimbabwe. She was named “Entrepreneur of the Year in Education” by Women In Africa, is a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum, and a 2018 Acumen Fellow. Doreen loves to have fun, she acts the English voice of one of Ubongo Kids cartoon characters, Ngedere (a playful monkey). With the huge number of children across Africa still lacking access to quality learning opportunities, it is so inspiring to hear about what Doreen and Nisha and the team at Ubongo are doing. And Ubongo is a great example of an organization working directly at the nexus between education and social entrepreneurship, not only working to support the learning of children and families across Africa, but also feeding back ideas and support into the education system itself. So I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Doreen, with the Ubongo team, won the Global Education and Skills Forum, Next Billion Edtech Prize in 2019 and, as a result, established The Building Brains Conference on early childhood learning and development. Dina L G Borzekowski is researching the impact Ubongo is having, which you can read more about here: The Impact of an Educational Media Intervention to Support Children’s Early Learning in Rwanda