Episodios
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The INVITE AI Institute with Charity Freeman, H. Chad Lane, and Blair Lehman
In this episode, we discuss the NSF-IES INVITE AI Institute that seeks to address the question of how AI-enabled educational technologies can address the grand challenge of “Education for All”? The INVITE Institute is motivated by the pressing need to address educational inequities and broaden participation in STEM fields, particularly for underserved and underrepresented students. By developing AI-driven learning technologies that support not only cognitive skills but also crucial noncognitive factors such as persistence, academic resilience, and collaboration, INVITE seeks to create more inclusive and effective learning environments. The institute's research goals include advancing foundational AI techniques in areas like machine learning, natural language processing, and adaptive systems, while simultaneously applying these innovations to create personalized, culturally responsive learning experiences that foster both academic success and personal growth. INVITE research focuses on formal K-12 STEM education with deep involvement of teachers and partnering organizations who are engaged in research with the INVITE team.
Beyond its core research agenda, the INVITE Institute is committed to extensive outreach and community engagement. INVITE is working to build capacity for AI in education through teacher training programs, undergraduate research experiences, and partnerships with K-12 schools and community organizations. The institute's efforts extend to creating a diverse pipeline of future AI researchers and practitioners through initiatives like summer internships for underrepresented students and the development of new AI-focused courses at the university level. By bridging cutting-edge AI research with evidence-based educational practices, the INVITE Institute aims to make a lasting impact on STEM education, ultimately working towards a future where all students have the opportunity to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world.
More resources and information about our guests below the video.
https://youtu.be/upeaq2xI7PM
Readings and Resources:
http://invite.illinois.eduhttps://invite.illinois.edu/publications/Some resources that inspired us:https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/teaching-adolescents-become-learners-role-noncognitive-factors-shaping-schoolhttps://paultough.com/how-children-succeed/https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262533461/stuck-in-the-shallow-end/Episode Guests
Charity Freeman serves as K-12 CS Education Advisor and Community Engagement Lead at the INVITE AI Institute. As a certified high school CS teacher, professional development facilitator, and curriculum developer, she brings a wealth of expertise and perspective to the co-design processes of INVITE’s research agenda. Her work as a teacher educator and research advisor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign involves strategizing broadening participation in computing (BPC) initiatives to improve equitable access and outcomes in CS education throughout the state.
Charity is a Governor-appointed member of the Illinois P-20 Council, as well as a Co-Chair of its statewide task force on Scaling Equitable CS Education. She also serves as Chairperson and Teacher Education Representative for the Computer Science Teachers Association’s (CSTA) national Board of Directors.
Chad Lane is a Professor of Educational Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also the Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Director of the NSF INVITE AI Institute. Chad’s research focuses on the design, use, and impacts of intelligent technologies for informal STEM learning. He has over 100 publications in a variety of areas, including intelligent tutoring, educational games, computer science education, and narrative-based learning environments. Broadly, his work involves blending techniques from the entertainment industry (that foster engagement) with those from artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring systems (that promote learning), as well as running studies to better understand whether and how the resulting learning experiences impact learners. His PhD is in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2004), and prior to joining UIUC, he spent ten years as a research scientist and Director of Learning Sciences Research at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more on Chad, see http://hchadlane.net.
Blair Lehman is a Research Scientist in the Personalized Assessment area of the Research Institute at ETS and serves as the co-lead of the Learner Modeling research strand on INVITE. Blair’s research focuses on understanding students’ experiences with educational activities (assessment, learning) and leveraging that knowledge to design tasks that promote positive experiences (e.g., engagement), provide personalized support to facilitate recovery from negative experiences, and leverage knowledge of students’ experiences to provide contextualized feedback reports. These different lines of research come together in the Culturally Enhanced Caring Assessments framework that has guided my research since 2017 and seeks to provide personalized educational experiences that consider who the student is outside of the activity through understanding of their personal, social, cultural, and linguistic characteristics along with their experience completing the activity.
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Open Education at Scale: Stories from the Open University of China
Anyone seeking a degree from a higher education institution today realizes that learning is more open and available (often for free) with the push of a button or blink of an eye. Not surprisingly, there are seemingly countless words that have sprung up to describe this increasingly "open" world. There are open access journals, open educational resources (OER), opencourseware (OCW), open teaching, open pedagogy, open educational services, open education practices, open-source software, and open universities. Clearly, there is a push toward open forms of education. This newfound sea of openness is moving us from an age of information scarcity to one of information abundance. Enter the Open University of China (OUC). The OUC is one of the largest open universities in the world, with an enrollment of five million adult learners for higher education and 20 million elderly learners. The OUC is dedicated to providing its learners with a wide range of educational opportunities and learning resources. The advance of digitalization has brought many opportunities for the development of the OUC, and challenges as well. We will share our understanding of these opportunities and challenges in this episode. We will also present an AI-supported language English teaching innovation project initiated by the Faculty of Foreign Languages at OUC. The project aims to promote large-scale and personalized learning with the integration of AI technologies. Join us for Episode #206 of Silver Lining for Learning and discover what makes OUC so unique and important in the lives of millions of people.
Dr Li Wei is an associate researcher and serves as Director of Department of Learning Resources of the Open University of China, and Deputy Secretary General of the Scientific Research Institute Working Committee of the Chinese Association of Adult Education. Her research areas include lifelong learning, online education, and digital resources. Dr. Li Wei has published five monographs, including "OECD and the Development of Lifelong Learning for All" and "Comparative Study of the World Open Universities." She has published more than 30 SSCI and CSSCI papers, led 6 national projects from the Ministry of Education, and participated in the drafting of more than 10 policies on lifelong education and continuing education. Dr. Li Wei won the Best Paper Award of the 26th ICDE World Congress and the National Young Adult Education Academic Scholar in China. She can be reached at: [email protected].
Dr. Qi Li is Vice-Chair of the Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, at the Open University of China. She is a lecturer of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). She teaches EFL courses to both English and non-English majors at college levels. Qi Li’s research focuses on technology-enhanced language teaching and learning, CALL teacher education, and AI and open education. Before that, she received her PhD from Indiana University Bloomington, U.S.A., where she majored in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, and minored in Instructional System Technology. Her dissertation project was a design-based research study of building an optimal language learning environment by integrating multiple technologies to support authentic input, sufficient output, timely feedback, and personalized learning. Dr. Qi Li can be reached be at [email protected] or at [email protected].
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AI is changing the world of business as fast, if not more so, as the world of education. In Episode #205 of Silver Lining for Learning, Dr. Shameem Farouk will discuss how AI is being used at Maybank in Malaysia to reskill and upskill the workforce. There is a growing need to reconceptualize and recontextualize understandings of how employees engage in the learning process to keep up with the ever-increasing demands on their skill sets and expertise. We will discuss how Generative AI tools and platforms like ChatGPT are now being employed such as with rich cases and simulations for the business world. The conversation may also move to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in building an inclusive future ready organizational culture and workforce.
Shameem Farouk graduated Indiana University with a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology (IST) and an MBA from Kelly SoB, in 2010. From 2013-2016, she was a Senior Talent Specialist at Axiata in Malaysia in change of group-wide talent management accountability which involved the identification and development of high potential leaders. She is now the Executive Vice-President and Head of Digital Skills Development, Malayan Banking Berhad, Malaysia. In this role, she is responsible for the development and implementation of the Group's FutureReady programme which was the first Digital mass up-skilling programme launched among financial institutions in Malaysia. In August 2022, Shameem presented in the first Global and International Engagement webinar at Indiana University of 2022-2023 in August, entitled, “Empowering Malaysian women in the FutureReady Workforce.” She is currently conducting research on innovative methods to accelerate Workforce Learning and Development in the U.S. as part of the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Research Programme. See video on Empowering Malaysia Women in the Future of Work (with Shameem Farouk and Curt Bonk; 1:01:54: https://youtu.be/z5QRT_XTeh0
Dr. Farouk is an organizational development practitioner-researcher in the Banking industry based in Malaysia with a regional leadership role in the Southeast Asian region. She has been conducting a variety of professional development (PD) programs for Human Resource and Organizational Development practitioners in the areas of organizational change management, organizational culture development, and instructional development training in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Additionally, with the advent of digitalization she has implemented and trained human resource professionals on the adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the Human Resources and Learning functions. For more on Shameem, see https://www.linkedin.com/in/shameemfarouk/
Philip M. Parker is a Professor of Marketing at INSEAD and the INSEAD Chaired Professor of Management Science. Before joining INSEAD, he was a Professor of International Strategy and Economics at the University of California, San Diego. He has taught at Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, and UCLA, and delivered courses in various countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, North America, and Europe. He has degrees in Finance and Economics, and a PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He is an economist and his research explores why existing theories governing macroeconomic growth and firm level competition yield unreliable forecasts of actual market outcomes. He introduced the idea that physical sciences (physics and physiology) should be directly integrated into macroeconomics. His contrarian research concludes that certain economic development measures, such as income per capita, can dramatically exaggerate the levels of poverty in a country, but also be poor indicators of future economic growth. Some of his work was published in his book Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision-Making Approach and Physioeconomics: The Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth (MIT Press, 2000) in which he forecasts global economic and demographic trends to the year 2100. He argues that critical economic axioms violate laws of physics and shows that convergence across nations is unlikely, if not impossible, in the long run. Free markets will, however, allow countries to converge to similar levels of well-being across individuals, but at dramatically different levels of income-based consumption (i.e. low-income countries may remain so, but will not be “poorer” than high-income countries) provided that citizens are given economic liberty. Wealth redistribution, from “richer” countries to “poorer” countries, in these cases, is not justified for the sake of “poverty reduction”, and may actually increase poverty.
He has also studied how firms generate market inefficiencies by relying on common forms of information asymmetry (creating markets for “sweet lemons” where low-quality products drive higher-quality products from the market, at higher prices). His work also debunks the notion that allowing more competitors in regulated markets (e.g. telecommunications) will lead to competition if remaining firms are allowed to cross-own or vertically integrate. His work has appeared in the leading journals including Rand Journal of Economics and the International Journal of Industrial Organization. For more details on Phillip Parker, see https://www.insead.edu/faculty/philip-m-parker
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Episode #204 of Silver Lining for Learning will explore global citizenship education (GCE) broadly, and education on the Thai/Myanmar border specifically. Andrew Swindell and Wanida Lertvorapreecha Chong will discuss how migrant and ethnic-minority communities access quality and inclusive education on the Thai/Myanmar border as well as a few specific projects that they have worked on together. During their collaborations, they have examined how global, national, and local citizenship themes are represented in curriculum materials being used in schools with migrant students along the Thai/Myanmar border. In their research, they have found that Thai government school materials are strongly oriented towards national Thai citizenship whereas the internationally produced Open Education Resources (OERs) digital materials are more oriented towards global citizenship. In addition, they have written a digital GCE K-6 curriculum that is currently being used in migrant learning centers (MLCs) along the border. Importantly, during the SLL episode, Wanida and Andrew will talk about the curriculum development process and what GCE looks like in the context of migration. In addition, they will discuss mixed-methods program impact research they collaborated on over the past year on Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiatives across northern Thailand. Finally, Wanida wrote her dissertation on multicultural education and GCE focusing on this region, and will speak to the larger education situation there, particularly around migrant and ethnic-minority access to quality and inclusive education.
Andrew Swindell has over 15 years of experience in international development, education, and research, and is passionate about advancing inclusive and quality education for all learners. He holds a PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA and has worked in both online and in-person settings across the USA, Bangladesh, Liberia, Thailand, and Myanmar, specializing in emergency and forced migration contexts. He has published on topics like AI, digital literacy, education in emergencies, and curriculum studies in both popular and academic outlets, demonstrating an ability to convey rigorous evidence-based findings and complex ideas in varied formats for different audiences. He currently serves as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) consultant with education NGOs based in Thailand where he investigates multilingual education for migrant and ethnic-minority students. He has also worked as a K-12 teacher and his other research interests include online and digital learning, AI, and global citizenship. His career has been driven by a commitment to making education work better for all people, guided by principles of compassion and human dignity. More on Andrew can be found in LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/swindellandrew/ and he can be contacted at: [email protected].
Wanida Lertvorapreecha Chong is currently a part-time lecturer at Maejo University, in the North of Thailand with seven years of full-time position teaching experience working at the Faculty of Liberal Arts. She is from Thailand and earned her PhD in Multicultural Education from Chiang Mai University. Her work focuses on the study of migrant education and global citizenship education on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. She enjoys collaborating with migrant teachers in designing the Thai curriculum that is meaningful and relevant to the migrant community. She has served as a board member for Child Dream Foundation and been actively coordinating with any projects related to migrant education. Wanida aspires to work as an International Student and Scholar Services Advisor (ISSS) in Florida. You can find out more about Wanida at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanida-chong-58aa13255/ and she can be contacted at: [email protected].
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The REALM is working to redefine what school means by offering real-world project-based classes, taught by teachers passionate about their subject matter, offered on a flexible basis, enabling families to build weekly schedules that work best for them, in an environment that will soon enable coworking for parents alongside the co-learning options for kids. For 13 years, The REALM has served kids ages 5-15 with classes offered in age bands or skill levels, not traditional grade levels. With over 110 current families in west Los Angeles and dozens on a waitlist, The REALM is working to expand into larger space, add a high school program in the fall and begin replicating the program design in other cities nationally.
As moms, friends, and educators, Jessica & Victoria came together in 2009 to design a new school model that would better serve the needs of individual students, offer creative and flexible solutions for families, and provide a safe space for teachers to truly teach what, how and when they wanted - all while building a physical space and community that is more reflective of a village than of a traditional school. They started with 1 student and through a lot of hard work and sweat equity, they have grown The REALM to be sustainable - serving over 3500 families over the past 14 years. As they say, on their website:
The REALM stands for our transformational goal: Redesigning Education and Living Meaningfully. Walking in, you can feel the difference in the fluid design or our spaces, the excitement of our teachers, and the sheer joy in the kids. Parents have freedom to create their children’s schedule, students take classes they are genuinely interested in, and our students score widely above “grade level” on Standardized Tests such as the Star 360 (conducted through charter schools) in core academic subjects. 100% of our graduates are now attending their high school or program of choice, with some rising 9th graders jumping straight into college courses.
Families come to The REALM seeking a learning environment for their kids and a community for their families where they feel heard, trusted, valued, and loved. They are looking for a choice in how, when and what their kids are learning and seek a customized educational experience. They are looking for passionate, inspiring teachers and relevant, experiential classes. Parents are frustrated with the outdated educational model that no longer serves our students or their future success and happiness. Parents want their children to be seen and treated as the unique individuals that they are, filled with possibility rather than a sum of test scores and grades. Parents want their children to be on a pursuit of discovery of their own strengths, passion and interests and be allowed to try on various learning styles and preferences.
At REALM, we offer customized experiential learning. Families have freedom, and every schedule is centered around the students and what they are interested in learning that semester. We actively help kids find their strengths and understand their areas of struggle. Students are not given labels to define their learning preferences or unique abilities. We do not issue grades or scores. Kids demonstrate learning through projects, written essays, spoken word performances, science projects - we value and showcase real-world knowledge.
The REALM trusts kids and families to discern for themselves who they are, what they need to learn, and which choices will contribute to their sense of living a meaningful life. We trust their self-determination and curiosity. We trust that their varied ways of knowing are valid, and their interdisciplinary interests add richness to our shared worlds.
Check out their website at at: www.realmlearning.com and on Instagram: @realmlearning
Our guests
Jessica Slayback, Co-Founder/Director
Jessica Slayback, a pioneer in non-traditional education, believes that we have the urgent responsibility to reinvent how we educate our children. Immediately after graduating from The University of Chicago, summa cum laude, Slayback taught 4th grade for two years in Harlem with Teach for America while obtaining her Master’s in Education. Through her 20+ years of experience in public, charter, independent, and private schools, Jessica has developed and run youth theater programs within inner city schools in Chicago and NYC, created and implemented a 6-12 grade Music and Theater Curriculum for North Star Academy, obtained a grant to travel with Newark High School students to New Zealand and spearheaded the development of a thriving K/1 program in Santa Monica.
Witnessing sparks of greatness and moments of brilliance when children are honored for who they are and are presented with opportunities in which to shine led her in 2009 to develop and co-found The REALM Creative Academy. This thriving center combines a unique and innovative approach to education. It offers creative and diverse educational experiences, igniting students’ minds with a passion for learning while allowing students to guide and shape their educational journey. While raising two beautiful boys with her video game designer husband, Sean, she relentlessly strives to innovate education to promote the growth of aware, empathetic, joyful, creative, purpose-driven humans.
Victoria Forsman, Co-Founder/Director
Victoria is a person who has a vision for greatness in all things and believes that change and creative freedom can guide us toward new levels of accomplishment. After graduating from Stevens College with a BA in Early Childhood Education, she received her MA in Education and Administration at Loyola Marymount. Throughout her 13 years in alternative education, she has recognized trends, disparities, successes, and the promise of education. She has witnessed schools producing successful lifelong learners and struggling to reach and inspire students during their journey. She has watched and experienced the roller coaster of trends impacting schools in Los Angeles, realizing the uphill battle many schools face. She has joined fellow professionals in the classroom, hearing their commitment, passions, and frustrations about the school system and its bureaucracy.
Victoria has discovered what works the best; a diverse, rich, individualized, supportive learning experience in which learning is meaningful, accessible, relevant, and memorable. She believes that when individuals diversify their experiences and dabble in every area simultaneously and with support, academics, leadership, arts, outdoors, structure, creative freedom, participation, observation, research, organization, problem-solving, processing emotions, and taking risks, it paves the way for pretty extraordinary people. Unfortunately, too few of these opportunities exist in a supported setting. It is because of this need that Victoria is committed to redesigning education. She passionately experiments with ideas and programs, encouraging a love of life and learning.
Hayden Harrower, High School Founder/Assistant Director
After studying instructional and small-group communication at San Diego State University for his master's program, Hayden began his teaching career in the university and community college ranks. After seeing so many students struggle to manage the workload like he had as a student, he began dreaming of a better way to prepare teenagers for the transition into adulthood and higher learning. After coaching hundreds of students to manage themselves better outside of class, he took a job working in an education department at a substance abuse and mental health program for young adults. Through this program, Hayden coached young adults into rebuilding their lives from the ground up, teaching them the necessary executive function skills while boosting their own beliefs about themselves to pursue what they found meaningful. Hayden continued this work when he transitioned to a facility that focused on high school students struggling with acute mental health issues. Hayden designed and led a program to help high schoolers regain confidence in approaching schoolwork, develop new work processes to better handle the load, and help them identify passions and interests to motivate them through the hard times.
After almost five years of helping countless students and families, Hayden arrived at REALM in the summer of 2023 where he is setting out to expand REALM into the high school ages, creating a program that is just as flexible and choice-driven while meeting the specific needs of high school students and the differing pathways they can enter. Overall, Hayden is focused on creating a "meaning-centered" high school experience, that will not only better prepare students for the world they enter, but will be a much more engaging and fulfilling journey as well.
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Ep 202 | Hosts reflect with Chris Dede, Curt Bonk & Lydia Cao
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As we kick off our 201st episode of the Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) webinar series, we're turning our attention to the future of education. Over the past 200 episodes, we've explored a wide range of topics and heard from educators, innovators, and learners from around the globe. Now, it's time to look ahead and imagine what's next for learning in our rapidly changing world. This episode will dive into some critical questions: How will technology shape the classrooms of tomorrow? What new approaches to teaching and learning are on the horizon? How can we ensure that education becomes more equitable and inclusive as it evolves?
To help us tackle these big questions, we've brought together four guests who are each making waves in different areas of educational research and scholarship. From rethinking how we use technology in schools to exploring new ways of training teachers, from leveraging AI for personalized learning to reimagining educational spaces, our panel has a wealth of insights to share. We'll hear from Dr. Marie Heath, Dr. Merve Basdogan, Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi, and Priyank Sharma - each bringing their unique experiences and perspectives to the conversation. Join us for what promises to be a lively and thought-provoking discussion about where education is headed and how we can all play a part in shaping its future.
Our guests
Dr. Merve Basdogan is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the College of Education, Texas Tech University. As a post-phenomenological scholar, Merve’s research focuses on a diverse array of topics, including the philosophy of technology, technology-enhanced teaching and learning environments, critical AI literacy, digital ethics, and cyberbullying. In 2023, Dr. Basdogan was awarded an AT&T Foundation Grant for her project, "Fostering Digital Literacy in Rural Communities: A University Student-led Technology Mentoring Program," which connects adults over 65 with teacher candidates in west Texas.
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/education/our-people/Faculty/merve_basdogan.php
https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?trk=d_flagship3_profile_self_view_public_profileDr. Marie Heath (she/her) is not a robot, but she refuses to prove it to Google’s CAPTCHA. She currently works as an Associate Professor of Learning Design and Technology at Loyola University Maryland. Prior to her work in higher education, Marie taught high school social studies in Baltimore County Public Schools. Her scholarship interrogates schools and technologies as current sites of encoded oppression, and labors to advance more just technological and educational futures. She is co-editor of the CITE Social Studies Journal, co-founder of the Civics of Technology project, and a faculty fellow at the Center for Leadership and Social Justice Education at Loyola University Maryland. If you ask generative AI a question about Marie, it replies with the Mariah Carey “I don’t know her” meme.
https://www.civicsoftechnology.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-heath-a26870240/Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi is an Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Florida, where he directs the Game-based Assessment & Measurement in Education (GAME) Lab. His research enhances students' 21st-century skills, focusing on creativity, and STEM knowledge, focusing on physics, through technology-rich learning environments (e.g., educational games) using Stealth Assessment, Learning Analytics, and AI models. He holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems and Learning Technologies and M.S. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from Florida State University, and an M.A. from Multimedia University, Malaysia. Dr. Rahimi has extensive experience in instructional design, funded projects by IES and NSF, and has published and presented widely in top journals and conferences. His accolades include the Diane E. Haines Teaching Excellence Award from UF’s college of Education and recognition as one of the “rising stars” of creativity research by the Creativity Research Journal, where he now serves as an Associate Editor. He also consulted for the PISA 2021 Creative Thinking Assessment. Dr. Rahimi's AI in education work creates adaptive learning environments, supporting real-time, personalized student assessment and learning.
https://education.ufl.edu/faculty/rahimi-seyedahmad-ahmad/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yDnHbAMAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seyedahmad-rahimi-3870a673/Priyank Sharma, an engineer turned educator, is a faculty at Indus Training and Research Institute where he trains teachers of IB and Cambridge Boards. Pursuing a Ph.D. in Education Policy at NIEPA, Priyank focuses on the "Grammar of Schooling" in alternative educational spaces. Priyank's career is marked by significant contributions to educational research, policy analysis, and grassroot implementation. Beyond academia, Priyank has played pivotal roles in various educational initiatives. His work at OpenCurriculum involved building edtech products aimed at enhancing curriculum and instruction delivery and learning science research for K-12 education. Priyank is an ambassador for HundrED, a global organization focused on educational innovation. And, he also serves as an advisor to organizations like CITTA India, and CoLab, where he mentors teams to create equitable and inclusive educational experiences.
priyankeducator.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyankeducator/ -
Celebrating our 200th episode of the Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) webinar series is a milestone that speaks for itself. Over the past four years, we've had the privilege of hosting educators, students, and innovators from around the world, sharing insights on the future of learning and the role of technology in education. Guests have come from countries around the world and every educational sector with many utilizing forms of digitally enhanced learning and instruction to make a significant local or global impact. Notably, these podcast episodes are now more accessible to people on the go, since they can be listened to while engaging in other tasks, rather than watched over YouTube. This expansion in educational delivery formats has allowed for greater visibility for SLL across the globe.
Thus far, the guests have included prominent educators, educational leaders, practitioners from Facebook (now Meta), Google for Education, the World Bank, UNESCO, Sesame Street, Contact North in Ontario, Quality Matters, several open universities, and many others. These guests have come from places like Italy, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Bhutan, Myanmar, Antarctica, Finland, the UK, France, Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Canada, Chile, Afghanistan, Australia, Greece, Peru, New Zealand, Korea, Israel, Gaza, Mexico, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Nepal, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Thailand. SLL has touched on a broad range of topics including student autonomy and self-determination, remote learning, novel learning organizations, pioneering curricula and programs, school reform, grassroots innovations in teaching and learning, cross-cultural collaboration, and assorted ground-breaking pedagogical and technological inventions. No matter the location, topic, or initiative featured, each episode has contributed to a rich tapestry of knowledge and experience.
Some of the most exciting shows have featured passionate students working on meaningful projects while others have shown the spotlight on award-winning educators pioneering creative teaching methods and emerging digital technologies in challenging environments. Each conversation has offered a unique perspective on transforming education, making these 200 episodes a valuable resource for anyone interested in the evolving landscape of learning. As we celebrate this milestone, we look forward to continuing these important conversations and inspiring change in the education community.
We feel most fortunate to have had SLL recognized for several awards and recognitions over the past couple of years. It is hard to believe that we are in the fifth season of SLL. Each episode requires extensive planning, networking, coordination, and creativity.
This episode is also a testament to the dedication and synergy of our hosting team: Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra, and Yong Zhao. Not to be forgotten are two of our starter members Shuangye Chen and Scott McLeod. And last but not the least, our newest co-host Lydia Cao. Over these four years, we've thoroughly enjoyed collaborating on this entirely unfunded project, driven by our shared passion for education and curiosity about the future of learning. Each episode has been a labor of love, reflecting our commitment to exploring and sharing innovative ideas in education.
For our 200th episode, we are thrilled to welcome two distinguished emeritus faculty members, David Berliner from Arizona State University and Tom Reeves from the University of Georgia. David is renowned for his extensive research in educational psychology and has significantly contributed to understanding teaching and learning processes. Tom Reeves, a leading figure in educational technology, has dedicated his career to improving educational practice through innovative research and development. Their participation will not only help us celebrate this milestone but also provide valuable insights and wisdom, enhancing our discussions on the future of education.
About our guests
David BerlinerDavid Berliner is a Regents Professor Emeritus in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College in the division of educational leadership and policy studies. He has taught at the universities of Arizona and Massachusetts, and Stanford University, as well as at universities in Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Professor Berliner is a member of the National Academy of Education, a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). He is the recipient of awards for distinguished contributions from APA, AERA, and the National Education Association (NEA). He received the AERA's Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award in 2016.
Professor Berliner has authored more than 200 published articles, technical reports, and book chapters. Among his well-recognized works is the best seller "The manufactured crisis," coauthored (with B. J. Biddle). He was also of the coauthor (with Ursula Casanova) of "Putting research to work," and coauthor (with N. L. Gage) of the textbook "Educational psychology," now in its 6th edition. He is coeditor of the first "Handbook of educational psychology" and the books "Talks to teachers, and Perspectives on instructional time." His book, "Collateral damage" (with Sharon Nichols) is about the corruption of professional educators through high-stakes testing. His most recent book, "50 Myths and Lies that Threaten American's Public Schools," was co-authored with Gene V. Glass and students in 2014.
Tom Reeves
Thomas (Tom) C. Reeves, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Learning Design and Technology in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at The University of Georgia. Professor Reeves has designed and evaluated numerous interactive learning programs and projects. In recognition of these efforts, in 2003 he received the AACE Fellowship Award, in 2010 he was made an ASCILITE Fellow, and in 2013 he received the AECT David H. Jonassen Excellence in Research Award. He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Peru and has given invited presentations in the USA and more than 30 other countries, including Australia which is one of Tom's favorite places. He is the former editor of the Journal of Interactive Learning Research, and the author of nearly 200 scholarly papers. His co-authored books include Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation (with John Hedberg), A Guide to Authentic E-Learning (with Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver), Conducting Educational Design Research (with Susan McKenney; two editions), MOOCs and Open Education Around the World (with Curt Bonk, Mimi Lee, and Tom Reynolds), and MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South (with Ke Zhang, Curt Bonk, and Tom Reynolds). His research interests encompass educational technology in developing countries, authentic tasks for learning, educational design research, medical and public health education, and prison education. Tom currently lives at The Spires at Berry College in Rome, Georgia with his wife, Patricia M. Reeves, Professor Emerita of Social Work at The University of Georgia, and their West Highland Terrier, Button. He can be reached at [email protected] and his homepage can be found at http://www.evaluateitnow.com/.
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Episode 199: Connecting Alternative Education Around the World: The WEquil App Story, July 20, 2024, 12:00pm Eastern Time
Frustrated by the challenges of remote learning during the pandemic, two young sisters—Sumay Lu, 14, and Aila Lu, 11—took matters into their own hands. Instead of waiting for the education system to adapt, Sumay and Aila founded their own online homeschooling platform, which has since grown into the WEquil App, a digital learning platform, now serving families, students, and educators in nearly 50 states and more than 50 countries.
Families around the world are looking for alternative education for their children beyond traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Examples of alternative education include homeschools, microschools, learning pods, learning co-ops etc. Educators around the world are building solutions to leverage their strengths to serve students who can uniquely benefit from what they provide. WEquil App is building software that connects these families and educators as well as allowing educators to provide personalized education for all students at a low cost.
WEquil App is a global school connecting families, educators, and entrepreneurs in nearly 50 states and more than 50 countries. They provide a complete technology solution for homeschoolers, educators, microschool founders, and edupreneurs who lead hundreds of personalized learning communities on their platform such as clubs, classes, co-ops, learning pods, and microschools, streamlining communication, security, payments, assessments, and more! WEquil App is also free! You can check out "WEquil App" on any mobile device or visit the link below! https://WEquil.App
Our guests
Aila Lu is CEO of WEquil School, a global microschool that employs a project based learning philosophy to empower students to become self directed. Her program demonstrates a unique model for how educators can leverage technology and innovative learning philosophies to empower students to find success in the digital age. She has published hundreds of projects on various topics including the nature of learning, education in the digital age, personalized success, entrepreneurship, health, philosophy, and more. Her work has been featured on Scripps National News, Stand Together Trust, GoGaurdian and Falls Church News Press. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/3jYx
Sumay Lu, CEO of WEquil App, is a multifaceted entrepreneur, writer, and developer with deep insights into the future of education. Her platform connects a vast global network of teachers, parents, and microschools. Formerly the CEO of WEquil School, she has contributed extensively, publishing a vast array of projects ranging from interviews, music compositions, and essays on emerging technologies to literary works and educational content. Recognized as a pioneer in leveraging technology for personalized learning in the digital age, Sumay has been a prominent voice in forums like Stand Together Trust, Scripps News and as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Education Innovation Conference and VELA Con. Her expertise was sought twice as a guest lecturer at Iowa State University. A Black Belt from Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do, Sumay's passions extend to cooking, learning Chinese, creating educational YouTube content, and connecting with her global educational community. She resides in Falls Church, Virginia, with her family. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/Ebw9
Allyson is the WEquil School Activities Director and a mentor at WEquil School, helping younger students follow a project-based learning philosophy to become self-directed. She has written projects on a wide range of subjects such as technology, mental health, education, history, mathematics and more! Allyson runs several learning communities on WEquil App including a debate club, art community, virtual museum community and homeschool game room. WEquil App Profile: https://wequilapp.page.link/w1jd
Justin Shell, COO of WEquil App, spent more than a decade as a marine engineer and yacht designer before finding his passion in the education field. In 2018, he began developing a software platform to navigate alternative educational options, often described as 'Google Maps for Alt Ed.' Recognizing that parents were struggling to envision non-traditional approaches, he expanded the business to include producing videos of innovative educators, showcasing possibilities beyond the conventional classroom. As COO of WEquil App, Justin leverages his experience with innovative educators to build a platform that expands educational opportunities, enabling students and families to create truly personalized learning journeys. Outside of WEquil, he is a homeschooling dad with 4 crazy, amazing kids who help him test out all the new educational tools he comes across.
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Given student demographics and fast changing societal needs, it is extremely difficult today for higher education institutions to maintain enrollments and even harder to grow them. In Episode #198 we will discover some of the ways that the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) has successfully addressed, and at times, grown its adult learner population through technological interventions like blended and fully online forms of learning delivery as well as massive open online courses (MOOCs), innovative professional development programs, and, most recently, experimentations with Generative AI. One key discussion item during this session will be Web accessibility requirements and compliance measures for online and Web-enhanced classes as well as the opportunities to improve learning experiences for adult learners. We shall also discuss strategies and opportunities related to marketing and enrollment management in a crowded competitive market.
Vickie Cook, Ph.D. is the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Retention Management and a Research Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Springfield. She has provided consultation to over 50 institutions seeking to expand or evaluate their online learning programs and leadership. She has published multiple journal articles and book chapters in a variety of national educational publications, and serves as a peer reviewer for six of the top journals in the field of Online Learning. She is one of the co-authors of the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership and a co-author for the UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Alternative Credentials. She was named a 2017 University of Illinois President's Executive Leadership Fellow; 2017 Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellow; and 2020 University Professional and Continuing Education Outstanding Leader. She will receive the Mildred B. & Charles A. Wedemeyer Award recognizing her work in scholarship in the field of distance learning this summer. More on Vickie Cook can be found at: https://www.uis.edu/directory/vickie-cook.
Michele Gribbins, Ed.D., is the Director of the Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield. She is a Vice Chair for the Online Administration Network of the University Professional & Continuing Education Association and was the Treasurer of the Illinois Council on Continuing Higher Education for six years. She has been teaching online since 2005 for the Department of Management Information Systems and the School of Education at UIS. More on Michele can be found at: https://www.uis.edu/directory/michele-gribbins.
A nationally respected and connected leader in higher education online learning, Ray Schroeder is Senior Fellow of UPCEA (https://upcea.edu/) the Online and Professional Education Assocation, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield (see https://www.uis.edu/). After several years as an instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he came to the university in Springfield 1977, beginning as assistant professor, then associate, then full professor, prior to becoming an emeritus professor. During his tenure, he launched the online learning program at UIS in 1997. He founded the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service and became Associate Vice Chancellor for Online Learning in 2013, a position held until 2021. To continue research, publication and presentations, Ray was appointed Senior Fellow for Online Learning in the Provost's Office beginning in August, 2021, returning to Professor Emeritus in August, 2022.
Dr. Ray Schroeder is the recipient of numerous national awards and citations for individual excellence and leadership from many associations and entities including the Sloan Consortium (OLC), US Distance Learning Association, American Journal of Distance Education, Illinois Council for Continuing Higher Education, University of Wisconsin and University of Illinois, Ray received the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2023 from UIS and the inaugural UPCEA Leadership Award for the Advancement of Digital Learning also in 2023. That award is now named the Ray Schroeder Leadership Award for the Advancement of Digital Learning. Ray is the author of book chapters, articles, widely read curated reading lists, blogs and social media feeds on news and research in online learning / educational technology. Ray is a noted speaker, consultant, researcher, and author on topics related to online learning, emerging educational technologies, and technology-enhanced learning. For more details on Ray Schroeder, see https://rayschroeder.com/.
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Learning is changing. It is changing every day. It is changing in North America. It is changing in western Australia. It is changing in the Middle East. It is changing in Latin America and throughout South America. It is changing in East Africa. It is changing in Western Africa. North and South Africa too. It is changing across the globe; it is increasingly more open, online, blended, massive, flexible, global, virtual, visual, collaborative, hands-on, on-demand, and much more. One aspect of learning that is particularly important today is online (including blended) learning. However, it is in much flux. As a result, we need to think about the future of e-learning in this Post-COVID world. Such a world is no longer embracing the term emerging remote teaching as the COVID “emergency” has passed. However, education remains in a state of emergency in many ways. Attend Episode 197 of Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) and learn how three leaders from Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, along with Rebecca Stromeyer from OEB Global and eLearning Africa, are helping shift the focus from emergency remote teaching to using technology to transform online education and skills training on the African continent and plan ahead for an exciting learning future.
Rebecca Stromeyer has made significant contributions to digital learning, EdTech, and international education. As the Managing Director and Founder of ICWE GmbH and co-founder and co-owner of ICEF GmbH since 1991, she has played a key role in establishing these organisations' events as leaders in their fields. Rebecca co-founded OEB (Online Educa Berlin) Global, the global, cross-sector conference on technology-supported learning and training, in 1995. She co-launched ONLINE EDUCA MADRID, the leading annual online learning event for Spain and Latin America in 2000, as well as similar events in Iceland (2017), Russia (2015), Singapore (1997), Korea (1996), and the Arab world (2003). In 2005, she founded eLearning Africa, a network and annual conference focusing on digital learning, training, and skills development across the African continent, bringing together over 1,200 African education experts each year.
Her expertise has been sought by international organisations, and she has served on various boards, including the International Council on Badges and Credentials and the Drucker Society. She has also been Vice-Chair of the Global Business School Network and a board member of the Global Development Learning Network. In 2012, Rebecca launched the eLearning Africa Report, further establishing her influence in ICT and digital learning. Her work continues to impact education and skills development worldwide, driven by her vision of a more connected and educated global community. She can be found in OEB Global and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-stromeyer-abb4645/ and contacted at: [email protected].
Ambassador Rudo Chitiga is the Permanent Secretary in the newly established Ministry of Skills Audit and Development in Zimbabwe. She is a strategic thinker and negotiator with over 30 years senior management experience in government, civil society and inter-governmental organizations. Rudo Chitiga has held senior management positions in government, civil society, and international organizations including Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Women Affairs Community Small and Medium Enterprises Development in Zimbabwe, Ambassador of Zimbabwe to France, Spain and Portugal and the Vatican and permanent Representative and member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and the UNWTO. She is currently a member of the governing board of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. She is the team leader of BellaRue Consultants offering services in governance peace building and conflict resolution, gender mainstreaming, relationship brokering, project management, capacity building and organizational development. In addition, she is also a Results Coaching Systems trained life coach. For more information on Ambassador Rudo Chitiga, you can find her on on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudo-mabel-chitiga-822703/ and contacted at: [email protected].
Ify Obidi-Essien is a distinguished Edu-Tech Consultant and Microsoft Global Training Partner in Nigeria, renowned for her steadfast dedication to advancing digital transformation in education. As CEO of Tech-Savvy Teacher International, a leading EdTech Consultancy firm, Ify leads initiatives encompassing comprehensive technology services. “Tech-Savvy Teacher International is a leading Education and Technology solutions provider focused on equipping the African educator with technological skills so as to drive digital transformation in the classroom.” Her expertise spans training, consultation, school management software integration, and cutting-edge classroom technology installation, providing an educational transformation framework aligned with stakeholders' objectives.
A trailblazer, Ify's impact transcends borders. As a Speaker at the T4 Education conference in March 2022, she enriched the discourse on transformative education. Media features in The SUN, Wazobia TV, Wazobia FM, TVC, Kids and Mum TV show, and Guardian Woman Publication underscore her industry recognition. In February 2020, Ify organized the 12th Tech-Savvy Teacher Master class in Dubai, advocating for the Flipped Classroom Model's integration in Nigeria. Her global outreach continued with an Education Tour to Rwanda in October 2023, collaborating with the African Leadership University, exposing delegates to technology's impact on teaching and learning.
Beyond education, Ify champions young women's empowerment through the B.I.G Girls Foundation, while recently completing the Women in Leadership Program from the European University of Luxembourg with distinction. Furthering her influence, Ify launched the Animation Kids Club, fostering digital content creators through an e-learning platform in prestigious institutions like Corona Schools Lagos, Greenspring School Gbagada, and Learning Ladder Abuja. This initiative embodies Ify's vision to cultivate creativity and exploration in animation from an early age. Ify can be found in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ify-obidi-essien-980341116/ and contacted at: [email protected].
Paul Birevu Muyinda, is a Professor of Open, Distance and eLearning (ODeL) and the Director of the Institute of Open, Distance and eLearning at Makerere University in Uganda (Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa). Paul is a certified blended learning developer and online instructional designer. He has research interests in digital pedagogy and andragogy where he has worked with different education and training institutions to champion this cause. He led a team that scaffolded Makerere University and other universities in Uganda to remain afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Prof. Muyinda is the author of more than 100 research articles in open, distance, and e-learning. He has recently consulted with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and other agencies on policy and strategy for open distance learning. He is the Principal Investigator of several internationally funded research grants, including: NORHED II, Mastercard Foundation e-Learning Initiative, KOICA distance education enhancement project, just to mention but a few. As per Bob Little’s 2018 ranking of online pedagogy gurus, Prof. Muyinda was ranked among the top 100 movers and shakers of online corporate education in Africa (see article). Paul can be found in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-birevu-muyinda-479600158/ and contacted at: [email protected].
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Hosts reflect with Chris Dede, Curt Bonk and Punya Mishra
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Using 21st Century Online Learning to Teach Girls in Afghanistan with guests, Timothy Stiven, Founder, Flowers for the Future; Jasmin Azizi, Advisor and Developer, Flowers for the Future and Andishvar Mohibi, student.
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Social-Emotional skills in Chilean classrooms with Francisca Astudillo, Francisca Sáez and Sofía Larraín
Social-emotional skills are widely recognized as vital tools for youth to thrive in society, sparking a growing interest in integrating their development into the Chilean educational system. What better way to systematically equip children with such a crucial tool? Yet, despite recognition and inclusion in the national curriculum by the Ministry of Education, social-emotional learning (SEL) remains vaguely implemented in Chilean classrooms. Why?
This episode delves into the story of Eventuras, a Chilean non-profit born from addressing a major issue in vulnerable schools: disruptive student behavior. Along the journey, Eventuras realized that behavioral issues were an expression of a lack of socio-emotional skills, but that this was just the tip of the iceberg, revealing deeper challenges like a lack of problem-solving abilities, social skills, low self-esteem, depression, and dropout rates. Hence, Eventuras was founded to help vulnerable schools systematically implement SEL. In our 5 years, we've identified and tackled key barriers, bringing evidence-based programs to Chile, rigorously addressing this issue. Joining us in this episode are Francisca Astudillo and Francisca Saéz, founders of Eventuras, and Sofia Larraín, one of the pioneering teachers Eventuras has worked with and who has become a local SEL advocate and trainer.
Readings and Resources:
Eventuras website: www.eventuras.org
Sofia’s school website: www.colegiotrigales.cl
SEL Curriculum: https://pg.casel.org/second-step%E2%93%A1-elementary/
Teacher Training:https://pg.casel.org/incredible-years%E2%93%A1-teacher-classroom-management-program-dinosaur-school/Episode Guests
Francisca Astudillo- Eventuras Founder
Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Master's in Education from Harvard. Her passion for education stems from her involvement in the scout movement. In 2019, she founded Eventuras after 10 years of working in various non-profit organizations, gaining insights into the challenges faced by public schools in Chile and the main concerns of their stakeholders. She declares herself a staunch admirer of teachers, and her motivation is to find engaging and simple ways to train and support them, encouraging them to become more than just content transmitters but real mentors and role models for children.Francisca Sáez- Eventuras Founder and Executive Director
Francisca pursued her physics degree at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. During her undergraduate studies, she worked at a small school in southern Chile, igniting her passion for education. This experience became the driving force behind her initiative to establish a venture aimed at assisting teachers in collaborative classroom practices. In 2022, she crossed paths with Eventuras and joined the team to channel her fervor for education towards addressing the socio-emotional challenges encountered within the Chilean education system. Her primary motivation lies in ensuring that children, irrespective of their social, cultural, or economic background, acquire skills that empower them to become fulfilled and happy adults.Sofia Larraín- Elementary teacher and Socioemotional Skills Trainer
Sofia Larrain graduated as an Elementary Teacher with a Major in Spanish language from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and is currently a Master’s candidate in School Management and Direction at Los Andes University. Since 2020, she has been teaching at a highly vulnerable public school in Santiago, where she discovered her passion for helping teachers and young learners develop social-emotional skills. She has been training her colleagues to create a safe and nurturing learning environment and to equip their students with essential social and emotional tools. This year, she has taken on a new role as Primary Years Coordinator, overseeing more than twenty teachers in this challenging setting. -
Champions of Robotics
Some of the most powerful principles of learning in the 21st century relate to collaboration and teamwork, hands-on doing, and learning relevancy and meaningfulness. As such, Episode #193 of Silver Lining for Learning promises to be highly unique and inspirational. Why? Well, the “Pythoneers 52402” team in Dallas, Texas recently won the state championship for robotics, and, then, they did something even more inspiring which kids all over the world only dream about. What did they do? Well, they won the First Robotics world breakthrough award at the world competition in April 2024. Come to this session and meet the “Pythoneers 52402” team. Find out how this team elevated to new heights in terms of collaboration and successful performance.
Below is a list of the brilliant students on this team. They are the future leaders of not just Texas, but the world. Come to this session and find out how these young people in Texas learned the skills and competencies to win this global robotics competition.
David Xiao, 7th grade, St. Mark’s School of Texas, Dallas, TXEvan Huang, 7th grade, Greenhill School, Addison, TXWanni Zhu, 7th grade, Rice Middle School, Plano, TXAndrew Li, 6th grade, Rice Middle School, Plano, TXNicholas Lipsmeyer, 8th grade, Carroll Middle School, Southlake, TX -
Building Worlds: Connected Camps in Minecraft with guests H Chad Lane, & Jeff Ginger
What-if Hypothetical Implementations of Minecraft (Project WHIMC) is the brainchild of Chad Lane and Jeff Ginger at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (see 3:37: Gameplay Trailer). In Episode #192 of Silver Lining for Learning, they will discuss Project WHIMC and the "Connected Camps" that they coordinate with kids in the summers. Project WHIMC takes advantage of many free and open Web resources to foster engaging and interactive learning and cultivate student interest in STEM. Utilizing Minecraft, Chad and Jeff get learners to ask what-if scientific questions such as “What if the earth were twice its current size?,” “What if the earth were twice its current size?” and “What if the earth had no moon?” Of course, they also nudge their young players of Minecraft to ask: “How do we mine asteroids?” In effect, this episode will likely touch on many topics including video game behavior, exploration, playfulness, immersive learning, and how to foster learner engagement in formal and informal educational settings. Those seeking more might listen to the podcast show in the Philippines that Chad and Jeff were recently on to kick off a 3-year collaboration with Ateneo University in Manila regarding WHIMC.
H. Chad Lane is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is also the Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Director of the NSF INVITE AI Institute. Chad's research focuses on the design, use, and impacts of intelligent technologies for informal STEM learning. He has over 100 publications in a variety of areas, including intelligent tutoring, educational games, computer science education, and narrative-based learning environments. Broadly, his work involves blending techniques from the entertainment industry (that foster engagement) with those from artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring systems (that promote learning), as well as running studies to better understand whether and how the resulting learning experiences impact learners. His PhD is in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2004), and prior to joining UIUC, he spent ten years as a research scientist and project director at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more on Chad, see http://hchadlane.net.
Jeff Ginger is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Educational Psychology and Adjunct Faculty in the School of Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is helping to lead Project WHIMC, What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft, an NSF-funded research collaboration between University of Illinois/Maine, PBS Nova Labs and the Fiske Planetarium. Prior to that, Jeff was the Director of the CU Community Fab Lab and adjunct faculty at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His focus on community informatics and education has led him to specialize in public engagement, teaching and research. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more on Jeff, see https://jeffginger.com/#intro.
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Episode 191 of Silver Lining for Learning featured a conversation between Yong Zhao, Chris Dede, and Curt Bonk. They discussed the rapidly evolving role of AI in education, emphasizing the importance of understanding AI's current capabilities and limitations through sources like the national AI institutes. They highlighted the potential of AI to enable truly personalized, self-directed learning experiences tailored to individual needs.
The hosts explored the concepts of self-directed learning versus personalized learning, noting self-directed learning empowers learners with more autonomy over their path. They examined how the nature of expertise is shifting, requiring continuous, self-directed lifelong learning to adapt and stay relevant.
Reflecting on national educational technology plans, the hosts acknowledged their aspirational value though they lack enforceability, while suggesting they may have more impact internationally. The episode also touched on recent campus protests at the hosts' universities, which they contextualized as smaller in scale compared to historical social movements.
Throughout, the conversation highlighted the hosts' diverse global perspectives as they discussed emerging educational trends, technologies, and the evolving role of educators in an era of rapid change.
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Learn about the mission and history of EDvantage Digital Learning Systems (ELDS). In particular, you will discover how ELDS provides digitally operated one room schoolhouses for underprivileged out-of-school children. It operates the Digitally Operated One-Room Schoolhouses (DOORS) Network that provides free international quality and inclusive education to underprivileged Out-of-School Children at their doorstep and suited to their socio-cultural and financial challenges and limitations.
EDLS Documentary: https://youtu.be/yuGNpURvryk?si=9XX8Y0cMdQSBdQ8v
Team Composition for the Podcast
Dr Jon Mason (Australia) – Principal Advisor and Director EDLS Australia ChapterDr Abha Gupta (USA) – Head of International Advisory Team EDLSFaisal Bin Badar (Australia) – Founder EDLSAlya Iqbal (Pakistan) – Head of Operations EDLSDr. Jon Mason is an Associate Professor in Education within the Faculty of Arts & Society at Charles Darwin University in Australia, where he has been for 12 years. Previously he worked as a consultant in digital learning and knowledge management in the government and education sectors, engaging in a range of international standardization activities since 1998. Earlier appointments included a number of senior roles for education.au limited, a ministerial non-profit agency formed in 1997 for the purpose of leading collaborative projects focused on ICT for the Australian Education and Training sector. Jon serves on several journal editorial boards and is a member of the executive committee of the Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education. His research interests span most things related to how we engage ‘with & within’ the digital environment with specific interests in questioning, sense-making, and the cultivation of wisdom.
Dr. Abha Gupta is a seasoned educator, researcher, and author specializing in reading, literacy, and language education. She has been a Professor and Graduate Program Director of Reading Education at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Presently on sabbatical at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, she is focusing on two forthcoming books that pivot on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as Effective Teaching Strategies for ESL educators. Her research delves into the integration of yoga in educational frameworks and innovative applications of technology in language instruction. Leading the International Advisory Board of EDLS, she fosters collaboration and advancement within the educational sphere. For several years, she has also engaged with a school for underprivileged communities near New Delhi, spearheading academic studies on the repercussions of Covid-19 on educational inequalities and the enhancement of academic performance through therapeutic breathing techniques during her tenure as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University. Besides her academic endeavors, Dr. Gupta has co-edited two volumes, "Empowerment of Women, Language and Other Facets" and "At-Risk Population: Socio-linguistic and Educational Issues." Her research findings have been presented at several national and international conferences, while her consultancy role for Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the American Institute of Research (AIR) in Washington, DC, highlight her commitment to fairness in educational assessments. At the International Literacy Association, she has notably co-chaired the National Task Force for Urban Diversity and contributed to the National Title One Committee. Beyond academia, she finds fulfillment in practicing and teaching yoga, offering complimentary classes to local and national communities, alongside her editorial contributions to a yoga therapy newsletter.
Faisal Bin Badar, the brains behind EDvantage Digital Learning System (EDLS), is revolutionising education for underprivileged children worldwide. He has over 30 years of diverse experience across industries like education technology, systems engineering, business and project management, and entrepreneurship. With his PhD in Education Technology in the final stage, Faisal's vision is to provide free, quality, and inclusive education to those who need it most. Through the innovative Digitally Operated One-Room Schoolhouses (DOORS) model, he brings education to the doorsteps of marginalised communities, overcoming socio-cultural and financial barriers. Faisal's leadership extends beyond academia; he leads a dedicated team of 45 full-time members and collaborates with over 50 global experts and volunteers to ensure international standard education delivery. Faisal's vision doesn't stop at education; he aims to empower entire communities by providing employability skills to women and youth, fostering self-sustainability. With a heart for transformation and a commitment to ethical leadership, Faisal is shaping a brighter future for generations to come.
Alya Iqbal is the Head of Operations for the EDLS Pakistan Team at EDvantage Digital Learning System (EDLS), where she passionately oversees EDLS operations to provide quality education to underprivileged out-of-school children. With a background in education and cost and management accounting, Alya brings extensive expertise to her role to lead the EDLS Pakistan Team. Alya's areas of expertise include operational management, financial analysis, and educational leadership. She is driven by a commitment to continuous improvement, constantly seeking ways to optimise processes and maximise outcomes. Alya is not only dedicated to her professional endeavours but also motivated by her faith, striving to align her work with a higher purpose. Her ultimate goal is to serve and make a meaningful impact in the world through her role at EDLS.
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Episode 189, Saturday April 20 at 6 pm Eastern
Special Issue; Special Show: Exploring Higher Education Futures at the Intersection of Hope, Justice, and EdTech
Session Abstract:
In Episode #189 of Silver Lining for Learning, we will explore a special issue of the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. Edited by a team of experts in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia our guests ponder higher education futures at the intersection of hope, justice, and educational technology. Join us in this thought-intensive session and help us imagine bright and hopeful futures of higher education.
Dr. George Veletsianos (Γιώργος Βελετσιάνος) is a Cypriot-Canadian academic, born and raised on the divided island of Cyprus. He now lives and works on the lands of the Dakhóta Oyáte (Dakota People), in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota), where he is Professor in the Learning Technologies program at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He holds the Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair in Education and Technology, and prior to his current position he held the Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology (2013-2023) and the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Flexible Education (2019-2022). He is a former Fulbright scholar, a D’Arcy McGee Beacon fellow, a BCcampus Open Education and Advocacy fellow, and an early-career fellow of the EU Network of Excellence in Technology Enhanced Learning.
Dr. Veletsianos has been designing, developing, and evaluating digital learning environments for nearly 20 years. His research agenda is focused on addressing complex problems related to education and society, such as inequitable access and harassment that academics and knowledge workers are subjected to when they share their scholarship online. Because possible solutions to these difficult problems cut across multiple disciplines, his research has embraced collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and methodological pluralism. His research agenda focuses on three strands: (1) design, development, and evaluation of online and blended learning environments , (2) the study of learning experiences and participation in emerging online environments, and (3) learning futures. In these contexts, he studies learners’ and faculty experiences with online learning, flexible education, networked scholarship, and emerging technologies and pedagogical practices. Dr. Veletsianos wrote and/or edited four books, and has individually and collaboratively published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reports. His latest book is Learning Online: The student experience (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). He is recognized as one of the most cited researchers in the fields of education, online learning, and instructional design and technology (Baas, Koyak, & Ioannides, 2021; Bodily, Leary, & West, 2019; Bozkurk et al., 2015; Ioannides, 2023; Ratnasari, Chou, & Huang, 2024), but is skeptical of metrics and concerned about their (mis)use. He has received funding from such organizations as the Canada Research Chairs Program, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, National Science Foundation, and the Commonwealth of Learning.
Dr. Camille Dickson-Deane is the Deputy Head of Research for the School of Professional Practice and Leadership at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She is a Fulbright and Organisation of American States (OAS) scholar with her research focusing on pedagogical usability, individual differences and contextualized online learning designs. She serves on two Q1 editorial boards Educational Technology Research and Development and Internet and Higher Education, along with serving as an advisor for the open science publishing project EdTechnica and an Associate Editor for Journal of Computing in Higher Education. She is also an Australian representative on the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report panel of experts having served since 2021.
Sakinah Alhadad is an educator and researcher working at the intersection of psychology, learning sciences, and education. The broad goal of my translational research and educational practice work is underpinned by equity and social justice. My research lives at the intersection of psychology, education, the learning sciences, and digital design-based methods. I am adept at interdisciplinary research methods, adopting quantitative and qualitative methodologies as appropriate per project. I have a particular interest in critical methodologies. In working towards justice-oriented higher education, I focus on the minoritised and the racialised, from an intersectional perspective. My overarching research interest is in how knowledge may be constructed, evaluated, integrated, and valued for a diverse, justice-oriented future. This program of research honours and centers conceptual and methodological tools that treat education inequity as a social and historical problem. I am concerned with understanding the social, cultural, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of human learning as they contribute to educational wellbeing, equity, and justice. To this end, I study the processes that people engage in within settings that cultivate transformative learning, as situated in pedagogical mediation, and in epistemic thinking and feeling (or epistemic cognition and emotion). Methodologically, I am interested in what forms of inquiry, language, and environments can most generatively, authentically, and respectfully illuminate issues relevant for educational justice in learning and teaching. Thus, I am interested in how we can engage in educational research that researches with rather than on people. Hence, I prioritise collaborative approaches to research and design, partnering with teachers, students, and stakeholders to study the conditions that foster educational wellbeing, equity, change, and justice. Teaching: I prioritise the pedagogy of care, equity, and justice to foster culturally-inclusive epistemic fluency. As I subscribe to philosophies of teaching that focus on educating the whole person (à la Paolo Freire; bell hooks), I consistently apply evidence-based, learner-centered, digitally-enabled pedagogical strategies with educational dignity and liberation for diverse students at the heart of my practice. I design, develop, facilitate, and evaluate innovative curricula and teaching approaches with the aim of enhancing learning wellbeing, student retention, and success, whilst fostering knowledge and capabilities for the changing world of work as entangled with societal and environmental challenges. I work to optimise student learning such that students are equipped to meaningfully contribute to (and be in!) society as efficacious, purposeful, empowered, metacognitive lifelong learners and civic citizens. My teaching expertise is extensive and deep (across the spectrum of undergraduate-postgraduate-professional learners; and all teaching modes: blended, online, hybrid), spanning from large first year courses in psychological science and education, to specialist undergraduate and postgraduate level courses, to that of academic development in University L&T.
Jen Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Education, co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education, and Education Futures fellow at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, where I am programme director for the MSc in Education Futures. I research, teach, and publish on online and open education, digital cultural heritage engagement, and digital cultures and futures. I'm one of the team behind the Manifesto for Teaching Online and the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC. I co-ordinate the Digital Cultural Heritage cluster in the Centre for Data, Culture and Society, and lead the Digital Cultural Heritage Research Network.
Shandell Houlden is an interdisciplinary cultural theorist, writer and communication specialist. Her work uses feminist, creative and anti-colonial methods to examine topics in internet and media studies as well as education technology. With an expertise in social and environmental justice, she publishes across disciplines, including in education, health communication, and media studies, and teaches using flexible and open design to facilitate equitable access to learning. Houlden is also a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Roads. Her work focuses on COVID-19 misinformation and health communication strategies, as well as education futures in a post-COVID-19 and climate emergency world. She is a volunteer member with the Sooke Climate Action Committee as well as a volunteer with local nature connection communities that work with both youth and adults, which inform her practices as an educator.
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Part 2 of the conversation on the US National Educational Technology Plan 2024 delves into the future of educational technology. In particular, our discourse on the US National Educational Technology Plan 2024 will delve into the exciting realm of emerging learning technologies (e.g., AI, immersive learning, microlearning, etc.) and innovative pedagogies and their pivotal role in shaping the future of education, not only here in the United States but throughout the world community. In this follow-up discussion, we will be joined by Greg Bagby who is currently the Coordinator of Instructional Technology for the Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee as well as Dr. Beth Holland who is a Partner at The Learning Accelerator (TLA) both of whom helped write the plan. One area we will likely focus on with Beth and Greg will be the importance of closing the digital access, design, and use divides in education. As mentioned last week, the 2024 plan highlights the role of educators in promoting active student engagement through Universal Design for Learning principles and the need for state, school, and other local leaders to develop new visions and innovative initiatives for digital learning. By examining systemic solutions and plans to various inequities and showcasing innovative examples from schools and districts, the plan sets a path for leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning experiences for all students. From personalized adaptive learning systems to immersive virtual environments, in Episode #188 of Silver Lining for Learning (SLL), we hope to examine how these learning technologies hold the promise of fostering deeper learner and learner-learner engagement while enhancing resource accessibility and cultivating critical 21st-century skills among learners.
Dr. Beth Holland is a Partner at The Learning Accelerator (TLA), where she leads the organization's research and measurement initiatives. She has over 25 years of experience working as an educator and researcher examining challenges of equity, technology, and leadership within K-12 public school systems. Prior to joining TLA, she led the Digital Equity and Rural initiatives for the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Rhode Island. She has also worked as a teacher, administrator, and professional learning developer. Beth earned her doctorate (Ed.D.) from Johns Hopkins University, Master's (Ed.M.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.
Listed as one of EdTech Magazine’s K-12 IT influencers for 2020, Greg Bagby is currently the Coordinator of Instructional Technology for the Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this position, Greg works with 1:1 schools, assisting them in integrating technology into their curriculum. Before this position, Greg was a principal, band director, computer teacher, and technology integration specialist. He presents in his home state and nationally on technology integration, tech tools and artificial intelligence. He is one of the co-founders of EdCampGigCity and the host of the Books with Bagby Podcast. Most recently, Greg was a part of the Technical Working Group for the National Educational Technology Plan and led a panel discussion for its release at the White House.
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