Innovative movement in education
POPULARITY
5 episodes with Open learning
3 episodes with Open learning
2 episodes with Open learning
4 episodes with Open learning
2 episodes with Open learning
3 episodes with Open learning
4 episodes with Open learning
2 episodes with Open learning
2 episodes with Open learning
On this episode of the podcast, host Dr Pasquale Iannone explores the little-known early films of one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, German director Douglas Sirk. Sirk is synonymous with one particular genre. His most famous films, such as Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written on the Wind (1956) and Imitation of Life (1959) are glossy, luxurious Technicolor melodramas which would go on to inspire the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Todd Haynes and many others. But there is more to Sirk than melodrama - he made war films, crime movies, historical dramas and comedies in a career spanning over 25 years and several countries. Earlier this year, Eureka Entertainment released a box set titled Sirk in Germany (1934 - 1935), a collection which takes us all the way back to the beginning of Sirk's film career. The set includes beautiful restorations of his first three features as well as several short films, all of which were made in the early years of the Nazi regime. Alongside bonus material from noted film historians Sheldon Hall and Tim Bergfelder, there are three audio commentaries from the University of Edinburgh's very own David Melville Wingrove. David is a Teaching Fellow at the University's Centre for Open Learning where he teaches hugely popular courses on both film and literature, specialising in dark and fantastical themes and styles. He is also a prolific writer, regularly contributing to publications such as Senses of Cinema. David and Pasquale discuss Sirk's first short film Two Greyhounds (1934) and his first feature April! April! (1935), both light comedies centring on mistaken identity which skewer - mostly with affection - the mores of the German middle class. David helps to place the films in historical context and he also tells Pasquale why Sirk, who was very much one of the leading lights of the German theatre in the late 20s and early 30s, decided to make the move into filmmaking.
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Welcome to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast. In this episode we are joined by Dr. Meaghan Kavanagh to chat about diet-disease relationships and translating nutrition knowledge into action for cardiovascular health.Meaghan is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and the Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael's Hospital, mentored by Dr. John Sievenpiper. Her research explores diet-chronic disease relationships through clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and epidemiology. Recipient of the CIHR-MSFSS award, she visited the CDC in Atlanta as a Guest Researcher to investigate the Portfolio Diet's cardiovascular benefits in the NHANES program.Meaghan is dedicated to translating her research into practical tools, including the PortfolioDiet.app, developed for cardiovascular disease prevention.Before her Ph.D., Meaghan was a project manager at the University of Toronto (2016-2020), researching dietary patterns and disease prevention with Dr. David Jenkins, and Clinical Coordinator for the STOP Sugars NOW Trial at St. Michael's Hospital (2019-2020) with Dr. John Sievenpiper. She completed her M.Sc. at the University of Guelph with Drs. Lindsay Robinson and Amanda Wright and her B.Sc. thesis with Dr. Alison Duncan.In 2025, Meaghan will continue as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Frank Hu at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Resources:Global Burden of DiseaseGlobal Burden of Disease and Risk Factors, Lancet 2024Glenn A, et al., AJCN 2024Portfolio Diet Meta-Analysis BMJ Open - newspaper reliable reportingRepresentation of statins in the British newsprint media Dr. Meaghan Kavanagh's Socials:Twitter: @MeaghanKavanag1 LinkedInGoogle Scholar ResearchGatePlant-Based Canada's Socials:Instagram (@plantbasedcanadaorg)Facebook (Plant-Based Canada, https://m.facebook.com/plantbasedcanadaorg/)Website (https://www.plantbasedcanada.org/)X / Twitter @PBC_orgBonus Content from University of GuelphDo you want to take your plant-based knowledge to the next level? Stay tuned for a special promo code!The online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph has everything you need to know about implementing a sustainable plant-based diet.Each course is just four weeks long and will guide you through essential topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home.As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore currentSupport the show
Welcome to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast. In this episode we are joined by Dana Gudelis to chat about her cancer experience, and how it led to a transformative career change.Dana Gudelis is the founder of GÜDEhealth, a wellness platform focused on lifestyle medicine to help individuals achieve optimal health. Her passion for community wellness began in the 1970s at the University of British Columbia, where she studied Recreation. After a career in marketing, Dana's life took a transformative turn in the 1990s when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer, sparking her interest in food as medicine and healthier living.A five-time cancer survivor, Dana has battled leiomyosarcoma and undergone treatments including a clinical trial for hepatitis C. Her personal health journey, coupled with a family history of cancer, solidified her belief in lifestyle medicine. She has also supported loved ones through serious health challenges, including her granddaughter's recovery from adrenal cortisol carcinoma.Dedicated to lifelong learning, Dana holds certifications in Nutritional Planning from Harvard, Whole Food Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell, Life Coaching from the Adler Institute, and is a Positive Intelligence® Certified Coach. Through GÜDEhealth, she empowers individuals to adopt habits that support both physical and mental well-being, focusing on the six pillars of lifestyle medicine and mental fitness. Dana's mission is to guide others towards vibrant, fulfilling lives.ResourcesSaboteur Assessment Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: CancerDana Gudelis' SocialsWebsitePlant-Based Canada's SocialsInstagramFacebookWebsiteX / Twitter @PBC_orgBonus Content from University of GuelphDo you want to take your plant-based knowledge to the next level? Stay tuned for a special promo code!The online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph has everything you need to know about implementing a sustainable plant-based diet.Each course is just four weeks long and will guide you through essential topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home.As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore current research, learn from leading industry experts, and join a community of like-minded people.Use our exclusive discount code PBC2025 to save 10% on all Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate courses! www.uoguel.ph/pbn.Thank you for tuning in! Make sure to subscribe to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast so you get notified when new episodes are published. This episode was hosted by Stephanie Nishi RD, PhD.Support the show
How might we learn (and teach) to navigate uncertainty when the system rewards final answers?Dave Cormier is an internationally renowned educational thinker specializing in the intersection of technology and pedagogy. He coined the term MOOC in 2008 and pioneered open and rhizomatic learning. His work on creativity and uncertainty in education is taught globally. In 2024, he published Learning in a Time of Abundance: The Community Is the Curriculum with Johns Hopkins University Press. Recently, Dave facilitated an international online conference for educators and will be a visiting academic at Deakin University for the CRADLE symposium on Generative AI and Work-Integrated Learning. As the Interim Director of Curriculum Development and Delivery, Open Learning at Thompson Rivers University, he advances digital learning strategies in the GenAI era, supporting student experiences with practical and strategic solutions. We discuss:
Welcome to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast. In this episode we are joined by Jacquie Moore, the visionary behind Café Alexandra in Aurora and Happy Body Meals.Jacquie Moore was the visionary behind Café Alexandra in Aurora, providing a dining experience centered on quick, healthy meals. Currently, she is expanding her culinary journey with Happy Body Meals, a specialized meal prep service dedicated to plant-based cuisine. Her lifelong passion for health and fitness is deeply intertwined with her heritage, coming from a family of farmers Jacquie shared that this cultivated in her a profound love for pure, field-to-table plant-based foods.Jacquie Moore's Socials:Instagram: @happybodymealprepsEmail: happybodymealpreps@gmail.comPlant-Based Canada's Socials:Instagram (@plantbasedcanadaorg)Facebook (Plant-Based Canada, https://m.facebook.com/plantbasedcanadaorg/)Website (https://www.plantbasedcanada.org/)X / Twitter @PBC_orgBonus Content from University of GuelphDo you want to take your plant-based knowledge to the next level? Stay tuned for a special promo code!The online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph has everything you need to know about implementing a sustainable plant-based diet.Each course is just four weeks long and will guide you through essential topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home.As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore current research, learn from leading industry experts, and join a community of like-minded people.Use our exclusive discount code PBC2024 to save 10% on all Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate courses! www.uoguel.ph/pbn.Thank you for tuning in! Make sure to subscribe to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast so you get notified when new episodes are published. This episode was hosted by Stephanie Nishi RD, PhD.Support the show
Welcome to the season six finale! On today's episode, we go out with a bang and discuss Queen Nzinga, one of the most badass African warrior queens in history. Nzinga was trained to be a warrior and a diplomate from the time she was small, which came in handy when negotiating with the Portuguese at first for her wimp of an older brother and even more so when she became queen in her own right. Nzinga had a massive effect on her kingdom and the modern country of Angola, which still views her as a proud part of their history. Join me on this episode to hear her story. This podcast is sponsored by Common Era Jewellery. Use code AYDEN for 15% off your entire order. Bibliography 101 Last Tribes - Mbundu people. “AFRICA.” Accessed September 13, 2024. https://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/mbundu.html. Bortolot, Alexander Ives. “Women Leaders in African History: Ana Nzinga, Queen of Ndongo.” The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, January 1, 1AD. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pwmn_2/hd_pwmn_2.htm. Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Mukambu of Matamba.” Wikipedia, August 28, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukambu_of_Matamba. ———. “Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba.” Wikipedia, August 30, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nzinga_of_Ndongo_and_Matamba#Legacy. http://www.facebook/com/rejectedprincesses. “Nzinga Mbande: Mother of Angola.” Rejected Princesses. Accessed September 13, 2024. https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/nzinga-mbande. Black History Month 2024. “Queen Nzinga Mbande: The Unyielding Beacon of Resistance and Sovereignty ,” May 1, 2024. https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/african-history/queen-nzinga-mbande-the-unyielding-beacon-of-resistance-and-sovereignty/. Segovia, Becca. “Queen Nzinga: The Warrior Queen Brought to Life — RoyaltyNow.” RoyaltyNow, March 3, 2022. https://www.royaltynowstudios.com/blog/blog-post-title-one-pxydc-3e4k2-lwr6a-kleed-dxwc4-cr3nm-welff-kkp9h-lzwy8. Snethen, Jessica. “Queen Nzinga (1583-1663) •,” June 16, 2009. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/queen-nzinga-1583-1663/. Open Learning. “World-Changing Women: Queen Nzinga.” Accessed September 13, 2024. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/world-changing-women-queen-nzinga. Queens of Infamy: Njinga". Longreads. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020. Miller, Joseph C. "Nzinga of Matamba in a New Perspective." The Journal of African History 16, no. 2 (1975) pp. 201–206, 208, 209, 210–216. Accessed 30 March 2021. JSTOR 180812 Jackson, Guida M. (1990). Women Who Ruled: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 130. ISBN 0874365600.
Oor die afgelope vier jaar het 79 persent van leerlinge in Namibië wat die graad 11 nasionale eksamen geskryf het, nie gekwalifiseer om na tersiêre instellings of graad 12 te vorder nie. Dit is gelyk aan 120 468 uit 152 686 leerlinge. Ten spyte hiervan het die aantal leerlinge wat gekwalifiseer het verdubbel, van 5 007 in 2020 tot 10 261 verlede jaar. Terwyl leerders hul eindeksamen aanpak, staar baie onsekerheid in die gesig as hulle nie vir Gevorderde Filiaal-, universiteit- of beroepskole kwalifiseer nie. Finansiële struikelblokke verhoed hulle dikwels om alternatiewe soos die Namibia College of Open Learning te betree. Arbeidskenner Herbert Jauch het met Kosmos 94.1 Nuus gepraat en beklemtoon die behoefte aan sistemiese veranderinge...
Welcome to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast. In this episode we are joined by Laura Wright to chat about scrumptious recipes, seasonal eating, and social media. Laura Wright is a plant-based chef, gardener, and blogger from the Niagara region of Southern Ontario. Her website, The First Mess, was awarded Best Special Diets Blog by SAVEUR Magazine. She is the author and photographer of "The First Mess Cookbook: Vibrant Plant-Based Recipes for Living Well Through The Seasons," which is available internationally through Penguin and Avery publishers. Laura focuses on seasonal flavour combinations and produce-heavy recipes that appeal to all types of eaters. Links:Website: https://thefirstmess.com/Newsletter signup: https://thefirstmess.com/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefirstmess/Cookbook: https://thefirstmess.com/cookbook/the-first-mess-cookbook/Laura Wright's Socials:Instagram: @thefirstmessPinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/thefirstmess/ Plant-Based Canada's Socials:Instagram (@plantbasedcanadaorg)Facebook (Plant-Based Canada, https://m.facebook.com/plantbasedcanadaorg/)Website (https://www.plantbasedcanada.org/)X / Twitter @PBC_orgBonus Content from University of GuelphDo you want to take your plant-based knowledge to the next level? Stay tuned for a special promo code!The online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph has everything you need to know about implementing a sustainable plant-based diet.Each course is just four weeks long and will guide you through essential topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home.As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore current research, learn from leading industry experts, and join a community of like-minded people.Use our exclusive discount code PBC2024 to save 10% on all Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate courses! www.uoguel.ph/pbn.Thank you for tuning in! Make sure to subscribe to the Plant-Based Canada Podcast so you get notified when new episodes are published. This episode was hosted by Stephanie Nishi RD, PhD.Support the Show.
It's YOUR time to #EdUpPCO In this episode, YOUR guest is Mary-Eleanor Power, Director of Marketing and Communications in the Faculty of Open Learning at Career Development at Dalhousie University YOUR host is Amrit Ahluwalia Some key questions we tackle: What trends are reshaping PCO marketing? What does it take to build an effective PCO marketing engine? How do you define and focus on different target markets as a division that competes locally, nationally and globally? What goes into a rebrand process for a PCO Unit? Listen in to #EdUp! Thank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp! Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - Elvin Freytes & Dr. Joe Sallustio Join YOUR EdUp community at The EdUp Experience! We make education YOUR business!
Information and connection were once scarce resources. But no longer! So what does this mean for the way education happens? This week, Dave Cormier, author of the fantastic new book 'Learning in a Time of Abundance: The Community is the Curriculum' joins Tim. https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12862/learning-time-abundance With 25 years of experience as teacher, researcher and author, Dave is interested in how technologies change what it means to learn and to have learned. He is currently a learning specialist for digital strategy and special projects at the Office of Open Learning at the University of Windsor in Ontario Canada. Social Links Website: https://davecormier.com/edblog/ LinkedIn: @davecormier - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davecormier/ Instagram: @cormierdave - https://www.instagram.com/cormierdave/
We're pleased to have Dave Cormier, author of “Learning in a Time of Abundance,” on the show this week to explore the transformative shifts in education driven by digital abundance and technological advancements. Dave, with his extensive background in educational technology and a pioneering role in the development of MOOCs, delves into the challenges and opportunities presented by the current educational landscape. This discussion highlights the need for a paradigm shift from traditional models of learning to embrace the complexities and richness of information abundance, underscoring the importance of critical thinking, digital literacy, and adaptive learning methodologies in today's society.Guest Name: Dave CormierGuest Social: LinkedInGuest Bio: With 25 years of experience as teacher, researcher and author, Dave is interested in how technologies change what it means to learn and to have learned. He is currently a learning specialist for digital strategy and special projects at the Office of Open Learning at the University of Windsor in Ontario Canada. - - - -Connect With Our Host:Dustin Ramsdellhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinramsdell/https://twitter.com/HigherEd_GeekAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:The Higher Ed Geek is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too! Some of our favorites include Generation AI and I Wanna Work There. Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com. Connect with Us at the Engage Summit:Exciting news — Dustin will be at the 2024 Engage Summit in Raleigh, NC, on June 25 and 26, and we'd love to meet you there! Sessions will focus on cutting-edge AI applications that are reshaping student outreach, enhancing staff productivity, and offering deep insights into ROI. Use the discount code Enrollify50 at checkout, and you can register for just $200! Learn more and register at engage.element451.com — we can't wait to see you there!
Dive into this episode where Sanjay Sarma, VP of Open Learning at MIT, and Steve Layton, Head of Engineering at Rolls Royce, discuss the topic of "No Talent, No Sector". Our nuclear and non-nuclear guests explore the urgent need for talent in the nuclear industry, sharing stories from inside and outside of the sector. Our host Dan Moneghan invites discussion around the challenges of building a diverse workforce and the innovative solutions, like the Nuclear Skills Academy, that are being implemented to create a future-ready workforce. Learn how these strategies are striving to equip the nuclear sector with the skills needed to meet the rapidly growing demand for nuclear power. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the intersection of talent management and the future of the nuclear industry. Links and Resources: Learn more at https://www.globalnuclearinnovation.com/ EPRI website https://www.epri.com/ More episodes https://epricurrent.com/ If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe and share! And please consider leaving a review and rating on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Follow EPRI: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/epri/ Twitter https://twitter.com/EPRINews EPRI Current examines key issues and new R&D impacting the energy transition. Each episode features insights from EPRI, the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, and from other energy industry leaders. We also discuss how innovative technologies are shaping the global energy future. Learn more at www.epri.com
How will AI disrupt the landscape of work and create job refugees? What does the future of Education look like in this technology-driven evolution?With a career spanning decades in academia and innovation, we unpack these questions (and more!) with Professor Sanjay Sarma, the Chief Executive Officer, President and Dean of the Asia School of Business. Sanjay served as the Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, where he oversaw OpenCourseWare and led the creation of MITx, MicroMasters, the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative and the Jameel World Education Lab. Fun fact: He played a part in developing many of the key technologies behind the EPC suite of RFID standards now used as a staple in industries worldwide!In this wide-ranging discussion, we dive into Sanjay's journey from MIT to ASB and hear all about:- The turning point that led him from Engineering to Academia, and the story behind his move from USA to Asia - The failures that have taught Sanjay valuable lessons- Why an MBA is still relevant- Exploring Agile Continuous Education (ACE) as a more impactful teaching methodology- Why Curiosity and a Growth mindset is the most important skills in a post-GPT worldHIGHLIGHTS:8:05 The pivotal career turning point from Engineering into Academia 10:54 What led Sanjay to take up the role as CEO, President & Dean at Asia School of Business 15:07 The most rewarding and challenging parts of the role 19:02 What Sanjay learnt from a recent Failure27:17 The power of Reflection 30:48 How to be a more interesting person 35:21 How will AI create job refugees? 37:24 Essential skillsets for young professionals to thrive in the post-GPT world 38:22 Growth mindset is who we are 40:10 Is the MBA still relevant? 42:47 What Agile Continuous Education (ACE) would look like 48:44 What would the success of ACE look like? 50:38 The challenges of the ACE model 53:20 The value proposition of an ASB MBA 59:30 Impact of Generative AI on public policy-making and design CONNECT WITH US HERE:✨Instagram: Actsplore This Podcast
Dr. Margaret Robinson (she/her) is a Mi'kmaw scholar and a member of Lennox Island First Nation. She works as an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University in Mi'kma'ki, where she holds the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Reconciliation, Gender, and Identity. Dr. Robinson is two-spirit, bisexual, and queer, and her research examines how culture and identity support wellbeing.In our conversation, we discuss on Dr. Robinson's research into feminism and bisexuality, the work she did in developing a measure for microaggresions and microaffirmations experienced by bisexual women, racism experienced by Indigenous communities in the Canadian Health-Care system, navigating veganism as an Indigenous person, and ways to decolonize our food systems.ResourcesCultural Continuity as a Protective Factor Against Suicide in First Nations Youth, Michael J. Chandler and Christopher LalondeBi+ Women of Toronto“Mental health and substance use among bisexual youth and non-youth in Ontario, Canada”, Co-authored by Margaret Robinson “Prevalence and Mental Health Correlates of Illegal Cannabis Use Among Bisexual Women”, Co-Authored by Margaret Robinson “Bisexual Women's Experience of Microaggressions and Microaffirmations: A Community-Based, Mixed-Methods Scale Development Project”, Co-authored by Margaret Robinson “The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory”, Carol J. Adams Victory Garden of TomorrowMargaret Robinson Google Scholar PromoDo you want to take your plant-based knowledge to the next level?The online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate through Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph has everything you need to know about implementing a sustainable plant-based diet. Each course is just four weeks long and will guide you through essential topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home.As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore current research, learn from leading industry experts, and join a community of like-minded people.Use our exclusive discount code PBC2024 to save 10% on all Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate courses! www.uoguel.ph/pbn.Support the show
A $1.5 million project is underway to revert Rangiora High School's modern open learning space to single cell classrooms. Its giant classroom fitting 500 students opened in 2017 but was found difficult to work in, due to noise, visual distractions, and fluctuating temperatures. Principal Bruce Kearney says they're determined the open structure doesn't suit their vision for the school. "A lot of people talked about modern learning environments as being open barns- and they're not. What they're supposed to be is providing the ability for teachers, for students, classes, schools to be flexible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Open Learning and Critical Thinking Threats. The host for this show is Chuck Crumpton. The guests are Benjamin Davis, David Larson and Tina Patterson. GOP MAGA attacks on and threats to open learning and education and critical thinking, and whether and how to survive them.The ThinkTech YouTube Playlist for this show is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQpkwcNJny6nwd_k1ZzTRKT9Ewmfw-_FSPlease visit our ThinkTech website at https://thinktechhawaii.com and see our Think Tech Advisories at https://thinktechadvisories.blogspot.com.
In this episode I'm joined by Kyle Gibson, a senior staff researcher and writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Open Learning initiative.I've been following Kyle on Twitter for years, where he has been a consistently funny and well-informed critic of the crazy world of cryptocurrency.Today he joins the podcast to talk about another tech utopia that's in the headlines: artificial intelligence or ‘AI'.Are the claims made for AI overblown? How are AI models developed? What human inputs are required? Who funds AI? What's the link between AI and cryptocurrency? Can cryptocurrency fix AI? And what's AI got to do with geopolitics?Listen in for the next thirty minutes to hear more.
According to the 2022 World Talent Ranking from the IMD, the U.S. ranked 16th out of 64 developed countries, dropping 2 spots from 2021. What accounts for this decline? “Education is the oxygen to work, you can't breath without air, you can't work without education,” says Sanjay Sarma, our very special guest on today's episode. Sanjay is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and the former Vice President of Open Learning, a division of MIT dedicated to researching how learning works, and providing MIT lectures and resources to learners around the globe. Much of his work with Open Learning is what culminated into his book “Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn,” where Sanjay focused all of his research on answering the question: how can the science of learning help build a better society and better individuals? Sanjay has made it his life goal to address the many problems that face modern education, from accessibility, outdated techniques, to bureaucratic disruption and misaligned programs. Sanjay's work as an educator, researcher, author, and advocate is incredibly important, especially today and this is definitely an episode you're not going to want to miss. So with that…let's bring it in!
Reading Week is over, friends, and spring awaits. Change is in the air over on the Open Learning side of the TRU house, and so Brenna has invited someone who knows way more than her to come and talk about it.
Eric Grimson is MIT's chancellor for academic advancement and interim vice president for Open Learning; he's also a longstanding professor of computer science and medical engineering. In this episode, Prof. Grimson shares his thoughts on in-person and online education. We learn that he rehearses each lecture one, two, or even three times before coming to the classroom, and that he often pauses in his speech when lecturing to avoid distracting his students with “um”s and “ah”s and similar disfluencies. But though some of the techniques he describes might seem to reflect a view of teaching as performance, Grimson firmly believes that education should be a dialogue rather than a monologue—that students should be engaged as partners in the exploration of the material, even in an introductory-level class. “Anybody with enough curiosity ought to be able to explore a field,” he says, “and we ought to be able to teach at a level that opens it up to them.” The same conviction underlies his commitment to sharing his expertise online, whether by publishing his course materials on MIT OpenCourseWare or through purpose-built MOOCs on MITx. [Warning: this episode also includes numerous bad jokes!] Relevant Resources:MIT OpenCourseWare The OCW Educator Portal 6.0001 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python on OCW 6.0002 Introduction To Computational Thinking And Data Science on OCWProfessor Grimson's faculty page Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions Connect with UsIf you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We'd love to hear from you! Call us @ 617-715-2517On our siteOn Facebook On Twitter On Instagram Stay CurrentSubscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter. Support OCWIf you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going! CreditsSarah Hansen, host and producer Brett Paci, producer Dave Lishansky, producer Show notes by Peter Chipman
Brenna is thinking about exam week rhythms and is joined by someone who knows a lot about the very different rhythms of a very different kind of classroom.
The World Bank EduTech team is partnering with Digital Promise and AIEngage.org to host a series of episodes about AI in Education. This week, we're exploring opportunities to advance access and inclusivity in AI education to people of all ages and backgrounds with a focus on K12 and the workforce. World Bank Senior Education and Technology Specialist Cristobal Cobo speaks with the Director of the MIT-wide Initiative on Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (raise.mit.edu), Cynthia Breazeal, about RAISE and its 2022 Day of AI, which seeks to engage K-12 students across the US in a series of freely available hands-on activities designed to introduce them to AI and how it plays a part of their lives today. You can learn more about Day of AI at https://www.dayofai.org. Cynthia Breazeal is a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT, where she founded and directs the Personal Robots group at the Media Lab. She is the MIT dean for digital learning, and in this role, she leverages her experience in emerging digital technologies and business, research, and strategic initiatives to lead Open Learning's business and research & engagement units. She is also the Director of the MIT-wide Initiative on Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (raise.mit.edu). MIT RAISE is a research and outreach effort that advances access and inclusivity in AI education to people of all ages and backgrounds with a focus on K12 and the workforce. She co-founded the consumer social robotics company, Jibo, Inc., where she served as Chief Scientist and Chief Experience Officer.
zugehOERt! – der Podcast rund um Open Educational Resources (OER)
Maren Deepwell berichtet von ihrer Erfahrung an der Spitze der Association of Learning Technology (ALT) und beantwortet Fragen wie “Wie hat sich unser Verhältnis zu OER verändert?“. Themen von der OER Konferenz, die jährlich von ALT organisiert wird, weisen darauf hin, dass der Fokus unserer Praxis nicht nur OER im Lehr-Lern-Bereich einbezieht, sondern auch auf soziale Gerechtigkeit und Gleichberechtigung im globalen Sinne eingeht.
Description: Ms. Guilfoyle's teaching philosophy focuses on equity and students' experiences as pathways to student connection. We'd like to thank the Naval Academy Spouses and Civilian Club for their support of this episode. https://www.usna.edu/NASCC/index.php Show Notes: Third Culture Kids http://www.crossculturalkid.org/ DODEA Teacher of the Year Program https://www.dodea.edu/teachers/teacherofyear.cfm Bio: Rachel Guilfoyle: 2022 DODEA State Teacher of the Year and Fulbright 2022-2023 Global Teachers for Classrooms Award Recipient. Rachel Guilfoyle is an experienced educator, scholar, and historian. As 2022 DoDEA State Teacher of the Year, she is currently representing DoDEA educators, students, and military-connected families at the national level during her Year of Service from January to December 2022. Passionately driven by examining the past to help build the future, she takes pride in providing culturally responsive, standards-based education. Ms. Guilfoyle's teaching philosophy focuses on equity and students' experiences as pathways to student connection and as a vehicle to deliver culturally responsive, standards-based education. Her experiences living in Mildenhall, England, Okinawa Japan, Spangdahlem, Germany and other locations as a military child, surviving military spouse, parent to military children and her perspectives as a first-generation American, inspired Ms. Guilfoyle to become a Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) educator in support of the mantra “Military families also serve.” A thirteen-year teaching veteran, Ms. Guilfoyle is a fifth-grade educator at Daegu Elementary School in South Korea. Ms. Guilfoyle is a recipient of the United States Forces Korea Scroll of Appreciation for Excellence in Education award, 2022 DoDEA Pacific West Teacher of the Year, National Endowment of the Humanities Scholar and 2022-2023 Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Scholar. She holds Bachelor and master's degrees in Education, as well as teaching certifications from DoDEA and the state of Georgia. Ms. Guilfoyle's husband, Robert Kenny, a fellow DoDEA educator from London, England, --shares her passion for culturally responsive education and completing their “Wonders of the World” travel bucket list; together they are the parents of three daughters-- Michela, Yasmin and Kamala-- all Daegu Middle High School graduates--and a son, Alex who is a middle school's student at Daegu Middle High School.
A SEAT at THE TABLE: Leadership, Innovation & Vision for a New Era
When someone mentions online learning we typically think of the pandemic years when students were participating in classrooms much the same way that their parents were spending their days in Zoom meetings.In fact, that's only one part of the game changing advancements that are taking place as traditional education meets 21st century tech solutions.Today new use cases are being developed that make education more immersive and more accessible for students - regardless of where they are located. And its making it possible for people of all ages and circumstances to better themselves - thus helping to provide a solid path for poor nations to develop better educated populations. As well as supporting people in advanced nations to boost their skillsets and move up in their careers.The key is the fast growing field of EdTech. And today's guest is going to give us a window on what is actually happening around the world.I'm Jane Singer and thank you for joining me here on A Seat at The Table.Today we're honoured to have Atul Temurnikar, executive chairman of Singapore-based Global Schools Foundation join us.Global Schools Foundation, or GFS, is a not-for profit institution with 23 campuses of multicultural environments.In this episode, Atul will be talking about:How EdTech is changing the education landscape in both developed and emerging nations.His experience helping to shape India's education policy.How AI, data analytics and machine learning can empower teachers and enhance the classroom experience for students.And the world changing benefits of being able to provide people without financial means access to education.Education also plays a key role in providing nations and organisations with both leaders and skilled workers. And as most companies are finding, it's not always easy to find the right talent in the right place. In fact, many are struggling to fill position in certain markets.That's why top corporations and even smaller enterprises rely on Asianet Consultants to help them fill key positions. Since 1988 Asianet has been working in partnership with its global clients to help them make the right strategic hires. They have a well-earned reputation for being able to fill even those difficult to fill positions.So if you need to recruit new talent - or think that you might be doing that soon, head on over to their website. That's asiannetconsultants.com. Now let's find out from Atul how technology is helping to spread education far and wide.USEFUL LINKS:Visit A Seat at The Table's website at https://seat.fm
Sanjay Sarma is the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering. From 2012 until 2021, Sanjay led MIT Open Learning, first as director, then as dean, and finally as vice president. MIT Open Learning includes the Office of Digital Learning, the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili), the Center for Advanced Virtuality, and the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL). In 2020 Sanjay published Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn, which he co-authored with Luke Yoquinto. Previously, Sanjay co-founded the Auto-ID Center at MIT and developed many of the key technologies behind the Electronic Product Code suite of radio frequency identification (RFID) standards now used worldwide. He was also the founder and CTO of OATSystems, which was acquired by Checkpoint Systems in 2008. Sanjay has authored over 100 academic papers in computational geometry, sensing, RFID, automation, and computer-aided design, and is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching and research, including the MacVicar Fellowship, the BusinessWeek eBiz Award, and InformationWeek's Innovators and Influencers Award. Social Links LinkedIn: @mit-open-learning Twitter: @mitopenlearning
Back for her second episode, Professor Riikka Puurunen is bringing us back to the basics with a deep dive on conformality. Recorded live from the Harald Herlin Learning Center at Aalto University, Tyler and Riikka talk about the all-important property of ALD. In this episode, Riikka explains the history of conformality in ALD, her recent paper on modeling collaboration, the origins of the PillarHall conformality test structures and a conversation on open science. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 03:39 History of conformality 10:21 Has our understanding of conformality changed? 12:25 Is conformality an inherent property? 18:38 Conformality modeling findings 37:28 PillarHall Test Structures 49:35 Open Learning for ALD Follow Riikka at @rlpuu on Twitter and at www.aalto.fi. ALD History Blog: http://aldhistory.blogspot.com/ Virtual Project on the History of ALD: https://vph-ald.com/ Open ALD Learning Site (Hosted by Aalto): https://openlearning.aalto.fi/course/view.php?id=100#section-0
Brenna is trying to define open -- as in hearts -- and is joined by one of Open Learning's own to celebrate an important achievement.
El ecommerce se ha convertido en la mejor forma de crear un proyecto o negocio propio. Para los emprendedores, es una herramienta invaluable. Y Shopify, a través del programa Open Learning, ha unido esfuerzos con el Tecnológico de Monterrey
Did you know the hidden secret? You can have multiple feelings at the same time!! Did you know this? Belly Up with Sarah, and her guest Lynn Salmon-Easter, an empathic intuitive, reiki master, and mama to a teen and an angel baby, as they crack open feelings about birth and loss. Lynn shares her journey with trusting yourself and looking at the emotions with a learning eye.
This week, we are discussing how to incorporate voice and choice in EdTech in our classrooms and how to avoid the silo. We'll get into voice and choice of EdTech tools for both teachers AND students as well as share some ideas around collaborating with colleagues to learn new EdTech tools. If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!Featured Content**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/72**Feedback from Frank Ferraiuolo, Assistive Technology TOSA on E069 - Alternative Approaches to Professional LearningJob-embedded PD within the teaching dayWhat's good for one is good for all - assistive tech is beneficial for all studentsCoaches can help!Chris Nesi - House of EdTech PodcastWe're taking a break and we'll be back with a new episode on Jan 4th, 2022!Tech is changing all the time - avoid the silo and keep your options openLearning about new options:Collaboration and sharing via PLCsCommunication around student privacy and usageConsider a blended learning teamTeacher-created and teacher-led PD (unconference format)Curate tech tools, host learning & create mini-courses via your school libraryCollaborative database (create via Google Data Studio using Forms & Sheets)Student Choice in EdTech:Suggest tools but also be open to other tools suggested by studentsCheck out E067 for screencasting tool suggestionsKeep in mind, students might be using different browsersUse a choice board Keep choices to a minimum. Avoid the overwhelm!Conferencing with students about choices (mastery-based learning)When selecting tools, think about the goal first!Possible presentation tools: Google Slides, Genial.ly, Prezi, Canva and many, many moreCuration of EdTech tools (software catalogues): Should be done based on goal and not by tool (think choose your own adventure) to find your options more easilyWould reduce overwhelmPossible Whiteboard tools: Google Jamboard, Microsoft Whiteboard, whiteboard.fi, whiteboard.chat, Explain Everything and many morePerhaps try rotating through 2-3 different tools within each categoryPossible Gamification tools: Kahoot!, Blooket, Quizizz, Quizlet Live, Gimkit (Free plan is now better!)Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/edugals)
Sanjay Sarma is not only a professor of mechanical engineering; he's also Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, where he oversees innovative efforts to reimagine education, and he is coauthor (with Luke Yoquinto) of the recent book Grasp, which explores the nature of learning. In this episode, Professor Sarma discusses the differences between nominal learning, in which you memorize a fact or procedure but soon forget it, and real learning, in which you can effectively apply the skills and concepts you've previously mastered. When the format of education is consistent with what science tells us about how our brains store and retrieve information, Sarma says, real learning can be optimized. He argues that well-designed platforms for online learning are a vital resource for people worldwide who lack access to in-person education—like a glass of water to someone in a desert. But he also sees online learning as an indispensable tool for in-person education, allowing innovations that help to maximize the value of students' and instructors' time together, and he is optimistic about the potential value of online learning credentials as a pathway toward in-person degrees.Relevant Resources:MIT OpenCourseWareThe OCW Educator PortalSanjay Sarma & Luke Yoquinto's xTalk on GraspProfessor Sarma's course on OCWProfessor Sarma's faculty pageProfessor Sarma at MIT Open LearningProfessor Sarma's book GraspMicromasters programs from MITxMusic in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions Connect with Us:If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We'd love to hear from you! Call us @ 617-715-2517On our siteOn FacebookOn TwitterOn Instagram Stay Current:Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter. Support OCW:If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going! Credits:Sarah Hansen, host and producer Brett Paci, producer Dave Lishansky, producer Script writing assistance from Nidhi ShastriShow notes by Peter Chipman
If we as Heart Leaders provide space for spirit to emerge, we need a new tool that seeks to challenge or assumptions, our creativity and our spontaneity rather than to restrict and control in order to ensure there are outcomes that are familiar and comfortable..We need tools that help groups of people to learn and think together so that as a group they can discover things that would have been impossible to learn outside the group setting.One such tool is that of "dialogue". This is combined with critical analysis and judgement based on independent data.Research Data Links:UK Government Nudge Unithttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/behavioural-insights-teamPsychological Operationshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_operations_(United_States)NLP https://www.nlp.com/what-is-nlp/UK Yellow Card Reporting SystemPlease check the source data from the spreadsheets - not the Nudge Unit 'Spin...'https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactionsEuropean Databasehttps://www.adrreports.eu/en/index.htmlUK Independent News Feed - UK Column Newshttps://www.ukcolumn.org/US VAERShttps://vaers.hhs.gov/data/datasets.html
We all experienced the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020. Panic buying turned into shortages and empty shelves. And those who were lucky enough to find stock were confronted with the words “limit one per customer due to high demand.” It's no secret that supply chains were caught off guard when it came to essentials. However, many others harnessed the opportunity, evolved quickly, innovated, and adapted like never before. Join us for a discussion with Vice President of Open Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sanjay Sarma, where we will dive into this massive supply chain disruption and discuss those who emerged as winners, how supply chains continue to evolve, where innovation is headed, what it means for both brands and consumers - and why things will never go back to way they were.
When designing a course, faculty and instructional designers often focus on the course as a discrete entity without considering its role in the institution and society. In this episode, Robin DeRosa joins us to discuss how our classes and institutions can help to support broader social objectives. Robin is the Director of the Open Learning and Teaching Collaborative at Plymouth State University, Robin had long been an editor of Hybrid Pedagogy and is a co-founder of the Open Pedagogy Notebook. She has also published on a wide variety of topics related to higher education, including open pedagogy, remote learning, and value-centered instruction planning. A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.
Can you measure what matters? When companies look for employees, they look for candidates that are curious, creative, and persistent. So logically, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring in our school system. But how do you measure curiosity or creativity? When YJ Kim was a project director at the MIT Office of Open Learning, she dedicated years to answer the question. Yoon Jeon “YJ” Kim “When we started talking to teachers more about it, we quickly realized that teachers do want to measure, they do want to assess those skills,” says Kim “But they often feel like at the end of the day we just have to do standardized testing.” Currently, schools assess students on content retention. Using a standardized test, it's relatively easy to do. But there really is no standardized test for curiosity. In response to that, Kim and her colleague, Lousia Rosenheck have been designing what they call “playful assessments.” Rosenheck, who is a designer and researcher at MIT, says a lot of the construct behind playful assessments is helping learners recognize what they're good at, how they can improve, and how the individual can tell if they're getting better at those things. “Communication is an important skill. But what does that mean? What are the different kinds of communication?” Rosenheck says these are the types of questions they hope their tools can answer. Shadowspect One of the tools the researchers are designing is called “Shadowspect.” It's a game-based assessment that looks like a fun puzzle. Kim says you rotate shapes and figures in the environment, and it measures not just students' mathematics strengths but also assesses the students' spatial reasoning, creativity, and persistence. Shadowspect Screenshot Credit: MIT Teaching Systems Lab “How those things are measured is because we are using a lot of process data that is logged through the gameplay,” says Kim. Shawdowspect monitors the things the user moves, clicks, and rotates, and then it uses those features to make inferences based on how the user solves the puzzles. Why is it called “playful assessments”? Kim says the notion of playfulness is essential because their goal is to reimagine what assessment really means. The researchers want assessment to go beyond something that students are just passively doing. “If you think about a playground, everybody who comes to a playground are equal players. They share they have fun, and everybody participates in the process of play,” says Kim. “When we think about assessment, it's something that's given to students, and they don't really have any say in how they're assessed.” What does success look like? Rosenheck knows that if a school can't measure something, it probably won't be a priority for the school. Louisa Rosenheck is a designer and researcher of educational technologies in the MIT Education “Our school system is so focused on assessments that the way it is, things are not going be taught, they are not going to be given priority if we can't assess them,” says Rosenheck That's why finding a way to measure skills like curiosity, creativity and persistence are so important. “So if we can find tools and mindsets that show everybody how we can value these skills, then teachers can finally focus more on those, and validate what students are doing, and celebrate the wonderful projects that students are doing that are meaningful to them,” says Rosenheck Kim says they can develop great assessment systems that have psychometric qualities, but if teachers are not using the assessments it's not really a win for her. “I have two kids and they talk about how anxious they are when they take quizzes and tests,” says Kim. “And I really hope that in 20 years or so, kids won't need to feel that way about assessments.” To learn more about the incredible work Kim and Rosenheck are doing at MIT, listen to Episode 177 of the Class Dismissed podcast.
When it comes to serving adult learners, Professional Continuing Education (PCE) is the gateway to getting these learners in the door. To best serve these learners, institutions have to look at their current model to see whether a centralized or decentralized model is best for them. On this episode, Michelle Fach, Director of Open Learning and Educational Support at the University of Guelph, talks about Professional Continuing Education models and the role they play in serving non-traditional learners.
Top websites for free online courses | Learn skills for free | NARESHKUMAR | NK ----------------------------------------------------------- WEBSITES:(NAMES) 1.Coursera 2.Google Digital Unlocked 3.Alison 4.Skillshare 5.Futurelearn 6.Udemy 7.Great learning academy 8.Microsoft EdX 9.Khan Academy 10.Elearnmarkets 11.Trading Campus 12.Unacademy 13.Swayam Central 14.Openlearning 15.LinkedIn Learning 16.Lifehack 17.Openculture 18.Studycom 19.BRILLIANT 20.Harvard University 21.Course Joiner 22.Open Classroom 23.Startup India 24.Digitaldefynd 25.Academic Earth 26.TED-ED 27.Stanford Online 28.AICTE 29.Lyndacom 30.Cybrary 31.Apna Course 32.Lesson paths 33.Envatotuts+ 34.Hubspot Academy 35.TCS iON Digital learning hub ----------------------------------------------------------- TWITTER:https://twitter.com/imnareshkumarnk INSTAGRAM:https://www.instagram.com/imnareshkumarnk/ YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVjlVaKW2_qpfpBWq1hMFiw
Renowned Author and Vice President - Open Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prof. Sanjay Sarna, in conversation with Suranjan Pramanik, Chief Business Officer, EDGE. He talks about the science of learning, his book Grasp, and the implications for organizations to manage the growth and training of the workforce.
Remote schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic has opened our eyes to the difficulties of intersecting digital technologies and traditional schooling. Sanjay Sarma, who is Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, talks about online learning and how it can work hand-in-hand with teachers and students… with some serious cognitive science know-how.
This week, Brenna is back from a surprise hiatus with an episode from her personal beforetimes. She talks about Open Ed Week and is joined by the Open Learning dream team to talk about a new OER for the campus community (and beyond).
Melissa and traveler, writer and storyteller Penny Watson chat about the privilege of experiencing nature through travel in a post COVID world. That even when you love what you do, the risk of burnout and the difficulty in saying no is still present. And that maybe our parents were onto something with their 70's style parenting techniques.
Gettin' Air with AJ Boston. AJ is an Assistant Professor and Scholarly Communication Librarian at Murray State University in Kentucky. He joins Terry to chat about the most scholarly of musical genres (Hip-Hop) and how it exhibits very comparable trends to librarianship for scholarly communication. He also opines that Gettin' Air is actually a triple entendre, rather than just a boring old double entendre!
Many countries face several challenges when trying to select, design, adapt, and customize a learning management system (LMS) that meets the particular needs of their education system: finding a scalable, flexible and robust platform; ensuring the interoperability and integration with existing solutions; planning the sustainability over time, and facilitating local ownership are just some of them. Today, you're listening to a conversation with the ProFuturo (https://profuturo.education/en) team (a digital educational program launched by Telefónica Foundation and "la Caixa" Foundation, present in 40 countries) about ProFuturo's journey and how it mirrors what ministries of education are doing in terms of developing a learning management system for remote and blended learning. Robert Hawkins, Global Lead for Technology and Innovation in Education at the World Bank, and Inaki Sanchez, Analyst with the World Bank Global Edtech team, speak with Ana Delgado, Head of Product Marketing at ProFuturo Foundation, and Álvaro Ros Penche, Senior Expert in Global Partnerships and Institutional Relations at ProFuturo Foundation. On February 18, the World Bank and ProFuturo hosted a webinar about open learning management systems. You can watch the recorded webinar here: https://1930181.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Webinar-%20Selecting%2C%20evaluating%20and%20adapting%20open%20Learning%20Management%20Systems%20the%20case%20of%20ProFuturo-Feb%2018%2C%202021/1_bwvl29hr.
Find us: Head to our community page to register & join the MindfulCommerce community as an expert, brand or merchantInstagram: @mindfulcommerceFacebook @MindfulCommerceContact Us - info@mindfulcommerce.ioWhere to find Katie Boothby-Kung:Katie Boothby-Kung - InstagramWhere to find Shopify:Shopify - Website (Home)Shopify - Social Enterprise Slack channel (Sign up)Shopify - Open LearningShopify - EnvironmentShopify - Sustainability Fund (Read more)Shopify - Compass, Free Online CoursesShopify - CommunityShopify - Operation HOPE (Read more)Links Mentioned in Episode:Copper Root Collective (Katie's Skincare Brand)TechnovationRecurateGenuseeKiwibotShoppingGivesDailyKarmaKotnSon of a TailorShownotes:Krissie Leyland 0:00Hello, and welcome to the MindfulCommerce Podcast, a place where we talk to ecommerce brands, ecommerce service providers and developers who care about protecting our planet. Today we're talking to the fantastic Katie Boothby-Kung from Shopify's social impact team. Katie is doing lots of incredible work at Shopify and we wanted to chat about it here on the podcast to inspire others to follow in Shopify's footsteps. So hi, Katie, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. You know, I'm a huge fan of Shopify and what you're doing so I'm extremely excited to have you here. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and just tell us a little bit about your role at Shopify? And what you help Shopify to achieve? Katie Boothby-Kung 0:46 Yeah, totally. Well, first of all: Hi, Krissie. Thanks for having me, super pumped to be here. This is awesome. So I am Katie, I am the Senior Manager for social impact here at Shopify. In my role, I am specifically focused on working with the social enterprises, on and off our platform. I do that by or through strategic partnerships, building education tools, and working with our partners and our platform so that we can help grow and scale. And even launch new social enterprises, on Shopify, and also to give them the resources that they need so that they can be successful.Krissie Leyland 1:32 Oh, my god, it's so good. It's like the dream job. I love it. Katie Boothby-Kung 1:35 It really is! (laughter)Krissie Leyland 1:37 I'm always like, "oh, how did she get that job?" I'm gonna pick your brains. So what is the definition of a social enterprise business to you and Shopify?Katie Boothby-Kung 1:52 Great question. How we think about social enterprises is that it's at the intersection of environmental action, and human rights. So businesses that are working to create a better climate for generations to come, or be it through supporting communities and workers within their supply chain, making sure that they're treated fairly and with dignity. The combination of the two is really where we see that long term sustainability, long term social enterprise. We like to think about it as a Venn diagram. So you have, environmental action over on one side, and then you have human rights in the other circle. When they come together, and there's that sweet spot right in the middle, that's where we see, where long term sustainability happens: at the intersection of the two of them–social enterprises working on either of these circles, or both of them together.Krissie Leyland 3:01 Nice. So, what do you think then, is the intersection between sustainability and social impact? How do the two work together and do good?Katie Boothby-Kung 3:13 Well, by the sounds of it, you guys are just defining sustainability more from an environmental lens. mean, that's certainly how a lot of the discussion around sustainability has been framed: is that it's, it's environmental. However, we see it as both being environmental and social human rights coming together in that intersection in the middle of those two circles. That's how we define sustainability. So by focusing on either or, and coming together, you are creating social impact. Without getting into kind of the complexities of climate change its effect on human rights, and vice versa, that's kind of see how we see it. If you're working towards sustainability, environmental action & human rights coming together, then you are creating a lasting social impact.Krissie Leyland 4:12 Yeah, it makes total sense. I think I do always think of sustainability, as you know, things that are going on in the environment, but you are right, it does link back to social impact, communities and things like that. So I'd like to talk a bit more about your role in particular. Also, what are the community projects that you're working on at the moment that has a positive impact socially, and potentially environmentally, then?Katie Boothby-Kung 4:48 For my role in particular: I'm working on ways Shopify can better support the community of social entrepreneurs and also support other communities that are hungry to learn more About being socially conscious. Recently, I was able to team up with some of the folks in other teams here at Shopify to help them expand their educational offering to include ways to help merchants inject more sustainability into their businesses. So we have a team called Open Learning that works with a lot of post secondary education institutions. Also, our Shopify for startups, which is our startup program. By working with them, they're providing education that can not only help businesses grow, but to also help them become more socially minded as well. So that's a lot of what we're focusing on this year is just continuing to support this community, and bring that education to communities that maybe aren't thinking about this all the time, so that they're more inspired to not only create businesses, but to create socially minded businesses as well. My team is always incredibly busy and so maybe you saw, we recently announced we have a global partnership with Technovation. Therefore, we can deliver STEM education to young women and girls around the world. Our team is certainly very, very busy focusing on entrepreneurs, and also within the tech community as well.Krissie Leyland 6:24 Hmm. Okay. So on that then, because you know, I love a bit of tech conversation: What do you think is the role for tech partners towards a more sustainable and positively impactful ecommerce world?Katie Boothby-Kung 6:42 Here on Shopify, we can't say enough good things about our partner ecosystem, and the tech partners that are building some wickedly cool tools. I mean, that community is always drumming up really creative ways to support our merchant community. So keep it up. There is a lot of potential for them to impact this space. It's no surprise that sustainability is becoming a top priority for consumers and therefore it's becoming important for brands as well. So I'm sure we're going to see a lot of new offerings from the tech partner community being launched this year in order to keep up with with this growing demand.Obviously, there's Recurate that's working on the resale market, and allowing our brands to resell their their wares, to keep it from going to landfill–giving their products new life, which I think isn't very exciting. Especially because the resale market is growing so quickly and I don't think that's going away anytime soon.We're seeing Genusee. They're a an eyeglass company based out of Flint, Michigan, that have a really cool tool on their on their shop, to allow you to try on their sunglasses so that we're reducing the rate of returns. I say we as if I'm a part of it. (laughter) Their customers don't need to return as much. I'm not involved in that at all. They're doing great work.And then there are even more sustainable shipping alternatives, like Kiwibot. Also the social impact of shopping local, I mean, it's accelerated. So our partners are creating more tailored pickup locations and delivery services. I think this idea of "shop local", is here to stay beyond 2021, kind of like the resale market. So consumers are looking for ways that they can be more supportive of their own communities and the small businesses that are essentially our neighbors. There's a lot of really great tech partners out there doing some, some really, really incredible things to help make sustainability and easier choice for merchants on our platform, for sure.Krissie Leyland 9:07 Do you think that there's been a rise in, you know, apps that are specifically to help sustainability and social impacts because of the pandemic? It just seems to be on the rise? I don't know if it's because I'm involved in it, and I see it everywhere. But yeah, do you think it's because of the pandemic or it was going to happen anyway?Katie Boothby-Kung 9:33 Honestly, is a great question. I don't know if I have the right answer to you. I think perhaps the pandemic accelerated this trend. I mean, we were seeing this, as things were kind of heating up in in March and April: this idea of shopping local and "voting with your dollar" and things like that. That became something that people were really talking about, they really wanted to support brands that were helping people throughout the pandemic. I think that there was a stat that I recently read–and I might butcher it a little bit–I think it was something like, I don't want to say it was specifically like 84%, but it was a percentage in the 80s. That said, more consumers were willing to shop from brands that were out there to help those in need during the pandemic. That's a pretty significant stat. Do I think that there was a trend towards more climate action and human rights? So I think that that there was already, but I think that the pandemic certainly helped speed it up.Krissie Leyland 10:40 Yeah, definitely. I think ecommerce in general is just gone mad. Apparently, five years worth of growth has just happened in six months. Yeah.Katie Boothby-Kung 10:55 Okay, that's insane.Krissie Leyland 10:57 I probably butchered that stat as well. So yeah, we need to be mindful of how we're doing it and how we're doing business and ecommerce to make sure that we continue to protect our environment. Okay, so on the topic of the environment, obviously, Shopify did an amazing thing this year during Black Friday: Cyber Monday, to offset all carbon emissions from sales. I'd love to hear more about that and what Shopify achieved.Katie Boothby-Kung 11:37 Totally. I will, I'll represent Stacy in our Sustainability Fund here. So we purchased a wide range of nature-based and engineering offsets under the assumption that all of the solutions have a role to play in the fight to reverse climate change. Our purchases go beyond just buying the offset itself. We purchase offsets to send a demand signal and we're overpaying for these offsets so that companies can then conduct research and pilot projects to refine their technologies. We're helping these companies to scale and bring their costs & prices down. Then by doing that, more buyers can participate. In 2020, it was really exciting, we invested in 13 companies across 10 different industries. We're already seeing companies gain more traction, in part because of our investments. Again, I'm not I'm not the offset expert so if listeners do want to learn more about this initiative, you can google Shopify sustainability, or you can head to our website, and it's shopify.com/about/environment.Krissie Leyland 12:50 Amazing. Everyone should definitely go look at that and look at the specific projects that you worked with to offset carbon emissions, because that's super interesting. One big thing about offsetting is to always make sure that it's actually going to the right projects or another project that you align with. Yeah, so everyone should go and check that out.Katie Boothby-Kung 13:16 Even these offsetting businesses are just so cool to learn about. There's some really cool things happening in this space, for sure, and I think more people should know about it.Krissie Leyland 13:29 And there's so many of them, I think. Obviously, with the community, we've got app companies & tech partners from Shopify, in the community. Honestly, there's about 10 offsetting apps, but it's so interesting, because each one has worked with completely different projects, people and communities. It's like, if you're a brand and you've got an online store, choose the one that you align with the most and really look into it like, "Where will my customers money go? What's the impact that it's going to have?"Katie Boothby-Kung 14:09 100%. I mean, you should be doing that for anything. That's woven into your brand, right? Just understanding your customers, you should know your customers so well that you know, the causes that they care deeply about. If they care about you buying offsets from kelp farms, and you should be doing that. Or if maybe there are some charities that are really important to them, you have a donation app installed into your Shopify store. What are the causes that speak directly to your consumers and what is important to them? That's super important to your brand building.Krissie Leyland 14:53 It's amazing. On that as well, obviously we know that there are apps out there like ShoppingGives and DailyKarma that put the power in the customers' hands so that they can choose the charity that they want to donate to, or the project or whatever it is. I just think that's great, because you're going to feel good about that, aren't you, as a consumer. Plus, then they'll come back. Katie Boothby-Kung 15:23 Sorry, I'm interrupting you, I'm just so excited! I think there's a lot to be said about building these really amazing experiences so that you can make your customer even closer to the impact that you're making through your business. Whatever you can do to make it so that it's not just a click, or it's not just something that seems simple and almost like at the back of your mind. But bringing them into that experience, bringing them into those choices, really allows them to feel like they're part of the impact that you're making. I think that's super important going forward.Krissie Leyland 15:59 Yeah and that just makes really nice customer connections as well, doesn't it? If they feel good about making a purchase with you, they're going to tell their friends & family and be like, "Look, you can go and choose your own charity or whatever!" I love it. I love it. It's so funny, because whenever I do a podcast, I end up talking about either Recurate or ShoppingGives. People are gonna think I'm sponsored, but I'm not.Katie Boothby-Kung 16:31 There are certainly apps that have been around for a while before this trend–I don't want to call it a trend because that makes it seem like it's going to go away–or movement really took off. So giving them a shout out is really great because when you think about some of those donation apps, they've been around for a long time.Krissie Leyland 16:53 I can just imagine how when we go back to normal, and at point of sale in in an actual physical store, I imagine the shop assistant saying, "Okay, so what charity do you want to donate to with your purchase?" Imagine that... online and offline? Katie Boothby-Kung 17:15 Cool, very cool. Definitely.Krissie Leyland 17:19 It's endless, it really is. So, what are some possibilities for tech partners going into 2021?Katie Boothby-Kung 17:30 Oh, my goodness. The possibilities are honestly endless. I feel like at this moment, you're just opening it up for me to share my wish list, which I'm not going to complain about at all. So, they already existed and I mentioned one of our merchants that's using this, but: to have AI tech or VR tech rather ,across all industries to help reduce the rate of returns. Making returns should be avoided because it is causing a lot of carbon emissions, as as you're all aware. By creating these tools that our Shopify merchants can easily plug and play, I think, will be amazing to reduce those emissions. Right now, if you're coming to Shopify, and you're really excited, you already know that you want to build a social enterprise... that's really, really amazing. However, once you realize that you want to become a social enterprise, the how and sourcing that first product can be a bit of an uphill battle. I know this isn't quite a tech partner, but even just thinking about like the experts in our ecosystem: how can you help brands source from factories that use smart environmental practices and treat their workers fairly and with respect? Brands can source these types of products faster & easier, get up & running and making their first sale. I know again, you're framing this in terms of how tech is in more of the app partnership community, but I'm even thinking about it from all the cool tech and science companies out there that are building really sweet, environmentally friendly alternative materials.Thinking about fashion and in textile, they're doing some really amazing things! Just this past week, there's brands that are building it out of algae, they're making eather from fruit pulp or they're making it out of recycled fishing nets that they've managed to find in the ocean. This is so incredible. However, when when you're searching for these types of textiles, there isn't really an easy way to get your hands on it. There isn't an "order now" or a "grab a sample, click this" button. So just making those choices easier and making the process–or the workflow from going to the website, discovering a really cool material, and then getting a couple samples so that you can start your production–building something like that would be really, really cool.My call to action for any tech partner listening is just to make sustainability easier for entrepreneurs. They only have a limited amount of time. In many cases, as I'm sure all of you guys are, as well, they're wearing between 20 to a million hats in a given day. So if making a sustainable choice is a really long and difficult process, these entrepreneurs are eventually going to have to opt for easier options, because they're going to have to move on to the next task. And then the next and then the next. They're running a mile a minute trying to run this business. So just making sustainable choices easier for these merchants so that it becomes a no brainer: "Why wouldn't I make a sustainable choice because it's right there in front of me and it's so easy!" Then, you know, boom: they have 20 products in their store and they're all made with sustainable fibers.Krissie Leyland 21:24 I love that so much. Yeah, I've heard about people making products out of seaweed and mushrooms.Katie Boothby-Kung 21:34 Honestly, it blows my mind. What is out there? I've seen some of that mushroom material too. And I'm just like, "Holy smokes. What can't we build products out of like that there?" There's a lot out there. I just think the biggest hurdle for merchants is: how do you go from discovering the product, to getting it in your hands and being like, "Okay, I'm gonna make 20 shirts out of this really cool nylon or something?"Krissie Leyland 22:05 Oh, it's just so exciting. It gives me like a fire in my belly.Katie Boothby-Kung 22:11 It's why I wake up and I'm ready for work: because I'm so pumped to work with these kind of entrepreneurs and tech partners. Krissie Leyland 22:19 Oh me, too. It's amazing. So when you were talking, I was just thinking: what are the barriers for the merchant to be able to get such materials and make products?Katie Boothby-Kung 22:40 I can't speak for all of them because I haven't found all of them. Just based on what I have seen in my passive research, is just that a lot of the times there's a lengthy "contact us" process where you have to go in, contact them & set up a phone call. Whereas, it would just be great if you could just click a button and have a whole swatch palette mailed to you, and then you can have a "kick it off from there" kind of thing. I mean, obviously, there are reasons why some of these brands have it. They're really small and they really want to work with specific brands, because they haven't gotten to the point of larger production.So there is that and I can completely understand. I don't want to dictate how these types of materials should get this to be easier for merchants. Based on my perspective, also, as a merchant who went to one of these websites, and was like, "Woah." because I have a skincare company, right? So it's like, "Hey, I can make these really cool. facecloth out of this material! Okay, how do I do it?" And then it was this whole process and it thought, "Oh my god, I have 20 things to do tonight. I can't think about this. I'll get to it next time." It's that mentality of "I have so many things to do, like I'll get to this later." Whereas if they had given me a button where it said, "get your swatch sent to you," I would have been just be like, "Yep, done. Okay, now I have my swatch and I know that I really want this material, I'll give them a call and make an order."Krissie Leyland 24:31 Hmm, that's so frustrating. I could imagine that. It's so interesting that you've got so many hats yourself. You work for Shopify, you've got your skincare business, which is amazing, by the way. I'm definitely going to invest one day. Yeah, I was just gonna ask actually: are these the things on your wish list as a brand, or coming from Shopify, or both?Katie Boothby-Kung 25:07 Both. I mean, from my Shopify perspective, I want these decisions to be easier for merchants, because it means that more merchants are making sustainable choices in their business, because it's a no brainer. But from a brand persepective, I selfishly want things to be easier so I don't need to spend a whole evening trying to figure out how to order something. I mean, just how I even got started... It took a long time for me to get up and running: finding the right partner and finding the right materials. It took me almost a year just to find the products and the charity partner where I felt like I was ready to launch and I felt comfortable. So it's like, "It takes one year of a solo entrepreneur doing all this research by themselves." So, how can we take that one year and turn it into one month, one week or one day?Krissie Leyland 26:10 Yeah, that'd be so great. Going back to Shopify, Shopify makes it easy to start a business online as an ecommerce business. But yeah, if we could make it easy to be ethical and sustainable, and use all these really cool scientific materials, which oh, my god sounds amazing,Katie Boothby-Kung 26:35 Right?Krissie Leyland 26:36 It's just so exciting. It's phenomenal, really. If we could make that easy... then the job's done.Katie Boothby-Kung 26:48 I mean, there will always be something but whatever we can do–and again, like I'll say this again toeveryone listening–whatever anyone can do in this world to make sustainable choices easier, let's do it! It's unstoppable at this point.Krissie Leyland 27:06 Yeah. So what is Shopify achieved when it comes to having a positive impact in the world? How is Shopify using commerce as a force for good?Katie Boothby-Kung 27:22 Wow. Well, that's definitely a loaded question. How much time do we have on this podcast? I mean, I can talk all day... Even just going back to the roots of the company, right? Shopify, by design is bringing social impact to the world. If you think about it, a decade ago, people couldn't just wake up one day and start an online business. They had to consider the huge financial burden, how to get a website set up & who could help them with this. There's so many steps that these folks had to take for starting a business. So when Toby started Shopify, he was able to reduce the amount of time and money to start a business, and then get people to realize their independence without having to spend their life savings to start an online business. So by reducing these barriers, more people can realize their dream of becoming an entrepreneur. I think that's impact itself, right? Just the existence of the Shopify merchants, they're able to contribute to economic growth, building their communities & employing people. So I think it's pretty incredible, the impact that one merchant had on their community and in the economy.Then enter my team. We've been working with communities around the world for quite some time. We've been working with under-resourced tech and entrepreneurship communities via partnerships, education, and even sometimes sponsorship. Just this past year, for my portfolio in particular, I've looked for ways to engage and support our social entrepreneur community. As as you know, Krissie, because you're in part of these. So you know, creating an online forum, where folks can come and ask all their questions and get help from our support team when it comes to specifically creating a social enterprise. We have online networking hubs, meetups & panels. Also just a couple days ago, we filmed our first ever Compass Course on building and scaling a social enterprise on Shopify. So there are a lot of really cool things that are that are happening right now where people can come together. They can learn from from either our education team, they can learn from each other or they can build these networks & these connections with one another. So I think that that's really powerful.Krissie Leyland 29:55 Oh my god, you're just speaking my language. Oh, I love it so much. I love how aligned MindfulCommerce is with Shopify.Katie Boothby-Kung 30:07 It's how we became friends, isn't it?Krissie Leyland 30:09 Yeah, yeah! It's just great... Um, damn it. I forgot what I was gonna say. I was too excited. Oh, yeah! Tell me about the video course that you were filming. I saw a sneak peek on Instagram. Looks very exciting.Katie Boothby-Kung 30:29 So it's like a social enterprise one-on-one introductory course. We do cover a lot of topics. We obviously we talked about sustainability, we talked about what social enterprises and you know, this intersection between environmental action and human rights. Then we drill down into each of those. Like, "What does environmental impacts look like for your business?" and, "What can you be doing within your business to create environmental impact?" then, "How can you befostering human rights and taking care of the people in your supply chain, building diversity and inclusion within your own company?" and then "How to support the communities that you engage with and that your customers really resonate with?" I mean, you're gonna have to write a lot of notes down, and you might have to give it a listen acouple of times...Krissie Leyland 31:29 So if there's somebody listening, who wants to get involved with anything that you're doing, actually, how can they do that?Katie Boothby-Kung 31:41 The community forum is open for anyone. Just head onto Shopify Community, and you'll see it listed there as social impact businesses. You can head in there and ask any of your questions. Whether it's the community that's there to help you answer it, or myself or someone from our Shopify support team, then you know, we have your back, and we're there to help you. Then there's our Slack channel. You just need to fill out a form. I will send that over to you, Krissie, so that if anyone's interested in applying to join the Slack channel, then they can do that. We also always tell folks when we're having these meetups and things like that. So if you are a Shopify merchant, we do our best to put that within our newsletter that we send out so that you know, when these types of meetups are happening. And I don't want to have any spoilers, but there are going to be some other very cool ways that you can get involved too, and we'll just keep everyone posted.Krissie Leyland 32:54 Ooh, very good. And just so the listeners know, if you are in the MindfulCommerce Community, there's a link to Katie's Slack channel in there as well. Anyways, that was funny, because I was gonna say that bit at the end, but it just seemed right, because we were talking about it. Other than Shopify, who else do you think is leading the way to a more sustainable and positively impactful ecommerce world?Katie Boothby-Kung 33:35 Wow. There are a lot of really great players in this space, so I don't think I'll be able to name them all. However, a brand that comes to mind specifically is Kotn, they're based out of Toronto. They've done some really incredible work to support the employees within their entire supply chain, "from farm to T shirt" kind of thing. They're just really leading the way in terms of the transparency of how their clothes are made, and what they're made with. So I think that they're a very good example of that intersection between human rights and environmental action. I think they're doing a really, really great job.Another really cool one is called Son of a Tailor and they're doing made to order, on demand. That in of itself has some very positive environmental impacts. I think that anyone doing made to order successfully are doing some really great things for their their environmental footprint. So that's awesome.And then I mean, obviously, you guys: MindfulCommerce. It goes without saying. You guys are building this really, really incredible community where people can come together. I mean, that directory in of itself! Before you guys there was never really a home for these types of experts and partners who specifically worked with sustainable brands to be all under one roof. Now, you know, you're throwing this awesome epic party for all these partners at MindfulCommerce. By doing that, think of the time and energy you're saving merchants who are looking to work with a sustainable partner because they can know that they just have to come to MindfulCommerce. They're going to be able to find on so much there. So, thank you for doing that because that is having a lot of impact for our merchants looking for work with more sustainable partners.Krissie Leyland 35:47 Thank you so much, that's so nice. And thank you for your input on the research project. I was listening back on this, this is this is amazing. This is just what we needed. That's great, I'm glad you like it. So, it's the start of the year... I just thought might be nice to look ahead a little bit. What's next for Shopify in relation to sustainability and social impact?Katie Boothby-Kung 36:20 We're still charting some of this out, but what I can tell you is that we will definitely continue to deepen our support for black and indigenous entrepreneurs over the coming months. That's including our 1 million black businesses initiative that we announced with Operation Hope, later last year. We'll also continue to build support for our social impact initiatives like Open Learning program that's working with the post secondary education students, our STEM education outreach with young girls in particular, and of course, the work that we're doing to support and grow social enterprises on Shopify. So there is lots happening. I can't speak specifically on the fund, so you'll have to poke Stacy for that information but I'm sure that they have some pretty big and exciting goals that they're going to be working on this year.Krissie Leyland 37:15 I'm just so impressed. There's so much that you, Shopify & the sustainability team are doing. I just hope that other platforms will follow in your footsteps, because that would just be amazing. Finally, do you have any advice for anyone who would like to find a role like yours at Shopify? I added that one in...Katie Boothby-Kung 37:52 I mean, it's a great question. When I think about kind of how I landed in my position here at Shopify: I just kept talking about this all the time with people that would listen to me. I remember, I had this old deck. It's fun to look at, because I made it three years ago. It was all about building social enterprises on Shopify and I remember I sent it to a bunch of people. Then, here I am. Just, if your company has the appetite for it, and this is a job that you want, then go get it. Go start talking to people. Go tell them that this is important to you. Go show them why you're the right person for that job, for sure. Depending on what company you work for, you might need to wait a little bit of time. Maybe there isn't an appetite for this right now and that's okay. Just keep pushing for it. Keep talking about sustainability. Kep talking about social impact. Depending on where you work, if there's nothing stopping you from doing small initiatives off the side of your desk... that's showing initiative, that it's showing that nside of your day to day, this is something you really care about, that you're willing to put in the time for your company. I mean, if all else fails, you should just quit your job and start your own social enterprise so that then, you are doing it every day.Krissie Leyland 39:23 Yes. I like that. I was just gonna say, basically you created your own job! Obviously, because Shopify are very minded in that way, it was good for you. If your company isn't keen, then just do it yourself. Like I did!Katie Boothby-Kung 39:48 Exactly! I think like whether people are ready to hear what you have to say or not, put in the work now. When I think about it, I was putting in the work before we had changed our team name to Social Impact. There were a few other people that were doing the same as me and now we're all on the same team together. Just put in the work now, and I think it'll pay off tenfold.Krissie Leyland 40:18 Great, I love it. So, I think that's it really. Where can people find you if they'd like to chat about Shopify's approach to social impact, or anything else?Katie Boothby-Kung 40:37 If they're interested in learning more about what we're doing as a company, go to shopify.com/about/environment. There's a lot that you can find out there. Take a look at our community forums. Again, like if you're a social enterprise and you want to join this really rad network of other social enterprises that are hanging out together, then come join our Slack channel. If you want to, see teasers about other things that we're working on, you're more than welcome to follow me on Instagram. It's @katiebkung. That's where we had our course teaser just the other day. If you're a social enterprise, and you just want to reach out, or you have any feedback for us, or if there's a partner that we really should be thinking about, orwhatever will help you guys help and grow your social enterprise: lay it on me. You're more than welcome to send me a message and I would love to hear from you.Krissie Leyland 41:41 Great! Especially if you can tick it off the dream list. Katie Boothby-Kung 41:45 Yes. Get to work, people. Go!Krissie Leyland 41:52 Amazing. Thank you so much.Katie Boothby-Kung 41:54 Thanks Krissie, I've loved this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
(Note: This discussion originally aired back in August.) How do we learn? And how do we learn best? What are the most effective ways of educating today? Our guest is Dr. Sanjay Sarma, who's the leader of the Open Learning program at MIT. He joins us to discuss his book, "Grasp." This pioneering work looks at the science of learning -- i.e., how the acquisition of knowledge works both in the mind and in the classroom. The book also explores which teaching techniques are most effective -- and why -- and how schools should (and should not) use instructional technology, including online teaching apps and programs. As noted in a starred review in Kirkus: "Compelling.... Delightful as well as convincing in its plea that educators place learning over winnowing and access over exclusivity."
Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn by Sanjay Sarma, Luke Yoquinto A groundbreaking look at the science of learning: how it works both in the mind and in the classroom, which teaching techniques are most effective, and how schools should (and absolutely should not) use instructional technology. This is an essential resource for teachers, anyone interested in cutting-edge research into learning, and parents considering the educational alternatives available to their children. As the head of Open Learning at MIT, renowned professor Sanjay Sarma has a daunting job description: to fling open the doors of the MIT experience for the benefit of the wider world. But if you're going to undertake such an ambitious project, you first have to ask: How do we learn? What are the most effective ways of educating? And how can the science of learning transform education to unlock our potential, as individuals and across society? Grasp takes readers across multiple frontiers, from fundamental neuroscience to cognitive psychology and beyond, as it explores the future of learning. Some of its findings: • For educators teaching remotely, online instructional tools have been proven to be a powerful ally when used appropriately—and a dangerous impediment when misapplied. • By structuring its curriculum to better incorporate cutting-edge learning strategies, one law school in Florida has rocketed to the top of its state in bar exam passage rates. • Scientists are studying the role of forgetting, exposing it not as a simple failure of memory but a critical weapon in our learning arsenal. • New developments in neuroimaging are helping us understand how reading works in the brain. It's become possible to identify children who might benefit from specialized dyslexia interventions—before they learn to read. Along the way, Sarma debunks long-held fallacies (such as the noxious idea of "learning styles"), while equipping readers with a set of practical tools for absorbing and retaining information across a lifetime. He presents a vision for learning that's more inclusive and democratic—revealing a world bursting with powerful learners, just waiting for the chance they deserve. Drawing from the author's experience as an educator and the work of researchers and educational innovators at MIT and beyond, Grasp offers scientific and practical insight, promising not just to inform and entertain readers but to open their minds.
Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto share practical insights on how to optimize your learning. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) Three simple tactics that drastically improve how we learn 2) Why you want the learning process to be difficult 3) How to get into the optimal mental state for learning Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep600 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT SANJAY & LUKE — Sanjay Sarma is the head of Open Learning at MIT. A professor of mechanical engineering by training, he has worked in the fields of energy and transportation; computational geometry; computer assisted design; and has been a pioneer in RFID technology. He has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kanpur as well as advanced degrees from Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkeley. Luke Yoquinto is a science writer who covers learning and education, as well as aging and demographic change in his role as a researcher at the MIT AgeLab. His work can be found in publications such as The Washington Post, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. He is a graduate of Boston University's science journalism program. • Book: Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn • Luke's email: lyoquinto@gmail.com • Luke's Twitter: @lukeyoquinto — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Technique: Feynman blank page technique • Tool: Quizlet • Language Learning: Duolingo • Language Learning: Rosetta Stone • Online School: Khan Academy • Book: Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini • Book: Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts by Stanislas Dehaene • Book: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller • Researchers: Robert and Elizabeth Bjork See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
How do we learn? And how do we learn best? What are the most effective ways of educating today? Our guest on ST is Dr. Sanjay Sarma, who's the leader of the Open Learning program at MIT. He joins us to discuss his new book, "Grasp." This pioneering work looks at the science of learning -- i.e., how the acquisition of knowledge works both in the mind and in the classroom. The book also explores which teaching techniques are most effective -- and why -- and how schools should (and should not) use instructional technology, including online teaching apps and programs. As noted in a starred review in Kirkus: "Compelling.... Delightful as well as convincing in its plea that educators place learning over winnowing and access over exclusivity."
Many instructors in recent years have turned to open educational resources (OER) so that their students don’t have to pay for an expensive textbook. And that is indeed one of the foremost benefits of OER. But Professor Elizabeth Siler, who teaches at Worcester State University, has found that using OER offers advantages to instructors too: doing so allows you to teach the material you think your students need to learn, and to teach that material the way you think your students need to learn it, rather than being tied to a prepackaged sequence of material. Professor Siler enjoys being able to select and adapt material for her courses from publicly-available sources. One source that she’s used successfully in teaching negotiation at WSU is the OpenCourseWare version of a course originally taught at MIT by Professor Mary Rowe. In this episode, we talk with both Professor Siler and Professor Rowe about why instructors might decide to share, reuse, and remix course materials, and how that decision plays out in teaching actual courses like their own courses in negotiation.Relevant Resources:MIT OpenCourseWareThe OCW Educator Portal Mary Rowe’s MIT faculty pageElizabeth Siler’s Worcester State University faculty page15.667 Negotiation and Conflict Management on OCWDealing with an Aggressive Competitive Negotiator case study [PDF]Guidelines for writing a Perceived Injurious Experience letter [PDF]Other negotiation courses on OCWMusic in this episode by Blue Dot SessionsConnect with UsIf you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you! On our siteOn FacebookOn TwitterOn InstagramStay CurrentSubscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
No tengas miedo al fracaso. En este episodio, Sanjay Sarma, el actual Vicepresidente de Open Learning en la mejor universidad del mundo : MIT nos invita a cambiar nuestra perspectiva acerca de los fracasos. Sanjay Sarma es un ser humano excepcional: un mentor especial y un líder humilde, a pesar de ser reconocido internacionalmente por su desarrollo en la aplicación de RFID, como uno de los 100 inventos mas importante de la humanidad, destaca su llamado para enseñar y compartir con estudiantes organizaciones y empresas en todo el planeta Su visión , y trabajo, lo ha llevado a desarrollar infinidad de aplicaciones en el mundo del IoT, lo ha llevado a recibir los mayores premios del mundo educativo & empresarial, así como publicar 3 libros The Inversion Factor: How to Thrive in the IoT Economy (MIT Press) September 29, 2017 RFID Technology and Applications (Cambridge University Press) June 9, 2008 The Internet of Things: First International Conference, IOT 2008, Zurich, Switzerland, March 26-28, 2008, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) 2008 Edition A Sanjay le encanta compartir su conocimiento, y cada otoño, El; personalmente lidera el curso de Innovación Radical, donde comparte toda su experiencia & Insights acerca del mundo de innovación. Acompaña a Sanjay, en su particular modo de ver la vida, con un enfoque optimista que nos invita a conquistarnos desde adentro, para re-invitarnos, y dejar una huella positiva Sigue su huella y trabajo en http://www.sanjaysarma.org/ http://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/sesarma@mit.edu Para un extra de inspiración, recuerda seguirnos en nuestra redes sociales https://www.instagram.com/detravesias_/ https://www.facebook.com/Detravesias1/
Morgans Adviser Chris Titley chats with Adam Brimo, co-founder and CEO of ASX Listed Openlearning Limited (ASX:OLL). Adam goes in to detail about why and how they built the business and how online education has been transformed on it’s head in recent months. He talks about the liquidity of online marketplaces and how to balance the content with the users that want to consume, as well the some traction they are seeing with the University sector. Adam also discusses how they have positioned the business to be global, as well as some advice for other business leaders.
Morgans Adviser Chris Titley chats with Adam Brimo, co-founder and CEO of ASX Listed Openlearning Limited (ASX:OLL). Adam goes in to detail about why and how they built the business and how online education has been transformed on it's head in recent months. He talks about the liquidity of online marketplaces and how to balance the content with the users that want to consume, as well the some traction they are seeing with the University sector. Adam also discusses how they have positioned the business to be global, as well as some advice for other business leaders.
Thompson Rivers University is the first in North America to offer an international credential transfer based on open educational resources that are available free online. It is also among the first in the world to recognize micro-credit transfer toward a university-level qualification. Don Poirier, associate vice-president of Open Learning joins me to discuss these opportunities. I am joined by a petroleum analyst to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Kamloops Civic Facilities manager discusses getting local artists to paint garbage bins to make them a little bit more attractive. And The President of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce discusses how local businesses are doing when it comes to the restart plan and he also puts on his other hat with the local Accommodation Society to discuss how the hotel industry is handling things.
Thompson Rivers University is looking to make free online education more accessible around the world—a resource that's more important than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered classrooms, and one that more institutions are considering as education moves increasingly online. TRU is the first in North America to offer an international credential transfer based on open educational resources that are available free online. It is also among the first in the world to recognize micro-credit transfer toward a university-level qualification. Don Poirier, associate vice-president of Open Learning joins me to discuss these opportunities.
Please join us for a conversation with some of the most innovative voices in American higher education. How might we use this crisis and disruption in university life as an opportunity to re-imagine and transform our systems of higher education and knowledge diffusion? How might we better prepare students and communities to navigate a world of ever-increasing complexity and planetary distress with wisdom, skill, mindfulness, well-being, and creativity? With so many universities re-thinking their educational models in these unique times, is there an opportunity for offering new models of world-class, cost-effective learning to support deeper wisdom, innovation and conscious transformation? Some of the leading voices involved in transforming higher education will be in conversation about the unique challenges and opportunities of these times. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer in the MIT Management Sloan School and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He introduced the concept of “presencing”—learning from the emerging future—in his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with P. Senge et al). He is coauthor of Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points for transforming our social, economic, ecological and political systems. His most recent book, The Essentials of Theory U, summarizes the core principles and applications of awareness-based systems change. In 2015, Otto co-founded the MITx u.lab, a massive open online course (MOOC) for leading profound change, which has since activated a global eco-system of transformational change involving more than 160,000 users from 185 countries. In March 2020, Otto and his colleagues at the Presencing Institute launched GAIA (Global Activation of Intention and Action), a free, online, deep learning journey, geared toward profound personal, societal, and planetary renewal. Sanjay Sarma serves on the board of edX, the not-for-profit company founded by MIT and Harvard to create and promulgate an open-source platform for the distribution of free online education worldwide. He is the Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, which includes the Office of Digital Learning, the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative and the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab. Sanjay is also a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and a successful innovator and entrepreneur who developed many of the key technologies behind the EPC suite of RFID standards now used worldwide. Leveraging innovation and ideas, Sanjay co-chaired MIT’s Taskforce on the Future of Education in 2012, and subsequently was charged with implementing the recommendations around digital learning in his current senior position at MIT. Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center. Dacher is the host of the Greater Good Science Center’s award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness and is a co-instructor of the massively popular online course of the same name via edX that has over 300,000 enrollments. He is also the best-selling author of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence and Born to Be Good, and a co-editor of The Compassionate Instinct. With his extensive research focusing on the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, beauty, power, social class, and inequality, he was a scientific consultant on Pixar’s film Inside Out. For several years he has worked with Facebook and Google engineers and designers on projects relating to altruism and emotion. The conversation will be moderated by Preeta Bansal and Nipun Mehta. Preeta Bansal has been a Lecturer at the MIT Media Lab, drawing on network science, physics and biology, and the role of new technologies, in re-imagining and piloting new social designs and architectures that amplify small shifts in behavior and consciousness to support the emergence of new political, social, and economic frameworks. After a long career scaling the heights of external and institutional power as a constitutional lawyer, she has spent much of the last decade deeply plumbing depths of being for the source of internal power. Her prior roles include serving as a General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor in the Obama White House, Solicitor General of the State of New York, partner and practice chair at a leading corporate law firm in New York City, global general counsel in London for one of the world’s largest banks, a US diplomat and Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. She advised on the drafting of the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Her lifelong passion for service, which for the first half of her life took the form of public service, is now finding expression in ServiceSpace, an ecosystem in which she is a global anchor and volunteer. Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global community at the intersection of technology, volunteerism and gift-economy. Most recently, ServiceSpace's pandemic response has showcased the unique beauty of its global ecosystem. Nipun has catalyzed a global social movement of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted in practices for cultivating love, nonviolence, selfless service, and compassion. The ecosystem has reached millions, attracted thousands of volunteers, and mushroomed into numerous community-based service projects as well as inspiring content portals. ServiceSpace harnesses the collective power of networks and our deeper interconnectedness to create a distributed social movement founded on small, local individual acts of kindness, generosity and service that ignite shifts in individual and collective consciousness. Nipun was honored as an "unsung hero of compassion" by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressing poverty and inequality in the US. Yet the core of what strikes anyone who meets him is the way his life is an attempt to bring smiles in the world and silence in his heart: “I want to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly. That's me.”
In recent weeks, we’ve been discussing what leaders do in a crisis. This week, we share an update from a discussion last November with Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL. In the past six weeks, AI4ALL has…Released a new Open Learning course about AI and COVID-19 for students and educators. Published a sentiment analysis and NLP curriculum. Made more than 65 hours of AI curricula and teaching guides available for free at olp.ai-4-all.org.Transitioned many 2020 high school summer internships online. Shifted its entire team to fully remote work.Tess is a force of nature. We need more leaders like her who see opportunities in the crisis not to help themselves but to help others first. In Tess’ case, she’s on a mission to bring AI education to high school students around the world. In this episode, listen and learn...What's the future of AI education for high school students?How can we mitigate the impact of AI bias in hiring?How high school students are solving real world problems with AI.How a natural disaster inspired Tess to launch her career in AI education.
During this season of Leading Lines, we’re exploring the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on higher education. A big part of that impact lands on our students. Robin DeRosa is the director of the Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative, or Open CoLab, at Plymouth State University, a public liberal arts institution that’s part of the University. She brought along her colleague Martha Burtis, now a learning and teaching developer at the Open CoLab, and formerly at the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies at the University of Mary Washington. Robin and Martha talk about the challenges our students are facing during this crisis and the ways they and their colleagues are helping to respond to those challenges. They also offered some useful advice for faculty and institutions planning ahead for an uncertain summer and fall. Links • Robin DeRosa’s website, http://robinderosa.net/ • @actualham, Robin DeRosa on Twitter, https://twitter.com/actualham • Martha Burtis’ website, https://marthaburtis.net/ • @mburtis, Martha Burtis on Twitter, https://twitter.com/mburtis • Open CoLab, the Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative, https://colab.plymouthcreate.net/ • “Preparing to Teach During COVID-19,” from the CoLab, https://colab.plymouthcreate.net/covid19/ • Ungrading webinar, https://colab.plymouthcreate.net/resource/ungrading-webinar/ • Ungrading, a Chapbook produced by Martha Burtis and Ashley Hichborn, https://colab.plymouthcreate.net/uncategorized/introducing-ungrading-a-chapbook/ • Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies course website, https://colab.plymouthcreate.net/ids-intro/ids-intro-home/
What now? What next? Insights into Australia's tertiary education sector
The Australian CEO of OpenLearning, Cherie Diaz, joins Claire on the podcast to share her experiences as a former educator and education administrator in taking face-to-face delivery models online. She also shares details of the new platform for micro-credentials (OpenCreds) developed by the team at OpenLearning. If you're interested in the OpenCreds framework you can find details at: https://solutions.openlearning.com/opencreds/-----------------------------------The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au
In our latest episode in our on-going 'Learning 4 Good' season, where we are finding our what corporate L&D can learn from how Non-Governmental Organizations, Private Social Enterprises, and Community Organizations, who are all using Learning and ed tech to build trust and capacity for social good. We’re hearing from the people on the ground who are experimenting to help build skills and capacity in under-served populations and using learning technology and design to build relevant skills for social enterprise and humanitarian leadership, and we’ve got a perfect guest to help us do just that this week: Sheila Jagannathan, Lead Learning Specialist over at The World Bank over at Washington, DC (not an NGO, of course, but still part of the infrastructure fighting global poverty through capacity development, not building, as we’ll soon see). Sheila is also Program Manager of the Bank’s Open Learning Campus, which is part of its Development Economics Knowledge Management practice, which we hear all about in our near-hour together, as well as: her personal journey, which saw her being explored to the ideas of AI pioneer Seymour Pappert back at MIT in the early 1980s which led to her transferring her interests into ed tech and the forerunner of adaptive learning - Intelligent Tutoring; the wide span of her current responsibilities, from monitoring skills development to preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution; how her portfolio fits into the overall mission of the Bank, and the extensive profile of the people she needs to help; why she prefers capacity development to capacity ‘building’ - and why she thinks the latter is no longer a useful concept; why Learning also involves UnLearning, letting go of no longer useful ‘knowledge;' her conviction that investing in early childhood education could be critical for our common future; the importance of Learning Analytics to what The Bank's trying to do; and much more.
What is open learning and how does it work in regular classroom. Open learning was a solution I discovered that I never knew that I needed. It helped me to solve the problem with what to do with a rigid centers rotation when all of my students were working at different levels and different speeds. In this video, I am sharing my journey into open learning. We will explore what it is and why it helps me leverage more voice and choice in my classroom to provide more differentiation in my teaching.
What now? What next? Insights into Australia's tertiary education sector
In this episode Claire reflects on what she learned from the recent ASEAN-Australian Education Dialogue and site visits to two Malaysian VET providers.You can find out more about the ASEAN-Australian Education Dialogue (AAED) at: https://www.aseanaustraliadialogue.comThe AAED digital panelists included representatives from:OpenLearning: https://www.openlearning.comBurst Learning: https://www.burstlearning.aiAJAR: https://www.ajar.id/en/Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang: https://www.usm.myRural Biz: http://www.ruralbiztraining.com.auThe Malaysian Polytechnic that AAED delegates visited is Politeknik Tuanku Sultanah Bahiyah (http://www.ptsb.edu.my/) and the website for the Penang Skills Development Centre is https://www.psdc.org.myThank you to the show's sponsor CareerFAQs (https://www.careerfaqs.com.au)
September 25, 2019Open LearningLearning isn’t intended to fill your mind, it’s supposed to open it.www.bigyellowsticky.com©2019 | @dontheideaguy#learn #mind #education #open #thinking #creativity
Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL, gives an overview of the field of AI and discusses representation in AI careers, the ramifications of not having diversity in tech, the role of allies, and the future of work. AI4ALL AI4ALL Summer Programs "Decoding Diversity"- Intel study on the financial and economic returns to diversity in tech "Tech Leavers Study"- from Kapor Center for Social Impact "There is a diversity crisis in AI, but together we can fix it."- Tess Posner Algorithms of Oppression- Safiya Umoja Noble Automating Inequality- Virginia Eubanks The Gender Shades Project AOC on Automation (SxSW 2019) Opportunity@Work Open Learning Tess on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!
Helen DeWaard teaches digital and media literacy at the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University in Orillia. She has completed a Masters of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia and a Masters of Education from the University of Toronto, OISE. Her passion for teaching and learning with technology stretches back through her career as an elementary school teacher, special education resource teacher and school leader. Her work with digital storytelling, critical digital literacy and teaching with technology connects to global contexts that include digital badges, Virtually Connecting and ISTE Inclusive Learning networks. Helen is serving as an Open Education Fellow with eCampus Ontario as she engages with others in open teaching and learning. She is presently a PhD candidate and an essential contributor and critical friend to OEMConnect.
Kevin & Jake talk about the Irish Open, what you can learn from Steve Stricker, and key take aways from Sung Hyun Park.
Tom Evans (@taevans) is the Manager of Open Learning at THE Ohio State University. Tom discusses what it takes to design MOOCs remembering that there are real, live humans taking the course, the power of the GIF, and what music young grandfathers are listening to these days.
Tom Evans (@taevans) is the Manager of Open Learning at THE Ohio State University. Tom discusses what it takes to design MOOCs remembering that there are real, live humans taking the course, the power of the GIF, and what music young grandfathers are listening to these days.
Debbie Baff talks about surveying social and open learning on episode 248 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
There are a lot of misconceptions about online learning - but our next guest has no time for them. Adam Brimo is the CEO and Founder of OpenLearning, the online social learning platform which is changing education, forever. OpenLearning currently supports over 1.5 million students across 5,000 course, and has been adopted with huge success by leading institutions and government bodies around the world. Listen to this episode to hear from Adam what it's like to build an international business, how you can expect a CEO/founder's role to change overtime as a business grows, and the future of the tertiary and online education space.
Guest: Sarah Withee @geekygirlsarah Full show notes are at https://developeronfire.com/podcast/episode-407-sarah-withee-open-learning
Can you measure what matters?When companies look for employees, they look for candidates that are curious, creative and persistent. So logically, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring in our school system. But how do you measure curiosity or creativity? YJ Kim is a project director at the MIT Office of Open Learning, and she's been working years to answer this question. Yoon Jeon “YJ” Kim is a research scientist at the Teaching Systems Lab. "When we started talking to teachers more about it, we quickly realized that teachers do want to measure, they do want to assess those skills," says Kim "But they often feel like at the end of the day we just have to do standardized testing." Currently, schools assess students on content retention. Using a standardized test, it's relatively easy to do. But there really is no standardized test for curiosity. In response to that, Kim and her colleague, Lousia Rosenheck have been designing what they call "playful assessments." Rosenheck, who is a designer and researcher at MIT, says a lot of the construct behind playful assessments is helping learners recognize what they're good at, how they can improve and how the individual can tell if they're getting better at those things. "Communication is an important skill. But what does that mean? What are the different kinds of communication?" Rosenheck says these are the types of questions they hope their tools can answer. ShadowspectOne of the tools the researchers are designing is called "Shadowspect." It's a game-based assessment that looks like a fun puzzle. Kim says you rotate shapes and figures in the environment, and it measures not just students mathematics strengths, but it also assesses the students spacial reasoning, creativity, and persistence. Shadowspect Screenshot Credit: MIT Teaching Systems Lab "How those things are measured is because we are using a lot of process data that is logged through the gameplay," says Kim. Shawdowspect monitors the things the user moves, clicks and rotates and then it uses those features to make inferences based on how the user solves the puzzles. Rosenheck says they are still in the early stages of development, but they are inviting teachers to join a pilot program that will be starting in the next month or two. Why is it called "playful assessments"?Kim says the notion of playfulness is essential because their goal is to reimagine what assessment really means. The researchers want assessment to go beyond something that students are just passively doing. "If you think about a playground, everybody who comes to a playground are equal players. They share they have fun, and everybody participates in the process of play," says Kim. "When we think about assessment, it's something that's given to students, and they don't really have any say in how they're assessed." What does success look like?Rosenheck knows that if a school can't measure something, it probably won't be a priority for the school. Louisa Rosenheck is a designer and researcher of educational technologies in the MIT Education "Our school system is so focused on assessments that the way it is, things are not going be taught, they are not going to be given priority if we can't assess them," says Rosenheck That's why finding a way to measure skills like curiosity, creativity and persistence are so important. "So if we can find tools and mindsets that show everybody how we can value these skills, then teachers can finally focus more on those, and validate what students are doing, and celebrate the wonderful projects that students are doing that are meaningful to them," says Rosenheck Kim says they can develop great assessment systems that have psychometric qualities, but if teachers are not using the assessments it's not really a win for her. "I have two kids and they talk about how anxious they are when they take quizzes and tests," says Kim. "And I really hope that in 20 years or so,
Now managing director for OpenLearning in Australia, Cherie Diaz has had an interesting career trajectory: after starting out as a classroom teacher, she made the move to the corporate world with Ernst & Young, before progressing through a series of roles and then taking on the OpenLearning gig this past July. It's an interesting one: OpenLearning raised an $8.5 million Series A round led by two Malaysian companies earlier this year to help fund its further expansion across Australia and into Southeast Asia. The startup now has more than 1.3 million students on board learning through the massive open online courses created by its university and vocational education partners. Along with Australian clients including UNSW, the University of Melbourne, and the Federal Government, the startup also has Malaysia's 20 public universities and 34 public polytechnics on board. Gina sat down for a chat with Cherie about her career path, the evolution of OpenLearning's approach to education, and the growth of the company moving forward. See /listener for privacy information.
Now managing director for OpenLearning in Australia, Cherie Diaz has had an interesting career trajectory: after starting out as a classroom teacher, she made the move to the corporate world with Ernst & Young, before progressing through a series of roles and then taking on the OpenLearning gig this past July. It’s an interesting one: OpenLearning raised an $8.5 million Series A round led by two Malaysian companies earlier this year to help fund its further expansion across Australia and into Southeast Asia. The startup now has more than 1.3 million students on board learning through the massive open online courses created by its university and vocational education partners. Along with Australian clients including UNSW, the University of Melbourne, and the Federal Government, the startup also has Malaysia’s 20 public universities and 34 public polytechnics on board. Gina sat down for a chat with Cherie about her career path, the evolution of OpenLearning’s approach to education, and the growth of the company moving forward.
Bienvenidos nuevamente, hoy... qué estudiar.obviamente no específicamente, sino, online, especialización, maestría? colegio?como dije en el Podcast estos son unas páginas de MOOC:Estados Unidos de Norteamérica,:Coursera.Edx.Udemy.Class2go.Venturelab.LearnDash.Udacity.Google Course Builder.Reino Unido:OpenClass-BETA de Pearson Ltd.OpenLearn LabSpace.FutureLearn.Alemania:OpenHPI.Leuphana Digital School.Francia, con 1 plataforma: OpenClassrooms.Australia, con 1 plataforma: OpenLearning.España:Unx.UnedcomaCrypt4youHomuorklab.Miríada XBureau Veritas Business School MOOC - EspañaUPVX - Universidad Politécnica de ValenciaUOCxRecuerda seguirme en instagram como: https://www.instagram.com/siyosoymike/
Bienvenidos nuevamente, hoy... qué estudiar.obviamente no específicamente, sino, online, especialización, maestría? colegio?como dije en el Podcast estos son unas páginas de MOOC:Estados Unidos de Norteamérica,:Coursera.Edx.Udemy.Class2go.Venturelab.LearnDash.Udacity.Google Course Builder.Reino Unido:OpenClass-BETA de Pearson Ltd.OpenLearn LabSpace.FutureLearn.Alemania:OpenHPI.Leuphana Digital School.Francia, con 1 plataforma: OpenClassrooms.Australia, con 1 plataforma: OpenLearning.España:Unx.UnedcomaCrypt4youHomuorklab.Miríada XBureau Veritas Business School MOOC - EspañaUPVX - Universidad Politécnica de ValenciaUOCxRecuerda seguirme en instagram como: https://www.instagram.com/siyosoymike/
Mike, Amanda, and Noah sit down with Anton Andrew, candidate for the 160th PA House district, to talk about environmental advocacy, self-directed learning, Jamaican politics, and, because it's the Democast, food. Music: "Generation to Generation" by Tinmouth, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US
If you want to change the world, listen to some of the guests on my show first. Who do you want to hear from? Guests are Leaders who are making positive change in the world by contributing Solutions to Global Problems.People have figured out how to make their contribution by expressing their unique....Mission: To Empower People to live meaningful fulfilling lives on purpose to create Authentic Impact for People and the Planet. We Value: Positive Projects for People, Planet, Profit, Selling Your Good, Having Grace, Being Gritty, Being Authentic, Sharing Wisdom, and Open Learning.Show Synopisis: Conversations with people who are doing good for the World and still making profits. For people who- are sick of serving the endless cycle of mindless consumerism. - are looking for creative interesting ways to grow a social movement.- want to be empowered to know they contribute to actually make a difference.- want to Choose who their Children's Parents will be.- want to make and impact as their day job Guests Are:Leaders who are making positive change in the world by contributing Solutions to Global Problems.People have figured out how to make their contribution by expressing their unique views and talents.People who stand for creating profitable opportunities for Humanity and the Planet.People who share their doubts and their fears, and the struggles they've overcome.It's about how they found their Purpose to take a stand for Good.I hope you enjoy !
In this episode, Terry Greene (@greeneterry) chats with Nick Baker (@nbaker), Director of the Office of Open Learning at The University of Windsor. Nick tells about all the great things they do and how we might go about getting an Open Learning office at our own institutions.
In this episode, Terry Greene (@greeneterry) chats with Nick Baker (@nbaker), Director of the Office of Open Learning at The University of Windsor. Nick tells about all the great things they do and how we might go about getting an Open Learning office at our own institutions.
This podcast is about the future of learning - a conversation with Prof. Sanjay Sharma, Professor and Vice President for Open Learning at MIT. A quote which nicely sums up the discussion comes from...
Justin Aglio, Director of Innovation and K-4 Academic Achievement, joins us to talk about how the core values of Montour School District create a culture of teacher autonomy and student-centered learning. To better understand learner needs, the district engages in challenge discovery and student shadowing. As a result of this engagement, MSD has structured its schools to encourage exploratory learning and even allows for 40 minutes of unstructured time for teachers to instruct on any topic of their choosing. MSD's culture also pushes self-discovery and agency through calculated risk-taking and the adoption of growth mindsets.
Session 7.2 - Open learning and Africa: capitalising on innovation? by British Council Arts
Safety Podcast, Safety Program, Safety Storytelling, Investigations, Human Performance, Safety Differently, Operational Excellence, Resilience Engineering, Safety and Resilience Incentives On March 22 and 23, 2017, Bob Edwards and Todd Conklin (that is me!) will offer an open workshop on Operational Learning and Learning Teams for Safety Improvement to be held in wonderful Las Vegas, Nevada. You are not only invited - but your presence is requested and needed. In fact, we cannot do the workshop without you. This two-day workshop will give you all the tools and the practice to start operational learning improvement in your organization the very next day! It is fun and I promise a great day. Please plan on attending the workshop. We would love to see you there! This workshop is limited to the first 28 people - so don't think about it too long. The podcast is sponsored by ORCHSE.COM. Thank them for thier support. Thank you for your support as well. It is great to be on this ride with someone as cool as you! Keep listening and tell your friends. Subscribe and write a reveiw as well - it really helps! Thanks!
Sanjay Sarma, vice president for Open Learning, MIT, says that while the IoT will ultimately become integrated into everything we use to adapt to our needs and improve our daily lives, the most important thing we can do with the majority of incoming data is throw it away. He says it is a matter of discipline when it comes to approaching problems in IoT and urges companies to architect products around security first before anything else.
Sanjay Sarma, vice president for Open Learning, MIT, says that while the IoT will ultimately become integrated into everything we use to adapt to our needs and improve our daily lives, the most important thing we can do with the majority of incoming data is throw it away. He says it is a matter of discipline when it comes to approaching problems in IoT and urges companies to architect products around security first before anything else.
Adam Brimo is the CEO of OpenLearning, an online start-up that uses a study for free, pay to be certified business model. OpenLearning recently signed a partnership with TAFE NSW's Hunter institute to launch a new VET platform called Learn.com.au.
Adam Brimo is the CEO of OpenLearning, an online start-up that uses a study for free, pay to be certified business model. OpenLearning recently signed a partnership with TAFE NSW's Hunter institute to launch a new VET platform called Learn.com.au.
Professor John McCafferty discusses his UCD Open Learning module 'Ireland's English Centuries' which looks at the complex blend of identities, allegiances and social changes that shaped the past and continue to shape the Irish present.
Dr Sandy Wilkinson discusses his module - 'The Making of Modern Europe: 1500-2000' which is open to the public through the UCD Open Learning programme.
"Connected Learning TV" (connectedlearning.tv) is a webinar series with organizations, projects, and individuals who align with the Connected Learning vision. http://connectedlearning.tv/open-learning-and-edtech-equitable-future What roles can Open Learning and Educational Technology play in overcoming educational inequalities and providing learners with maximum opportunity and agency?
"Connected Learning TV" (connectedlearning.tv) is a webinar series with organizations, projects, and individuals who align with the Connected Learning vision. http://connectedlearning.tv/open-learning-fan-fiction-communities What does distributed mentoring look like in fan fiction communities, and what can it tell us about open learning?
Cloud Stories | Cloud Accounting Apps | Accounting Ecosystem
Valerie Khoo Valerie Khoo is National Director of the Australian Writers’ Centre, the country’s leading centre for writing courses. With campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Online, the centre has helped more than 17,000 students to get published, change careers, or write with confidence. Valerie is also an adviser and investor in start-ups. Her blog has consistently been named as one of the Top 20 Business Blogs in Australia. Highlights of our conversation: Identifying your passion and turning it into a business success The process, development and delivery of online courses on the Open Learning platform Breaking in and setting up the CRM Infusions soft Online tools Valerie Khoo uses in her business The benefits of learning to write for a business person Transcript Heather: Hello, today I‘m speaking with Valerie Khoo, the National Director of the Australian Writer’s Centre. Hello Valerie, welcome to our show today. Valerie : It’s great to be here Heather. Heather: Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Really appreciate it, I’m really excited about talking with you today and I know from listening to you speak in so many other capacities that our listeners will really appreciate what you have to share with them today. Valerie: Well I hope I can share a few insights that people can learn from. Heather: Sensational, that’s exactly what we want to hear. So Valerie you run the Australian Writer’s Centre which is something that I’ve sort of been involved in on the side. You’ve currently got campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and online and you’ve helped more than 17,000 students which is amazing. Can you give us an outline how your business operates and sort of what sort of courses it offers? Valerie: Sure. As you mentioned we are the Australian Writer’s Centre. We actually just started off in Sydney but then we grew over time. Our first foray into another state was the centre in Melbourne that’s going really well. And then earlier this year we opened in Perth. We have another one in the wings I’ve just been checking out venues for that but that’s yet to be announced. Heather: Anywhere close to me? Valerie: It’s not official yet, I can’t say anything. You’ll have to stay tuned. Heather: I hope it is. Valerie: But we also have a very, very active and large online campus so to speak. About 40-45% of our students study online from all over Australia and the world. What we do is we offer writing courses and they are designed to help people; adults improve their writing, or get published, or change careers or write with just more confidence. So they are in all different genres of writing and the beauty about our course is they’re pretty short. So you can just do a tester, you can do five weeks, or you can do a weekend course that sort of thing. The good thing is if you decide that you like it you can build on it. You can do the next course, and you can do the next course and they’re all relatively short so that it’s all in manageable bite size chunks. We find that, as with most people these days’ time is a scarce commodity so we want to make sure that it’s something that people can do and commit to. Heather: That’s interesting; I hadn’t realised they were around as being short courses that you have like this first course, then second course. You’re completely right. People get overwhelmed if it’s too much involved. I know that while they are short courses I’ve done two of them now. They’re packed with lots of insight and information. Valerie: Yeah that’s one thing I’m really committed to because I’m a course junkie from way back and I’ve done many, many courses. I’m never without doing a course and one of the things I don’t’ like about some courses is when they treat you like a dummy or treat you like an idiot. They think you’re not capable of learning more and I do believe people are capable of learning more. I do believe that people want to learn more and have a thirst of that knowledge. So I make sure that we do have a lot of information and really interesting things in our courses. Heather: Absolutely, that’s sensational. I completely agree with that. People are really into content specific courses these days and it probably leads to a whole other conversation of whether people need to go out and do further education. Whether they should just tailor their life around content specific short courses like the ones you offer. Why did you actually start your business? Valerie: Well I started it because I was at a period in my life when I was thinking to myself I really want to do something different and I really want to make a difference in people’s lives. But I also needed to eat and pay the mortgage. I thought to myself well what am I passionate about? And as clichéd as this may sound it is the honest to God truth, what I love doing, what gets me excited is when I help people realise their potential. Or help people realize the steps that they can take to get what they really want in life or achieve what they really want as a goal. So I know that sounds little bit ra-ra. Heather: No it doesn’t, I’ve seen you in action so I’m not going to disagree with that because I know that you do that and I know that you’re very good actually pinpointing people. I’m not speaking about myself but I’ve seen you in action pinpointing people and just extracting what bringing the cream to the top and saying go for it. Valerie: I just love doing it and I love to see them go on that journey and nothing makes me happier. I thought well okay could I do? I didn’t want to be a life coach really or didn’t want to be a business coach. But I did have the technical skill; I was very experienced with writing, success as a writer. I thought well while I may not be able to help somebody climb Mount Everest because I would have no idea or win at Master Chef because you know I can’t cook. I could certainly help them with their writing goals. That’s where it started. What’s interesting though is even though that’s where it started and I thought okay I can help people achieve their writing dreams because I can teach them that technical skill and I can provide courses that can equip them with the right skills, it actually spilled over a lot. Because even though it starts off as writing, some people discover writing and it actually changes their life because they can suddenly have a lifestyle that they wanted, or they can actually can earn more money than they thought than they would as a stay at home mom perhaps. They get more confidence in doing something that they’ve always wanted to do. It’s just been the most rewarding experience so that’s where it started, me kind of trying to marry my passion with the technical skill if you know what I mean. Heather: How long did it take you to formulate your passion? Valerie: I think my passion has been with me for a long time. I kind of even remember I think I’ve just always felt this way because even my friends will tell you that I’m slightly annoying in that I’m the one when you catch up for drinks, or dinner or whatever I’m the one that says, “Of course you can do it.” Just do this, do this, do this- you know what I mean. So I’m a little bit of a- they probably think I’m a little bit of a nagger even though I think I’m a cheer squad. So it’s something that I’ve always done for as long as I can remember. But it took me just a little while to articulate it and figure it out when I was thinking what I wanted to do for my business or my career. Heather: It’s interesting that isn’t it? When you actually need to do it to monetise it, it’s like what’s my passion? It can take people a second to think about it. Valerie: Yeah, I didn’t really know. I didn’t sort of identify it until I thought well what really fuels me and I sat down and made myself think about that and I realized that’s what I do to all my friends is what I love because I care about them and I want to see them succeed. It expanded from there. Heather: Excellent. So can I ask you, what platform are the business online courses built on? Valerie: Lots of different parts. Heather: I grammatically phrased that really badly. Valerie: We understood you so that’s okay. Lots of different ones but the main one that the online course specifically is built on is an application called Open Learning which is a fantastic company in Sydney. I’m fortunate enough to also be one of their advisors because I really believe in their product. Basically it’s an online learning platform so like a learning management system which is designed to obviously deliver online courses but design for the students to have a great user experience that is similar to sort of Facebook. In the sense because so many people are used to that these days so then you can reply to each other, you can like each other’s comments, you can dip into different areas. Just like in Facebook you dip into different pages, or groups, or whatever. Yeah it’s called Open Learning. Heather: Okay, thank you for sharing that with us. How long does it take you to go through the development of a course? Sort of what process do you go through? Valerie: You mean from scratch? Heather: I guess so, from the formulation or conception of a course. Valerie: Forever. Heather: Forever, okay. Valerie: It takes a really long time to be honest. Because typically we start our courses in a classroom setting, in real life, in most cases. Because that is where you figure out what works and what doesn’t, you know what I mean. You get immediate reactions to certain things and you can see all the pennies drop, or you can see blank faces. Typically we start off in a classroom experience and once we know that we’ve nailed it, and then we know that we can turn this into an online course. And that takes way more time than you think; it’s a lot of work. Heather: I think it takes a long time in that I’ve tried to develop my own and it’s like, it’s life sapping. Wow. Valerie: It takes a really long time because you need to make sure that every I is dotted and every T is crossed because you just never know when someone’s listening. They could be listening on the bus, or in front of the computer, or doing the laundry or whatever in the car. You’ve got to make sure that the information is conveyed not in a lecture style but almost in a conversational story telling style so that it’s easily absorbed and remembered. It takes quite a while to change information into something that’s digestible like that because unlike a classroom course you can see people’s reactions on their faces. They can ask you a question immediately and you can fill in that particular gap. You have to think of every gap at first before you do an online course so that all those gaps are already filled and that any possible question is answered. Of course people may still have their own other questions and certainly in our course they have the opportunity to ask them but in the first instance you need to make sure that as much as possible is covered. And so it’s not only the creation and the structure, and the design of the course, it’s then also the creation of the actual course materials. The MP3s, the handouts, the online delivery all that kind of stuff. So yeah a long time. Heather: It’s interesting to hear you say that because you didn’t have a teacher’s background did you? Valerie: But I lectured at Sydney University at both within the faculty of Economics but also I did for years I was a teacher at the Centre for Continuing Education at Sydney University. Heather: That gives you an understanding of the course development from a teacher’s perspective. Because I always kind of wondered whether you had teachers in there just guiding on that structure of things rather than coming along as the expert and applying it. Valerie: I had that background for oh gosh, I was lecture at Sydney Uni more than 20 years ago. Heather: So what’s the most popular course that you offer these days? Valerie: I would say that creative writing is currently very popular. They all go in peaks and troughs of course depending on what’s fashionable at the time. Creative writing is very popular and is a perennially popular one because it is a great first step for people who think they might be interested in writing. They’re not sure but they love reading or they kind of, in the back of their mind think that they love to write a novel one day. They just love telling stories. That’s a good one because then people get a taste for what it’s like in a slightly more structured environment so then they kind of see yeah that structure actually helps my writing. And I might be taking the next step. Heather: It’s interesting seeing people because I’m in one of your community groups and seeing people, how they kind of need to be prodded along by people. My goal posts and settings, and people are encouraged and motivated by other people pushing them along or other people doing what they’re doing. That is interesting. Valerie: Definitely, it’s inspiring to see. Heather: It’s very inspiring. The Writer’s Centre has had so much success which has been so impressive for what you’ve done. I understand you use a product called Infusionsoft, do you still use that product? Valerie: I do. Heather: Okay, so Infusionsoft for those who are listening is a sales and marketing automation software for small business that combines CRM, email marketing and ecommerce. That was a pre-prepared question because I thought I’ll go on the website and make sure I get everything that it does. Can you give listeners a bit of an insight about this Infusionsoft product and how you’re using it, and what it’s done for your business? Valerie: So basically as you mentioned Infusionsoft is a cloud based application that uses a combination of a CRM but also has an email marketing function. It has kind of like ten bazillion features of which I’m using maybe five, not quite. We are using quite a few of the features but there are many more that suit different types of industries and businesses which just wouldn’t be relevant for my particular business. So we have only been using that since around January 2014. I had actually explored it a few years ago and when I was exploring similar applications to decide which one to use and I decided against it at the time. I wasn’t impressed with it at the time to be honest. But over the last sort of year or prior to moving to it, quite a few people who I respect said that they had started using it and that they were finding it good. I thought it was time to give it a second look and so I did a lot of research again and decided to give it a second look. And I ended up deciding to give it a second go. It’s worked out well so far, I’m glad we made the decision to move to it. We were on a different application before that and so what it does is that it powers back end if you know what I mean. That means the back end when you book into a course, or so in terms of communication to students and perspective students that’s done by Infusionsoft. In some cases you may fill in some web forms and that’s done by Infusionsoft. The delivery of the courses is not done by Infusionsoft as I mentioned that’s done through Open Learning. But essentially it powers our back end. The booking system, and the communication system, and the database system. Heather: No, it sounds very impressive. It seems to sound like you have to set up a huge number of email templates. People have told me about it sort of responsive to everyone’s reaction to different ways to the way that they react and what they’re interested in. Valerie: You can make it really complex where you have a bazillion email templates because you may have really complex sort of decision trees. If someone clicks on this then they get this email, if they do not click on this than they get this email. If they do not click on this after five days then they get an email. But we haven’t actually gone to that level of complexity. As is its simpler than that. At this stage, however there is potential for you to create really complex journeys if you want to. Heather: Yeah absolutely. One of the things that’s always impressed me about you is I know how thorough you are about researching something. You’re actually using something I know a huge amount of researchers got into that product. Valerie: Yes. Heather: And it does seem to be that more businesses in Australia are exploring that product and seeing good results. As with anything it needs to be properly implemented so I’m sure that took you a bit of time and there are a few experts out there who do the implementation. Because you did a course didn’t you or something like that, or training sessions with them. Valerie: I think I was really lucky in the sense that typically what I found, I’ve meet many Infusionsoft users now and typically what I have found is that a huge number of them like almost all of them who aren’t Infusionsoft consultants. Almost all of the non-consultants, just like normal businesses say yeah I had it for six months or a year and I only did one campaign. Then I finally decided to get into it and oh my God it blew my mind and I realized I could have been saving so much time over the last year. So people seem to get it because they realize it’s a good idea but they seem to step very slowly into it because it can seem kind of overwhelming and daunting. However we were in this unique situation where we decided it’s going to start in January. And our quietest time of year is the period between Christmas and New Year. Heather: Really that’s surprising. Valerie: For obvious reasons you know. Everyone’s just on holidays in Christmas and New Year. Heather: And not being creative. Valerie: They start on January 1 their New Year’s resolutions but Christmas and New Year they’re busy eating, drinking. We had no choice but to create the entire business of Infusionsoft between Christmas and New Year. Heather: Of course no choice whatsoever, yes. Valerie: I had no Christmas break. Every working hour I was creating Infusionsoft campaigns. I was kind of lucky in the sense that I went bang straight into it, very in depth and therefore got to learn it very quickly. I didn’t do that stepped approach so I got to understand what its capabilities in a very short concentrated space of time. Yeah it was an interesting period. Heather: It’s interesting to hear you like you’re a national director of a big organisation with numerous employees and you actually say I went in, I got into the detail, I know how to do it. So it’s always one of those things I like I always wonder in business, I get very into the detail. I’m like maybe I should be pulling back from the detail. It’s interesting to hear you say that you really got into the detail of it. Valerie: Probably that’s because I have a curiosity. Heather: Yeah. Valerie: Probably because I just am a little bit geeky and I kind of want to know stuff. Once I know a certain level and once I know I have the staff member who knows way more than me about this, I step back and I let it go. But you know it was new to every staff member at that time so we were all starting at ground zero. We all had to learn it. Heather: They all like spending their Christmas with you, hulking down on working with Infusionsoft. Valerie: Not quite. We didn’t to make the Christmas and New Year but as soon as one or I think two January we were straight into it. But you were referring to a course I didn’t actually go to a course. I went to a conference run by Infusionsoft in Phoenix, Arizona which interestingly wasn’t all about the platform itself. Only about 30% of the sessions were platform specific, the rest was about marketing and growing a business. Heather: Interesting, that’s interesting that they do that. Cool. Okay I’m sure some of our listeners will find that product interesting if they’re not already using it. Go off and explore that. In your business you’ve mentioned that you have a tendency to be a bit geeky and curious. What other online tools do you use in your business that you think your listeners might benefit from? Valerie: Cloud File storage changed my life. So it’s really normal now but I’ve been using it for years and years. The fact that I can be on any device in any city, well any of my devices. Because I spend a lot of time in between Sydney and Melbourne and here I have an office in Sydney but I have a home in Sydney. And then I have an office in Melbourne and a home in Melbourne. There’s already four places that I got devices that I spend time to work. I needed from years ago I wanted something to liberate me from the desk, from the single computer and so the first thing I discovered which I still love is SugarSync which is cloud file syncing application. Of course similar things can be done with Google Drive, and Dropbox, and Cubby and I use all of them actually for different reasons. For me I love SugarSync the best. But because they all have slightly different limitations and parameters, Sugar Sync it doesn’t do everything. It doesn’t work with a server whereas Cubby works with a server and Google Drive works with server. Dropbox is a little bit annoying because you have to put everything in the Dropbox. So yeah. I think that cloud file sharing services just liberates you so that you can actually work from anywhere with internet. Heather: Absolutely, they are amazing. Amazing tools. When you have SugarSync can you just go and like search and it will just pull up the document you’re searching for? Valerie: You have it locally on your computer that’s the bit that I love as well. Even if you do it and you change it locally on your Macbook, on your laptop it will sync to the cloud and this cloud will then sync to every other device where it’s also stored locally. You can just base it in the cloud if you want but I like having my files locally on whatever I’m working on. Heather: Yeah absolutely. I think it’s also quicker if you do that. Just push it to the cloud but if you’re using it, if you can pull it back down and work on it, and then push it back up into the cloud. Valerie: Definitely. Heather: I think it all comes down to sometimes the speed of the internet connection. I know sometimes we see you frustrated by your internet connection in certain areas of Australia. Valerie: Yes. Heather: So having that versatility is beneficial. Do you use cloud accounting? Valerie: That’s definitely been a game changer to have cloud accounting. I remember the days when I just had to go to this particular computer in the office. I could only use that computer because that’s where the accounting license was on. Therefore I had to drive in at specific times to do it whereas with cloud accounting you can do it anywhere, from wherever you want and it’s so easy to transfer the files, or to look it up from a whole other country. I love that. The other one it’s not about business but I love it to pieces which is sort of cloud based is two things the Foxtel TV guide, I love it to pieces because I can be in Las Vegas and go oh my god I got to tape The Good Wife or whatever. I can be in my hotel room in Las Vegas because I’ve got two Foxtel boxes. I can choose which room even to tape it. Heather: Really. So you set it up and you can set it up to record and you come home and you’ve got all your recording sitting there. Valerie; I love the Foxtel app. Heather: Well that’s cool and is it like on your iPhone? Valerie: Your iPhone or your iPad. You can be having a conversation with somebody. Oh have you seen that documentary about whatever and you can search for it on the Foxtel app. And when you find it you can just tape it and choose to tape it in my bedroom, or in lounge room. Heather: Excellent. That’s a great share, I’m sure people can record some business shows on their using that as well. Many of our listeners probably come from a business background so what course does the Australian Writer’s Centre offer that you recommend to a business person interested in writing? Valerie: it depends on what they want to write. But typically most business owners I find are keen to do a couple of things. Potentially write a blog in order to build their profile but also to write for the industry publications, or even consumer publications to build their profile. One course that I think is useful is the course Magazine and Newspaper writing because even if you don’t necessarily want to write for a newspaper, what it teaches you is a great structure for any article that can translate to a blog post but is ideal for writing articles for magazines. That’s a great way to build your profile when you have a column or a regular article placement in your industry magazine. One of the things it also teaches you is when you understand how journalists want to write the magazine article and if you’re on the other side of the fence like you’re being interviewed you can also help them with the kind of content that’s going to make the magazine article sound good if you know what I mean. Heather: Absolutely. That’s actually been an interesting phenomena that I’ve been realising lately in that I did one of those courses and got a lot of blog posts out there and they don’t take a long time to write it but then you see a journalist looking for a source to talk about X, Y, Zed and you know what the key things are to tell them, to entice them to use you. And then you’re like well I didn’t have to write the article, I got an article in Sydney Morning Herald and I’m quoted as the expert and it took maybe ten minutes work. Valerie: That’s right. Heather: You do learn that structure from these are the key thing that I should be highlighting and this is a way to phrase a sentence, etcetera. Whereas sometimes you speak to people and they don’t get to that point quickly. Valerie: Yeah exactly right. Heather: That’s really good. Now one of the questions I wanted to ask of you was, you had been involved with a lot of podcasts and I know you currently, what’s the name of it. You’re doing a writer’s podcast with Alison. Valerie: Yeah it’s called So You Want to be a Writer and it’s with Alison Tate. Heather: Yes, and it was recently featured on the best new podcasts or new featured podcasts on iTunes is that correct. Valerie: Yeah new and noteworthy. Heather: New and noteworthy podcast that’s very good. So what suggestions do you have for me since starting up a new podcast. Valerie: Do something that you’re passionate about. Clearly your passion is about various concepts to do with cloud, and productivity that can be enhanced as a result of cloud which I think is a wonderful niche. I think cloud is a game changer. People often think cloud and they just think cloud accounting but there are so many applications that are really useful in the cloud. I probably use even another 20 but they’re such a normal part of my life I don’t even think, I’m going to use the cloud you know what I mean. Heather: I think that’s right. People turn to me and go, well how do you manage to get so much done? It’s like well I just sort of activate this, and I activate that and it’s all done. But yeah it does make life easier, it’s quite funny. I did a productivity session in a meeting business group the other day and the outcome of the productivity session was sharing calendars with your children to get them to do the work as well. But yeah it was kind of interesting how you do adopt a lot of them without even thinking about it. Valerie: Yeah absolutely. Heather: So you’ve told us the future for Australian Writer’s Centre, you’re perhaps looking at having another location here in Australia. IS there anything else in the future for the Australian Writers Centre? Valerie: Well we definitely will be transforming more of our business writing courses online. Because we find that there’s a real need for people to access that information wherever they are. They can’t necessarily take a day off work to come to a cause, a business writing course, because these are typically one day courses during the day in a week. And also if we can transform them into online courses which are modularised, people can do two hours each and they might be able to do two hours on Wednesday, or two hours on Friday. They didn’t have to do it in a whole chunk of time. That’s definitely one of the next things on our agenda. Quite a few people have asked for various courses to be transformed online and we’re definitely looking into that. As I mentioned it’s a very long and involved process. We just need to decide in which order we’re going to deliver them. Heather: Yeah absolutely. So Valerie one last question for you. What advice would you have for your 17 year old self? Valerie: Oh my goodness what a good question. Okay that’s quite a hard one. My 17 year old self, I would say- that’s a really tough one. I would say that if it was specifically to me I would say that, see I was very lucky in that even at 17 I truly believed that anything was possible. But what I didn’t know was that sometimes in life things, circumstances, people will disappoint you. Will let you down. That’s okay. Don’t let it in the way of you or don’t let it get you down even if they let you down. Just accept that that’s part of life. It may not have been personal, or anything like that. It’s just going to happen throughout life. But don’t even sort of try and view it as a letdown just kind of go okay, and move on. Don’t take it to heart. I don’t want to end on a negative thing though. Heather: Because I asked that question because I have a 17 year old child myself and so I’m asking that question of everyone sort of thinking that he’s going out into the world. It’s kind of what does he need to know or how is he going to quickly get to where he needs to get to. I know you’re a CPA, would you have still gone down that route? Valerie: What do you mean would I have still gone down- Heather: Because you went and did accounting initially didn’t you? Valerie: Yeah, no I still would have taken the route that I’ve taken now. Because I always fundamentally believed in doing what you love. I just happen to love writing more. I would have definitely gone down this path anyway because it was just what was going to be nagging at me. Like I would have always felt that thing inside me, that itch that I had to scratch and I knew I had to go down this path in a sense. But if I had to I would just have sort of changed it around a bit. If I had to give advice to your 17 year old son as opposed to my 17 year old self I would probably say A, anything truly is possible if you put your mind to it. B, just wanting it isn’t enough though. You need to work out the steps you need to take to get there. It’s not going to be handed to you on a platter but it is in your reach and once you work out the steps you need to take to get there, you just need to take them. It’s as simple as that and once you take them if you’re serious about it, you will get whatever it is that you want in life. Heather: Absolutely. On that very positive note thank you so much Valerie for sharing your time with listeners today. I know that you’ve always been such an inspiration to me and I’ve benefitted so much from the number of courses that I have done through the Australia Writer’s Centre. I look forward to more success from you and with the Australian Writers Centre growing and taking over the world, improving English one course at a time. Thank you very much. Valerie: It’s been my pleasure. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking to you Heather. Heather: Sensational. Mentions · Infusionsoft : http://www.infusionsoft.com @Infusionsoft · SugarSync https://www.sugarsync.com @sugarsync · Foxtel TV guide · Google Drive https://drive.google.com · Dropbox https://db.tt/PxaW85E @Dropbox · Cubby https://www.cubby.com @Cubby · Cloud File https://shellycloud.com/documentation/cloudfile @ShellyCloud · Open Learning https://www.openlearning.com @openlrning · Facebook https://www.facebook.com @FaceBook Contact Valerie Khoo Australian Writers’ Centre http://www.writerscentre.com.au https://twitter.com/ValerieKhoo https://twitter.com/WritersCentreAU Contact Heather Smith http://www.heathersmithsmallbusiness.com/ https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU/ https://www.facebook.com/HeatherSmithAU http://www.linkedin.com/in/heathersmithau
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