Ed Tech Hour

Renee Metty has over 20 years of experience in the education field and additional experience as an Executive Coach, Development Consultant, and Facilitator with Pulse organization. In 2010, she founded the Cove School in West Seattle, which is a preschool that adopts a mindfulness-based approach for students. As far as her educational background, she earned a master's in early childhood education and a master's in special education. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Business Psychology and examining the impact mindfulness can have on leadership and how it can change management. Lastly, she is a Certified Mindfulness Facilitator through Mindful Schools and Little Flower Yoga.

Carolyn Burns is the founder and manager of Ukulapha Community Outreach. She was born and raised in South Africa. Her post high school education was nursing with a pediatric specialty. At 32 she ventured over to Canada where she lived and worked on the west coast for 25 years. Aside from many fortunate opportunities to travel and explore within North America, Carolyn’s curiosity evolved into a search for her true and authentic self. At 48, this led her to study at the Seattle campus of Saybrook University for a Masters in Counselling Psychology.

In her 50’s, a deep pull and yearning to return to her native land, give back and account for her privileged life, motivated her. As a child of Apartheid, Carolyn is acutely aware of having automatically received privilege. She responded to the urge to fulfil a deeper purpose in her life, a way to ‘measure’ her life so that, one day, when she sinks into her favorite rocking chair, she is able to reflect “old bean, that was a life well lived!”

Jared Mader is the Director of Educational Technology for the Lincoln Intermediate Unit and the former Director of Technology for five years in the Red Lion Area School District. In his past two roles, he has been responsible for all of the instructional technology and infrastructure decision-making, founding his educational philosophy in the ISTE Standards. Jared has promoted engaging staff and student learning communities through online collaboration and Google Apps for students and staff. Further, he is the Co-Science Curriculum Specialist and Independent Consultant for ISTE and is a contributing author for ISTE’s Learning and Leading with Technology Publication.

Joya Hayes has 19 years of experience in human resources, training and organizational development, community-based programming, policy & procedure development and executive level planning.  As Human Resources Director, she also represents the Human Resources department for all formal negotiations with the Austin Police Department, the Emergency Medical Services department, and the Austin Fire department. She previously worked in executive positions providing support for city managers in Texas and Virginia. She is also a member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the International Public Management Association for Human Resource Professionals (IPMA-HR), and a board member for the Austin Area Heritage Council and Child Incorporated. She received a master's degree in public administration from Texas State University and a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Huston-Tillotson University.

Judy Perez has been identified as a national level expert in K-12 online and blended learning by the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to founding the iLearn Collaborative, she directed district-wide blended learning at Jeffco Public Schools and led their online school from turnaround status to Performance accreditation. Judy's career in education includes science teacher, assistant principal, principal, district leader and CAO for the Charter School Institute at the Colorado Dept. of Education. In her 29-year career as an educator, she led districtwide and statewide implementations in innovative learning environments impacting 50+ Colorado school districts. She led and developed Colorado's largest statewide multi-district online school middle school and a districtwide blended learning program for Colorado's largest school district. She is a recognized national expert in blended and online learning contributing to research for the U.S. Dept. of Ed, iNACOL, State of Colorado, and numerous publications. Judy has consulted for the Secretary of Education Manizales, Colombia, S.A., Universidad Nacional de Colombia, The ASCENT Initiative, and other international agencies.

Rohit Kumar, through his work and education, has come to believe that schools are places for an enriching socio-cultural dialogue that can empower or subvert its pupils, depending upon how the school is imagined, designed and brought into action. Rohit holds an M.A. in Education from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Masters in Software Systems from the Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai, India. However, he thinks his most important learning comes from having worked with students and educators for over 12 years. Currently, Rohit works as the CEO at Apni Shala Foundation (Mumbai, India) where he co-leads strategy, partnerships and advancement for the organization along with his co-directors. He also works with The National SEED Project (Wellesley, USA) as a consulting staff where he co-facilitates diversity workshops for educators.

With nearly 20 years in the field of education, Mr. Damon Englese will tell you that a school is not just an institute for learning, but has become the heart of a community where effective educational leaders, like himself, are prioritizing the safety and well-being of their students and staff in the wake of a world-wide pandemic. Mr. Englese continues to lead his school with compassion remotely, as residents of New Jersey are mandated to stay home during the Covid-19 outbreak. His ability to lead by example and simultaneously prepare his school for the 21st century world has contributed to successfully shifting his school to a virtual learning environment.

Dr. Nicholas Munro is a senior lecturer and researcher in the Discipline of Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He has a PhD in Higher Education Studies and is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a counselling psychologist. Dr. Munro teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in psychology, and conducts research and publishes in the area of university student learning and academic achievement.

Dr. Kevin Cokley is a Professor in the Departments of African and African Diaspora Studies and Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. For more than 20 years, he has studied and researched various topics in African American Psychology such as racial and ethnic identity development, academic motivation and academic achievement. In recent years, he has been named as a fellow for the American Psychological Association divisions of Counseling Psychology and Culture, Ethnicity, and Race. Additionally, he has won awards from the Academy of Distinguished Teachers Association of Black Psychologists (Distinguished Psychologist), UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Innovators and Trailblazers Scholar, Graduate Mentoring Center for Indiana University and Oscar and Anne Mauzy Regents Professorship for Educational Research and Development.

Kimber serves as the weCreate Director at Shattuck St Mary’s International School in Forest City Malaysia, where she leads inquiry and blended learning programs. Her prior professional roles include serving as Director of Technology at a K-8 school specializing in students with learning differences and teaching 5th and 6th grade students as well as middle school science, K-8 technology and STEAM, and TOSA which focuses on leading the transition from library to design studio. Kimber’s experience both in the U.S. and internationally has given her a unique perspective on educational technology, its role in the classroom, and how to effectively integrate it in academic settings. She loves working with students and educators to integrate technology into teaching and learning and believes technology can be life-changing for students as it allows them to both access knowledge and share their ideas in ways not otherwise possible.