Getting Smart Podcast

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Elliot Washor, the co-founder of Big Picture Learning and author of the great new book Learning to Leave: How Real-World Learning Transforms Education. This book is the followup to the great Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates.

Elliot is also the co-founder of The Met Center in Providence, RI and has been involved in school reform for more than 50 years as a teacher, principal, administrator, video producer, and writer. He has taught and is interested in all levels of school from kindergarten through college, in urban and rural settings, across all disciplines. His work has spanned across school design, pedagogy, learning environments, new forms and new measures for learning, and is supporting others doing similar work throughout the world. Elliot's interests lie in the field of how schools can connect with communities to understand tacit and disciplinary learning both in and outside of school. Elliot is deeply committed to imagining Big Picture Learning as a 'do-think-do' organization, and persistently pushes the boundaries of its design in order to continually innovate practice and influence in the world of education especially for those youth living in communities furthest from opportunity.

Links:

• B Unbound

• Learning to Leave: How Real-World Learning Transforms Education

• Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates

• One Kid at a Time: Big Lessons from a Small School

• Big Picture Learning

• Imblaze

• Namahana School

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Tom Vander Ark is joined by repeat guest Kim Smith to discuss a landscape analysis, the rise of learner-centered education and the three horizons.

Kim is the founder of LearnerStudio, a nonprofit intermediary accelerating progress towards a flexible, rigorous, equitable, and learner-centered education system, to ensure all our young people are inspired and prepared to thrive in life, career, problem-solving, and citizenship.

Previously, Kim was also the founder of the Pahara Institute, co-founder of NewSchools venture fund and Bellwether Education Partners, and a founding team member at Teach For America. She has helped to incubate numerous education and social change organizations and has served on a range of boards.

Links:

• Cambiar Education

• Jenn Holleran

• The Learner Studio Report

• Khanmigo

• Inflection (AI)

• Augmented Humans blog (By Producer Mason and Nate McClennen)

• Next Education Workforce

• Opportunity Culture

• CivixNow

• Learner Studio

• Derrell Bradford

This episode of the Getting Smart Podcast is a recording of the latest Getting Smart Town Hall — Agriculture Technology Pathways. On this episode, we heard from a great panel of guests who are running a wide range of programs to help young people connect with the growing field of agriculture technology.

Links:

• Town Hall Recap

• Video Link

• Links

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Dr. Justin Reich, ED of MIT Teaching Systems Lab, host of the Teach Lab Podcast and author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools.

On this episode, they discuss the two paths to coherence:

• Invitational Leadership: inviting people into a shared vision

• Transformational Leadership: As Dr. Reich says, this is "Bringing People Together around Ideas They Care About;.....start[ing] with understanding, honoring, and respecting what people have already accomplished, and then helping them come together around ideas that will take their work forward."

Links:

• John Diamond Where the Rubber Meets the Road

• Tom Daccord

• EdTech Teacher

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Nate McClennen is joined by Sharon Laidlaw, Director of Place Network at Teton Science Schools, to discuss place-based education, a movement that was articulated in the 1990's and now has become a centerpiece of education innovation everywhere.

This movement is rekindling purposeful and agency filled learning experiences for young people. And while not explicitly named as place-based, these learning experiences that are unbundled, project-based, and real-world grounded in the tools of competencies and personalized approaches ALL fit within the place-based paradigm - using learning to engage the real world around real experiences and challenges - and this approach teaches critical skills that are a priority for an increasingly disconnected and complicated world.

Links:

• The Place Network

• Tetons Science Schools

• Sharon Laidlaw

• New Schools Venture Fund

• Roundrock Black Parents Association

• Gallup Poll

We've recently released a new publication that synthesizes years of research on AI and its impact on teaching and learning. You can find it at GettingSmart.com/artificial-intelligence/

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Nate McClennen is joined by Anant Agarwal, MIT Professor, Chief Platform Officer at 2U and Founder and CEO of edX, an online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT. In 2020, Anant shared the story and vision for EdX from inception to present and its effort to increase access, reduce cost, and implement modularity in the higher education ecosystem. So much has happened in the last three years, that we thought it would be great to hear from Anant again (after his first time on the show) to get his sense of AI and how it will both play a role in both teaching in higher education as well as a topic for learning in higher education.

Links:

• Microbachelors Pathway

• Anant LinkedIn

• Anant Agarwal

• Y Pulse study

• 73 Million Learners

• Anant Agarwal on Extended Access to Education

• Axim Collaborative

• Open EdX

Key Takeaways:

• Ethics must be taught alongside Ai technology.

• The next phase of iteration is not only about scale, but about personalization.

This episode of the Getting Smart Podcast is a part of our New Pathways campaign. In partnership with American Student Assistance (ASA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stand Together and the Walton Family Foundation, the New Pathways campaign will question education's status quo and propose new methods of giving students a chance to experience success in what's next.

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, New Pathways Senior Fellow Trace Pickering is joined by Dr. Tasia Chatman, Director of Learning Experiences at Springpoint and Jeff Sudmyer, Director of School Leadership.

As the Director, Learning Experiences, Tasia supports the design, development, and scale of Springpoint Transformative Learning Experiences. Tasia brings over 16 years of teaching and curriculum design experience. Her expertise is in curriculum design reflective of Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching.

As Director of School Leadership, Jeff draws on over twenty years of experience as a teacher and administrator to coach principals and collaborate with leaders and teachers at Springpoint partner schools who are working to create innovative high schools.

Together, they discuss the elements of a transformative learning experience, making high school meaningful and much more.

Links:

• Tasia Chatman

• Jeff Sudmyer

• Springpoint

We've recently released a new publication that synthesizes years of research on AI and its impact on teaching and learning. You can find it at GettingSmart.com/artificial-intelligence/ On the recent Getting Smart Town Hall, we were joined by leaders who are thinking about generative AI and its implications and uses in the classroom. Throughout the conversation, we focused on how to ensure that your school is a safe and constructive place that embraces AI, while doing the work to set the proper agreements and expectations up front. We highlighted a few individuals who are working with their teams to address and utilize generative AI, including Steven Eno from Da Vinci Public Schools, Keeanna Warren from Purdue Polytechnic and Jim Newland from Hickman Mills.

Links:

• Links

• Chat

• Video

• Publication

Are you interested in attending one of the field's largest gatherings of K-12 education innovators? The Aurora Institute Symposium 2023 promises community, lessons about education innovation from the field, and the latest research and policy to support education transformation. Find out more here.

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Rebecca Midles is joined by Laurie Gagnon, CompetencyWorks Program Director and an author on some recent publications from the Aurora Institute: Next Generation Credentials and Work-Based Learning Policy.

Also, as an example of states moving forward, to help advance innovations in its Personalized, Competency-Based Learning (PCBL) pilot program, Utah has partnered with the Mastery Transcript Consortium to provide the learner record and resources to schools and districts making the shift.

We're also joined by Cory Henwood, Innovation Director at Iron County Schools in Utah to discuss some of this work which was highlighted in the recent Aurora Institute report.

Links:

• Laurie Gagnon

• Cory Henwood

• CompetencyWorks Blog

• Going Beyond the Traditional: Next Gen Credentials and Flexible Learning Pathways

• Expanding Student Access to Work-Based Learning: Federal Policy Recommendations

• Aurora Institute

• Iron Essential Eight

• Kettle Moraine

• Florida XQ High PSI

• Mastery Transcript Consortium

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Shawnee Caruthers is joined by Eduardo Briceño, speaker, author and facilitator. His new book, The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset into Action, was selected as a "Must-Read" by the Next Big Idea Club, which is curated by Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Dan Pink. This conversation unpacks what happens when we stay in cycles of performance rather than growth and learning.

Links:

• Eduardo Briceño

• The Performance Paradox

• Website

• How to Get Better at the Things you Care About (TED)