The Learning Playground is a series of spatial vignettes embracing nature connectedness, human connection, and emerging technologies to showcase virtual and physical environmental elements affiliated with enhancing mental, physical health and wellbeing, resilience, and learning outcomes.

Link - Research and Resources: https://go.hcm2.com/the-learning-playground

Link - Virtual Environment: https://yulio.com/3baI9ZggGd

This conversation provides some perspective of the life of a school principal during a pandemic. We talk about staying connected to families. Helping teachers feel safe in their school space, and how he has worked to continue learning in these trying conditions. Doug is an elementary principal in the Colonel School District in Delaware. 

Derek and I kick off season five with a conversation about community. Our pandemic year has made being in community difficult, and it has shined a bright light on the power of community. This conversation started from my reading of The Power of Ritual, a book that I highly recommend. Derek is the pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Bay Hill, Florida. 

Sam Chaltain (@samchaltain) is a partner at 180 Studio, a global design collaborative dedicated to advancing people’s understanding of the future of learning — and what it requires.

Sam’s writings about his work have appeared in both magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. A former speechwriter for each of President Obama’s U.S. Secretaries of Education, Sam has also written for Oscar and Grammy Award winning artists. A periodic contributor to CNN, Sam is the author or co-author of seven books; a co-producer of the PBS documentary film, 180 Days: Hartsville; and co-creator of the 10-part online film series, A Year at Mission Hill.

Sam has a Master’s degree in American Studies from the College of William & Mary, and an M.B.A. from George Washington University, where he specialized in non-profit management and organizational theory. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he graduated with a double major in Afro-American Studies and History.

With over 45 years of experience and a doctorate in education, Dr. Sandra Duncan has a wide and varied background in early care and education. She has extensive experience in working with young children and parents, teaching at the university level, designing professional development programs for practitioners, and authoring several teacher resource books. In this episode, we talk about how our work around intentional design comes together and her vision for what is possible going forward. 

Glenn Barnes is the coordinator of social studies learning for Saint Louis Public School. He is a graduate of Drury University as well as part of the leadership team for Connected Learning. Following Glenn on Twitter @socratesaskswhy.

Josh and I discuss opening a school library during a pandemic as well as how he is working to keep the maker culture rolling in his school. 

Derek takes over as the host, and I answer some of questions about the future of school, taking care of kids in a pandemic, and what makes me tick as a leader. I hope you enjoy what is destined to be an ongoing feature of the podcast. 

This episode continues our conversation about what we have learned from teaching and learning during a pandemic. This episode and part one of this series was supported by Color Art Interiors

This podcast was crafted in partnership with Color Art Interiors. They are helping schools and districts to design innovative spaces in the Saint Louis area and beyond. This episode features a number of educators discussing what is working and what remains a challenge in our current learning environments during this pandemic.