Learning Forward

Episode #97: Sandeep Dutt, in conversation with Dr Ashok Pandey, his life story is beautiful; growing up in a village, he understood the need for values, diversity, and respect for the Guru. He talks about the idea of diversity and dedication of teachers; his teacher had a bag library and carried books for children to read to school every day! The role of a teacher is the highlight of this show. In the late 1960s, his teacher won the President of India's Award and travelled to Delhi. The true spirit of 'Guru without gururh' (truly selfless)'.



Dr Pandey believes in teachers first and empowers every individual; he is a team-builder and celebrated school leader. Dr Pandey was listed by Forbes India 2020 among the top 100 People Managers; he is now the Director of the Ahlcon Group of Schools in Delhi and has served as the Principal of the Ahlcon International School until 2019. Author of several articles and research papers, his third book, Launch Your Inspiring Principal Leadership, was published in 2019. Dr Pandey received the President of India award for his outstanding education services. Currently engaged in inter-faith dialogue and peacebuilding, has participated in the Global Peace Convention, held in Seoul,2019, the UN festival for Action on SDGs held in Bonn, 2018 and the Indo-Australia Leadership dialogue, Melbourne, 2017. Dr Pandey sits on the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) Governing Body, India; volunteers as the National Coordinator of Climate Reality Education Program in India; and sits on several advisory bodies. Dr Pandey is passionate about a system shift in education.



According to Dr Pandey, the teachers must eschew being a broadcaster and acknowledge several alternative sources of knowledge. The classrooms need a redesign to elicit students' love for learning and self-development. The pedagogy must shun predictability and encourage curiosity, innovation, and participation. Schools should be a place where students learn to become responsible citizens and engage in community development. As an advocate of Sustainable Development Goals, he believes that equity and social justice should shape curriculum and pedagogies.

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Episode #96: Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Audra Gold, the CEO and co-founder of Vurbl, one of the largest non-music databases of streaming audio in the US with thousands of audio creators publishing content for millions of listeners that are consuming millions of minutes of audio from a library of over 30 million titles across 100’s of content categories.



Audra fell in love with the Internet in college in the 1990s, during the first years of the Commercial Internet. She started developing start-up ideas and launching them with fellow students, and she has not stopped since. Audra has helped build, launch and grow digital-first businesses from the first dot-com boom through many economic ups and downs after that, learning just about every lesson you can imagine in the many start-ups she has been a part of. She has been awarded a Primetime Emmy Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for her work at Fourthwall Studios, which the Nantworks group of companies later acquired. She has also helped author and develop several digital media and ad-tech related patents throughout the last 20 years.



Audra shares what learning means to her in today's Episode, her passion for education, and the importance of audio learning. As a child, she was an inquisitive person; she spent a lot of time in the library, the internet for learning in that era! She comes from a family of educators; what drove her to audio and the idea of Vurbl was born through her personal consumption of audiobooks, as this was her first passion, you listen and learn, perhaps the easiest way to enrich your brain.



The successful womenprenuer shares three ingredients for a successful career recipe: passion, knowledge acquisition, and hard work ethics in life. Her favourite teacher story and how she learnt from watching her teachers - patience, discipline and enthusiasm - have helped her become a good mentor for people in life. She has spent a lot of time teaching, her teacher was her cross country coach, and he taught her the benefits of juicing, which helped him batter cancer. This was real-life learning about nutrition and holistic health. A maths teacher changed her diet perspective!



Her favourite quote is, "Be suspicious of what you want; this keeps her motivated as it helps her delve deeper and find out what is the motive, what is driving you to do x,y and Z?



Competitive sports shaped her approach to life, team building for business was indeed learnt from the soccer team.



"Building a business is one of the hardest, most torturous things you’ll ever do. You better make sure you are building something that is meaningful to you and brings you joy at the end of the day. If I did not love the audio medium and believe in our ability to truly revolutionize the audio space for creators, listeners and brands, I would never have survived the last 6 months." Inspirational Women Leaders Of Tech: Audra Everett Gold



Vurbl is an audio streaming destination for all audio creators and anyone who loves listening to audio. They support audio creators through our station model and help listeners connect with meaningful content to listen to.

Useful links:

https://vurbl.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/audragold/

https://twitter.com/audragold

https://www.instagram.com/audra_gold/



Audra Gold Audio Bio.

https://vurbl.com/listen/audra-gold-co-founder-ceo-1U1R230l9Vm/

Listen to her answer our 10 questions about audio.

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Episode #95: Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Supratim Kar In today’s episode, Supratim shares his experience with the education system, how the traditional methods need remodelling to suit the altering dynamics of the education system, the learner-centric education system is the newfound method and how it is reshaping the pedagogy, how to enable the learners to take their learning forward, how to translate learning into something quantifiable and how to make it actionable, how children should be assessed and the basics of assessment, his experience with Learning Forward India Foundation and much more. Supratim has over 26+ years of professional and entrepreneurial experience in the Information Technology and Education domains. He brings multi-domain, multi-functional skill sets with proven competencies in strategic brand and marketing communications with hands-on experience in brand building and management. A professional with deep domain exposures in both design and development of ‘Learning Systems’ and implementing a range of innovative technology solutions in the education spheres. Supratim has been the brain behind developing a unique Learner centric pedagogical framework, as a holistic learning system, to enable youngsters to increase and improve their employability quotient, one that has been highly ranked by a leading international ranking agency and is currently being used by one of India’s fast-growing B-schools in both its education and training portfolios. He is a passionate writer and has authored a memoir on behalf of India’s leading IT luminary, which helped shape the IT Industry in its formative years. A voracious reader, he loves classical music and spends his spare time sharing his thoughts with the world at large through his blog.

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Episode #94 Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Alex Reisley. In today’s show, Alex shares that he still remembers his social studies teacher for his life skills. He believes that human-to-human connection is the most powerful tool in any field. He shares how an empathetic teacher can develop a strong bond with the children and leave a profound impact on the students, why mentorship and relationship building is more important than the content and technology in the class, how he derives his passion for education from his love for building connection and much more.

Alex is a versatile person who is a passionate traveller, loves being around kids, likes to work on social issues, enjoys writing, and a squash champion. One who has critical thinking skills, including the ability to accurately link cause and effect and generate relevant solutions to problems. He is motivated by social justice, loves to connect with people, and share life stories. Someone who has a deep belief in the potential of all kids and a commitment to do whatever it takes to expand opportunities for students. He respects individual’s diverse experiences and can work effectively with people from a variety of backgrounds. He has started his career as a corps member with “Teach for America” and enjoyed teaching elementary kids. He now works as a product manager for “Marksharks”, where he expands the product into a tool for educators. He has prolific experience in designing customized assessments, student performance reports, and class management tools.

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Episode#93: Sandeep Dutt, in conversation with Saisha Khanna, consultant Inclusive practice at the Northern Territory Education Department (Australia), education advisor and an instructor for Managing Potential Aggression (MAPA), Countering Violent Extremism and Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum. More than a passionate educator, she is a passionate learner. She believes in equity and DIBs (Diversity, inclusion and belonging). She is mindful of each individual’s needs, a guide, a mental health first aider, a professional learning champion, nature lover, trekker, loves animals and embroidery. In today’s podcast, she talks about how exposure to different ideas, gaining perspective and knowledge has made her passion for education, how “Edu-passion” calms her racing mind and keeps her motivated, and how education is a powerful tool for teaching allowed her to learn twice. She talks about the mother being the first teacher to a child, being a role model to the present generation, effective communication, rational detachment and mindfulness. She emphasises that teachers and parents must ensure the emotional wellbeing of the children as it is a strong predictor of academic success.

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THE DECA QUEST BEGINS... the opening show of the series of 10 shows. Malshree Kalla, the CoFounder of Ignitedmidz, in conversation with Sandeep Dutt. #School Improvement #Coach, #Author & #Chairman of #Fabindia School in #Rajasthan #IgnitedMindz. His #book 'My Good school', a #bestseller, is a guide for #parents and #educators helping schools deliver better!  Sandeep gave an overview of how #schools should be set up, the #focus on the #teachers. Schools are similar to living #ecosystem in which school #stakeholders, #management, #educators & #parents collaborate for the benefit of students! His #book 'My Good School' is a must-have for parents, educators, and #management. 

"Thank you Mr Sandeep Dutt for such an enriching session! #fabindia #school #NEP2020, #entrepreneur,#TheDoonSchool,#experientiallearning, #projectbasedlearning" - Malshree Kalla

For more about Sandeep Dutt, visit www.Sdutt.com

More about Ignited Mindz www.Ignitedmindz.asia



The Fabindia School website www.fabindiaschool.org

The school emphasizes a holistic approach to education, offering extensive extracurricular programs and academic courses.



My Good School Where Passion Meets Education published by Rupa Publications www.goodschools.in

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Episode #92 Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Ms Rekha Sarin, the author of ‘The art of flower arrangement’ and ‘Chai-The Experience of Indian Tea’. ‘Chai’ had won the prestigious international Gourmand Award as the World’s Best tea book in 2015. It is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage library and catalogued in almost 30 Ivy League universities worldwide. A true nature lover, a traveller, a profound learner and an extensive reader, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan and Times of India Gold medal winner for Journalism. She has written more than 400 features on subjects about travel and culture. The interior designer has a flair for unearthing the secret messages of nature and connecting them to the real world. Ms Rekha believes that nature is an exemplary interactive teacher. The philosopher tries to connect the life lessons drawn from nature to the classroom and conveys how to light the path towards regeneration and rejuvenation of Mother Nature. She correlates a teacher with a tea garden worker for their hard work, dedication and compassion to bring out the best in their students. She shares her passion for education and her quest for learning. For Ms Sareen, life is all about giving expression to your inner calling.

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Episode #91: Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Dr.(Ms.) Gunmeet Bindra, an alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics and Calcutta University. “To #educate is to #educare”, says Dr Gunmeet Bindra, the first #woman principal of a top-ranked all-boys legacy boarding school- Welham Boys' Dehradun. In the podcast, Dr Bindra talks about her “3 C theory”, which can transform society’s perspective towards the #teaching profession to make it the most sought after career. Let us listen and find out how Dr Bindra got into #education when she had different plans for her life. And how #passion and genuine love can make you a master of your craft. A keen hockey player and a swimmer Dr Bindra has been bestowed with numerous #nationalawards. An accomplished #educationist with over 30 years of experience in teaching and school administration, Dr Bindra has held many coveted positions, including a member of the CBSE Governing Body. Today teaching as a profession has become far more critical; how #educare can change the dynamics of the education field. Her prescription for the policymakers and a lot more packed in this capsule.

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Episode #90: Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Jennifer Abrams, an international educational and communications consultant for public and independent schools, universities, and non-profits. Jennifer trains and coaches teachers, administrators, and others on new teacher/employee support, having hard conversations, collaboration skills, and being your best adult self at work. In her over two decades at Palo Alto Unified School District (Palo Alto, CA, USA), Jennifer was a high school English teacher, new teacher coach, and professional development facilitator. She left PAUSD in 2012 to start her full-time communications consultancy, in which she works with schools and organizations across the globe. Jennifer presents at annual North American-based conferences such as Learning Forward, ASCD, NASSP, NAESP, AMLE, ISACS, and the New Teacher Center Annual Symposium. Internationally, she facilitated with the Teachers’ and Principals’ Centers for International School Leadership (TTC and PTC) and presented with EARCOS, NESA, ECIS, AISA, AASSA, CEESA, and Tri-Association, and consults with schools across Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Canada. Jennifer’s publications include Having Hard Conversations, The Multigenerational Workplace: Communicating, Collaborating & Creating Community and Hard Conversations Unpacked – the Whos, the Whens and the What Ifs, Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives, and her newest book, Stretching Your Learning Edges: Growing (Up) at Work. Jennifer has been recognized as one of “21 Women All K-12 Educators Need to Know” by Education Week’s ‘Finding Common Ground’ blog. She considers herself a “voice coach,” helping others learn how to best use their voices – be it collaborating on a team, presenting in front of a group, coaching a colleague, supervising an employee. Her website is www.jenniferabrams.com.



Her new book, Stretching Your Learning Edges: Growing (Up) at Work, is at www.miravia.com.

Follow @jenniferabrams on Twitter and @jenniferbethabrams on Instagram.



In the show, she shares how she set out to be a grammar teacher and evolved to a Coach for adult learning. She had in her the inherent credentials for communicating efficaciously. Building humane relationships, her work syncs with what Learning Forward India delivers with their Joy Of Learning Program, focusing on self-confidence, resilience, and a happy teacher.

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Episode #89: Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Bharti Rao, a Passionate English Educator and Vice-Principal at The Fabindia School with 20 years of teaching experience. Alumni of Sophia High School and have taught in girls and co-ed school in Mount Abu. After a break of 12 years and she joined The Fabindia School in 2004. Her motto is 'Where there is a will, there is a way!'. With her strong willpower and confidence, she was determined to find the way out against all odds of culture, family background and the pressing needs of being a homemaker. Her communication and written skills in English are the assets that have taken her a long way in life; good listening skills, being patient, responsible and having a positive attitude. As an educator, she grows her students with dedication and works for children's all-around development. She wants to enhance and teach moral values to make them successful and responsible human beings and create learning spaces. Sending girls to school has historically been a challenge for many cultures and countries; the single most reason for this has been the attitude and understanding of parents, many of who are not yet first generation learners. In her case, her parents offered her tremendous support, and in addition, the male members in the family she got married to all helped her grow her passion for education. Her twelve-year hiatus, being married to a family that was limited in vision due to social norms, she managed to find a form with compassion and caring. Today, she finds that education is transforming households, fathers who are farmers, rural livelihood being their source of sustenance, accompany their girls to admit them to school; this is the significant change her village and India has seen.

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