Learning Unleashed: ISTE Podcast

In this special extended episode of  Learning Unleashed, four  ISTE authors share their views of the road ahead and why they are hopeful about the future of teaching and learning.   ISTE recorded this one-hour panel discussion at ISTELive22 in New Orleans.

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Nathan D. Lang-Raad, Ed.D., is an international speaker, author and professional learning facilitator, and the vice president of strategy at Savvas Learning (formerly Pearson). Before joining Savvas, he was a chief education officer at WeVideo. He has served as a teacher, principal, university adjunct professor, consultant, and education strategist.

Jennifer Williams is recognized as a transformational leader in education; Dr. Jennifer Williams has dedicated herself for nearly 25 years to the field of education through her roles as an education activist, professor, school administrator, literacy specialist, and classroom teacher. She speaks, writes, and consults on practices that develop global perspectives and social good through creative uses of technology.

Laurel Aguilar-Kirchhoff, M.S.Ed., is a former history and science educator who serves as a professional development coordinator and digital learning specialist. Aguilar-Kirchhoff works with educators, administrators, and students to successfully integrate educational technology into the curriculum for lasting student learning outcomes. Her areas of expertise include digital citizenship, media literacy, blended learning, curriculum instruction and design, and edtech and innovation.

Kendra Grant (@KendraFGrant) has held many educational roles, including teacher, district special education coordinator, and assistive technology (AT) specialist for a large school district. She was also the owner of a professional learning company delivering large-scale technology implementation across North America. Grant recently moved into corporate training to create a more inclusive workplace built upon Universal Design for Learning. Grant holds a master’s of educational technology (MET) from the University of British Columbia and is a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP).

This flashback episode is about four educators,  a road trip, and a scavenger hunt to spotlight the need and value of developing inclusive learning experiences to reach all students.

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Christopher Bugaj is a founding member of the Assistive Technology Team for Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. He hosts “The A.T.TIPSCAST,” a multiple award-winning podcast featuring strategies to design educational experiences. He also co-hosts the “Talking With Tech” podcast that features conversations about augmentative and alternative communication. Bugaj is the creator of ATEval2Go, an iPad app that helps education professionals perform technology assessments for students. He co-produces and co-authors the “Night Light Stories” podcast that features original stories for children. A frequent presenter, he has delivered over 300 live or digital sessions at local, regional national and international events. He has designed and taught online ISTE courses on assistive technology and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). He has also co-written or written multiple ISTE books, including The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools and The New Assistive Tech.

Karen Janowski is an assistive and educational technology consultant, and an adjunct professor at Simmons College in Boston. She presents both locally and nationally about the importance of using ubiquitous technologies that remove the obstacles to learning for all students, and is a passionate advocate for UDL. She’s an EdCampBoston and EdCampAccess organizer, co-moderates #ATchat on Twitter and has blogged at teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com since 2005. Janowski is the president and owner of EdTech Solutions Inc. in Massachusetts, which provides assistive technology (AT) and augmented or alternative communication (AAC) professional development, coaching, consultations and assessments throughout the Greater Boston area.

Mike Marotta is a Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (RESNA) Certified Assistive Technology Professional and the director of the Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center at Disability Rights New Jersey. He’s also adjunct professor at Ramapo College of New Jersey where he teaches master’s courses in assistive technology and UDL. Marotta serves on the Center for Accessible Educational Materials (CAST) and Center on Inclusive Technology and Education Systems (CITES) advisory boards. He’s the founder of EdcampAccess NJ, an unconference focused on teacher-led professional development opportunities on inclusion, special education and assistive technology. Marotta co-moderates the weekly #ATchat Twitter chat that brings together an international group of practitioners to discuss issues related to the delivery of effective assistive technology services. He’s a nationally and internationally recognized presenter, and in 2017 he was named the ISTE Inclusive Learning Network Outstanding Educator.

Beth Poss is a school-based administrator in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland. She’s worked as an assistant principal, coordinator of preschool special education programs, member of the MCPS assistive technology team and an instructional specialist for UDL. She presents nationally and internationally on best practices in teaching and learning with technology. She also serves as adjunct faculty for Johns Hopkins University’s Graduate School of Education. Poss is passionate about sharing the importance of designing inclusive learning environments, effective technology use in early childhood settings and culturally responsive teaching.

As we prepare to open the doors and turn on the lights in our classrooms, we check in with Liz Kolb for an update on the education technology landscape and to remind us to keep learning first and use technology purposefully.

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Liz Kolb is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan. She is the author of several books, including Cell Phones in the Classroom and Help Your Child Learn with Cell Phones and Web 2.0. Kolb has been a featured and keynote speaker at conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is the creator of the Triple E Framework for effective teaching with digital technologies, and she blogs at cellphonesinlearning.com.

An inspiring and practical conversation about finding more time for joy by decluttering your thoughts, setting hard boundaries around your "school time," and making space in your day to capture the moments that matter most to you.

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Nichole Carter was middle school classroom teacher for 12 years, teaching both honors and regular ELA. She used the flipped classroom model for four years in a row, in a blended learning environment in a 1:1 iPad school. Author or Sketchnoting in the Classroom, published in June 2019 available on Amazon now. No stranger to technology integration, she is now a K-12 Literacy and Digital Curriculum TOSA for the Beaverton School District, a national public speaker, and author.

We are beginning to get a glimpse of what happens when history and civics are relegated to a place behind reading, math, and science in our core curriculum. Our guests explain why effective history and civics instruction is more important now than ever before and how technology can bring history to life and connect today’s students to our common humanity.

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Karalee Wong Nakatsuka (@HistoryFrog), M.A. Ed., is a veteran middle school U.S. history teacher. Also a Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher, she was recognized in 2019 as the Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year for California and was a top 10 finalist for the national award. She serves on the American250 History Education Advisory Council, the Gilder Lehrman Teacher Advisory Council and the Monticello Teacher Advisory Group. She’s a member of the California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the iCivics Education Network and the National Council for History Education (NCHE). Nakatsuka was featured in an article in Time Magazine’s September 2021 issue titled “From Teachers to Custodians, Meet the Educators Who Saved a Pandemic School Year.” She’s passionate about using technology to engage and excite students; sharing the stories and the places where history took place; building community in her classroom; and preparing students to develop as empathetic, informed, engaged and active critical thinkers and citizens who care and make a difference in the world.

Laurel Aguilar-Kirchhoff (@LucyKirchh), M.S.Ed., is a former history and science educator who now serves as a professional development coordinator and digital learning specialist. Aguilar-Kirchhoff works with educators, administrators and students to successfully integrate educational technology into curriculum for lasting student learning outcomes. Her areas of expertise include digital citizenship, media literacy, blended learning, curriculum instruction and design, and edtech and innovation. She was recognized as the 2018 National History Day California Teacher of the Year, was a top six finalist for the National History Day Teacher of the Year, and was the Inland Area CUE (IACUE) Administrator of the Year in 2022. She’s a Google Certified Trainer, Leading Edge Certified Online Blended Teacher and a member of the iCivics Education Network. Aguilar-Kirchhoff served on the ISTE Digital Citizenship PLN Leadership team and is currently an ISTE Community Leader.

Few of us expected this school year to bring more surprises than we faced last year, but it did. In this episode, we begin the process of unpacking what we learned about school life this year and what we absolutely need to do differently if we’re going to stay in the classroom.

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Caitlin McLemore is the Middle and Upper School Librarian – Technology Specialist at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, FL. Previously, she worked as the Academic Technology Specialist at Harpeth Hall and Technology Integration Specialist at Currey Ingram Academy. She has an Ed.D. from Johns Hopkins University with a specialization in Technology Integration in K-16 Education. She also has a B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Florida. Caitlin is a Google Certified Innovator, Apple Teacher, and Common Sense Educator. Caitlin was named an ISTE Emerging Leader in 2017 and the ISTE Outstanding Young Educator in 2018. She is also the co-author of Stretch Yourself: A Personalized Journey to Deepen Your Teaching Practice.

Fanny Passeport is the Director of Learning and Curriculum at the Anglo-American School of Sofia, Bulgaria. She is an international educator who previously worked as a French Foreign Language Teacher and Technology Integrator / Digital Literacy Coach in India. Fanny started her international experience as an International Baccalaureate French Language Acquisition teacher in Middle and High School and later taught in the Elementary School. She received the Emerging Leader and the Young Outstanding Educator Awards from the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE). After this experience, she and her global collaborator: Caitlin McLemore, wrote the book Stretch Yourself: A Personalized Journey to Deepen Your Teaching Practice, published by ISTE in 2019.

We know that we routinely teach the way we were taught. In this episode, we look at a new way preservice teachers are introduced to teaching with technology, the successes, the barriers, and the curious view ahead for the profession.

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Teresa S. Foulger is a chapter author and co-editor of Championing Technology Infusion in Teacher Preparation: A Framework for Supporting Future Educators and is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Program Coordinator for Educational Studies (BAE) in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University (ASU). She has expertise in leading educational transformation and works to advance the use of technology for all learners. Her scholarship is use-inspired and she has published about the innovative use of technology in education, the technology infusion movement in teacher preparation, innovative professional development models, and strategies for organizational change. Teresa supports and researches the adoption of technology infusion at ASU, which has resulted in a sequence of peer-reviewed journal articles that document the long-term change project. This scholarship has received numerous research awards including the Outstanding Research Article Award (2014 and 2019) from the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education; Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology (2017, with colleagues) from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s (AACTE) Committee on Innovation and Technology; and the Best Research Paper Award (2014) from the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Technology as a Change Agent in Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group. Teresa led and co-authored international research that resulted in defining the Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETCs), which serve to guide the professional development of teacher educators who teach in a technology-infused preparation program. This work was awarded the Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education from AACTE (2021, with colleagues). Teresa served as President of the ISTE Teacher Education Network from 2011–2015 and received the Making IT Happen award from ISTE in 2019. She served as the Co-Chair of the TPACK SIG of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) and is an Associate Editor for the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. You can learn more about her at https://www.teresafoulger.com/

Dr. Kevin J. Graziano, contributor and co-editor of Championing Technology Infusion in Teacher Preparation: A Framework for Supporting Future Educators, is a Professor of Teacher Education in the School of Education at Nevada State College. He teaches educational technology courses to preservice and inservice teachers and conducts research on teachers’ technology integration in the classroom. Kevin is the recipient of the 2012 Nevada System of Higher Education, Board of Regents’ Teaching Award. In 2012, Kevin also received a Fulbright Specialist grant from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He provided training on educational technology to preservice teachers at Sakhnin College in Sakhnin, Israel. In the same year, Kevin completed two international fellowships to the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin, Ireland where he trained teacher educators and preservice teachers on photovoice and technology. During his sabbatical in 2015, Kevin worked with teachers at a newcomer high school to flip the math classroom. He has co-authored international research that led to the development of the Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETCs).

Many of us think that we're not creative or that creativity is a talent you're either born with or not. Our guest explains how all of us can be more creative at a time when creativity is needed more than ever to get over the myriad barriers and limitations we face in our classrooms, schools, and life.

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Tim Needles is an artist, educator, performer, and author of STEAM Power: Infusing Art Into Your STEM Curriculum. He is a TEDx Talk speaker, a technology integration specialist, and teaches art and media at Smithtown School District and Five Towns College. His work has been featured on NPR, in the New York Times, Columbus Museum of Art, Norman Rockwell Museum, Alexandria Museum of Art, Katonah Museum of Art, and Cape Cod Museum of Art. He’s the recipient of ISTE’s Technology in Action Award and Creativity Award, NAEA’s Eastern Region Art Educator Award & ArtEdTech Outstanding Teaching Award, and The Rauschenberg Power of Art Award. He’s also a National Geographic Certified Teacher, PBS Digital Innovator, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, an ISTE Community leader, NAEA ArtEdTech interest Group chair, and an Adobe Creative Educator.  He’s active on social media at @timneedles.

Join us for another riveting and inspiring discussion with a thirteen-year-old who has 44,000 Twitter followers, and a new book co-authored with her mom about your kids who are doing fascinating things with technology.

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Olivia Van Ledtje (@thelivbits) is an 11-year-old who is smart about all things sharks. She hopes to be an ichthyologist and work to save sharks all over the world. A seasoned keynote speaker, Liv’s work on LivBits has been featured internationally as a model of digital good. An accomplished ballerina, Liv has participated in summer intensives in Chicago and New York City. Liv is an avid reader and Pop Tart-eater, living in Durham, New Hampshire, with her family.

Cynthia Merrill (@cyndisueboo) is a consultant, speaker and teacher dedicated to strengthening literacy experiences for all students. She works in diverse school communities throughout the U.S .coaching, training and encouraging administrators and teachers in their practices. Merrill is passionate about creating authentic opportunities for students to document their thinking using tech tools.

The Host: Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator.  From his start as a teacher to his current district technology leadership, he’s always had one common belief – the kids need to drive their own learning. He realizes the challenges in our current public educational institutions and meets them head on. His unique blend of educational background, technical expertise, and humor make him a successful driving force for this change. As a speaker, he brings this background as well as a wealth of practical tools and ideas that teachers can use in their classroom tomorrow.

Our guests are clear about the link between social media and the school climate that is driving many educators to consider leaving the profession. Join us as we discuss four social media principles that any educator who wants to stay in the field will want to understand and master.

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Jennifer LaGarde is a lifelong teacher and learner with over 20 years in public education. Her educational passions include leveraging technology to help students develop authentic reading lives, meeting the unique needs of students living in poverty and helping learners (of all ages) discern fact from fiction in the information they consume. A huge fan of YA Literature, Jennifer currently lives, works, reads and drinks lots of coffee in Olympia, Washington. Follow her adventures at www.librarygirl.net or on Twitter @jenniferlagarde.

Darren Hudgins is a passionate advocate for creating learning experiences that drive educators of all kinds and their students to think, do, and thrive. He believes in this mission so much that he conceptualized and currently leads Think | Do | Thrive, LLC (thinkdothrive.org). He has 20+ years in education, edtech, and coaching to inspire critical thinking, champion active learning, and create opportunities for educational communities to improve.

Jennifer and Darren are co-authors of the bestselling book Fact VS Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking In The Age of Fake News and the newly released Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact from Fiction in the ‘Fake News’ Era (ISTE 2021).