ISTE REWIND: In this special edition of Learning Unleashed, we air a panel discussion about the need for safe spaces and places in schools, why the pandemic has made these spaces even more important, and how to create them.

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Grace Collins is the founder of Snowbright Studio, an LGBTQ+ certified game and media development studio. They previously led game-based education policy at the U.S. Department of Education and managed educational technology projects at the Smithsonian Institution. Grace is a former computer science teacher at an all-girls’ school, a published author and game developer. They have been recognized with several awards, including being named a Finalist for the 2020 Digital Education Breakthrough of the Year Award, receiving a 2020 Educator Award by the National Center for Women & Information Technology and being named a 2021 Innovator for the Headstream Accelerator. Grace is author of the ISTE jump start guide Esports in Schools

Jessica Pack is the 2014 California Teacher of the Year, and was named the CUE Outstanding Educator in 2014. She has used digital storytelling as an instructional strategy for 14 years, and has presented on the topic at regional and national conferences, including the ISTE Digital Storytelling Network (DSN) 2020 Virtual Summit and ISTE20 Live. Pack has spent a decade as a teacher-consultant for DIGICOM Learning, a nonprofit that promotes and supports digital storytelling in Southern California classrooms. In this role, she provides professional development courses for teachers on digital storytelling. Pack also co-hosts the podcast “Storytelling Saves the World,” available on iTunes and SoundCloud. She previously self-published a book on iTunes called Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making (2013), and she is author of the ISTE book Moviemaking in the Classroom.

Julia E. Torres is a language arts teacher at a public high school in Denver, Colorado. As an advocate for all students and public education, Torres regularly undertakes speaking engagements and facilitates workshops and professional conversations about equity, anti-bias/anti-racist education, culturally sustaining pedagogies and literacy in the digital age. She also serves on several local and national boards and committees that promote educational equity and progressivism. With Valerie Tagoe, she is co-author of the forthcoming ISTE book Liven Up Your Library: Design Engaging and Inclusive Programs for Tweens and Teens.

Sarah Thomas, Ph.D., is an educator and the founder of the EduMatch movement, a project that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest. She has presented internationally, participated in the Technical Working Group to refresh the 2017 ISTE Standards for Educators, and is a recipient of the 2017 ISTE Making It Happen Award. She is also a national advisor for the Future Ready Instructional Coaches Strand. With Nicol R. Howard and Regina Schaffer, she is co-author of ISTE’s 2-book Closing the Gap series.

Jorge Valenzuela (@JorgeDoesPBL) is an education coach, author and advocate. He has years of experience as a classroom and online teacher, a curriculum specialist and a consultant. His work focuses on improving teacher preparation in project-based learning, computational thinking and computer science integration, STEM education, and equity and SEL integration. Valenzuela is an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University and the lead coach at Lifelong Learning Defined. His book Rev Up Robotics and the jump start guides Ready, Set, Robotics! and SEL in Action are available from ISTE, and he is co-author, with James Fester, of the ISTE book Environmental Science for Grades 6-12. His next book, which dives deeper into the Equity and SEL Integration Framework, is forthcoming from Solution Tree.