Our guest today, Michelle Cummings, M.S., is the Big Wheel and founder of Training Wheels, a known leader in the Team Building field. She is also the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer for Personify Leadership, a Leadership Development organization. Michelle is an accomplished author and a dynamic, sought-after speaker in the areas of leadership, team-building, and experiential learning. Michelle has created a wide variety of facilitation, debriefing, and team-building activities that have collectively changed the way trainers and educators work.

Michelle speaks at more than 25 local, national, and international conferences each year and authors a weekly team-building newsletter called The Spokesperson that has over 24,000 subscribers in over 100 countries.

You can find free Training Wheels resources, course offerings, and facilitation products here:

https://training-wheels.com/

Bruce Palmer is one of the OG’s of fun in the classroom. He’s been instructing and developing courses in the School of Nursing for over 40 years, and was on the forefront of the online digital transformation in the late 80’s. His innovative educational practices have been recognized across Canada and led to several teaching excellence awards from industry and public institutions.

We’re brought to by Ontario Tech Universities Ludic Pedagogy Lab. For more information about Ludic Pedagogy, our founders, and the Ludic Pedagogy book, be sure to check out www.ludicpedagogylab.com

Cover photo by: SabinaMusicRich on Unsplash

Our guest today is Master Sargent Bonnie Rushing, course director and instructor at the United States Airforce Academy. She’s also a Flight instructor and evaluator, Special Operations Aircrew Linguist, Certified Professional Innovator, Coach, and entrepreneur holding a Masters

https://thebonnierushing.com/

Episode Cover Photo by ElvisAba on Unsplash

Our guests today are entrepreneurship educator Dr. Heidi Neck and software engineer Anton Yakushin, founders of Venture Blocks. Venture Blocks is an online, immersive 3D simulation teaching students about customer discovery, as it relates to business and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Neck, or Prof Neck as she’s often referred to, is the

 https://ventureblocks.com/

https://www.babson.edu/professional/entrepreneurship-education/faculty-and-staff-programs/price-babson-symposium-for-entrepreneurship-educators/

Join the Free Book Launch Party the Evening of June 15th!! www.ludicpedagogylab.com

Our guest today is Dr. Kat Schrier (she/they) Associate Professor, Director of the Play Innovation Lab, and Director of the Games and Emerging Media program at Marist College. She is the author/editor of over 100 published works, such as We the Gamers: How Games Teach Ethics & Civics (Oxford University Press, 2021) and Knowledge Games (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016). She has previously edited two book series, Ethics and Game Design and Learning, Education, & Games. She was a Belfer Fellow with the ADL's Center for Technology & Society, and she is co-PI for a Templeton Grant on designing VR games for empathy. Prior to joining the Marist College faculty, she worked as a media producer at Scholastic, Nickelodeon, and BrainPOP. She is currently consulting with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a game designer. She has a doctorate from Columbia University, a master’s from MIT, and a bachelor’s from Amherst College.

Kat's websites: https://www.karenschrier.com/ https://platyplay.com/

"Ludic Pedagogy - A Seriously Fun Way to Teach and Learn", launches in exactly one month!

Todays guest wrote the foreward to the much anticipated book. Professor Alison James is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom, and Professor Emerita of the University of Winchester. She’s also an accredited facilitator of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method. Allison has written and collaborated on many projects, her most recent being “The Value of Play in Higher Education – A Study” is available now as a free download via her website https://engagingimagination.com/

Co-Developer Dr. Keith Edmunds provides a short introductory video about Ludic Pedagogy - a pedagogical model that reintroduces fun, play, playfulness and positivity into higher education.

Our guest today is Tim Smyth. Tim is a high school social studies teacher with over 20 years experience, and holds a reading specialist degree. He also works with the United States Department of Education through an online global comics and education program teaching educators around the globe how to teach using comics and graphic novels in the classroom. He’s a published author, his first book, Teaching With Comics and Graphic novels is available now.

Tim's Classroom: https://youtu.be/wwanUU-0mMY

Tim's Website: http://www.historycomics.net/

Tim's Book: https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-with-Comics-and-Graphic-Novels-Fun-and-Engaging-Strategies-to/Smyth/p/book/9780367520373

Interactive Media Arts Instructor, Malena Gonzalez came to higher education bringing a broad based skill set built through her international industry roles of Creative Coordinator, Brand Manager, and Web Strategist. We talk to Malena about problem based learning and why her classrooms are always filled with laughter, inquiry, and fun.

Episode art by: Suhash Villuri on Unsplash

Our guest is Chris Whittaker, Physics instructor and Program Coordinator for Enriched Science at Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec. Chris is also a committee member for SALTISE - Supporting Active Learning, a learning community service for instructors, that aspires to implement evidenced-based pedagogy, involving instructional innovations, and leveraging the use of educational technologies to promote improved learning. He has numerous research interests including computer supported collaborative learning and student motivation. 

Episode art by: Marjan Blan | @marjanblan on Unsplash