Transformative Principal

Welcome to another episode of Transformative Principal! In today’s episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Brett Jacobsen, the CEO of The Mount Vernon School, Mount Vernon Ventures, and Mount Vernon Online – The Global Online Campus. With over 15 years of experience leading Mount Vernon through a transformational period, Dr. Jacobsen has gained a national reputation for innovation in education.

In our conversation, Dr. Jacobsen shares his insights on creating a venture to fund your school. He discusses how Mount Vernon School, established in 1972 as a PK–8 school, has embraced an innovation mindset, even though they have been around for a long time. Driven by a desire to be known as an innovative school, Mount Vernon has experienced significant growth over the last decade.

Dr. Jacobsen introduces the concept of the Blue Ocean Strategy, emphasizing the importance of shaping your school’s narrative and brand. Rather than trying to compete with other schools, Mount Vernon Ventures focuses on consulting with other schools and developing accessible products and tools. They have also ventured into business development with Mount Vernon Online.

Dr. Jacobsen explores the challenge of separating funding from the backs of their people and finding alternative markets to support their initiatives. He also highlights the importance of creating multiple pathways for students and implementing an inquiry-based, competency-driven system.

• Portfolio of three different areas
• 1972 school established
• PK–8 School
• Felt Like a startup even though they’ve been around for a long time.
• Giving more tours than serving our own community.
• Over the last decade school has grown by 60%
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• Cirque du Soleil is it high art or circus?
• Didn’t want to be known as a traditional school.
• Didn’t want to be known as a progressive school.
• how do you shape your narrative around your school’s brand?
• Wanted to be known as an innovative school.
• We would lose every time if we tried to compete with others
• Mount Vernon Ventures
  • Consulting with other schools
  • Value proposition - current practitioners leading change.
  • What is your innovation intention?
  • Ventures work on developing products and tools that are accessible.
  • Business development as well - Mount Vernon Online.
  • Multiple Pathways
  • R&D Report around AI
• Funding is generated from Mount Vernon Ventures
• Traditionally generated from Non-tuition generating activities.
• Externally, how could we reinvest back into the school?
• How do you separate from funding being on the backs of our people?
• Find another market that funds things.
• How do we create multiple pathways for our students?
• Learning outcomes explored in an inquiry model - assessed based on proficiency.
• Inquiry, Competency-based system.
• Lego-bricking courses - systems taken
• Mod System is based on 9-week time periods - students take four courses during a mod.
• They have to have more math courses at the backend of their high school course.
• Did a lot of open share when we started.
• Agnostic about things they implement with schools.
• Ventures are about birthing opportunities that expand the Mount Vernon Ecosystem.
• Training and investing in professionals in school
• Identify market segments - creating more pathways for students.
• Would look very different from the three we’ve talked about today.

About Brett Jacobsen

Entering his 15th year, Dr. Brett Jacobsen is CEO of The Mount Vernon School, Mount Vernon Ventures, and Mount Vernon Online – The Global Online Campus. Leading Mount Vernon through a transformational period since 2009, the School with 1,250 students strong, has gained a national reputation for innovation in education, As a result, Dr. Jacobsen launched a Transformation R&D consulting company known as Mount Vernon Ventures, partnering with schools throughout the world. Most recently, in August 2022, Mount Vernon Online, Mount Vernon’s online high school, welcomed its first cohort of students to the School. Outside of overseeing a portfolio of business units, Dr. Jacobsen frequently shares his journey of innovation and entrepreneurial impact at national and international conferences. Dr. Jacobsen was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the 2017 Most admired CEOs in the education category. He is also a proud member of Leadership Atlanta, Class of 2013.

Linkedin

The Mount Vernon School | Mount Vernon Ventures | Mount Vernon Online

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

• Perhaps large language models could solve some challenges in schools. 
• Teacher attrition - how can you build excellence if you can’t keep teachers?
• Time is not enough to do deep work, which is required for effective planning. 
• The AI can’t do everything (nor should it). 
• Source it, shape it, share it.
• AI as a creative collaborator - Lesson seed
• Look at generative content like a sculptor would look at a block of marble. 
• Elaborative explanation is a best practice in education. 
• Prefer to pull methods from cognitive sciences
• Students engaging in essay evaluation rather than essay writing. 
• Artificially intelligent tutors - Khanmigo and others. 
• Training against chess bots. 
• Chess is a closed system, so perhaps not the best idea. 
• Proficiency vs aptitude vs 
• Hard to get quality feedback - 
• What are the parameters you need to be in to access the highest level of success? 
• Embedding best practices into our 
• One-shot prompt vs. leading the language model into learning. 
• Unit plans - 4-6 weeks of instructional planning. 
• Distributed & interleaved practice
• Assessments & quizzes. 
• AI lowers the cost of evolution. 
• Open Educational Resources compared to Teacher Pay Teachers. 
• Things open up in ways you couldn’t imagine simply because you did something.
• Foundational models are not particularly useful in their basic form for what we’re trying to do in education. 
• Having granular control that teacher can make changes in the workspace
• How to take Smart Notes
• Obsidian note taking app
• You learn in relation to what you already know. 

The intersection of Ai, instructional design, and backend classroom administration—opportunities and tradeoffs.

• The limits of the technology, boundary conditions
• Broad institutional implications - Foundational flaws in education
• Ludwig Wittgenstein - blue and brown books. The Wittgensten Reader, the tractatus

About Thomas Thompson

Thomas Thompson is the founder and CEO of eduaide.ai, which boasts over 100,000 users. Eduaide is an AI tool to help eliminate teacher burnout and make high-quality teaching resources universally accessible.

Thomas has a Master in Educational Technology from Johns Hopkins School of Education and is still a teacher in the Maryland area. 

Martin Gurry - Public

2001 data produced more in one year than we’ve every produced before. 

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Priten Shah is the CEO of Pedagogy. Cloud, which provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world, as well as founder of the civics education nonprofit United 4 Social Change. 

His book is AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, published by Jossey-Bass (Wiley).

In this episode, Ross and Priten discuss:

• The cloud of rumors, confusion, and fear surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence
• Defining AI and machine learning
• Why it’s important to get not only to accept but embrace these technologies
• Ethical concerns to consider
• What should schools do around teacher training? 
• How AI can either solve or widen the achievement gap depending on how schools proceed
• What can teachers automate and make more efficient?
• The potential of AI that most excites Priten

Find AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence at https://prtn.me/book 

Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.

About today’s guest

Priten Shah, M. ED, and B.A, Harvard, is the CEO of Pedagogy. Cloud provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world. He is the author of Wiley’s Jossey-Bass publication, “AI & The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.“

Priten is also the founder of United 4 Social Change, a civics education nonprofit that focuses on helping teachers integrate interdisciplinary education into their curricula through animated videos, lesson plans, and innovative classroom activities.

Connect at instagram.com/pedagogycloud and linkedin.com/in/pritenhshah

About the host

Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC. He is a leadership development and performance coach for professionals in a range of industries and consults with organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry to help communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano and LinkedIn

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Teens can use artificial intelligence to help them rock their homework. AI shouldn't be something parents and teachers are afraid of, and I had a great conversation with Transformative Principal Jethro Jones on how teens can use AI to TERMINATE their homework! And by terminate, I mean complete it. Obviously.
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See what Jethro is up to at www.jethrojones.com
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Register for my new Drop-In Coaching offer for this fall semester by going to www.joeymascio.com/drop-in-coaching
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Follow me on Instagram! www.instagram.com/sidekicktohero

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

• Generative AI offers many advantages for educators, for use in and out of the classroom.
• When I prompt for images of "a focused student," the first three are boys, two are white, the third is an Asian boy, and the fourth is an apparent high school female.
• If my anecdotal examples haven't convinced you, try for yourself, or refer to a respected resource on this subject, which characterizes how bias is becoming a more obvious concern while producing these realistic images.
• In essence, this makes collected information static, yet dynamic in how AI returns the content.
• In the first example, I added one word, "diverse."
• "Write a song that promotes understanding and empathy between people from different walks of life."

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Mary Howard is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and teaches 6th grade ELA and Science in Grand Island, New York.  She has found success using digital tools that not only make learning fun for her students, but encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and create a life-long passion for learning.  Whether the digital experience is related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics or promotes literacy, Mary believes passionately in the potential that technology has for reaching and engaging ALL learners. In pursuit of this passion, Mary has spent the past 15 years presenting at dozens of technology conferences including NYSCATE, STANYS and, ISTE among others.  She has become a globally recognized speaker on the topics of augmented reality and virtual reality and the Next Generation Science Standards and shares her strategies through her blog, yoursmarticles.com.  She has published numerous educational technology articles and has provided webinars on Virtual Environments, Virtual Reality, 3D Design, QR codes and digital engagement strategies.  Mary’s accolades include recognition as the 2018 International Society for Technology in Education’s Virtual Pioneer of the Year and 3 Silver Presidential Volunteer Service awards.  She was a New York State Teacher of the year finalist for 2018 and 2020 and is a New York State Master Teacher.  When Mary isn’t elbows deep in her technology initiatives, she is a mother of 3 boys and devotes her free time to refereeing youth hockey and volunteering within the hockey community.  She is an avid runner, Adirondack 46er and recently cycled across New York State on the Erie Canal. Mary is a newly published author with her new release, Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Your Teacher Life: The ChatGPT Guide for Educators.

Key Takeaways:

• AI is a tool that will help give teachers more time, reduce burnout, and improve teaching.
• Technology is about amplifying teachers' ability to reach all students.
• Reluctance to integrate technology doesn't come from a place of fear rather a place of this is, "one more thing".
• The more we streamline teachers' everyday tasks, the more we can get them in front of students and spending more quality time facilitating student learning.
• ChatGPT still needs to be checked once the product is finished.
• We need to make sure we follow age and privacy concerns because ChatGPT is collecting data on the users.
• Education still has to focus on thinking rather than retrieval of information. This will help the integration of ChatGPT as a useful tool rather than a tool used to get good grades.
• The perfect classroom still has a teacher who is helping guide rich discussions through the Socratic method and collaboration with AI helping streamline that in the background.
• Leaders need to celebrate every little success individuals have to continually build positivity.

Stay Connected:

Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Your Teacher Life: The ChatGPT Guide for Educators

Your Smarticles

Twitter

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

• Episode adapted from this article 
• The use of AI chat tools has rapidly increased this year.
• AI chat tools have a difficult time with voice since they lack the emotional context that humans can interpret through the nuances of tone, pitch, expression, and most of all, uniqueness.
• More significantly, AI chat tools cannot express a person’s point of view because they lack the complex beliefs, values, and opinions that form a person’s consciousness.
• Educators should make this clear to people accessing AI chat tools in their schools.
• While AI chat tools have some limitations such as capturing voice and eyes, it has remarkable productivity opportunities educators can leverage while navigating around imperfections to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

AI Edcamp for faculty

Schools are opening and AI looms as a BIG  question mark. How will teachers and administrators use it? What about students? How can we start to understand the complexity of AI in schools? This brief, chock-full episode offers a prescription for busy administrators and teachers. Use the simple formula of an Edcamp and bring the expertise to your school community today!
Concepts adapted from my book:

Radical Principals

More info:
How to run an Edcamp virtually

Listen to Mike, a principal, author, and podcaster, share quick, actionable strategies, bite sized solutions that have sustainable impact. Each episode gives you a take home approach you can use today. You'll hear about a study, a story, and a strategy that are linked together. Educators face more challenges than ever. Stop spinning your wheels and listen to refreshing answers backed by 25 years of experience, interviews, and research. Take the journey with Mike today and start helping children now!

Mike's overarching goal: If I can help one child and one adult, this was all worth it!

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Vriti Saraf is the CEO & founder of k20 Educators where she builds metaverse spaces for learning. She is also a co-founder of the first community organization on blockchain for educators, by educators, called Ed3 DAO. Both organizations aim to reimagine learning.

Vriti has served as a teacher, a professor, a dean, & a director in public, private, & charter schools both locally & internationally across K-12 & higher education.

Join us for this conversation about Web3, what it is, how it is transforming education, and why we should embrace it.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS:

• Web3 and how it’s shaping the future of education. 
• How blockchain allows us, instead of institutions, to own our credentials. 
• Decentralized credentials and flexible learning paths. 
• Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) allow for democratic school environments. 
• Fears and concerns about Web3.
• When educators should use virtual spaces or the metaverse.
• The benefits of hybrid learning.
• AI, ChatGPT, and how they’re teaching us what skills our students should learn.

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.

My guest today is Bart Caylor. If you’ve floated around the higher ed marketing sphere for very long you’ve probably come across Bart at least once. Bart is the founder of the education marketing agency, Caylor Solutions as well as the co-host along with Troy Singer of the Higher Ed Marketer podcast. He is also a keynote speaker, as well as a first-generation college student himself. In this episode we’re talking all about AI.. specifically practical ways you can incorporate AI into your workflow to save you time and effort in your job. 

Tune in to learn:
🚀 How Bart saves 10-15 hours per week using AI

🚀 How it’s not AI that’s going to take your job, it’s going to be the people who know how to harness the power of AI that will take your job

🚀 The successes and limitations of various AI applications and where perfectionism can cause you roadblocks

🚀 How higher ed marketers should be early adopters of AI and how higher ed administrators can support the marketing team in those efforts

🚀 A bunch more stuff - including how you can save time on your next trip to Aldi using Chat GPT.

Links: 

Bart:

Connect with Bart on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartcaylor/ 

Connect with Caylor Solutions: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/

Support our Sponsors

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Scrible: Worried about AI Plagiarism? Take the high road and improve your students' skills before they feel the need to cheat with this modern research and writing platform for school
FocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.