Getting Smart Podcast

In this week's episode, Tom is speaking with Karen Cator and Vic Vuchic. Karen Cator began her career in Alaska as a teacher and a special assistant for telecommunications for the governor of Alaska. This led to Apple, where she directed their leadership and advocacy efforts in education. She then was appointed to lead the office of ed-tech in the Obama administration which culminated in her joini...

In this week's episode, Tom is speaking with a father-daughter duo, Mark and Alex Milliron. Mark Milliron serves as Senior Vice President and Executive Dean of the Teachers College at Western Governors University (WGU). In addition to his work with WGU, Mark helps catalyze positive change in education through his Catalytic Conversations blog and podcast series, and through service on boards and ad...

On today's episode of the Getting Smart podcast, Rebecca Midles sits down with Tom Vander Ark to discuss the new book co-authored by him and Dr. Emily Liebtag: Difference Making at the Heart of Learning . This book stemmed out of our multi-year Future of Work campaign when our team realized that one of the hallmarks of the future of work is purposeful work contributing to communities. Through hund...

Today on the podcast, Tom Vander Ark is speaking with Deanna Mulligan on the topics of talent, leadership, and the opportunity gap. Deanna grew up in a small town in Nebraska, earned an MBA from Stanford, and became the Principal Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. After working there for eight years, Deanna launched a career in insurance where, after a two-year sabbatical, she became the CE...

This week, Tom is sitting down with the president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, Jamie Merisotis. Jamie is a globally-recognized leader in philanthropy, education, and public policy. Jamie's foundation, Lumina Foundation, is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. They envision a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation...

Today, Tom is speaking with Amy Klement , Managing Partner of Imaginable Futures , a global philanthropic investment firm that believes learning has the power to unlock human potential and aspires to provide every learner with the opportunity and the tools they need to imagine, and to realize, a brighter future. Amy formerly worked for eBay where she served as vice president of relationship market...

This month on Getting Smart, the podcasts will be focused on the theme of difference-making — which is also t he subject of a new book launched just this week by Tom Vander Ark and Emily Liebtag, Difference Making at the Heart of Learning: Students, Schools, and Communities Alive With Possibility. To kick things off, Joanne McEachen is joining the podcast to have a conversation with Tom about her...

Today, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Ed Hess to talk hyper-learning — o ne of the new demands of the 21st-Century workforce. After 20 years in business, Ed Hess has spent nearly two decades in academia teaching leadership. He is a professor of business administration and Batten Faculty Fellow at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He is the author of eleven books, over sixty articl...

In this episode, Tom is talking education venture funding with Shauntel Garvey! Shauntel is a partner and co-founder of Reach Capital, an impact-focused edtech venture fund that was spun out of non-profit NewSchools Venture Fund, in 2015. Since then, they have deployed about $95 million in 61 investments, including some well-known startups such as ClassDojo, Ellevation, NearPod, and Newsela — all...

Today Tom is speaking with gaming and esports expert, Mike Sepso. Mike is widely considered the godfather of esports and has been at the heart of esports for nearly 20 years. In 2002, Mike launched Major League Gaming, a professional esports organization. He later sold MLG to game-maker, Activision, in 2015. Last year, Mike launched Vindex to provide infrastructure to the esports industry. And jus...

In today's episode, Tom is joined by Julia Freeland Fisher and Dr. Mahnaz Charania. Julia is the Director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute and the author of the important 2018 book, Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students' Networks. Dr. Mahnaz Charania is a Senior Research Fellow, also at the Clayton Christensen Institute. Recently, Julia Freeland Fisher...

Today's episode is featuring an interview with Dr. Helene Gayle. Dr. Gayle is the CEO of the Chicago Community Trust; one of the nation's leading community foundations. The trust works with donors, non-profits, community leaders, and residents to lead and inspire philanthropic efforts that improve the quality of life for the residents of the Chicago region. For 30 years, Dr. Gayle was one of the w...

In today's episode, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Gary Funk and Haley Richardson for a discussion on rural schools and rural teachers! Gary Funk has spent 30 years serving and advocating for America's rural schools. For the last four years, he has served as the Director of the Rural Schools Collaborative. Currently, he's running a campaign called "I Am a Rural Teacher," which is a national advocacy...

Today, the Getting Smart team is bringing you an episode on leading in a culture of change with Michael Fullan. Michael has been the world's most persistent and persuasive advocate for powerful learning experiences. He is encouraged by the global momentum he sees with whole systems adopting deep learning strategies and policies. Twenty years after his best-selling book, Leading in a Culture of Cha...

Today on the podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Ron Berger. Ron has been teaching for 40 years and is currently the Chief Academic Officer at EL Education. He's also the author of some popular books you may have heard of! One of which, Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools Through Student-Engaged Assessment , is one of Getting Smart's favorites. Last year, Ron joined the Getting Sm...

Today we're talking with John Winsor on the open talent economy. John Winsor built a big publishing business around sports and fitness. He saw the business changing and started crowdsourcing articles from athletes. That got him interested in open talent — otherwise known as 'work outside of full-time employment,' which includes the freelance and the gig economy. Three years ago, John joined the fa...

The Getting Smart team is excited to be bringing you a conversation with one of their favorite teacher bloggers, Rachelle Dene Poth! Rachelle is a French, Spanish, and technology teacher and an ed-tech consultant. She's also an attorney with a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology and leads the ISTE Teacher Education Network. In 2019, Rachelle received the 'Making IT Happen Award' at the ann...

Today's episode is featuring a conversation on computational thinking with Conrad Wolfram. Conrad Wolfram directs global strategy for Wolfram Research, a leader in computational resources. For the last decade, Wolfram has been encouraging educators to teach math(s) as if computers existed. He wants teachers and policymakers to stop fixating on calculations like long division and factoring polynomi...

In today's interview, the Getting Smart team is talking to Ada Palmer, a history professor at the University of Chicago. As a historian, Ada studies the long-term evolution of ideas and the history of religious radicalism, science, and freethought, especially in the Italian Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Classical Greece and Rome. In addition to being a historian, Ada is also a composer and an aw...

Today, the Getting Smart team is bringing you a podcast with their friend, Michael Horn, a speaker and writer on the future of education. Michael has spent the last five years leading the higher education consulting practice at Entangled Group. One of their early investments was with Guild Education, a venture-backed startup leading the 'education as a benefit' movement. In May, Entangled was acqu...

Today's episode is featuring a recent interview Tom Vander Ark had with Brian Greenberg on creating great schools! Greenberg is an educator, investor, and entrepreneur at the intersection of technology, education, and philanthropy. He is also one of Getting Smart team's favorite people right now in education!   After teaching high school English in L.A., Brian Greenberg was the founding Principal...

Today the Getting Smart team is speaking with Hardeep Gulati, the CEO of PowerSchool. PowerSchool is a leading ed-tech platform, serving more than 32 million students, 65 million parents, and nearly 100 million users in 70 countries. The company empowers teachers and drives student growth through innovative digital classroom capabilities and real-time communication across any device. Hardeep grew...

In today's episode, Kelly Niccolls, Learning Design Manager from the Getting Smart team, is joined by Kristi Dominguez and Ellen Dorr for a follow-up podcast on leading school systems towards healing with love.   Building upon their first discussion in episode 252, Ellen and Kristi focus on the commitment of leadership practices and tending to the exhaustion of students, staff, and stakeholders. I...

Today, the Getting Smart team is bringing you an interesting episode on educating on climate change with Nichole Berg and Kimberly Howard.   Nichole Berg is the program's manager for climate change and climate justice at Portland Public Schools where she leads efforts to support the school board's groundbreaking climate literacy solution. Joining Berg in this interview is Kimberly Howard, the Prog...

In today's episode, Tom is sitting down with former Governor Jeb Bush, to discuss all things digital learning. Bush served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 until 2006. After leaving office, he formed and still chairs the Foundation for Excellence in Education also known as ExcelinEd. The national non-profit organization focuses on state education policy and continues the important work th...