No Such Thing: Education in the Digital Age

Jonathan Finkelstein is founder and CEO of Credly , a leading digital credential service provider which enables organizations to recognize, reward and market skills, competencies and certifications. Previously, as founder of LearningTimes, Jonathan helped mission-driven organizations produce and launch innovative online programs, products and platforms that impacted the lives of millions of learne...

" Redefining Geek takes a new and surprising look at what it means to be good with technology at a time when technologies are rapidly changing. Based on empirical evidence from a decade-long study with a diverse group of students across the country, Cassidy Puckett shows that being tech-savvy in the digital age isn’t about having a natural ability, but instead is a process of continual learning th...

Dr. Joel Breakstone directs the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG). He leads the group’s efforts to research, develop, and disseminate free curriculum and assessments. His award-winning research has been covered by outlets ranging from the Washington Post to NPR.  Breakstone has conducted professional development workshops for school districts and professional organizations across the co...

Game-based assessments (GBAs) have been shown to be a powerful context to measure students’ 21st century skills. By eliciting evidence of skills in an embedded, authentic and playful environment, they present the potential for assessments to go beyond measuring outcomes of content knowledge to shed light on thought processes. Yoon Jeon (YJ) Kim is an Assistant Professor of Design, Creative, and In...

David Risher is the CEO and co-founder of Worldreader. After a career as a general manager at Microsoft and an early stage executive at Amazon, David recognized early on how e-readers and digital books could give kids in under-served parts of the world better access to the life-changing experience of reading. Since co-founding Worldreader in 2010, David and the Worldreader team have expanded the o...

My favorite conversations are the ones where people whose ideas I admire get comfortable enough in a conversation to share beyond what you might've already heard from them. Jaime's a great example. If you work in or around K12 education chances are you've bumped into Jaime at some point. As a 15+ year Google'r as Chief Education Evangelist, Jaime's keynoted and shared on more stages than I can cou...

Al Kingsley has over 30 years’ experience in the technology sector predominantly with his work on IT Asset Management, educational and Instructional technology and digital safeguarding. He started his career with Barclays Bank then Unilever, working within finance and management accounting before focusing on the early adoption of new IT technologies in the early 90s. For the last 25 years Al has b...

Dr. Jenny Nash US Head, Education Impact, Lego Education Dr. Jenny Nash serves as the Head of Education Impact Team for LEGO Education in the US, where she provides direction and leadership in delivering meaningful education opportunities for students. With previous experiences as a professional development provider and STEM teacher, Jenny is an advocate for hands-on, inquiry-based learning for st...

We're talking today about the bold risks that innovators in K12 education choose to make toward the goal of educational equity - this time a project from a company called Prisms VR using the tech of virtual reality to make algebra the experience it should be for learners, who when engaging with it through the right context might actually have good cause to consider themselves "math people" in a sy...

Reel Works matches teens 1:1 with professional filmmaker mentors to tell their stories and have their voices heard. It’s a powerful combination that changes young lives and creates films that have been seen by tens of millions of viewers worldwide. Head to REELWORKS.org, that's R E E L W O R K S . O R G and learn more about how you can support a program that not only helps young people prepare for...

One of the questions that's come up over and over in my conversations about what our country is learning from a year in quarantine is "what's being done in places where connectivity is keeping families from connecting at all?" According a 2019 report from Pew Research Center, 58% of Black adults and 57% of Hispanic adults have a laptop or desktop computer, compared with 82% of white adults, and 66...

Upperline Code has a mission to train the next generation of computer science leaders and empower students to change their world with code. We aim to transform education by making computer science accessible to all students regardless of race, gender, or income. Above all, we value inclusiveness, curiosity, rigor, collaboration, and quality.  "I think you created a culture of mutual learning...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers immense promise to solve some of the world's biggest problems at scale. But advances come with significant challenges that perpetuate and amplify society's underlying structural inequities. To address this challenge directly, the NYU Center for Responsible AI (R/AI) is designed to be a comprehensive applied research and tool production laboratory for acceleratin...

In this episode, I’ll be speaking to three experts on youth development and screen time who also happen to be parents. First, we’ll hear, Sascha Brodsky. He’s a science and technology journalist, who recently wrote an article for Lifewire called, “Parents Say ‘Yes’ To Screen Time During the Pandemic,” where he talked to several parents and experts - letting them vent their concerns, but also justi...

Dr. Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, entrepreneur, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is equity-oriented, centered on youth interest, and socially connected. Her work decodes digital youth culture for parents and educators, offering ways to tap interests and digital media to fuel learning that is engaging, relevant, and socially connected. She is the dir...

This episode is something a little different. Like many of you, one of the ways I've been keeping sane over the past months has been nesting, both in my physical world and with respect to my work. I recently have been organizing previous episodes' audio, and in so doing, I have some ideas for ways I want to use the process to rekindle ideas that are part of my experience because of this show, and...

My conversation today is with Jussie Kajala and Mitch Weisburgh of an AR/VR platform for education called, 3D Bear. I'm also joined by Susan Sclafani, a Library Media Specialist from Long Island, NY, who grounds our conversation in the aspects of her own practice that incorporate AR. Be sure to stick around until after Jussie and MItch, to hear my full conversation with her. Jussi Kajala has a Ph....

You all met Theron Cosgrave and Principal Ally Rocco in episodes 67, and 77. Since October of 2019, I’ve been following this group of educators in California’s central valley as they work to build one of the most innovative middle school models I’ve heard anything about in recent decades. MAD Tech characterizes some of the most important questions in education for me. Here’s just one example in my...

Dr. Kevin Miklasz has worked in and around the fields of game design and education for the last 10 years. As a trained scientist, he has a PhD in Biology from Stanford University, but has spent his time gaining a smattering of diverse experiences in education: designing science curriculum, teaching after-school science programs, designing science games, running a science and cooking blog, running...

The Fulfillment Fund works to make college a reality for students growing up in educationally and economically under-resourced communities. To this end, our services build pathways to college , help students navigate educational barriers , create life-changing support networks , and empower future leaders . Joanne Reyes Joanne Reyes is a senior non-profit development professional with more than 16...

Translanguaging is the process whereby multilingual speakers use their languages as an integrated communication system. [1] Karen Silfa is an educator of nearly 20 years at IS143 in NYC. She joins Marc in this conversation along with researchers and administrators working to illuminate the practice of translanguaging starting with its role in computer science education. Translanguaging is a practi...

Universal Design is a practice born out of architecture, and the late Ronald Mace, whose approach was to consider every body in the design of the built environment, not to design for some and amend or "adapt" for others. Guests in this episode discuss Universal Design for Learning, which shares this ideology as it relates to pedagogy and the design of learning environments. Maya Israel, Ph. D. is...

You may be having a similar experience to my own where, when I ask my kids about what they miss from their non-Covid schedule, they talk a lot about afterschool. Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that it goes without saying at this point, but it doesn't, that out of school time, and the professionals who support learners beyond the school bell are absolutely critical in the special sauce of...

Christy Crawford Christy Crawford serves as the Director of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education for New York City’s  Computer Science for All Initiative . For more than a decade she taught K-8 classes in Harlem and the Bronx.  She was also a curriculum fellow for the  New York City Computer Science for All Blueprint  and an adjunct...

This is a live concert hosted by CS For All and NYC Men Teach at 2020's first Men of Color Lunch and Learn . CodeSCTY uses original hip hop music, videos and experiential activities to teach computer science and computational thinking concepts to young people. Imagine Schoolhouse Rock for computer science – but lit! "Our suite of content includes original music, videos, and curricula that provides...