No Such Thing: Education in the Digital Age

This is Part 2 of a 2-Part Episode.  Akbar Cooke is a vice principal at West Side High School in Newark NJ, he's one in nearly 1mm K12 administrators in the country, but at West Side he's a giant. Kids call him "coach" or "Cooke" and straighten up when they see him. Not out of fear, but respect - the kind that if you've ever worked with teens, you know only comes when things are reciprocal, m...

This is Part 1 of a 2-Part Episode. Akbar Cooke is a vice principal at West Side High School in Newark NJ, he's one in nearly 1mm K12 administrators in the country, but at West Side he's a giant. Kids call him "coach" or "Cooke" and straighten up when they see him. Not out of fear, but respect - the kind that if you've ever worked with teens, you know only comes when things are reciprocal, mutual...

Dov is back, chatting with Marc about the process of "school choice" in NYC, and how he's dealing with the prospect of his non-high-tech options. Joining with her sage advice is Geneva Hayward, recently admitted to NYU's Game Center for a BFA, Geneva offers her ideas about how to blaze your own high tech path when school doesn't offer it. Both students are generally happy with their schooling, but...

Three members of the Emoti-Con, NYC, Steering Committee join the show to talk about the event's anniversary. Amanda Perales, Christin Velasquez, and Meredith Summs talk about NYC's biggest showcase for young designers, makers, technologists, and tinkerers who believe in digital innovation as a tool for positive change in the world around them.  2018 will be Emoti-Con's 10th year! If you like...

Kalani Leifer is a former high school history teacher and the founder of COOP , a fast-growing non-profit that supports cohorts of 1st generation undergrads entering the workforce. Together, he and Monica Guzman, Program Manager and alum of Cohort 1, are evolving a model aimed at supplementing skills that prepare students for high tech jobs. Who knew that basic software remediation might be what s...

In this episode, members of Pittsburgh's Remake Learning Network share what challenges unite them with other cities who rally for broadening STEM participation, and what challenges set them apart. Remake's own Ani Martinez , Community Manager and operations lead, is joined by members Alaine Allen, Univ. of Pittsburgh , Megan Cicconi, Executive Director of Instructional and Innovative Leadership at...

Spectrum 360 educator, David Di Ianni, has founded a youth media program for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder. With help from former student, Vincent Lissandrello, now a budding media professional himself, the pair are spreading the tools and know-how to shoot and edit video among a population in need of every tool possible that might help them express themselves and make meaning of their wo...

A chemist and a biologist walk into a computer lab...Dr. Tessa Durham Brooks, a biologist from Doane University, and Dr. Raychelle Burks, analytical chemist from St. Edwards University, are working to help train the young scientists coming up through their institutions to embrace the competencies of computer science. Their reasoning: computation changes what impact a scientist can have through the...

My thanks to CUNY SPS and CUNY Tech Meetup for playing such wonderful hosts to this event, a live interview with Professor Cathy N. Davidson, Director of The Futures Initiative at City University of New York, and one of the country's most respected scholars on the topic of higher education reform. We're joined by Temitayo Fagbenle, a Queens College student and award winning youth journalist with W...

Marc sits with Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez , Director of STEM Policy at the Afterschool Alliance, and Michael Preston , Executive Director of Computer Science, NYC (CSNYC), and Co-founder of the National CSForAll Consortium, to dig in on the momentum to build support for Computer Science Education. What is 'the movement'? Is there new relevance, or more urgency now than ever? What outcomes do we hope...

If you don't believe that social consciousness starts early in human development, you'll assume Armando and Lynda--middle schoolers in Manhattan--are paid actors. But they're not, and in this episode they describe some of the projects that their teacher, Dr. Lou Lahana , supports with help from a holistic Community Schools approach at the Lower East Side's Island School in Manhattan. Guest Steve H...

Max Salomon is an Emmy Award winning documentarian and founder of Black Dot Films , specializing in VR and 360 immersive film and video. He talks about his experiences becoming a storyteller with 19-year-old Christin (Chris) Velazquez, a Production Assistant and aspiring media professional, who shares his experience with the Made In NY PA Training Program . Max shares his early journey with Chris,...

Marc talks with four educators, also students of the MA in Youth Studies at City University of New York's School of Professional Studies, who share findings from their final case study for the course, Youth Identity & Digital Environments. Learn more about the eight practices that they found promising across four youth programs for addressing the issue of equity in STEM, and lowering barriers...

Friend to No Such Thing and recent NYC high school applicant, Dov Alperin, roves the 2017 World Makerfaire for weird, wonderful, and next-best things, reporting back and sharing his finds. Listeners met Dov in Episodes 2 & 3 at Brooklyn's Beam Center. This is a great episode if you missed World Makerfaire 2017, have never been, or never miss it, all the same. Prosthetic mermaid tails and battl...

Marc is joined by Temitayo Fagbenle, an award-winning Rookie Reporter, and Kaari Pitkin, Senior Producer for WNYC. Radio Rookies is the product of veteran radio producers, Marianne McCune and Kaari Pitkin, who have shepherded hundreds of youth in NYC schools through their first experiences as young reporters and storytellers. Youth-led stories have garnered numerous prestigious journalism awards a...

Marc is joined by designer / developer and *renowned technoculturalist*, Joe Saavedra of Planeta, a NY-based R&D company working across digital platforms. And Chelien Brown , Learning Design Coordinator at Mouse, and NY-based STEM educator, content creator, and youth developer. From Chelien: how does he experiment with VR as a creative tool for learners in middle and high school? Learn about J...

Marc's guest, Kate Rosenbloom , is the Senior Manager for Learning Design at Mouse, an alum of Teacher's College At Columbia University, and curriculum developer working in STEM, Design, and Computing education. After a recent retreat to attend CAST 's Universal Design for Learning Institute , Kate fills us in on what she learned, the value of the Institute for professional development, and where...

After decades of experience in the NYC public school system, these three educators are hopeful that "Maker Education," the field's instantiation of the popular tinker movement re-constituted by the commercial Make Magazine and Maker Faire, holds promise for reforming aspects of how we teach and learn. Dr. Lou Lahana, Lori Stahl-VanBrackle, and Iliana Villegas don't agree on every aspect of the pre...

Erik Martin revisits a story he told in 2013 at TedX, Redmond WA, titled "How World of Warcraft Saved Me and My Education." Erik has since held posts at the US Department of Education, the Whitehouse Office of Science and Technology (OST) and is now Senior Manager for Education Programs at game engine, Unity. He credits much of his success to experiences he had working his way up to leading an 800...

I'm joined in this episode by Jessy Jo Gomez -- a fantastic partner to help me peel back the layers of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for learning. Jessy Jo and I chat with Barry Joseph of the American Museum of Natural History, who helps us to navigate definitions, explore new examples incorporating the technology, and by sharing his experience in the design and development of AR and VR in...

Dr. Elizabeth Bishop is a cultural and queer theorist, a researcher, youth practitioner, and author of Becoming Activist. Bishop explores critical literacy through her research and work with youth based at New York's Global Kids, a youth serving organization focused on global literacies and the empowerment of young people with a nearly 30-year history of impact. Bishop and I discuss her book, the...

Chris Lawrence is the Vice President of Mozilla Foundation's Leadership Network, and he's joined by fellow web citizens, Iliana Lugo and Charles Canario, to discuss "Internet Health" and a host of issues related to learning and literacy in the digital age. Is information on the internet a public resource? Why should we care about issues of privacy on the web? What are the skills that all of us can...

Yamilée Toussaint is the founder of Brooklyn's STEM From Dance. She's joined by alum Daneilla McEwan to talk about how dance works as an entry point for young women learning computer science. Yamilée grew up with dance from a young age and after graduating from MIT with a degree in Mechanical Engineering she surprised her family by turning to the field of education to start her career. Years later...

Steve Goodman talks about Educational Video Center's (EVC) incredible origin story, and what has kept their youth media programs true to the vision that sparked the organization more than 30 years ago. Serenah Vaughan is a budding filmmaker, alum of EVC's documentary production program, who now, as she finishes up high school, is working on a production that characterizes the problem of opioid add...

Matthew Farber and Alex Fleming, two of the curriculum guide's authors talk about the vision and history for this open resource now available through Carnegie Mellon University Press. Matthew Farber is Assistant Professor of Technology, Innovation, and Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado, and Alex Fleming is a Learning Design Manager at Mouse (Mouse.org). From the CMU ETC Press Website...