The Education Vanguard

I am a new guy at my school (ISB) and as such I might have a different idea or two that I saw used last year. For me, I try to keep my mouth shut when it comes to uttering the dreaded “at my old school” in front of my new peers. For Technology Coach Emily Maclean, my guest today, she has an employee who not only said “at my old school…” but had his words end up creating action. Action research I m...

Ami Shah is a Co-Founder & CEO of Peekapak, an edtech startup that teaches social-emotional learning skills like self-regulation, perseverance and teamwork in the class and home. Peekapak is backed by; Silicon Valley based accelerator, Imagine K12; Ryerson’s DMZ; and MaRS.Ami earned an MBA from INSEAD. She gained extensive marketing experience through roles at Procter & Gamble, and most re...

Digital portfolios are a great idea! Digital portfolios are often a real pain in the rear to actually to make happen in the classroom. Logging in is difficult for younger students, blogs are not easy to learn for some older students and it is hard to share the information with parents and others. The list is long enough and creates enough barriers to entry to scare away the majority of educators....

SENIA, the Special Education Network in Asia is a fantastic resource for educators of all types.  Over a decade old, SENIA holds conferences with fantastic speakers, creates local chapters, provides networking opportunities and generally gives a push to school in their regions to move toward an inclusive model of education. Today I talk with Kate Balsamo, a SENIA board member, about the organizati...

When you think of dyslexia, many things may come to your mind. Maybe difficulty in reading, jumbled letters, or the names of famous individuals with dyslexia such as John Lennon, Richard Branson, Jay Leno and Robin Williams to name a few. Today I talk with Marilyn Day, Special Education Teacher and Chairperson of the Hong Kong Dyslexia Association.  She walks us through what dyslexia is, suggested...

Let’s just imagine you were king or queen for year at a brand new school and charged with bringing in a fantastic technology program. Nearly any device you want, hiring the support staff you believe you need and creating programs you think are important. Would you know what to do?  Would you appreciate some help? Michael Pelletier, Dion Norman and Egmond Boon put together a manual that could help...

What is wrong with this student of mine?  He just moved to the most fantastic international school in the world (mine) and he just seems to be lost and flailing about. Well, I guess that is just a teenager for you. I don’t want to admit I have made that exact statement, but maybe I have had a similar thought or two to explain the behavior of students, both new and not new, at the beginning of the...

Warren Apel had a good life. Nice job, leadership position in a school, living in Amsterdam.  But for Warren, he was itching for a change. While he did not leave Amsterdam, he did decide to take a year off and become a full time entrepreneur working on his own SAAS (Software as a service) site called Scholastico. Warren discusses his decision to go full time entrepreneur, where it has taken him an...

When you hear the word sustainability what comes to mind?  For me it is making sure we are not polluting planet Earth.  Maybe it is the same for you. My guest today, Mike Johnston, has a much deeper definition. Sustainability must include nature, economy, society and wellbeing. Mike is part of a movement called Compass Education with a mission to “equip schools as learning communities to educate a...

“Young man, you made a big mistake. You should have known better.  You behavior is not acceptable.  I shall now assign this punishment for your behavior because actions have consequences and you need to learn that!”Maybe you have been on the receiving end or giving end of a conversation like that? I know I have.  My guest today has a new model that departs from the traditional model for dealing wi...

I’ve got problems, you have problems, but Paul Swanson has HUGE problems.  So big, he calls them real problems, or even, 21st Century problems. While this may sound like Paul has a lot of personal issues, what I am really talking about is Paul’s teaching methodology for engaging our students in real work with real world problems. Today Paul explains how technology allows our students to connect, r...

Is that a “Psychologist in your Pocket?” is the title for Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg’s upcoming keynote at the 21st Century Learning conference in Hong Kong.  Interesting title I thought, so I contacted him for an interview to ask him more about what the title really meant. Well, it turns out, he is a huge fan of the potential offered by our devices (smart phones, watches, tablets) for working with me...

It’s not everyday that I bring up the topic of pornography on this show. It might be safe to say I have never discussed the topic on a radio program such as this one or planned to discuss it.  As you can imagine, it is a sensitive topic. So when my guest today, Rob Newberry, mentioned he developed a pornography framework to be presented through his international school in Singapore, I was a little...

Most, if not all of us, have an interest or passion in something. Maybe it is reading, exercise, traveling, or for the smartest ones out there, sleeping. For my guest today, Paul Hamilton, sharing is a driving passion for him. But his sharing has a specific focus and that is finding technology that matches the learning goals in a classroom. This matching of learning to technology takes different f...

Take a passionate U.K. national, mix in a little Scratch, a pinch of Bee Bots and a handful of Raspberry Pi and you have James Abela, today’s guest. James is a life long programming enthusiast and advocate for more coding opportunities.  Starting himself at an early age by taking part in the BBC Microcomputer effort, James now pushes schools and curriculums to begin coding literacy at the wee age...

Back in my school days students who worked with their hands in school were the ones not on track to attend college or university.  Those industrial arts programs were later axed as a result of budget cuts and the belief they were not rigorous enough. Thanks to the Maker Movement and passionate educators like Brian Smith, my guest today, a new understanding is taking place.  Linking themselves to t...

Beep, ping, buzz.  In many ways those sounds and sensations dominate our lives in ways they have not done in years past. We are confronted with feedback on our efforts, our friendships and our thoughts. Much of this feedback is great; sometimes not so great.  Regardless of how we feel about our new reality (personally I really like it), there is a focus on our students and the impact our world of...

As we move along in life we face decision points.  Often there is a level risk associated with the direction we take.  For Andy Vasily, a fear of risk did not stop him from moving forward to communicate his passions and beliefs about the role of physical education in the school life of students. Andy, along with co-founder Dean Dudley, started Nexus Education to promote their core beliefs on the r...

Life would be easy if we could just drop off a piece of technology hardware into a classroom and watch the magic happen as teachers simply knew exactly how to use the devices to support their curriculum.  While there are a ton of talented teachers out there, most of us normal people need additional support and training when something new is introduced into our teaching world. Dave Neudorf and the...

Not everybody gets life changing investment advice while working a summer job pumping gas in Canada, but my guest today had just that happen to him. Serendipity was smiling on Andrew Hallam when he chatted up the garage mechanic about life and money. Turns out he was a millionaire thanks to some responsible investing and its consistent returns.   This got Andrew thinking and interested in the worl...

“Victor, we are building a new school and I want you to integrate good design with technology.”Victor Boulanger , the the director of Learning Design at Kaohsiung American School in Taiwan heard those words (or something like that) from his school director upon arriving in Taiwan for his new job.  While most people might turn and run, Victor charged directly into the project and created space(s) w...

Imagine one day you walk into a classroom and find 20-30 students each working on something different and unique. Maybe they are, at times, working in groups, but it appears they are all learning something unique. Are you witnessing anarchy or a hostile takeover of the classroom?  Or are you seeing self-directed and self-blended learning in action? Dr. Bernard Bull views it as the latter; a learni...

At one point in my teaching career the phrase “connected learning” meant asking students to work in groups. In fact I remember being told by my teacher training school that is was the new thing and I better be sure to talk about how I love it during job interviews. The creation of the magical Internet, quickly redefined what connected learning really is and my guest today focuses her research on t...

If you are an elementary teacher you know the benefit of doing running records on students to chart their reading abilities and track growth over time.  You may also know that running records are time intensive to do and that you often have to rely on outside help to do it more than a once or twice a year. Literably.com looks to help with the process to the point where a student can simply record...

I think we all agree creativity is good. I think most of us agree that innovation is good. Only a few of us might think think the idea of an administrator whose title is Director of Creativity and Innovation is good. My talk with John Burns today will likely take the skeptic to that role and convert them into a fan, if not a fanboy. ;­)John is the former Director of Learning Innovation at Shekou I...