This Week with EdSurge

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“A Better Future is Possible”: IDEO’s Sandy Speicher on Design Thinking in Schools Nov 15, 2016

Show notes

Want to hear the full interview with Sandy? Check out the EdSurge On Air podcast. For those who are familiar with the global design firm IDEO, a few words might come to mind. Consulting. Design thinking. K-12 and higher education? Yes, IDEO has indeed carved out a space for itself in the education market. At the center of it? Sandy Speicher, the Executive Director of the Education practice and a designer by trade. She’s worked with organizations across the public, private, and social sectors. For example, recently, she and her team finished up a project with the San Francisco Unified School District centered around redefining the school lunch program. Recently, Speicher spoke with EdSurge about the genesis of the Education Studio at IDEO, the role that design thinking plays in improving K-12 education, and where she sees the biggest opportunities for growth and improvement in schools.

Jim Shelton of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on Personalized Learning Nov 01, 2016

Show notes

Jim Shelton, President of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), provided one of the keynotes this past Thursday at the iNACOL conference in San Antonio, Texas. Jim has played a number of roles in the edtech space—-he was most recently President & Chief Impact Officer of 2U, Inc. Previously, he was the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and the Program Director for Education at the Gates Foundation. So, it's safe to say he’s seen a lot in the education space. Is personalized learning the real key to solving equity issues? Shelton is optimistic, and spoke to the concept of unlocking human potential and promoting equity through transformative personalized learning.

EdSurge Extra: Minerva’s Jonathan Katzman on Making ‘the Best Seminar Possible’ Sep 30, 2016

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If you could create a college from scratch today what would it look like? Minerva Schools at KGI has done just that, building an accredited, four-year undergraduate program that has an inaugural class in its sophomore year. Hear Jonathan Katzman, chief product officer at Minerva, explain how students use the latest video technology to actively learn from all around the world.

When Everyone Has Different Definitions of "Student Achievement" Sep 17, 2016

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Today, we’re actually bringing back an old favorite while we generate some new content for you. Back in 2015, in Davis California, we brought superintendents from across California together at an EdSurge event to chat about data and assessment, and how it gets best used in the classroom. How can we use data to make sure that we’re improving student achievement? How does one even define “student achievement”? We talked to Bryant Wong CTO, Summit Public Schools Devin Dillon CAO, Oakland USD Gregory Firn Superintendent in Residence & Director of Strategic Partnerships,, Dreambox Learning; and Alix Guerrier President/Co-Founder, LearnZillion, on a panel to answer these questions and more. We’ll get to that in a second, but first, the news.

EdSurge Extra: John Deasy on His LAUSD Superintendency, Mistakes, and Going Forward Sep 07, 2016

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Thirty-two. That’s how many years John Deasy has spent in education as a teacher, high school principal, and superintendent in four different districts across three states. Of all these roles, his stint at the Los Angeles Unified School District may be the most memorable—and controversial. As superintendent, he led one of the largest and most highly-critiqued 1:1 device deployments in the country—one that that led to a frenzy of media reporting, and a number of columnists from L.A.-based and national publications alike asking, “Where did it all go so wrong?” After leaving LAUSD in October 2014, Deasy joined the Broad Center as a Superintendent-in-Residence, where he’s been working to develop school district leaders from across the country. But now, he’s gearing up for the next chapter: creating an organization to address juvenile incarceration and, eventually, reduce juvenile recidivism by 50 percent. EdSurge caught up with Deasy to chat about the up’s and down’s of superintendencies, where he made mistakes, and whether technology is adding to issues of inequity.

EdSurge Extra: Marco Molinaro Asks, ‘How Do We Maximize Learning?’ Sep 02, 2016

Show notes

Many faculty see introductory science courses as "gateway" classes to weed out students. Not Marco Molinaro. The assistant vice provost at the University of California, Davis, is leading the school's efforts to overhaul these classes and make them more accessible to students. Hear how UC Davis is using adaptive-learning tools and active-learning techniques to improve pass rates in these notoriously tough classes.

Pitfalls and Triumphs—What I Learned From My Year in Edtech Aug 28, 2016

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Blake Montgomery, one-half of the EdSurge On Air podcast team, is bidding EdSurge adieu to take on a role as a Tech Reporter at Buzzfeed. But before he leaves, he's got some thoughts about what he's noticed from his year at EdSurge. Specifically, what is he optimistic about? What was his biggest scoop of the year? Why has he become distrustful of edtech company pitches? Catch all that and more in Blake's farewell EdSurge On Air podcast.

EdSurge Extra: Bridget Burns' Call to Edtech Entrepreneurs: 'Start With Empathy' Aug 25, 2016

Show notes

Bridget Burns sees plenty of "superheroes"—26-year-old Silicon Valley types with good intentions, yet little understanding, for how to change higher education. Burns is executive director of the University Innovation Alliance, a coalition of 11 public research universities focused on making quality college degrees accessible to a diverse body of students. The UIA serves 400,000 students, more than a quarter of whom receive Pell grants. In this recording from an EdSurge Meetup, Burns shares what she wishes product developers understood about the challenges higher-ed institutions face.

Megan Stewart, Unity's Head of Global Education Aug 19, 2016

Show notes

Unity is one of the most widely used game development engines, but what does that have to do with education? We sat down with Megan Stewart, Unity's Head of Global Education, at her new office to find out.

The '$1000 Pencil'—Why Edtech Companies Aren’t Pushing the Envelope Aug 15, 2016

Show notes

A few weeks back, EdSurge published a podcast interview with education consultant and commentator Alan November, and Director of Secondary Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for the Houston Independent School District Mike Dorsey, after chatting with the two education experts at ISTE. The interview got quite a number of listens, likely because November said that the edtech industry had created a “mess” at one point in the interview. However, November was only able to be with us for about ten minutes in that interview, so we really didn’t get a chance to delve into what he meant by “a mess.” Hence, EdSurge decided to enter back into that conversation with November, this time in a Q&A covering his thoughts on the “$1000 pencil,” whether Khan Academy is or is not pushing the envelope, and how any change in the classroom has to start with the teacher. How has the edtech industry created a “mess”—and more importantly, whose responsibility is it to clean up that message, according to November?

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