Silver Lining for Learning

In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we will meet with Vicky Colbert, a sociologist from Colombia. She is co-creator of the world-renowned Escuela Nueva model. Escuela Nueva, Spanish for “new school”, is a progressive education model that emphasizes learner understanding over memorization, and strives to foster the development of interpersonal skills. Importantly, instead of a lecture-based approach, it employs a child-centered pedagogy with extensive collaborative learning. Studies show that it improves literacy and numeracy among disadvantaged youth while encouraging the development of active and reflexive learning as well as self-esteem, creativity, and civic and democratic values. The skills fostered by an Escuela Nueva school are meant to help graduates flourish and quickly adapt to the challenges and possibilities brought by the increasing technological world around them. Attend this session to learn about this method and perhaps rethink aspects of your vision of effective schools and schooling. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

What is creativity? How can we cultivate creativity in education? Can it be assessed? If so, then how? These are all significant and unsettled questions in creativity education. Professors Ron Beghetto and Yong Zhao edited an issue of Review of Research in Education (RRE) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to explore these issues around creativity in 2021-2022. The issue has been published and can be accessed here.They are editing another issue of RRE for 2024. The theme is side effects in education. Educational side effects are effects that accompany the intended outcomes of educational policies, initiatives, and practices. While some side effects can be beneficial, they can also be adverse, negative, and damaging. In this episode, we have invited the two editors, Professor Ron Beghetto and Professor Yong Zhao, who is a co-host of Silver Lining for Learning, to discuss creativity education and side effects in education. Learn more about our guests below the video. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Today, learners face an unprecedented challenge: adapting to a world that is changing more quickly than ever before. The skills, tools, and knowledge needed to thrive in a global knowledge economy are evolving at breakneck pace, and the artifacts we’ve traditionally relied on to capture these skills (e.g., the four-year degree) aren’t well-suited for the task. Learners and employers need a more agile, accessible, and specific way of recognizing what people know and can do.We will hear from a lifelong learner (Brittany Storie, Director of Workforce Skills at Pearsons) who has experienced career benefits since earning alternative credentials, and we’ll discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the credentialing ecosystem more broadly. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

India is home to 1.4 billion people, 52% of whom are younger than 30 years of age and 27% are under 15! India is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society with 22 officially recognized languages. We have had experts from India in the past (Episodes 43, 87 & 91) but we now want to provide a broader lens on India over a series of episodes. Over the next few weeks Silver Lining for Learning will focus three episodes on India (Episodes #123, #129 & #130), and we will meet with some amazing organizations and people working in educational contexts across the country.This episode (#123) centers on two non-profit organizations working in rural India around teacher development and women’s empowerment: Ashvattha Learning Communities  (represented by Arushi Mittal); and Sajhe Sapne (represented by Surabhi Yadav). Learn more about the organizations and our guests below the video. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Hosts reflect on the development of SLL with special guest Lin Lin Lipsmeyer and celebrate SLL receiving the AECT Distinguished Development Award! Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In this session of Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) will discuss innovative learning spaces that are being created, augmented, evaluated, and reimagined in higher education to better understand human learning as bounded by the confines of our gravitational structure. For more than a decade, Indiana University (IU), has been forefront of the learning space field with dozens of experimentations with different formal and informal learning space arrangements for interactive, hands-on, digitally-rich, and highly engaging active learning as part of the Mosaic initiative that began under the leadership of Stacy Morrone and is now led by Tracey Birdwell. Countless innovative pedagogies for flexible learning environments have been experimented with and researched at Indiana University, and IU faculty and staff have held unique brainstorming sessions, captivating immersive experiences, and much more with the goal of enhancing teaching and learning with technology.   Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

During the hour, we discuss Michael’s new book, “From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)creating School for Every Child” published in 2020 by Jossey-Bass. Schools can now do much more than return to normal in a post-pandemic world; a one size fits all approach to education is quickly being replaced. New models of schooling may look something like learner agency and empowerment, learning apprenticeships, world-class schools, year-round schooling, etc. Michael B. Horn also takes a question or two from the YouTube livestream and provides thought-provoking insight into education and human potential. Michael B. Horn is the author of several books, including the award-winning Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. He is the co-founder of and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a non-profit think tank. Serving as a senior strategist at Guild Education, he partners with leading employers and organizations to help offer education and upskilling opportunities to America’s workforce. He serves on the board and advisory boards of a range of education organizations, including Imagine Worldwide, Minerva University, and the LearnLaunch Institute, and is a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners. Michael holds a BA in history from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He can be contacted at michael.b.horn@gmail.com. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

What is the future of education? What should it be? What can it be? How are policymakers in top PISA-performing education systems thinking about the future of education?  The High Performing Systems for Tomorrow (HPST) is a three-year partnership among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), National Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE), and a group of education system leaders from five jurisdictions that performed at the top of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). They are British Columbia, Canada; Estonia; Finland; Hong Kong; and Singapore. The goal of the project was to consider the impact of digitalization and other global trends on the future of work and civil society; explore what this means for what students should learn and how they should learn it, and consider how this might change the role of educators and the design of public education systems.   Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

For more than half a century, Sesame Street has pioneered and evolved a model for early childhood learning at scale. This episode discusses the key role research and evaluation play in Sesame’s success and evolution, including new forms of evaluation for work in developing regions with refugees and through the pandemic. Thoughtful evidence-based design has ensured that its brand is very distinctive and highly trusted across the world. International programming has become part of Sesame’s DNA, with an essential ingredient being the participation of indigenous collaborators. Its newest international projects include Ahlan Simsim and support for Rohingya in Bangladesh. Guests Joe Blatt, the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology program Faculty Co-Chair at the Harvard Graduate School of Education alongside Sesame Street executives Kim Foulds and Shanna Kohn provides advice on developing early childhood learning through media. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Hosts Curt Bonk, Punya Mishra & Yong Zhao gather to reflect on the past four episodes (#113 - #116) and provide commentary. Tune in to our past episodes!Episode 116 | Taking a Venture into EduventuresEpisode 115 | Rethinking Creativity: Race, Culture, and EducationEpisode 114 | Free Immersive Education for All: From Greece to the WorldEpisode 113 | Addressing the Digital Divide: The Story of OaklandConversation topics include media, learning design, and of course, Sesame Street.  Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org