Venture Academies Melds Personalized Learning, Experiential and Entrepreneurial education and Relationships | Education Vanguard #84
Overview As education, and how we educate, changes we seek out new models to learn from. There is a wide variety of change making schools now and Venture Academies is one of them. Today I speak with founder Jon Bacal about how he and his team bring leadership skills, entrepreneurial skills and personalized learning to […]
The Power of Social Capital in School Improvement with Dr. Jim Spillane | Education Vanguard #83
Overview A focus on social capital in schools and the social interactions it generates is an important part of working collaboratively for organizational improvement. Dr. Jim Spillane, my guest today, focused much of his career on the benefits of social capital at schools like ours. We discuss what social capital is (see Wikipedia’s version here), […]
Fun Is a Magnet for Participation with Playmeo Founder Mark Collard | Education Vanguard # 82
Play is not an activity itself, but a state of mind. I learned this today from my guest Mark Collard, the founder and director of Playmeo, an organization dedicated to enhancing how humans connect with each other. As we see many schools beginning to understand and incorporate Social Emotional Learning, in their programs, Mark’s emphasis […]
Action Research Helps us Define and Act Our Problems | Education Vanguard #81
If you are motivated to create change at your school or other organization, yet want to know if the idea you have or the effort you have put forth is actually helpful, then action research might be for you. Action research involves defining and validating a problem, seeing the impact of the solution and more. […]
Letting Our Kids Get Risky With Dr. Mariana Brussoni | Education Vanguard #80
“Be careful, not too high.” “I wish you would not do that.” “Time to do homework.” “You have to worry about people out there. “ “Come on in we have to go to your next scheduled activity.” These are common phrases parents utter to their children in the world today. And, as many of us […]
Toby Newton Explains How International College Hong Kong Goes Well Beyond Academics With a Holistic Pastoral Approach to Education | Education Vanguard #79
Over time the pressure on our students, especially in the international world, to perform have increased. Couple this with the ever pushy role that technology plays in our academic, work and personal lives, and you have a society of young people facing a lot of stress. Are our school adjusting to these new realities? Toby […]
Health Teacher and Presenter Amy Lauren Smith Is Moving Schools Forward to Embrace a Well Rounded Health Curriculum | Education Vanguard #78
Early in my life health education was about learning to eat properly, getting exercise, staying away from drugs and other “stuff.” Today, thanks to people like my guest Amy Lauren Smith, we are seeing a more comprehensive and expanded approach to health. Mindfulness, balancing technology, sleep and social emotional learning are becoming a greater part […]
Parkour Pioneer Dan Edwardes Bring the Physicality and Spirit of Parkour to School Classrooms | Education Vanguard #77
You may be familiar with Parkour, an increasingly popular discipline that emphasizes efficient movement based on our individual skills and abilities. You might have seen hordes of young people giving it a go. What you might not know is that Parkour is coupled with a mental discipline behind it that syncs the Parkour’s challenges s […]
Martin McKay Creates Assistive Technology That Helps Everyone Achieve their Full Potential | Education Vanguard 76
Martin McKay is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of TextHelp a software company based in Northern Ireland that creates software to help support anyone to better reader or writer. They work with schools but also other organizations so anyone whether a student or a professional has the tools they need to reach their full […]
Stonefield’s Grammar School Brings Self Directed Learning to an Elementary School | Education Vanguard # 75
Agency, self-directed learning, rocks, and learning pits. These are not the words you might typically hear to describe an elementary school on the North Island of New Zealand, but after listening to today’s guests, Gina and Jana, it will all make sense. The Stonefields school located outside of Auckland is a unique, highly collaborative learning […]