BioSense Network: Exploring biotech with computational microscopes

I am excited to announce the launch of our newly funded research project called BioSense Network. To introduce this new project, the team sat down with me (virtually) for a quick roundtable discussion to define and explain not only what the BioSense Network is, but perhaps more importantly why a project like this is needed in the first place. Have a listen!

If you like what you’re hearing, please do subscribe to the Learning Futures Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts…

If podcasts aren’t your thing, here’s a super short recap…

The show is hosted by me, and I’m joined by three of my colleagues to discuss this innovative project.

• Host: Dr. Sean Leahy - twitter: @seanthenerd

• Dr. Abhishek Singharoy - twitter: @abhisekhsingha1

• Dr. Punya Mishra - twitter: @punyamishra

• Cassandra Kellaris

We talk about the exciting new project known as the BioSense Network, which is a newly funded project aimed at establishing a community of learners exploring biotechnology with a computational microscope. This innovative research grant is in collaboration with the Arizona State University School of Molecular Sciences, ASU Biodesign Institute, and the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU. This project has been possible by funding from the Department of Defense STEM program.

While we cover a lot of ground on the podcast the main points we address are the following:

• In the show we discuss the overall aims of this project, and explore how it is described as a research project aimed at bridging textbook biotechnology with reality, and what that really means in practice.

• We talked about the importance of combining teams, (biotechnology and education) and discuss how we see this partnership as being crucial to creating a new approach to biotechnology education.

• We touch on the broader impacts of projects like this, and the potential impact on STEM education and the pipeline of STEM professional careers.

• We discuss our approach to flip the learning experience / community aspect, and create a community first, in which learning experience can take place, and how this new model may have long lasting benefits in terms of sustainability for this project.

• We explore the use of high powered computing and virtual visualization technologies to bring zero-cost biotechnology to the hands of middle and high school students (that they otherwise wouldn’t have access until university level studies).

• We discussed the four identified “tangible” goals / outcomes of the project, namely: communicate, promote, inspire, and enhance.

• Our last element we discussed was our approach to create educational modules for educators to use with their students - what is entailed in the development and implementation of these, and how that differs from traditional approaches to train-the-trainer type projects etc.

All in all, it was a great opportunity to sit down with some really awesome people and talk about this exciting, innovative new project. More to come as the project get further underway…

Challenges and Opportunities of AI in Education

EdTech Korea Forum 2021

September 15, 2021 | Conference theme: EdTech Unlocks Learning Innovation

It was an honor to be invited to speak at the EdTech Korea Forum 2021 on artificial intelligence in education. EdTech Korea Forum is the largest ICT conference in Korea, hosted by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea, and was presented in English and Korean languages. The conference presenters represented a rich and diverse group of presenters from a range of professional experts including educators, policy-makers, industry partners, and academics.

My presentation was titled: Challenges and Opportunities of AI in Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Abstract: (From Conference Website)

As our collective global society stands on the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution ushered in through the rapid advancements and convergence of digital, biological, and physical technologies and innovations, the challenges and opportunities for the education system have never been more salient. Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have presented the system of education with an emergent horizon of new technological applications to address historical and contemporary challenges facing the educational system. This presentation will explore the emerging role of AI in education, and address issues around the impact of fair distribution, unintended consequences, and the need for a humanistic approach to emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Below is the flyer for the event (one in English the other in Korean)

Designing Learning Futures: Navigating Toward the Next Normal

On March 17, 2021 I had the pleasure to co-present the closing keynote for the OLC Innovate K-12 Summit with my trusted colleague Ben Scragg. In this presentation we explore the challenges of creating a new “normal” as it relates to educational futures - and explore a set of strategic foresight tools and methodology that can assist leaders in creating an intentional “next normal” for their organization.

Below is the extended abstract from the event website.

Extended Abstract:

We are certainly living through a volatile, complex, uncertain, and ambiguous (VUCA) world at the present moment, and its impacts have been felt perhaps more deeply and tangibly in K12 education than anywhere else - both at global level and within our local schools and communities. Given the rapid disruption and changes brought on by COVID-19, we know that there will be no returning “back to normal.” While schools, educators, students and families have all navigated the past year in different ways and with different degrees of hardship, challenge, and even success - we still look forward to establishing a future sense of normalcy, however the new normal takes shape.

In this session, we want to explore some of the ways in which educators and leaders can begin to design and give shape to this new normal, despite all the uncertainty of now. Given all that educators and communities are facing, it’s worth exploring how we might re-imagine our teaching and learning environments - particularly online and digital learning environments - by addressing and harnessing the plausible outcomes and impacts of our collective uncertainty.

We will invite participants to learn about and experiment with emergent design and strategic foresight tools that can reveal risks and opportunities, helping us prioritize the work needed to build the next normal. The goal of this session is not to predict what will happen in the future, but to stretch the imagination (and ourselves!) to think about what we would like to have happen, using a framework and tools for how it might happen. The maxim “we cannot predict the future, but we can invent it “ is often cited as a call to design and use strategic forecasting tools and methodologies. Join us as we create a studio space to explore a set of tools and reflective prompts that we’re describing as Learning Futures.

Keynote: 2021 Winter Games Conference

Learning Futures: Designing the Horizon

I was thrilled to deliver the opening keynote address for the 2021 Winter Games conference, hosted by ASU’s ShapingEDU community and partners. Below is the publicly shared Zoom recording. Special thanks to my colleagues Dr. Punya Mishra and Jodie Donner for joining me in sharing our work.

Additionally, we also just released the second installment of our special issue in the ASU Journal Current Issues in Education, an Open Access Journal.

Vol 22 No 1 (Special Issue) Shaping the Futures of Learning in the Digital Age Part 2

Learning Futures Podcast Launch

Introducing the newly launched Learning Futures Podcast! Be sure to subscribe to make sure you don’t miss a single episode. As one of the Executive Producers of this new podcast - I am very pleased to bring such an incredible ensemble of brilliant people together to share their insights into the futures of learning.

Join us as we tackle the bigger question:

What if education systems were doing more and thinking differently about preparing learners to thrive in the future? Join Professor Ronald A. Beghetto of Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College for conversations on improving education and the future of learning. Each episode presents colleagues, researchers, education leaders and other guests who share how they're thinking about and addressing the most pressing challenges in education.

Slice of PI Podcast Appearance: Part 2

“Part 2 on MLFTC’s IgnitED Labs with Dr. Sean Leahy, Director of Technology Initiatives, and Jodie Donner, Lead Technology Strategist and Head of IgnitED Labs. ”

— Slice of PI

This is the second of our two-part interview with Claire and Hannah from the Slice of PI podcast. We had so much to say in our interview they had to split it into two episodes (IgnitED Labs Interview Part 1).

For more information on the labs discussed, please head over to the IgnitED Labs website to see what we’ve been up to.

Learning (Hu)Man

Around the Flagpole: The What, Why, and How of Learner-Centered Everything

Well campers… thats a wrap!

With the end of Learning(Hu)Man today, I’m reminded of how fun this event was. It was a real pleasure to not only present, but to moderate this amazing panel. It was interesting to see how various organizations have been building experiences with students at the center. Specifically, it was interesting to hear the approach of Instructure, the owners of CMS platform Canvas, and how their approach to creating spaces for students aligns with the work from ASU and Michigan State University.

Perhaps most impressive, was the inclusion of our students Sabrina in this panel. She brought the much needed student perspective to this panel all about center-role of students in the development of learning experiences.

A major thanks to Laura for organizing this session and the invitation to moderate.

“If it’s not in service of learners, then who is it serving?”

— ASU Learning(Hu)Man 2020

Multiple ways to connect - a virtual experience

While the online camp experience had several ways to connect, web streaming, Zoom, the organizers also provided a unique way to get more immersed in the ‘virtual’ environment through a virtual Second Life-esque experience called VirBELA. I thought this was a really compelling way to try and reach a deeper level of immersion while participating in the event remotely.

Reflections - Powered by Illustration

One of the fun elements of participating in events hosted and run out of the ShapingEDU community and ASU UTO - is the always present graphic illustrators who capture the conversations (big and small) and create these rich assets that capture the spirit and energy of the events.

Looking forward to returning to camp next summer!

An Invited Talk: Futures Thinking & Strategic Foresight

It was a lot of fun to join the panel of invited speakers on July 14, 2020 for the first Learning Futures Leadership Studio, hosted by Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Arizona State University.

Learning Futures Leadership Studio Speakers

Learning Futures Leadership Studios
For full program details and information.

“The events of the past few months have demonstrated that we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. Whether the global shutdown of schooling due to COVID-19 and the sudden move to remote learning, or the more recent protests against systemic, recurring inequities in our society, it is clear that we as educators need to do a better job.

This summer, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College hosts Learning Futures Leadership Studio, a series of four online action-oriented studio sessions that are designed to engage teams of education leaders in creating pathways for leading systems in a time of change.

You will be immersed in provocative questions and ideas through interactive studio experiences. With your colleagues and others, you will reflect on these ideas and experiences. And you will develop action steps to pursue in your own context.

This is a BYOC (Bring Your Own Challenges) experience intended to allow you, in a team, to explore new angles and perspectives on the issues that you face today and expect to face in the future.
”

— https://learningfutures.education.asu.edu/

As the first studio to kick off the event, I focused on a topic that is not only contemporary, but one that I feel is critical to the collective needs of our society, Futures Thinking and Strategic Foresight.

Official tagline of my studio:

It is clear today that there will be no return to “normal” or to a pre-COVID-19 world. As a result, leaders must be prepared to forge ahead – with courage and efficacy – in a policy and bureaucratic context where there may or may not be clear guidance or feasible policy mandates. In this context, leaders cannot simply wait for guidance; rather, they must design and lead for the futures of learning.

In this session, we will introduce leaders to practical and creative tools of scenario planning and strategic foresight for leaders to explore new ways to think about strategically planning for uncertainty. Participants will learn how to forecast future trends and develop strategic plans to identify possible, plausible, and preferable futures.
(https://learningfutures.education.asu.edu)

In other words, the main objective of this studio is to demonstrate the need for organizational leaders (especially those in the educational system), to actively engage in futures thinking and strategic foresight. To create an organizational culture that allows for this type of thinking, planning, and strategy. I covered a handful of foresight methodological tools developed and open sourced (via Creative Commons) by the Future Today Institute.

The aim of this talk was to start an ember of futures thinking in educational systems leadership, with the hope that this will be the first of many subsequent explorations into the realm of strategic foresight.

A Slice of PI Podcast Appearance: IgnitED Labs Part 1

The IgnitED Labs are creative spaces where users can explore and play with new and emerging technologies that can serve a role in teaching and learning. We sat down with Dr. Sean Leahy, Director of Technology Initiatives, and Jodie Donner, Lead Technology Strategist and Head of IgnitED Labs, to talk about the design and creation of the labs here at MLFTC. This is part one of our conversation. 

Recently, Jodie and myself were asked to do an interview with the newly launched Slice of PI Podcast that is produced out of our college. It was a great conversation, and to be honest, I think we talked so much that Claire and Hannah (hosts) had to split this into two parts.

It was a lot of fun to share and discuss all of the hard work and collaboration that has gone into creating the innovative IgnitED Labs.

Have a listen, if you like what you hear, subscribe to Slice of PI wherever you get your podcasts…

Invited Lecture: Principled Use of Technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

On February 22, 2020 I delivered an invited presentation on the “Principled Use of Technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” as part of the Principled Innovation: Leadership for today, tomorrow and the future conference held at Arizona State University.

The main objective of this particular talk was to provide a general ‘provocation’ or ‘call to action’ for educational systems leadership to take note of the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution, and to understand the implications of the potential systems-disrupting innovations and convergence of physical, digital, and biological technologies.

This talk also presented the audience with a cursory exploration of the need for organizational leadership to engage in strategic foresight and futures thinking.

To help illustrate the complexities of future uncertainty I also explored the Black Swan Theory and model used to demonstrate the potential peril or promise from new or converged technological advancements in society.

Overall it was a fun and engaging presentation with a lively group of participants that drove an enriching conversation throughout the session.