Workshops

Contact me for speaking events

Learning Spaces Boot Camp

Connective technologies, mobile devices, and new 24/7 global learning opportunities are reshaping how, what and where people learn. Conversely, traditional brick and mortar schools are composed of decades-old classrooms designed to support a different type of learning from a different age. So, do schools, to maintain relevance and effectiveness, need to rethink how their spaces are used to support learning in a connected world? The answer is yes. In this comprehensive workshop, we'll explore learning space design principles, explore how design is used to craft contemporary physical and digital spaces for learning, and immerse you in a learning space design charrette that will challenge you to apply what you have learned. Leave the session with a renewed focus on the importance of space for learning as well as new skills that can be used to create spaces that serve students and contemporary learning.

Developing the Design Mind:  Using Design Thinking in Education

This workshop engages participants in understanding and employing the design thinking process, and helps them to begin developing a design mind, one that sees problems and issues always as a design opportunity. We’ll begin by building a model of design thinking through fun and engaging activities that will set the stage of a design provocation focusing on personalized learning.  Embedded in this process will be strategies to help participants vision design thinking as a 21st Century pedagogy, and one that deeply engages students in developing solutions to human needs. Additionally, other components that support the process, such as developing the types of learning spaces that support such design thinking, will be addressed.  Come learn about a process that supports creativity and innovative thought and practice that can be used to address the unique opportunities of a 21st Century education.

Creating Student Experiences Using Design Thinking

Empathy, Ideation, Prototype, Iteration and Wonder. If these words sound interesting, join me for a fun and hands-on session on design thinking, where you’ll be introduced to a process that can be used to fuel imagination, create new types of student learning experiences, and drive creative solution finding. We’ll form design teams, redesign and prototype a solution, and expand and apply the process to classroom practice. Learn how to look at opportunities through the lens of a designer and how a design mindset can be used to reshape how you teach and how kids learn. Post-It-Notes, Sharpies,and fun provided!

Create, Mashup, and Remix Media for Engaged Learning

The enormous capacity of the Web provides access to a variety of interesting and compelling media that portray experience, knowledge and the social interaction of people. The Web, along with the technology tools that we have, provide the capacity for creating and sharing media instantly and in a variety of ways. In this workshop,we’ll explore the importance of media as a communicative tool, and then do a deep dive into the tools that can be used for capturing, creating, remixing, and sharing media creations. We’ll apply this to teaching and learning and what it means for helping students become visually literate and competent and creative producers of media that matters. Leave the session with a global yet practical understanding of what is available to create and share media, how this applies to teaching and learning, and how you can get started tomorrow.