Episode 12: Chris Plutte - Global Nomads Group

Imagine a world where students bridge borders and cross cultures all with the click of a button? 

Meet Chris Plutte from Global Nomads Group  He shares his background in international peacekeeping efforts and how that led to co-founding this unique non-profit that connects students of differing backgrounds. 

Chris is the leading expert on global student discussions and the current GNG focus is on building classroom connections between students in the U.S. to students in the Middle East.

A bit about Chris: He is a sought after speaker on media, youth and conflict and has been on Today Show, CNN, NPR, Education Week. So as to say, I was a bit nervous having him on the show and honored that he joins us today. Chris opened and directed all of Search for Common Ground’s  programs in Rwanda.  And during his time in Rwanda he introduced innovative programs for peace building using technology in the classroom. 

Quick Note: This episode is brought to you by the Google Plus community: Schools Gone Social, a community of school leaders and teachers using social-media to its fullest potential. Join the group by going on Google plus and typing in "Schools Gone Social" and clicking "Ask to join". 

On the call, Chris shares the following information which you can travel to below by clicking on the hyperlink:

• Global Nomads Group
• Semester at Sea
• The Importance of the globally-connected student
• Pahara-Aspen Education
• How to build student discussions around sensitive topics 

Reach out to Chris and his team on Twitter: @global_nomads and @chrisplutte 

Email his team at info@gng.org

One last thing: 

Please take a second and give this podcast an honest rating in ITunes. Click here to go to iTunes directly. I created this podcast for you and want to hear from you!

Feel free to reach out to me at anytime at mark@markwguay.com or @markwguay. Your comments and thoughts mean so much to me as I continue to build this podcast on transforming education. 

Episode 11: Matt Niemitz - Adobe Education Exchange

What happens when a bunch of educators get together to share their most creative lessons? You get Adobe's Education Exchange program.

On this episode of The Transforming Education Podcast I have the head of the Adobe Education Exchange program, Matt Niemitz. We dive into a deep conversation about creativity and how educators from all around the world are sharing ideas to help spark students' creativity. 

It is such an incredible conversation and I think Sir Ken Robinson's ears must be ringing, because we tie in his work quite a bit. 

On the call, Matt shares the following information which you can travel to below by clicking on the hyperlink:

• Adobe's Education Exchange Program

• Sir Ken Robinson's book "Finding Your Element"
• The Importance of Creativity
• The Globally Connected Teacher
• What Makes a Great Lesson for Creativity 

Reach out to Matt and his team on Twitter: @mattniemitz  @AdobeEdu

Please take a second and give this podcast an honest rating in ITunes. I created this podcast for you and want to hear from you!

Feel free to reach out to me at anytime at mark@markwguay.com or @markwguay. 

Episode 10: UX Designers - Hilary Fenton and Rachel Bolton

Meet Hilary and Rachel - two user-experience (UX) designers who are reshaping education as we know it. Their work and research dives deep into the learning structure to examine the question, "How can our students learn better and more efficiently?"

On the call, Hilary, Rachel, and I talk about how the digital world has created a unique experience where students can learn in an extremely engaging way that allows learning to be incredibly fun, dynamic, and personalized. 

We start off by defining what UX exactly is and then explore both low-tech and high-tech designs Hilary and Rachel have examined. 

Sir Ken Robinson,in arguably one of the most popular TED talks, speaks about the importance of creativity in a child's education. He argues actually that Schools Kill Creativity, which obviously rustled the feathers of school leaders around the world. 

He says that in order for our society to move forward and progress, creative thinking needs to be a central focus in transforming education. 

This is the focus of our discussion today and I am so honored that Hilary and Rachel shared their expertise with us.

You can find out more about Hilary and Rachel here:

hilaryfenton.com/curriculum

Please leave a comment below! 

P.S. I would really appreciate if you took two seconds to rate this podcast on iTunes. You can click here to leave a rating. 

Episode 9: Move This World w/ Anya Warburg

Last week, I had Google on the call sharing their story about Connected Classrooms, and on this episode I share another way to get students from different parts of the world communicating more effectively.   

On the call with me today, I'll be chatting with Anya Warburg from Move this World.org  a non-profit that uses creative movement as a vehicle to transform conflict, violence and bullying in communities.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to send me an email at mark@markwguay.com or tweet me at @markwguay.

Just a quick note, this show is for you, so let me know what you think and leave an honest rating on iTunes. 

“Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes...it makes the world a better place.” - Daniel Pink

Want to learn more? Here's the contact info:

Twitter: @move_thisworld 

Website: Movethisworld.org 

Episode 8: Google's Connected Classrooms w/ Lisa Jiang

We are currently preparing students for a world that we know very little about. The world we live in now is truly remarkable and something we could never had predicted in the 1970s and 80s. The one thing that we can agree on, however, is that the world got a lot smaller when we fit the internet in our pockets.

I truly believe that we are living in a new renaissance - one that allows ideas to spread with a click of a button and zero budget. It's an amazing time to be alive and a truly amazing time to be a student.

To date, Google has been a leading superpower in making these changes and I am so excited to hear that Google has just taken one giant leap in building the global classroom with its new program Connected Classrooms. 

Today on the call, I have with me Lisa Jiang, one of the founders behind Google's new Connected Classrooms  program. 

On the call, Lisa and I chat about:

• The value of cross-cultural communication
• Building the global citizen
• Global Nomads Group and their role in creating conversations that matter on an international level
• How virtual field trips do not replace field trips, yet create an opportunity like never before

You can find out more on the show by joining Connected Classrooms on their Google Plus homepage. and sharing your thoughts. 

You can contact with Lisa on Twitter at @callmelisaj.

I hope you get a lot out of this episode and would love, love, love to hear from you. So please send me an email at mark@markwguay.com or tweet me @markwguay.

Episode 7: Alliance for a Healthier Generation - Brian Weave

Say good-bye to mystery meat and sugary milk and hello to brain food and a focused mind.

On this episode, I interview Brian Weaver, vice president for Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Brian shares his insights into healthy eating and nutrition and shares the stories of successful schools that pave the way to a healthier generation.

Find out more at,
healthiergeneration.org
letsmove.gov

Send your comments at thoughts over to mark@markwguay.com or leave a comment at markwguay.com. If you like what you hear, please head on over to iTunes (link here) and leave an honest review. 

Episode 6: Pop Fit Kids

You might have heard that today 1 in 3 kids in the United States is overweight or obese and the generation of kids today may live shorter lives than their parents. 

Today on the show I have with us Mara and Maria, two entrepreneurs who are changing this.

PopFitKids

Their company, Pop Fit Kids, teaches children about nutrition and exercise and make it fun.

Seriously, these kids have fun. On their website, you can see pictures of children doing what children do best - playing, laughing, and moving. What adults like to call, exercise.

I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to talk to Pop Fit Kids. Healthy exercise is something that many people grapple with and I absolutely love what they are doing. And as we move through new education initiatives and we see a shift from the traditional brick and mortar public school to an arena of blended learning, it's ideas like those that Mara and Maria have created with Pop Fit Kids that will help maintain the healthy fit bodies children need to grow into the remarkable lives we all hope they become.

Like what you hear? Will you tweet it out and share it with the world? (Click to tweet) 

Episode 5: Jessica Wilt and @ArtsEdTechNYC

Photo Credit: Phil O' Brien from ClimbingFish.com 

 This episode is brought to you by Christa McCauliffe Academy, a global online k-12 school that creates personalized education for the creative mind, bringing together remarkable students from around the globe. 

On this episode: 

I'll be talking with the most influential change-agent in amping up the arts in education, Jessica Wilt. Turning STEM into STEAM, she pushes the school system to realize the importance of the arts as a vehicle to enhance all other subject areas. 

As a professional dancer, Jessica has tap danced her way into education, serving as a teacher, college professor, and now an entrepreneur and writer. Currently, she runs ArtsEdTechNYC and blogs for the Huffington Post.

Follow Jessica at @ArtsedtechNYC and Jessicawilt.com. Her email address is  info@jessicawilt.com

I'd love to hear your thoughts on our conversation, so please leave your comment below.

Keeping it on the positive,

Mark at The Transforming Education Podcast

Episode 4: Sallome Hralima - The Future Project

"Education is something you give yourself, and school is any place where you go to learn." - Words from the wise mother of Sallome Hralima  (Tweet this!) 

Today I talk with Sallome who acts as the mastermind Chief Dream Director behind the The Future Project.

You can check out Sallome's personal work here  and read more about The Future Project here.

To give you an idea of what students have created so far you can watch this video and check out Flutter, created by 17-year old Raenuka Reneau.

My favorite idea? One current student-scientist is working to create a hoverboard. I'll make sure to post a picture of me riding it when it gets patented. 

Towards the end of the interview, Sallome opens up and honestly shares her thoughts on what's missing in the school design and how The Future Project works to fill these gaps. Take, for example, the importance to build an innovative school culture that views failure as a learning tool. 

Make sure to watch the launch of Dream.org on 8-28-2013 as well as join The Future Project commemorate the I Have a Dream speech given by one of our nation's greatest dreamers, Martin Luther King Jr. 

It means so much to me to have you listen in and get to share these stories with you.

If there is a topic you'd like addressed or perhaps someone you think I should interview please send me an email at markwguay@gmail.com.

So, what do YOU think?  if you were a student in high school today, what would you ask your dream director to help you achieve? Tell me by leaving a comment below.

Episode 3: U-Class - Assignments Gone Global

On this episode, I'll be taking a look into what it means to globalize education when I interview two edu-preneurs who took their roots in teaching and created a more global classroom. 

About a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to run a breakout session at the NYC Global Education Forum and got to mingle with some of the key catalysts behind building a more global education. 

On the interview today, I have the organizers behind that whole event and am so humbled that they have agreed to come on and discuss global education.

Zak Ringelstein and Leah Schrader founded UClass to build a more global education and help educators and students transcend learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Their company U-Class links students and teachers together through assignments that have gone global. 

Find out more about UClass by visiting their site here and reaching out to Zak@Uclass.org

What do you think? How do you envision a global education? You can share your story by leaving a comment below.