In this episode, Tuthill talks with the head of the leading platform for enabling educator advancement via micro-credentials, a form of micro-certification that supports, scales and grows effective teachers. Sanford Kenyon joined BloomBoard as chief revenue officer in 2015 after 25 years in software and technology-based businesses and assumed the role of chief executive officer in February 2017.
Unlike a traditional course or workshop where the learning process is linear and time-based, the micro-credential learning process is a unique online experience whereby educators gain an understanding at the outset of their specific goals, and then personalize their learning to achieve the specific requirements for achieving competence. BloomBoard, based in Palo Alto, California, offers competency-based professional learning programs to state and district leaders.
Kenyon’s discusses with Tuthill his view that COVID-19 has made every student in America a “blended modality” learner because they’ve been freed from the confines of a brick-and-mortar classroom. They also discuss the concept of micro-credentialing and how it allows teachers to improve student outcomes and increase equity. Both agree that a student-centered approach is the way to move public education out of the factory, one-size-fits-all model and into the future.
“COVID-19 has kicked open that door and shoved us through … We have to have a set of practical skills and tools to help educators right now.”
EPISODE DETAILS:
· The nuts and bolts of micro-credentialing
· The exponential change COVID-19 has wrought on public education
· How technology is critical for scaling a blended model for each individual student
· BloomBoard’s turnkey program for school districts to deploy to teachers
· The changing role of the teacher in a broader definition of public education
