The Art & Science of Learning

Entrepreneurial skills aren’t just for entrepreneurs, they are essential to everyone. In times of turbulence and unpredictability, having an entrepreneurial mindset and skills is critical. In this episode, I speak with the research lead of the Future Skills Centre, and we explore what it means to approach work and life with an entrepreneurial mindset, as well as the skills necessary for the future of work.

Dr. Wendy Cukier is a professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, Academic Director of the Diversity Institute, and Academic Resear...

This is a special episode featuring highlights from the inaugural Ottawa Innovation Week, with seven insightful interviews from some of the most inspiring leaders in technology and innovation, many of whom were speakers and organizers during the week’s events.

Ottawa Innovation Week is a celebration of bold ideas, creative minds, and the changemakers driving the future of technology, business, arts, entertainment, and social impact—right here in Canada’s capital. The initiative was led by Sonya Shorey, President and CEO of Invest Ottawa, in collaboration with the Ottawa Board of Trade, Ottawa Tourism, and numerous par...

Something exciting is happening in my hometown of Ottawa, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you on the podcast. Next week, from June 9th to the 13th, will be the inaugural Ottawa Innovation Week, a celebration of bold ideas, creative minds, and the game-changers who are driving the future of technology, business, arts, entertainment, and social impact right here in Canada's capital. My guest on this episode is Sonya Shorey, President and CEO, Invest Ottawa, Bayview Yards, and Area X.O, a research and development complex that helps accelerate next-gen technology. Sonya is leading Ottawa Innovation We...

This is a special episode that features seven mini-interviews with speakers at last year’s Learning Ideas Conference, which was held at Columbia University in New York City. As we approach the Learning Ideas Conference 2025, taking place from June 11th to 13th, I reflect on last year’s conference and the conversations I had with some of the speakers, including the three keynote speakers. 

Learning Ideas Conference: https://www.learningideasconf.org

The interviews can be found at the following timestamps:

0:08:25

Prof. Chris Dede <...

Changing careers or building a business can be daunting, and it requires learning many new skills and being creative. In this episode, my guest is one of my former professors from the Harvard Graduate School of Education who has inspired me in the work that I do now as a workplace learning consultant. We discuss how she built a successful learning evaluation business, became a Harvard professor, and now established herself as a successful children’s book author. Dr Ilona Holland shares how limitations can be the mother of invention and the importance of looking for voids as you bu...

As new technologies like AI, are disrupting the way we work, there is an increasing need for effective ways to integrate these innovations into workflows. Learning to use new technologies effectively is a primary focus of learning teams around the world. But how can we quickly and proactively adapt to new technologies? McKinsey & Company’s Research & Innovation Learning Lab values developing capabilities that enable teams to stay current with their ever-changing landscape of emerging tech and lead through changes in the future. In this episode, I speak with two learning design experts who have developed a dynamic approach to fo...

The author of a fantastic book - The Learning and Development Handbook: A learning practitioner’s toolkit – is the guest in this episode. I enjoyed reading her book and found it to be a great resource for all L&D professionals. In this episode, we discuss the importance of updating approaches to learning in the workplace and some of the key insights and strategies from her book. 

Michelle Parry-Slater is an award-winning L&OD professional with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. She is the Founder and Director of Kairos Modern Learning, an L&D consulta...

Podcasts can be a great way of learning but are rarely used in workplace training. In this episode, my guest is the co-founder of Assemble You, a company that develops podcasts for workplace training. We discuss strategies to design podcasts that help people retain new knowledge and about his experience as a learning tech entrepreneur. 

Adam Lacey is the Co-Founder of Assemble You and host of the L&D Challenges podcasts. He has 10+ years of experience creating and selling digital learning. In 2022 he launched Assemble You with his business partner. Assemble You is the hom...

Having a quality management system in L&D can help ensure that the final learning experience is of high quality. In this episode, the author of the new book, Quality Management in Learning and Development, discusses her book and shares tips on how to embed a quality management system in the L&D process. 

Hadiya Nuriddin is an award-winning talent development professional with over two decades of experience in learning strategy, instructional design, elearning development, and facilitation. With Duets Learning, she’s worked with many companies in various industries on strategy, design, and quality manag...

Coaching can be a powerful tool to transfer learning to improving on-the-job performance. However, it is often challenging to scale coaching to an entire organization, unless we use technology. I enjoyed testing out a new chatbot coaching tool called Coach M, which was developed by Lever - Transfer Learning. In this episode, I speak with the CEO of Lever about what it looks like to have a chatbot coach and the impact it can have on learning in the workplace. 

Emma Weber is CEO/Founder Lever – Transfer of Learning. Emma, a learning transfer authority, made it...

Leading a great school requires many diverse skills that enable both the students and adults in the school to thrive. In September 2023 I had the honour of attending the Tatler School Awards in London UK, hosted by Tori Cadogan, theEducation Editor at Tatler (interview in episode #35). Tatler Schools Guide is a magazine dedicated to shining a light on the top K-12 schools in the UK and is owned by Conde Nast. This was an exceptional occasion as Tatler Schools Guide was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting Magdalen College School in Oxford, a v...

The University of Oxford is made up of over 30 colleges and halls spread across the city centre and beyond. These colleges are at the heart of Oxford's reputation as one of the best universities in the world and make it a very special place to study and live. With the oldest colleges being over 700 years old, it is a rare occurrence for a new college to be established. In 2019, Reuben Colleges was established as the newest college at Oxford University. It is a graduate college dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary exchange within an inclusive, innovative and impact-oriented community. My guest...

Learning in the flow of work is a powerful way of learning and improving business outcomes. Superflow is a new platform that enables organizations to design their own learning programs that engage learning in the workflow. In this episode, I speak with the founder of Superflow about how this technology makes it possible to design online learning experiences. We also talk about what she has learned from starting her own businesses and being a female tech founder.  

Priszcilla Varnagy is the founder and CEO of Superlow, a next-generation training platform. Prior to starting Super, Prissz...

In a complex and ever-changing world, the role of futurists is becoming more prevalent. Governments and businesses are hiring futurists to help prepare for what is to come. However, what a futurist does is often misunderstood. In this episode, I speak with a futurist who helps organizations around the world and is an author of the Futures of Assessment Report by the Digital Education Futures Initiative at Cambridge University. 

Dr Fawaz Abu Sitta is a UNESCO Chair for Anticipatory Systems, a visiting fellow at Hughes Hall, the University of Cambridge and the Foresight Research Di...

What attributes impact an individual’s performance in the workplace? My guest in this episode addresses this with a technology he developed that uses an objective way to understand what knowledge, skills, motivation, perception, collaboration, information flow, and leadership attributes each individual has. Combining this unique data set with customer data and HR data, to understand what really contributes to profit and revenue from a workforce perspective. 

Patrick Veenhoff is the Founder and CEO of Outlier Lab in Switzerland. He has been exploring the question, of what behaviours drive performance, for 25 years. He has dev...

As technology evolves and we move into the age of AI, it is increasingly more important that we don’t just use technology, but we have a dialogue with the technology we use. Technology is a tool for collective thinking, but how do we use it well? My guest in this episode is a leading expert working on a dialogic theory of education appropriate for the Internet Age. Most recently he has published the book titled: The Theory of Educational Technology – Towards a Dialogic Foundation for Design.

Prof. Rupert Wegerif is a professor in the Fac...

As we strive to improve ourselves, to reach our true potential, it is easy to feel stuck. Learning and developing is a natural process for children. However, as adults, we can experience debilitating friction as we try to learn and develop in different areas of our lives. Even after having developed in new ways, we can go back to previous old patterns. How do we change deeply without falling back into old ways of being? This is the topic of the fascinating new book - The Possible Self: A Leader's Guide to Personal Development. In this episode, I speak wi...

The Learning and Development (L&D) Global Sentiment Survey takes the pulse of where workplace learning is headed this year. With thousands of L&D professionals from around the world answering the key question of “What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2024?” this survey for eleven years provided a unique overview of what is happening in workplace learning. This year, three key findings stand out in the report: the dominance of AI, the end of the pandemic effect, and a significant increase in the concerns of L&D professionals.  I’m thrilled to have back on the podcast t...

In the beautiful Swiss Alps, the International School Rheintal has just finished building a completely new campus. It is rare for an established school to build its campus from scratch, which offers a unique opportunity to design a building designed to reinforce the school's learning philosophy. In this episode, I speak with the CEO of the school, a phenomenal leader who led a collaborative design process to include students, teachers, and staff in the new design. We discuss ways of making spaces conducive to learning as well as strategies to leading an organization through major transformations. 

...

Design thinking is a skill that can transform all aspects of your work. However, it is not necessarily easy to fully understand the nuances and how to implement it effectively. I enjoyed reading the book Future Proofing by Design, which beautifully outlines the different steps of design thinking and provides clear examples of how to implement it in practice. In this episode, I speak with the author of the book about what we should know about design thinking. 

Nilufer Erdebil is an award-winning design thinking expert, TEDx and TEC speaker, and the author of "Future Proo...

Welcome to the 100th episode of The Art & Science of Learning podcast in which we are celebrating this major milestone. What an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable journey it has been, I learned a lot and met many fascinating people. I not only learned how to create a podcast from scratch, but I also learned so much from the many guests I interviewed from around the world. 

In this special episode, I am speaking with two learning professionals and podcasters whom I admire. They both have very successful podcasts on learning that have gone far be...

This special episode is a reflection on The Learning Ideas Conference that took place in June 2023 in New York City and online. The Learning Ideas Conference brings together experts from around the world, from industry and academia, who work on innovations in learning and technology for the workplace and higher education. This episode was created in collaboration with The Learning Ideas Conference, which also includes several mini video interviews with some of the speakers from the conference. 

In this episode I reflect on my experience at The Learning Ideas Conference 2023 and my key takeaways. I...

The National Museum of Mathematics, MoMath for short, is a magical place in Manhattan NYC where you can experience mathematics. This is the only museum in North America dedicated to mathematics and it is an immersive experience like no other. With colourful hands-on exhibits, unique learning technologies, interactive games, and artwork, this is a place where children and adults alike are inspired to think and learn about math. I had the pleasure of experiencing MoMath a few weeks ago when Cindy Lawrence, CEO of MoMath, gave me a tour. In this episode I speak with her about how MoMath e...

Learning in the flow of work can be an incredibly effective tool for continuous improvement and employee engagement. Axonify is a technology company that develops mobile learning for frontline workers in industries ranging from retail to finance. Employees learn skills and gain knowledge as needed and have stretch learning opportunities to advance in their role. I’m pleased to have the President and CEO of Axonify on the show to discuss how learning can be built into the flow of work and the opportunities it opens.  

Carol Leaman, CEO of Axonify, a learning and comm...

The debate on whether to go back to the office or work from home has been getting louder in recent years, but not necessarily clearer. The reimagining of the office is revolutionizing many aspects of the workplace, including how we learn at work. In this episode I speak with the author of The Nowhere Office, who is a leading thinker and voice on the future of work.  

Julia Hobsbawm OBE is an award-winning writer, speaker, consultant and Bloomberg commentator and columnist about the future of work. The author of the acclaimed book The Nowhere Offi...

In this episode the author of the book How, Organizations Can Make the Most of Online Learning, discusses key strategies and insights on how to improve online learning. Although online learning has become an important part of many organizations learning and development strategy, there is still a lot to understand in how to make it an engaging and effective experience.

Dr David Guralnick is President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning, a consultant specialized in the use of technology to improve job performance, and the author of How, Organizations Can Make the Most of Online Learn...

In the seventh, and final, episode of the special series - Reinventing Hybrid Learning Events in collaboration with the The Learning Ideas Conference - we reflect on the experience of creating a hybrid event a year after the conference was designed as a fully hybrid experience. With less than three weeks until The Learning Ideas Conference in NYC and online, we reflect on the process and learnings of creating a this hybrid conference. My guest, the founder and chair of the conference, who shares tips and insights that can help others design successful hybrid.

Creating a...

The Learning and Development (L&D) Global Sentiment Survey takes the pulse of where workplace learning is headed this year. With thousands of L&D professionals from around the world answering the key question of “What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2023?” this survey for nine years provided a unique overview of what is happening in workplace learning. In this episode, I’m thrilled to have back on the podcast the person who founded and runs the Learning & Development Global Sentiment Survey.

Donald Taylor is Chair of the Learning Technologies Conference in London, the leadi...

The start of a new year provides an opportunity to reflect on the past and make plans for the future. On this podcast we talk about different aspects of lifelong learning, with a focus on learning at work. In order to be able to learn and work at our best it is important to care for our overall health and wellbeing. But this is not solely the responsibility of the individual, as our environment, which includes our workplace, also has a role to play. As the first episode of 2023, I’m very pleased to have an expert in this fi...

What does intelligence really mean? Throughout history humans have looked in the mirror and defined intelligence in their image. Tests have been designed to measure people, and even animals, against a narrow definition of intelligence. Although in recent times there have been advances in understanding the flaws in how we test for intelligence, and it’s been recognized that there are more diverse forms, there is still a long way to go. The octopus is a mysterious creature that defies what we consider intelligence to look like. Studying and appreciating the different forms of intelligence of the octopus, and ot...

In the hybrid workplace it can be challenging to communicate in a way that fosters engagement. However, there are some new strategies and tools to that can help enhance organizational engagement. My guests in this episode have been helping people communicate more effectively in the workplace for over 40 years. Combining their research and industry experience, they help create engagement and turn conflicts into productive conversations. 

Dr Susan Glaser and Dr Peter Glaser are the founders of Glaser & Associates Inc, providing essential interpersonal communication and leadership development consulting services to organizations. They earned their doctorates in...

Exams can send shivers down a student’s spine, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Exams can be a positive learning experience, not a punitive exercise that induces unnecessary stress. In this episode we discuss an innovative form of testing that is student generated, collaborative and was found to reduce anxiety. An added bonus, it is also less time consuming to mark, allowing educators more time to work with students. This new and innovative testing methodology was developed by Prof Melanie Adrian, and together with doctoral candidate Emily-Jean Gallant, they studied the impact of this form of t...

Creating and fostering effective learning communities in the workplace requires a lot of skill, particularly in a hybrid world. There are many strategies, tools, and platforms that can help support learning communities, but it’s important to know how to use them effectively.  In this episode I speak with a fantastic community builder who creates and fosters vibrant global learning communities. We discuss why it’s important to have learning communities in the workplace, how to create them, and she shares many wonderful tips from her extensive experience in the field. 

Anamaria Dorgo is the Head...

The Work-Learn Institute, at the internationally renowned University of Waterloo in Canada, has developed the Future Ready Talent Framework. This framework is embedding important skills and lifelong learning mindset that are critical in the future of work. To discuss the framework and how it impacts students, employers, and educator, I am joined by the person leading this institute. 

Anne-Marie Fannon is the director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo. This is the only institute in the world dedicated to research on co-operative education and other forms of work-integrated learning. Founded in 2002, with...

Getting your ideas across clearly is a critical skill in any career. However, speaking to an audience is one of the greatest fears people have. In this episode we will discuss how to improve the way you communicate ideas. My guest is an expert communicator who has trained leaders around the world to communicate effectively.

Barry J. McLoughlin is the President of TLC Transform Leaders Consultants Inc. – a leadership communications firm in Ottawa Canada – with over three decades of experience as a leadership trainer, communications consultant, and educational program designer. Barry is a former televi...

The Indigenous Conservation curriculums, for elementary and high school students, are beautiful and insightful learning resource produced by the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC). They were launched in June 2022 to coincide with Indigenous History Month and World Environment Day. In this episode, the CEO of the United Nations Association in Canada discusses these fantastic resources, how it teaches about Indigenous cultures and ways to protect the natural world. We also talk about how they can be used in schools, at home and in other informal learning settings.  

Jaime Webbe is the President and CEO...

In the sixth episode of the special series - Reinventing Hybrid Learning Events in collaboration with The Learning Ideas Conference 2022 – we discuss the nuances of programming a hybrid event. With less than a week until The Learning Ideas Conference in NYC and online, in this episode we discuss many ways that participants can connect and network during the conference. My guest, the founder and chair of the conference, also shares tips on how to help connect the online and in person audience in a hybrid event. 

In-person events are slowly returning, and the future is...

In this episode I reflect on the Learning Technologies Conference 2022 and my experience attending the conference in May 2022 in London. 

The following are the links to the people and resources that I discuss in the episode: 

Learning Technologies, London: https://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk

Learning Technologies Conference 2022: https://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/welcome/conference/conference-programme

Donald Taylor: https://donaldhtaylor.co.uk

Talk: Creating a high performance culture in a complex, rapidly-changing world

Matthew Syed: https://www.li...

In the sixth episode of the special series – Reinventing Hybrid Learning Events with The Learning Ideas Conference 2022 – we discuss some important considerations on how to design the physical space of a hybrid event. To truly bridge the in-person and online experience, there are key ways of designing the space, technology, and professional support to blend the experience. We discuss how and why it’s important to think about space differently in the hybrid world.

In-person events are slowly returning, and the future is hybrid. Creating a successful hybrid class, conference, or meeting requires new skills...

How can university and high school educators design projects for their students that combine active learning, group work, research and have an impact beyond the classroom? In this episode I speak to a professor who has designed a fantastic project for her students that not only provides a multifaceted learning experience but also has real-world implications. 

Dr. Heidi Tworek is a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) and Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, jointly appointed at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and History. She is an award-winning researcher of m...