Design EDU is a whirlwind 1 1/2 day event that brings together forward-thinking K12 educators from across Colorado.  On Day 1, you'll learn to use "design thinking" to create new K12 innovations.  On Day 2, we'll help you figure out how to put your ideas to immediate action in your classroom, school or beyond.  Check out the agenda.

 

Who can come?

Educators from districts, charter schools, independent schools, non-profits, edtech – come one, come all!  We have a few spots for non-educators as well.  There is no charge for this event.  Join our waiting list for our Spring/Summer 2013 event.

 

Why are we doing this?

We are excited about the future of education and ready to stop talking and start doing.  We've seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, heard about Khan Academy’s flipped classrooms, and read Tony Wagner’s Creating Innovators.  We believe innovation begins with us, with community, right here in Colorado.

 

Who are we?

Design EDU is an all-volunteer, non-profit effort supported by the Donnell-Kay Foundation and Colorado Legacy Foundation.

 

Thank you to our amazing Facilitators and Mentors of our Nov 3-4 event!!!

 

Facilitators

 

Bridget Coughlin, PhD

Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs, Denver Museum of Nature & Science

 

Bridget is responsible for the Museum's strategic fundraising and membership activities as well as overseeing a diverse array of innovative and engaging education programs. In this regard, Coughlin works collaboratively with dozens of individuals and organizations to ensure the Museum is financially sound and sustainable for generations to come. Her passion is creating engaging museum experiences that bring out everyone's inner scientist.

 

Coughlin joined the Museum in 2005 after working for five years at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. At the Museum, she served as the curator and science advisor on the team that conceived, designed, and built the award-winning exhibition Expedition Health. She holds a bachelor of arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Iowa Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

 

Brian Greenberg

Chief Executive Officer, Silicon Schools Fund

 

Brian Greenberg is the CEO of the Silicon Schools Fund, a not-for-profit investment fund seeking to accelerate the next generation of blended learning schools in the Bay Area of California. He was formerly the Chief Academic Officer of Envision Schools, a Bay Area charter management organization, and the Principal and Founder of Leadership Public Schools Hayward, one of the top charter schools in the state of California.  Brian has worked as a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, in politics on statewide and national campaigns, and in higher education at Carnegie Mellon University.  He has served as a mentor principal for New Leaders for New Schools and is a Stanford University Principal Fellow.  Brian is the creator of BlendMyLearning.com, a site devoted to experimentation and technology in education and has been a mentor and judge with Startup Weekend.  He graduated from Dartmouth College and competed his Masters in Education at Harvard University.

 

Mentors

 

Coeylen Barry

Founder, KDT Consulting (Boulder, CO)

 

Coeylen has spent the last 10 years working in innovative educational programming.  After receiving her Masters Degree in Curriculum and Teacher Education from Stanford University, she joined the founding team of African Leadership Academy - a secondary school in South Africa - as manager of curriculum development.  Coeylen later joined the K-12 lab at the Stanford Institute of Design to help with teacher training and curriculum development.  As the founder of KDT Consulting - an educational consulting organization - Coeylen has lad design thinking workshops for leading institutions such as Stanford and Harvard and provided educational consulting with schools and districts both locally and internationally.  Through extensive on-the-ground work with teachers and school leaders she has learned to opportunities and challenges to the design process in education and coached many educators to develop an innovators mindset.

 

Adam Carter

Chief Academic Officer, Summit Public Schools (Redwood City, CA)

 

Adam began his career in education as a high school English teacher in the Mountain View – Los Altos school district, where he won the California Association for Advancement in Education’s Outstanding New Teacher Award.  From there, be became the founding English teacher at Summit Preparatory Charter School.  After two years at Summit, he spent the next six living and working in Indonesia and Argentina, where he taught a variety of courses, including AP and IB, served on school-wide governance committees, and acted as head of department.  He also took a year to found and direct the Innovative Schools Programme through Yayasan Emmanuel, an NGO working in the greater Jakarta area.  The program, funded by the Swiss Bank, serves thousands of West Javanese students and hundreds of teachers, and continues to grow.  In his travels, the people and the promise of Summit Public Schools never left Adam’s mind, and he came back in 2011 as SPS’s Director of Professional Development.  He has presented to groups as diverse as the CCSA, Stanford University education professors, public school leaders, and teachers who had never before seen an LCD projector.  In his current role as Chief Academic Officer, he leads Summit’s Academics Team, which works tirelessly to build and document a technology-enriched competency-based curriculum, and to professionally develop our world-class faculty.

 

James Cryan

Founder and Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Prep (Denver, CO)

 

James Cryan began his career teaching sixth grade language arts at a low-income public school in Denver. Each year, James’ students entered his classroom more than 2.5 years behind grade level.  In just one year, he led his students back on track as they demonstrated more than two years of reading growth.  For this achievement James was nominated for the Sue Lehman award, the National Teach for America Teacher of the Year honor.  In 2010, James decided to pursue this dream full-time by opening a college-preparatory school that would put students on a path toward college graduation beginning in pre-kindergarten.  James opened Rocky Mountain Prep, a new K-8 charter school in Fall 2012.  James graduated magna cum laude from Colby College where he studied Political Science and International Development.  He completed an MBA in School Leadership from the University of Denver in August 2011.

 

Jake Firman

Manager of Education Technology, DSST Public Schools (Denver, CO)

 

Jake started his career in education as a Teach for America corps member, teaching for 4 years in northeast Denver at Bruce Randolph School. After noticing a severe need in his school for leadership and focus on instructional technology, Jake worked with school leadership to create his next role: Instructional Technology Coordinator. In that role, Jake designed and oversaw pilots in interactive whiteboard technology, mobile student response systems, and 1:1 tablet PC environments, which culminated in a 1:1, tablet based credit recovery program which saw 100% of its students receive mastery-based credit. Jake is currently the Manager of Education Technology for DSST Public Schools, where he manages the entire education technology portfolio, from maintaining and improving existing instructional technology tools, to designing DSST’s blended learning model moving forward.

 

Jonathan Skolnick

Director of Learning Innovation, Junyo (Menlo Park, CA)

 

Jon recently became director of learning innovation at Junyo, where he helps schools use Junyo's products to design their way into the 21st century. Jon started out as a high school history teacher in New York City and later worked in NYC's Office of School Leadership, where he led development of several tech tools to help principals become more effective leaders. From 2009-10, he was one of the founding members of the School of One team, and from 2010-12 he was a senior director in NYC's Innovation Zone.

 

Jennifer Walcott

Chief of Staff, KIPP New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)

 

Jennifer started her career in education as a 2005 Teach For America corps member in Greater New Orleans.  She currently serves as the KIPP New Orleans Schools Chief of Staff and is also pursuing her Masters of Public Health at Tulane University.  She has worked as the regional director of strategy at Teach For America in New Orleans and serves as the board president of ARISE Academy, a K-8 charter school in New Orleans.  She recently completed an entrepreneur fellowship with 4.0 Schools in New Orleans that focused on design thinking and innovation.  She deeply believes in the need for innovation in education as the path to build excellent schools for all students.