Who do you think of when it comes to educational leaders who stand out for their ideation, collaboration, innovation, and drive? I bet that Jeff Utecht is at the top of your list whether you went to one of his sessions at a conference or enjoyed his company at your school.
From being one of the first educational bloggers, first international educational podcasters, to helping start the Learning 2.0 conference to co-creating the COETAIL network of professional learning groups to more recently co-creating the Shifting Schools consultancy company, Jeff has been a juggernaut of dynamic energy over the past two decades. Jeff is an educational consultant, instructional technologist, speaker, and podcaster. He also was previously an international educator working as a technology integrator in several schools. Jeff’s mission is to help educators to prepare students for their future, not our past.
The guiding question for the episode is, “where do you see educational consultancy and professional/personal learning support going in the near term?”
We covered so much in our interview. A few of the topics were:
The research and work of the Shifting Schools team on student engagement techniques, providing choice within learning pathways while moving into hy-flex learning environments.
The state of professional learning for teachers includes personal self-directed learning that engages retro-styled PLCs and podcast PD. Jeff unpacked this for us, while also touching on what those new to international education might experience when it comes to their personal growth in their new school communities.
Jeff also extolled the work of his partner Tricia Friedman in designing instructional tools to scaffold learning, from leveraging the Google Workspace to teaching students collaboration skills, among others.
Always the visionary, Jeff needed little prompting to expand on what might be on the horizon regarding teaching and learning.
This future-looking episode was recorded on December 6, 2022.
Jeff’s Contact Information: Discover all the ways to follow Jeff on his Portfolio
Resources Mentioned in the Episode:
International School Organizations - See our Resource Library page and search by name (for example, ISS).
