The Agile Approach to Learning Design

Denise Gaspard-Richards, PhD is head of the Course Development Department in the Academic Programming and Delivery Division,  at The University of the West Indies, Open Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. She completed her PhD in Social Policy at the University’s St Augustine Campus. She has eighteen years experience as an educator having worked in capacities that span institutional research in education and the design, development and delivery of online and distance education courses. Dr Gaspard-Richards is also formally trained and has worked in the area of demography and population studies in teh Caribbean.

Links

http://www.open.uwi.edu/

Jasmina Nikolic is an agile organizational developer, business strategist and coach, and founder at Jazillify. She is a Vice-President of the Higher Education Reform Expert Team at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. She is a global pioneer in transferring agile methodologies from the world of software development into the field of higher education policies and instructional design. She also teaches at the University of Belgrade. She is a Certified Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner, Certified Scrum Professional, trained Kanban coach, Open Space facilitator.

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Stephen Downes works for the National Research Council of Canada where he has served as a Senior Researcher, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2001. Affiliated with the Learning and Collaborative Technologies Group, Institute for Information Technology, Downes specializes in the fields of online learning, new media, pedagogy and philosophy.

Downes is perhaps best known for his daily newsletter, OLDaily, which is distributed by web, email and RSS to thousands of subscribers around the world, and as the originator of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). He is a popular speaker, appearing at hundreds of events around the world over the last fifteen years. He has published hundreds of articles both online and in print through two decades of research and development into learning networks and related technologies.

Prior to joining the NRC, Downes worked for the University of Alberta as an information architect, and prior to that, as a distance education and new media design specialist for Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. This followed a decade of teaching experience both in person and by distance with Athabasca University, the University of Alberta, and Grande Prairie regional college. 

At the University of Alberta he built a learning and research portal for the municipal sector in that province, Munimall, and another for the Engineering and Geology sector, PEGGAsus. He also pioneered the development of learning objects and was one of the first adopters and developers of RSS content syndication in education. Downes introduced the concept of e-learning 2.0 and with George Siemens developed and defined the concept of Connectivism, using the social network approach to deliver open online courses to three thousand participants over two years. 

Downes obtained a BA and MA in philosophy from the University of Calgary, specializing in epistemology and the philosophy of science. He also studied at the PhD level at the University of Alberta, completing all but his dissertation. Among numerous volunteer and committee positions while a student, Downes served as editor of the Calgary student newspaper, the Gauntlet, for two terms, and as president of the Graduate Students' Association at the University of Alberta, also for two terms. He served as a member of the Board of Governors, University of Alberta, and with the Athabasca University Governing Council.

After completing high school at Ottawa's School of Continuing Education while working as a concession stand worker and dishwasher, Downes studied computing science for one year at Algonquin College while working as a telephone equipment installer and (later) as a security guard. He worked for a year as a computer operator for Texas Instruments in Calgary, then as a pot washer, 7-Eleven clerk, and development education programmer for the Arusha International Development Centre. Downes has also been a newspaper carrier, waiter at a race track, hot dog vendor, building cleaner and camp counsellor. He was a candidate for mayor in the city of Brandon in 1995.

Downes was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1959 and has four brothers (all younger). He lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, with his wife Andrea (b. Colorado Springs, Colorado; married 1998) and four cats (Bart, Polly, Lexi and Alex).

Stephen reads a lot of science fiction and books in general. He enjoys movies, television and sports, especially hockey. He enjoys playing darts and NTN Trivia (though since Moncton has no NTN locations, it's a lot harder to play). He is an avid Civilization III player and an enthusiastic photographer.

Read more about Stephen Downes' views on the next era of learning.

Links

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/http://www.downes.ca/

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Claudia Musekamp is the CEO of Infoport GmbH, an e-learning consultancy and content developer from Berlin. 

Her company works with clients in various industries ranging from automobile and machinery to the health sector.

As a consultant, she developed the concept for the 2014  MOOC on the Economics of Land Degradation offered by the GIZ and the United Nations University.

Her experience in e-learning dates back to 1995 when she developed the Transatlantic Classroom, an e-mail exchange between schools in Germany and the US. 

While her academic background is in international relations, her interest is in emerging technologies and their use for learning.

Links

http://www.infoport.de/

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