The Learning Ideas Conference 2023 was pleased to feature four keynote speakers:

• Dr. Lydia Liu, Principal Research Director at ETS and a globally recognized expert in the assessment of critical skills and competencies in higher education and the workforce. She has also managed large-scale grants awarded by government and private funding agencies in the U.S. and international countries including India, China, and Korea.

• Dr. Tony O'Driscoll, an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Pratt School of Engineering and a Research Fellow at Duke Corporate Education. These appointments afford Tony the unique opportunity to apply cutting-edge academic research to address increasingly complex business challenges;

• Dr. Maria Rosaria Re, a Research Fellow, qualified as Associate Professor, in Experimental Pedagogy at the Dept. of Education, University Roma Tre, as well as an Assistant Professor at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (IT); and

• Dr. Joiselle Cunningham Smith, a federal policy advisor, consultant, and award-winning educator who has worked in the United States, Europe, and Latin America and the CEO of Pathways to Creative Industries, an organization focused on building access for youth interested in creative care.

Dr. Lydia Liu

Principal Research Director
ETS
Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Talk: Power Skills: Unlocking Potential for the Future of Work

The life cycle of technical skills has greatly shortened due to rapid technological innovations and new knowledge generation. With all the unknowns it is almost impossible to predict all the technical skills required ten years from now. However, power skills such as lifelong learning, coachability, communication, and collaborative problem solving can help individuals acquire new learning, generate innovative solutions for novel problems, and navigate new work settings. As the global workforce shifts from rigid academic pedigree to skills-based evaluation that recognizes multiple educational pathways, being able to demonstrate skills that are relevant, transferable, and measurable becomes critically important. Many skills taxonomies have been proposed to categorize skills but they vary in quality and research evidence. In addition, insufficient assessment exists that offers valid and reliable measures for many of the newly defined skills. Direct evidence of skills acquisition from assessment is essential for skills documentation and demonstration. In this seminar, I will discuss the significance for focusing on power skills as enablers for individuals' future success, what key power skills are in terms of definitions and key dimensions, how assessment can be designed, developed, analyzed, and validated, and current initiatives and research that leverage power skills to help unlock workforce potential for individuals, particularly the ones from underserved backgrounds.

About Dr. Liu
Dr. Ou Lydia Liu is Principal Research Director at ETS and a globally recognized expert in the assessment of critical skills and competencies in higher education and the workforce. She has also managed large-scale grants awarded by government and private funding agencies in the U.S. and international countries including India, China, and Korea. Dr. Liu has authored and coauthored over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, research reports, and book chapters in the fields of applied measurement, higher education, and science assessment. Her research has appeared in Science, Nature Human Behavior, Educational Researcher, and other influential outlets. She has delivered over 100 invited seminars and peer-reviewed conference presentations domestically and internationally. Dr. Liu received the 2019 Robert Linn Memorial Lecture Award and the 2011 National Council on Measurement in Education Jason Millman Promising Measurement Scholar Award in recognition of her original and extensive research in learning outcomes assessment in higher education and K-12 science assessment. Dr. Liu holds a doctorate in Quantitative Methods and Evaluation from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Tony O'Driscoll

Adjunct Professor, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business & Pratt School of Engineering
Research Fellow, Duke Corporate Education
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, USA

Talk: Learning in Context: How Emerging Technologies Will Change the Game in Generative Learning

As the world becomes increasingly connected, the rate of change itself is changing and the degree of complexity is compounding. In such an unpredictable context, the role of generative learning becomes paramount. As new waves of disruptive technologies come crashing down upon our educational shores, we must avoid falling prey to the “Routinization Trap" in which we use radically new technologies to accelerate the existing teaching model, where we fill classrooms to teach students what we know how to do.

To move beyond this trap, we must leverage the affordances inherent in these disruptive technologies to collectively figure out what to do next when faced with truly novel situational contexts. We need to evolve from the current practice of building individual competencies by closing individual skill gaps via productive learning to a new model of building collective capability. We can accomplish this by tuning human networks to help people make sense of the unfamiliar via generative learning. This session will explore what lies just beyond the horizon to unlock the power of generative learning to better prepare people to navigate an ever evolving and unpredictable world.

About Dr. O'Driscoll:
Tony O’Driscoll is a professor, speaker, author, and advisor whose engaging message emphasizes that the key digital-age differentiator is not technology, but people.

Tony has spent the bulk of his professional and academic career at the nexus of Business, Innovation, Technology and Learning, creating and implementing strategies that enable organizations to realize the full potential of their most valuable asset: Human Beings. 

Dr. O’Driscoll’s current appointments as Adjunct Professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Pratt School of Engineering coupled with his role as Research Fellow at Duke Corporate Education afford him the unique opportunity to apply cutting-edge academic research to address increasingly complex business challenges. 

During his 18-year corporate career, Tony held several strategic leadership positions. At Duke Corporate Education, he launched the company’s Asian operation and led innovation at CE Labs. At IBM, he was a founding member of IBM Global Service’s Strategy and Change consulting practice where he consulted at the highest level with business executives on creating competitive advantage in increasingly complex environments. He also served as a member IBM’s Almaden Services Research Group where he investigated the changing roles of leadership, innovation, and collaboration as enterprises become more global, virtual, open and digitally mediated. At both IBM and Nortel Networks, Tony had strategic responsibility for crafting and implementing enterprise-level learning, transformation, and human performance improvement strategies.

Dr. O’Driscoll is a frequently invited speaker at both corporate and academic conferences. He has been a keynote speaker, workshop leader, moderator, speaker and panelist at over 130 national and international conferences. He has also provided expert analysis and interviews to media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Wired Magazine, The Financial Times, India Today, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, Training Magazine and for industry analysts such as Gartner and Forrester. 

Tony has authored and co-authored articles for business periodicals such as Harvard Business Review, The Financial Times, Strategy and Business, and Dialogue and writes a column for Training Magazine.  He has also published two books on Learning and Organization Performance: Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration and Achieving Desired Business Performance.  His latest book, Everyday Superheroes, proposes a revolutionary People-Centered Transformation (PCT) approach to enable sustained and sustainable organization agility. 

Dr. O’Driscoll has contributed to science via publications in journals such as Management Information Sciences Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Performance Improvement Quarterly and the Journal of Product and Innovation Management. His current research and practice examines how rapidly emerging technologies are disrupting existing industry structures and business models. He specifically focuses on how to develop leadership systems that enable organizations to adapt and evolve in increasingly unpredictable and turbulent business environments.  

Along with his teaching, research and formal speaking engagements, Dr. O’Driscoll maintains an active consulting practice. His client list includes Fortune 500 companies across a broad range of industries including High-Technology, Banking, Biotechnology, Software Development, Gaming, Energy, Retail and Professional Services.  

Dr. O’Driscoll holds an Ed.D. in Organization Learning and an M.S. in Management from North Carolina State University. His B.S. in Electrical Engineering is from Virginia Tech. 

Dr. Maria Rosaria Re

Full Professor in Experimental Pedagogy
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Rome, Italy

Talk: Museum Education for Professional Development: How to Use Heritage to Create Training Experiences for both Hard and Soft Skills

The role of museum heritage as an agent of social and economic development has been demonstrated in numerous studies and reports. Museum education plays a wide cultural and social role, aimed not only at stimulating the acquisition of specific content related to a museum and its collections, but at promoting the cultural sensitivity of museum users and of entire communities. Museums support and encourage the construction of inclusive narratives and memories, active and democratic co-participation in cultural activities, and a participatory life-long learning perspective. Museum contexts can also provide new opportunities for professional training experiences for the development of both hard and soft skills, such as information literacy, critical thinking, empathy, creativity, and digital skills.

In this talk, I will discuss effective uses of museum experiences for professional development and upskilling in various job categories, realized within different museum contexts and with different categories of professionals, and I will reflect on the educational co-design activities and other educational methodologies that were used in these experiences. Throughout the talk, I will discuss the current state of the art in museum education for professional development as well as some key challenges and opportunities for hard- and soft-skill development through heritage, especially from the perspective of promoting the cultural assets of communities.

About Dr. Re:

Dr. Maria Rosaria Re is a Research Fellow, qualified as Associate Professor, in Experimental Pedagogy at the Dept. of Education, University Roma Tre as well as an Assistant Professor at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (IT). In 2020 she obtained a joint Ph.D. in "Culture, Education, Communication" from the University Roma Tre and the University of Foggia on the enhancement of Critical Thinking Skills in museum users. Her expertise concerns research education methodologies within formal and informal professional training contexts.

Dr. Re's most recent interests have been focused on the design of dual learning experiences, promoting soft skills and well-being for professional development through innovative digital technologies. She has been a member of the Centre for Museum Studies (University Roma Tre) since 2015, an EDEN Fellow (European Distance and E-Learning Network) since 2020, and a member of the scientific board of the INTELLECT Research Centre (Research Centre for Heritage Education, Wellbeing and Teaching Technology) since 2021.

She has taken part in several national and European research programs on the development of digital skills in the creative industry field and in the use of heritage as a well-being enhancer for medical professionals and caregivers, in the roles of both researcher and project manager. She is the author of several publications of national and international relevance on the topics of transverse skills promotion, assessment, and the use of technology in teaching and learning activities and in museum education at various levels.

Dr. Joiselle Cunningham Smith

CEO
Pathways to Creative Industries
New York, New York, USA

Talk: Higher Education & Transitions to Careers

In this keynote address, Dr. Joiselle Cunningham Smith will examine the challenges and opportunities facing higher education institutions to help students to transition into meaningful careers. In this talk, Dr. Cunningham Smith will explore various strategies that institutions may consider while maintaining a commitment to the overall student learning experience. Dr. Cunningham Smith will also share real-world examples from existing programs and highlight possible shifts that will better prepare college students for the workplace. This talk will encourage participants to bring their questions, experiences and reflections during brief opportunities to share during the presentation.

About Dr. Smith:

Dr. Joiselle Cunningham Smith is a federal policy advisor, consultant, and award-winning educator who has worked in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. 

Joiselle is the CEO of Pathways to Creative Industries, an organization focused on building access for youth interested in creative careers in partnership with the CFDA and is currently on the faculty at NYU. 

Joiselle has served as a Senior Advisor and consultant at The Dimon Family Foundation, HERE to HERE, Teach For Sweden, Empieza por Educar, and other social impact and education organizations. Joiselle served in the Obama Administration in the Office of the Secretary at the United States Department of Education and managed educator engagement for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. She was named one of top women leading in education and social impact by the University of Southern California and has won other awards for her work in social impact efforts across the globe.

Joiselle has previously worked with several organizations, including the New York City Department of Education, KIPP and America Achieves. She has also worked with business leaders from JP Morgan Chase, Amazon, Accenture and other corporations to build pipelines of local, diverse talent in New York City.

Joiselle studied Public Policy and Economics at Duke University, where she received the Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship for academic achievement. She earned her doctorate from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.