The controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes is finally (slowly) falling at the University of Oxford, and Black Lives Matter protests have started or accelerated similar discussions in many other institutions. However, UK universities are still steeped in a legacy of colonialism and White privilege. In this podcast, I discuss with Mia Liyanage who recently published a high-profile report into the matter what decolonisation means, why it matters, and what the barriers are. The conversation definitely opened my eyes in some areas and gave me ideas of how I can approach teaching a bit differently in this academic year.

You can find Mia's report here and as we say in the conversation, it really is well worth a read.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for guests, I'd be happy to hear from you, especially now that I am taking a step back to plan the next season. Please email me at lukas.wallrich@empower-training.de

Theme music from https://filmmusic.io: "Zigzag" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY 4.0

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In this episode, I interview Robin Goldberg, the Chief Experience Officer of Minerva Schools at KGI. Minerva started as a project to rethink undergraduate education in the US, and move it beyond the current stage when students spend a huge amount of money for what often amounts to poorly designed education. They have designed a whole new curriculum and pedagogical approach, that runs almost entirely online - an inspiration not just in the age of Covid. Apart from the state of undergraduate education and Minverva's proposed solution, we also discuss lessons learned in the process of starting a new educational endeavour, so this episode is well worth a listen. If you then want to learn more, check out the book published by Minverva's founder: Building the Intentional University.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for guests, I'd be happy to hear from you. Email me at lukas.wallrich@empower-training.de

Theme music from https://filmmusic.io: "Zigzag" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY 4.0

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

In this episode, I interview Chris Edwards, the CEO of Green School Taranaki in New Zealand. Before starting this school in early 2020, Chris was head of the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), one of the largest international schools in the world; now he is building a much smaller school that is all about building a learning community in which much learning takes place outdoors and across subject boundaries.

In the interview, Chris recommends Planet of the Humans - a film that is freely available online and definitely worth watching. He also mentions the Mastery Transcript Consortium, a network of schools that want to certify learning in a way that goes beyond numeric grades in a small set of subjects - a fascinating initiative that I want to learn more about.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for guests, I'd be happy to hear from you. Email me at lukas.wallrich@empower-training.de

Theme music from https://filmmusic.io: "Zigzag" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY 4.0

This podcast is powered by Pinecast.