Today, Maria talks with Nina Huntemann, Vice President of Learning at edX where she is responsible for defining and driving their instructional and pedagogical strategy to improve outcomes for 30 million learners through collaboration with more than 150 partners worldwide. Nina changed her university major from journalism to mass communication and obtained her PhD in communication to unpack the power structures and systems in the communication field. She was a tenured professor when she decided to disrupt herself, step away from a proven career and enhanced her impact in the emerging learning and education ecosystem. Nina joined edX in 2015 and has been dedicated to increasing access to high-quality education, creating and launching innovative academic programs and career-relevant credentials, and applying evidence-based practice to learning design. Founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012, edX is transforming traditional education by removing the barriers of cost, location and access. Fulfilling the demand for people to learn on their own terms, edX is providing the highest-quality, stackable learning experiences through a plethora of courses, including the groundbreaking MicroMasters® programs. Open edX is the open-source platform that powers edX courses and is freely available to educators and technologists who want to build learning tools and create solutions to benefit students everywhere in the world. During their conversation, Maria and Nina discuss the new courses, programs and initiatives edX launched amid the pandemic to further support the needs of their learners at every stage of their journey, whether entering the job market, changing fields, or exploring new interests. Tune in to learn from a leader in a movement that is reimagining education on-campus and online and improving teaching and learning outcomes.
Production team:
Host : Maria Xenidou
Introduction Voice: David Bourne
Contact us:
impactlearningpodcast(at)gmail.com
Music credits:
Like Lee performed by The Mini Vandals
Transition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks
Where to find more about Nina Huntemann and edX:
Mentioned in this episode:
Inter-American Development Bank
Listen to this episode and explore:
Childhood: discovering the world through a magnifying glass and a microscope (4:52)
University: studying communication to understand and democratize access to information (6:57)
Nina’s PhD thesis and the most critical learnings during that time (10:02)
How Nina decided to become a teacher (13:37)
Leaving her tenured career behind to make a bigger impact on education (17:26)
How she got to join edX in 2015 (20:50)
The importance of having experience in the system you want to disrupt (24:01)
edX’s mission: increasing access to education (24:57)
Who are the students of edX? (26:47)
The important of the edX partner network (27:42)
Best practices for delivering online education at scale (28:35)
The challenge of fostering team-based learning in an online environment at scale (34:28)
Creating more opportunities for asynchronous online learning to increase accessibility (36:33)
How edX measures learning outcomes (38:36)
How social accountability within small groups helps enhance learning outcomes (40:12)
Nina’s thoughts on hybrid flipped and other blended programs (42:32)
edX’s new offerings since the beginning of the pandemic (45:49)
Upskilling and reskilling to further evolve our career amid the pandemic (47:54)
edX’s micro-bachelors programs that empower learners to design their learning journey (51:48)
Supporting lifelong, self-directed learning through personal success coaches (57:36)
The impact of the recent online developments on education, teaching and learning (58:46)
What Nina wants to leave her mark on during her lifetime (1:00:36)