Plus One Podcast

William Davis is an entrepreneur who set up FabLab in the USA  (see https://www.fablabs.io/  ) and is also one of the founding members of the Nation of Makers (https://www.nationofmakers.us/ ), an organization established under the Obama administration to help manufacturing return to the USA.  He has over 20 years of retail experience with CostCo in a variety of sales and product roles, and recently has moved over to Ireland to pursue an MBA at NUI Galway.

William has just started with the UCD Innovation Academy as a “Creative Makers Facilitator” – see https://www.innovationacademy.ie/team/william-davis  

William’s Plus One - Don't be afraid of technology- you have to jump in at some point. Buy the $150 3D printer, look up some YouTube videos, "Get messy, make some mistakes.." Ask stupid questions on Reddit and Facebook forums... reach out to your peers, join discussion groups. Get it done!

Recommended podcasts 

• Stuff you Should Know Podcasts  - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/  • Planet Money - https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money/  • TheoTech (`technology in the Church) - https://www.theotech.org/ 

• Contact William on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/billydavis/ 

William Davis is an entrepreneur who set up FabLab in the USA  (see https://www.fablabs.io/  ) and is also one of the founding members of the Nation of Makers (https://www.nationofmakers.us/ ), an organization established under the Obama administration to help manufacturing return to the USA.  He has over 20 years of retail experience with CostCo in a variety of sales and product roles, and recently has moved over to Ireland to pursue an MBA at NUI Galway.

William has just started with the UCD Innovation Academy as a “Creative Makers Facilitator” – see https://www.innovationacademy.ie/team/william-davis  

William’s Plus One - Don't be afraid of technology- you have to jump in at some point. Buy the $150 3D printer, look up some YouTube videos, "Get messy, make some mistakes.." Ask stupid questions on Reddit and Facebook forums... reach out to your peers, join discussion groups. Get it done!

Recommended podcasts 

• Stuff you Should Know Podcasts  - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/  • Planet Money - https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money/  • TheoTech (`technology in the Church) - https://www.theotech.org/ 

• Contact William on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/billydavis/ 

This episode is different! 

Joel Leonard is an educator, an entrepreneur, an activist and a Maker, based in North Carolina, USA.  He is (I think!) my first guest with Shawnee and Cherokee ancestry.  He inspires people around the need for practical skills, bringing his message far and wide, travelling to those who are sometimes outside mainstream education, including and empowering. 

This interview was recorded on the hottest day of 2021 back in July, and so many things went wrong - it was done on 30 minutes notice, I forgot to hit the record button for the first 20 minutes of our discussion, and Joel was on his phone which lost power a couple of times, so apologies if it is a little disjointed as I tried to cut the different segments together into something of a coherent whole. As I lost my introduction in the missed 20 minutes - here it is:

Joel is I think the first guest on the podcast with Shawnee & Cherokee ancestry, and I’m talking via the magic of Zoom with him at his home in North Carolina, USA just before he sets off on a 4,500 mile, 20-day trek to bring educational resources to the Navaho tribe.  Making stuff happen seems to be Joel’s mission in life!  And his office is his car – another first I think for the podcast…

Joel is Chairman of the Manufacturing Workforce Advisory Committee in the National Defence Industrial Association.  He has spoken at international conferences & before US Congress, on CNBC, NPR.  He created an online TV Show, written hundreds of columns about solutions to skills gaps and working in the trenches of building pipelines of skilled technicians in aviation, machining and maintenance sectors. 

In 2014 Joel helped set up a maker space in Greensboro where 16 companies were formed, 9 patents filed and over 50 job seekers got employment.  Joel has counselled college presidents, executives, governmental leaders on how to build a stronger workforce and prepare for future talent needs.

Joel won numerous American Business Publication Editors awards for my columns, was awarded the VFW Americanism Award for helping place veterans into employment, was given Greensboro Community Foundation Game-Changer Award and on January 4th 2016 received the Conover Citizenship Award.

Anyway, sit back and enjoy an inspirational 50 minutes from Joel !

Links:

Contact Joel by email at [email protected] or by phone on +1 336 338 1011 

Joel's website is at www.makesborousa.com 

A book he recommends is "Inside the Tornado" - https://amzn.to/3npDqlj 

Podcast to follow - "Nation of Makers" - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxwwpJE0Ar3IQYBGHfFJzg 

This episode is different! 

Joel Leonard is an educator, an entrepreneur, an activist and a Maker, based in North Carolina, USA.  He is (I think!) my first guest with Shawnee and Cherokee ancestry.  He inspires people around the need for practical skills, bringing his message far and wide, travelling to those who are sometimes outside mainstream education, including and empowering. 

This interview was recorded on the hottest day of 2021 back in July, and so many things went wrong - it was done on 30 minutes notice, I forgot to hit the record button for the first 20 minutes of our discussion, and Joel was on his phone which lost power a couple of times, so apologies if it is a little disjointed as I tried to cut the different segments together into something of a coherent whole. As I lost my introduction in the missed 20 minutes - here it is:

Joel is I think the first guest on the podcast with Shawnee & Cherokee ancestry, and I’m talking via the magic of Zoom with him at his home in North Carolina, USA just before he sets off on a 4,500 mile, 20-day trek to bring educational resources to the Navaho tribe.  Making stuff happen seems to be Joel’s mission in life!  And his office is his car – another first I think for the podcast…

Joel is Chairman of the Manufacturing Workforce Advisory Committee in the National Defence Industrial Association.  He has spoken at international conferences & before US Congress, on CNBC, NPR.  He created an online TV Show, written hundreds of columns about solutions to skills gaps and working in the trenches of building pipelines of skilled technicians in aviation, machining and maintenance sectors. 

In 2014 Joel helped set up a maker space in Greensboro where 16 companies were formed, 9 patents filed and over 50 job seekers got employment.  Joel has counselled college presidents, executives, governmental leaders on how to build a stronger workforce and prepare for future talent needs.

Joel won numerous American Business Publication Editors awards for my columns, was awarded the VFW Americanism Award for helping place veterans into employment, was given Greensboro Community Foundation Game-Changer Award and on January 4th 2016 received the Conover Citizenship Award.

Anyway, sit back and enjoy an inspirational 50 minutes from Joel !

Links:

Contact Joel by email at [email protected] or by phone on +1 336 338 1011 

Joel's website is at www.makesborousa.com 

A book he recommends is "Inside the Tornado" - https://amzn.to/3npDqlj 

Podcast to follow - "Nation of Makers" - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxwwpJE0Ar3IQYBGHfFJzg 

Ann Foulds recently joined the UCD Innovation Academy as a Facilitation Specialist and brings a varied set of career experiences to the role.  Ann has a degree in media & anthropology, has been a primary school teacher, is a trained journalist and experienced educator in several fields, is an educational advisor to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and if all that isn’t enough, is also a qualified Samadhi yoga teacher.

Ann is passionate about sustainability and permaculture, is an experienced media & video producer and produced a fabulous Youtube series for children called "Plastic Free for Kids".

Plastic Free for Kids on Youtube - https://youtu.be/KdOlzQZPSPw 

Books Ann recommends:

• Paulo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed
• Ken Robinson - Anything he has written, spoke or been involved with.
• Richard Louv - Last Child in the Woods,
• Lorna Gold - Climate Generation: Awakening to our children's future
• Oliver Jeffers - Here We Are: Notes for Living On Planet Earth

Ann's recommendations for CPD courses:

• Creativity & Change https://www.creativityandchange.ie
• IDEO U - from Ideas to Action - https://www.ideou.com/ 

Contact Ann at:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• instagram @annfoulds
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annfoulds/ 

Ann Foulds recently joined the UCD Innovation Academy as a Facilitation Specialist and brings a varied set of career experiences to the role.  Ann has a degree in media & anthropology, has been a primary school teacher, is a trained journalist and experienced educator in several fields, is an educational advisor to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and if all that isn’t enough, is also a qualified Samadhi yoga teacher.

Ann is passionate about sustainability and permaculture, is an experienced media & video producer and produced a fabulous Youtube series for children called "Plastic Free for Kids".

Plastic Free for Kids on Youtube - https://youtu.be/KdOlzQZPSPw 

Books Ann recommends:

• Paulo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed
• Ken Robinson - Anything he has written, spoke or been involved with.
• Richard Louv - Last Child in the Woods,
• Lorna Gold - Climate Generation: Awakening to our children's future
• Oliver Jeffers - Here We Are: Notes for Living On Planet Earth

Ann's recommendations for CPD courses:

• Creativity & Change https://www.creativityandchange.ie
• IDEO U - from Ideas to Action - https://www.ideou.com/ 

Contact Ann at:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• instagram @annfoulds
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annfoulds/ 

Welcome to Season 2 of the Plus One podcast!   More amazing educators sharing their stories and approaches to teaching and learning, to give the rest of us ideas for improving our own practice.

Suzanne Buttimer runs the Rockwell Music Academy, based in Cashel, County Tipperary.  Suzanne is a different educator from any of my other guests – she teaches music, and everywhere but University & College, so we’re in a different educational space today, which is great!

• Bressie - Where is my mind? - https://www.niallbreslin.com/copy-of-wake-up-wind-down 
• Music for Kiddos Podcasts - https://www.musicforkiddos.com/blog 
• Conservatoires - https://www.musicalchairs.info/ireland/conservatoires 
• Artists, I am always networking and most recently with American Educator - Jodie Marie Fisher#colorfullyplayingthepiano - https://www.instagram.com/colorfullyplayingthepiano/ 
• Dalcroze Education - https://dalcrozeusa.org/about-dalcroze/what-is-dalcroze/ 

Quotes:

• "My mission statement at my own school is to make music as accessible and far-reaching as possible. My main focus in 1-1 lessons is definitely what I call my graffiti analysis of the score and in group teaching its casting. I am fortunate that my subject by its very nature is creative and innovative."

Links

• The Rockwell Music Academy - https://rockwellcollegemusicacademy.com/
• Email [email protected]
• Phone - 00 353 87 231 0136 
• Mel Mercier – Playing the bones - https://meettheartist.online/2019/01/25/mel-mercier-composer/

Welcome to Season 2 of the Plus One podcast!   More amazing educators sharing their stories and approaches to teaching and learning, to give the rest of us ideas for improving our own practice.

Suzanne Buttimer runs the Rockwell Music Academy, based in Cashel, County Tipperary.  Suzanne is a different educator from any of my other guests – she teaches music, and everywhere but University & College, so we’re in a different educational space today, which is great!

• Bressie - Where is my mind? - https://www.niallbreslin.com/copy-of-wake-up-wind-down 
• Music for Kiddos Podcasts - https://www.musicforkiddos.com/blog 
• Conservatoires - https://www.musicalchairs.info/ireland/conservatoires 
• Artists, I am always networking and most recently with American Educator - Jodie Marie Fisher#colorfullyplayingthepiano - https://www.instagram.com/colorfullyplayingthepiano/ 
• Dalcroze Education - https://dalcrozeusa.org/about-dalcroze/what-is-dalcroze/ 

Quotes:

• "My mission statement at my own school is to make music as accessible and far-reaching as possible. My main focus in 1-1 lessons is definitely what I call my graffiti analysis of the score and in group teaching its casting. I am fortunate that my subject by its very nature is creative and innovative."
• “If you want a student to open up to you, you have to open up to them”

Links

• The Rockwell Music Academy - https://rockwellcollegemusicacademy.com/
• Email [email protected]
• Phone - 00 353 87 231 0136 
• Mel Mercier – Playing the bones - https://meettheartist.online/2019/01/25/mel-mercier-composer/

We discuss “bringing the passion” – the need to bring enthusiasm and energy to any class in order to engage the students.  Performance as projection rather than being in-authentic.  We’re not pretending, or acting, we’re projecting, bringing our authentic selves into the classroom, making the connection.

Being an “undercover Sherpa – “I'm not going to climb the mountain for you. But I'm going to show you where the path is. And I'm going to do my best to make sure you don't fall off the cliff.  Getting them there, supporting them along the way. But it's not doing it for them. It's their learning experience.”

When I first asked Kathy to be on the podcast, she said “why do you want me on the podcast? Because I don't do anything in innovative…”.  But Kathy and I have always utilised experiential learning in our teaching, and this is not common – it is still innovative.

A Doctorate focussed on making positive change for your students…

“The area I'm studying is about bringing that workplace learning into the classroom. Instead of farming our students out on internships to get those practical skills, why can't we help them get those practical skills along with the academic knowledge that they're acquiring?

Setting up a company project for your students

How can I improve my own practice? Will you just walk us through one of your company projects, because that's your experiential learning in action, isn't it?

“It can be very daunting. Absolutely. And I think what you need to have going in, is that you need to have a strong network. But you have to think about where am I going to get these projects from?

Charities and social enterprise - that's one of your undergrad modules, isn't it? What has charity got to do with business?

“It’s a great way for students to learn. There's a whole movement, all about community engaged learning. And we actually have a great group at UCD called CELT, all about community engaged learning and teaching. And it's a wonderful way to help universities to give back to the community, while their students learn at the same time.

The course I run is called Service Learning. And it's about doing a business project for a local nonprofit or charity.

Connections, CBIF and a new career focus…

I think what this is all showing me and actually, a lot of what the CBIF workshops showed me also is that I like helping other educators to look at their practice and improve their practice. I really like doing that.  I want to teach the educators…

Favourite quotes about teaching:

• “Transformative learning shapes people. They are different afterward, in ways both they and others can recognize” (Carolyn Clark 1993)
• "Don't tell me you can't; tell me you'll try and I will show you, you can." ( personal trainer!)
• "Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely."

Links:

• UCD CELT (Community Engaged Learning & Teaching
• (https://www.ucd.ie/ucdinthecommunity/highlights/communityengagementaroundcampus/communityengagedlearningandteachingceltnetwork/

• Kathy’s Service Learning module
• https://youtu.be/Cqd04nU8K9

• The Open Door Centre in Bray
• https://www.opendoor.ie/

• College of Business Intercultural Forum (CBIF)
• http://cbif.ucd.ie/

• Ripen – connecting university classes with companies for experiential learning
• https://ripen.com/

We discuss “bringing the passion” – the need to bring enthusiasm and energy to any class in order to engage the students.  Performance as projection rather than being in-authentic.  We’re not pretending, or acting, we’re projecting, bringing our authentic selves into the classroom, making the connection.

Being an “undercover Sherpa – “I'm not going to climb the mountain for you. But I'm going to show you where the path is. And I'm going to do my best to make sure you don't fall off the cliff.  Getting them there, supporting them along the way. But it's not doing it for them. It's their learning experience.”

When I first asked Kathy to be on the podcast, she said “why do you want me on the podcast? Because I don't do anything in innovative…”.  But Kathy and I have always utilised experiential learning in our teaching, and this is not common – it is still innovative.

A Doctorate focussed on making positive change for your students…

“The area I'm studying is about bringing that workplace learning into the classroom. Instead of farming our students out on internships to get those practical skills, why can't we help them get those practical skills along with the academic knowledge that they're acquiring?

Setting up a company project for your students

How can I improve my own practice? Will you just walk us through one of your company projects, because that's your experiential learning in action, isn't it?

“It can be very daunting. Absolutely. And I think what you need to have going in, is that you need to have a strong network. But you have to think about where am I going to get these projects from?

Charities and social enterprise - that's one of your undergrad modules, isn't it? What has charity got to do with business?

“It’s a great way for students to learn. There's a whole movement, all about community engaged learning. And we actually have a great group at UCD called CELT, all about community engaged learning and teaching. And it's a wonderful way to help universities to give back to the community, while their students learn at the same time.

The course I run is called Service Learning. And it's about doing a business project for a local nonprofit or charity.

Connections, CBIF and a new career focus…

I think what this is all showing me and actually, a lot of what the CBIF workshops showed me also is that I like helping other educators to look at their practice and improve their practice. I really like doing that.  I want to teach the educators…

Favourite quotes about teaching:

• “Transformative learning shapes people. They are different afterward, in ways both they and others can recognize” (Carolyn Clark 1993)
• "Don't tell me you can't; tell me you'll try and I will show you, you can." ( personal trainer!)
• "Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely."

Links:

• UCD CELT (Community Engaged Learning & Teaching
• (https://www.ucd.ie/ucdinthecommunity/highlights/communityengagementaroundcampus/communityengagedlearningandteachingceltnetwork/

• Kathy’s Service Learning module
• https://youtu.be/Cqd04nU8K9

• The Open Door Centre in Bray
• https://www.opendoor.ie/

• College of Business Intercultural Forum (CBIF)
• http://cbif.ucd.ie/

• Ripen – connecting university classes with companies for experiential learning
• https://ripen.com/