This podcast series takes a close look at the innovation that happens in a learning company like Pearson, focusing on the women that drive innovation whilst telling the stories of other female innovators working in ed-tech.
Throughout the series we’ll tell the stories of remarkable women whose work has changed learning through tech. We’ll look at how gender and diversity shapes the ethics of products, speak to women who are shaping the future of education through the products they are building and their new innovative approaches to teaching and learning. We’ll also look at how to build a tech company that enables career progression for all genders.
Presented by Leigh Alexander and Anjali Ramachandran
Written and produced by Storythings
Music and sound design by Jason Oberholtzer
Executive produced by Nathan Martin and Anjali Ramachandran
Supported by Pearson
Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, TuneIn or RadioPublic.
Episodes
Click through for show notes, transcripts, and more.
Episode 1. Garbage In. Garbage Out.
In episode one, we look at how diversity in teams shapes the ethics of products and the challenges organisations face in erasing bias. There are many examples of how software products have gender and racial bias built in so we spoke to scientists, engineers and start-ups to see what they are doing to produce ethical tech products. [Transcript]
Episode 2. TechNuns, DOLS, and Erasing Kittens
In episode two, we hear from an edtech innovator bringing children into their design process to shape future classroom tools, whilst at the same time instilling in them an innovators mindset. We meet the team that won MIT’s Women and Tech Solve Challenge. We’re introduced to an educator who is using hackdays to help children develop emotional intelligence. And we find out what the Dirty Old Ladies of Software are all about. [Transcript]
Episode 3. Building the Workplace We Want
In episode three, we look at the changing workplace and how you build a tech company for the future that enables career progression for all genders. Can the workplace of the future be a flexible, exciting, enticing place for women, women of colour, for LGBT people, for older people, and for all? Hopefully, but to do so would mean that we all have to eliminate our default sense of what a workplace is. [Transcript]
Episode 4. The Right to Learn
In episode four, we speak to women who are trying to effectively bring education — a key human right — to the displaced and those in conflict zones around the world, from the software companies battling it out for the $15 million Global Learning XPRIZE, to the low-tech approach to teacher training in Lebanon by a nonprofit backed by Syrian expats. [Transcript]
Episode 5. When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough
In the final episode of this series, we look at a failed product that excited everyone — except the people who had to use it. We chat to women who are working closely with users and communities and analysing data to ensure their tech solutions solve real problems. And we discuss the difference between forcing change, and encouraging it; between assuming you know what people need and asking them in advance. [Transcript]
Bonus Material
We’ve put together a few special extras for fans of the show.
The Voices of Nevertheless
Over the first season of Nevertheless we’ve spoken to some incredible women innovating in teaching and learning through technology. But despite the number of women forming startups and leading Fortune 500 companies women are still underrepresented on the stages of tech conferences. Not having balanced representation on your stage is not acceptable. Here’s a list of women speakers you need for your next conference.
Why Shirley Became Steve
Dame Stephanie Shirley changed her name to Steve in the late 50’s. She found that when she was sending her CV and to get jobs she was not getting any interviews. So chatting to her husband, her husband said “Why don’t you try sending in your CV with the name Steve Shirley to see if it makes any difference?”
Sister Mary: EdTech Pioneer
The history books will tell us that BASIC was developed by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College. But what not many people know is that one of the key members of the team that worked on it was Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, a Roman Catholic nun and educator.
Charles Dickens and the First Female Telegraph Operator
In 1846 in Massachusetts, less than two years after Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail first publicly demonstrated the telegraph, their company The Magnetic Telegraph Company made a significant appointment. They hired Sarah Bagley and in doing so made her the first female telegraph operator in the US.
The Digital Classroom — Have We Made Progress?
A guest post by Fathima Dada, Global Managing Director: English and Schools at Pearson.
Nevertheless is a a podcast celebrating the women transforming teaching and learning through technology. Supported by Pearson. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, TuneIn or RadioPublic.
