2016 Badge Summit Preview: Interview with Dustin Stiver

Dustin Cory Stiver is one of the many amazing thought leaders who will be dropping genius on Badge Summit attendees. Dustin is a Program Officer at The Sprout Fund where he leads the community building team. (The Sprout Fund is a nonprofit organization that supports innovative ideas that are catalyzing change in Pittsburgh and beyond.) Dustin has been with Sprout since 2007 and leads the network-building, knowledge-sharing, and civic engagement activities of the organization. Currently, much of his work is focused on stewarding the Remake Learning Network, a professional network of educators and innovators working together to shape the future of teaching and learning.

We caught up with Dustin a few days before the start of the 2016 Badge Summit to pick his brain and get a sense of where is thinking is right now.

1. I’m a huge admirer of the work that’s been driven/facilitated by the Remake Learning Network in Pittsburgh. What do you think are the key ingredients in the secret sauce to fostering such a successful network?

Thanks for the compliment! We recently launched a project called the Remake Learning Playbook. It’s an effort to codify the strategies we have used in Pittsburgh to build the Remake Learning Network and share those strategies with other cities. It’s one thing to plot people and organizations in an idealized network structure. The real challenge is developing a supportive infrastructure strong enough to guide a network forward, yet flexible enough to get out of the way and let the network members take the lead. We’ve organized our network support strategies into five action areas:

Convene a community of practice

Catalyze innovative learning projects

Communicate within and outside the network

Coordinate network members to maximize impact

Champion the network’s accomplishments

Those are the five ingredients in our secret sauce. To see more about how we cook it up, visit playbook.remakelearning.org.

2. It looks from afar like a lot of the important Digital Badge implementation efforts in Pittsburgh are being led by community organizations and cultural institutions. How do you see these touch points with actors other than the schools impacting young people?

You are right; many of the digital badging programs in Pittsburgh are being led by community-based organizations like museums, libraries, and afterschool programs. We believe that learning happens anywhere and anytime. Accordingly, we think it is extremely important for young people to be recognized for learning things both inside and outside of the formal classroom. Our community partners, together with our schools, are helping to transform our city into a campus for learning.

3. We’re really excited to learn and play with you at the Badge Summit. Is there a particular session that you’re really looking forward to attending?

I’m always interested in what Nichole Pinkard has to say, so you will find me at her session. I’m also excited about the work that will be happening in the Dream Makers’ Lounge during the afternoon. Selfishly, I’m looking forward to the session I will be leading with Colleen Broderick about Badge-Enabled Learning Pathways, because I always learn so much from her. Come join us!

The 2016 Badge Summit will be held on Friday, June 24th, 2016 in Aurora, Colorado. Cost is just $99 and it includes breakfast, lunch and some amazing learning and sharing about Digital Badges and Micro-credentials. Learn more about it in this post and get additional details (including the link to register) on the event page.