#234 – Removing barriers in skills development

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What’s in this episode?

The VocTech Podcast returns! Hello and welcome to the latest in the series where we take a look at vocational learning technologies and improving opportunity in the workplace. This series is supported by Ufi VocTech Trust and we’ve got loads of great episodes coming up.

This episode was recorded LIVE at the Week Of Voctech and in it, you’ll hear about;

• how to remove barriers in education
• how to boost learner confidence, and
• how to build a use case for tech in learning within a corporate or workplace environment

Our next episode is out in December and features the Lumina Foundation and Lambda. We’ve got more episodes coming up on tech for workplace skills, and new education models, so make sure you’re subscribed. We would LOVE it if you go and give us a rate or review or share this episode. You can share via @podcastedtech on all the usual social channels using #VocTechPodcast or #Edtechpod.

Thank you and happy listening! 

People

Diane Morgan, Director of Talent, Zinc VC | Twitter: @dmorgannyc; @zincvc

Diane loves to be at the intersection of education and business with expertise in building and scaling education & edtech and was most recently at workforce accelerator, Trilogy Education Services. She is former Associate Dean of Imperial College and London Business School. Diane is a Forte Board Member to advance women in business, and an Advisor & Angel Investor to startups in education, talent and tech. Diane is a systemic thinker who loves to make things happen with an ability to connect and match networks.

Zinc brings together the brightest minds to build and scale a brand new way to solve the most important societal problems faced by the developed world.

Dr Andrea Cullen, Lead Tutor & Co-founder, CAPSLOCK | Twitter: @stuff4andrea, @capslockcyber

Andrea has over 25 years’ experience in the tech industry and is one of the CAPSLOCK Founders. She co-authored and delivered the cyber security master’s degree at the University of Bradford and was Director of the Cyber Security Interdisciplinary Centre. She also has extensive experience working in industry as a cyber consultant.

CAPSLOCK is an online cyber security professional training programme, where you don’t pay a penny until you get hired. Created by University Cyber lecturers who wanted to provide something better and more accessible, currently re-training Taxi-drivers, Dancers, and Stay-at-home Dad’s in the world of cyber to fill the skills gap in names like the BBC.

Mark Baxter, Technical Director and Co-Founder, Digitalnauts | Twitter: @BaxterCodes, @Digitalnauts

Mark Baxter is the Co-founder and Managing Director at Digitalnauts. He is passionate about immersive technologies and how these technologies can help others learn. Mark is constantly pursuing new knowledge and is always eager to share it with others.

He helps companies to unlock hidden value within their business through the use of immersive technologies and has the pleasure of working with some of the worlds leading and forward-thinking business, developing long-term strategies and adopting Virtual Reality training at scale!

Digitalnauts is an immersive learning programme and in-system assessment platform for upskilling across industry including the construction, Naval, and energy sectors.

Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech

Sophie is the founder of the iTunes new and noteworthy, The Edtech Podcast. The mission of The Edtech Podcast is to improve the dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ for better innovation, through storytelling. The podcast is downloaded from over 145 countries with the UK, US & Aus in the top 3. Sophie has spoken and moderated at a variety of events including SXSW EDU, Yidan Education Prize, ASU GSV Summit, and the Next Billion Edtech Summit. She is an industry mentor and advisor, a Reimagine Education, GESA Awards, Bett Awards and XPrize Adult Literacy judge, and previous Edtech50 and Edtech Digest winner.

Sophie is passionate about lifelong and everyday learning. If she’s not interviewing a University Vice-Chancellor, Edtech Investor, School Leader, or StartUp about education innovation, she’s engrossed in Teach Your Monster to Read or wrestling her lockdown baby. A keen cyclist, she has recently relocated to West Devon which she considers the English version of the Pyrenees. She is very lucky to work with a distributed team on The Edtech Podcast.

 Quotes from this episode

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References from this week’s episode

Introduction

• The VocTech Podcast Series – Link to past episodes
• End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken – and how we can fix it – Waterstones link to book written by future guest James Plunkett (mentioned by Sophie)
• James Plunkett – Twitter
• Ufi VocTech Trust – Twitter
• Century Tech – Twitter
• Ufi VocTech Trust and Cantury Tech win gold at Learning Technologies Awards – Link to story
• Learning Technologies Awards – Twitter
• iDEA – Twitter
• NYA Youth Work Academy – Twitter
• LAS – Twitter
• Reimagine Education Awards – Twitter
• Reimagine Education Conference – Website
• Free Full Access Conference Pass to the Reimagine Education Conference (worth 300$), and that you can bring up to 2 colleagues at The Edtech Podcast using the link/code ‘REJUDGE’: https://www.reimagine-education.com/register-as-delegate?promo=REJUDGE

Episode

• Week Of Voctech
• Mark Baxter – LinkedIn
• Mark Baxter – Twitter
• Digitalnauts – Twitter
• Diane Morgan – Twitter
• Zinc VC – Twitter
• Dr Andrea Cullen – LinkedIn
• The Learning Network – link to page on New York Times website
• Trilogy Education – Twitter
• CAPSLOCK – Website
• Bellevie – Twitter
• Yuno – Website
• Trudy Fell and Violane Pierre (Co—Founders of Bellevie) – Twitter links
• The Resolution Foundation – Twitter
• Lorenz Fischer, Co-founder at Yuno Technologies – LinkedIn
• Charlie Fink’s Metaverse – An AR Enabled Guide to AR & VR – Waterstones link to book recommended by Mark Baxter
• CAPSLOCK – Website link
• Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Caroline Criado-Perez – Waterstones link to book recommended by Dr Andrea Cullen
• The Dots – Website link (recruitment tool recommended by Diane Morgan)
• Oli Barrett (Turn On The Subtitles) – Twitter

Outro:

• The Lumina Foundation – Website
• Lambda School (Now known as Bloom Institute of Technology) – Twitter

Thank you to the Ufi Voctech Trust

The Voctech Podcast Series is produced by The Edtech Podcast and supported by Ufi Voctech Trust.

Our aim is to help improve vocational skills in the UK’s workforce by funding digital solutions for vocational learning. We only fund activity that is ‘scalable’ through technology, ie projects that use digital methods to widen access to vocational learning. While digital learning solutions are potentially open to all, we are especially keen to assist digital projects which involve post-school age vocational learners that have failed to be engaged by the education system.

Tell us where you are listening in from

We’d love to hear about innovative technology or approaches you are developing or using in adult education. Leave your stories in the comments below. Alternately, record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Finally, you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via Twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page.