This special episode comes directly from an inspiring day at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in Toronto, where the global launch of the Smart Start program was celebrated through a landmark symposium titled Music and the Mind: A Smart Start to Early Childhood Education . The event focused on the transformative role of music in early childhood learning and development. Educators, researchers, policymakers, and arts advocates gathered in Koerner Hall in Toronto to explore how music influence...
Jan 06, 2026•46 min•Ep. 125
For the past decade, The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada, has partnered with leading neuroscientists to develop an early childhood education program that uses music to strengthen the cognitive foundations of lifelong learning. Designed for children from six months to four years old, this innovative approach nurtures essential learning skills through the power of music and integrates technology to prepare future-ready minds. On October 31, 2025, The Royal Conservatory of Music will...
Oct 30, 2025•45 min•Ep. 124
There are significant challenges in education that have been ignored for too long, and AI is forcing us to confront them urgently; otherwise, AI will think for us, rather than with us. The need to learn how to learn has been increasingly important, but it has rarely been fully integrated into the education system. My guest in this episode is a doctoral student researching how to teach critical thinking with the aid of AI. She is sounding the alarm on the importance of teaching this skill with AI...
Oct 24, 2025•35 min•Ep. 123
This is very special episode of the podcast — one that’s quite personal and rooted in a story that spans generations. Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of visiting Anghel Saligny Technical High School (Liceului Tehnologic Anghel Saligny) in Baia Mare, Romania — a school that holds profound meaning for my family. I was there to take part in my mother’s 50th high school reunion, a beautiful moment of reflection and reconnection. But my family’s connection to this school goes far beyond that...
Aug 21, 2025•30 min•Ep. 122
This is a special episode in which I’m reflecting on a unique experience that I undertook: visiting 9 Ottawa museums in just 3 days to explore how each one creates meaningful, accessible, and inspiring learning experiences. This whirlwind tour includes 7 of Canada’s national museums: Canada Agriculture and Food Museum - https://ingeniumcanada.org/cafm Canada Aviation and Space Museum - https://ingeniumcanada.org/casm Canadian Museum of History - https://www.historymuseum.ca Canadian Museum of Na...
Jul 25, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 121
Entrepreneurial skills aren’t just for entrepreneurs, they are essential to everyone. In times of turbulence and unpredictability, having an entrepreneurial mindset and skills is critical. In this episode, I speak with the research lead of the Future Skills Centre, and we explore what it means to approach work and life with an entrepreneurial mindset, as well as the skills necessary for the future of work. Dr. Wendy Cukier is a professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Ted Rogers Schoo...
Jul 03, 2025•42 min•Ep. 120
This is a special episode featuring highlights from the inaugural Ottawa Innovation Week , with seven insightful interviews from some of the most inspiring leaders in technology and innovation, many of whom were speakers and organizers during the week’s events. Ottawa Innovation Week is a celebration of bold ideas, creative minds, and the changemakers driving the future of technology, business, arts, entertainment, and social impact—right here in Canada’s capital. The initiative was led by Sonya...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 119
Something exciting is happening in my hometown of Ottawa, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you on the podcast. Next week, from June 9th to the 13th, will be the inaugural Ottawa Innovation Week , a celebration of bold ideas, creative minds, and the game-changers who are driving the future of technology, business, arts, entertainment, and social impact right here in Canada's capital. My guest on this episode is Sonya Shorey , President and CEO, Invest Ottawa, Bayview Yards, and Area X.O...
Jun 06, 2025•37 min•Ep. 118
This is a special episode that features seven mini-interviews with speakers at last year’s Learning Ideas Conference, which was held at Columbia University in New York City. As we approach the Learning Ideas Conference 2025, taking place from June 11th to 13th, I reflect on last year’s conference and the conversations I had with some of the speakers, including the three keynote speakers. Learning Ideas Conference: https://www.learningideasconf.org The interviews can be found at the following tim...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 117
Changing careers or building a business can be daunting, and it requires learning many new skills and being creative. In this episode, my guest is one of my former professors from the Harvard Graduate School of Education who has inspired me in the work that I do now as a workplace learning consultant. We discuss how she built a successful learning evaluation business, became a Harvard professor, and now established herself as a successful children’s book author. Dr Ilona Holland shares how limit...
Nov 29, 2024•55 min•Ep. 116
As new technologies like AI, are disrupting the way we work, there is an increasing need for effective ways to integrate these innovations into workflows. Learning to use new technologies effectively is a primary focus of learning teams around the world. But how can we quickly and proactively adapt to new technologies? McKinsey & Company’s Research & Innovation Learning Lab values developing capabilities that enable teams to stay current with their ever-changing landscape of emerging tec...
Nov 14, 2024•46 min•Ep. 115
The author of a fantastic book - The Learning and Development Handbook: A learning practitioner’s toolkit – is the guest in this episode. I enjoyed reading her book and found it to be a great resource for all L&D professionals. In this episode, we discuss the importance of updating approaches to learning in the workplace and some of the key insights and strategies from her book. Michelle Parry-Slater is an award-winning L&OD professional with more than 20 years of experience in the indus...
Oct 31, 2024•38 min•Ep. 114
Podcasts can be a great way of learning but are rarely used in workplace training. In this episode, my guest is the co-founder of Assemble You, a company that develops podcasts for workplace training. We discuss strategies to design podcasts that help people retain new knowledge and about his experience as a learning tech entrepreneur. Adam Lacey is the Co-Founder of Assemble You and host of the L&D Challenges podcasts. He has 10+ years of experience creating and selling digital learning. In...
Oct 17, 2024•45 min•Ep. 113
Having a quality management system in L&D can help ensure that the final learning experience is of high quality. In this episode, the author of the new book, Quality Management in Learning and Development, discusses her book and shares tips on how to embed a quality management system in the L&D process. Hadiya Nuriddin is an award-winning talent development professional with over two decades of experience in learning strategy, instructional design, elearning development, and facilitation...
Sep 12, 2024•52 min•Ep. 112
Coaching can be a powerful tool to transfer learning to improving on-the-job performance. However, it is often challenging to scale coaching to an entire organization, unless we use technology. I enjoyed testing out a new chatbot coaching tool called Coach M, which was developed by Lever - Transfer Learning. In this episode, I speak with the CEO of Lever about what it looks like to have a chatbot coach and the impact it can have on learning in the workplace. Emma Weber is CEO/Founder Lever – Tra...
Jul 26, 2024•32 min•Ep. 111
Leading a great school requires many diverse skills that enable both the students and adults in the school to thrive. In September 2023 I had the honour of attending the Tatler School Awards in London UK, hosted by Tori Cadogan, theEducation Editor at Tatler (interview in episode #35). Tatler Schools Guide is a magazine dedicated to shining a light on the top K-12 schools in the UK and is owned by Conde Nast. This was an exceptional occasion as Tatler Schools Guide was celebrating its 20th anniv...
Jun 28, 2024•42 min•Ep. 110
The University of Oxford is made up of over 30 colleges and halls spread across the city centre and beyond. These colleges are at the heart of Oxford's reputation as one of the best universities in the world and make it a very special place to study and live. With the oldest colleges being over 700 years old, it is a rare occurrence for a new college to be established. In 2019, Reuben Colleges was established as the newest college at Oxford University. It is a graduate college dedicated to foste...
Jun 07, 2024•37 min•Ep. 109
Learning in the flow of work is a powerful way of learning and improving business outcomes. Superflow is a new platform that enables organizations to design their own learning programs that engage learning in the workflow. In this episode, I speak with the founder of Superflow about how this technology makes it possible to design online learning experiences. We also talk about what she has learned from starting her own businesses and being a female tech founder. Priszcilla Varnagy is the founder...
May 23, 2024•40 min•Ep. 108
In a complex and ever-changing world, the role of futurists is becoming more prevalent. Governments and businesses are hiring futurists to help prepare for what is to come. However, what a futurist does is often misunderstood. In this episode, I speak with a futurist who helps organizations around the world and is an author of the Futures of Assessment Report by the Digital Education Futures Initiative at Cambridge University. Dr Fawaz Abu Sitta is a UNESCO Chair for Anticipatory Systems, a visi...
May 09, 2024•44 min•Ep. 107
What attributes impact an individual’s performance in the workplace? My guest in this episode addresses this with a technology he developed that uses an objective way to understand what knowledge, skills, motivation, perception, collaboration, information flow, and leadership attributes each individual has. Combining this unique data set with customer data and HR data, to understand what really contributes to profit and revenue from a workforce perspective. Patrick Veenhoff is the Founder and CE...
Apr 09, 2024•25 min•Ep. 106
As technology evolves and we move into the age of AI, it is increasingly more important that we don’t just use technology, but we have a dialogue with the technology we use. Technology is a tool for collective thinking, but how do we use it well? My guest in this episode is a leading expert working on a dialogic theory of education appropriate for the Internet Age. Most recently he has published the book titled: The Theory of Educational Technology – Towards a Dialogic Foundation for Design. Pro...
Mar 20, 2024•44 min•Ep. 105
As we strive to improve ourselves, to reach our true potential, it is easy to feel stuck. Learning and developing is a natural process for children. However, as adults, we can experience debilitating friction as we try to learn and develop in different areas of our lives. Even after having developed in new ways, we can go back to previous old patterns. How do we change deeply without falling back into old ways of being? This is the topic of the fascinating new book - The Possible Self: A Leader'...
Mar 07, 2024•37 min•Ep. 104
The Learning and Development (L&D) Global Sentiment Survey takes the pulse of where workplace learning is headed this year. With thousands of L&D professionals from around the world answering the key question of “What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2024?” this survey for eleven years provided a unique overview of what is happening in workplace learning. This year, three key findings stand out in the report: the dominance of AI, the end of the pandemic effect, and a significant incre...
Feb 22, 2024•48 min•Ep. 103
In the beautiful Swiss Alps, the International School Rheintal has just finished building a completely new campus. It is rare for an established school to build its campus from scratch, which offers a unique opportunity to design a building designed to reinforce the school's learning philosophy. In this episode, I speak with the CEO of the school, a phenomenal leader who led a collaborative design process to include students, teachers, and staff in the new design. We discuss ways of making space...
Feb 08, 2024•55 min•Ep. 102
Design thinking is a skill that can transform all aspects of your work. However, it is not necessarily easy to fully understand the nuances and how to implement it effectively. I enjoyed reading the book Future Proofing by Design, which beautifully outlines the different steps of design thinking and provides clear examples of how to implement it in practice. In this episode, I speak with the author of the book about what we should know about design thinking. Nilufer Erdebil is an award-winning d...
Jan 24, 2024•35 min•Ep. 101
Welcome to the 100th episode of The Art & Science of Learning podcast in which we are celebrating this major milestone. What an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable journey it has been, I learned a lot and met many fascinating people. I not only learned how to create a podcast from scratch, but I also learned so much from the many guests I interviewed from around the world. In this special episode, I am speaking with two learning professionals and podcasters whom I admire. They both have very ...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 100
This special episode is a reflection on The Learning Ideas Conference that took place in June 2023 in New York City and online. The Learning Ideas Conference brings together experts from around the world, from industry and academia, who work on innovations in learning and technology for the workplace and higher education. This episode was created in collaboration with The Learning Ideas Conference, which also includes several mini video interviews with some of the speakers from the conference. I...
Dec 27, 2023•19 min•Ep. 99
The National Museum of Mathematics , MoMath for short, is a magical place in Manhattan NYC where you can experience mathematics. This is the only museum in North America dedicated to mathematics and it is an immersive experience like no other. With colourful hands-on exhibits, unique learning technologies, interactive games, and artwork, this is a place where children and adults alike are inspired to think and learn about math. I had the pleasure of experiencing MoMath a few weeks ago when Cindy...
Jul 19, 2023•51 min•Ep. 98
Learning in the flow of work can be an incredibly effective tool for continuous improvement and employee engagement. Axonify is a technology company that develops mobile learning for frontline workers in industries ranging from retail to finance. Employees learn skills and gain knowledge as needed and have stretch learning opportunities to advance in their role. I’m pleased to have the President and CEO of Axonify on the show to discuss how learning can be built into the flow of work and the opp...
Jul 06, 2023•39 min•Ep. 97
The debate on whether to go back to the office or work from home has been getting louder in recent years, but not necessarily clearer. The reimagining of the office is revolutionizing many aspects of the workplace, including how we learn at work. In this episode I speak with the author of The Nowhere Office, who is a leading thinker and voice on the future of work. Julia Hobsbawm OBE is an award-winning writer, speaker, consultant and Bloomberg commentator and columnist about the future of work....
Jun 22, 2023•46 min•Ep. 96
