WEBVTT - Smart Talks with IBM: Working Together While Apart 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.760 In our past episodes, we've looked at tech design for 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.840 disaster mitigation, localizing COVID nineteen data so you know what's 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:10.600 happening in your region, and using supercomputers to research COVID 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.080 nineteen in an effort to develop effective treatments. If you 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.600 haven't heard those episodes, I urge you to go back 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.480 and check them out. Just check further back in our 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.799 subscription feed, you're going to see all those episodes laid out. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:28.120 It's really inspiring stuff. And speaking of inspiring, I'm sure 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.560 many of you out there have had to deal with 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:35.080 massive shifts in your routines as the COVID nineteen crisis continues. 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:37.519 Those of you with kids who would normally be in 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:42.400 school are definitely seeing a huge change, whether you're working 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.519 from home or goodness, having to still go out and 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.200 work for an essential job while your children stay home. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.800 It's an added challenge on top of an already challenging time. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.400 And I'm sure, as we've all learned over the last 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.560 few weeks, there's no shortage of online tools that can 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.880 help us deal with this. But in many cases those 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.039 tools were built for general remote working, learning or communication, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.760 and they weren't necessarily designed to meet the needs of 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.319 a much larger population searching for solutions. In some cases, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.400 the tools might have a steep learning curve, or they 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:21.120 might not be packaged together, leaving educators, guardians and parents 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.800 to Jerry Reggae set of assets to try and meet 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.639 the educational needs of students. In today's episode, I speak 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.040 with Kristen wiznow Ski, Vice President of Design and the 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.480 c I O S Office at IBM, and Grace Sue, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.200 Vice President of Education at IBM, to talk about efforts 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:41.400 to make powerful educational tools available and accessible, which are 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.320 two related but distinct things. You can find the resources 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.320 we talk about at IBM dot com slash Remote Learning, 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.200 and there you'll see tools like video broadcasting services which 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.320 provide a one way communication tool useful for lectures or announcements, 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.400 video conferencing for classroom discussions or parent teacher conferences, curated 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.559 educational programs including practical workshops that help students train real 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.639 world skills that companies of the future will need. And 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.760 a digital education platform called open p tech for students 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.200 aged fourteen to twenty that really dives into topics that 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.960 will help students interested in tech careers to build the 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.480 skills and knowledge they'll need for the workplace. We'll start 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.080 with Kristen Wiznowski, VP of Design in the c I 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.799 O S Office, to talk about the challenges her team 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.240 faced when they received the task to package together remote 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:37.639 learning assets, because, as it turns out, making these powerful 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.720 technologies easy for the average person to access comes with 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:46.160 its own challenges. Kristen, I want to thank you for 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.760 being part of this podcast. And before we dive into 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.240 the design ops section, which I'm really fascinated about, I 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:56.960 was wondering if I could just sort of get from 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.440 you your own personal perspective of what it means for 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.040 us all to be adapting to what a lot of 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.680 people are calling the new normal here while we're going 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.880 through these efforts to flatten the curve of the COVID 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.760 nineteen crisis, What does that actually mean for a lot 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:14.400 of people? Because I think a lot of people out 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.520 there might feel in this this world of isolation, like 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.119 they are alone in their experience, and I don't really 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:26.160 think that's the case, right, Yeah, exactly, Jonathan. So for 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.320 me personally, I now am working out of my home 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.440 in Long Island. I had a three hour commute to 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.840 my New York City office for a bunch of years, 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.640 where we've built out a designer hub. I have two 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.119 sisters who have two kids, and they are parents now 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.280 at home, part time educators. They're keeping up households, they're 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.720 working full time. And I think, you know, I'm seeing 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.240 the gravity of what people are dealing with as I 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.960 hear about these stories and look in the community and 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.119 my neighbors and my friends who are teachers, and UM, 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.760 I'm hearing the heartbreaking stories, and I'm also hearing the 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.960 heartwarming stories that just really uplift you and and remind 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:10.760 you of the resiliency of the human spirit. And I think, um, 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.680 you know, for me professionally, having worked at IBM for 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.880 nearly twenty years, UM, it's been an odd transition. I 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.359 first transitioned from the office from home to the office 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.159 after nearly a decade. Now I'm transitioning back. And UM, 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:29.880 while it was new and unforeseen, it was fairly straightforward, 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.080 which I think is a testament to the tools that 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.440 we have available in the approaches that we've learned, and 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.720 the investments we've made in our ways of working, and 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.080 the fact that we can leverage and lean on and 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.200 rely on the human connections that we've spent time forming, 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.880 and that's really critical I think during this time of 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.760 need and adaptation, and it was a big driving force 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:57.359 behind the project and the contribution that um we felt 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.600 we could provide to the world, which what we'll talk 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.000 about or today. But I think it's just an uncertain 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.640 time for a lot of people, and to know that 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.279 we're all in it together and we're all collectively finding 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:10.240 ways to adapt, I think is one of the most 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.039 comforting thoughts I can give myself another's at this time. 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.960 How is the team that you work on been affected 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.080 by this? As I'm sure a lot of people were 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:24.120 working in more of a close, uh, you know, cooperative environment. 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.320 Now we're talking about a lot of people in different 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:32.799 remote locations collaborating. Have you have you seen any changes 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:37.360 in that regard or has it been a pretty easy 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:43.760 transition adaptation into that that work life kind of experience. Yeah. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.120 I think as IBM or as we've been accustomed to 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.120 working in distributed ways, we've learned a lot in the 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.840 terms of the ways of working, in terms of etiquette, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.359 in terms of how to connect with one another and 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.480 how to effectively leverage whether you know when there's even 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.960 just one some remote on a squad and the others 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.279 are are together. There there's a whole different way of 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.240 interacting rather, you know, than if the whole team we're 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.039 sitting in one room together. You know, design has the 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.680 ability to impact the human experience in really big and 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.160 bold and meaningful ways. And so we've looked internally at 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.559 what we're doing and thought about how we can share 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.159 that with others, and and to your point, we've had 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.760 also to to make adjustments. It was certainly not seamless. Um, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.080 we've had some some trial in our ways to go 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.080 about things, and we've introduced new remote forms of staying 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.680 engaged and connected. But for the most part, I think 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.520 the majority of the ways of interacting or leveraged by 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.839 the tool kit and the tool stack that we have 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.520 at IBM, which we've made available. But I do think 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.960 that relying on the softer side of things is so 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.320 critical at this point. When we talked before we had 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:57.400 this this recording session, you had mentioned this whole philosophy 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.000 of design OPS. I was hoping you could talk more 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.719 about what that is des OPS and UH and kind 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:08.400 of give us an overview of the philosophy behind that absolutely, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.560 so design ops. So we have a shop, the Design Shop, 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.040 that is about one and forty people at IBM. It's 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.880 it's a it's a large shop, and it has different 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.880 subdisciplines that contribute to the broader sense of what we 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:28.480 call design. It's user experience design, it's visual designers, user researchers, 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:34.120 multimedia designers, content and communications. We also include design and 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.880 business strategy, the engagement function agile. So there's there's a 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.760 lot going on, and the way to orchestrate all of 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.920 this in a in a highly functional fashion is to 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.880 implement a design ops function within your team. So I 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.400 think the design ops, the way that we run our 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.320 team and the focus on design ops has enabled us 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.960 to quickly line up and to have a number of 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.840 people from each of those sub functions and to bring 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.960 them together in a as seamless away as possible to 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:12.080 attack this really big challenge and opportunity to try to 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:13.760 to leverage what we know and what we can do, 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.520 and to you know, to bring it forward forward to 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.960 fruition in a way that's really meaningful two people. And 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.520 I think people can tell when you care and when 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.040 you put care and thought into a product or an 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:31.040 experience that you're creating. So design ups enables us to 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.640 come together and really try to solve big problems in 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.360 meaningful ways, and it requires a lot of empathy more 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:45.400 than anything else. You alluded to a really quick time turnaround, 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.720 a four day turnaround for a project. I thought maybe 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.320 it'd be interesting to learn more about the specifics of 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.040 that project. What was the goal that you were aiming for, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.560 and what was the process like in that incredibly quick 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.280 turnaround to go from here's what we need to do 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:09.480 to actually having something to show. So I had I 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.520 had a phone call on Monday night a few weeks ago, 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:17.240 and it was um an idea, which is basically, kids 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.440 are being thrown into this this new digital world. It's 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.200 they're learning an entirely new culture that's seen to shape 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.719 them and potentially their future careers. How they're interacting. It's 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.920 it's such a huge change from what people know, and 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.920 they don't have more than you know. They don't have 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.840 weeks for years to adapt like I have. In some 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:41.640 of my colleagues that I be am, they had to 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.320 adopt in in hours or if not you know, days, 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:49.360 if not hours, And so that became the challenge and 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.400 so many of us are are connected with teachers in 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.000 our in our real lives. We're watching the struggle firsthand, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.800 and we're parents or our sister as our parents and 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.640 our friends, our teachers and all that. So it felt 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.920 very real and we jumped right into action deciding that 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.520 we're going to make a site that offers resources to 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.040 primarily to teachers in this time of need, in this 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.600 new world that we find ourselves in. We could have 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.120 just probably put up a technology table, you know, just 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.720 staying here's what IBM does. Instead, a big focus of 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.199 ours from the design perspective became what's the mental model 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.000 of our users? Let's not leave with the technology. That's 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.920 probably not how they think. Teachers and educators and maybe 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.040 administrators and parents and guardians are probably thinking, well, I'm 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.480 hoping to do X. You know, how might I do that? 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.360 What are my options? I think, at the end of 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.440 the day, just take a little It's a daunting thing 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.520 for people to try to transition and recreate the social 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.200 interactions they have physically in a classroom. To do that 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.000 virtually and with all different age groups, I think it's 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.440 it's just such a it's a daunting, overwhelming task and 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.040 Our whole impetus was, let's try to take some of 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.760 that away, even from the imagery we use and the 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:09.120 way the words we choose. Everything was very thoughtfully applied 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.440 with this thought in mind. Do you have any observations 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:17.360 about the shift of etiquette from the real world space 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.960 to the virtual space, or anything that you've particularly learned 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.080 in this rather accelerated development phase. So we put these 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:31.760 sections of the site together that provide tips for most 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:36.160 effectively leveraging technology while you're trying to do this, and 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.600 it's things like join a couple of minutes early, learn 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.440 where your mute feature is, use it when you're not talking, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.320 avoid access noise, try to look at the best position 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.840 for your camera, avoid backlighting, and if your videos choppy, 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.800 you might turn it off. Look at the various layouts 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.840 that the tool you're using provides so that you can 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.240 get the most out of it or it can best 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:02.079 suit your preferences. Read facial cues, use your hands when 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.000 you're you know, there's things that we've learned that make 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:09.280 you feel more connected, and so they're provided um in 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.160 various parts of the site, and and in a it's 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.760 sort of like, no matter what you're doing, and using 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.280 We hope you can find some value here because we're 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:23.439 sharing some ways of working that are pretty ubiquitous or 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.440 core can be and hopefully can be valuable. At this time, 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.280 we thought about different ways for the six through twelve 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.880 age group to do. Maybe it's students are the teachers 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.080 for the day. Maybe it's you know, there's a morning 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:41.440 announcement and it gets rotated. There's book clubs or podcast clubs, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.720 and so we tried to consider what would be fun, 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.240 Like we play lunch roulette now that with my team, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.280 now that we're remote, we do that just so that 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.880 randomly you compare up with someone and have lunch and 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.200 see how it's going for them. And why couldn't that 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.520 apply also in an education setting? It definitely could. So 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:02.920 you know, have have guest speaker, have somebody come on 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.800 do show and tell grab an item that's meaningful to 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.360 you from the room you're sitting in. And we played 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:12.559 um literally at my job, my bus hosted a guess 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.720 who's office this is and we had to send in 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.040 a picture beforehand, and we had a lot of fun 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.920 with guessing whose office that might be. Considering like the 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.560 broader surrounding that you can't really see on video, and 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:26.760 so I think there's there's lots of ways that we 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:31.360 can stay connected. And then there's reminders to to educators 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.640 to get your keep your like, take breaks, let people 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.320 get up and move, uh, let them have a sense 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.760 of control, you know, pass the mic around, UM, ask questions, 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.920 let people submit, and then we try to think of 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.640 various ways that others can just even suggest different contents 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:52.600 that we We definitely did didn't not think of an 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.319 exhaustive list, but I think that there's a good starting 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:59.320 point and that hopefully it will create or the creative 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.520 juices will flow from having read that, and then we 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.880 hope in time will have some sort of whether it's 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.760 synchronous or asynchronous, some sort of feedback mechanism where people 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.280 can interact and say like, here's my hack, here's what 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.320 I did that really worked. You touched on a lot 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:18.600 of things that that really resonate with me. Kristen can 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.800 tell you because she can see my video as I 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.520 record this right now, that I do talk on my 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.560 hands quite a lot, and uh, and that sort of 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.240 level of expression, that level of body language is something 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:33.560 that is incredibly valuable. Those social cues are incredibly informative. 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.000 And anyone who has had an experience of misinterpreting a 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:42.120 message sent via text or email because it lacked that 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.480 that part of human communication can tell you it's very 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.440 easy to have a misunderstanding when you don't have that 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.600 that element in your communication. So having the tools there 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.960 to be able to enable that communication, I think is 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.640 is incredibly useful. I mean, I'm I'm old enough to 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.960 reach point where I did not realize that sometimes using 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:07.520 punctuation in text messages could be interpreted as being very uh, 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:13.160 stern or directive. I used it because I was trained 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.040 as a writer and punctuation is how you in sentences 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.280 and uh. But then younger friends of mine would say, oh, no, 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:25.560 like in our culture, this text based culture, where we 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.560 use that as a way of communicating, we interpret that 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.160 as a way of being much more stern with one another. 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.600 So it's like you're yelling at someone or you're you're 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.240 chiding them, and uh. So that was a learning experience 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.160 for me. I've been smiling listening to you because it's 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.520 all too real, and we've been on the other end 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.960 of those texts, and we've sent those texts and received 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.640 the funds and we know how this goes. So I 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.880 think we have almost no choice but to become better 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:02.360 at interacting right and and being expressive and communicating with 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.160 one another in new and different and varied ways that 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.040 I think will serve us well longer term. And I 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:13.120 think the underlying point is that we need each other people. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.320 We are a community of people, no matter how you 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.200 slice and dice it, you know, and we're human beings 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.880 and we need to be connected, and we need to 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:29.280 remember that people want to help. Tools and people and 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.120 services and offerings and are out there too, and almost 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.600 overwhelming degree right now, but we're all nobody is alone 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.680 in this, and I think that there's such comfort in 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:43.000 that thought, and so we're here to all work together 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.680 through this. Christian's team worked on the design side of 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.760 these remote learning tools. My next guest, Grace Sue, is 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.560 the vice president of Education at IBM, and she and 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.080 I talked more about IBM S programs that provide resources 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.800 to students and educators, including programs that extend yawned the 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:06.080 online world. Grace, before we talk about IBM S initiatives 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.399 in education, what sort of broad trends are we seeing 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.880 right now in the wake of the COVID nineteen crisis 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.200 is people try to attempt to adapt to a new 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:23.880 type of life in this era of physical distancing. Obviously, 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:25.840 let's create a lot of disruption. So what are some 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.160 of the trends we're seeing, Well, what comes to schools. 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.919 What we're seeing is that educators are really trying to 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.160 pivot quickly. And I've talked to a number of education 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:43.720 leaders and they are working seven tiresly UM finding alternatives 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.560 for academic learning, but not just learning. Schools are such 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.080 the center pieces of our communities. They provide so much 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.399 so for for many schools, they're also looking for ways 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.639 to provide food UM for young people who rely on 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.160 their schools for food UM. They're also thinking about other 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.440 social services as well, So they're really running the gamut 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:10.120 of UM many many different kinds of services that they've 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.520 got to figure out for children. Can you talk a 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:19.560 bit about some of the the services and applications that 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:25.080 IBM has been involved with as far as education. Yeah, 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:29.000 in terms of what we're providing for students around the 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:34.080 world with distance learning, we actually and the and the 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:39.359 timing has been really spot on. Unfortunately, there is a pandemic, 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.600 but we have just launched something that we call open 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:47.240 p tech, and open p tech builds off of a 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.840 program that we have of Brick and Mortar High school UM. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.400 And within these brick and mortar high schools, the idea 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.200 is that students are learning the skills that they need 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.399 for the future of work, so really a focus on 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:07.200 guest the academic competencies, but also technical competencies as well 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.800 as professional competencies, professional ones being what some people refer 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.800 to as soft skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:20.320 we took the those kinds of learning that it is 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:25.080 happening within P tech schools and we've put them online. 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:27.800 And so if you go to open p tech, which 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.520 is off of PTech dot org, you have the opportunity 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.840 to for free and anyone can access it, go in 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.800 and participate in digital learning UM, so you can learn 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:45.399 about cyber security and blockchain UM and data science. You 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:50.160 can participate in free webinars around a number of different subjects, 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.000 and you can earn digital badges, which is such a 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.879 great inspiration and motivation for students. And these are the 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.080 same badges that ibm R s earn. So we oh 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.760 that they have cashet in the labor market, so students 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.840 can put them onto their linked in profiles or other 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.240 kind of digital wallet, and it signifies that they have 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.199 mastered a very specific skill. So we're making that available 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.080 UM worldwide. We know that it's in a number of 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.840 different languages UM and we also have developed a skill 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:30.639 site UM where learners can get a huge number of 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.000 other kinds of skills off of IBM dot com slash 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.000 skills as well. UM. And we know that not everybody 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.399 can it's going to be able to access these things, 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.440 but for those students that can, this is an opportunity 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.960 for them to be able to augment learning that's happening 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:55.000 within their schools and build upon their UM, their expertise 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:59.679 and really key areas that employers are looking for, so 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:04.040 really getting prepared for college and career. And also it's 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.240 something that can UH see to a need that I 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.640 think a lot of school systems are probably under equipped 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.120 to do. Uh, not saying that all of them are, 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:16.200 but I think a lot of schools are are very 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:21.440 much focused on traditional curricula and so something like this 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:27.680 that is incredibly UM applicable today would possibly be something 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:30.720 that people wouldn't even encounter unless they were doing special 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.520 after school programs, or perhaps a college prep course, or 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.040 maybe not even until they got into college, if they 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.159 started to be interested in something like computer science. I 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:44.199 think that this speaks to the larger fact that we 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.119 know schools can't do the hard work of educating children 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:52.359 on their own, and businesses need talent, and it's really 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:57.840 incumbent upon businesses to help develop and nurture that talent 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.879 working with educators on the ground. So if we are 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:07.280 very deliberate about articulating the skills that we need so 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.440 that students build the skills that they need to engage 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.080 in the economy and in future jobs, then it's really 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.359 a win win for everybody. And the other thing that 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:22.040 we're very attuned to in our work and in our 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:26.200 work UM through the p Tech brick and mortar schools, 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:30.320 is really a focus on access and equity. So through 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:34.400 our p TEX actual schools, of which there are two 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.800 hundred and twenty across twenty five countries around the world, 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:43.000 we are serving students from underserved backgrounds and working to 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.399 give them the skills to participate in the future of 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:53.000 work UM and also experiences that their families may not 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:57.760 have access to because they don't have the financial capability 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:01.280 or the social networks to engage. So we provide our 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:06.480 students with opportunities to have mentoring, paid internships UM, and 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:12.200 opportunities to be first in line for job interviews. So ultimately, 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:14.960 our students and our p tech schools are earning a 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.879 high school diploma in a two year associates degree, and 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.880 we're trying to take some of those opportunities and now 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:29.200 put them online to reach even more children. That's that's great, 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:32.439 and I'm glad you brought up the uh, the issue 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:37.040 of underserved populations. That's something I definitely want to speak 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:42.520 more about because while a lot of us, like myself included, 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:47.440 have the luxury of being able to port my work 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:52.199 to a different environment to be able to continue to 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:56.480 contribute UM, even if I don't have access to the 0:23:56.560 --> 0:23:58.879 office I would normally be in or the studio I 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:02.680 would normally be in, a lot of people don't have those, uh, 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:06.639 those luxuries, whether it's because of the type of work 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:11.679 they are in UM or because they just don't have 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:15.000 access to those sort of things. We unfortunately don't live 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:20.120 in a world where everyone has access to ubiquitous networks 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:26.639 and ubiquitous technologies. So since that's something that we often 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.320 kind of glance over in these conversations, you know, we 0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:34.439 talk about the online tools and the tech tools that 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:39.760 enable distance learning, what about for people who are in 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:43.359 those positions. Are there any initiatives that are aiming to 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:50.320 help underserve populations that wouldn't have access to those tools traditionally. Well, 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:53.160 we need to do much more. We certainly know that 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:56.479