Speaker 1: In our past episodes, we've looked at tech design for
Speaker 1: disaster mitigation, localizing COVID nineteen data so you know what's
Speaker 1: happening in your region, and using supercomputers to research COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen in an effort to develop effective treatments. If you
Speaker 1: haven't heard those episodes, I urge you to go back
Speaker 1: and check them out. Just check further back in our
Speaker 1: subscription feed, you're going to see all those episodes laid out.
Speaker 1: It's really inspiring stuff. And speaking of inspiring, I'm sure
Speaker 1: many of you out there have had to deal with
Speaker 1: massive shifts in your routines as the COVID nineteen crisis continues.
Speaker 1: Those of you with kids who would normally be in
Speaker 1: school are definitely seeing a huge change, whether you're working
Speaker 1: from home or goodness, having to still go out and
Speaker 1: work for an essential job while your children stay home.
Speaker 1: It's an added challenge on top of an already challenging time.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure, as we've all learned over the last
Speaker 1: few weeks, there's no shortage of online tools that can
Speaker 1: help us deal with this. But in many cases those
Speaker 1: tools were built for general remote working, learning or communication,
Speaker 1: and they weren't necessarily designed to meet the needs of
Speaker 1: a much larger population searching for solutions. In some cases,
Speaker 1: the tools might have a steep learning curve, or they
Speaker 1: might not be packaged together, leaving educators, guardians and parents
Speaker 1: to Jerry Reggae set of assets to try and meet
Speaker 1: the educational needs of students. In today's episode, I speak
Speaker 1: with Kristen wiznow Ski, Vice President of Design and the
Speaker 1: c I O S Office at IBM, and Grace Sue,
Speaker 1: Vice President of Education at IBM, to talk about efforts
Speaker 1: to make powerful educational tools available and accessible, which are
Speaker 1: two related but distinct things. You can find the resources
Speaker 1: we talk about at IBM dot com slash Remote Learning,
Speaker 1: and there you'll see tools like video broadcasting services which
Speaker 1: provide a one way communication tool useful for lectures or announcements,
Speaker 1: video conferencing for classroom discussions or parent teacher conferences, curated
Speaker 1: educational programs including practical workshops that help students train real
Speaker 1: world skills that companies of the future will need. And
Speaker 1: a digital education platform called open p tech for students
Speaker 1: aged fourteen to twenty that really dives into topics that
Speaker 1: will help students interested in tech careers to build the
Speaker 1: skills and knowledge they'll need for the workplace. We'll start
Speaker 1: with Kristen Wiznowski, VP of Design in the c I
Speaker 1: O S Office, to talk about the challenges her team
Speaker 1: faced when they received the task to package together remote
Speaker 1: learning assets, because, as it turns out, making these powerful
Speaker 1: technologies easy for the average person to access comes with
Speaker 1: its own challenges. Kristen, I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: being part of this podcast. And before we dive into
Speaker 1: the design ops section, which I'm really fascinated about, I
Speaker 1: was wondering if I could just sort of get from
Speaker 1: you your own personal perspective of what it means for
Speaker 1: us all to be adapting to what a lot of
Speaker 1: people are calling the new normal here while we're going
Speaker 1: through these efforts to flatten the curve of the COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen crisis, What does that actually mean for a lot
Speaker 1: of people? Because I think a lot of people out
Speaker 1: there might feel in this this world of isolation, like
Speaker 1: they are alone in their experience, and I don't really
Speaker 1: think that's the case, right, Yeah, exactly, Jonathan. So for
Speaker 1: me personally, I now am working out of my home
Speaker 1: in Long Island. I had a three hour commute to
Speaker 1: my New York City office for a bunch of years,
Speaker 1: where we've built out a designer hub. I have two
Speaker 1: sisters who have two kids, and they are parents now
Speaker 1: at home, part time educators. They're keeping up households, they're
Speaker 1: working full time. And I think, you know, I'm seeing
Speaker 1: the gravity of what people are dealing with as I
Speaker 1: hear about these stories and look in the community and
Speaker 1: my neighbors and my friends who are teachers, and UM,
Speaker 1: I'm hearing the heartbreaking stories, and I'm also hearing the
Speaker 1: heartwarming stories that just really uplift you and and remind
Speaker 1: you of the resiliency of the human spirit. And I think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, for me professionally, having worked at IBM for
Speaker 1: nearly twenty years, UM, it's been an odd transition. I
Speaker 1: first transitioned from the office from home to the office
Speaker 1: after nearly a decade. Now I'm transitioning back. And UM,
Speaker 1: while it was new and unforeseen, it was fairly straightforward,
Speaker 1: which I think is a testament to the tools that
Speaker 1: we have available in the approaches that we've learned, and
Speaker 1: the investments we've made in our ways of working, and
Speaker 1: the fact that we can leverage and lean on and
Speaker 1: rely on the human connections that we've spent time forming,
Speaker 1: and that's really critical I think during this time of
Speaker 1: need and adaptation, and it was a big driving force
Speaker 1: behind the project and the contribution that um we felt
Speaker 1: we could provide to the world, which what we'll talk
Speaker 1: about or today. But I think it's just an uncertain
Speaker 1: time for a lot of people, and to know that
Speaker 1: we're all in it together and we're all collectively finding
Speaker 1: ways to adapt, I think is one of the most
Speaker 1: comforting thoughts I can give myself another's at this time.
Speaker 1: How is the team that you work on been affected
Speaker 1: by this? As I'm sure a lot of people were
Speaker 1: working in more of a close, uh, you know, cooperative environment.
Speaker 1: Now we're talking about a lot of people in different
Speaker 1: remote locations collaborating. Have you have you seen any changes
Speaker 1: in that regard or has it been a pretty easy
Speaker 1: transition adaptation into that that work life kind of experience. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think as IBM or as we've been accustomed to
Speaker 1: working in distributed ways, we've learned a lot in the
Speaker 1: terms of the ways of working, in terms of etiquette,
Speaker 1: in terms of how to connect with one another and
Speaker 1: how to effectively leverage whether you know when there's even
Speaker 1: just one some remote on a squad and the others
Speaker 1: are are together. There there's a whole different way of
Speaker 1: interacting rather, you know, than if the whole team we're
Speaker 1: sitting in one room together. You know, design has the
Speaker 1: ability to impact the human experience in really big and
Speaker 1: bold and meaningful ways. And so we've looked internally at
Speaker 1: what we're doing and thought about how we can share
Speaker 1: that with others, and and to your point, we've had
Speaker 1: also to to make adjustments. It was certainly not seamless. Um,
Speaker 1: we've had some some trial in our ways to go
Speaker 1: about things, and we've introduced new remote forms of staying
Speaker 1: engaged and connected. But for the most part, I think
Speaker 1: the majority of the ways of interacting or leveraged by
Speaker 1: the tool kit and the tool stack that we have
Speaker 1: at IBM, which we've made available. But I do think
Speaker 1: that relying on the softer side of things is so
Speaker 1: critical at this point. When we talked before we had
Speaker 1: this this recording session, you had mentioned this whole philosophy
Speaker 1: of design OPS. I was hoping you could talk more
Speaker 1: about what that is des OPS and UH and kind
Speaker 1: of give us an overview of the philosophy behind that absolutely,
Speaker 1: so design ops. So we have a shop, the Design Shop,
Speaker 1: that is about one and forty people at IBM. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's a large shop, and it has different
Speaker 1: subdisciplines that contribute to the broader sense of what we
Speaker 1: call design. It's user experience design, it's visual designers, user researchers,
Speaker 1: multimedia designers, content and communications. We also include design and
Speaker 1: business strategy, the engagement function agile. So there's there's a
Speaker 1: lot going on, and the way to orchestrate all of
Speaker 1: this in a in a highly functional fashion is to
Speaker 1: implement a design ops function within your team. So I
Speaker 1: think the design ops, the way that we run our
Speaker 1: team and the focus on design ops has enabled us
Speaker 1: to quickly line up and to have a number of
Speaker 1: people from each of those sub functions and to bring
Speaker 1: them together in a as seamless away as possible to
Speaker 1: attack this really big challenge and opportunity to try to
Speaker 1: to leverage what we know and what we can do,
Speaker 1: and to you know, to bring it forward forward to
Speaker 1: fruition in a way that's really meaningful two people. And
Speaker 1: I think people can tell when you care and when
Speaker 1: you put care and thought into a product or an
Speaker 1: experience that you're creating. So design ups enables us to
Speaker 1: come together and really try to solve big problems in
Speaker 1: meaningful ways, and it requires a lot of empathy more
Speaker 1: than anything else. You alluded to a really quick time turnaround,
Speaker 1: a four day turnaround for a project. I thought maybe
Speaker 1: it'd be interesting to learn more about the specifics of
Speaker 1: that project. What was the goal that you were aiming for,
Speaker 1: and what was the process like in that incredibly quick
Speaker 1: turnaround to go from here's what we need to do
Speaker 1: to actually having something to show. So I had I
Speaker 1: had a phone call on Monday night a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and it was um an idea, which is basically, kids
Speaker 1: are being thrown into this this new digital world. It's
Speaker 1: they're learning an entirely new culture that's seen to shape
Speaker 1: them and potentially their future careers. How they're interacting. It's
Speaker 1: it's such a huge change from what people know, and
Speaker 1: they don't have more than you know. They don't have
Speaker 1: weeks for years to adapt like I have. In some
Speaker 1: of my colleagues that I be am, they had to
Speaker 1: adopt in in hours or if not you know, days,
Speaker 1: if not hours, And so that became the challenge and
Speaker 1: so many of us are are connected with teachers in
Speaker 1: our in our real lives. We're watching the struggle firsthand,
Speaker 1: and we're parents or our sister as our parents and
Speaker 1: our friends, our teachers and all that. So it felt
Speaker 1: very real and we jumped right into action deciding that
Speaker 1: we're going to make a site that offers resources to
Speaker 1: primarily to teachers in this time of need, in this
Speaker 1: new world that we find ourselves in. We could have
Speaker 1: just probably put up a technology table, you know, just
Speaker 1: staying here's what IBM does. Instead, a big focus of
Speaker 1: ours from the design perspective became what's the mental model
Speaker 1: of our users? Let's not leave with the technology. That's
Speaker 1: probably not how they think. Teachers and educators and maybe
Speaker 1: administrators and parents and guardians are probably thinking, well, I'm
Speaker 1: hoping to do X. You know, how might I do that?
Speaker 1: What are my options? I think, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, just take a little It's a daunting thing
Speaker 1: for people to try to transition and recreate the social
Speaker 1: interactions they have physically in a classroom. To do that
Speaker 1: virtually and with all different age groups, I think it's
Speaker 1: it's just such a it's a daunting, overwhelming task and
Speaker 1: Our whole impetus was, let's try to take some of
Speaker 1: that away, even from the imagery we use and the
Speaker 1: way the words we choose. Everything was very thoughtfully applied
Speaker 1: with this thought in mind. Do you have any observations
Speaker 1: about the shift of etiquette from the real world space
Speaker 1: to the virtual space, or anything that you've particularly learned
Speaker 1: in this rather accelerated development phase. So we put these
Speaker 1: sections of the site together that provide tips for most
Speaker 1: effectively leveraging technology while you're trying to do this, and
Speaker 1: it's things like join a couple of minutes early, learn
Speaker 1: where your mute feature is, use it when you're not talking,
Speaker 1: avoid access noise, try to look at the best position
Speaker 1: for your camera, avoid backlighting, and if your videos choppy,
Speaker 1: you might turn it off. Look at the various layouts
Speaker 1: that the tool you're using provides so that you can
Speaker 1: get the most out of it or it can best
Speaker 1: suit your preferences. Read facial cues, use your hands when
Speaker 1: you're you know, there's things that we've learned that make
Speaker 1: you feel more connected, and so they're provided um in
Speaker 1: various parts of the site, and and in a it's
Speaker 1: sort of like, no matter what you're doing, and using
Speaker 1: We hope you can find some value here because we're
Speaker 1: sharing some ways of working that are pretty ubiquitous or
Speaker 1: core can be and hopefully can be valuable. At this time,
Speaker 1: we thought about different ways for the six through twelve
Speaker 1: age group to do. Maybe it's students are the teachers
Speaker 1: for the day. Maybe it's you know, there's a morning
Speaker 1: announcement and it gets rotated. There's book clubs or podcast clubs,
Speaker 1: and so we tried to consider what would be fun,
Speaker 1: Like we play lunch roulette now that with my team,
Speaker 1: now that we're remote, we do that just so that
Speaker 1: randomly you compare up with someone and have lunch and
Speaker 1: see how it's going for them. And why couldn't that
Speaker 1: apply also in an education setting? It definitely could. So
Speaker 1: you know, have have guest speaker, have somebody come on
Speaker 1: do show and tell grab an item that's meaningful to
Speaker 1: you from the room you're sitting in. And we played
Speaker 1: um literally at my job, my bus hosted a guess
Speaker 1: who's office this is and we had to send in
Speaker 1: a picture beforehand, and we had a lot of fun
Speaker 1: with guessing whose office that might be. Considering like the
Speaker 1: broader surrounding that you can't really see on video, and
Speaker 1: so I think there's there's lots of ways that we
Speaker 1: can stay connected. And then there's reminders to to educators
Speaker 1: to get your keep your like, take breaks, let people
Speaker 1: get up and move, uh, let them have a sense
Speaker 1: of control, you know, pass the mic around, UM, ask questions,
Speaker 1: let people submit, and then we try to think of
Speaker 1: various ways that others can just even suggest different contents
Speaker 1: that we We definitely did didn't not think of an
Speaker 1: exhaustive list, but I think that there's a good starting
Speaker 1: point and that hopefully it will create or the creative
Speaker 1: juices will flow from having read that, and then we
Speaker 1: hope in time will have some sort of whether it's
Speaker 1: synchronous or asynchronous, some sort of feedback mechanism where people
Speaker 1: can interact and say like, here's my hack, here's what
Speaker 1: I did that really worked. You touched on a lot
Speaker 1: of things that that really resonate with me. Kristen can
Speaker 1: tell you because she can see my video as I
Speaker 1: record this right now, that I do talk on my
Speaker 1: hands quite a lot, and uh, and that sort of
Speaker 1: level of expression, that level of body language is something
Speaker 1: that is incredibly valuable. Those social cues are incredibly informative.
Speaker 1: And anyone who has had an experience of misinterpreting a
Speaker 1: message sent via text or email because it lacked that
Speaker 1: that part of human communication can tell you it's very
Speaker 1: easy to have a misunderstanding when you don't have that
Speaker 1: that element in your communication. So having the tools there
Speaker 1: to be able to enable that communication, I think is
Speaker 1: is incredibly useful. I mean, I'm I'm old enough to
Speaker 1: reach point where I did not realize that sometimes using
Speaker 1: punctuation in text messages could be interpreted as being very uh,
Speaker 1: stern or directive. I used it because I was trained
Speaker 1: as a writer and punctuation is how you in sentences
Speaker 1: and uh. But then younger friends of mine would say, oh, no,
Speaker 1: like in our culture, this text based culture, where we
Speaker 1: use that as a way of communicating, we interpret that
Speaker 1: as a way of being much more stern with one another.
Speaker 1: So it's like you're yelling at someone or you're you're
Speaker 1: chiding them, and uh. So that was a learning experience
Speaker 1: for me. I've been smiling listening to you because it's
Speaker 1: all too real, and we've been on the other end
Speaker 1: of those texts, and we've sent those texts and received
Speaker 1: the funds and we know how this goes. So I
Speaker 1: think we have almost no choice but to become better
Speaker 1: at interacting right and and being expressive and communicating with
Speaker 1: one another in new and different and varied ways that
Speaker 1: I think will serve us well longer term. And I
Speaker 1: think the underlying point is that we need each other people.
Speaker 1: We are a community of people, no matter how you
Speaker 1: slice and dice it, you know, and we're human beings
Speaker 1: and we need to be connected, and we need to
Speaker 1: remember that people want to help. Tools and people and
Speaker 1: services and offerings and are out there too, and almost
Speaker 1: overwhelming degree right now, but we're all nobody is alone
Speaker 1: in this, and I think that there's such comfort in
Speaker 1: that thought, and so we're here to all work together
Speaker 1: through this. Christian's team worked on the design side of
Speaker 1: these remote learning tools. My next guest, Grace Sue, is
Speaker 1: the vice president of Education at IBM, and she and
Speaker 1: I talked more about IBM S programs that provide resources
Speaker 1: to students and educators, including programs that extend yawned the
Speaker 1: online world. Grace, before we talk about IBM S initiatives
Speaker 1: in education, what sort of broad trends are we seeing
Speaker 1: right now in the wake of the COVID nineteen crisis
Speaker 1: is people try to attempt to adapt to a new
Speaker 1: type of life in this era of physical distancing. Obviously,
Speaker 1: let's create a lot of disruption. So what are some
Speaker 1: of the trends we're seeing, Well, what comes to schools.
Speaker 1: What we're seeing is that educators are really trying to
Speaker 1: pivot quickly. And I've talked to a number of education
Speaker 1: leaders and they are working seven tiresly UM finding alternatives
Speaker 1: for academic learning, but not just learning. Schools are such
Speaker 1: the center pieces of our communities. They provide so much
Speaker 1: so for for many schools, they're also looking for ways
Speaker 1: to provide food UM for young people who rely on
Speaker 1: their schools for food UM. They're also thinking about other
Speaker 1: social services as well, So they're really running the gamut
Speaker 1: of UM many many different kinds of services that they've
Speaker 1: got to figure out for children. Can you talk a
Speaker 1: bit about some of the the services and applications that
Speaker 1: IBM has been involved with as far as education. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in terms of what we're providing for students around the
Speaker 1: world with distance learning, we actually and the and the
Speaker 1: timing has been really spot on. Unfortunately, there is a pandemic,
Speaker 1: but we have just launched something that we call open
Speaker 1: p tech, and open p tech builds off of a
Speaker 1: program that we have of Brick and Mortar High school UM.
Speaker 1: And within these brick and mortar high schools, the idea
Speaker 1: is that students are learning the skills that they need
Speaker 1: for the future of work, so really a focus on
Speaker 1: guest the academic competencies, but also technical competencies as well
Speaker 1: as professional competencies, professional ones being what some people refer
Speaker 1: to as soft skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and
Speaker 1: we took the those kinds of learning that it is
Speaker 1: happening within P tech schools and we've put them online.
Speaker 1: And so if you go to open p tech, which
Speaker 1: is off of PTech dot org, you have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to for free and anyone can access it, go in
Speaker 1: and participate in digital learning UM, so you can learn
Speaker 1: about cyber security and blockchain UM and data science. You
Speaker 1: can participate in free webinars around a number of different subjects,
Speaker 1: and you can earn digital badges, which is such a
Speaker 1: great inspiration and motivation for students. And these are the
Speaker 1: same badges that ibm R s earn. So we oh
Speaker 1: that they have cashet in the labor market, so students
Speaker 1: can put them onto their linked in profiles or other
Speaker 1: kind of digital wallet, and it signifies that they have
Speaker 1: mastered a very specific skill. So we're making that available
Speaker 1: UM worldwide. We know that it's in a number of
Speaker 1: different languages UM and we also have developed a skill
Speaker 1: site UM where learners can get a huge number of
Speaker 1: other kinds of skills off of IBM dot com slash
Speaker 1: skills as well. UM. And we know that not everybody
Speaker 1: can it's going to be able to access these things,
Speaker 1: but for those students that can, this is an opportunity
Speaker 1: for them to be able to augment learning that's happening
Speaker 1: within their schools and build upon their UM, their expertise
Speaker 1: and really key areas that employers are looking for, so
Speaker 1: really getting prepared for college and career. And also it's
Speaker 1: something that can UH see to a need that I
Speaker 1: think a lot of school systems are probably under equipped
Speaker 1: to do. Uh, not saying that all of them are,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of schools are are very
Speaker 1: much focused on traditional curricula and so something like this
Speaker 1: that is incredibly UM applicable today would possibly be something
Speaker 1: that people wouldn't even encounter unless they were doing special
Speaker 1: after school programs, or perhaps a college prep course, or
Speaker 1: maybe not even until they got into college, if they
Speaker 1: started to be interested in something like computer science. I
Speaker 1: think that this speaks to the larger fact that we
Speaker 1: know schools can't do the hard work of educating children
Speaker 1: on their own, and businesses need talent, and it's really
Speaker 1: incumbent upon businesses to help develop and nurture that talent
Speaker 1: working with educators on the ground. So if we are
Speaker 1: very deliberate about articulating the skills that we need so
Speaker 1: that students build the skills that they need to engage
Speaker 1: in the economy and in future jobs, then it's really
Speaker 1: a win win for everybody. And the other thing that
Speaker 1: we're very attuned to in our work and in our
Speaker 1: work UM through the p Tech brick and mortar schools,
Speaker 1: is really a focus on access and equity. So through
Speaker 1: our p TEX actual schools, of which there are two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty across twenty five countries around the world,
Speaker 1: we are serving students from underserved backgrounds and working to
Speaker 1: give them the skills to participate in the future of
Speaker 1: work UM and also experiences that their families may not
Speaker 1: have access to because they don't have the financial capability
Speaker 1: or the social networks to engage. So we provide our
Speaker 1: students with opportunities to have mentoring, paid internships UM, and
Speaker 1: opportunities to be first in line for job interviews. So ultimately,
Speaker 1: our students and our p tech schools are earning a
Speaker 1: high school diploma in a two year associates degree, and
Speaker 1: we're trying to take some of those opportunities and now
Speaker 1: put them online to reach even more children. That's that's great,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad you brought up the uh, the issue
Speaker 1: of underserved populations. That's something I definitely want to speak
Speaker 1: more about because while a lot of us, like myself included,
Speaker 1: have the luxury of being able to port my work
Speaker 1: to a different environment to be able to continue to
Speaker 1: contribute UM, even if I don't have access to the
Speaker 1: office I would normally be in or the studio I
Speaker 1: would normally be in, a lot of people don't have those, uh,
Speaker 1: those luxuries, whether it's because of the type of work
Speaker 1: they are in UM or because they just don't have
Speaker 1: access to those sort of things. We unfortunately don't live
Speaker 1: in a world where everyone has access to ubiquitous networks
Speaker 1: and ubiquitous technologies. So since that's something that we often
Speaker 1: kind of glance over in these conversations, you know, we
Speaker 1: talk about the online tools and the tech tools that
Speaker 1: enable distance learning, what about for people who are in
Speaker 1: those positions. Are there any initiatives that are aiming to
Speaker 1: help underserve populations that wouldn't have access to those tools traditionally. Well,
Speaker 1: we need to do much more. We certainly know that
Speaker 1: there are students during this pandemic who are not going
Speaker 1: to be able to participate in distance learning because they
Speaker 1: simply have access to technology and connectivity. And research shows
Speaker 1: that students who miss school, um, they do not achieve
Speaker 1: at at the highest levels. And I've talked to a
Speaker 1: number of educators during this pandemic and they have very
Speaker 1: deep concerns that the loss of learning over this period
Speaker 1: of time can affect our most vulnerable children across their
Speaker 1: entire lifetimes. So this is something that we really need
Speaker 1: to think about seriously. We always think about education as
Speaker 1: a civil right, um, but we have to think about
Speaker 1: technology and and the opportunity to learn from a distance
Speaker 1: as a civil right too. So I think that's the
Speaker 1: next area that we need to tackle, and it's certainly
Speaker 1: not just technology. UM, it's really also about connectivity. It's
Speaker 1: about giving teachers the tools that will empower them to
Speaker 1: be able to help teach their students in classrooms. So
Speaker 1: there's a huge range of different areas that we need
Speaker 1: to start thinking about shifting over to kind of a
Speaker 1: tips and tricks sort of approach. I hate to even
Speaker 1: phrase it that way, but do you have any insight
Speaker 1: on things that you think are valuable for either the
Speaker 1: average student or perhaps average educator or maybe parent or guardian,
Speaker 1: what they should do to help support a remote learning experience,
Speaker 1: things like the best practices perhaps, Yeah, I think there's
Speaker 1: a huge range. I think for students who have connectivity
Speaker 1: and are able to be learning from home, a lot
Speaker 1: of the best practices mirror what happens in the workplace.
Speaker 1: So you need a good setup, you need light, um,
Speaker 1: and and saying for the teachers, And I think I've
Speaker 1: seen teachers, my son's teacher in particular, UM, doing a
Speaker 1: wonderful job helping students learn how to participate in an
Speaker 1: online classroom. So how do you mute? How do you
Speaker 1: raise your hand? What is the best way to participate
Speaker 1: and ask a question? UM? So it does remind me
Speaker 1: a lot about just work the world of work. So
Speaker 1: they're getting a jump start on that, which is great
Speaker 1: to see. I think for UM, for schools and educators
Speaker 1: and leaders who are working with students from vulnerable populations.
Speaker 1: I know that, UM, you know, the challenges are just
Speaker 1: greater and different. How do you get kids to come
Speaker 1: to the table, um and participate in online education? A
Speaker 1: lot of that has to do with making sure I know,
Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of school leaders who are calling
Speaker 1: families twice a week just to check in. I think
Speaker 1: the emotional part of school and how amazing teachers are
Speaker 1: with our young people. UM, we can't forget that piece too.
Speaker 1: So finding ways to make sure that we're creating these
Speaker 1: inclusive classrooms where students feel heard, where they continue to
Speaker 1: feel nurtured. UM. You know, I think that that we've
Speaker 1: got to experiment with ways to do that. I think, UM,
Speaker 1: I know, some teachers are experimenting with smaller classroom opportunities,
Speaker 1: or they might be having their own kinds of office hours,
Speaker 1: just like you would do in a university setting to
Speaker 1: help students who are falling behind. So there's a huge
Speaker 1: range of different kinds of ways that educators are trying
Speaker 1: to help, and I think it mirrors many of the
Speaker 1: best practices that we're seeing in the workplace. I think
Speaker 1: for us at IBM, what the pandemic has done is
Speaker 1: put a greater sense of urgency around our work. We
Speaker 1: know that innovation happens through diversity. We know that there's
Speaker 1: so much untapped talent around the world, and we're really
Speaker 1: committed to bringing the very best experts and skills to
Speaker 1: the table to drive our business forward and to enable
Speaker 1: us to help our clients UM and to solve some
Speaker 1: of the world's greatest challenges. So, you know, our goal
Speaker 1: is to be able to nurture talent wherever it exists,
Speaker 1: give them the tools and the skills that they need
Speaker 1: by working with the public sector, with educators and government
Speaker 1: officials and nonprofits to be able to UM, to be
Speaker 1: able to build the next generation of leaders and workers
Speaker 1: and IBM ors. So it's UM. It's great to be
Speaker 1: part of all of this kind of work. Thank you
Speaker 1: to Kristen and Grace for coming on the show to
Speaker 1: talk about ibm S work and creating and making accessible
Speaker 1: these tools for students, parents and educators. To learn more
Speaker 1: about what is available, go to IBM dot com. Slash
Speaker 1: Remote Learning, you'll see links to lots of resources that
Speaker 1: can be a huge help. Before I sign off, I
Speaker 1: also want to remind everyone of the Call for Code initiative.
Speaker 1: This is a sort of hackathon in which IBM invites
Speaker 1: app developers and others to form teams and pitch absolutions
Speaker 1: to really big challenges. This year, there are two tracks
Speaker 1: of challenges. First is response to COVID nineteen. IBM is
Speaker 1: already evaluating the initial batch of submissions to put three
Speaker 1: proposed solutions into implementation by the middle of this month. However,
Speaker 1: if you have an idea for an app to help
Speaker 1: in the fight against COVID nineteen, you're still welcome to
Speaker 1: submit that idea until July three. That date is also
Speaker 1: when the final submissions are due for the other track
Speaker 1: of Call for Code, which aims at the broad issue
Speaker 1: of climate change. So if you have an idea for
Speaker 1: an app, or you want to see what ideas are
Speaker 1: already out there and how you might also get involved,
Speaker 1: there's still time and you don't have to be a developer.
Speaker 1: You might be someone with deep knowledge on the subject matter,
Speaker 1: in which case you can add your expertise to people
Speaker 1: who are developing apps. To learn more, visit developer dot
Speaker 1: IBM dot com slash call for code. The next Smart
Speaker 1: Talks episode will publish on Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
Speaker 1: so make sure you check that out and be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the show because if you like science,
Speaker 1: you're going to love that podcast. Join Robert and Joe
Speaker 1: as they speak with IBMS Global Managing Director for Consumer
Speaker 1: Industries Luke Nazi as they unpack how the pandemic has
Speaker 1: forced rapid adaptation in the ways we shop and manage
Speaker 1: supply chains. You'll find that episode over at Stuff to
Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind. And as always, I hope you are
Speaker 1: well and I'll talk to you again really soon. M
Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.