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Supporting the future leaders of L&D is an important task for us all.
The new young minds entering our field are unhindered by the past. They forge new trails in the training departments of businesses around the world. Unafraid of new technologies they experiment and innovate.They are curious and want to make corporate training better than it's been.
In this episode of IDIODC we're pleased to have two very special guests: Kavindya Thennakoon and LaTarshia Wooten. They join us to represent the30 Under 30 class of 2021 from the Learning Leaders Conference.
Kavindya and LaTarshia shared their Learning Leaders conference experience with us, as well as their L&D “origin stories”. What the hack even is a DesignAnthropologist? Check out the recording to find out!
We also talked about the path of moving from someone who works in our field to someone who actively shares their own knowledge with others in our industry by presenting at conferences. There are a lot of factors at play –so many of us face imposter syndrome when we try to picture our own names being added to a conference schedule. But it’s so important for new voices and ideas to be brought forward into our space, and we all need to work to lower the barriers for these new voices to participate and share.
And we closed out by discussing what Kavindya and LaTarshia see as their near-term futures and goals.
To see all the comments from the chat, check out the full session right here.
And to ask more questions, or participate in extended conversations about thisepisode, please join us in the IDIODC LinkedIn Group.
About LaTarshia Wooten
LaTarshia is a Learning Experience Designer with a background in communication and educational media. She has four years of experience with programming eLearning courses. She also has experience implementing and serving as an administrator on a learning management system as well as programming videos using Vyond and Camtasia. Also, in the last few years, she's had the opportunity to speak at various conferences such as DevLearn and Learning Solutions. She believes that learning should be fun, interactive, and provides value to the learner.
About Kavindya Thennakoon
Kavindya was a dean’s fellow at the Stanford School of Education with a background in Learning Experience Design and Anthropology. At Stanford, she designed and co-founded Tilli; a game-based, social-emotional learning tool for early learners. Tilli was a global finalist at The Future of Play Design Challenge by Playful Minds & Lego Ventures and chases the ambitious dream of designing inclusive and measurable SEL experiences for every child, everywhere irrespective of their ability to pay.
Previously she worked for Arimac building their User Experience Research (UX) capability and also the MIT Media Lab as a Civic Entertainment Researcher. Her previous engagements have spanned across Ed-Tech, strategy, and development, working for 2U, Coursera, Ogilvy/IBM, United Nations, the Oxford Microfinance Initiative, and Transparency International Sri Lanka.
Alongside her work in the learning technology space, she has continued her focus on grassroots education through Without Borders; a social enterprise based in Sri Lanka that she co-founded in 2014. To date, they have connected over 3000+ educators with innovative, accessible learning tools and pedagogies. Kavindya won both the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Award and the Harvard Global Trailblazers Award for her impact within the local education space.
About IDIODC
Instructional Designers in Offices Drinking Coffee (affectionately known as IDIODC) is a weekly live videocast and podcast that helps instructional designers with pain points and provides best practices and industry insight.
Every Wednesday morning at 10am ET hosts Brent Schlenker and Chris Van Wingerden guide us through an upbeat and candid conversation with their guests from the elearning and training world. The live cast session encourages peers to participate in the chat and share their own personal insight! After airing live, you can catch the learning podcast on all major streams such as Spotify, Apple and Google Play podcasts, as well as on YouTube.
IDIODC is a Top 40 Hit!
We could have been #1 but chair dancing was not a judged element. But no matter, we’re just happy to be selected. Check out this amazingly short press release: “IDIODC was selected as one of the Top 40 Learning and Development Podcasts on the web.”
