ETJ 007: July Newsletter

EdTech Journeys on Tour, Pori Power at "SuomiAreena", New Courses

EdTech Journeys on Tour in Pori during SuomiAreena 2023

I didn’t make it to the main political events this year (maybe for the best). However, I did get the best of the best of Pori scheduled in for the podcast. In a miniseries of three interviews, we started with Jari Multisilta, the researcher who gave me back faith in academia in 2014, after having myself rejected/postponed a fantastic PhD-employment offer to instead focus on more practical field research and entrepreneurship in Colombia back in 2010. Academia, in my mind, is very much like technology; it can be incredibly powerful when applied productively, or it can be an incredible waste of resources, if the results never reach beyond scientific journals to the real world.

Pori Power Podcast 1/3 - Jari Multisilta

Jari Multisilta was earlier Professor of Multimedia at the Tampere University of Technology, Director of the University Consortium of Pori, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at the University of Helsinki, and Director of the Cicero Learning Network at the University of Helsinki.

He's a pioneering researcher of educational technology, including gamification and mobile video storytelling for learning, since working as Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, School of Education, H-STAR Institute on several occasions between 2007 and 2014. Jari was a member of the team at the National Board of Education in Finland preparing the new National Core Curriculum for basic education and secondary education in Finland between 2011 and 2014, with the curriculum being implemented on a national level since 2016.

He has been Principal Investigator in several international research projects, and was the developer of MoViE, a Mobile Video Storytelling platform for learning through video stories in schools.

Between 2012 and 2014 he was also the national leader of the Finland - USA Science Across Virtual Institutes Innovations in Education (SAVI) funded by NSF, Tekes and the Academy of Finland.

Since 2018, he is the President and Managing Director of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences.

For more information on Jari and his research, please visit his ResearchGate Profile.

Pori Power Podcast 2/3 - Harri Ketamo

The “Best of SuomiAreena” Special was followed by one of Jari’s own PhD students, master entrepreneur and AI pioneer, Harri Ketamo. Harri has published hundreds of research papers, and I’ve followed him for many years as the AI entrepreneur working on things I didn’t really pay attention too. As my own struggle has been to get educators (and parents, including my own) to understand basic productivity with basic technology, I have not paid much attention to the most sophisticated innovations since the last few years. Also with the current AI hype, I continuously observe a general decline in the “marginal rate of return” regarding the utility of more technology in the Western world. (I’ll write a Column dedicated to this perspective at some point, after having paused my column writing to reflect on this further, precisely due to the (too) rapid growth and acceptance of ChatGPT and AI in general recently.)

Harri gives a most refreshing perspective with his very strong background (if not the strongest in Finland) on the utility of AI in Education and beyond. Stay tuned for his interview to be published soon.

For more information on Harri and his research, please visit his ResearchGate Profile.

Pori Power Podcast 3/3 - Peter Vesterbacka

Last, and greatest, from a Global Giant perspective, I finally got to sit down with the one and only Peter Vesterbacka, globally also known as the original Mighty Eagle of the Angry Birds Games and Movies by Rovio. I got connected with Peter sort of directly in 2017 through Fun Academy (one of his many entrepreneurships, together with Sanna Lukander and Saara Viteli) and thanks to his own direct interest in Colombia. Now, representing also the Finest Future offering to the world, the stars aligned for a proper interview face-to-face.

Beyond being a highly respected serial entrepreneur and even the founder of SLUSH, “THE MOST FOUNDER-FOCUSED EVENT ON EARTH”, Peter is a game-changing influencer and change maker on a multi-national level, placing him as the most important entrepreneur at the most important democratic event in Finland.

Our interview starts from his personal journey since before becoming the “Mighty Eagle” at Rovio, towards his ever-stronger commitment to education and promotion of the “Finnish Dream”, a quality education for all, not only as a possibility for people born in Finland, but as an opportunity available for all.

Stay tuned for the publishing of the upcoming podcast episode.

Preview of New Courses

In collaboration with VisitEduFinn, a first Summer Course was carried out with school educators from Spain and Italy. Building on its success and demand, it will be available in the continuation both in English and in Spanish. More information and video presentations from the first iteration will be presented in the next Newsletter. Stay tuned…

For more information on Courses or on how to Join or Sponsor the EdTech Journeys Podcast on Tour, feel free to connect on LinkedIn or email to joni@edvisto.com.

With this, I wish you a fantastic Back to School from a beautiful, rainy beginning of the Autumn semester in Finland.

Published by Joni AlWindi

The EdTech Journeys Newsletter is a monthly compilation of events, columns, podcasts and stories highlighted at the EdTech Journeys platform.