One of the wonderful things about the Learning Counsel’s Annual Virtual National Gathering Event is recognizing the sheer magnitude of talent and presenting them to the world as Learning Leadership Society Award winners. In part one of this celebration, Learning Counsel Chief Academic Officer Chris McMurray had the honor of giving out the honors. In part two, hosted again by McMurray as well as Learning Counsel CEO LeiLani Cauthen, even more talent was recognized. And stopping by to join the fun were JoAnne Parra from Medina Valley ISD (recognized as Innovator), Dr. Ellen Perconti from Goldendale School District (Recognized as Gainer), Mae Nevarez from Osborne School District (Recognized as Gainer) and Robin Wright from USD 306 (Recognized as Achiever).

According to McMurray, “What I find fascinating is the connection between technology, design, and humanity. And those are inextricable. For the systems that are finding success, never losing sight of that is one of those critical aspects.”

This year’s National Digital Transition Survey sponsor was Scholastic, who played a large part in bringing the most widely participated, most in-depth and most anticipated survey in EdTech to school districts throughout the United States. And stopping by to join the festivities was Joelle MacPhee, Director of Product Marketing at Scholastic. Joelle said, “I come from a different world, but it intersects closely with your world. I'm on the product development side at Scholastic. I help release and launch new tools into districts like yours. I work with editors and authors and researchers, administrators and teachers, and I have a dream job. And even just hearing you talk about the future and what you guys are doing, it's just really validating.”

“And as a coder and developer,” Cauthen replied, “I've had the privilege of looking at a lot of what Scholastic has done for products. And I talk a lot about professional grade material and the quality of the user interface, and user experience. Because there's really huge difference. You have quite a few products that have a whole host of professional grade things behind them.”

Don’t miss a minute of this video. It is a particularly informative and in-depth look at the Learning Leadership Society Award winners and the steps they have taken to improve learning in their digital transformations. If using technology to improve learning is important to you, stay tuned.