Led by Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb
1:00-2:15 Eastern time, Thursday, February 21
Technology continues to transform the learning landscape in fundamental ways, but figuring out which technologies really matter for your learning business is major challenge. What role will artificial intelligence play? Will virtual and augmented reality ever really catch on with the average learner? How should we think about the evolving role in learning of established technologies, like social networking platforms?
These are the types of questions we’ll consider as we take a look at some of the most important technologies impacting or poised to impact our work as learning business professionals. We’ll offer examples of how cutting-edge technologies can be used in ways that are within the reach of most learning business and discuss the role these and other technologies are likely to play in the coming three to five years.
As an active participant in this session, you will generate ideas for how it might make strategic sense for your organization to embrace specific technologies and formulate potential next steps for your learning business.
This session will be led by Tagoras and LTD co-founders Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb, each of whom has more than two decades of experience working with learning technologies.
Jeff Cobb
Jeff Cobb is a successful entrepreneur and educator with more than fifteen years of experience working in the market for lifelong learning. As a consultant and executive advisor he has a long track record in helping organizations maximize the reach, revenue, and impact of their continuing education and professional development programs. Through his writing and speaking he has also been a consistent presence in the association sector and has had significant influence on how organizations approach the market for lifelong learning.
With Celisa Steele, Jeff co-founded Tagoras, which provides expert strategy, marketing, and technology consulting services to organizations in the business of lifelong learning, is co-creator of Learning • Technology • Design (LTD).
Jeff’s most recent book, Leading the Learning Revolution (Amacom), provides practical insights for growing a thriving education business in the context of the global learning economy. His previous book, Shift Ed (Corwin), focused on transforming the K-12 education system.
Jeff serves on the governing board of NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement. He has also served on the advisory board of Future Learning, the Professional Development Section Council of the American Society of Association Executives, the research committee of the eLearning Guild, and the editorial board of Innovate, a leading resource for information about innovations in learning and technology. A vocal advocate of cradle-to-grave lifelong learning, Jeff also served as chair of the board of Mi Escuelita Spanish Immersion Preschool, where both his children attended school.
Celisa Steele
Celisa Steele is a seasoned entrepreneur with a unique blend of experience in marketing, technology, and education. With Jeff Cobb, she founded Tagoras—which provides expert strategy, marketing, and technology consulting services to organizations in the business of lifelong learning—and created of Learning • Technology • Design (LTD).
Celisa spearheads Tagoras’s research and publications, and she’s written numerous reports, white papers, and blog posts that explore learning, technology, their overlap, and more. The Virtual Events Report, Association Learning + Technology, and Social Learning Trends in the Association Space are three of the most comprehensive reports available on learning and technology in the association sector and the broader learning business space.
In her career, Celisa has led the development and deployment of successful online education sites with numerous organizations ranging from smaller groups like the Frameworks Institute and the Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services to large national and multinational organizations like the American Red Cross, the American College of Radiology, the Society for Human Resource Management, and WebJunction, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Before Tagoras, Celisa was a co-founder and chief operating officer of Isoph, one of the leading providers of e-learning services to the nonprofit sector. Prior to Isoph, she worked in creative services at Quisic, a developer of high-end online course content for major universities and Global 2000 companies.
Celisa worked in curriculum development for the not-for-profit Family and Children’s Resource Program (FCRP), part of the Jordan Institute for Families at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Celisa is also a poet and served from 2013 to 2016 as the poet laureate of Carrboro, North Carolina, where she lives.