Event Details

12 Big Questions Schools Must Answer to Imagine Irresistible Futures


In the new edition of Homa and Will's popular 9 Big Questions book, the just-released 12 Big Questions offers updated thinking, and three new questions that can serve as a guide for schools that seek to "imagine irresistible futures."


The urgency to reimagine and regenerate schools and education is growing. How are you responding? Each day, more and more educators around the world are sensing the impact of our growing collective challenges on their work. The disruptions caused by COVID may now be in the rear-view mirror, but extreme climate events, the erosion of democracies around the world and new geo-political conflicts, growing economic inequality, shifting attitudes across generations, and more are prompting once again some fundamental questions about the role of education in an increasingly complex world.


Join Homa and Will on Thursday, April 10, at the AAIE Global Conversation - for an intriguing look at the work that we all must do.

Speakers

  • Homa Tavangar (Co-Founder of Big Questions Institute)

    Homa Tavangar

    Co-Founder of Big Questions Institute

    https://bigquestions.institute/

    For over three decades, Homa Sabet Tavangar’s work has addressed themes of culture, innovation, leadership, global citizenship and global competence, and deep diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. She connects timely topics of the moment with the timeless desire to work with purpose and make a difference – whatever one’s circumstances.

    Homa’s clients range from Fortune 50 corporations to public, international and independent K-12 schools around the world; from an Ivy League university to Disney Channel and numerous not-for-profit public and multilateral organizations and professional associations. Co-founding the Big Questions Institute represents a natural extension of her work, especially during a time of unprecedented global challenges.

    Homa is the author of widely-acclaimed Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (Random House, 2009), Global Kids (Barefoot, 2019); The Global Education Toolkit for Elementary Learners (Sage/Corwin, 2014), contributor to Mastering Global Literacy, Heidi Hayes-Jacobs, ed. (Solution Tree, Nov. 2013) and the 3-book Take-Action Guide to World-Class Learners (Corwin, 2016) series with Professor Yong Zhao. Growing Up Global was the inspiration behind NBC-Universal’s animated series Nina’s World, starring Rita Moreno, and has been hailed by international education and business leaders and media ranging from Dr. Jane Goodall to the BBC, NPR, NBC, ABC, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, Boston Globe, PBS, Scholastic, Parents Magazine, Rodale, and many more.

    A graduate of UCLA and Princeton University, Homa has lived on four continents, speaks four languages, and has heritage in four world religions. She is an active volunteer in her local community and has served on multiple Boards, including currently for International School Services, the nonprofit leader in international education; and as a judge for the Templeton Prize, an award calibrated to exceed the Nobel Prize purse. She currently resides in Villanova, Pennsylvania, is married and is the mother of three adult daughters.

    view more
  • Will Richardson (Co-Founder of Big Questions Institute)

    Will Richardson

    Co-Founder of Big Questions Institute

    https://bigquestions.institute/team/

    A former public school educator of 22 years, Will has spent the last 18 years developing an international reputation as a leading thinker and writer about the intersection of social online learning networks, education, and systemic change. Most recently, Will is a co-founder of The Big Questions Institute which was created to help educators use "fearless inquiry" to make sense of this complex moment and an uncertain future. In 2024, he authored a "manifesto" titled "Confronting Education in a Time of Complexity, Chaos, and Collapse" aimed at provoking serious conversations about the future of schools.

    In 2017, Will was named one of 100 global "Changemakers in Education" by the Finnish site HundrED, and was named one of the Top 5 "Edupreneurs to Follow" by Forbes. He has given keynote speeches, led breakout sessions, and provided coaching services in over 30 countries on 6 continents. (Come on Antarctica!) He has also authored six books that have sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, and given TEDx Talks in New York, Melbourne, and most recently Vancouver.

    In addition to his focus and expertise on classroom pedagogies, learning theory, and emerging technologies and trends, his current interests include the use of Design Fiction, Speculative Design, and Regenerative Design to help schools and districts envision potential futures.

    Will has two adult children, Tess and Tucker, and lives in rural New Jersey with his wife Wendy.

    view more

Event Community

Discover and connect with other attendees.