Our Members
The Learning Collective was founded by Adam Aberman. Originally launched in 2003, The Learning Collective’s clients have included the Tiger Woods Learning Center, Community Network for Youth Development and others. Our more recent clients include College Board, Ketchum, UCLA, Mojo Marketing & Media, Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York and SchoolWorks. See below or contact us to find out more.
The Learning Collective recently refocused its efforts on improving organizations’ digital learning and training initiatives. Our Members collectively have decades of experience leveraging digital mediums for a wide range of clients and employers.
Adam Aberman
Adam is the Principal and Founder of The Learning Collective. Previously, Adam was the Director of Global Digital Strategy for Ashoka’s Youth Venture, which helps teams of youth in 20 countries launch socially responsible businesses and organizations. Prior to Ashoka, Adam was the Executive Director and Founder (and currently Board Member) of icouldbe.org, the non-profit Internet-based career mentoring program that has served over 25,000 teens and e-mentors nationwide and in Tanzania. Before establishing icouldbe.org, Adam was a Regional Coordinator for the New York City Department of Education. Adam began his career in education as a Spanish bilingual public school teacher in Los Angeles. Adam received a B.A. from Vassar College and a Master’s in Public Policy, with an emphasis on Education, from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. A frequent speaker at conferences, Adam has also won numerous awards including Cause Marketing Silver Halo Award for Best Use of Social Media (2009) and International Computerworld Magazine Honors Finalist Award (2002).
Adam entrepreneurs. Adam has started two companies, each of which filled gaps in the education market in the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors. With no external seed funding, Adam founded and, for six years ran, icouldbe.org. More on Adam Aberman…
David Grandison Jr.
David is an award-winning production professional with 10 years experience developing and managing social media projects including streaming video, blogs, and other types of web-based communities. He has a Master’s from Columbia in Instructional Technology and Media. In David’s most recent position, as the Senior Producer of the Teacher Channel at Scholastic.com, he was challenged to develop the thriving teacher community, utilizing multiple forms of social media. He was also a member of the development team that earned a Webby Award for redesign of the Scholastic Teacher Channel website.
Upon graduating from undergraduate school, David decided to take on the challenge of community service by teaching science in an inner city school. He chose to obtain a position with Teach for America (TFA), where he spent the next 2 years polishing his teaching skills and honing his educational technology skills in an inner city middle school. At the end of his TFA contract he was invited by the school district to collaborate with successful teachers in the district to create the district’s first “School of Choice”. David was gratified that his hard work and interest in enhancing the effectiveness of education by utilizing technology was recognized. As a new teacher, he was pleased to lead a team of educators in developing an innovative technology-based curricula that encouraged students to focus their minds beyond traditional courses to the new horizons of environmental sciences. More on David Grandison Jr…
Nathaniel Calhoun
Nathaniel Calhoun specializes in designing, managing and evaluating innovative online learning programs. After working as a high school teacher for several years in the Middle East and West Africa, Nathaniel moved to New York and joined icouldbe.org as their Director of Education, authoring their curriculum and working closely with their programmer to improve their instructional design. Nathaniel designed and conducted dozens of trainings at underserved high schools around the United States, helping to strengthen in-class delivery of a challenging program that connects teens with professional mentors. During his time in New York, Nathaniel helped icouldbe.org leverage its expertise in online learning environments to win several contracts with UNICEF HQ to design and run Connecting Classrooms programs that have since been implemented in more than two dozen countries. Nathaniel now writes curricula for these programs and oversees their growth and technical development. He is currently helping to innovate versions of this program that will roll out for students in the Middle East and all regions of Africa. From his home base in Senegal, Nathaniel keeps a close tab on trends in international development work and on strategies for enriching educational opportunities for the world’s less fortunate students.
Through his work with UNICEF, Nathaniel Calhoun has also interfaced directly with numerous Ministeries of Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nathaniel conducts technology-focused needs assessments of Ministeries of Education (or sub-portions thereof) and makes targeted recommendations designed to increase program impact. He specializes in communicating to Ministry level stakeholders about the practical requirements of adapting to new technological initiatives and, at the same time, he is skilled in returning to program sponsors with a clear assessment of Ministry capabilities and areas where programs need modification. While his work includes systemic and management level recommendations for the internal good functioning of Ministries themselves, his priority is strengthening teacher training programs, national curricula and programming for out of school youth. His years in the African classroom and his years helming e-learning initiatives throughout Sub-Saharan Africa have prepared him to design materials for the most under-served and under-resourced learners. Nathaniel specializes in helping learners and teachers alike to get up to speed with the norms and practices of the digital world in a way that acknowledges their early vulnerability, while leveraging teamwork and a balance of offline exercises.
Amber Oliver
Amber Oliver has spent the last 10 years leveraging the power of technology to empower young people with the skills and confidence to be leaders and architects of change. Amber is currently the Director of Partnerships and Operations at the World Wide Workshop, an innovative organization dedicated to harnessing the power of game-design and gaming to transform teaching and learning in underserved communities. In this role, Amber works with forward thinking leaders, students and educators to develop and nurture social game-design learning networks. Prior to the World Wide Workshop, Amber managed UNICEF’s interactive youth rights portal, Voices of Youth, where she pioneered the first HIV-focused educational game in Swahili, and expanded participation to more than 3 million youth in 70+ countries, the majority of whom were girls from Africa, Asia and Latin America. During her 15+ year career, Amber has also worked for the United Nations, The World Bank, and for organizations in Bangladesh, India, Senegal and other developing nations. She holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a BA from Brown University.