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 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 Monrovia, Liberia, 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.
Tom Dawkins
Tom moved to Washington, D.C. from Sydney Australia in 2008 to take up the position of Digital Marketing Strategist at Ashoka. He was previously CEO of Vibewire Youth Inc., which he founded in 2000 whilst at university in order to create citizenship opportunities for younger Australians. In 2005 Vibewire was awarded the UN’s World Summit Youth Award for Community Engagement. Tom has received a YouthActionNet Fellowship from the International Youth Foundation, a Future Summit Leadership Award and is a board member of the International Institute for Communications Australia. He has worked on a wide range of media projects and events, has spoken at numerous conferences internationally and does a spot of freelance writing and DJing. At Ashoka his focus has been building out social media properties, improving the use of video and supporting staff to connect with each other in new ways.
Lior Ipp
Lior is the Director of Programming for Ashoka’s Youth Venture (YV) where he oversees the development and strategy of programming throughout the US, Europe, Africa, and Israel. Prior to joining YV, Lior founded an educational software company in New York City. As CEO Lior supervised the development of enterprise-wide educational software products and oversaw development efforts that resulted in a client base of Fortune 100 companies, museums, and NYC public schools. Lior’s previous experiences include overseeing the largest youth enrichment programs in Brooklyn with Oasis Children’s Services, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations University. Lior’s academic training has included undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Madrid, American University, Harvard’s J.F.K. School of Government and most recently Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education where Lior was awarded the prestigious Leadership in Education Award.
Jonah Model
Jonah Model is a designer and developer currently residing in New York City. Jonah is a MacArthur grant recipient with 7 years of professional experience in digital media. Most recently, Jonah conducted research on mobile learning while at Waag Society in Amsterdam. Prior to the Waag, Jonah worked as User Experience Engineer for the online music startup Amie Street. Since 2003 he has also worked for a recording studio, a toy designer, and a video production group, among others. Jonah was also co-founder and lead designer for a highly-rated web hosting company, which provided service to hundreds of international clients. His focus is on innovation in technology for social good. See Jonah’s award winning mobile work, Origami, at http://nfold.org. Jonah has an undergraduate degree with top honors in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design.