In this episode of MEP, the founder of Soomo Learning, David Lindrum, joins us to talk about the importance of instructional design, the digital evolution or lack thereof in higher education and where he sees things going.
Guest Bio:
For 20 years, David has lived and worked at the intersection of transformational learning and web technology. Working to create digital assets with major publishers including Pearson, Thomson (Cengage), and McGraw, he launched both MetaText and Shadowbox before founding Soomo as a lab for learning innovation. David’s heart is in creating transformative instructional design, and he excels in utilizing web technology to meet specific instructional challenges. His recent interests have extended to the field of course analytics, where he creates tools to enable data-driven design and targeted teaching and intervention strategies to create stronger student learning experiences.
Show Notes:
(01:54) David’s background
(03:15) What is it about books that has captivated you and what gets you interested in the art form?
(04:45) Let’s dive into your current project and what you’re doing at Soomo Learning to revolutionize how people learn and how they look at a digital textbook. Tell us about Soomo Learning, its foundations and where it is today.
(06:52) Let’s say somebody is just used to the ebook being what it was 10 years ago, a non-interactive material for a student to go through. What is the technology and how is the experience different from a Soomo book rather than the PDF-type ebooks?
(11:38) Have you seen specific types of students that have improved their outcomes based on your delivery method for this content? What have you seen in the analytics?
(14:03) It sounds like faculty really like the ability to target where students are succeeding and where they’re potentially failing and then being able to make interventions at that specific point. Is that the main reason that the faculty love the experience with Soomo?
(15:08) What do you believe will be in the next 5 years, not just about innovations and e-textbooks but also innovations in business models and where institutions are? Are we making progress?
(18:30) Can you give us a peek behind the curtain of some creative things that you’re thinking about as far as new functionality in the next year or 2 years? Maybe some collaborative type things? What are you looking at for improvements?
(21:25) What’s the book that you most recommend to people you care about, friends, family, colleagues?
Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller
(22:37) What about documentaries? Do you watch them, and if you do, what’s your favorite?
(27:00) If you could have dinner with one person you admire, past or present, who would it be and why?