Hi! Bonjour! Hola!
I’m local to Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal (settler), of Jewish descent (mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardic), and born in Tkaronto/Toronto, yet grew up in Madrid, Spain.
I’m an educational developer and leader focused on relational learning and community technology education, and I reflect on my practice through a justice-oriented lens. My work background covers 15+ years of professional experience, including organizational development and team leadership, systemic design education, popular education¹ educational program design, interdisciplinary product-service design, and business strategy. Specifically, these experiences include:
- 3+ years in higher education, including the development of relational professional development programs (e.g., communities of practice and peer mentorship) and open educational resources; and previously, designing and facilitating learning experiences to empower students to address complex challenges with a systemic design approach²;
- 6 years in the nonprofit sector designing community technology educationÂł programs and leading an organization focused on digital justice, digital literacy and digital creativity;
- 7 years in the private sector leading applied research and development (hyperspectral technology, data analysis and geoscience).
In my practice, I think strategically and systemically and attend to multiple (and silent) perspectives. I try to listen deeply and openly share ideas while bridging across sectors.
Affiliations
Current
- Drawing Board Collective (Nov 2015 – present).
- Design Justice Network Instructional Design Working Group (Apr 2021 – present).
- Educational Development Community in Canada (2023 – present)
Past
- Board member of Centre for Community Organizations (COCo; 2015-2022).
- COCo is a charitable organization whose mission is the support the health and well-being of community organizations in Quebec, with a particular focus on bolstering and amplifying the voices of grassroots organizations. Supported the development of its theory of change, the evolution of its community technology and communication services, and a period of growth and mission transition.
- Member of the democratic life committee of Solon (2020-2021).
- Solon is a non-profit whose mission is to inspire and support citizen action through local projects to create lively, solidary and ecological neighbourhoods.
- Board member of the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre (MUEC ; 2015).
- MUEC is a charitable organization whose mission is to propose practices and policies for creating ecological, democratic and healthy cities.
Abridged CV
🛠️ Current work
✨ Educational Developer at Concordia Centre for Teaching and Learning. Sep 2022 – present
Areas of work: Peer group mentorship, communities of practice, sparking collaboration, championing open educational resources, co-designing new professional development programs.
✔️ Design consultant for nonprofits. 2014 – present.
Consulting on program design and development, especially on systemic and relational learning, knowledge management, and their intersection with digital technologies. Past clients include Social Impact Consulting, Visual Arts Centre, Solon Collective, and Vida Sana.
⌛ Past work experience (selected)
Instructional Designer Consultant at Concordia Continuing Education. 2022.
Design of a 3-course cybersecurity proficiency certification program for non-technical professionals. Included market research, preliminary course design, high-level design with subject matter experts, and reviewing instructional design implementation.
Coordinator of the Innovation Lab, Concordia University. 2021 – 2022.
Designed and coordinated interdisciplinary student teams using a systemic design approach to address complex challenges in a living lab.
Director of the digital literacy project AlphaNumérique at Techno Culture Club. 2020 – 2021.
Project in collaboration with Bibliopresto.ca and other key Quebec library associations or organizations. Leading a team of 15 staff in designing and providing basic digital literacy training in close collaboration with public libraries and community organizations across the province of Quebec.
Co-director at the non-profit Techno Culture Club. 2016 – 2020.
Redesigned and developed a nonprofit “that promotes and supports digital literacy and digital justice to make technology and digital culture more accessible, equitable, and participatory.” Under my co-leadership, the organization became renowned in the Quebec library and cultural sectors for its creative and participatory approaches to bringing digital literacy and creativity to new audiences.
Director of Research and Development at Photonic Knowledge. 2009 – 2014.
📚 Education (selected)
Masters of Arts in Educational Technology at Concordia University. 2020–24.
Masters of Science in Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University. 2004–8.