Bruce Umpstead: The Future of Online Learning

Today, Maria sits down with Bruce Umpstead.
Bruce is a director of State Programs at IMS Global Learning Consortium, the world-leading non-profit organization that operates under the simple principle: “Better learning from better learning technology”.
IMS Global brings together the actors of the e-learning ecosystem who are investing in a better future for teaching and learning by collaborating on creating standards for e-learning platforms.
During our conversation, Bruce takes us through his own learning journey, starting from his childhood as a US Air Force Military’s son. He shares the impressions his overseas travels left on him that made him eager to always explore adventures and create impact with his life and work.
He later talks about his career in Edtech and e-learning, the challenges and the excitement he has experienced over the years.
Together, we unpack the future of learning in light of how analytics and big data are creating a better and more personalized learning experience for students.
A rare inside look into the future of learning with someone who’s making it happen!
Production team:
Host : Maria Xenidou
Producer: Julie-Roxane Krikorian
Introduction Voice: David Bourne
Contact us:
impactlearningpodcast@gmail.com
Music credits:
Like Lee performed by The Mini Vandals
Transition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks
Mentioned in this episode
What is K12?
What is K20? Here or here.
The Akimbo podcast: https://www.akimbo.me/
The Master of Scale podcast: https://mastersofscale.com/
IMG Global
IMS Global K12 Playbook
CASE Network
Caliper Analytics
Bruce Umpstead on Linkedin
Bruce Umpstead on Twitter
Email: bumpstead@imsglobal.org
Listen to this episode and explore:
An Air Force family childhood: living abroad sparked the love of adventure and exploring (3:21)
How his early career as an accountant for a startup corporate e-learning company grew into project management (7:48)
The next steps in his career leading up to his role as State Technology and Education director at Michigan university (9:40)
Learning to manage and get funds for big projects (12:21)
The biggest challenge in getting people to do the right thing at scale: when ideas become the leader’s idea instead of a consensus (14:57)
Shifting from consulting to back to corporate with IMS (18:59)
IMS Global, what they do and who they work for (20:06)
How their work helps teachers and students (24:25)
Analytics in e-learning (26:38)
The difficulty of making this project simple for people to understand and get on board (33:03)
His weekly practice of 20 years goals (36:36)