Our Fifth Batch of Speakers

The countdown is on! With only a few weeks left for our TEDxPortofSpain 2015 event, we are pleased to present the final two speakers on our roster.

 

 Joseph Jay Williams

Joseph Jay Williams is a computational cognitive scientist whose research investigates the automatic adaptation of digital educational technologies to enhance and personalise how students are taught. He redesigns technology components like interactive lessons and exercises to be ” MOOClets”, which are micro-laboratories that crowdsource teachers’ and scientists’ ideas about designing technology to motivate and teach students, and then discover which designs work best for which students.

As a Research Fellow at Harvard University he does human-computer interaction research into online education through HarvardX, Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, and the Intelligent Interactive Systems group. He completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University in Education, and received his PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He believes that technology development is driven by bringing together teachers and scientists to collaboratively personalise students’ education and works with large-scale platforms like Khan Academy, EdX, Moodle, and ASSISTments to bridge science with real-world teaching and entrepreneurship.

Research Webpage: www.josephjaywilliams.com/papers

Practical Webpage: www.josephjaywilliams.com/education

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Judge Helen Whitener

Judge Whitener was born and raised in the beautiful Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Educated in the British system, Judge Whitener arrived in the United States at the age of 16 to attend college where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in  Business Administration and International Marketing from Baruch College, City University of New York in 1988. Judge Whitener entered law school in 1995 at Seattle University School of Law where she obtained her J.D. degree in 1998.

On January 13, 2015  Judge Whitener was appointed by Washington State Governor, Jay Inslee to the Pierce County Superior Court, and (the highest Trial Court in the State of Washington). Prior to her appointment Judge Whitener had a combined six and a half years of judicial experience. Judge Whitener was a former Washington State Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals Judge and a former pro-tem judge in Pierce County District Court and the City of Tacoma Municipal Court. Judge Whitener has also been a Prosecutor and a Defense Attorney.

Judge Whitener is very active locally, nationally and internationally in various community service activities. She speaks often on Human Rights, Access to Justice, and the rights and responsibility of the judiciary in ensuring the rights of all that appear before them to basic dignity and respect in judicial proceedings.

Judge Whitener is a member of the International Association of Women Judges Association, the American Judge Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the Washington Courts Superior Court Judges Association and the Washington State Bar Association.

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Tickets for the main conference are available online through our website. In-person (cash) tickets are currently available at the locations listed below. Visit our website for updates. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Limited quantities have been reserved for both cash and online purchases. 

Here are the details of the Conference:
Date: October 14, 2015
Time: 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Queen’s Hall

This year we have introduced tiered ticketing:
$400 Limited Advance – Available from August 15
$500 General Admission – Available from September 19

We also have a limited number of student tickets available at $200.