Jessica
Jessica Kaminsky is a champion for student voice and building learning environments where everyone can thrive. Jess is influenced by the thought-leadership of Allied Media Projects, Design Justice, and Abolitionist Teaching Network. After receiving her Master in the Arts of Teaching from University of Pittsburgh, she began her work in youth voice and media making. Her focus on youth voice continues as a foundational element in designing learning experiences for adults. More recently, Jess spearheaded a cohort-based model of teacher professional learning for a network of 200+ educators. She has presented at several national conferences, including the National Summit for Educational Equity, Interaction Design & Children Conference, and Allied Media Conference. Jess is passionate about collaborative inquiry and believes that our strength lives in the communities we cultivate.
Jordan
Jordan Mroziak is a boundary spanning educator, who has worked equally in community engagement and education. Jordan is inspired by scholar-practitioners as divergent as Paulo Freire, Fred Rogers, Maxine Greene, and Bettina Love.
Having earned his doctorate in Instructional Technology with an emphasis on creative applications of learning technologies and critical aesthetic pedagogy, his work emphasizes the thoughtful reimagining of teacher professional learning in order to best build habits around curiosity, empathy, equity, and joy. Jordan has presented at various national conferences including SXSWEdu, College Music Society, and the Connected Learning Summit. Most recently, his work for Carnegie Mellon University has deepened his passion for fostering community through relationships oriented towards dreaming a more just and equitable future into existence.
Together
Jordan and Jess initially collaborated on the first wave of Hive grants (an initiative of the Connected Learning Research Network), focusing their efforts on amplifying youth voice in out of school learning spaces to address both individual identity formation and community needs. Several years later, with Jordan having completed his doctoral program and Jess having led a multi-year research project at Carnegie Mellon University, they again found themselves as collaborators at CREATE Lab co-directing education and professional learning opportunities for K-12 educators and schools of education. Their decade-long partnership in formal and informal education as guided by their shared values, led to the founding of Better Questions. They have shared a deep belief in the cultivation of curiosity, empathy, and equity in schools and learning ecosystems and are driven by their commitment to Deeper Empathy - Stronger Curiosity - Braver Equity - and
Better Questions.