Rewiring Education: How Technology Can Unlock Every Student’s Potential

John D. Couch is Vice President of Education at Apple. A former UC Berkeley graduate student, HP engineer and manager, and Cal State University lecturer, John was recruited by Steve Jobs in 1978, becoming Apple’s 54th employee. He left in 1984 and spent ten years using innovative technology to transform a struggling K-12 school in San Diego, which is now a National Blue-Ribbon school. At Jobs’ request, John returned to Apple in 2002, tasked with bringing education into the digital age. He has been a vocal proponent of personalized learning and was Apple’s representative to President Obama’s National Education Technology Plan and ConnectEd initiative. In 2017, John funded the establishment of a new Student Learning Research Fellowship at Harvard University, designed to support cutting-edge research for improving student learning and motivation.

Jason Towne is research fellow at Harvard University where he focuses on motivation, learning, and technology. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Conversations with America’s Best Teachers, in which he interviewed 18 National of the Year Award winners and nominees about what they do differently. Towne received his BS degree in Public Policy and graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of Southern California in 2009. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from Harvard in 2015 where he studied motivational psychology and education technology, co-directed the prestigious Harvard Innovative Ventures in Education (HIVE) program, and won the coveted Harvard Leadership in Education Award. Prior to Harvard, he was an executive for the YMCA overseeing youth development.