Enterprenuer
Kelly Page is the founder of Bennett Live, a web resources library of videos for young designers, creators, and makers.
She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology of Web, Hypermedia Knowledge, and a passion for social storytelling and human growth.
Dr. Page is the Director of Bennett Labs at Bennett Day School.
He is also the creator of Bennett Live and the former Chief Innovation Officer at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.
Kelly is committed to developing ethical, entrepreneurial, and scientific thinking and creating human cultures, leaders, and learning experiences.
Kelly has more than 25 years of experience in social change, social design, and learning social digital mediated experiences for schools, universities, start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies.
Kelly was responsible for creating Bennett Live, a digital and home learning platform, during the global pandemic.
Bennett Live is a media and educational program that encourages project-based learning and creativity in children, youth, and families worldwide.
Over 1 million families accessed Bennett Live via social media in 2020.
In 2021, it became available in more than 149 countries on iOS and Android mobile devices.
Kelly’s work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals in technology, business, education, and academic publishing.
She was also featured in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Kelly was nominated for the Edison Innovation Award and won awards from FWD Collective and Best in British Digital (BIMA).
Two higher education institution excellence in teaching awards have been presented to her.
Kelly believes that social leadership and social design thinking are crucial to creating a social environment where people can live, work, and learn.
What is the story of Bennet Live?
Bennett Day School’s excellent work inspired Bennett Live.
We had the chance to observe and learn from our teachers as they transformed our project-based learning curriculum, which was delivered on-campus, to be delivered remotely to our enrolled families.
This was at the beginning of school closings in February 2020.
We wanted to serve and support as many families as possible, regardless of their location or what school they attended.
Two of Bennett Live’s founding teachers lived in Colorado and Western Illinois and were our partners.
We thought about ‘how can we deliver project-based learning experiences that ignite creativity to families everywhere and in an asynchronous manner via social media?’ We created ‘Creative Play With Mrs. Cunningham” and ‘Exploring With Mr. Reynolds.
We wanted to allow families to access Bennett Live when convenient for them.
This also gave our team flexibility with how and when we delivered each episode.
We were so popular with families that we expanded our collaboration with 30+ teachers, designers, artists, and other professionals to create more Bennett Live episodes in different areas.
We produced more than 240 episodes of project-based learning content in six months, including Visual Storytelling and Creative Movement, Exploring Chicago Architecture, Uncovering design, and Imaginative play.
How do you stay productive?
To be the most productive in this world of screen time and working remotely, I had to be very careful about how I planned my screen time.
My morning focus is on design and creative work.
My day may include designing learning experiences for educators, reviewing new Bennett Live episodes created by our partners or contributors, reviewing home learning resources, or writing creative copy to reach parents or caregivers.
I schedule most afternoon meetings with my team, partners, and teachers interested in creating inspirational content and resources for families and coaching teachers in their professional development.
Although long sessions can be necessary at times, the work of leading innovation and product development requires a different level of energy and focus.
During the pandemic, I discovered that if I didn’t plan my calls and meetings properly, I could be online editing videos or on Zoom from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m., sometimes even later.
My productivity and that of my team have been greatly improved by being more deliberate about when I schedule creative and strategy time over social time for collaboration.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I pay attention to what is essential to people.
Then, I work with them to find a way to share the central idea of their story with the world.
It is necessary to be thoughtful and intentional in all of this and build trust.
A single statement may take many forms, require different resources and be of interest to multiple people.
Sometimes, you have to be quick and comfortable with mistakes.
Bennett Live was an example of this. I focused on the vision to bring the idea to life during a global pandemic that saw school closures and remote work.
Additionally, I had to troubleshoot, coach my team quickly, and set up processes to record what we created to learn swiftly and repeat it.
It was essential to feel comfortable in constant “How might we ” because we didn’t know all the answers and could only deliver content to the public a few days after each episode had been produced.
It was essential to be flexible and willing to take risks.
Believe in your teacher or colleague’s potential, and listening to their personal stories can make ideas come to life.
I was mainly focused on the Bennett Live team, which included terrific teachers and contributors.
Sometimes I was their creative partner, coach, or just a friend on screen.
What’s your favorite trend?
How schools can consider and implement project-based learning (PBL) and the design and impact it has on learning models and school design.
This is a rising trend that excites and excites me.
PBL is an approach to learning that is learning-centered and curriculum emergent.
This involves all learners, children, and adults, who help design and finish the project with experts and partners.
They also research and develop critical, analytical, and social literacy skills.
Real-world, authentic experiences and innovative ideas are the most rewarding forms of learning.
Some schools use internships and entrepreneurship as a way to encourage project-based learning.
In others, it will be found within specific subject areas like digital and maker culture, while it is enabled in schools like Bennett Day School and High Tech High.
Science has long known that the home’s culture and environment can profoundly impact the learning and success of a child or adult in school, college, or at work.
We’ve learned from families and see their homes, partner with caregivers and parents more than ever before, and learned about what families, youth, and children need at home.
Bennett Live was born out of this learning approach.
Bennett Live was created to believe that all children can learn from projects, creating, making, and doing at home.
What habits make you productive?
I have been able to value multiple perspectives and get a team behind an idea, which has helped me become a successful entrepreneur.
I’ve learned to think creatively, work strategically with others, and use multiple media and data.
This ability has allowed me to collaborate across many projects and teams.
Bennett Labs at Bennett Day School is home to various creations.
These include mobile apps, games, videos, learning guides, and services such as professional development opportunities for teachers.
Each day, we could be working on a new project, idea, or creation.
This mindset has helped me think about who I need to be to launch an idea into the real world.
Although a few people are great at coming up with ideas, it takes a whole team to take a picture from the project stage through development and launch it as a product or service.
It is a practice that I strive to improve every day.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
It is magical to design and make, but it’s so fun when we share our making and creating with others.
More and more people will be inspired to start with one another.
You can paint, draw, photograph, weave, cook, or performing arts like crafts, weaving, painting, and photography are all options.
You can share the joy of creating something unique with others, no matter your practice.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
That Vegemite is delicious on this side of the globe.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Leaders and managers should learn how to support and develop others.
Entrepreneurs are often seen as the sole person who starts and grows a business.
However, successful entrepreneurs know how to help build their partners and employees to achieve their highest potential and encourage their teams to work together.
It takes a lot of personal-self work. You have to let go of your ideas once you share them.
What’s your rich strategy?
Focusing on my team and listening to them and their educators and partners has been a critical practice in helping me develop Bennett Labs.
This was especially important during a global pandemic or school closures.
Alexander Graham Bell said, “Concentrate your thoughts on the work.” “The sun’s rays don’t burn until they are focused.”
These words resonate with me because it takes time to learn and do mission-driven work to create new products and programs and share ideas worldwide.
It is crucial to stay focused and develop your idea over time.
It would help if you also were disciplined to keep that focus while still demonstrating impact.
Learning is an emotional, social, and creative activity.
It requires time to build relationships and share.
It is essential to decide on a course, develop the relationships over time, and be focused on them.
This will help you build a solid foundation for growth and sustainability.
It is not possible to get rich quickly or have a one-hit-wonder in education. Learning takes time and focus.
How do you overcome Failure?
I believe there are only lessons when things work or don’t.
When something doesn’t work, you can pivot and adapt.
While I was working on a mobile app a few years back, the idea and concept were great, and the team of developers did a fantastic job developing the experience.
The business team also secured meetings with potential partners.
However, we were probably 10-15 years too early to market.
Both business partners and users were unable to accept the idea due to the change in behavior and the risk of data sharing.
We restructured the idea to overcome this problem, breaking it down into stages of risk.
We created a timeline and different user groups based on risk and the business partners that we needed to succeed.
To illustrate, we asked consumers what data they were already willing to share and what data was a company currently storing.nd
Can you share a business idea?
Access to knowledge from scientific and academic communities is essential to human progress.
These worlds contain millions of scientific articles and studies that many people and organizations don’t have access to.
Many only have a few top-level insights or findings that can help people or affect entire industries or businesses.
I would love to see a service where the publically available abstracts and the top-level insights from all publications are summarized and made freely available.
Links to the scientists behind these ideas are provided to allow for collaboration and commercialization.
This will help address many social, scientific, and business issues that impact the world.
What’s your recent best buy?
Snowboarding lessons. Although I have been skiing my whole life, I have always loved the science and art of snowboarding.
It is hard to describe the feeling of flying across a mountain, riding through fresh powder, and carving out the mountain.
I took lessons this year to learn the basics and the physics of snowboarding.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
Evernote is a great tool that allows me to be highly productive.
It is beneficial for me to record my work and the team while we develop new programs, products, or services.
Evernote allows me to capture screenshots, clip webpages, record meetings, link to google documents, etc.
It can be used across all devices.
Which book would you recommend?
Love by Leo Buscaglia. This book is all about love.
It is what it is, and it is not. Professor Leo Buscaglia, among many other lessons from the heart, reminds us that love is always open arms.
You will soon hold nothing but your arms if you shut out love.
To be successful in business and innovation, one must have a growth mindset and be open to new ideas.
It is essential to dig deep into your meaning of love and how it affects you.
This will allow you to love yourself, your purpose, and your ideas.
It will also help to create a culture of love within your team.
What’s your favorite quote?
“If it were easy, everyone would do this.” This is a quote I think comes from a Tom Hanks movie.
However, my father still says it to me whenever I face a challenge or have to overcome something.
TL;DR by Kelly Page
Learning through projects can spark creativity and learning at home and in school.
Bennett Live was created out of inspiration and design by artists and teachers for families worldwide, who want to make, complete, and do projects in their homes.
You can be productive in a world where you are constantly connected to the internet and work from home. Be mindful of how you use your screen time.
To bring your idea to life, value multiple lenses.
Focus is a critical practice in the growth and launch of an idea in the global marketplace.
It is crucial to understand your love meaning to be an innovator and entrepreneur in any industry, but especially in mission-driven fields like education.
