A University of Lethbridge sessional instructor has been selected by LinkedIn as one of the top 10 voices in education for 2017.
Dr. Jesse Martin, who teaches out of the Department of Psychology, was named the eighth-most influential voice on education as LinkedIn created its third annual Top Voices list.
“In our third annual LinkedIn Top Voices list, we’re highlighting 10 standouts, as measured by the degree to which their articles, short-form posts and videos command other members’ interest and respect,” says the popular website.
Using metrics such as follower growth as well as frequency of shares and comments, top voices lists are created in various professional classifications, including finance and economy, health care, education, management, media and so on.
Martin, a U of L alumnus who earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology in 1992 before studying at the University of Calgary and University of Wales, Bangor, UK, has nearly 3,900 followers on LinkedIn and is director of The Academy for the Scholarship of Learning. He writes The Science of Learning, an online column in which he discusses his theories on education.
“I take the scientific understanding that we have about how people learn and apply it to formal teaching,” says Martin. “I have been disseminating this information primarily to academics in the world of higher education, but also to the broader public for many years.”
It’s only in the past year that Martin began using LinkedIn as a platform to discuss his theories and he quickly found a willing audience. In addition to teaching at the U of L, Martin is a consultant and keynote speaker.
“This honour belongs, not only to me, but to those who have supported my efforts over the years, including the University of Lethbridge, of which I am proud to be associated,” he says.
LinkedIn states that the annual lists represent the global nature of the site and education itself, including commentators from India, Singapore, France, Canada and the United States. For Martin, it translates into an opportunity to reach a vast audience and spur even more engagement going forward.
“I am hoping that my ability to disseminate The Science of Learning will be greatly enhanced by this honour. I am proud of the work that has been done to understand how people learn and will continue to educate others about how this understanding can be used to enhance teaching,” says Martin. “As one of the voices of education, in addition to the work I do here at the University of Lethbridge, I will be better able to use LinkedIn, the largest network of professionals in the world with over 500 million members, as a platform for sharing my understanding of The Science of Learning to a worldwide audience.”
The LinkedIn Top Voices in Education list can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-top-voices-2017-education-george-anders?published=t&trk=eml-mktg-top-voices17