Jonathan
Finkelstein
Jonathan
E. Finkelstein is the founder and President of LearningTimes,
LLC and Executive Producer of The LearningTimes Network. As
an educator, technologist, industry expert, and producer, he is
focused on creating and deploying engaging, web-based and web-enhanced
human environments, programs and curricula that foster learning,
collaboration and community.
Over the last several years, he has worked with numerous leading educational,
corporate, and publishing organizations to build learning programs and communities
online, including: Columbia University, the New York Department of Education,
Harvard, Princeton, CalState University, New Visions for Public Schools, The
New York Transit Museum, Lehigh, Houghton Mifflin, NASA, MetLife, and The Princeton
Review, among scores of others.
Jonathan is also the
Executive Producer of LearningTimes.org,
a free, open professional development community for educators. The community
provides education professionals with online forums -- live and asynchronous
-- in which they may collaborate and learn from peers and industry leaders.
He has also led the formation and growth of the LearningTimes
Network, a series of vibrant, online learning communities. The LearningTimes
Network connects education-minded organizations of all kinds, fostering partnerships
between educational institutions, associations, corporate entities, museums and
other groups whose missions include reaching a geographically dispersed audience
of learners.
Jonathan has acted as the Executive Producer and Director for several unique,
interactive and standards-based K-12 humanities curricula. Working closely with
Columbia Teacher's College and the Academy of American Poets, he created PoetryLive,
a web-based distance learning and classroom-enhancement program that connects
professional poets to learners and uses poetry as a common language to explore
social issues. Jonathan also built a coalition of renowned museums, including
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the New York Transit Museum,
to design and deliver HistoryQuest.US,
in which students teach remote peers in online virtual classrooms.
Jonathan is regarded as an industry expert and is a frequent speaker and panelist
on the topic of effective, interactive, web-enhanced learning at industry conferences.
As the Executive Producer of LearningWeek Live, Jonathan produced and co-hosted
a live, interactive, weekly webcast about the people and technology of learning.
Jonathan is
a co-founder of HorizonLive, Inc., provider of a platform for
live teaching, learning, interaction, collaboration, and community-building
over the Internet. As HorizonLive's Senior Vice President of
Product Strategy, Jonathan's role included establishing and executing
upon the company's product vision, developing innovative ways
to teach and learn online, and maintaining a deep understanding
of the needs of educators and learners. Several of the products
Jonathan designed were recognized for industry awards, including
recognition by Online Learning Magazine, US News & World
Report, Brandon-Hall, and the SIIA Codie Awards. Jonathan also
oversaw HorizonLive's Professional Services division, where he
led major efforts to design educational technology curricula
and programs for high-profile clients, and guided the integration
of multiple platforms to create engaging, interactive, innovative
and useful educational applications.
Jonathan also
regularly conducts seminars and courses on topics such as blending
face-to-face with web-based instruction, designing effective
virtual learning spaces, scaling human interaction in online
learning environments, and fostering professional development
communities on and offline. Valuing the power of real-time interaction
and community-building, Jonathan has delivered nearly 3000 hours
of live online instruction and has coached hundreds of individuals
on re-discovering their own teaching styles when bringing their
instruction online.
Jonathan is
an Editorial Board member of The
Technology Source, a peer-reviewed e-Journal for educators
that focuses on the challenge of integrating information technology
tools into teaching. He is also and a member of several grant
review and industry award programs, including a Judge in the
Brandon-Hall Excellence in e-Learning Awards and a Review Board
Member for the New Visions for Public Schools Tech Power grants.
He is often sought for guidance and quoted in publications on
learning online.
Jonathan has
also worked as a strategic, multimedia, and public relations
consultant in the Boston and Washington, D.C., offices of ML
Strategies, Inc. There, he created a wide variety of technology-based
systems and communications tools and programs for high-profile
clients like America Online, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
and Time Warner. In addition, he has conducted formal work in
a wide range of fields, including: surgery (Harvard Medical School),
psychology (MIT), and entertainment (a magician since the age
of nine).
Jonathan received
his AB degree cum laude in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard
University, where he led the world's most comprehensive civic
education program for secondary school students, attracting over
two thousand students in the United States and Europe annually.
He is the proud son of two New York City public school teachers
with over 60 years of teaching experience between them.
