User:Jgoodell2/Bror Saxberg

Bror Saxberg is Founder of LearningForge LLC. He is known for advancing the field of learning engineering, applying what's known about learning science and learning measurement at scale to the practical business of making effective, efficient, usable, graceful learning environments that get learners the outcomes they truly need to be successful. He is author of Learning Engineering for Online Education: Theoretical Contexts and Design-based Examples (Editor, with Christopher Dede and John Richards, 2019) and Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age: Using Learning Science to Reboot Schooling (with Frederick M. Hess, 2013)

Education
In 1980 Saxberg received his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from the University of Washington. As a Rhodes Scholar he attended Oxford University and received a master of arts degree in mathematics in 1982. In 1990 he earned both an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D., S.M., in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Biography
Bror's father, Borje “Bud” Saxberg, emigrated to the US from Finland on a scholarship from Oregon State University and later joined the faculty of University of Washington in 1957 after marrying his wife Margaret, a Norwegian student. Bror’s father and mother encouraged him to gain a deeper understanding of mathematics. As a result, Bror later reported that “deep exposure to mathematics gave me an enormous toolkit to engage and understand the principles and problem-solving of engineering.” Additionally, his father’s career as a teacher helped inspire his interest in teaching and learning.

Career
After doing research in cognitive science related to human and machine vision at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Saxberg joined management consulting firm McKinsey and Company. Later, he applied his knowledge as Chief Academic Officer at K12, Inc., a company that provides online curricula to virtual charter schools, home-school parents, and schools that want to supplement course offerings.

From Jan 2000 - May 2009 Saxberg was Chief Learning Officer at K12, Inc. an education management organization that that provides online and blended education programs. Saxberg was responsible for overall architecture of learning environments (both on-line and off-line elements), overall progress on learning performance by students, and establishing overarching vision for the company of future products and services designed to take advantage of research on learning, make compelling, effective, and efficient use of technology, and solve important problems for a wide range of education markets potentially worldwide.

In 2009 Saxberg became the Chief Learning Officer at Kaplan, Inc., including its Kaplan University division (now Purdue University Global, an accredited online college serving 28,000 students with 175 degree-programs). He was also general manager for the multimedia division of DK Publishing.

From 2017 - 2021 Saxberg was vice president of learning science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where he oversaw investments to improve application of learning science evidence and good evidence-gathering methods across the whole education ecosystem, to support improvements in learner success, especially for subgroups that have had the most challenges.

Champion of Learning Engineering
"Bror Saxberg knows a lot about the science of learning and the practice of learning engineering. His medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School and doctorate of philosophy in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT give him a unique background and credibility. After proving to be an expert learner, he took on the personal mission to help others learn at scale."

While at Kaplan, Inc. Saxberg brought his team to visit CMU, the university at which Herbert Simon coned the term "learning engineering" over a half a century before. The team went back to Kaplan, armed with KLI framework, a theoretical framework developed by Ken Koedinger, Albert Corbett, and Charles Perfetti that links cognition and instruction. The Kaplan team began executing what we now call learning engineering to enhance, optimize, and test their educational products. Based on his team's work and Saxberg's advocacy, the term "learning engineering" caught on.