The Nvidia Way

Cheery Friday Greetings from Barb Oakley! 

Book Pick: The Nvidia Way by Tae Kim

If ever there was a guide to turning sheer grit into groundbreaking greatness, The Nvidia Way is it! This exhilarating book dives into the story of Nvidia, the company that has become a crown jewel in the AI revolution.

Tech writer Tae Kim has penned a modern classic of business history, taking us deep into the mind of Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s iconic co-founder and CEO. The book captures Huang’s unconventional yet razor-sharp leadership style, his boundless resilience, and the tenacity that propelled Nvidia from a scrappy startup born in a Denny’s to a global tech giant.

Kim offers vivid, often surprising insights into Nvidia’s journey—how its GPUs, once the darlings of gamers, evolved into the backbone of artificial intelligence, revolutionizing industries from medicine to science. And there are deep insights about Huang’s leadership—his public accountability strategy, the innovative “flat cylinder” organizational structure, and his obsession with always staying 30 days ahead of disaster.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, or simply fascinated by what makes visionary companies tick, this book is a treasure trove of lessons and inspiration. Kim’s storytelling is as sharp as a newly minted GPU, blending tech, business, and human drama into a page-turner you won’t want to put down.

In short, The Nvidia Way is a masterclass in the power of visionary leadership. Highly, highly recommended!

Localizing Teacher Training MOOCs: A Global Educational Game-Changer from Taiwan

What an exciting development in online education! A team in Taiwan has shown how to successfully “harden” a country’s educational system by creating robust online training for K-12 teachers. They took an innovative approach—adapting and localizing a series of three award-winning MOOCs, the Uncommon Sense Teaching Specialization, specifically for teacher development. The results? Spectacular! Using Uncommon Sense Teaching materials, the program has evolved to reach over 1,400 educators, building a vibrant community of over 300 teachers actively sharing resources and supporting each other. (You might wish to go directly to page 10 of the paper, beginning with the section titled “Second Iteration: Uncommon Sense Teaching (UST1).) 

Here’s what makes this even better—the creators of Uncommon Sense Teaching are eager to share their materials with other countries looking to strengthen their educational infrastructure. Their goal? To help ensure students worldwide can continue learning successfully no matter what unexpected challenges arise—whether it’s a pandemic, conflict, severe weather events, or any other “black swan” disruption. It’s about building resilient educational systems worldwide that can weather any storm.

The paper lays out a clear roadmap that other countries can follow to create their own localized versions of these teacher training MOOCs. By combining neuroscience principles with practical teaching strategies and crafting content that resonates locally, countries can build resilient online training systems for their teachers. For more details about this innovative localization of teacher training MOOCs, contact Dr. Kenzen Chen, 陳鏗任 or, secondarily, me. 

What makes this particularly heartening is how it addresses a critical global need. The pandemic showed us just how important it is to have teachers who are comfortable and skilled with online teaching. Now we have a tested, replicable model that can help educational systems worldwide build that capacity. This is exactly the kind of practical, scalable solution that can make a real difference in modernizing education systems and preparing teachers for the digital age. 

Dive into the EdHeroes Podcast!

I’m delighted to share my recent conversation on the EdHeroes Voices podcast, where we explored the wonders of learning, from neuroscience insights to the transformative role of AI in education. It’s a dynamic discussion filled with practical tips, inspiring stories, and a deep dive into how we can all become better learners. Tune in and join the conversation!

🎧 Listen on Spotify
📺 Watch on YouTube

That’s all for now. Have a happy week in learning!

Barb Oakley

• Uncommon Sense Teaching—the book and Coursera Specialization!
• Mindshift—the book and MOOC
• Learn Like a Pro—the book and MOOC
• The LHTL recommended text, A Mind for Numbers
• For kids and parents: Learning How to Learn—the book and MOOC. Pro tip—watch the videos and read the book together with your child. Learning how to learn at an early age will change their life!