Management Team
Bernard Gifford, Founder and Chief Instructional Officer. Currently Professor in the Graduate Group in Education in Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, Gifford will be Visiting Resident Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching during academic year 2010-11. This position will enable Gifford and the Workshop to coordinate its own research efforts with the Carnegie’s StatWay project, a national initiative to improve the mathematics performance of under-prepared community college students.
In the spring of 1992, Gifford founded Academic Systems, an award-winning Silicon Valley educational software developer, and served as Chair and Chief Instructional Officer until 1998. From 1989-1992, Gifford served as first-ever Vice President for Education at Apple Computer, where he promoted collaborative partnerships with higher education institutions to encourage the development of multimedia-rich instructional materials. While at Apple, he wrote a widely read column on technology and education for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Gifford served for six years as Chancellors Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE), University of California at Berkeley, where he championed the establishment of PhD programs in cognitive science and in education in science, mathematics and technology. Gifford has served on the board of directors (trustees) of the National Academy of Science Commission on Technology in Higher Education (1996-1999); National Commission on Testing and Public Policy (1987-1993); The Children's Television Workshop (1983-1995); US Naval Academy Academic Advisory Board (1984-1990); The National Foundation for Family Literacy (1985-1992); and many other not-for-profit and educational organizations. Gifford earned his PhD in radiation biology and biophysics from the University of Rochester Medical School, where he was an Atomic Energy Commission Fellow in Nuclear Science.
Keith Hardwicke, President and Chief Technology Officer. Hardwicke has over 18 years of experience developing and managing software products, systems, and solutions. He works as a technical individual contributor as well as a leader in all parts of the product development cycle, including product conception, implementation, and product maintenance. His particular expertise is in applying enterprise architecture, software architecture, and processes systems theory to practical applications to develop sound technical and business practices that lower the overall costs of the development lifecycle.
Keith has worked with a number of software companies including Sunshine Learning Systems, PLATO Learning, Lightspan Corporation, and Academic Systems. Keith has held several senior management positions including VP of Product Development, Chief Architect, and VP of Engineering. He has a BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering, with a concentration in mathematics, from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
Janice Litvin, Vice President for Product Development. Janice has worked developing, maintaining, and managing software products and solutions for over 18 years. Her experience ranges from design and specification, to programming and technical writing, to project and product management. She has successfully planned, coordinated, and completed projects in all phases of the Product Development Life Cycle, from product conception to product maintenance.
Most recently, Janice has worked for PMA Consulting, Sunshine Learning Systems doing application design, functional specifications and technical writing. Prior to this, Janice worked for over 14 years in the educational software industry. As Senior Product Manager for Post-Secondary at PLATO Learning, she successfully launched a new full-course, web-based developmental mathematics product (Academic Systems Algebra). As Director of Products & Technology at Academic Systems/Lightspan, she successfully directed and worked as an individual contributor for multiple releases of the Instructional Support System (a Learning Management System) and Interactive Mathematics (a leading developmental mathematics product for colleges and universities). Janice received her BA from the University of California, San Diego.
Consultants
Guadalupe Valdés, Senior Adviser. Valdés oversees Learning Conductor’s strategies for addressing the learning requirements of non-native English speaking mathematics students. Valdés is Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum Professor of Education at Stanford University, and a senior partner in the Carnegie Foundation Network. She works extensively with schools and organizations to serve the needs of young English-language learners. Her research has focused on Latino students in elementary, middle school, high school and college leading to five books and more than 70 articles. Her forthcoming book Steps in the Journey reports on a five-year project that carefully documented the language acquisition progression of English language learners educated in majority-minority schools. She determined that the process of acquiring English, rather than linear and predictable, is highly dependent on the access youngsters have to engaging and enriching interactions. In 1999, she and Gifford developed a series of inscription-rich, computer-mediated instructional materials for English Language Learners in mathematics, a project funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Ann Gelder, Editorial Consultant. Gelder has been a senior producer and curriculum developer for online education, both at Academic Systems and at Homeworkhelp.com. She has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught writing and literature at Berkeley and Stanford. Before joining the Workshop, she was the associate director of a research program in literature and language at Stanford.