Research and Writers We Admire
Stephen Taylor
Stephen is an international educator, with over 20 years of experience in IB schools in Indonesia, Japan and China. Currently Director of Innovation in Learning & Teaching at the Western Academy of Beijing. He is passionate about innovative learning futures that promote learner agency, hope and sustainable, ethical futures. A former coach for Project Zero's Creating Cultures of Thinking courses online, he holds an MA in International Education and is currently pursuing an EdD, with a focus on AI, Competencies and Agency for changing futures. In 2022, he created the (If You) USEME-AI framework for school adaptation to AI. Stephen believes that we should be pragmatic idealists in the face of change, holding onto our values as we tackle the sticky problems of now.
At the CoT Summit 2026 we featured Zaretta Hammond and her new book, Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power, to launch our first CoT Summit book club. This year we have two authors who will join us in person for both a facilitated conversation about how their works connects to Cultivating Cultures of Thinking. In addition, they will each lead a Deep Dive session on Friday night.
Jessica Vance
Jessica Vance is an author and education consultant with a background in teaching and leadership across private and public international schools. Passionate about student-centered learning, collaboration, and coaching, she draws inspiration from students’ natural curiosity as they engage in meaningful learning experiences. Jessica leads with a lens of inquiry, designing professional learning and coaching experiences that help educators reflect, collaborate, and grow as inquiry practitioners. Author of Leading with a Lens of Inquiry and Evidence of Inquiry, she explores how leaders can model curiosity and use documentation to deepen reflection and assessment. Her experience in IB and place-based education fuels her work supporting schools worldwide in cultivating authentic, inquiry-driven learning.
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