Education is at a breaking point, or a breakthrough moment, depending on how boldly we choose to reimagine it. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Dawn Sizemore, CEO and Founder of iCurric, to talk about what the future of learning could (and should) look like.
Dr. Dawn brings a powerful vision: one where digital tools meet human-centered design, and where learning isn’t just accessible, but transformational. We unpack the growing role of AI, digital literacy, and equity in education and why rethinking curriculum through a diverse, inclusive lens isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Whether you’re a parent, policymaker, or lifelong learner, this conversation will leave you thinking differently about your role in shaping a smarter, more just education system.
Because the future of learning doesn’t just belong to students. It belongs to all of us.
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Watch the episode here
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Embracing The Digital Shift In The Future Of Education With Dr. Dawn Sizemore, CEO And Founder Of iCurric
A Story Of Resilience, Leadership And Empowerment
For this episode, we’re going to take a look at the future of education. How does human design impact curriculum? Is AI a friend or a foe? Does it deliver diversity and accessibility or not? These are just some of the questions we’ll be discussing with Founder and CEO of iCurric, Dr. Dawn Sizemore. Her unique combination of behavioral practice and technology makes for longer-lasting results in learning, and she builds customized curriculum that take into account every person’s learning style. No wonder companies such as UPS, the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, and the Atlanta Black Chamber of Commerce are repeat customers. Dr. Dawn has taken edtech to a new level. How? You’ve got to read and learn, literally.
We are so fortunate to have Dr. Dawn Sizemore, the Founder and CEO of iCurric, join the show. Dr. Dawn, welcome. I’m excited to see you.
I’m so happy we were finally able to make this happen.
Career Paths Are Not Always Linear
You have been so incredibly busy, which is wonderful to see, because since we’ve known each other, I think I’ve been fortunate to literally watch what is nothing short of meteoric growth and climb on your end. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Before we go where we are now, I want to take two seconds to just learn a little bit about your path because one of the things I’m sure you’ve also experienced, too, is that so many younger people. Frankly, I’m going to say people our age and beyond, seem to think career paths are just straight vertical lines, and au contraire, mon frère. It’s so not true. I’d love to hear you shed a little light on your trail.
Not much is linear anymore. Everything is so messy. Thank you again, first, for having me. I’m so honored to be able to be here with you and do this with you. Things have been very busy. I’m very thankful to be here because it has been quite a journey and quite a path of self-discovery, personal growth, and understanding my purpose, my gifts, and my skills and where they can best be utilized in terms of just making our community stronger and the world a better place through learning, development, and growth.
I think I always like to start from the beginning a little bit because I was always a curious child. I was always a curious child, grew up gifted, and was in gifted education. I was a gifted child. I’ve always been very interested in helping others, highly empathetic. I decided to go into finance ultimately. I chose a career in finance because I thought it was a good way to become self-sufficient and overcome generational poverty. I was a first-generation college graduate. I went into finance for about 6 or 7 years, spent time in corporate trust funding, and just thought, “This is not doing it for me at all.” I just wanted something more fulfilling and pivoted.
When I had children, I began to substitute teach so I could be home full-time with my children. I was married at the time. When I started substitute teaching, I would come home each day and just think about what I would do if the classroom were mine. The kids gravitated to me, and so did the school principals. I was often requested to stay at school. I thought, “I don’t know why I didn’t think about this further or sooner,” because I’ve always loved learning and been curious. I decided to go into education and have been just full-throttle in terms of my personal and professional growth.
I went back to school and earned a couple of degrees so I could be good at what I wanted to do. I spent time as a K-12 teacher, mathematics and business career and technical education teacher. I was pulled out of the classroom into leadership, which, again, was another pivot because I thought that I would retire as a school teacher because I just loved it that much. I got pulled into leadership, went into the principalship, and was on the superintendent track. I finished my last role as a director of an innovation learning center back home in Cleveland, Ohio, which I also credit a lot with who I am, my upbringing in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Shout out to Shaker Heights City School District.
I landed back home and thought I had made it. I was like, “I’m back home. I’m working in my community. This is where I want to be, doing great work for kids and teachers.” I just didn’t feel like I had enough freedom to solve real problems. The way I best described it, Kate, was that I felt I was always working with my hands tied. I just couldn’t make the decisions or think creatively about how to best support children, kids, students, and teachers. I decided to start my own business.
In 2019, I started Practical Education Solutions, which was more of a boutique consulting firm. I did curriculum development, staff coaching, and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I relocated to Atlanta in 2020 and was able to pivot again during COVID when a lot of the learning went online. I was able to niche down to focusing on custom curriculum and digital learning, mostly for social impact organizations.
We rebranded just this year to iCurric so we could show up in the marketplace in terms of our value proposition and how we are different from some of our competitors. It’s been quite a journey, and I’m just so grateful for all of the ups and downs and ins and outs that got me here, because it’s been quite the journey.
You obviously also, I think, recognize and go along with those twists and turns and be able to make that pivot, as scary and as hard as it’s going to be, especially given you finally got to this certain point, and then you got to change, and you got to this point, and then you got to change. I’m going to say kudos to you for being a principal. Having worked at the George Lucas Education Foundation, I know what a tough road that is, and I know what the average lifespan of a principal is. I think it’s something, at least back in the day, like eighteen months.
Skills That Shape Success: Early Days Vs. Now
That is, in this time of the world, with all the other political craziness that’s going on, a job that certainly has not got any easier. I’m glad you’ve been able to put your talents, at least at this point in time, into a product like iCurric. Before we jump into the depth and breadth of iCurric, which is plentiful, and I can’t wait for you to share it with everyone, what skills did you feel that you relied on in those early days? How do they compare to the ones that you rely on now? Are they different at all?
I think a little bit of both. I think that in your early career, what worked for me was strong communication skills. I’ve always been a strong communicator, articulate, a strong problem solver, very organized, and good with time management. Those are things that allowed me to advance my career just off of natural talent and gifts in terms of how I process information. As I started to go into leadership and advance in my career, particularly when it comes to being an educator, I’m what you consider a generalist. I know a little bit about most things, which has been very helpful.
I’m also a specialist, where I can go deep when it comes to learning theory, curriculum design, what’s best for both adult learners and child learners, pedagogy, and andragogy. Having both that breadth and depth, that combination, has worked well for me. The last thing, I think, is tech skills. I’ll never forget when I was a senior in high school. I was in a cooperative business education program that allowed seniors who had pretty much finished their curriculum to go into this cooperative business education program and then work the rest of the day. It was like work-study.
My teacher, Glenda Moss, again, shout out to Shaker Heights City Schools, I’ll never forget the day, Kate. It was 1998. She came in and said, “Class, we’re going to get on the World Wide Web.” We were all like, “What are you talking about?” I can hear the dial-up, this sheet of paper. Being on that cusp of the Millennial generation and brought up with the advancement of the internet, those skills, and then learning, I learned how to type on a typewriter.
Those tech skills, learning computer skills early on, and then being introduced to how the internet has changed things right as it happened have been a huge leverage point for me because I’m able to adapt easily as the technology changes. It’s a part of how I work. I think those things together have been my building blocks for what we see as my career and my business now.
Building A Multi-Generational Workforce
It’s interesting listening to you. It raises the point that because I, too, learned how to type on a typewriter, I also learned how to do binary code and the thing with the interchangeable eraser tape. Anyway, I remember it all. You raise a good point. There is this window of a generation where we were in the midst of the technological pivot.
Often, you come to expect that when there’s a technology, there’s going to be an adoption phase. There’s going to be a part where it blows up and fails, and then it’s going to iterate. I think there’s a group of us that are a little bit more patient, perhaps understanding that our expectations are intact with, “I’ve got to change absolutely everything. I’d love it, but we’re going to find it’s a good change. We’ve got to get ready to change as well and move along with it.”
One of the things I was going to ask is, especially in those early days, you were clearly one of the younger generation. One of the biggest challenges is that so many generations are working under one roof, 5 or 6. Initially, I was curious, how does one build a culture of trust? I’d be curious what your company is like. Also, how do you even communicate? Their language is different. The questions are different. The thinking behind the question is different. That’s because we’re wired so differently.
One thing that helps with intergenerational communication, it’s almost like intercultural communication.
It totally is.
It’s a skill. One thing that helps me personally is that I’m a mother, so I have two beautiful teenagers. I would be completely remiss not to mention them on this show. I have a daughter, she’s twenty. She’s a fashion design student at SCAD. My son is eighteen. He’s a football player studying business out in Iowa. It helps to have someone in close proximity in terms of just being able to relate and stay abreast of the generation.
That’s a personal anecdote that helps keep me on my toes and keep my view of diversity. Surrounding yourself with diverse groups of people and diverse experiences allows you to develop empathy for different perspectives across generations, different experiences that have led to those perspectives, and the empathy and understanding of why there’s a difference in perspectives and approaches to doing things.
There’s a lot of history that comes along with that. I think that the more you embrace it and make it a part of who you are, the trust becomes a byproduct of that because it’s all relational. How I understand myself is how I understand others. I think you have to stay open and just be empathetic. Also, understanding the value, Kate, I’m thinking about power structures and how sometimes the organization can take on a power structure that overshadows the value of the people and the diverse experiences and perspectives that they bring to the work we’re here to do together. You have to be mindful of that, and having a couple of teenagers around helps.
That keeps me humble.
The younger generations will tell you. If you want to know, go ask them.
Often, I don’t even need to ask. I’m just corrected. The truth is, when we look through time, that’s the role of the younger generation. It’s to poke the amoeba. It’s to poke the sleeping bear so that it doesn’t get lackadaisical, slow, or grounded, especially future-forward. Everything is going so much more quickly. Evolution is going quickly. Innovation is going quickly. Technology is going quickly. I think, to your point, that notion of ever learning, ever curious, you do that, and you just realize, “I don’t know it all.”
I want to say something about that. I don’t think I said this, humility. I participated in a nonprofit education with the Harvard Business School earlier this year. One of the presenters talked a lot about how, oftentimes, our leaders, because they lack humility, they miss the opportunity of being more efficient and effective and innovation and solving problems because the people that are around them that don’t necessarily have the experience that they have, they don’t value it in a way that demonstrates their humility or unique perspectives and experiences across generations. It can be stifling, not just from an organizational standpoint, but it compounds because if this is happening in the organization, then it’s going to compound to the community, and then to a region, to the world. You see it in these little seeds and how we relate to ourselves and others.
You just also made me think about, too, combining this and circling this up, tying in a nice, little, tidy bow. That’s where the power struggle comes in because you’re coming from a place, those who fought so hard to get it want to hold on to it for dear life. That’s where that whole notion of leading from the field versus leading from the bench, and having a moment and realizing, I’m here. I can now use my platform to help this person, and this person, and then this person. Let’s face it: we all know that giving and receiving are reciprocal.
Exploring Innovations In The EdTech Space
That irony, to me, has always been, believers, when they, not just power, when it’s shared, shared platforms of power, when they’re shared. The more you do that, the more it shines on you favorably. You’re selfish and scared, and that’s sad. Hence, the entire organization will cease to be, probably as innovative as it could have been. You, of all people, know this is fear. Speaking of innovation, in your mind, especially since you’ve been out and about in the world stage, what are some of the most interesting innovations in the edtech space?
AI is taking over. We’ve had a lot of precursors that have led to this. The internet is number one. The access to information via the World Wide Web, via the internet, has just changed the game in terms of accessibility, shared knowledge-building, just increasing the time of implementation when we think about, like, various disciplines and their growth and changing and getting that out into the masses to better inform training and development of business, and industry, and economies.
The internet has changed the game in terms of accessibility, sharing knowledge, and decreasing the time of implementation. Share on XThe internet, by far, is number one. You have these other kinds of supporting casts, like massive online courses, learning management systems, these various supporting technologies that have allowed us to better structure how the internet increases access to education. It is because, again, going back to when thinking about my personal journey, when we first started to use the internet, it was just like a free-for-all, and now you see a lot of different apps, learning management systems, course structures, platforms, Udip, Coursera, these various innovators that have provided structure to streamline.
We see AI getting ready to just elevate what access, personalization of learning looks like, flexibility, providing training and development with inflow of work. It’s just going to take us to the next level. I’m excited about it. I’m excited about it. I know that I dedicate a good amount of my time to understanding AI and what the benefits are, what the potential drawbacks may be, because there’s always going to be pros and cons. I’m excited about the potential benefits of AI in terms of learning and development for underserved communities.
See, this is the thing that, I agree. I think this is one of the things I learned when I was speaking to the folks over at Microsoft. They shared that they saw AI as one of the great delivery mechanisms of access. It can help because, at least, it gives people access to information and insight and is somewhat of a competitive platform. Is there any havoc you see?
It’s all relative, Kate. When we think about access, it’s all relative. I was at MIT earlier this year, listening to what their thoughts on AI. They pretty much said flat-out, AI is going to make us dumber. I’m like, that’s something that wasn’t true. It is because you hear these different theories about what’s going to happen. People are trying to predict it when the truth of the matter is, no one knows what’s going to happen because we’ve never been here before. We didn’t know that our whole lives would be centered around a smartphone twenty years ago. We’re not sure of that. We don’t know what’s going to happen.
We can look at the trends and throw some things out there, but we don’t know. It’s a tough spot to be in because you want to be equitable. When I talk, it’s all relative, depending on what your access point is to understanding what AI is going to determine how beneficial it’s going to be for you. You think about, at the very lowest level, ChatGPT being the face or the commercialization of AI. That’s a very low, small example of what access looks like. It can be huge, though, because I use ChatGPT. Everyone’s using it.
It can be very productive in terms of reducing the time to create for content creators, in my field, curriculum developers, and things like that. It can be very beneficial. If you think about how AI is also being used to solve huge problems in sustainability and medical advances, you have people who are not even using ChatGPT. They barely know about it. They’re just hearing about it and what that lag is going to look like in terms of equity and digital access. There’s a lag, just like with the internet and other technological advances that have happened. I think, as leaders and educators, it is our job to, like we did with the internet, set up the pillars, the structures, the policy. You want to allow equitable access to the benefits of AI versus it just being a free-for-all.
As leaders and educators, it’s our job to set up the structures and policies to allow equitable access to the benefits of AI, ensuring it's not just a free-for-all. Share on XCritical thinking is already practically a thing of the past. When you’re getting the answer from ChatGPT, you also have to take a moment to read it and see if it even makes sense. That’s the thing. It isn’t just, “Calgon, take me away, come up with the answer for me.” There still has to be an accountability and a responsibility, and that still seems to be something that people, they complain that they want it, but then when they have it, they don’t want it.
Addressing Gender Gaps In AI Innovation
They don’t necessarily want to activate it. The other day, I was talking to Jena McGregor, who is the Future of Work editor over at Forbes. I’ve known Jena for a while, during the days of Businessweek and Fast Company. I guess before she was at The Washington Post, and we were talking about innovation and AI. She said the concern she has is where the women are. Women, for some reason, are falling behind in AI. I know this isn’t, obviously, your area of expertise, but it could be because, one, you’re a woman. How can we change that?
I have two perspectives on it because I think that we’re behind the scenes. I think that we are working parallel to the development and rolling out, say, of AI, looking deeper into how AI might support the industries that we serve. I think we’re working parallel. I wouldn’t call it full-blown behind just yet. It has the potential of us being behind because we like to take our time to understand things before we go full throttle. I think I’m seeing some of that, but I also think, going back to my earlier point, that it’s the onus of leaders in AI to provide more opportunities.
We need more opportunities sooner. I think that the youth need more opportunities sooner to learn about what the capabilities are as it relates to the problems there, as it relates to their reality, the problems that they face in their community, and the things that they are passionate about. We need more knowledge sharing about the potential of it so that we have a better understanding of how we might leverage our current skillsets and our leadership skills to further disseminate the technology in a way that’s going to be impactful to our communities.
It is because, for women, when it comes, for the most part, for women, it’s about that connection to our communities and how we show up. We’re not going to just jump off the boat and go into it just because it’s the thing. We’re going to take our time, we’re going to learn. Once we have a good understanding of what the impact is, I think we’re going to be right in there with it. We can’t wait too long, though. I think that it’s on the industry leaders to set that stage so that we can create more opportunities sooner.
The Inspiration Behind iCurric: How It Came To Be
That’s an interesting point because it’s our very tendency to do such a comprehensive review, which is oftentimes why people say, “You’re risk-averse.” No, we’re just trying to be smart about it. We’re a little bit ahead. It is because we understand the ripples. That’s why we usually, everyone, have better portfolios in the investment world. That’s another topic for another day. Let’s talk about iCurric, your inspiration for it. What got you going? How did it come to be?
It’s about my passion for solving problems and helping people. It’s about me being able to work on a scale that fits who I am. I’m working in a small scope and then, once I build it out, blowing it up. I like to be able to take my time. Working with small social impact organizations like the Russell Center and Atlanta Black Chambers gives me just the right amount of space to solve critical problems for underserved communities and then build out the model in a way that’s scalable for that social impact organization from a learning and development standpoint. We get to both customize the learning experience through the curriculum by supporting the organization and making sure that they do what they say they’re going to do through whatever learning program they provide.
We help them with that curriculum and that path to get the outcomes that they’re looking to achieve. We also customize the technology enablement of that experience to make sure that it’s going to be the most impactful and accessible. I’m so excited with the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs because we’ve been working on Digital Rice, their digital learning platform. I’ve been working on it for almost three years. We’ve just finished building out all of the content, making sure it has a strong UI/UX design that’s accessible to entrepreneurs all over the world. We’re excited about it and grateful, Kate, so grateful, to have been given the opportunity to do this important work.
I love this because it enables you to do a BB shot, as it were, as opposed to one big boom. You’re getting to touch a lot of different entities, which is huge and terrific. It’s your version of equity and innovation at scale, essentially. I know that human design plays a key differentiating factor. Talk a little bit about how that came about.
Design thinking, human-centered design, is a component of instructional design. I’m an instructional designer. That just basically means that I have a couple of different frameworks that I use to make sure when we create curriculum that it’s going to get the outcome that our customers or learners, or whoever we’re serving, are trying to achieve. We mostly use the backward design framework. I start with the end in mind. It’s very similar to backward engineering.
This is common in design thinking in the engineering space. Our disciplines are very similar, but human-centered design is a personal choice for iCurric and for myself because it’s always about the people for me. It’s always about the people and making sure that I’m keeping the unique needs, those experiences that I talked about earlier, who they are, at the forefront of our design work.
That’s a huge differentiating factor between iCurric and some of our similar offerings or companies that do training and curriculum development. Normally, it’s usually one or the other, instructional design, outcomes-based, or human-centered design, but we combine them both, making sure that from a human-centered design perspective, we’re thinking about the needs, experiences, background, and learning styles of the end user first, and then we’re working the instructional design principles into creating the curriculum and learning experience.
Dr. Dawn Sizemore’s Advice To Her Younger Self
I love that you’ve incorporated that. I think it’s key, and that’s an extraordinary differentiator. In closing, what advice would you give your younger self, knowing what you now know?
I think that I would probably tell myself just to relax, breathe deep, everything is going to be okay, and believe in yourself. Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to put yourself first. Don’t be afraid to have a big idea, a big vision, and big goals for yourself, and to put yourself first in accomplishing those goals and developing yourself both personally and professionally. There are a lot of sacrifices that come with becoming who you desire to be or who you were meant to be. In order to do that work, you have to be willing and okay with putting yourself first. That’s what I would tell myself.
Believe in yourself, put yourself first, and don’t be afraid to have big ideas and big goals. Share on XYou got to make space and take up space.
Make space and take up space and be okay with that.
Say yes to you, so true. If people want to get in touch with you, where should they go?
Thank you again so much, Kate. You’re amazing. I cannot wait to work together. Every time we get together, it’s like this. Thank you so much. It’s just such a pleasure. Follow me on LinkedIn. They can contact me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m pretty active on LinkedIn. Check out our website, iCurric.com.
There’s a Go Global conference coming up on October 3rd, 2025. There’s a virtual Go Global conference that iCurric is sponsoring for the Atlanta Black Chambers Go Global conference. I don’t know if this is going to come out before then or may come after that, but follow me on LinkedIn and connect with me on LinkedIn. Check out our website. I’d love to just chit-chat and learn more about your audience and what they have going on.
Perfect. Terrific. Thank you. I’m so glad to have the illustrious Dr. Dawn Sizemore, Founder and CEO of iCurric, join us and kick us off this season. Best of everything to you. This is far from over. This is, to your point, just the beginning. Thanks so much.
I’ve got to get out there with you and do some vacationing.
There we go. Anyway, fantastic. Until next time. Thanks so much.
Thank you, Kate.
Thank you.
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About Dawn Sizemore
As a visionary leader, Dr. Sizemore is transforming how organizations approach continuing education and professional development. She combines cutting-edge technology with practical solutions to create impactful learning experiences that drive personal and professional growth. Whether spearheading curriculum design, teaching and developing staff, or championing equity and inclusive education, Dr. Sizemore’s work has touched lives across the globe.
Leading iCurric for over 5 years, her team has been at the forefront of ed-tech, developing inclusive learning experiences that empower underserved communities. With innovative solutions designed to drive economic mobility, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion, they are positioned as leaders in democratizing education.