Full Name
Nick Salmon
Speaker Bio
Nick Salmon is the founder and president of the Collaborative Learning Network. He is a ninth-generation educator focused on educational facility planning, professional learning for educators, and design support for future-flexible learning environments that cost less to design, build, own, operate, and maintain. He is the world’s first self-certified educational furniture whisperer- capable of coaxing the greatest potential out of the unruliest school furnishings.
Nick’s global practice (6 continents, 38 countries, 42 US states) includes co-facilitating Harvard’s annual Learning Environments For Tomorrow Institute. In addition to working with more than 200 schools on more than 40 educational visioning and master planning efforts, Nick is a co-founder (with Dr. Fran Locker & Gabriel Diago) of the Revolution in Education Congress in Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia. Nick is the four-time host of the online webinar 24Hours of PBL+, an international celebration of Project-Based Learning that includes learners and educators from 75 schools and organizations in 40 countries on 6 continents. As co-founder of USTAWI Global, he is committed to connections, learning & communities coming alive.
He frequently extends his learning through continuous professional learning and short courses, including the Transformative Learning Communities with Antioch University, Let’s Play! From Project Zero’s Power of Play at Harvard University, Hakuba Forum, Master Teacher Endorsement from Inspire Citizens, Deeper Learning at High Tech High, Compass Education Teaching & Learning for a Sustainable World: A Systems Thinking Approach, and Web of Support Integrative Youth Development from Kalos Eidos.
Nick shares insights into the development of exceptional learning environments at the University of Melbourne’s Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) Transitions 18; Australian Independent Schools Tomorrows Environments for Learning; School Planning & Delivery Conference, Sydney, NSW; Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP), Brisbane, Queensland; South By Southwest EDU (SXSWEDU); Montana Conference of Educational Leadership; regional and global conferences of the Association For Learning Environments; webinars and workshops for the Ohio School Facilities Commission, Association for Learning Environments, University of Montana and Montana State University.
Nick developed the online Collaborative Learning Assessment to establish a common understanding of current educational practices and desired future practices. Video resources are typically shared in advance of planning workshops as a foundation for small group discussions about project-based learning and concurrent discussions about time, technology, relationships, school culture, equity and belonging. The energy of the workshop is expanded to include a broad cross-section of the community through the online “How I Learn Best” and “Where I Learn Best” surveys in English and Spanish. Subsequent workshops focused on facility concepts build upon the combination of small group discussions and online surveys to engage the community as the keepers of the vision.
Nick is a trained Professional Affiliate of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an Association For Learning Environments Recognized Educational Facility Planner, a PBLWorks-trained PBL Coach, a guest commentator for the University of Montana Graduate School of Education, a former visiting and adjunct professor at Montana State University School of Architecture, and of the University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design.
He is the co-author (with Erin O’Reilly & Mar Cano) of teamED: Building more effective teams for projects, education, and communities. Nick is the author of Almost, tales of failure, recovery & persistence and near brushes with discomfort. Nick has also written a children’s book entitled Pelchers: childhood memories of the village store. A second children’s book Fireflies will be published in 2026.
Nick’s global practice (6 continents, 38 countries, 42 US states) includes co-facilitating Harvard’s annual Learning Environments For Tomorrow Institute. In addition to working with more than 200 schools on more than 40 educational visioning and master planning efforts, Nick is a co-founder (with Dr. Fran Locker & Gabriel Diago) of the Revolution in Education Congress in Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia. Nick is the four-time host of the online webinar 24Hours of PBL+, an international celebration of Project-Based Learning that includes learners and educators from 75 schools and organizations in 40 countries on 6 continents. As co-founder of USTAWI Global, he is committed to connections, learning & communities coming alive.
He frequently extends his learning through continuous professional learning and short courses, including the Transformative Learning Communities with Antioch University, Let’s Play! From Project Zero’s Power of Play at Harvard University, Hakuba Forum, Master Teacher Endorsement from Inspire Citizens, Deeper Learning at High Tech High, Compass Education Teaching & Learning for a Sustainable World: A Systems Thinking Approach, and Web of Support Integrative Youth Development from Kalos Eidos.
Nick shares insights into the development of exceptional learning environments at the University of Melbourne’s Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) Transitions 18; Australian Independent Schools Tomorrows Environments for Learning; School Planning & Delivery Conference, Sydney, NSW; Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP), Brisbane, Queensland; South By Southwest EDU (SXSWEDU); Montana Conference of Educational Leadership; regional and global conferences of the Association For Learning Environments; webinars and workshops for the Ohio School Facilities Commission, Association for Learning Environments, University of Montana and Montana State University.
Nick developed the online Collaborative Learning Assessment to establish a common understanding of current educational practices and desired future practices. Video resources are typically shared in advance of planning workshops as a foundation for small group discussions about project-based learning and concurrent discussions about time, technology, relationships, school culture, equity and belonging. The energy of the workshop is expanded to include a broad cross-section of the community through the online “How I Learn Best” and “Where I Learn Best” surveys in English and Spanish. Subsequent workshops focused on facility concepts build upon the combination of small group discussions and online surveys to engage the community as the keepers of the vision.
Nick is a trained Professional Affiliate of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an Association For Learning Environments Recognized Educational Facility Planner, a PBLWorks-trained PBL Coach, a guest commentator for the University of Montana Graduate School of Education, a former visiting and adjunct professor at Montana State University School of Architecture, and of the University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design.
He is the co-author (with Erin O’Reilly & Mar Cano) of teamED: Building more effective teams for projects, education, and communities. Nick is the author of Almost, tales of failure, recovery & persistence and near brushes with discomfort. Nick has also written a children’s book entitled Pelchers: childhood memories of the village store. A second children’s book Fireflies will be published in 2026.
Speaking At
