Miriam Swords Kalk

Miriam Swords Kalk (she/her/hers) is Head of Design Practice at Education Design Lab and relishes the opportunity to contribute her experience with human-centered and equity-centered design, learning science, behavioral science, and communities of practice to the Lab’s work.

In her role, Miriam supports the Lab’s ongoing iteration of its design approach and facilitates capacity building to bring this approach to life. She leads the Lab’s community of practice strategy, helps facilitate internal and external learning about equity-centered design, and has spearheaded the infusion of Self-Determination Theory throughout the Lab’s design approach as a lens through which to better understand and support high-quality engagement and well-being for learners and earners.

Miriam believes deeply in contributing to a future where people who have been historically and systematically underinvested in have opportunities to create the futures they want for themselves, and she’s grateful to collaborate with partners across the country in the Single Moms Success Design Challenge, the BRIDGES Rural Design Challenge, and other projects at the Lab to bring this vision to life.

Prior to joining the Lab, Miriam shaped learner experience strategy at Udacity, where she collaborated with teams across the organization to incorporate informed practices from learning science and motivational design into industry-relevant online learning experiences.

In addition to her passion for learning about learning, she loves to spend time outside with her family in her hometown of Austin, TX, and she bakes as much as she can to bring joy to those around her and celebrate life through food. Croissants, multi-tiered cakes, ganache-stuffed brownies, and coconut cream pie are some of her all-time favorite creations.