Ben Owens
Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Engineer, Open Way Learning @ Open Way Learning
Ben Owens was an engineer for a multinational corporation for 20 years before becoming a STEM teacher at a wall-to-wall Project Based Learning school in 2007. In his 11 year teaching career, he and his colleagues transformed this rural North Carolina (USA) school into one that garnered international recognition for its unique approach to community-facing PBL. Through this work, Ben was recognized as the 2017 Bridging the Gap Distinguished Teacher in STEM Education; the 2016 Science Math Technology Center’s Outstanding 9-16 Educator; and a Hope Street Group National Teaching Fellow. He is a member of PBLWorks’ National Faculty, an Open Organization Ambassador, HundrED Ambassador, former MIT Teaching Systems Lab “Community TA,” and served on the Gates Foundation Teacher Advisory Council. Ben co-authored the book, “Open Up, Education!” and in 2018, co-founded Open Way Learning, a not-for-profit organization that helps schools co-design systemic conditions that enable authentic, learner-centered strategies to thrive.
