Forging results through the alloy of Science, Design, and Human Performance
The Knowledge Forge is a boutique consultancy offering applied research, human-centered design, professional development, and strategic services to government, business, and academia. We work at the center of cognition, data, and technology, using an interdisciplinary toolkit to provide tailored solutions.
Memorable experiences that captivate, promote outcomes, and include meaningful assessments. Choose from our portfolio, or we can create something custom together.
We practice what we preach through applied human-centered research and consulting. Each project is different. Find out how we can multiply your work’s impact.
What are others saying?
MSc H.K.E. (Hillery) Hommes, Head of Centre of Expertise Digital Learning, Dutch Royal Army
“Without exaggeration, Sae’s keynote presentations are excellent. She is able to break down complex topics in an understandable way. She has a clear vision, adds some humour and interacts with the audience. She’s also both culturally and politically sensitive, adjusting her message in a way that reaches and inspires different audiences.”
Michael DiCenso, Director,
Startup Week Louisville
“Having Sae as a speaker at our event in 2022 was one of the best decisions we could have made. Not only does she have incredible experience in a range of fields for us to learn from but she taught us strategies on how to absorb it all.…For a conference focused on entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs and how to grow an ecosystem around them, Sae was a perfect fit to bring in and equip us.”
William “G.” Harris, CEO, Association of Test Publishers (ATP) Global
“Dr. Sae Schatz opened ATP’s 25th Innovations in Testing Conference.…During her world-class keynote, she shared insightful LearnOps examples to buttress the claim of greater efficiency and improved learning outcomes. Her outstanding presentation had more than superb content; it came with an equally magnificent performance. Dr. Schatz skillfully engaged the ATP audience for 45 minutes, and her conclusions were some of the key takeaways of the 3-day Innovations Conference.”
What’s new?
June 2024 • Jeanne Century, Chris Dede, and Joseph Taylor et al. release a report on “Component-Based Research in Education,” funded by the US National Science Foundation. CBR is a research paradigm that aims to standardize the semantic descriptions of independent and dependent variables, context factors, and outcomes in educational research. Sae participated in the report's development efforts.
Read the open-access report at OSF
May 2024 • Sae delivered a video webinar for the Prometric professional testing and assessment community on “Modernizing Learning: The Future Learning Ecosystem.” The presentation examined the future of learning, development, testing, and assessment through the lens of emerging technologies, analytics, and contemporary learning science principles.
Sign up to watch a recording of the video on Prometric's website
April 2024 • Inspired by the Innovations in Testing Conference, Sae sat down with Isabelle Gonthier, PhD, host of the PSI’s Tried and Tested Podcast, for a fun (albeit kind of nerdy) conversation about the evolving landscape of learning, work, and assessment. They discussed the 60-Year Curriculum, the idea of an interconnected learning-employment ecosystem, learning engineering, and the importance of measurement. Look for episode 6.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, or find PSI’s Tried and Tested Podcast on your favorite podcast service
March 2024 • Sae delivered the opening keynote at the 25th Innovations in Testing Conference in Anaheim, CA. This annual event is sponsored by the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), an amazing conference filled with professionals from such fields as testing and assessment, psychometrics, licensing, and credentialing. Sae's talk, “Discover LearnOps: Innovations in Lifelong Learning, Testing, and Employment,” covered six emerging trends.
Here’s a link to Sae’s overview page on the conference website
February 2024 • Sae joined hosts Tom Constable and Colin Hillier on the Warfighter Podcast for “S2. E10: Evolution of the Learning Ecosystem.” Our conversation bridges between operational and technical perspectives, including next-generation learning technologies, data, interoperability, personalization, and learning engineering. Tom and Colin incorporate some great practical examples to explain why the heck we’re so keen on the Learning Ecosystem concept.
Here’s a link to the episode website, or download it from your favorite podcast service
January 2024 • Sae participated in the closing keynote panel of LearnX, organized by the Canada School of Public Service for government personnel. Fellow panelists included Denise Gomes (Strategic Engagement and Service Delivery, Shared Services Canada), Stefanie Couture (Workforce Consulting, PwC), and moderator Aaron Feniak (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat). The panel’s theme: “Future-Focused Learning and Development.”
Check out the event website for more information
December 2023 • We released Engines of Engagement: A Curious Book about Generative AI, co-authored with Julian Stodd and Geoff Stead and including guest interludes from Donald Clark, Mark Oehlert, and Marc Zao-Sanders. In this illustrated book, we explore central questions that Generative AI raises within our organizations, from structures and systems to identity, trust, and the nature of truth.
Here’s a link to more information, including a free digital download or options to purchase the hardcover
November 2023 • At this year’s Interservice / Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Sae gave an encore performance of the 2022 tutorial on Learning Engineering with co-presenter Jim Goodell. They received last year’s “Best Tutorial” award for the original presentation.
Download the Learning Engineering infographic (ou en français grâce aux militaires canadiens) and the Learning Analytics “cheat sheet”
October 2023 • Sae spent a day with the students, faculty, and staff of Rollins College this discussing AI, data, and learning engineering. The opening session was for freshmen, and it covered US federal laws and policies around AI as well as security-related efforts, including how bad actors are using AI for disinformation. In the next session, we reviewed AI and education with the faculty, and finally talked about enterprise data with the IT staff. (Image CC-BY Ebyabe)
Here’s a link to some of the faculty and staff reactions on LinkedIn.
September 2023 • The Language Institute at the Austrian National Defense Academy held a two-day professional development workshop, led by the Knowledge Forge LLC. The agenda included direct instruction on Modernizing Learning, Learning Engineering, and AI + Learning, as well as problem-based sessions where the faculty and staff identified ways to apply these lessons to their own language training and education tasks.
Here’s a link to the Language Institute.
August 2023 • Sae provided the opening keynote at the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) Emerging Security Challenges symposium in Sofia, Bulgaria. The theme was Cognitive Warfare, a kind of hybrid warfare focused on attacking or degrading rationality by various means, such as information operations, social and cognitive psychology techniques, and applied neuroscience, as well as certain cyber and electromagnetic warfare components.
Read more about the symposium from the PfPC.
July 2023 • Sae co-hosted a webinar on Learning Engineering with Jim Goodell from Quality Information Partners. It was sponsored by the National Training and Simulation Association and the Central Florida Tech Grove, and its content is based on Sae and Jim’s award-winning tutorial from the I/ITSEC 2022 conference. Download the corresponding infographic (also available en français grâce à the Canadian government).
See the webinar page from NTSA.
June 2023 • We recently co-hosted an underground Learning Science Seminar in Central London, with Julian Stodd from Sea Salt Learning and Geoff Stead from MyTutor. The seminar featured interactive techniques and a large-scale concept map. It was a successful pilot test for our in-the-works professional development offering, which coincides with our Learning Science Handbook currently in development.
Want to be an early adopter of our Applied Learning Science course? Contact us!
May 2023 • Sae delivered the keynote at the 52nd NATO Conference of Commandants, jointly hosted by the NATO Defense College and the Baltic Defence College and held in Tallinn, Estonia. The two-day annual conference brought together commandants of national senior defense education institutions from allied and partner nations. This year’s was online learning. Sae talked about Modernizing Learning and sat on several panels.
Read more about the conference from the NATO Defense College.
April 2023 • Sae delivered one of the invited keynote presentations at the eLearning and Software for Education (eLSE) conference, held in conjunction with a Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) meeting in Bucharest. She spoke about AI and Learning, starting with Good Old Fashion AI and followed by a deeper look at Machine Learning and Generative AI through an education and training lens.
Here’s a short article about the conference from the Romanian National Defense University.
February 2023 • The Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) working group met in Skopje, North Macedonia to identify ways to support Ukrainian defense education and training. Sae helped to facilitate the working group and was among the contributors to the resulting information paper—which was ultimately endorsed by the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine among other notable international leaders.
Here’s a short article from the PfPC, and here's the signed information paper.