Founder of empowerED, Francis Jim Tuscano is passionate about designing inspiring and sustainable education innovations and transformative learning experiences in the classroom. A sought-after keynote speaker and workshop leader, he has spoken in various conferences and led workshops held in the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar among others.

Jim advocates for relevant 21st century learning through effective pedagogy and approaches, i.e. PBL, visible-thinking routines, design-thinking; safe and positive school culture and learning environments that encourage risk-taking, promote growth, and development of empathy; and technology-enabled and makerspace-based innovations that impacts and elevates learning.

In 2017, Jim represented the Philippines as a finalist to the Global Teacher Prize. In the same year, he was also a finalist for Bato Balani Foundation’s The Many Faces of a Teacher National Teaching Recognition for the best teachers in the Philippines.  He was also cited as the Best K-12 Teacher at the Edtech Advocate Awards in the United States. In 2016, he was recognized as the Outstanding Junior Faculty in Xavier School – San Juan. He was recently included in the 30 under 30 global list of literacy leaders and change makers of the US-based organization, International Literacy Association for 2019. 

Jim also founded Kids Can Innovation Camp, a school-based learning program that integrates project-based learning, design thinking, STEAM, and the UN SDGs. This innovation approach involved engaging & providing K-12 learners the opportunity to become critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, & active agents of change. The program has been adopted in different schools and organizations in the Philippines. In 2018, the Global Innovation Camp, an international offshoot of Kids Can, involved more than 90 schools from more than 20 schools that simultaneously worked on SDG awareness and problem-solving. Currently, Kids Can has been translated into 11 international languages including Chinese Mandarin, Hindi, Polish, and Spanish. In 2018, Kids Can was recognized as one of the 10 inspiring K12 education innovation by the HundrED, a non-profit organization in Finland. 

He is an Apple Professional Leaning Specialist, Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE), Board Member for the ADE Asia Pacific Region, and Google Certified Trainer. He is currently the Ed Tech Coordinator and chairperson of the Religious and Values Education department at the grade school unit of Xavier School – San Juan.