Every student deserves access to powerful learning experiences — experiences that help them develop agency, grow their skills and expand their curiosities. Many schools are shifting their practices to be more student-centered in hopes of ultimately developing these qualities in students. We know in transformative environments that the learning and facilitation looks very different.
This type of learning requires an educator who can push beyond traditional boundaries and design learning experiences that tap into each students’ gifts. However, many teachers haven’t experienced transformative learning and are not given the chance to learn how to facilitate learning in these types of environments.
If students are to drive their own learning, we must also provide educators with professional development that models the shift we’re aiming at for students — personalized and competency-based experiences that build capacity and empower agency. Learn Next: A Toolbox for Educators to Transform Practice is an effort to do just that.
Learn Next is a free hub that hosts powerful learning experiences for educators seeking to gain the skills needed to ensure every one of their students have access to transformative learning. Learn Next is hosted on the InspirED platform, which was created by the education design lab 2Revolutions for educators who want to help create the future of learning.
In this hub, educators are able to access a broad array of high-quality learning resources to support their growth. All the materials are arranged topically and leveled against a progression of knowledge and skills. This structure allows the user to self-select, self-assess and progress through topics in order to grow and enhance their knowledge and skills.
Topic areas offered through Learn Next include:
- Personalized Learning
- Competency-Based Learning
- Deeper Learning
- Tech-Enabled Learning
- Learner Agency
- Assessment for Learning
- Broader Definition of Success
For more about the effort and to get started, visit Learn Next.Partners in this effort include:
- Center for Collaborative Education
- Digital Promise
- EdSurge
- The Highlander Institute
- High Tech High GSE
- Institute for Personalized Learning
- Jobs for the Future
- The Learning Accelerator
- Learning Forward
- NGLC
- reDesign
While our aspiration is for every teacher to have access to and engage in ongoing effective professional learning as part of every work day, we know that this is not the case for everyone. Open, high-quality, online learning experiences ensure all educators have access to just in time learning — the support they need when they need it. And every teacher can benefit from individualized support at various points throughout their career.
– Stephanie Hirsh, Learning Forward
This initiative will serve two crucial and timely purposes. It gives schools and districts that are transforming their practices towards 21st-century outcomes a set of high-quality learning pathways for entire school faculties or curricular teams to experience together. And it gives teachers who wish they worked in schools like that a route towards becoming an effective agent for change.
– Andy Calkins, NGLC
What we know about learning is growing rapidly, and there are few places for creative, entrepreneurial, self-directed educators to retool, refine, and expand their teaching practices, with like-minded colleagues. This initiative provides an opportunity for practitioners–on their own or with school or district colleagues–to experience the power of creating their own learning path, to extend their skillset, without the financial burden of seeking a costly higher education degree.
– Antonia Rudenstine, reDesign
Join other educators as they embark on their transformation journey and follow along at #LearnNext.
This article was originally posted in Getting Smart on September 12, 2018