A Visit to YouthBuild Boston’s Designery
I was honored to attend YouthBuild Boston’s Designery Open House event in December. The Designery program provides a space for high school students from the Boston area, ages 14-18, to learn about urban architecture while experiencing several facets of what it means to be a professional in today’s working world. Students enroll in the program… Read More ›
Reflections on Student-Centered Learning Part 2—Educator Perspective
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) hosted their annual Symposium in Orlando, FL in early November. Though I attended several thought-provoking and engaging sessions at the conference, those sessions that featured voices of the students and educators doing the hard and rewarding work to personalize learning stood out to me. I was struck… Read More ›
Nellie Mae Education Foundation Statement on ESSA
A statement from Nick Donohue, President & CEO Nellie Mae Education Foundation President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law yesterday*. This response to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – the 2002 rendition of the historic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which first passed in the civil rights-rich 60’s, was long… Read More ›
Robotics, Coding, & Student-Centered Learning: A Student’s Perspective
Computer Science Education Week begins next week (December 7-13). Tens of millions of students will participate in the Hour of Code, a campaign to introduce young people to coding and to stress the importance of computer science skills in the 21st century. Less than 2.4 percent of students graduate college with a computer science degree,… Read More ›
The challenge of “thinking outside of the box” while existing inside the box
In education as in other sectors, there exists this buzz phrase – “thinking outside the box.” While so commonly used, Highlander and its Fuse Architect partner schools have experienced that this phrase may not be as simple a concept as it sounds. From the start of the Fuse Architect program, Highlander and NMEF have… Read More ›
Reflections on Student-Centered Learning Part 1- Student Perspective
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) hosted their annual Symposium in Orlando, FL. last week. I attended—along with over 3,000 educators, experts, thought leaders, and innovators—and left with a sense of both the enormity of the charge of educating all young people to succeed in the world of the future, and the importance… Read More ›
Casco Bay High School: The What and HOW of Learning
Originally posted on CompetencyWorks on November 23, 2015 This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This is the third of a four-part look at Casco Bay High School. Read Part One for Tips and Takeaways and Part Two for Learning as Exploration. Check out Casco Bay on the Students at the Center… Read More ›
Video Gaining as Key Tool in Teacher-Learning Plans
This article discusses the increase of video as a tool for improving and refining classroom practice for educators. Included in the article are mentions of several companies and schools that are actively contributing videos for teaching and professional development online, including the Teaching Channel and BetterLesson. Source Organization: Education Week Visit the Resource
Watch Lectures at Home, do Homework in Class
This article highlights blended learning classrooms at Revere High School in Revere, Massachusetts. According to the Revere High principal Mr. Lourenco Garcia, introducing flipped classrooms has fostered more personalized learning opportunities, increased student ownership of work, and has created a dynamic and engaging learning environment for all its students. Source Organization: The Boston Globe Visit… Read More ›
Design Thinking in Schools: “You can’t make school better without student voice.”
Have you thought about bringing design thinking to your school or district? One of the major foundations for the Fuse Architect project is design thinking. Through a partnership with IDEO, the Fuse Architect schools’ design teams used and continue to use design thinking to help re-envision the way school happens. IDEO defines design thinking… Read More ›
Putting “Career” in “College and Career Readiness”— Anytime, Anywhere Learning and the Value of Apprenticeships
The United States is investing in apprenticeship, as well as expanding the scope of careers covered under the registered apprenticeship umbrella—this is great news, but we have a long way to go to establish apprenticeship to serve a wide array of education and training needs. Underemployed or unemployed adults are not the only workers who… Read More ›
Student-Centered Classrooms Foster Civic and Career Readiness
Studies show that the skills employers want in their employees align perfectly with the types of skills learners practice in a student-centered learning environment. In this post, we make some connections between the skills employers seek and how student-centered strategies help develop those skills in young people. What employers are saying In the article Workplace… Read More ›