The world continues to change and evolve with the times, yet education seems to be lagging behind. Information and the availability for it seem endless, but long gone are the days where a teacher must serve as the only content provider in a room. In A New Culture of Learning, authors Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (2011), explain that to develop a new culture of learning one first needs to develop a “massive information network that provides almost unlimited access and resources to learn about anything” (p. 19). In order to do just that, teacher roles will need to shift from content provider to context creator, where the responsibility lies in pushing passion and fostering imagination while allowing students to construct and cultivate knowledge for themselves. I know what you’re thinking, THIS IS CRAZY, I can’t give up my control of the classroom, how will the students LEARN if we stop “teaching” them? Here’s the thing, by shifting gears from teacher to facilitator, educators allow students to take the driver’s seat, and instead become the supportive passenger simply there to offer tools and suggestions, to allow students to reach their destination towards acquiring knowledge.
Information alone, however, is not all that is needed to create a new culture of learning. Brown and Thomas (2011) point out that the second element to creating a new culture of learning is rooted in a “bounded and structured environment that allows for unlimited agency to build and experiment with things within those boundaries” (p. 19). What does it all mean? Well, if you combine the information network with exploration that can take place in a structured space, then you allow individuals to learn in a world filled with constant degrees of change. Embracing these elements helps to not only cultivate imagination, but creates a more effective and authentic learning environment.
“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” -Socrates
To create a significant learning environment embedded within a new culture of learning, the focus should be centered around student learning and emphasize the core elements of passion, imagination and constraint built with play. For children, passion comes from their view of the world and the curiosity that they have as they grow and evolve. As educators, it is important that we create environments that give students the chance to explore and cultivate their passions. Furthermore, while imagination and play are also prominent in children, teacher-centered, and test focused classrooms place a stark hold on these outlets, instead of pursuing and expanding upon those curiosities. What it boils down to is outlined clearly in the formula discussed by Thomas and Brown (2011) that claims, “play becomes a strategy for embracing change, rather than a way for growing out of it” (p. 48). Embracing the new culture of learning requires one to look at the dimensions in which learning is based on, knowing, making, and playing (Thomas & Brown, 2011). A classroom where passion and imagination with constraint are embraced through the dimensions of knowing, making, and playing, is a student-centered classroom where authentic learning is occurring. This not only creates a significant learning environment, but allows students to develop the 21st century skills necessary to succeed.
As a Learning Specialist, I have the unique opportunity to support both the students and the teachers in a way that allows me to help facilitate significant learning environments in a multitude of different ways. To begin the process, I have started with the classroom in which my Innovation Plan is piloted through. Within this classroom, the learner is placed at the center of the classroom and the significant learning environment includes inquiry, collaboration, COVA, digital learning and ePortfolios in a learner-centered approach. One example of inquiry, and collaboration that I have seen in the pilot classroom is the work they are doing to build out their business models, where students create a business from the ground up, devise a clear plan and work through each stage of getting the business up and running to include securing funding and marketing. Additionally, blended learning is used within the program as students use various online programs that allow for both asynchronous and synchronous modes of learning to occur. My ePortfolio innovation plan allows these students to be website developers on Wix, Weebly, and WordPress while opening them up to opportunities for critical thinking and meaningful reflection. Thomas and Brown (2011) describe this as tacit learning, which is the belief that learning cannot be measured through tests, but rather through posts made by students that reflect experiences, artwork, videos, and more.
I would like to dig even deeper into creating a new culture of learning and a significant learning environment by incorporating Unrulr into the platforms used for collaboration, and reflection within the piloted classroom. However, the main challenge that I face is how to make this integrate with the students ePortfolios so the features go along with the learning and innovation taking place through that platform. In addition, I am not the primary facilitator of the plan, so while my piece continues to build out opportunities to really embrace the new culture of learning, the teacher of record will be faced with grading restraints and expectations that pressure standards and standardized tests. Not to mention, students at times are more focused on their grades than learning, so it will be imperative that I and the teacher of record practice and promote a growth mindset with students to increase motivation and overcome these challenges.
Adapting the perspective of creating significant learning environments could have a major impact on my organization. As educators and members of the education field, our goal is to foster learning and significant learning environments are a necessity to do just that. CSLE puts all of the pieces of education together to create learning opportunities for the leaders of tomorrow in a digitally connected world (Harapnuik, 2015). It makes the learning fun, lends itself to collaboration and allows challenge. I plan to not only support the teacher whose class will be a part of the pilot, but have started discussing plans for sharing ideas in department meetings and PLC meetings. A new culture is something that we ALL need to help cultivate learning for 21st century learners.
Resources
Harapnuik, D. (2015, May 8). Creating significant learning environments (CSLE) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.
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