Significant Learning Environments

A New Culture of Learning

In the new world of technology learning has taken on a new look.  How can teachers embrace that new culture of learning?  More importantly what does this new culture of learning look like? Douglas Thomas author of A New Culture of Learning says

“In the new culture we describe, learning thus becomes a lifelong interest that is renewed and redefined on a continual basis. Furthermore, everything—and everyone—around us can be seen as resources for learning. To harness that new kind of learning and understand where we are now headed.”

 

To understand this new culture of learning lets look at the current culture of learning.  In the current culture of learning teachers are the main focus of learning.  Learning is transferred down from the teacher to the the students.  The students then are asked to transfer that learning back to the teacher in a form of assessments.  In this form of learning students are expected to learn what is taught and rarely given opportunities to divert from the teacher’s curriculum.  In this form of learning students have many boundaries and are asked to stay within those boundaries.

In the new age of learning Thomas, describes the classroom as a learning environment where teachers, students, technology, and boundaries all co-exist together.  In this new environment all these things are blended together in order to create a new sense of learning.  In this new culture students are not measured on regurgitated or transferred information rather the process of learning.  In this new form of learning-based approach the learning that students go through is the focal point .  Students strive in this environment to build upon learning.

Creating a Significant Learning Environment

Last year I took a new position as an instructional coach.  One of the first things that I did was go through training in student centered coaching.  This training opened up my eyes to creating a significant learning environment. Creating a significant learning environment is about keeping the student at the focus of learning.  This is what has driven me in my Innovation Plan.  I look forward to developing a blended learning environment.  I feel as thou the blended learning environment embodies a significant learning environment.

In creating a significant learning environment teachers take a look at the learning process. Has the student gone through the process of learning.  It’s not about developing the right multiple choice questions and regurgitating information back to the teacher.  It’s about creating a place for the students to struggle and develop in their own way.  Along with student growth comes student communication.  Students are asked to communicate amongst each other to help with their learning and challenge each other.  In this process it is not about the student just getting to the end, but how the student reached the end.

Now in the old form of learning students were given boundaries or constraints on learning.  These constraints often times limited the students growth and learning.  In a significant learning environment there are boundaries but those boundaries are expected to trigger the students imagination.  Students are asked to work with in the boundaries but push the limits of their own learning.  When students push the limits of their imagination and learning something beautiful happens.  Students begin to learn that growth comes with failure and struggle.  As students develop in their learning they begin to adapt and learning can really take place at the fore front.

This is one of the reason that I love blended learning.  Blended learning can be developed for each individual student.  Thats why building relationships with students is key in a significant learning environment.  Building relationships so that teachers know their students can help build these significant learning environments.

Challenges to Implementation

In every organization there will be challenges.  As an instructional coach I have seen my fair share of challenges.  Maybe rather than calling them challengers I’ll call them resistors.  With in the blended learning model teachers are asked to rethink how they teach to students.  Creating a significant learning environment does the same thing.  It challenges the teacher to think about how they have been teaching for the past years. Those challenges to the teachers will be case for resistance.  In most cases it is resistance to the unknown.  That is why I will try to model, model, model.  Just like a car salesman running their buyers through all the bells and whistles on the car.  I need to sell to the teachers that they can’t live with out this in their classrooms.

With every new idea there have been naysayers.  People that thought they knew more than everyone else.  Ten years ago Steve Ballmer had this to say about the iPhone.

“Five hundred dollars, fully subsidized, with a plan?! I said, ‘That is the most expensive phone in the world! And it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard!’” — Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO

How wrong was he?  I know there will be naysayers in my organization.  I know there will be resistance to a blended learning environment.  It will be in the details of how I implement my ideas.  Knowing and trusting in the hours of research, discussions, and modeling I can feel confident in implementing blended learning.