Skip to main content

Viable Learning Outcomes and Other Awesome Things

Viable Learning Outcomes and Other Awesome Things

We sat as a team as Bea McGarvey vibrantly spoke on Viable Learning Outcomes. We chatted and bantered at each breakout about how to put these lofty concepts into action - a daunting and necessary task.

Tutorials, Seminars, Labs and Mentorships. Shifting the mindset with strategic direction and strategic alignment. The so-called ‘soft’ skills - Habits of Mind and Dimensions of Learning. (I wonder if they are the most important skills?)

What matters? What is a viable learning outcome? Who is able to say what we ALL should know?

Excitement permeated the room. Learners at the center! You could hear the buzz, wondering how these concepts of learner centered would fit into each setting. The cool thing, I think, is that it may never look the same twice.

We talked about Skill and Will. What separates the two? Why do I think one thing matters and someone else has another opinion? Why are grades important? How can we really ever assess what a learner knows? How am I measured? Against my colleagues? Myself? What I do or what I do not do?
Luc Galoppin

So, as I drove across Route 80 one more time this month I reflected on these ideas. How does motivation play into the skill and will of learners? Can we use our OER Commons more? We can help teachers understand how to access good, free, learner experiences? Learners who can recover or accelerate their learning anytime - not just when it is convenient for the adults? Would learner skill and will improve?

I listened as I traveled to a German class that was in session, then a Japanese class. I was impressed by how much a Japanese Level 1 learner could speak Japanese just seven (7) short months. It is amazing what we can do and learn (skill and will) in a short period of time if what we are learning is relevant and meaningful. I respect that these learners and facilitators are thriving as they achieve hard things!

I appreciate learning about the culture, too. Learning that people are different; customs and cultures vary. I am in awe of how many ways there are to do things correctly.

I also like learn - so I read and  listen to books, recently I consumed Great at Work by Morten T. Hansen, Originals by Adam Grant and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders . I was fortunate to hear Jaime Vollmer (Schools Cannot Do it Alone), Noelle Ellerson Ng (AASA Policy Fellow) and Tom Ryan (COSN) speak about the shifting landscape of school at the PASA Ed Congress.

Viable learning outcomes, Schools Can’t Do it Alone, Policy and Technology - reading helps me realize that we are leading and learning in challenging and complex times. Do I have the skill and will to implement new and different strategies and tool? Support others? Or am I stuck doing it my way? What would you recommend I read next?

Listening and learning makes me want to jump to action… yet, I need to be sure to include my ‘tribe’, to hear how others hold all the information. I am learning how to hear new and difficult concepts and strategies, before I jump to action (react).

Sorting what works, the current local situation, and wondering what small change to start with?? These challenges excite me!

So…  here are a few ways the IU8 WOL and Open Campus can help you explore the shifting landscape! Let me know if you want to talk about these ideas or ways you are thinking about leading in the shifting landscape!

OER - links to what is available in the OER Commons

We would like to do a webinar for teachers to help them use the content in the OER Commons (AIU8 - CLX) for Keystone review.

Giving us recommendations on times that teachers might show up would be helpful. We want to run this in the beginning of April.

Summer School CR - links to our course list and other options

By using the link above you can see what courses we offer for Summer and CR. Let us know if you want to learn more.

WOL What We Offer

Would what we have help you to be more learner centered?

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connected Learning - Anywhere!

Teaching and learning in an online, virtual, blended or internet based platform is not just about the tools, it is also about the connections. Don’t get me wrong, we couldn’t provide virtual services without the tools, but the tools come and some go… so we work hard to figure out how to engage with the learners and make the virtual experience meaningful. In the late fall, we spent some time with a few learners and their teacher. You can see that they like each other even though they have only been working together for about 8 weeks. We wanted to know a bit more about how learners were navigating these new tools that were being used at Windber Area School District so we asked them some questions. Here is what we heard when we asked: “What did you think when you heard you were going to be doing some of your class in a virtual environment?” The first students started “I thought it was going to be hard!” Another student described using the virtual tools as an “ex
Post a Comment
Read more

What Matters in Schools - Today and Every Day?

I started my weekend with a text message from Dave Lehman, the Superintendent at Conemaugh Valley School District about his testimony in the State Senate this week. I like working with Dave. We have become sounding boards for each other as we have worked collaboratively through Appalachia IU8. The job of a Superintendent goes well beyond the scope heading up schools. Most people don’t know how many hats a Superintendent wears on any given day. Some days we talk about alternative programs and expanding learner options - other days we just commiserate about how little we get to talk about education. James Hollis in his book Swamplands of the Soul stated, ‘Doubt is a radical form of faith’, something that I think is needed when working as a Superintendent. I have learned so much from working with Dave these past few years, he digs in when doubt is present. He often has simple, yet profound advice as he muddles through one of the many difficult issues faced by Superintendents most days.
Post a Comment
Read more

Passion, Perseverance, Growth Mindset and Grit

Passion, Perseverance, Growth Mindset and Grit Pat Mulroy, D. Ed. Appalachia IU8 May 21, 2018 It is not hard for me to get off task! As one of two people who ‘leads’ the World of Learning and Open Campus at IU8 I have a variety of task and work that I do to keep our scrappy little group together. So, as I was preparing some of the professional development on Mindset, that we will offer in the upcoming school year, I was reading articles that discussed why Grit and Growth Mindset both are important in education. As you can see, I am down the off-task road, 100%. Yet it was exciting because, it made me to think of all the examples of people who truly expanded their mindset in our World of Learning. Carol Dweck Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation. She examines what she calls mindsets, which people use to regulate their behavior. Her research looks at where mindsets originate, and the role of mindsets in motivation and reg
Post a Comment
Read more