We trust that the How to Reignite Your Learner’s Mindset video sparked your desire to start or continue your journey of reigniting your Learner’s Mindset by changing your thinking about learning, your approach to learning, and by changing your learning environment. At the risk of discouraging you before you begin, we must caution that there is no Quick Fix to adopting the Learner’s Mindset. But as we all know from experience most good things will take some commitment and effort on your part. The exciting thing about the Learners’ Mindset is that it is a very natural state of being that we all had as infants and toddlers so it is just a matter of reigniting that spark of the inquisitive nature that we all once had and we can help you work through the rest of the process.
If there is one significant lesson that educators can learn from the COVID pandemic it is that shifting to virtual teaching or remote teaching without a plan or preparation was hard at best and more chaotic for students, teachers, and families than anyone could have predicted.
With the dispersion of vaccines, we are now hearing about a potential resumption of school this coming fall of 2021. But, once schools return to traditional face-to-face attendance, will they revert to pre-COVID norms? Perhaps this past year of reactive remote learning will help school leaders to recognize that we need to be proactive and leverage technology to reshape their schools and transform student learning outcomes in the process.
The question we need to address is how do we go from hard pivot to seamless integration? The following are links to articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, TED Talks, and books that were used or referenced in my session for the School Leadership Progress & Innovation Series at Governors State University.
Links to Authentic Learning & CSLE+COVA posts:
I have been advocating authentic learning or project-based learning and creating significant learning environments for decades both professionally and personally. Talking the talk as an academic takes on a much more significant perspective when you walk the walk in your personal life.
The CLSE+COVA section of this site is also a great starting place to see how to create a significant learning environment by giving your learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities.
The first half of the video points primarily to the traditional cognitive alignment that we should strive for in our instructional design and curriculum development. If you are engaged in competency-based education that is part of a skills-based program, introductory to intermediate courses, instruction that is designed to prepare students for a credentialing exam, or other forms of standardized testing and evaluation then the cognitive alignment which we outline is the minimum alignment you should apply.
Alignment
If you are working at a higher level or are able to incorporate authentic learning opportunities through project-based learning and are using an outcome-based design then you will have the opportunity to expand your scope of alignment and incorporate more aspects of the affective and the psychomotor domains and better address the whole learner. If you are not familiar with the difference between competency-based education vs outcome-based education or need confirmation of how I am using these two concepts please refer to the post Why I Don’t Use Checklists, Progress Bars & Other Activity Monitors to explore these ideas further.
To explore alignment at a higher or more wholistic level you need to first change your focus:
When you create a significant learning environment (CSLE) in which you give your learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (COVA). The CSLE+COVA framework shifts the focus from the curriculum, skills, and abilities to the authentic learning opportunity which ideally should be a real-world project that will have a significant impact on the learner and their learning community. The skills and abilities may still need to be developed or supported but the learner takes on the responsibility to become more of a self-directed learner who acquires or learns those skills and abilities in a just-in-time fashion as they work toward solving the challenge of the authentic learning opportunity. The instructor takes on more of the role of coach, guide, and facilitator and helps shift the learner from assessment of and for learning to assessment as learning
Alignment is one piece of the learning environment and we must warn against the notion of looking for a quick fix or simple application of a tool to help you find this alignment. This is part of a well-thought-out and planned instructional design or curriculum development process.
