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MUST WATCH!

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The Future of Socioeconomic School Integration

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SXSWedu 2017s opening keynote. Merging theory and practice, connecting contemporary issues to historical ones, and providing a deep analysis on the current state of education, Dr. Emdin ushers in a new way of looking at improving schools and schooling.

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The Future of Socioeconomic School Integration

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SXSWedu 2017s Tuesday keynote #PricedOut One of the most sustained and vigorous public debates today is about the value and crucially, the price of college. But an unspoken, outdated assumption underlies all side of this debate: If a young person works hard enough, they'll be able to get a college degree and be on the path to a good life.

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I read Secretary DeVos's statement after she visited Jefferson Middle School Academy in Washington DC last week:

"But I can tell the attitude is more of a 'receive mode.' They're waiting to be told what they have to do, and that's not going to bring success to an individual child. You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching."

I have visited many schools and talked with thousands of educators over the past 11 years, and I have a different perspective.

Before my 11 years at Google, I worked for or consulted with a broad range of organizations and companies. I've spent time at the New York State Department of Social Services and other state agencies in New York, American Express, United States Postal Service, Accenture, Salt River Project, Unitedhealthcare, Motorola, Dell Microsystems, Seagate Technology, Newmont Mining Corporation, Charles Schwab, and many others. I've also sat on the boards of various non-profits. In other words, I've worked with lots of workforces: government, financial services, banking, healthcare, natural resources, electronic and high-tech, mining, and non-profit, all in the name of organizational development and change. For the past 11 years, I have spent the majority of my time working with educators, while simultaneously working in the technology sector.

What have I observed from working 22 years with all these workforces?
Out of all of the workforces I've been engaged with, educators are easily and by far the most passionate, dedicated, purpose-driven workforce you will find. Their life is their work. They show up early and stay late seven days a week. They are underpaid and overworked. They come to professional development workshops on their day off. They are resourceful and adaptive. They are creative and scrappy. They care deeply about kids and sacrifice their well being and resources for their students. They put their students first and often do it while fighting the system that is supposed to support them. In other words, when the zombie apocalypse comes, I want to be with teachers!

Are there bad teachers in the workforce? Yes. Out of the 3+ million teachers in the United States, there are some "lemons, " and they are the ones who get all the media attention. However, there are lemons in every industry. You don't think they do the "lemon dance" in other workforces? You bet they do. I've seen it time and time again. So have you. In fact, you know someone at work right now that shouldn't be there! I'm sure you know more than one! Compared to the professional development opportunities and resources available to other workforces, we shouldn't be upset we have "lemons" in education, we should be shocked there aren't ten times more!

We snicker when they protest for better working conditions, as the ceiling in their classroom collapses. Meanwhile, I've seen workers in other industries lose their minds when the snack room runs out of kale chips.

They spend an average of $500 from their paycheck (one in ten spend more than $1000) to buy supplies for their students, while I get upset if I forget to expense my $6 cup of coffee at the airport.

I have spent a lot of time in front of teachers over the last 11 years. There are countless examples of what they will do for their work and their students. They bring in food for students they know aren't eating at home. They stay late, working with students on a project while missing time at home with their own children. I watch them beam with pride when they talk about their student's successes and way too often, I see them cry when they talk about not being able to help every student.

They understand that at the end of the day, when the door of their classroom closes, they are the most important factor in each student's education, particularly in the case of students who are growing up the way I grew up - in poverty and dangerous environments. To children in these conditions, the teacher is the most significant adult in their life, and teachers carry that heavy responsibility with them throughout each and every day.

So I respectfully disagree with the idea that educators are waiting to be told what to do. I don't often see a teacher in "receive mode." They are usually 100% in action mode. In fact, if they are waiting for anything, it's for all of us to stop trying to tell them what to do. To stop coming up with policies and programs they know do not work. To stop treating them with disrespect and start realizing that they are the education experts.

What they are waiting for is the autonomy they need to help our students. They know what is in the best interest of each and every one of them. You want innovation in our classrooms, give teachers the room they need to be innovative and provide them with the resources and professional development they require, and watch them thrive.

What teachers are waiting for isn't a new policy or a new program. What they are waiting for is for all of us to get out of their way. They know how to help and educate children. Instead, they have to deal with our new standards, or new tests, or new accountability metrics.

Why would anyone put up with all these issues? Why would they put up with the disrespect? Why would anyone take on all these responsibilities without the support they need?

The answer is simple. Children. They care more about children than most of us will ever understand. What workforce can say this? Teachers are the most passionate and dedicated workforce in any industry, and what they are waiting for is for us to recognize this and get out of their way!

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Teachers: the only mode they have is action - Jaime Casap - Medium

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I read Secretary DeVos's statement after she visited Jefferson Middle School Academy in Washington DC last week: "But I can tell the attitude is more of a 'receive mode.' They're waiting to be told what they have to do, and that's not going to bring success to an individual child.

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Why Singapore schools are dropping grades.

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Why Singapore schools are dropping grades.

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX

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BBC News - Why high-flying Singapore is scrapping grades https://t.co/OY9CbR6qaW

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX
— Dr. Rashad, Creative Director (@kalebrashad) March 8, 2017

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX

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BBC News - Why high-flying Singapore is scrapping grades https://t.co/OY9CbR6qaW

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX

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YES!! Next evolution of school: wholeness, well being, empathy, drive, passion, civic engagement & social impact 💥💥💥 @hightechhigh #SXSWEdu https://t.co/z5kqcTn1oX

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BBC News - Why high-flying Singapore is scrapping grades https://t.co/OY9CbR6qaW

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CBE Discussion from Personalized Meet Up

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CBE Discussion from Personalized Meet Up

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This post first appeared in the EDUCAUSE Transforming Higher Ed blog on Febuary 6, 2017.
We're examining competency-based education (CBE), an approach that has been celebrated for its customization and modularized structure, enabling students to demonstrate mastery and move at their own pace through academic programs. Beyond its timing advantages, CBE also has been cited as a means of supporting student equity, and encouraging knowledge transfer-in order to sufficiently educate kids as well as adults for roles that are currently evolving, or perhaps those which have yet to be created.

While CBE remains somewhat nascent across K-12 districts and postsecondary institutions, it has gained a foothold and interest in it continues to grow across the United States.

I spoke with educators, academic experts and institutional leaders to learn more about the ways in which CBE is serving students of all ages, grades and skill levels, and to better understand existing collaborations or points of intersection between schools and academia.

The approach is currently bridging gaps between employers and aspiring college graduates; there appears to be significant potential for CBE to also positively impact younger students.

Embracing the Real World

Matthew Prineas, Vice Provost and Dean of The Undergraduate School at University of Maryland University College, agrees.

"The promise of competency-based methodology is its power to create new connections and seamless pathways between K12, higher education, and the workplace," he said.

"At UMUC, we are developing competency-based learning experiences that connect the real-world skills employers are asking for with the intellectual abilities our students need for academic success. We believe that competency-based approaches are equally adaptable to the needs of our adult students, who are looking to connect their prior experience with a college credential and a profession, as they are for high school students, who need to develop the foundational skills and behaviors necessary for success in college and beyond.

The emphasis is, of course, on demonstrated mastery rather than rote memorization.

"By putting the focus on what students can do, not just what they know, competencies give us the means to construct learning experiences that are more relevant and engaging-and that is to the benefit of all students, wherever they are in their educational journey."

Imagining a New Academic Experience

Chris Sturgis, Co-Founder CompetencyWorks, believes that while significant differences between the two sides exist, alignment is possible-and could be extremely beneficial for students of all ages and backgrounds.

"At the level of conceptualization, K12 and institutions of higher education have a shared understanding of competency education," she explained. "Yet, in the implementation to date there are differences, and some of them are significant. For example, a school district must serve all students regardless of their skill levels or educational experiences. Institutions of higher education have more ability to select their students, whereas districts have to organize themselves to meet the needs of every student regardless of their skills and educational experiences."

Student agency also plays a role.

"Another difference is that institutions of higher education can screen for self-directed learning skills: many have created parallel programs, one online with a traditional structure and one competency-based and online for students who have demonstrated adequate self-directed learning skills. K-12 districts and schools are creating the capacity to help all students learn the self-directed skills needed for college and careers. Over time, it is likely that the two approaches will become more alike. In the meantime, it is important to understand the differences in order to learn across the sectors."

Greater affiliation K-12 and higher education CBE programs could also boost student equity.

"We have not even begun to tap into the potential of aligning the two sectors of K-12 and institutions of higher education around competencies," Sturgis explained.

"Imagine the world where students know exactly what it means to be doing freshmen level work while in high school and can demonstrate their mastery based on calibrated assessments. Imagine the world where students who feel that they are not being well served by districts, particularly young men of color, can find opportunities to complete their high school degree at a community-based organization supported with programming provided by districts or colleges. Once we have robustly calibrated understanding of performance levels and quality control mechanisms in place-so that we never return to a situation of inconsistency, meaningless credits and variability in grading-the sky is the limit in how we organize learning experiences that meet the needs of all of our students."

Building Stronger Regional Connections

Mark Kostin, Associate Director of Great Schools Partnership, identified several areas of intersection he has seen through the organization's role as conveners of the New England Secondary School Consortium.

"High school graduates who have come from a CBE environment tend to be greater advocates for their own learning, emphasizing relevance and meaning as part of their experience," he said. "They're more desirous of clear and actionable feedback against transparent, shared expectations, and tend to have honed self advocacy skills and awareness as agents of their own learning. We often hear stories from schools that we work with; some have told us that college freshmen who are CBE high school graduates will proactively approach professors to see the rubric."

It has engendered an organic K-16 discipline-based conversation.

"We work with a handful of school districts who either by proximity or through dual enrollment programs have developed both formal and informal relationships with institutions of higher education. For example, high school science teachers and biology professors are discussing what progression should look like, sharing expectations so that grads can be better prepared. It's happening now, but currently it's taking place in pockets rather than across institutions."

Collaboration often hinges on a number of factors such as district or state policies.

"Schools that historically have had dual enrollment or early college depending upon language that district or state tends to use. There are two possible models: if the college campus is within driving distance from a CBE high school that will send students to pursue degrees, the college will need to closely track academic standards. This is an obvious important connection that has to happen; a translation of sorts, so that everyone knows what a B+ 'means'. I think we're at the early stages of that. In some cases, there have been very productive conversations that actually examine standards and the assessment of those standards as well, going well beyond reviewing the syllabus to determine equivalency. In fact, some CBE high schools will send their rubrics to the college faculty, eager to know how their students performed against their own rubrics. They'll even ask that student to return and share their portfolio of learning outcomes."

What about training teachers for competency-based models?

"Teacher preparation is critical. With a growing number of secondary schools in New England using a CBE model, you can imagine that districts in their hiring processes are looking for candidates with experience in or knowledge of CBE. We're seeing that transpire in Maine in particular, as 'receiving schools' (schools that hire new teacher grads) are part of an advisory group to the teacher education program at area universities. The level of responsiveness in terms of serving regional schools is important."

Kostin cited a raised awareness of what's happening via policy and research centers at universities, including one institution that is shifting to an entire competency-based model (the University of Maine at Presque Isle). However, he notes that on both sides, we are 'at the early stages of mostly pioneering states'.

Piloting Intersectional Partnerships

Steve Kossakoski, CEO of Virtual Learning Academy (VLACS), an online public middle and high school, believes that competency-based education could lead to significant changes in the way in which students are educated.

"Competency-based education effectively transforms the one-size-fits all learning model into one where time, pace, and place can flex to meet the needs of students. At VLACS, competency-based education is the foundation of our customized learning model. We define customized learning as providing students with the freedom to determine when, where, and how they will learn based on their needs, interests, and talents."

Two recent collaborations with institutions of higher education enable high school students to work toward an associate degree while pursuing their diplomas.

"VLACS has partnered with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) to offer a unique early college program. Students have the option of completing one or more college courses, completing the first year of an associate degree program, or completing an entire associate degree program while in high school. Students who earn an associate degree through this program will be invited to receive their degree at Southern New Hampshire University's commencement ceremony. We've also partnered with the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) to offer a number of additional college courses-some of which may be used to fulfill parts of the SNHU degree requirements. Each institution offers unique and exciting opportunities to students."

See also:

About the Author

Kristi DePaul is a Marketing Manager, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) and Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), at EDUCAUSE.

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This post first appeared in the EDUCAUSE Transforming Higher Ed blog on Febuary 6, 2017.

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#DeepDt

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu https://t.co/bq3Bu8AQQj

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu pic.twitter.com/bq3Bu8AQQj
— Mary Cantwell (@scitechyEDU) March 8, 2017

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu https://t.co/bq3Bu8AQQj

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu https://t.co/bq3Bu8AQQj

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Pathways 4 Doing #designthinking in Educational Environments #DEEPdt #dtk12chat #sxswedu

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Learning Personalized - Giving a voice to teacher-leaders, administrators, and students doing amazing things

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Learning Personalized is a community dedicated to the exploration of personalized learning: a model where students have a central role in what they learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate learning.

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"What we are talking about here is a complete restructure," said Virgil Hammonds, who just wrapped up a stint as superintendent of RSU2 in Maine and previously led competency efforts in Lindsay, California. He likened the process to a home-remodel where the whole building is knocked down to its foundation and built anew.
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK
To undertake this kind of big project a district needs to take a systems approach to teaching and learning, gathering input from all the stakeholders, listening carefully, incorporating those ideas in real ways into the plan and developing a strong shared vision and district culture.

"I have come to firmly believe that if this part isn't done well then districts may have difficulty implementing with fidelity since the culture of the traditional system remains intact," said Robert Crumley, superintendent of Chugach School District in Alaska.

It took Chugach almost three years to complete this ramping up phase. Crumley and his staff held dozens of community meetings, inviting parents, students, educators, business leaders and community members to share their input for a new vision of school that put students at the center. The district already had a lot of unflattering data telling them they needed to try something new or else fall behind.

After the initial input-gathering period, the superintendent and the school board made a public five-year commitment to making changes based on that input. "That public commitment was instrumental in staff having confidence that we were going to continue with this," Crumley said. He's well aware of "initiative fatigue" that many educators feel when new education fads come and go. But the public commitment helped gain their trust, as did the obvious incorporation of their ideas into the new plan.

Crumley also took the time to empower the staff in his district, focusing on retention, not finding new teachers that already fit the mold. To do this, Crumley worked on helping his staff have a growth mindset about their efforts and empowered them with three simple motivators:

1. Engage in complex work with a sense of mastery.

2. Engage with other people.

3. Give them some autonomy over what they do and how and when to do it.

"When you empower people you are actually giving up a little of your power and handing it to someone else," Crumley said. "That can be a little scary for some people, but it generally garners greater results for the system in the long term." Crumley even found that some of the loudest voices pushing back against the changes soon became his strongest allies. When they saw that their concerns were listened to and addressed, those vocal opponents who were often charismatic leaders in their school communities, saw their way toward the shared vision.

"Often times their concerns were valid concerns that we needed to address and they helped us address them," Crumley said. If a teacher felt so misaligned with the new system that they didn't want to work there, the district helped them find work elsewhere.

"We need to model the conditions of innovation and problem-solving as principals and district administrators," Crumley said. That means not letting bureaucracy get in the way of innovation. It means creating the conditions where staff feel they are safe to experiment and tinker with their practice.
BUILD UP INFRASTRUCTURE
Many districts trying to implement a competency education don't spend the necessary time ramping up to this kind of sweeping reform, instead jumping right into designing the infrastructure as though it is a technical problem. But without the buy-in of the community, school board, staff and students, the reform effort is likely to flop. The infrastructure must be built on a strong foundation.

"We need to model the conditions of innovation and problem-solving as principals and district administrators."

When those shared values are in place it becomes imperative that the competencies students are expected to learn are completely transparent. "We're no longer the teacher who is holding the secret of how to earn that top-level grade," Hammonds said. "Instead we say, 'here are the expectations for rigor and a clear scale for how to achieve it.'"

Teachers need to work together to clearly define the scale for how students will achieve mastery and what qualities will be included. While all students are held accountable for the same high expectations and the same competencies, they will each show their mastery in different ways. Teachers have to be ready for that variance, embrace it, and know what they are looking for to maintain rigorous standards.
TRANSITIONING INTO COMPETENCY EDUCATION
There's no "right way" to transition into such a drastically different way of thinking about school because the unique factors of each district and community will play a big role. Asking the community what they want their graduates to look like is a good way to start. Preparing students for what the new system will be like and preparing them to take on more autonomy and agency is also crucial.

Clarifying questions to help define pedagogical approach:

ž

What do we know about the different ways to motivate and engage students? ž

Where does student agency fit in learning?

What role do habits of learning play, and how can they be developed in students?

What does the research tell us about effective instructional practices?

What are the types of assessment, and what role do they play in achievement?

What types of learning experiences are needed to help students reach graduation goals?

Given your current student population, their academic needs, and their life and learning experiences, how might this inform your school design or pedagogical approach?

What challenges and educational needs can online and blended learning help you address?

How do parents and the community at large think about these questions?

Clearly defining the competences and the indicators is one step. Designing rubrics that clearly link back to those competencies is another equally important step that often gets overlooked. In hindsight, Hammonds wishes his team had spent more time designing the assessment rubrics. "When assessment goes beyond the level of retrieval (the goal of this kind of system), it is extra important to define things like what reflection looks like," he said.

Pittsfield School District in New Hampshire had a slightly easier journey to competency than Alaska or Maine because the state passed a law requiring high schools to implement competency education by 2008. That law has been ignored or implemented with varying degrees of effectiveness in different parts of the state, but it did help provide some support as schools began to define indicators of competencies.

For two years Pittsfield educators did research, visited other schools and began identifying teacher leaders who would pilot ideas in their classrooms. Those teacher-leaders eventually put together "Do's and Don'ts" for peers based on early experimentation. In the first year, the district devoted a lot of resources to writing the competencies, checking them against a rigor tool the state provided and training teachers, said Derek Hamilton, dean of operations for Pittsfield School District.

A panel of excited teachers who deeply understood competency education dug into the district's current grading practices and policies, revising them to fit the competency model. They wanted to be sure teachers felt they could be consistent from class-to-class and grade-to-grade. Teachers got student feedback on whether the competencies were clear.

In the second year, the district presented the competencies they'd developed to the community. While parents had been clear about the general skills and dispositions they wanted students to graduate with, they hadn't participated in the nitty-gritty competency writing and they needed to be brought up to speed.

In the third year, Pittsfield implemented the system throughout their 7-12th grade classes. It was bumpy at first, but Hamilton said when students led conferences with their parents and teachers, it all started to become clear. The parents could see how their child's work connected to the rubric. This stage helped solidify support.

"We understood that in order to make this transformation we needed to find time to do it," Hamilton said. School starts late once a week so teachers can have professional development time that's crucial to working out the kinks in the new system.

The first several years gave teachers and administrators a lot to reflect on, and in the fourth year teachers saw the need to better support students moving ahead or behind pace. They also implemented a support block on Wednesdays entirely dedicated to one-on-one support. They recognized that if time were truly flexible for students, then educator resources needed to be available in the summer too. Teachers began holding office hours, for which the district paid them, to support students who were still working on competencies.

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Steps to Help Schools Transform to Competency-Based Learning

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"What we are talking about here is a complete restructure," said Virgil Hammonds, who just wrapped up a stint as superintendent of RSU2 in Maine and previously led competency efforts in Lindsay, California. He likened the process to a home-remodel where the whole building is knocked down to its foundation and built anew.

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Dr. Christopher Emdin has a clear message for this year's SXSWedu attendees: "When a student is brilliant on the street corner but falling asleep in class, something is wrong with the schooling system."

An associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at Columbia University's Teachers College, Emdin kicked off the annual conference this year with a keynote speech titled after the latest album by the rap group, A Tribe Called Quest: "We Got it From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service." With a flow and cadence of his own, Emdin repeatedly returned to lyrics from the album, citing the complexities and insight that hip-hop culture can reveal about many young people's experiences within the U.S. education system.

In doing so, Emdin had the hundreds of educators, policy experts and edtech entrepreneurs who flew to Austin, Tex. for the conference cheering, clapping and in some cases crying during a fiery speech that at times felt more like a church revival than an education conference.

Are You a Frenemy?

Emdin, who last year hit the New York Times' bestseller list with his book " For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too," was quick to address the injustices he sees as most prevalent among the U.S. education system-issues which he reiterated educators and entrepreneurs cannot "tech away." And even though facing a largely tech-friendly audience, Emdin pounded out his disagreements with the education entrepreneurs and reformers.

"There are people in the world of education who are simply here to listen to good ideas and monetize off of them," said Emdin. "I don't worry about people gettin' they bread, but you can't take and not give back."

Emdin labeled financially-driven education entrepreneurs as "enemies." And he took on the nonprofit leaders, policymakers and edtech do-gooders he believes have "good intentions but enemy executions," dubbing them "frenemies."

"You got white folks in urban spaces who by virtue don't understand the complexity of urban spaces," Emdin said. "They think they are going in and doing good work, but they are extracting the culture out of [students]."

"This is not anti-Coding Academy," he continued. "It's anti-'the perverse notion that I can go to a community, frame a charity as opening up new possibilities for [students] when in reality I still have low expectations for them,'" Emdin said.

Can't 'Tech Away' Trauma

The problem goes far beyond intentions, Emdin emphasized. "Trauma is living in the bodies of young folks in schools today. A President Trump stress disorder is a real phenomenon."

"We have become adjusted to a society that imposes that trauma," he went on, referencing recent events such as a father who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while dropping his 13-year-old daughter off at school, and the widely publicized killings of unarmed black men in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death.

"In class we focus on standards and can't talk about those emotions, but young folks are carrying those emotions into the class every day," he said. "We have become adjusted to the fact that young folks have trauma."

Rather than teaching youth to conform to a system that many believe has historically marginalized them, Emdin encouraged the audience-and students-to "maladjust" from the status quo. "We are inheriting a trauma that's in the bones of the institution. And if you can't name that trauma and be maladjusted, you ain't going nowhere."

Where From Here?

A self-described "rache-demic" (a.k.a. ratchet academic), Emdin closed his speech by encouraging educators to embrace hip-hop culture along with academic achievement. "It is possible to listen to hip-hop music and have a Ph.D.," said Emdin. He also urged friends to "convert" their enemies and frenemies by having more conversations about race and equity.

"We integrated schools, we sent black kids to white schools, but we never integrated curriculum and approaches," Emdin explained. He challenged educators-specifically white educators-to try to understand the traumatic effect that past adjustment strategies have had on students and teachers.

"At the end of the day, all youth benefit from being exposed to a more robust approach to teaching and learning, all learners benefit from complexity," declared Emdin.

Watch the full speech:

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Dr. Christopher Emdin Strikes US Education, Edtech and 'Frenemies' at SXSWedu - EdSurge News

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Dr. Christopher Emdin has a clear message for this year's SXSWedu attendees: "When a student is brilliant on the street corner but falling asleep in class, something is wrong with the schooling system."

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When the founding freshman class arrived at d.tech, a public design thinking-focused charter high school in Silicon Valley, in fall 2014, the students discovered that their classrooms had been left unfinished-on purpose. Their first assignment: Design the learning spaces. By the second week of school, after taking a field trip and conducting behavioral research, they were buying furniture.

"Why would you solve a problem without knowing what people really need? It's so intuitive," says founder and executive director Ken Montgomery, a former high school English teacher with a policy analysis PhD from Stanford. "That's one of the reasons that design thinking has resonated in education."

The students didn't know it at the time, but they would soon revisit that first assignment on a much grander scale. Back in May 2014, Montgomery and his team had impressed leaders at the Oracle Education Foundation, one of the technology giant's philanthropic arms, during a daylong workshop organized by the foundation and led by a Stanford d.school facilitator.

"They blew us away," foundation director Colleen Cassity says of the d.tech educators, who participated alongside educators from other Bay Area high schools. "They were so committed to the [design thinking] process, and they spoke so much the same language that we did."

Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz shared Cassity's enthusiasm. At the foundation's annual holiday dinner in late 2013, held at the Rosewood Hotel's Madera restaurant, Catz had surprised her board members by initiating a three-hour discussion about Oracle's role in education. Cassity recalls Catz saying, "'Everyone [in Washington, D.C.] talks about education, but I don't see anybody doing anything. I want us to do something, and I want for our people to be involved.'"

Do something-but what? In the months that followed, the foundation team narrowed its focus to high school-level opportunities that would engage Oracle employees and their technology expertise. Catz and Cassity met in July to consider their options. "You know, I think we own that," Catz mused, as she stood at the window of her office and pointed toward an undeveloped parcel of land at Oracle headquarters in Redwood City. Why not, she and Cassity wondered, turn the lot into a permanent home for d.tech, which had been sharing space with Mills High School in nearby Millbrae?

That vision is now coming to life. Oracle broke ground on d.tech's new 64,000-square foot campus last month, after months of design and development in partnership with employees, parents, students, and teachers. By next fall, the completed building will be ready to house 550 students and 30 faculty.

As with d.tech's first location, students played a central role in the process. "We wanted open spaces where you'd be able to focus but also collaborate," says Whitney Wisnom, 16. She and the other students involved in the planning also emphasized the importance of modular spaces and brightly colored walls, an echo of the bold paint (orange, turquoise) that d.tech's teachers had added to their original classrooms.

DES Architects + Engineers, which led the project, won over Wisnom and her peers by practicing the same design thinking principles that they had been taught. Step one: Empathize. "They saw us first, as opposed to the physical building," she says.

The final design groups classrooms into neighborhoods, each one opening off of a long hallway that will serve as the school's main traffic corridor and connecting thread. It also incorporates free-form spaces, outfitted with sofas, which encourage students to work comfortably on their own. In a two-story "garage," students will have access to prototyping tools like 3D printers and laser cutters, as well as graphic design and video production equipment.

Hands-on lessons in the garage will complement the personalized learning pathways that d.tech students follow in their core subjects, using online modules. Students move through the digital lessons at their own pace, with coaching from teachers and verification that they're grasping the concepts.

Design thinking, the heart of the school's ethos and methodology, reappears in the regular group projects that students complete. The d.tech version of the process is in keeping with classic design thinking, with one notable exception. At the d.school, instructors have to spend time helping the grown-up participants turn off their internal "editors," the voices saying that an idea isn't practical, or economical. At d.tech, Montgomery says, teachers have to do the reverse. "With kids, you have to almost do the opposite, and wrap [the challenge] a little more in reality," he says. "We focus more on the implementation, whereas the d.school has to focus on bringing out the wild ideas."

D.tech is the first example of a technology company sharing real estate with a U.S. high school, but it is far from the only example of business involvement in K-12 education. IBM, for example, has worked in partnership with educators to develop an innovative model called P-TECH that offers students a high school diploma and an associate's degree, plus the option for high performers to move straight into entry-level technology jobs at partner corporations. There are now over three dozen high schools following in the footsteps of the original P-TECH (which stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School), located in Brooklyn.

Critics question whether employers and education should be so tightly intertwined. But in the near term it's hard to argue with efforts to improve an educational system that is in many cases failing to turn out high school graduates at all, let alone train them for relevant 21st-century careers.

"We have wonderful jobs here at Oracle and not enough people graduating here in the United States to fill them," Cassity says. "Employers are hungry for young people with creative confidence and technical acumen."

Montgomery stands by the partnership. "Oracle made it clear from the start they're not opening a school, they're not running a school," he says. "They're nurturing and housing the school, obviously, but we still have full autonomy."

Oracle, d.tech's largest philanthropic backer, is not the school's only source of funds. Other supporters include the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, via the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative.

Oracle employees, who have already contributed over 3,300 volunteer hours at d.tech in its current location, will have even more opportunities to mentor and help develop curriculum when the new campus opens. In particular, Cassity hopes to expand on and formalize the design thinking workshops that volunteers have contributed to; one challenge, for example, involves designing a new wearable technology.

Cassity has high hopes for d.tech and is considering the possibility of expanding the model of colocated school and office to other Oracle campuses. She has already identified five communities that would meet the foundation's criteria, which includes employees who have the skill sets to serve as volunteers and lead technology-oriented workshops.

"One of the primary goals is demystifying technology for young people. But not only that-to enable them to become the future innovators," she says. "We want to promote this kind of thinking more broadly."

For students like Wisnom, d.tech has already had an impact. "I was used to the bell ringing, going to class," she says of her middle school experience. Design thinking required an entirely different mindset, pushing her to embrace new challenges like conducting user interviews. "I'd never done anything like it," she says. "It was hard for me to adjust and be open. I was really shy."

Now, the high school junior is speaking up in meetings with senior architects, serving as a coach in d.tech workshops, and aiming for a career as an engineer.

"We all cared so much and wanted it to be a cool school for the incoming d.tech students, not just ourselves," she says. And she plans to savor the moment: "I can't wait to spend my senior year there and be in a school that I designed."

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Why This Silicon Valley High School Let Students Design Its New Campus

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When the founding freshman class arrived at d.tech, a public design thinking-focused charter high school in Silicon Valley, in fall 2014, the students discovered that their classrooms had been left unfinished-on purpose. Their first assignment: Design the learning spaces. By the second week of school, after taking a field trip and conducting behavioral research, they were buying furniture.

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An innovative, free, public charter high school authorized by the San Mateo Union High School District.

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I made my classroom look like the real-world-and test scores soared

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Think about the jobs in today's economy - the ones we're supposed to prepare students for after graduation. Are employees evaluated using bubble-in tests to prove they know the ins and ...

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A shot from the SXSWedu 2017 Expo floor.

Another year, another SXSWedu, which means sessions, badges with QR codes, and long lines at overpriced Starbucks, stretching around the Austin convention center floors. But this year's SXSWedu wasn't just all panels and networking. In fact, a slight sense of skepticism and reflection hovered in the air, with keynoters and student panelists alike calling upon attendees to separate substance from fluff.

Approximately 13,000 SXSWedu attendees scurry back and forth from the Austin Convention Center to massive hotels in the center of the city, noses glued to their phones as they search for the next event. From personalized learning to ethical analytics, what stood out amongst the conversations? EdSurgents captured these tidbits in our reporter notebooks-take a look below.

Big Themes, Surprising Absences

EQUITY hasn't typically been SXSWedu's signature issue. For instance, at last year's conference, only 3 percent of the 350 panels explicitly addressed the role that technology plays in widening or closing the opportunity gap. However, that percentage appears to have jumped up to nearly 8 percent of the sessions this year, including the opening keynote by Dr. Christopher Emdin who dropped a serious message for SXSWedu attendees: "When a student is brilliant on the street corner but falling asleep in class, something is wrong with the schooling system."

LEAVING THE AMAZON: At last year's SXSWedu, Amazon's Education team and the company's General Manager of K-12 Education, Rohit Agarwal, launched the " Inspire" platform, with promises to support the open education resources space. But this year, the company is less visible on the SXSWedu floor, and the Amazon Education Twitter handle has been quiet since February 7 of this year. And Agarwal, a former co-founder of TenMarks, recently departed from the Amazon team, announcing his decision on LinkedIn. Agarwal isn't the only TenMarks founder to have left the Seattle-based tech giant. Andrew Joseph, Agarwal's cofounder, went on to join the Amazon Education team as VP of Strategic Relations after TenMarks got acquired in 2013. However, his LinkedIn profile shows that he left Amazon in October of 2016.

However, an Amazon spokesperson tells EdSurge, "Amazon remains committed to K-12 education and innovating on behalf of students and teachers."

Research Frontiers

ETHICAL ANALYTICS: Advocates of predictive analytics say the approach holds a lot of promise in higher ed, from better enrollment management to early alert systems. But making assumptions about a student's potential based on data alone comes with its own set of risks, explains Manuela Ekowo, a policy analyst with New America. To help colleges navigate these challenges, New America walked through its latest report, " Predictive Analytics in Higher Education: Five Guiding Practices for Ethical Use," over some barbecue at the Civitas Learning headquarters in downtown Austin on Tuesday. The five-point framework outlines steps institutions should consider when making assumptions about potential benefits and risks for students, including ways to ensure proper use of data and tips to build algorithms that avoid bias.

While useful to flag students who might face challenges in college, Ekowo says predictive analytics run the risk of "pigeonholing" students into stereotypes and holding them back from their full potential. "We wanted to make sure we weren't just profiling students who were traditionally marked as going to struggle at the institution."

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS about the news, reports Common Sense Media. Specifically, 63 percent say the news makes them feel afraid, angry, or depressed, according to " News and America's Kids: How Young People Perceive and Are Impacted by the News," a fresh report from the San Francisco-based nonprofit. The stats are based on interviews with 853 children ages 10-18 years old and highlights those weird kid contradictions: For instance, kids trust their families (66 percent) and their teachers (48 percent) for news-more than any other source. But 76 percent of kids prefer to get their news from social media (especially from Facebook).

CHATBOT CHAMPIONS: AdmitHub, a Boston-based edtech startup that creates conversational AI to help students through college, has some numbers to back up its college-expert chatbots. A recent study conducted at Georgia State University (one of the company's early school partners), chronicled a 21.4 percent decrease in the amount of students who don't return after summer and a 3.9 percent increase in overall enrollment after students used "Pounce," a virtual assistant named after the school's blue panther mascot.

Georgia State launched the chatbot in April 2016. After four months, Pounce had exchanged nearly 200,000 messages with 3,100 students on questions around tuition, student housing, financial aid and more. The study was conducted using a randomized control trial where a treatment group received reminders and could ask the chatbot questions, while a control group continued to receive the university's standard email messaging and communication.

Tools and Courses

WHO'S USING WHAT? New edtech accountability tool CatchOn launched on Tuesday. CatchOn provides a way for schools and districts to see what and how apps are being used around their campuses and classrooms. The tool is currently available on Chromebooks, but the company promises an iOS version soon.

FOR THE ELL'S: McGraw-Hill today launched ELLevate English, a customizable online course for English Language Learners in grades 7-12. The company's President and CEO, David Levin, says that the tool is currently available outside of the U.S. but will eventually be brought to the U.S. at a later date.

A (VR) TRIP TO PAKISTAN: PenPal Schools, an Austin-based online learning organization, announced Monday the release of its latest course: VR Field Trip to Pakistan. Through the course, students can work with online PenPals in Pakistan on assignments and can take a virtual-reality tour through the city of Lahore, located in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Breaching Privacy

GAPS IN PRIVACY LAWS: According to moderator, Amelia Vance, a lawyer at the Future of Privacy Forum, 91 privacy laws were passed 38 states since 2013, but only about 19 specifically covered higher-education data. Privacy experts at the SXSWedu " Postsecondary Privacy-Student Data and Analytics " panel, agreed that protection for student information still has significant gaps. That's particularly true in the higher-education space.

According to panelist, these gaps leave student data vulnerable to third-party technology vendors who provide supplemental learning materials outside of the classroom. "In terms of security, we tend to see weak access controls and poor database security, even though defending against database injection attacks have been well understood and well know for quite a while," Steven Roosa, a fellow emeritus at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University.

However, in sharp contrast to other student data, student financial aid information has strict regulatory protections, according to the panel-protections that will soon be audited by the federal government. "Under the Higher Education Act and under the Student Aid Internet Gateway agreements educational institutions are considered financial institutions, and so there are specific security rules that institutions have to follow in regards to their financial aid data systems," says Michael Hawes, director of student data privacy at the US Department of Education.

Who Said What?

'CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE THE WOMEN OF K-12': During a panel on " K-12 Ed Reform in the Post-Obama World," one quote elicited murmurs from onlookers when Noodle Education CEO John Katzman said, "Charter schools are the 'women of K-12,' in that they get 70 percent of the funding as traditional schools."

'EXPAND THE NATIONAL LUNCH PROGRAM FOR HIGHER EDUCATION' -One recommendation for better serving college students of all socioeconomic levels from Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University and Tuesday's SXSWedu keynote, Sara Goldrick-Rab.

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Tart Retorts and Tools: Overheard at SXSWedu - EdSurge News

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Another year, another SXSWedu, which means sessions, badges with QR codes, and long lines at overpriced Starbucks, stretching around the Austin convention center floors. But this year's SXSWedu wasn't just all panels and networking. In fact, a slight sense of skepticism and reflection hovered in the air, with keynoters and student panelists alike calling upon attendees to separate substance from fluff.

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Teaching Invention Literacy with Makey-Makey

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Teaching Invention Literacy with Makey-Makey

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Jedi Educators Nicole Catrett & Ryan Jenkins

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Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop for Educators

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Teaching Invention Literacy With Makey Makey

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The Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop for Educators is a fun hands-on learning experience where you'll learn how to teach Invention Literacy, Making, and Design Thinking using the award winning Makey Makey invention kit. We explore how to teach circuits and conductivity using Makey Makeys and then put our skills to use designing inventions!

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Will Richardson @willrich45

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The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools | Will Richardson | TEDxWestVancouverED

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Adapted from Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction, by John Larmer, John Mergendoller, Suzie Boss (ASCD 2015). This post is also available as a downloadable article.
It's encouraging that Project Based Learning has become popular, but popularity can bring problems. Here at PBLWorks, we're concerned that the recent upsurge of interest in PBL will lead to wide variation in the quality of project design and classroom implementation.

If done well, PBL yields great results. But if PBL is not done well, two problems are likely to arise. First, we will see a lot of assignments and activities that are labeled as "projects" but which are not rigorous PBL, and student learning will suffer. Or, we will see projects backfire on underprepared teachers and result in wasted time, frustration, and failure to understand the possibilities of PBL. In either scenario, PBL runs the risk of becoming another one of yesterday's educational fads - vaguely remembered and rarely practiced.

So, in order to help teachers do PBL well, we created a comprehensive, research-informed model for PBL - a "gold standard" to help teachers, schools, and organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve their practice. This term is used in many industries and fields to indicate the highest quality process or product. Our conception of Gold Standard PBL has three parts: 1. Student Learning Goals (in the center of the diagram) 2. Essential Project Design Elements (shown in the seven sections of the diagram), and 3. Project Based Teaching Practices ( which we explain elsewhere).

Student Learning Goals

Student learning of academic content and skill development are at the center of any well-designed project. Like the lens of a camera, our diagram puts the focus of PBL on preparing students for successful school and life experiences.

Key Knowledge and Understanding

Gold Standard PBL teaches students the important content standards, concepts, and in-depth understandings that are fundamental to school subject areas and academic disciplines. In good projects, students learn how to apply knowledge to the real world, and use it to solve problems, answer complex questions, and create high-quality products.

Key Success Skills

Content knowledge and conceptual understanding, by themselves, are not enough in today's world. In school and college, in the modern workplace, as citizens and in their lives generally, people need to be able to think critically and solve problems, work well with others, and communicate effectively. We could add other skills to the list, such as creativity/innovation and project management. We call these kinds of competencies "success skills." They are also known as "21st Century Skills" or "College and Career Readiness Skills" and are often seen in "Graduate Profiles" created by schools and districts.

It's important to note that success skills can only be taught through the acquisition of content knowledge and understanding. For example, students don't learn critical thinking skills in the abstract, isolated from subject matter; they gain them by thinking critically about math, science, history, English, career/tech subjects, the arts, and so on.

We recommend projects include a focus on one or two success skills specifically, even as others are being gained, since it's impossible to teach and assess every skill in every project--then teachers can emphasize other skills in other projects. Projects may also help build habits of mind and work and personal qualities (such as perseverance, growth mindset, or compassion), based on what teachers, schools, parents and communities value.

Essential Project Design Elements

So what goes into a successful project? Based on an extensive literature review and the distilled experience of the many educators we have worked with over the past fifteen years, we believe the following Essential Project Design Elements outline what is necessary for a successful project that maximizes student learning and engagement

CHALLENGING PROBLEM OR QUESTION

The heart of a project - what it is "about," if one were to sum it up - is a problem to investigate and solve, or a question to explore and answer. It could be concrete (the school needs to do a better job of recycling waste) or abstract (deciding if and when war is justified). An engaging problem or question makes learning more meaningful for students. They are not just gaining knowledge to remember it; they are learning because they have a real need to know something, so they can use this knowledge to solve a problem or answer a question that matters to them. The problem or question should challenge students without being intimidating. When teachers design and conduct a project, we suggest they (sometimes with students) write the central problem or question in the form of an open-ended, student-friendly "driving question" that focuses their task, like a thesis focuses an essay (e.g., "How can we improve our school's recycling system, so we can reduce waste?" or "Should the U.S. have fought the Vietnam War?").

SUSTAINED INQUIRY

To inquire is to seek information or to investigate - it's a more active, in-depth process than just "looking something up" in a book or online. The inquiry process takes time, which means a Gold Standard project lasts more than a few days. In PBL, inquiry is iterative; when confronted with a challenging problem or question, students ask questions, find resources to help answer them, then ask deeper questions - and the process repeats until a satisfactory solution or answer is developed. Projects can incorporate different information sources, mixing the traditional idea of "research" - reading a book or searching a website - with more real-world, field-based interviews with experts, service providers and users. Students also might inquire into the needs of the users of a product they're creating in a project, or the audience for a piece of writing or multimedia.

AUTHENTICITY

When people say something is authentic, they generally mean it is real or genuine, not fake. In education, the concept has to do with how "real-world" the learning or the task is. Authenticity increases student motivation and learning. A project can be authentic in several ways, often in combination. It can have an authentic context, such as when students solve problems like those faced by people in the world outside of school (e.g., entrepreneurs developing a business plan, engineers designing a bridge, or advisors to the President recommending policy). It can involve the use of real-world processes, tasks and tools, and performance standards, such as when students plan an experimental investigation or use digital editing software to produce videos approaching professional quality. It can have a real impact on others, such as when students address a need in their school or community (e.g., designing and building a school garden, improving a community park, helping local immigrants) or create something that will be used or experienced by others. Finally, a project can have personal authenticity when it speaks to students' own concerns, interests, cultures, identities, and issues in their lives.

STUDENT VOICE & CHOICE

Having a say in a project creates a sense of ownership in students; they care more about the project and work harder. If students aren't able to use their judgment when solving a problem and answering a driving question, the project just feels like doing an exercise or following a set of directions. Students can have input and (some) control over many aspects of a project, from the questions they generate, to the resources they will use to find answers to their questions, to the tasks and roles they will take on as team members, to the products they will create. More advanced students may go even further and select the topic and nature of the project itself; they can write their own driving question and decide how they want to investigate it, demonstrate what they have learned, and how they will share their work. Student "voice" is somewhat different from "choice"--it means giving students the opportunity to speak in their own way, to express their own opinions, rather than speak in ways they think the teacher wants.

REFLECTION

John Dewey, whose ideas continue to inform our thinking about PBL, wrote, "We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience." Throughout a project, students - and the teacher - should reflect on what they're learning, how they're learning, and why they're learning. Reflection can occur informally, as part of classroom culture and dialogue, but should also be an explicit part of project journals, scheduled formative assessment, discussions at project checkpoints, and public presentations of student work. Reflection on the content knowledge and understanding gained helps students solidify what they have learned and think about how it might apply elsewhere, beyond the project. Reflection on success skill development helps students internalize what the skills mean and set goals for further growth. Reflection on the project itself - how it was designed and implemented - helps students decide how they might approach their next project, and helps teachers improve the quality of their PBL practice.

CRITIQUE & REVISION

High quality student work is a hallmark of Gold Standard PBL, and such quality is attained through thoughtful critique and revision. Students should be taught how to give and receive constructive peer feedback that will improve project processes and products, guided by rubrics, models, and formal feedback/critique protocols. In addition to peers and teachers, outside adults and experts can also contribute to the critique process, bringing an authentic, real-world point of view. This common-sense acknowledgement of the importance of making student work and student products better is supported by research on the importance of "formative evaluation, " which not only means teachers giving feedback to students, but students evaluating the results of their learning.

PUBLIC PRODUCT

There are three major reasons for creating a public product in Gold Standard PBL - and note that a "product" can be a tangible thing, or it can be a presentation of a solution to a problem or answer to a driving question. First, like authenticity, a public product adds greatly to PBL's motivating power and encourages high-quality work. Think of what often happens when students make presentations to their classmates and teacher. The stakes are not high, so they may slack off, not take it seriously, and not care as much about the quality of their work. But when students have to present or display their work to an audience beyond the classroom, the performance bar raises, since no one wants to look bad in public. A certain degree of anxiety can be a healthy motivator. But too much anxiety can of course detract from performance - the trick is to find the sweet spot, not the sweat spot - so it's important that students are well prepared to make their work public.

Second, by creating a product, students make what they have learned tangible and thus, when shared publicly, discussible. Instead of only being a private exchange between an individual student and teacher, the social dimension of learning becomes more important. This has an impact on classroom and school culture, helping create a "learning community," where students and teachers discuss what is being learned, how it is learned, what are acceptable standards of performance, and how student performance can be made better.

Finally, making student work public is an effective way to communicate with parents, community members, and the wider world about what PBL is and what it does for students. When a classroom, school, or district opens itself up to public scrutiny, the message is, "Here's what our students can do - we're about more than test scores." Many PBL schools and districts reinforce this message by repurposing the traditional "open house" into an exhibition of project work, which helps build understanding and support for PBL among stakeholders. When the public sees what high-quality products students can create, they're often surprised - and eager to see more.

Yes, we provide PBL training for educators!

PBLWorks offers a variety of PBL workshops, courses and services for teachers, school and district leaders, and instructional coaches - whether you're just getting started or advancing your practice.

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Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements

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Adapted from Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction, by John Larmer, John Mergendoller, Suzie Boss (ASCD 2015). This post is also available as a downloadable article.

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Invention literacy is the ability to read and write human made stuff, from toasters to apps. People think inventors perform magic, but invention is no more magical than reading and writing a sentence. There is a grammar to inventing from mechanical tools, to design thinking, coding, and beyond. There is a literature of inventions, from bicycles to televisions, all around us to draw inspiration from. Just as Thoreau read Emerson's writings, so too did Edison read Tesla's inventions. The functional pieces of inventions: transistors, bent sheets of aluminum, a "for loop" in software, these are like a large alphabet. As one learns to "sound out the words" of inventing, one begins to see a product not as a "black box" but as a collection of comprehensible pieces which come together to make up a blender, a pair of Nikes, or a ferris wheel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would be incomprehensible to someone who doesn't know the rules of reading English.

Beyond understanding, emotion plays a role too. Words are actually scary to illiterate people. We have to stop thinking of inventions as some unknown future phantoms to be conjured by alchemy. Inventions, from a clay pot to an iPhone, are simply the human-made part of the world that we live in.

Not everyone will be a professional writer, but everyone needs to learn to read a menu and write a text message. Likewise people should graduate understanding how things are made and how to build their own ideas, at least at the proficiency equivalent to writing a 5 paragraph essay. Right now we have single digit invention literacy percentage, and we have an accompanying fear of "how things work." Invention literacy is a hidden literacy, and I'd like to uncover it. It's the true 21st century literacy as human innovation speeds up approaching a crescendo of nearly instantaneous innovation (at least through the lens of last century).

Humans have brought more than just tech gear into this world. Humans have created drugs, wars, religions, economies, and governments. We don't have to accept agriculture industries, schools, or banking systems the way they were offered to us. If it can be created by a human, then it can be recreated by you, me, and all of us. But only if we all believe in ourselves as inventors (and re-inventors).

So let's offer everyone the opportunity to learn the basic alphabet, vocabulary, and grammar of inventing. As people learn to read and write the world they live in, they gain a special empowerment that I call creative confidence. When we reach 95% invention literacy, we won't be able to believe that in 2016 only special people - similar to the scribes of ancient Egypt - were engaged in reading and writing inventions. The result is that we will live closer to a world made by us all, and what a beautifully diverse mosaic that will be!

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Invention Literacy - Startup Grind - Medium

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Invention literacy is the ability to read and write human made stuff, from toasters to apps. People think inventors perform magic, but invention is no more magical than reading and writing a sentence. There is a grammar to inventing from mechanical tools, to design thinking, coding, and beyond.

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by Colleen Graves

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This is the first in a series of posts describing the Invention Literacy Research Project that I worked on collaboratively with one of my English Teachers- April Feranda. About 6 months ago, I watched this video by Jay Silver defining the term. I immediately loved this concept because it perfectly describes what I've been attempting to do in my library makerspace since May of 2013. After writing lessons for Makey Makey last year, I realized I went through the ultimate training on Invention Literacy. I wanted to share that journey with you to help you become invention literate as an educator. April Feranda and I would love for your students to become invention literate. Therefore, we are putting this out there for you to hack and personalize and make your own.
My Journey with Makey Makey and Becoming Invention Literate

When I wrote the lesson plans for Makey Makey, I really had to push my thinking about how I could take this invention kit and really make it educational. I'd seen enough lessons driven by technology and not by educational concepts and did not want my lessons to feel forced or feel like technology for technology's sake. I wanted the educational necessity to drive the lessons and not the other way around.

My first step in creating lessons was to do a little crowdsourcing for research. I had to look at the ways other people were using Makey Makey as a way to get myself beyond the banana.

But I think the reason I really like the term "invention literacy" is because after spending last summer pushing myself to create, make, and dream up projects with Makey Makey and make all those things- well it changed me.

Now, I feel that I really can "change the world we live in." Chatting with the Makey Makey team during the #MakeyMakeyChallenge in 2015 indirectly led to me writing those lessons, and those lessons led to me getting asked to write a book! And now Aaron and I have 3 book contracts?! (One behind us, one in front of us, and one in the near future!) So really, once I got myself beyond making banana pianos, I quickly became emboldened with creative confidence. (A warning that already exists on the Makey Makey packaging... they may need to make that warning BIGGER!)

I want to give that same feeling to my students. I want them to believe that they can have an idea and find a way to make it come to life....as Jay puts it,"to change the world we live in."

Now when I look at stuff, I think about dissecting it and figuring out how I can make my own version of that thing with a Makey Makey. If I see an interactive display, I think, "I bet I could make that with a Makey Makey."

Another reason I love the Invention Literacy Movement is that it directly relates to making our kids active producers of our world and not passive consumers. I'm tired of seeing apathetic kids that look like digital zombies. I want to see kids that are curious and that want to know how stuff works because they want to make the world a better place. It's one of my main goals in my library makerspace and I love to see these ideas take hold of my students and see the change it enacts upon them!

I am also hoping that the Makerspace project book Aaron and I just finished can help other educators and students become "Invention Literate." Our whole book is filled with projects designed to teach kids how stuff works and our main goal in writing this book was to help kids/adults/humans realize they can make their own version of many different types of things!

So rather than reserve all of this Invention Literacy goodness for a book, I think getting this idea out there is helpful because it will get others to realize that the idea behind Invention Literacy is something valid and important for all of us. Like Jay said in this Ted Talk, "We should all be curious about the way the world works. And we should all create our world."

Introducing Invention Literacy to Students

Luckily for me, April Feranda wanted to engage her students in something new for research at the end of this school year. I told her I had a crazy idea.... I wanted to focus our research project on Invention Literacy and the driving question:

"How does ______ work and can I make my own version of it?"

She thought it sounded interesting and we spent a few hours planning some initial challenges to acquaint all of her students with the resources in our library makerspace, but also to get our students to begin thinking like an inventor by making things with their hands and not having a teacher hold their hand through the process.

We started by meeting with all of the students as one big group and showing them Jay's TED talk to help them think differently about the way they see everyday objects. We wanted them to see the world as their toolkit. April and I showed them many inventions from The Big Book of Makerspace Projects and we shared some #LEGOTinkering videos from the Tinkering Studio (Part of The Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco and also the epic brain power behind Art of Tinkering!)

Then we broke students up into stations:
Day 1

Creating maker journals: Inside those we had students define inventions, prototype, and technology all in their own words (next year we want to add literacy to their definition explorations!) Then students wrote their own definitions on larger paper and questioned each others definitions of terms.

littleBits Challenges

Day 2

Students delved into defining and articulating invention literacy. What is it? And why does it matter? (See below)

littleBits Challenges (Part 2)

Makey Makey Poetry (Part 2)

Articulating Invention Literacy

Every student took the time to really look and interact with an article from Jay Silver by doing a write-around text activity inspired from Buffy Hamilton. Jay called it Medium IRL (In Real Life.) We broke the article up and had students quietly reflect on paper and react to the article as they read it. You can see the full post and the students reflection discussing the article here .

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More Resources

Watch this super short video:

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This is the first in a series of posts describing the Invention Literacy Research Project that I worked on collaboratively with one of my English Teachers- April Feranda. About 6 months ago, I watched this video by Jay Silver defining the term. I immediately loved this concept because it perfectly describes what I've been attempting...

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with Jay Silver

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Invention Literacy Discussion with Jay Silver

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Drew Schrader is the Director of Assessment for New Tech Network (NTN) a national nonprofit working with schools, districts and communities to redesign teaching and learning for a modern world. Follow Drew at @edutwitt
"The only way to raise overall standards is to engage the energies and imaginations of every student in the system."

--Sir Ken Robinson

Ken Robinson's rallying cry in defense of creativity in schools has served as my own personal "why" for educational reform as well as an entry point into personalization. Deeper learning makes school meaningful for students and reconnects teachers to the meaningful work of education. Educators engaged in deeper learning are familiar with that moment when a project has tapped into student passion and creativity. There is a hum and energy in the classroom that is palatable. When you visit a school collectively committed to that pursuit, that energy and sense of purpose pervade the entire campus.

I had the good fortune to spend the day with a group of colleagues at such a school: Aveson Charter Schools in Southern California. Aveson is deeply committed to personalized mastery learning and has been refining their TK-12 approach for more than a decade. I am still sifting through my thoughts and notes from the visit, but one insight I found most orienting as our own organization learns more about personalized learning came from a conversation we had with some Aveson teachers.

The staff was from Aveson School of Leadership, their TK-5th grade school, and when asked how they go about advising young students around the pursuit of essential questions in project based learning and in the creation of personal "passion projects," their answer was instructively simple:

"We have to make time to really listen to each student. The goal has to be to find out what makes them tick."

Yes. If, as my colleague Jim May noted at our New Tech Annual Conference this past year, personalization involves an intentional turn "from the rhetoric of all, to the thoughtfulness of each," then the only way we get to that thoughtfulness is to find ways of making students more known--more known to their teachers, to their peers, and to themselves.

As an approach to instructional design and pedagogy, I believe project-based learning (PBL) creates numerous ways to making students more known. More importantly, I believe that the ebb and flow of a PBL classroom can create conditions where teachers have time and leeway to really listen to each student and learn what makes them tick. Below are a few examples to illustrate:

Knows and Need to Knows - Often, we fast-track knows and need to knows as a way to raise key questions we want to teach around. Making time in the know, need-to-know, next-step process for students to note what they personally know or be curious about can provide great insights to us as teachers about how we might shift our approach to the project to take advantage of how our students are coming into it. The "know" step isn't just a "feel-good"; it is a way of uncovering students' backgrounds and interests and building momentum for going forward. Students will often need particular prompting and encouragement, but the time and attention are well worth the effort.

Journals - Simple and not necessarily only for PBL; I have seen many teachers take advantage of regular journals and reflections as a way to have students make their thinking visible.

Contracts - While we often introduce group contracts as a tool to manage group accountability when things go wrong, their real function is to help groups work better. One of the prime benefits of working in a group is to be able to take advantage of each individual's strengths. Much as in the know, need-to-know process, it will typically take some intentional planning and prompting to get students to meaningfully identify and share their strengths as they relate to a given topic or project, but it has the potential to radically reshape their sense of themselves in relation to the project.

Conferencing - PBL done well gives a class a momentum and energy of its own. Students engaged in a meaningful project require less continual management to be "on task" and the result is a space where teachers have time to work with students in small groups and 1:1. We should take a page from Aveson and consider these small check-ins as continual opportunities to "learn what makes each student tick."

Team Teaching - While not an option for every teacher, a common theme across the classes we saw were multiple adults in each room working with students. Aveson makes strong use of instructional aides as well as co-teaching situations to create more opportunities for small-group, and 1:1 instruction.

Photos by Drew Schrader.
I anticipate additional insights as we unpack and reflect on our learning with Aveson, but even if it started and ended with strong evidence of the power of really listening to students the trip will have been well worth it.

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Helping Students Learn What Makes Them Tick

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Drew Schrader is the Director of Assessment for New Tech Network (NTN) a national nonprofit working with schools, districts and communities to redesign teaching and learning for a modern world. Follow Drew at @edutwitt "The only way to raise overall standards is to engage the energies and imaginations of every student in the system."

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Reaching 95% #inventionliteracy at @sxswedu https://t.co/AlfcZQdHDq
— Makey Makey (@makeymakey) March 8, 2017

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About

Despite the hype surrounding project based learning (PBL), it is seldom made a reality in our schools and classrooms. Due to its countless layers and complexities, and despite best efforts, educators often implement something that only vaguely resembles PBL.

As questions and mysteries continue to swirl, experienced classroom teachers and school administrators Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy have written a book that will empower those intimidated by PBL to cry, "I can do this!" while at the same time providing added value for those who are already familiar with this approach to teaching and learning. This book truly demystifies what PBL is all about with 10 hacks that construct a simple path educators and students can easily follow to achieve success.

When you learn how to hack project based learning, you'll be able to:

Create a culture of risk-taking to promote student inquiry and exploration

Maximize class time by prioritizing specific content and learning outcomes

Craft assessments and integrate feedback to ensure that every student learns

Provide intentional and purposeful opportunities for student reflection and publishing

Implement these strategies today and turn your school and classroom into a place that is dripping with inquiry-based learning, authentic learning, and a love of learning.

Freebies

Testimonials

HACKING PROJECT BASED LEARNING is a classroom essential. Its ten simple "hacks" will guide you through the process of setting up a learning environment in which students will thrive from start to finish.

- Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

In Hattie's research PBL has shown to have a low effect size. However, it doesn't mean we need to discount it. It means we have to look at how we do it and improve upon it. This is where Hacking Project Based Learning by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy comes in. They have researched PBL from every angle and offer practical steps to make the PBL experience highly beneficial to students because they are practitioners who use it. This book is a very important "How-to" for every teacher and leader who is interested in PBL.

- Peter DeWitt, author/consultant, Finding Common Ground blog (Education Week)

The challenge for educators with project and inquiry-based learning is finding the time and having the knowledge to implement effectively. Cooper and Murphy provide a much-needed resource that addresses both of these pain points in a concise, clear manner.

- Eric Sheninger, Senior Fellow, International Center for Leadership in Education

As the Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, I've had the opportunity to work closely with more than 4,000 school leaders over the past few years. From coast to coast, I've seen firsthand how these leaders are seeking ways to implement rigorous, authentic learning opportunities for all students. As seen in today's most successful schools, creating such opportunities takes a redesigned learning experience that is personal while promoting real world application. In Hacking Project Based Learning, Cooper and Murphy, two highly successful practitioners, provide a blueprint for such a redesign. They outline ways to foster a culture of inquiry and creativity, grounded in a deep understanding of rigorous content, with concrete ways to authentically assess dynamic student learning and growth. Unlike many education books written today, Hacking Project Based Learning provides practical steps to shift instructional practices while maintaining a laser focus on high levels of student learning. If you're a school leader working to create authentic learning opportunities for all of your students, you will find this book to be one of your best resources on your journey moving forward.

- Thomas C. Murray, Director of Innovation, Future Ready Schools, Alliance for Excellent Education

Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy have created an accessible guide for all educators on the meaningful implementation of project based learning within any classroom setting. The process, laid out in 10 easy to follow hacks, takes educators on a journey from the theory behind PBL to the actual planning and execution of PBL in a way that is best for kids. Whether someone is a PBL novice or an expert who has been using the PBL approach for years, this book offers dozens of new and practical ideas while also suggesting ways to handle pushback from those who embrace the deficit mindset. In addition to the focus on PBL, the thing about this book that really resonated with me were the overarching themes of empowering students to take ownership over the learning and empowering educators to go much deeper than just "covering the curriculum" - Hacking PBL is all about meaningful learning that results from thoughtful questioning. Hacking PBL is a must have for every classroom!

- Tony Sinanis, 2014 NYS Elementary Principal of the Year, speaker, author of Hacking Leadership

Hacking PBL is a must have for administrators trying to help their teachers bring hands-on, minds-on learning to their classrooms. The process is clear, the problems are real, and the hacks are practical. In the end, the work will be transformational for classrooms. Anyone starting the process of project based learning in their space needs this book!

- Joe Sanfelippo, Superintendent, speaker, author of Hacking Leadership

Ross and Erin created an easy to follow road map that will help any teacher at any level successfully integrate project based learning into his or her learning spaces. They break down the specifics of how in easy to follow steps, as well as explicitly walk teachers through the how of meaningful collaboration. If you're looking for a book on PBL, this is sure to be a go-to in your collection.

- Starr Sackstein, high school English teacher and teacher coach, author of Hacking Assessment

Chances are you are picking up Hacking Project Based Learning for three possible reasons. You may want to get started with project based learning and aren't sure where to begin. Or maybe you've dabbled in PBL before but want to make it better for your students. Although, I'm sure there are many of you who are also going to use it as a text that supports what you are already doing in your classroom, and as a way to spread the power of PBL throughout your school or district. Here's the good news: Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy have crafted a project based learning guide that can get you started with PBL for the first time, push you further if you are a seasoned PBL veteran, or make the case to your colleagues about authentic learning. The great news is that Hacking Project Based Learning is a fast-paced, incredibly practical, and immediately actionable book that will spark innovation in any K-12 classroom.

- A.J. Juliani, author of LAUNCH and Learning by Choice

Hacking PBL is just what educators need to truly demystify project based learning. Ross and Erin know PBL. They are passionate about PBL and they implemented the strategies they share in this book every day in their classrooms at Willow Lane Elementary. Ross and Erin's passion for PBL comes across so clearly in the ten hacks by representing a simple, linear path that educators and students can follow to achieve success. I highly recommend Hacking PBL as your guide to learn instructional and learning strategies that teachers can use for implementation of PBL or in changing teaching practice. These are all practices educators should be looking to bring into schools and classrooms regardless of whether or not "full-blown PBL" is taking place.

- Barbara Bray, author of Make Learning Personal and How to Personalize Learning

Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy have done an exquisite job of creating a project based bearning guide that any school or educator is sure to benefit from. Leveraging their experiences as practitioners, they provide the perfect blend of progressive ideas and research-based practices, in one easy to follow format.

- Laura Fleming, Library Media Specialist, author of Worlds of Making

This book is a must-have resource for teachers and administrators who are looking to move toward true collaboration and deeper learning through real project based learning. As a classroom teacher and digital learning coach, I know the teachers I work with and I will reference it often! At each phase of project based learning, from research and planning to implementation and reflection, Cooper and Murphy have clearly explained the whys, hows, and whats. Every chapter is bursting with PBL examples, guiding questions to empower educators to develop their own high impact PBL experiences, and proactive positive answers to questions commonly asked by those who are skeptical of this approach. Whether you are an educator new to project based learning or an experienced PBL pro, you (and your students!) will benefit from this practical research-based guide.

- Kerry Gallagher, J.D., Digital Learning Specialist, Director of K-12 Education, ConnectSafely

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About / Freebies / Testimonials / Work with Me / Get the Book! About Despite the hype surrounding project based learning (PBL), it is seldom made a reality in our schools and classrooms. Due to its countless layers and complexities, and despite best efforts, educators often implement something that only vaguely resembles PBL.

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8. EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL

Fights over teaching evolution in science class and banning books from literature curricula are not new to the education world. But now even reason and facts are doubted, dismissed as elitist simply because they contradict and disprove so many myths, and it's partly our own fault. If we teach our students to question long-held beliefs or hold those who are in power accountable for their actions, suddenly we're labeled "controversial" and added to a watch list to be potentially targeted for retribution by conservative reactionaries. If teaching our students to be free thinkers and empathetic citizens can be labeled as controversial, then we don't truly believe in education or a democratic society. Stand up to the misinformed and their hurtful actions and rhetoric. Embrace your role as a political entity and empower your students to become independent, thoughtful members of society.

7. FEAR OF CONTROVERSY

No one wants to upset others, and no one wants to be upset by others. And it's hard to speak up in a world where everyone seems to act like rabid sports fanatics who hammer down dissent. Something is only controversial when it contradicts the status quo or challenges our long-held personal beliefs. But isn't that what learning and education are all about? No, you're not just entitled to your opinion, but you are entitled to a classroom culture that respects diverse perspectives and supports the evolution of knowledge. What role do we as teachers play in creating a classroom culture that respects diverse opinions? How often do we admit to our students that our own worldview may not be accurate and has been challenged? If we expect our students to accept new ideas, do we expect the same of ourselves?

6. THE POWER OF STORY

A recent study at Stanford found that most students don't know how to identify fake news. As educators, we've never included media literacy in our curriculum in consistent ways, and the inability of students (and teachers) to critically vet sources of information online prevents us from understanding the world accurately. The only antidote for false stories and how to spot them is to integrate media literacy into our curriculum and to produce true ones. As educators, we should care about fact, reason and accuracy. So how are we helping students identify accurate stories and create and tell their own? How much time do we dedicate to learning how to read and author authentic multimedia stories?

5. EMPATHY IS THE NEW BLACK

The fallout from the presidential election and other events around the world brought clarity to me about why there is so much conflict and distrust in the world: a lack of empathy. In world that is more segregated than ever and where income disparity is high, we just don't "get" each other because we're never close enough to truly know each other.

Solving many of society's ills begins with empathy. I've tried to build experiential learning into my curriculum with international documentary trips and social justice projects and so has a colleague at USC's Keck School of Medicine. So the challenge is how to build empathy into our curriculum that begins with design thinking, and extends into all subject areas.

4. PASSION

I know that I put more effort into activities that I care about and find the time to learn new skills that make me better at doing them. So why do we assume that our students or our classrooms are any different? Google gives their employees 20% of their time to work on a passion project (Google Chrome is one of the results), and many teachers now do that in their classrooms, too. But why not make our classes 100% passion projects? Imagine the commitment level if we reframed our curriculum in ways that were meaningful to our kids. If they cared, how much better would they perform and behave in class? The same goes for teachers, who should be allowed their passion projects and to craft curriculum that is meaningful to them and their students.

3. TRUST YOUR STUDENTS

As each year goes by, I continue to believe more strongly that we need to respect our students, trust them to make their own decisions, and to let them learn from their mistakes since that's where most real learning happens. We need to accept them as independent thinkers, and maybe even learn a thing or two from them.

2. WHAT I TEACH DOESN'T MATTER

The presidential election drained the blood from my heart because everything I took for granted as a teacher seemed to evaporate, as if no one cared about logic, reason or facts. This educational bedrock crumbled beneath me and left me in freefall. I had been clinging to my subject area content as if it were the only thing that mattered in the world, when in fact it doesn't.

As much as I love what I teach, I now see my subject as a vehicle to greater learning about philosophy, ethics, civics and literature - in other words, being a good human being. There are fundamental skills and truths that matter much more to the world than the facts and skills I teach in my class: those that allow my students to make sense of the world, empower them to make ethical decisions, and collaborate with others to solve problems.

1. LEARNING AS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION

This year I've had the pleasure to work with four deaf and hard of hearing students in my Cinematic Arts class. The challenge of teaching a subject that is based on sound (think dialogue, music, sound effects), collaboration and production of movies with sound really forced me to rethink how I teach and what I expect of all of my students. Yes, the end result is important for every project, but maybe there is more importance in the distance a student can travel while learning your curriculum. What you or I might consider a small success can be a major success in the eyes of our kids, and give them the encouragement to keep travelling down the road of learning long after they leave our classroom and go out into the real world. My DHH students taught me that my learning isn't done yet, and that I continue to travel down the path of becoming a better teacher and person.

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What I Teach Doesn't Matter (And Other Truths I Learned in 2016)

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8. EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL Fights over teaching evolution in science class and banning books from literature curricula are not new to the education world. But now even reason and facts are doubted, dismissed as elitist simply because they contradict and disprove so many myths, and it's partly our own fault.