Yearly Archives: 2020

In the Autumn 2020 issue of Horizons Magazine, the publication of The Institute for Outdoor Learning, I wrote about spectrum thinking. The middle of a global pandemic is a fine time to employ spectrum thinking, as "many organizations face disruptions in service, loss of participants or visitors, and dwindling revenues....we must work to increase the resiliency of our organizations in dynamic social and economic environments. Spectrum thinking is a strategic planning process that taps the power of range and diversity on a variety of continua. Spectrum thinking allows designers and leaders to consider a range of times, places and purposes that enable us to learn more about, and better serve, our program participants." There are opportunities amidst the setbacks, and spectrum thinking can help you if you are brave enough to reinvent your organization--and sometimes yourself--in the moment.

In 1990 Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop offered the field of literacy education a metaphor describing the power of multicultural texts in classrooms. Books can act as self-affirming mirrors, where readers can see themselves in the characters or setting. They also serve as windows to familiar or strange new worlds. And if texts are transformative, they invite readers to pull open the sliding glass door and walk into the narrative to take part. A while ago, I wondered why this empowerment was missing from secondary science classrooms, particularly the higher up you go. This post discusses three access points to STEM literacy: tangible, cognitive and cultural. Without this access, instructional strategies are beside the point. This is the first post about the inner workings of our literacy system, the fourth discussed so far in this blog.

In times of crisis, we want everything to work the way it should. But if too much about learning is tethered to a specific physical setting, with particular materials, led by a particular adult (the teacher), in a particular way, it becomes nearly impossible to recreate outside of those conditions. While massive school closures took everyone by surprise, it should be possible to enact some forms and modes of learning that remain connected to the familiar instructional and assessment practices of in-person schooling. The value of our "open architecture" has never been more clear to us than in this current moment. This post explores how some major design maneuvers permit shifts of space & place, as well as calendar disruptions. Make sure to download the fabulous artwork of Tom Hanicak provided within the post.

Sustainability, at its core, relates to the expenditure of resources. When we think about designing learning systems and experiences, various resources are tapped: time, expertise, information and more tangible materials such as devices or laboratory equipment. Think OER is free? Think again. Resource use always comes at a cost. This post explores a three-way partnership among designers, teachers and students that creates a Sustainable OER (SOER) model. Each partner has a role, a superpower and a site of accountability. This is how real partnerships, like the ones crafted by Mother Nature, survive. Thanks to lovely artwork from Claudio Purzlbaum (above), I'm reminded how important it really is to 'lend a hand.'

Many schools are ditching textbooks and moving to OER, but are proceeding without well-structured learning designs in place. If schools do not situate these resources inside curricular systems and structures that improve instructional, assessment and accessibility practices, they will suffer the same disappointments as they did with poorly-planned and un-executed EdTech adoptions. This post describes how we ensconce our content within the Information Age, thereby forcing us to evolve and sustain resources for our schools. And if you're thinking that free online textbooks are a panacea, well, I invite you to read on...

The practice of biomimicry is described and encouraged by author Janine Benyus. She has worked with inventors, researchers, designers, companies and artists who are trying to mimic nature's own designs. This post describes how we followed suit, using the wonders of adaptive immunity to guide the designs of our assessment system. Uncertain futures? Jobs that don't exist? Those sound exactly like the pathogenic microbes that emerge long after we are born. How does our body deal with such novelty? The answer is as captivating as it is inspiring. Let's bring biomimicry to the field of learning systems design! Nature is the best innovation mentor...

Ed reform during the first two decades of 2000 made the flawed assumption that traditionally underserved students would be best served by organizations and services that delivered more efficient, better-funded implementations of the schooling model in which their leaders (usually Ivy-league graduates) succeeded. Not only was that model designed to oppress underserved students, it also perverted authentic academic rigor. This post explores the programmatic perversions of rigor that exist in secondary schools, and how EduChange ressurected rigor through coherent, multi-year assessment designs.