P4 - Because information flows faster and more freely than ever, and because we are better connected than ever, the barriers to learning are being dismantled. We share what we learn instantly and, generally, without restrictions. How we learn, and whom we learn from, has been transformed. Our reliance upon anointed experts and authority figures has diminished, while our capacity to learn from each other has spiralled.
P20 - We need asset-based approaches to education – what do you already know, what have you got to share, what can we build on?”
P22 - The opening of learning is transforming every aspect of our lives. It offers the promise of a more equal distribution of wealth, opportunity and power. It can close the gap between rich and poor, sick and healthy, strong and weak, and it accelerates the speed at which we solve intractable problems.
P59- The winners are ourselves, happily connecting and collaborating through global networks of friends, colleagues and online acquaintances. We are powerfully motivated by the easy access to ideas and information, and the informality, immediacy and autonomy that it brings. The losers are our formal institutions: businesses, schools, colleges and public services that are failing to grasp the enormity of the change taking place. Most dramatically, the losers are also governments around the world that are now confronted by citizens who will no longer tolerate secrecy and deception.
P66-67 Google Engineering Director, puts it, “If you have a work culture where bringing your mistakes to the table every week is a normal thing to do, it feels less like failing and more like learning”.
P71 - barriers to learning are being dismantled. We share what we learn instantly and, generally, without restrictions. How we learn, and whom we learn from, has been transformed. Our reliance upon anointed experts and authority figures has diminished, while our capacity to learn from each other has spiraled
P75 -Learning happens in three locations: in formal education (schools and colleges); in the workplace, and in our home and leisure time (let’s call it the social space). While we’ve become smarter learners, progress has been uneven. In just ten years our learning in the social space has irrevocably changed, largely because it has become ‘open’. We are now learning more from our peers than we ever learned in school. We’re removing the intermediaries from every aspect of our lives so that we can directly deal with, and talk to each other in ways that have only become possible in the 21st century. We’ve even created our own ‘sharing’ economy.
Gee and Shaffer highlight the difference between ‘commodity jobs’ – standardised, replicable and sold at a reasonable price – and ‘innovation jobs’, which require specialised, unique skills. Because it’s a relatively simple task to train workers doing commodity jobs, they can be sourced anywhere in the world. Gee and Shaffer argue that the US education system is still preparing students for commodity jobs, and thus facing overwhelming competition from developing countries, when it should be educating and training for ‘innovation jobs’, which are less easily outsourced.Read more at location 184
We face a complex set of possible futures and no one can authoritatively predict how things will look in ten years, let alone by the end of the century. We know only two things for certain. The first is that we should learn to embrace uncertainty, because this age of uncertainty could become permanent. The second is that if all the old certainties are gone, then we have to be open to radical shifts in how we work, live and learn. That’s why going ‘open’ is unavoidable.Read more at location 277
There have, however, always been advocates of more ‘experiential’ or ‘active’ forms of learning, where the student assumes the central role. John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori and Rudolph Steiner argued that the learner wasn’t an empty vessel, but carried experiences and knowledge that should be progressively built upon with the learner’s full and active involvement. With these approaches – broadly labelled ‘constructivist’ – it’s the tutor’s job to ‘scaffold’ experiences so that the learner can make connections, build confidence, reinforce skills, and apply knowledge to solve problems.
We have had forms of apprenticeship, for example, since the Middle Ages. Raw novices acquired skills by observing and mimicking master craftsmen over an extended period of time. Indeed, acceptance as a craftsman was to be labelled ‘time-served’. Apprenticeships were overseen by unions and tradesmen’s guilds and worked very effectively until the loss of heavy industry in the West and the accompanying decline in trade unionism. The white-collar equivalent of apprenticeship is the internship. Internships have become quite controversial in recent years. At its best, an internship is the route to a permanent job. At its most cynical, an internship ensures a university graduate is paid little or not paid at all, given little or no training, and has little prospect of a job at the end of the period of internship.Read more at location 473
the kids who are now in school will be entering a workplace where internal and external collaboration is the work. We prepare them for this interconnected world, by insisting that almost everything they do, every piece of work they submit, is their own work, not the fruits of working with others, because every student has to have an individual, rigorously assessed, accountable grade – if they don’t, the entire examinations system collapses like a deck of cards.Read more at location 666
P42 - The wisest course of action is to create the right learning environment, culture and context, which brings people together to learn from each other. The old joke that ‘collaboration is an unnatural act between non-consenting adults’ may have had its roots in corporations trying to break down silo mentalities. But if ‘open’ tells us anything, it points to a realisation that we have to understand how people learn when they have a choice (in what to learn, and who to learn with) and bring that into the places where they are required to learn.
Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School
Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates by Elliot Washor, Charles Mojkowski
Some say that we can’t afford to personalize education to all students. The truth is that we can’t afford not to. The price we pay for the failures of the current system is more than we can bear. To succeed as it has to, education must engage the curiosity, creativity, aptitudes, and passions of every student. - From intro by Sir Ken Robinson
Leaving-to-learn opportunities include internships, travel, community service, work, entrepreneurial ventures, and gap years. Many schools provide a few of these opportunities, but it is rare to find whole-school leaving-to-learn programs that are open to all students in all grades, are an integral part of students’ learning plans, and are awarded academic and graduation credit.Read more at location 369
Drawing on the world outside school to identify the structures and cultures required to make leaving-to-learn work effectively, we see new roles for educators as talent spotters, travel agents, brokers, and personal trainers and coaches.Read more at location 374
Dropout research identifies four big reasons many young people disengage from school, leave without a diploma, and rarely if ever return: academic failure, behavioral problems, life events, and disinterest. Our observations of students and schools indicate that beneath these big-four reasons (and often off the researchers’ radar screens) are four deeper reasons: not fitting in, not mattering, overlooked talent and interests, and restrictions. While the big-four reasons drive policy, the deeper four provide insightsRead more at location 457
Pedro Noguera (2004), urban sociologist and professor of education at New York University, observes: If we were more willing to listen and solicit their opinions, we might find ways to engage students more deeply in their own education. The students may not have the answers to the problems confronting high schools, but perhaps if we engage them in discussions about how to make school less alienating and more meaningful, together we might find ways to move past superficial reforms and break the cycle of failure. (para. last) Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (pp. 11-12). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
In addressing what needs to be learned to achieve the many and varied dimensions of success, we make several assertions: Schools address a dangerously narrow number of learning standards. Schools give little or no attention to creativity and invention. Schools’ insistence that all students address all learning standards and address them in the same way is counterproductive and wasteful. Schools’ focus on low levels of competence impedes the quest for mastery, craftsmanship, and artistry. Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 57). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Consider Algebra 2, the study of logarithms, polynomial functions, and quadratic equations. Although many states want to make the course a requirement for graduating from high school, there appears to be no need to do so. Northeastern University sociologist Michael Handel has found that only 9 percent of people in the workforce ever use this knowledge, and that fewer than 20 percent of managerial, professional, or technical workers report using any Algebra 2 material. Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 62). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Schools need to employ a broader and deeper definition of what constitutes success, one that embraces the many ways that young people engage with, understand, and make their way in the world.
Schools must allow students to address learning standards through their interests and encourage variation in performances and products that demonstrate learning. Schools must give increased attention to creativity and invention throughout the curriculum. Schools must push students to the edge of their competence in a quest for craftsmanship, mastery, and artistry. Schools must help students undertake complex projects based on questions with no easy solutions nested in real-world settings and contexts. Schools should provide students with many opportunities and ways to show what they know and can do. Schools should help students learn to use technology as it is employed by professionals doing the work the students wish to do. Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 81). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Internships are increasingly popular ways of providing leaving-to-learn opportunities. They include a broad and diverse range of activities, from job shadowing to semester and yearlong positions in a business or the community. Typically these internships are unpaid; some lead to certificates that document achievement of certain standards of competence in a skill; others may lead to paid internships or a full-time job. Although most educators think of internships as appropriate for the “vocational” student— particularly those not going on to a four-year college— we view internships as an essential learning experience for all students. There is or certainly should be a “career” and a “technical” aspect to all learning, just as there is or should be an applied, “hands-on” aspect to all learning. Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 94). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Big Picture Learning schools wrap an entire curriculum around each student’s interests and career goals. Students generally spend two days a week learning outside school in a business, community organization, or institution of higher learning. Key components are: Personalized curriculum. A customized learning program and pathway— essentially, a career academy— for each student that addresses essential learning standards. Big Picture Learning schools are small, and advisors (teachers) typically work with a cohort of students for all four high school years. Learning that challenges students to apply their academic skills and understanding to real-world problems they identify as they learn and work in their area of interest— interest— particularly the career they want— outside school. Project-based learning focused on students’ interests provides a context and structure for integrating academic, workplace, and personal competencies into holistic learning. Opportunities for students to work with adults in the careers to which students aspire. Embedded/ integrated academic disciplines (including the arts and design), with a heavy emphasis on literacy and numeracy skills. Students receive direct instruction via classes, small groups, one-onone tutoring, and online programs, as needed. Comprehensive, performance-based assessments as well as traditional assessments. Each quarter students demonstrate their skills and understanding through exhibitions of their work and successful completion of individual and group projects, service learning, college classes, and community-based internships. Parental involvement, supported through quarterly discussions of student learning plans, reviews of student work, and attendance at student exhibitions. Support for and follow-up of students’ postsecondary learning and transition to a career. Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 112). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
So What? What do the school system and the larger social and economic systems within which it operates need to do to support leaving-to-learn programs? For starters, we suggest embracing important principles, policies, and practices. Principles Schools will:
- Develop the whole person— not just a competent worker but also a lifelong learner, family leader, and engaged citizen, healthy in mind, heart, and body.
- Provide students with a voice and a choice regarding their education. Help students discover and develop their interests and talents.
- Offer students numerous ways to show what they know and can do.
- Engage parents and families in their children’s education and in the school community.
- Reach out to their communities, aggressively seeking opportunities for service and establishing relationships for advancing student learning and development.
- Form strong and lasting partnerships with industry and postsecondary institutions.
Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 123). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
- Remain dynamic and open to ongoing change, responding nimbly and quickly to what is happening in the workplace, in society, and particularly in the lives of students.
Based on these principles, schools must:
- Employ a broad and multidimensional definition of success and address a much broader range of competencies across all the disciplines to achieve different— and better— results.
- Focus on competency, shifting from assessing time spent in a classroom to assessing real-world performances and contexts that demonstrate skill, understanding, and dispositions.
- Provide personalized programs of study for all students, customized to address their interests and talents.
- Create a secondary school system that helps each student pursue his or her learning plan regardless of the career path he or she has chosen.
- Allow expert practitioners into schools to work alongside teachers.
- Use retirees with interests that match the students’, merging seniors’ wisdom and knowledge of craft with students’ energy and enthusiasm.
- Get teachers out of schools by expanding their roles to include leading and facilitating experts and expert practitioners in helping students learn within their areas of interest.
- Aggressively promote out-of-school learning by developing individual student learning plans that incorporate leaving-to-learn opportunities for all students.
- Broaden assessments beyond the basic skills to include essential academic, career, and personal competencies.
- Provide academic credit for competencies developed outside school.
Washor, Elliot; Charles Mojkowski (2013-03-02). Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates (p. 124). Heinemann Publishing. Kindle Edition.
- Help dropouts to return to school by reaching out to young people without a high school diploma and giving them the opportunity to create a formal learning program centered around their interests or the work they do.