Tag: Actively Engaging

Cambridge Public Schools created a series of asynchronous learning modules that provided their teaching staff the option to select which edtech tools they wanted to learn more about, when/where they wanted to engage in training, and how fast they wanted to complete the module based on their skill and comfort level. Each learning module included teacher shares, a reflection journal, tutorials, how-to guides, and tasks to practice specific features or demonstrate mastery. Upon completion of a learning module, participants execute a final task and turn in a module submission form.

The asynchronous learning modules were built in Google Slides. This particular example is a learning module for Desmos, a popular math edtech tool.

Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) created asynchronous learning modules for their staff to receive training around specific edtech tools at their own pace and time. Instrumental to these learning modules were “teacher shares,” or videos created by CPS teachers explaining how they used an edtech tool in their classroom or context. The CPS technology team encouraged teachers from different content areas and grade levels to share their practice of the tool in order to demonstrate various use cases for each tool.

In this example, a high school physics teacher explains how she uses Desmos with her students.

Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) created asynchronous learning modules for their staff to receive training around specific edtech tools that they could complete at their own pace and in their own preferred time. At the end of each learning module, educators complete a final task that demonstrates their mastery and application of the edtech tool in order to receive professional learning credit. The CPS team created a universal module submission form that participants completed by either uploading a screenshot or file of their final task, as well as providing feedback on the learning experience.

Cambridge Public Schools created asynchronous learning modules for their staff to receive training around specific edtech tools that they could complete at their own pace and in their own preferred time. Each module included a “learning journal,” a document in which participants could jot down their ideas and takeaways as they worked through the module. This journal also included module-specific prompts that encouraged participants to explore and reflect further as they learned more about implementing the tool.

We know that the traditional “sit and get” classroom will not help us advance towards educational equity or promote the deeper learning skills our students need to succeed. The long game of systems-change work is critical to advancing learner-centered education, but what steps can educators take today to advance such environments?

This new resource offers a comprehensive, research-backed analysis of how education systems can support the transition to learner-centered education by tapping educator mental models, motivations, and moves. For those responsible for and interested in professional learning, this resource offers steps that educators can take today to shift their practice to advance learner-centered environments.

“My hope with this report—and accompanying blogs and forthcoming exercises—is that practitioners will be able to help educators to engage in their own deeper learning and develop regular habits and practices that support learner-centered education,” said Wendy Surr, lead researcher and primary author of the report.

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