The GREAT Learning Center

We spend too much time in traditional school focused on teaching, and not enough time focused on learning.

Colleges of education spend little time on learning theory. Adults in the classroom are trained more in “what” to teach versus a real understanding of “how” young people learn and the strategies involved to make young learners smarter and stronger.

What if a new type of training center could be created to assist adult learning leaders to understand more about learning and how to get our young people to become smarter and stronger in their own learning?

That new training center would have five “GREAT” principles as its foundation:

Growth – Adult learning leaders would be trained in strategies and assessment methods focused on growing reading, writing, and problem-solving skills. Too much higher ed time is spent teaching adults “how to teach,” and very little is spent on making sure young learners are competent in their reading, writing, and problem-solving skills. In order to learn, it’s the skills that matter – not necessarily knowledge content.

Relationships – Young learners will do pretty much anything to please an adult learning leader that they feel they have a strong personal relationship with when it comes to learning. Relationships aren’t formed through computer-generated class schedules and class rosters. Learning relationships are built by adult learning leaders spending time learning about their young learners, and by young learners understanding what makes their adult learning leaders tick. Once those relationships begin to be built, negotiations about what is going to be learned, how it is going to be learned, and what the plan will be if it’s not learned become much easier between the adult and the young learner. The problem with colleges of education is that they don’t spend enough time training potential adult learning leaders in the art of building personal relationships.

Empowerment – Young learners need to feel empowered. They need to feel as though they have “skin in the game” when it comes to defining, planning, executing, and evaluating what they are going to learn, when they are going to learn it, how they are going to learn it, and what interventions might look like if they struggle with certain elements of that defined learning. Most traditional schools don’t allow their students to “own their own learning.” So, what often times happens is that the student never is able to define, plan, execute, nor evaluate their learning. That’s always the teacher’s job. In a learning environment that matters, young learners are trained to “learn how to learn,” because once you have that skill, no one can take it away from you. “Learning how to learn” really is the civil right of the 21^st century.

Likewise, the adult learning leader needs to feel empowered when it comes to the enterprise of learning. Adult learning leaders should understand how high expectations and a commitment to negotiating learning plans with their young learners make a real difference when it comes to making kids smarter and stronger. Adult learning leaders should be trained to know how to develop learning goals with their young learners. Adult learning leaders should be trained how to assess whether their young learners are learning what they want and need to learn. Adult learning leaders should understand how to budget a learning plan so that dollars are spent directly in support of the leader’s young learner cohort. Adult learning leaders should know how to build a network of professional and community support so that they have “critical friends” around them to help make the important decisions regarding the young learners in their charge.

Anytime, anywhere – The time when all learning had to occur at places called schools is past. Adult learning leaders need to be trained how to support and assess learning anytime and anywhere. I remember a story from one of our learning coaches at our Houston personalized learning lab years ago. The learning coach was out on a date and kept getting texts from one of her young learners telling the learning coach that she was finished with her math assignment and wanted feedback. So, in the middle of the date, the learning coach excused herself to the bathroom, checked the math, and sent the young learner feedback on her work. Now this story probably brings up the next point when discussing anytime, anywhere learning. Anytime, anywhere learning requires the adult learning leader and the young learners to build protocols and understandings about when and where their exchanges can occur and when they can’t. Because everyone, adult learning leader and young learner both, need to have their own “alone” time to relax and recharge.

Technology – Instead of the 21^st century being a time of embracing technology and its impact on learning, many traditional school leaders have backtracked when it comes to using technology to accelerate young learners becoming smarter and stronger. Traditional schools continue to ban cell phones. Traditional schools don’t understand artificial intelligence, and therefore are suspicious of its use when it comes to young learners and their learning advancement. On the other hand, learning groups that employ leaders that understand how to use technology to advance learning see huge advancements in a young learner’s ability to read, write, problem-solve, and build strong character skills. Keep this in mind, the pursuit of learning is mainly a young person’s task. As adults, we should assist young learners in any way possible to make sure their learning pathway is productive and successful.

Our new training center even has a name – The GREAT Learning Center – to remind is of growth, relationships, empowerment, anytime/anywhere learning, and the importance of technology.

The question is who will build this type of learning center for the new generation of adult learning leaders committed to focus on “learning” instead of “teaching?”

Any takers?

Til tomorrow. SVB