Big ideas for learning

Deep principles for education

These undergird my approach to education and interaction.

• Fundamental: I cannot abandon them
• Pervasive: They show up in lots of ways and they are often entangled together
• Evidence-based: There is a huge wealth of scientific evidence that they are effective across innumerable contexts

Four big ideas

Four big ideas for learning and their consequences for curriculum design and facilitation:

1. Humans respond to other humans. Learning happens through activity.
   • Use small group work, and let questions drive discussion. It’s ok to be human as a facilitator.
2. Contrast promotes learning (“what’s water?”). Reflection promotes learning (“what’s this?”)
   • Build in time for reflection and iteration.
3. Creativity thrives with just enough structure. Clear, familiar structure frees up resources.
   • Give explicit directions and signposting about activities; use responsive choices about how to proceed.
4. People learn when they feel safe and supported.
   • Make a deliberate choice for groundskeeping, growth mindset, and unconditional positive regard

The principles

• Students and faculty are humans.
  • Policies and activities must center the humanity of everyone involved.
    
  • Feedback from instructors must center the humanity of students
• Asset-based frameworks are superior to deficit-based frameworks.
  • We must focus on student growth, bringing assets to the classroom, and educative moments.
  • Focusing on compliance is fundamentally deficit-based.
• Education is ongoing
  • Learning is not once-and-done or accumulative. It’s a process.
  • Anything important needs to be integrated into ongoing discussions.
  • Everything is a learning opportunity and students cannot avoid learning. They might learn things we do not intend, but they will learn constantly.
• Humans learn from and with other humans
  • Collaborative, interactive work is the most effective way for students to learn skills and ideas.
• Structure breeds creativity
  • Every set of requirements can have technically compliant yet spiritually noncompliant responses
  • Supportive structures promote student growth
• Assessments communicate values
  • If we value X, we must use assessments which promote it
  • An honesty arms race communicates that we care about compliance, not ideas.
• Modern education for modern life
  • We must carefully examine what and how we teach to make sure it is appropriate to today, and not just inherited from yesterday.
  • We cannot merely add more things to the curriculum; we must drop topics if we want to add.

Design guidelines

Design guidelines for curriculum and learning experiences

• Universal design for learning (UDL):
  • The more accessible your content is, the better students will learn it
  • Focus on the deep principles, not the particular format of the canon
• Backwards design:
  • What outcomes do you want?
    
  • What trajectory aims at those outcomes?
  • How do your assessments match those outcomes?
    
  • How does your instruction prepare students for those outcomes?
• Iterative development
  • When you know more, you make improvements and try again
  • You must collect evidence about how it works, for whom, and when
  • You must make changes to support growth towards your goals
  • It’s ok for your goals to change.