Reflecting on CSLE

Putting the pieces together.

When I started my innovation project on blended learning, my goal was to provide a personalized and competency-based learning environment in order to engage my students in their learning. Wanting to engage my students was one thing, but to actually implement blended learning seemed daunting. A Google search of “how to implement blended learning in the classroom” will return 17 million results! (Go ahead, try it.) It all seemed a little overwhelming at first. Until I took a step back to focus on the bigger picture, my students. The better question was “What did my students really need to become self-directed learners?” I needed to change my focus away from the teaching and towards the learning.

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In the video Self-Directed Learning Fundamentals, Peter Gray touches on some of the key components needed to help develop self-directed learners: ownership, exploration, play, support, collaboration, and community (Gray, 2015). This is way bigger than changing my way of teaching. I needed to go beyond simply using the blended learning approach, I needed to create a culture of learning in my classroom.

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What is school for? For the teachers to teach or the students to learn? My stance is school is for learning. After reading A New Culture of Learning, I realized that a focus on learning could have a powerful impact on student learning. By Creating a Significant Learning Environment (CSLE), I can begin to cultivate a culture where students are empowered through the learning process. This requires a deliberate design and a change in the way I plan for and promote student success.

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To get a better understanding of how I could use blended learning within a significant learning environment, it was important to examine the theories that underlie my beliefs about learning. Developing my Learning Philosophy helped me establish a framework for creating a culture of learning. I no longer pull teaching concepts and strategies into my instruction willy-nilly. With a focus on learning, the needs and abilities of my students guide my decisions. The ability of new concepts to fit within my learning philosophy framework determines whether or not I use them.

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CSLE requires purposeful design to align outcomes, assessments, and activities to ensure successful learning. Using blended learning in and of itself will not guarantee that my students become self-directed learners. Students need to know where they are going and how to get there. To create a successful learning plan, I utilized Fink’s Integrated Course Design and UbD’s Backward Design Template. Both resources were essential to understanding how all the components of my course and the lessons were interrelated. By establishing a BHAG, the course has a compelling and relevant purpose to students. Building off of the BHAG, Fink’s Situational Factors and Significant Learning Goals worksheet helped me consider the learners’ needs and design a roadmap to show them how to be successful. Using the UbD template helped ensure that each unit and lesson within the course is aligned to the same overarching goal. By starting with the desired outcomes and working backward, UbD helped me stay focused on the learning and not the technology, which is a common misstep in blended learning. Creating both the 3-Column Table and UbD template helped me figure out the best use of blended learning within the learning design and the goals of the course.

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The last piece of the CSLE puzzle is the learner mindset. We all have beliefs about our skills, aptitudes, and who we are as learners. To become self-directed learners, we must believe that we have the ability to improve. I want to help students develop this belief by creating a culture of learning that values the learning process. I can communicate to students, through my words and actions, that setbacks, struggles and failures are part of the process. I can provide opportunities to play, where it is safe to practice and make mistakes, corrections, and revisions. I can ensure that assessment becomes an opportunity for feedback and growth. Developing a learner mindset requires more than positive thinking, students need the opportunities to practice being a learner.

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With all the learning I did about CSLE, I have created a framework that allows me to effectively use blended learning to meet the needs of my students and I have grounded my innovation plan in established learning theory. By focusing on the learning, I have ended up with a broader view and clearer purpose for what I want to achieve in my classroom.