Vision and Philosophy

A vision of a learning environment

It should be clear that students are at the center of any course we teach. There are many of them in the classroom and only one teacher. In today's world, information is abundant and easy to access. Therefore, as the teacher I see myself as one of the group. I work strenuously to play a coach's role. I'm most commonly found wandering throughout the room, working with students individually to help them take the next step that they've identified they need. Occasionally I give nudges and suggestions to specific students, particularly when I believe they are not stretching themselves to learn or are ready for a bigger challenge.

In addition to being student-centered, I believe a learning environment should be quite flexible. Physically, it should be set up to accommodate many different tasks easily. Emotionally/Visually/Aurally it should present plenty of "white space" so students have room to create. Learning is complex.

From a pedagogical point of view, I am a constructionist1 and connectivist2 in the footsteps of Piaget3, Vygotsky4, Dewey5, and Siemens2. I believe knowledge is always created by the learner through their experiences, thoughts, and especially their reflections, during interaction with their environment and with others. Therefore, the learning environment must be designed to get students into action and inter-action. One of the least likely learning scenarios is rows of 'attentive' students, listening to a teacher; that's very rarely when new knowledge is created. Instead, I work to ensure my students are active, whether that is on their own, in small groups, or as a whole class, as many minutes of the day as we can manage. My learning culture is designed to encourage students to come in and get right to work on projects that interest them.

Although the physical environment cannot be neglected, the digital environment must also comprise a substantial portion of any learning environment today. Students today grow up in a digital, connected and social world. As educators, we must reflect this in our learning environments. A substantial portion of our materials, if not all of them, should be online, available to students whenever and wherever they want to work. We should model living as a connected, responsible, ethical person6. Our learning environment should be liberally endowed with links to the external world, especially when we can connect students with people working on the subject(s) under study.

Finally, following Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, I believe learning should be fun7. It could be structured as a game. It could include characters who illustrate, coach, demonstrate and otherwise illuminate the skills and content under study. It could incorporate frequent humor. It should reflect the reality that we are inherently, intrinsically motivated when we are having fun, particularly hard fun8,9. I work to share with students why I see my subject as interesting and fun; I believe the more they feel this way, the more they will become self-motivated learners.

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  1. Key Frameworks for a Makerspace: Constructionism and Constructivism; Makerspace for Education (accessed 2018-03-19)

  2. Connectivism, a learning theory for the digital age; George Siemens (accessed 2014-08-30; no longer available. See Wikipedia instead)

  3. Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development; Anastasia (accessed 2019-07-10)

  4. Social Development Theory; Richard Culatta (accessed 2019-07-10)

  5. The Pedagogy of John Dewey: a summary; Steve Wheeler (accessed 2019-07-10)

  6. Know the ISTE standards for teachers: Model Digital Citizenship; Helen Crompton (accessed 2018-10-06)

  7. Flow Theory In The Classroom: A Primer; Steve Wheeler (accessed 2019-07-10)

  8. Hard Fun; Seymour Papert (accessed 2013-05-20)

  9. Learning is 'hard fun'; Helen Mclean (accessed 2013-05-20)