Student-Centered Learning by Design

Course

What is Student-Centered Learning? [3:59]

Learn ways to talk to students about what it means to collaborate
Learn the benefits of allowing students to control their learning environment
Learn what student-centered learning means to others

Please note that the video link to the video discussed in this lesson is available in the Activity. All materials from the website Jacquelyn mentioned are available in the course.

I'm going to play a very short clip of a video for you, I do have a website that is a companion to this presentation that will be shared with you. It has this video embedded in it. I just need to give a caveat up front. If you've heard of leeroy Jenkins and you go and you search for this video, the original version of this video has several expletives in it. Once the situation in the video starts to unfold. The version that I'm going to show you was edited by my friend Micah Shippee and it is unlisted on YouTube. So you can I'm going to give you the link to it so you can access it if you want to show this in a classroom, in your library, during PD session or something like that with your colleagues. This is the clean version. It also has subtitles. The reason that I think the subtitles are important is that there is a whole vocabulary that's being used by the students who are navigating this online scenario that if you don't regularly participate in video gaming, might be vocabulary that is rather unfamiliar to you. So if you find that you are one of those people who doesn't have a lot of experience with video gaming, suspend judgment on the vocabulary and suddenly what's happening will begin to make a lot of sense to you, even if, as I said, some of the verbiage and the lingo that they're using is unfamiliar.

Collaboration can't be understated in this. I love this video as a model of collaboration. So often, when we talk to our students about what it means to collaborate, what they picture is parallel play or divide and conquer and that's when we get the "well, you know, Jane is out sick today, so we can't go and do our presentation" and that's not what true collaboration means, right? That mission would have happened even if one of those people wasn't there to play on that particular day. They would fluidly shift their roles and pick up where one another needed some assistance or things like that. Adapting to roadblocks and challenges, asking for redirection, all of that is so key. And I was looking at people's jamboards and I loved "coping with chaos"—while everyone was in breakout rooms, I was saying I want that on a tshirt or maybe a tattoo, like I like it that much.

I was looking at Group 3's board and there was so much that was happening on this board that so many really really great ideas, on all of them. One of the things I want to point out, and I'm wondering if people noticed this, it's the absence of adults, right? There is no adult there directing their behavior, directing their choices, telling them oh you forgot about this, or you overlooked this, or maybe you should try this, or I know that's not going to work, so let's just all do this. This is an organically, self-organized group of students out to achieve a common goal and come back and try again as they had tried before, right? So, I think there's so much here that is so important for us to be able to learn from when we think about what are students capable of if we turn agency or autonomy over learning over to them. And that's really what a lot of this is about.

Student Collaboration

In this lesson, we look at the importance of students understanding what collaboration actually is. We watch what happens once agency on autonomy over learning is turned over to them and how that relates to student-centered learning.

RESOURCES:

Course Packet

Leeroy Jenkins, edited by Micah Shippee, PhD, https://youtu.be/-XMnBXo1Tfo

REFLECT & PRACTICE:

Watch the Leroy Jenkins video found in the Resources above and think about all of the different attributes of student-centered learning demonstrated in this collaborative effort. What are some of the things you see and hear happening during this exercise? Write down what you observe on page 2 of the Course Packet found in the resources above and begin to craft a lesson plan for your students based on this type of collaborative effort focused on student-centered learning.

MLA Citation

Whiting, Jacquelyn. "Student-Centered Learning by Design: Student Collaboration." School Library Connection, August 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2267091?learningModuleId=2267090&topicCenterId=2247903.

Entry ID: 2267683

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Author

Jacquelyn Whiting is the Instructional Coach and Technology Integrator for a school district in Connecticut. She has a bachelor's in Government Studies and Studio Art from Connecticut College and a master's in Social Studies and Education from South Connecticut State University. She is also a Google Certified Innovator, a Google Certified Coach, and Local Activator for Future Design School. Jacquelyn is the co-author of News Literacy: The Keys to Combating Fake News and the author of Student-Centered Learning by Design. She presents frequently on human-centered design, student and educator voice, and innovative educational technology practices. You can follow her tweeting @MsJWhiting.

MLA Citation

Whiting, Jacquelyn. "Student-Centered Learning by Design. What is Student-Centered Learning? [3:59]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, August 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2267091?learningModuleId=2267090&topicCenterId=2247903.

View all citation styles

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2267091?learningModuleId=2267090&topicCenterId=2247903

Entry ID: 2267091