Engagement, Innovation and Personalizing Learning

1. Engagement, Innovation andPersonalizing Learning Presentation to the Board of Education March 16, 2011 Keven Elder Superintendent of Schools

2. Engagement • A natural human condition • Maslow’s “peak experience”, where people see the experience as a whole, complete unit, exclusively and fully attended to . . . disorientation of time and space • Cskikszentmihalyi’s “autotelic” or optimal experience (flow), with formal and extensive energy output but few, if any, conventional rewards Flow occurs “when goals are clear, above average challenges are matched to skills, and accurate and instant feedback is forthcoming”

3. A conceptual model of engagement Anxiety Challenge Flow Boredom Apathy? Skill Cskikszentmihalyi

4. Engaged learning from the adolescent’s point of view • Teachers are motivated and passionate about the content, the instruction and my learning • Teachers model and expect deep learning • Teachers know when I am ready to fly and they let me go, not too early and not too late • I am motivated for my own sake (not with extrinsic motivation, whether positive whether praise or marks or negative with punishment or pressure) • I lose track of time and often need more • I like to talk and work with others • I need choice in what and how I learn

5. WDYDIST SD 63 Middle School 2010/11 Anxiety Flow Boredom Apathy

6. Innovation as an “input” leading to success Input Throughput Outputs Best New Practices (Innovation) Connection “Success” Engagement

7. A model: Innovation, engagement, success Innovation Inputs Throughputs Outputs Universal Design Tech Innovation Assessment for Learning Achievement Connection Performance Restitution, RP Engagement Enhancement Agr “Success” Comprehensive Support PL pilots

8. Personalized learning Personalized learning is a learning experience that is engaging and meaningful, where a student’s knowledge, skills and attitudes are enhanced in lasting ways that are relevant to the learner’s current and future contexts. Personalized learning enables individuals to engage in and contribute to the current learning context as well as to the well-being of society as a whole.

9. What research tells us about PL • Students are digital natives who need creative outlets as expressions of personal identity, seek relevance and learn through social networking • Pedagogy should be problem-based, connected to community and “real life”, based on negotiated outcomes and providing for proximal learning • Assessment must be authentic, performance based, incremental and based on constant feedback (lessons learned from video games (JP Gee) • Teachers must be designers (with students) of inquiry-oriented learning experience and use innovative instructional and assessment practices

10. What we are doing to innovate and personalize • Early childhood: Strong community partnerships including with Peninsula Connections for Early Childhood; StrongStart centres (437 registered, average daily attendance 64); Ready Set Learn, child care and TEAM; Roots of Empathy; 1000x5; Children Count resource fair. • Primary: Successful FDK implementation (district wide in 2011/12); Immersion and core french; connections to First Nations communities; continuation of strong Primary Program; Reading Recovery; K-4 literacy initiative. • Intermediate: Continued move to 4/5 multi-age; interdisciplinary project-based inquiry; technology as a support for learning (Elgg project).

11. What we are doing • Middle: Long blocks for inquiry and project-based learning; interdisciplinary studies; grounded in research into adolescent development, Universal Design for Learning; comprehensive student services; assessment for learning; technology; pilots. • Secondary: Increasing connections among courses; pervasive uses of technology; programs of choice including academies; ILC > alternate; strong and partnered DL at SIDES; modernizing assessment practices; commitments to PL pilots and research. • Post-secondary: South Island Partnership with Camosun – 42% of dual credit students (174 of 413) in 2010/11; VIU partnership through ILC; UVic.

12. Going forward • Continued support for early childhood connections • Building from strength in the primary program • Enhancing the intermediate and middle years through innovative practices in instruction, assessment, student support, technology and more • Supporting new, more personalized and modern approaches in secondary (technology, problem-based inquiry, connections to community, etc.) • Implementing and researching PL pilot projects • Enhancing our post-secondary partnerships • Advocating for flexibility and change in the system, particularly in the graduation program