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Bob Lenz, CEO & co-founder, Envision Education, shows his team's finger painting.
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What does deeper learning mean to you? How do you represent it in a finger painting? Envision Learning Partners posed this challenge to members of the Deeper Learning Community of Practice (CoP) in their meeting held in December 2013.
What seemed like a simple collaborative task proved to be challenging, provoking stimulating conversations about deeper learning and resulting in the creation of visual representations of this concept in action. Participants universally agreed with Envision CEO Bob Lenz, who commented, "We had a great discussion, but the short timeframe and the requirement to present our final artwork was what really pushed our thinking and made it a more concrete and deeper learning experience. Plus, it was really fun."
Integrating arts into learning and assessment offers opportunities for creative expression of learning. Envision Learning Partners (ELP) leads the Bay Area Performance Assessment Network (BAPAN) in collaboration with the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) to promote arts integration into Envision's deeper student learning assessment system. Learn more about BAPAN in the February 2014 edition of Reflections.
At the December 2013 CoP gathering, members created observable criteria to describe what deeper learning looks like in action. Members started with the Deeper Learning Competencies developed by the CoP members in partnership with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation*:
- Master core academic content
- Think critically and solve complex problems
- Work collaboratively
- Communicate effectively
- Learn how to learn
- Develop academic mindsets
Members shared evidence of deeper learning that they had collected during schools visits to Envision Academy in Oakland, MetWest in Oakland, and the International High School of San Francisco on the first day of the gathering. Collaborative teams of CoP members across organizations created draft criteria for each of the competencies to be completed during the spring 2013 Deeper Learning Community of Practice.
*For more information about the Deeper Learning Competencies, go to the Making It Happen: Tools & Resources below.
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Graphic notes describing draft criteria for deeper learning created by Deeper Learning Community of Practice members at the December 2013 gathering (by Rachel Brian).
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The Deeper Learning Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of 10 members committed to spreading deeper learning across the nation. Each of the Deeper Learning CoP members has a unique approach to bringing deeper learning to life. To find out more about the members, check out their websites:
Asia Society - http://asiasociety.org/
Big Picture Learning - http://www.bigpicture.org/
ConnectEd - http://www.connectedcalifornia.org/
EdVisions - http://www.edvisions.com/
Envision Education - http://www.envisioneducation.org/
Expeditionary Learning - http://www.elschools.org/
High Tech High - http://www.hightechhigh.org/
Internationals Network for Public Schools - http://internationalsnps.org/
New Tech Network - http://www.newtechnetwork.org/
New Visions - http://www.newvisions.org/
Thanks to generous funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Deeper Learning CoP members have gathered a few times a year to create and implement strategies to spread deeper learning within their networks and to interested schools and districts across the nation.
Here is what some of the deeper learning members say about the value of the Community of Practice:
"The real value for each of us has been around connecting and learning from others.... In particular, there's been something very powerful about being around organizations that have similar philosophies, but whose details are actually quite different." ~Ben Daley (High Tech High)
"It's broadened my perspective on the CoP, really seeing the diversity of our vision-and our vision moving toward equity." ~Gia Truong (Envision Education)
Envision Learning Partners is proud to lead the Deeper Learning Community of Practice and is committed to sharing these promising practices with our school and district partners. To find out more, please contact us at info@envisionlearning.org.
Fun guaranteed, finger painting optional.
