The Big Idea: I know that you’ve been working on something called “Build Your Own” with Pepper clients. What exactly is that?
Michael Weinraub: "Build Your Own" is a simple way to refer to customizing the online learning that PD providers make accessible to their teachers. For a lot of districts getting started with professional online learning, it makes sense to start by accessing off-the-shelf online courses; Teachers have a need to build knowledge or skills in certain areas and an off-the-shelf quality online course can provide that. But the exciting next step is to make these courses your own: with your own materials, your own questions and prompts, your own examples. So that’s the first step in “build you own,” taking something that exists and tinkering with it to make it even more relevant for your teachers. You decide what you want teachers to learn and work with us to design and develop the entire learning experience, online or blended. It’s pretty cool for folks to know that they can really take charge of the course design experience, with support.
The Big Idea: You mentioned “blended learning”. What is it and why would a district want to do that instead of an online approach
Michael Weinraub: Blended Learning is the thoughtful combination of in-person learning and online learning. It’s not the case that in-person learning is really the best learning option but we put things online because it’s more convenient. Meaningful learning can take place online and (emphasis added) in-person and it’s our responsibility, or the responsibility of anyone who is leading adult learning, to try to get the combination right. Although it depends on the situation, whenever I can, I try to see if a blended approach is possible because for the most part, giving teachers a structured opportunity to do some work independently and some work interactively, both in-person and online, works very well.
The Big Idea: When we hear about online learning, we often hear about content curation. What does it mean to “curate” your own content?
Michael Weinraub: Content curation is a fancy term for finding excellent materials for what you want to accomplish and packaging them so that users can easily access and use them. This has always happened in schools and districts, it’s just now we have the ability to organize them in creative and searchable ways on various digital platforms. Now, by materials, I mean not just static ones like documents and videos, but even entire learning experiences; an online course is an example of “a learning material.” So curating these learning materials and activities is the responsibility of PD providers and administrators. More and more it is one of their most important responsibilities. I like to develop courses, modules, and professional learning communities that give teachers a way to not only easily access helpful instructional materials but the chance to interact around those materials. It’s one thing to grab a teacher’s guide off a website. It’s another thing to have a community, online or in-person, to grapple with how to use it in real classrooms with real students. There’s got to be that socialization.
The Big Idea: Can you say more about what you mean by socialization?
Michael Weinraub: Sure, I don’t mean just having nice interactions with each other obviously. We’re talking about making things real and concrete for people. There is a big push toward personalization of learning today, both for teachers and students. But that doesn’t mean that people should just be doing their own thing in isolation, at least not all the time. Most teachers want – they crave – opportunities to grapple with big ideas and question with others. PD providers have to work to create the conditions for that socializing, that interacting to take place in a way that works for working teachers. I was a professor of education for many years in New York City and found online and blended learning to be part of that puzzle. You identify important topics and things that people need to know, gather excellent materials, then design activities to help learners grapple with the big questions in practical ways. Doing that in a community of learners can be empowering when the conditions for learning are right.
The Big Idea: I hear what you’re saying about having an opportunity to interact with other teachers. Can you say more about how integrating online learning benefits teachers and districts?
Michael Weinraub: When you acknowledge the reality of teachers’ lives, it benefits them. Most teachers have a digital life, and that applies not only to digital natives. Virtually every teacher uses email and some type of social media, pay their bills online, etc. Integrating digital learning and digital access to information is just acknowledging their reality. Teachers often feel isolated in their own classrooms; a facilitated online course can help bridge the gap by providing opportunities for collaboration and support within a course experience.
And once you see online learning as a modality that can be deep and interesting and satisfying, then you’re off to the races. Because you can begin to find ways to give teachers more choices about what they learn and how the learn it. Wouldn’t it be great if districts let teachers choose how they wanted to achieve the desired learning and proficiency outcomes within a range of vetted options? We’re getting closer to that reality every day.
The Big Idea: So how do districts get started with “building their own?”
Michael Weinraub: Of course, it all starts with desired student outcomes and the corresponding teacher skills and knowledge they need to make that vision a reality. Most districts have done quite a bit of work on these two parts but they are still grappling with how to integrate digital learning (online and blended professional learning) into the mix. That’s where we can help. Yes, in design and delivery, but most importantly, in thinking through the important questions about how to make online learning an authentic part of a larger program of job-embedded professional learning. It’s all pretty exciting.
Pepper provides a wide range of courses for teachers that allow for growth and learning opportunities. If you are interested in learning more about Pepper’s “Build Your Own” function, contact pepper@pcgus.com.
