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The other night my two sons and their former youth pastor and his wife got together for their annual GingerBread build off and the results this year have surpassed all previous years. When you combine active imaginations and creativity with 5 Ginger Bread kits, a hot glue gun and lots of good conversation and laughter you get the following:
GingerBread Pirate Ship
GingerBread Pirate Ship Close-up
All the builders agreed that this year’s creation will be difficult to beat but they also agreed that they are up to the challenge for next year.
While the building of a GingerBread pirate ship may be viewed by some as an expression of creativity and artist voice, I see this as a benefit or result of a life filled with creativity and expression that comes with authentic learning opportunities. For my two boys, this is the norm; they spend most days, designing, creating, building, problem-solving, and working toward big dreams and goals. Both my boys are aspiring professional downhill mountain bike racers so they also significant portions of each day preparing for the race season.
In addition to being athletes, they are also entrepreneurs who are building their personal and business brands on the road to establishing themselves as leaders in their respective fields through their websites, Instagram and Facebook.
Caleb Instagram Story Pic
Whether it is my older son’s writing sponsorship proposals and creating a new promotional blog/vlog and podcast to promote his place in the biking industry or my younger son’s Instagram and Facebook promotions of his latest build as part of his new auto styling business, they have both learned to share their passions and their voice with their audience.
Levi Wish I Knew Series
That creativity, passion, and voice were nurtured through years of their taking ownership of their learning that comes from authentic learning opportunities. As my boys strive to improve their world they are improving the world around them and are having a very positive impact on their communities and spheres of influence.
If we consistently create a significant learning environment in which we give our learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (CSLE+COVA) then we can honestly say that we have done our part to change and improve the world one learner at a time. Are you doing your part?
Average companies give their people something to work on. The most innovative organizations give their people something to work toward. – Sinek, 2014
I recently saw this Simon Sinek quote recycled and turned into Mime or inspirational image and I knew I had seen this before. I did a quick search in my “write about” notebook and saw that back in June of 2014 I clipped this Sinek quote and had planned to write about it in some way. As many good intentions go I got busy and put off writing about this until now.
The timing is actually better than when I first made note of Sinek’s insight because I now have a better context and can make a more meaningful connection to the CSLE+COVA framework. When you create significant learning environments where you give learners choice, ownership and, voice through authentic learning opportunities you are also giving your learner the opportunity to work toward something rather than just work on something. We all know what it is like to work on a meaningless assignment and there is a tendency to put in just enough work to get that A or B and check this off the list.
In contrast, when you own an authentic learning opportunity you shift to the mode of working toward the realization of a bigger goal, purpose or solution to a genuine problem or issue. Purpose and meaning will intrinsically motivate a learner to work toward something and make their own meaningful connections…which is at the heart of genuine learning and development.
Are you asking your learners to just work on make work assignments or are you giving them the choice and ownership to work toward making a difference in the world around them?
References
Sinek. S. (2014, June 14). Average Companies… [Quote]. Retrieved from href=”http://startwithwhy.cmail2.com/t/ViewEmail/r/3791C3AEE6A2A7A62540EF23F30FEDED/8B0470DEB97941AE4BD7C9066BE4161D”>
“One of the ingredients in Shopify’s success has been to completely ignore academic credentials in hiring.” — Tobi Lutke
In an Ottawa Citizen story, Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lütke also states “The company values people who have built something of their own, volunteered their time and pursued new learning opportunities. Shopify isn’t the only company that is looking beyond a degree credential to see what people are able to actually do. According to a CNBC Careers article Apple, Google, IBM, Ernst & Young and many other top teir companies hire people who don’t have a four-year degree.
The ability to create or build something of their own, to contribute to a hand’s on project, to undertake innovative opportunities, or to volunteer one’s time toward a bigger purpose are some of the most important traits that employers are looking for in the new digital world. Why? If you are able to create, build, innovate on your own then you are able to show that you have the drive to learn on your own and make a difference. The ever changing nature of our digital future demands this level of self-directed learning and adaptation.
One of the best ways to students to learn how to become digital innovators who are future ready is an signifanct learning environment in which they are given choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities.
After a lifetime of engaging in what is commonly referred to as DIY (do it yourself) projects, I knew I was going to have to review the parts list in my DIY Teleprompter project before I could pass on an updated parts list to a colleague. Why? Unlike going to Ikea that will provide not only detailed instructions and all the necessary components for what you need to assemble, DIY projects involve finding a variety of parts that may be used for a variety of purposes and modifying those parts to serve an entirely new purpose. So when I reviewed the 15mm rod support and baseplate system for my DIY teleprompter I quickly learned that it was no longer available from Amazon. My experience of sourcing these types of projects led me to check and see if all the parts were still available. After searching for and exploring a wide assortment of alternatives I realized that the best that I could do is provide a list of parts that I would more than likely use if I were building my DIY Teleprompter from scratch today.
DIY projects by their very nature require exploring and considering a wide assortment of options in order to create or build a project that can address your unique needs. There is no right answer. There is no quick fix. There is only inquiry, exploration, and trial and error. Unfortunately, most people do not have the learner’s mindset that will enable them to do this sort of problem-solving. We quench this type of exploration and experimentation out of our students with a steady diet of recipe and regurgitation followed by standardized testing.
Fortunately, the DIY movement is strong on the Internet and there are a small number of people willing to explore, experiment and find alternative ways to do it themselves. The rebels or mavericks who are willing to look for a better way, a different way, or simply a cheaper way to solve a problem will keep the DIY movement alive. We are also seeing this type of mindset supported through the maker spaces which are taking the place of shop classes of old. We can also help to keep DIY alive by supporting the learner’s mindset that comes out of creating significant learning environments that give learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities.
