Current research is pushing schools to adopt more student-centered approaches to the classroom experience, and educators—librarians and classroom teachers alike—are being challenged to revise their curricula and instruction to be student-centered, personalized, and differentiated. This book empowers librarians, teachers, and administrators to be empathic problem-solvers and decision-makers. By reframing the challenges that members of a learning community face as opportunities to better meet teaching and learning needs, readers will find that adoption of a mindset focused on users—namely, design thinking—elevates and creates opportunities for innovating pedagogy. Moreover, it can enhance school culture as well as build channels of communication among various stakeholders in schools and districts. When educators of any subject or discipline apply design thinking skills to their curriculum implementation, authentic student-centered learning experiences become the core of the learning experience. The case studies shared in this book provide examples of student-centered approaches being used in elementary, middle, and high schools, so that readers have many models on which to base their work and from which to build confidence in shifting their pedagogy to keep the student at the center of teaching and learning decisions.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

This book aims to develop a situative educational model to guide the design and implementation of powerful student-centered learning environments in higher education classrooms. Rooted in educational science, Hoidn contributes knowledge in the fields of general pedagogy, and more specifically, higher education learning and instruction. The text will support instructors, curriculum developers, faculty developers, administrators, and educational managers from all disciplines in making informed instructional decisions with regard to course design, classroom interaction, and community building and is also of relevance to educators from other formal and informal educational settings aside from higher education.

This practical handbook for designing and teaching hybrid or blended courses focuses on outcomes-based practice. It reflects the author’s experience of having taught over 70 hybrid courses, and having worked for three years in the Learning Technology Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a center that is recognized as a leader in the field of hybrid course design. Jay Caulfield defines hybrid courses as ones where not only is face time replaced to varying degrees by online learning, but also by experiential learning that takes place in the community or within an organization with or without the presence of a teacher; and as a pedagogy that places the primary responsibility of learning on the learner, with the teacher’s primary role being to create opportunities and environments that foster independent and collaborative student learning. Starting with a brief review of the relevant theory – such as andragogy, inquiry-based learning, experiential learning and theories that specifically relate to distance education – she addresses the practicalities of planning a hybrid course, taking into account class characteristics such as size, demographics, subject matter, learning outcomes, and time available. She offers criteria for determining the appropriate mix of face-to-face, online, and experiential components for a course, and guidance on creating social presence online.The section on designing and teaching in the hybrid environment covers such key elements as promoting and managing discussion, using small groups, creating opportunities for student feedback, and ensuring that students’ learning expectations are met. A concluding section of interviews with students and teachers offers a rich vein of tips and ideas.

A major premise of this book is that the physical environments in which we learn should reflect our most powerful aspirations and our most promising ideas about learning. The designs that are showcased here are about expanding rather than containing learning, opening access rather than controlling access, adapting to differences in learning modalities and preferences, rather than restricting modalities and controlling preferences. Learning by Design uses the school building as a metaphor for everything we know and think about learning and education. The authors argue that a shift to deliberate design requires a shift in mindset, from predictability and stability to informed choice and adaptation, from established patterns and procedures to flexibility and responsiveness, from established truths to inquiry and questions. This is book is for everyone who cares about education. It describes how the thoughtful design of learning environments can become the catalyst to redesign education itself in a way that allows it to fulfill its ultimate promise as the vehicle to build a more fair and just society for all.

Have you ever entered a building or room for the first time and felt enhanced--felt your body relax and spirit elevate? The effect of human-made environments on learners’ brains is not subjective. According to research studies, we all have measurable responses to the design of a space. However, despite the many resources discussing how to decorate and design elementary school classrooms, few resources on middle and secondary level classroom design are available. This book fills that gap. Moreover, the purpose of this guide is to enhance learning spaces, boost student performances, and positively extend teachers’ influence.

The roadmap for your school’s CBE journey! The one-size-fits-all instructional and assessment practices of the past no longer equitably meet the needs of all students. Competency-based education (CBE) has emerged not only as an innovation in education, but as a true transformation of the approaches to how we traditionally "do" school. In Deeper Competency-Based Learning, the authors share best practices from their experiences implementing CBE across states, districts, and schools. Leaving no stone unturned, readers are guided step-by-step through CBE implementation and validation phases, beginning with defining your WHY and collaborative development of the competencies describing deeper learning. The CBE readiness tools and reflections inside will help your team: Build the foundation for organizational shifts by examining policies, leadership, culture, and professional learning Dig in to shifts in teaching and learning structures by addressing rigorous learning goals, competency-based assessment, evidence-based grading, and body of evidence validation Take a deep dive into the shift to student-centered classrooms through personalized instructional strategies that change mindsets regarding teacher-student roles, responsibilities, and classroom culture Discover how your students can demonstrate deeper learning of academic content and develop personal success skills by maximizing time, place, and pace of learning with this roadmap for your CBE journey.