Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, and Unleash Genius

by Katie Martin

Daniel Pink41 defines as the foundation of motivation:

Autonomy—the desire to direct our own lives Mastery—the urge to become better and better at something that matters Purpose—the yearning to do what we do in the service of something

larger than ourselves.

Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are essential to motivation in the real world, which makes those characteristics essential in our classrooms.

We know that when learners have a clear purpose, voice, and choice in their learning, they are empowered and can exceed our expectations.

Creating environments where learners are supported to develop their ideas and questions and turn the smallest ideas or biggest dreams into their reality is possible and increasingly becoming a goal for many educators. To make this a reality in schools, educators must f...

only 3 percent of adults in the United States spend time learning during their day.

Despite access to new ideas and resources, the majority of people do not independently choose to learn or develop new skills or knowledge.

Unfortunately, most people don’t.

What is more valuable than retaining and being able to regurgitate information is knowing how to find and make sense of the right information.

A study published out of the Stanford Education History Group found that middle and high school students showed an inability to evaluate information online.

“Never have we had so much information at our fingertips. Whether this bounty will make us smarter and better informed or more ignorant and narrow-minded will depend on our awareness of this problem and our educational response to it.”44

Shouldn’t we emphasize with our students that learning is for life, not just for schools? I certainly believe so.

Educate for Life, Not School

With this future ahead of our K–12 students, how are we preparing learners for this world of work and opportunities for learning if we are still banning cell phones and blocking access to websites and resources? The short answer is, we aren’t. At least not in every relevant way.

The paradox is that even though we want students to excel in our modern world, we can easily stay stuck in the way we learned

rather than focusing on the amazing opportunities that learners have today

instead of banning devices, teaching l...

effectively manage their attention a...

missing out on.

New standards that promote more complex thinking and new curriculum with more challenging questions will not take us where we need to go if we continue to use standardized teaching methods.

That sense of autonomy and ownership of learning is a powerful aspect of intrinsic motivation.

“The notion that we can go to college for four years and then spend that knowledge for the next thirty is over. If you want to be a lifelong employee anywhere today, you have to be a lifelong learner.

And that means self-motivation to learn and keep learning becomes the

most important lif...

but

I would argue that students’ lack of motivation is largely due to how learning experiences are structured in schools.

We shouldn’t make learners wait until they master the basics to engage in authentic learning, nor should ...

When students are behind in a subject or lack skills, what they need is more context.

Instead we reduce their education to drill and kill and never-ending worksheets, and then we wonder why they hate reading or think math is boring.

If we want learners to be motivated, we need to provide opportunities that allow them to engage in authentic tasks that foster autonomy, invite the pursuit of mastery, and intrigue them with sense of purpose.

What I am advocating is that you consider how to leverage technology in ways that allow learners to engage with content, experts, and their peers in class, next door, and around the world.

A Sense of Purpose

Getting back to our why—the reason we choose to be educators—is critical to defining a sense of purpose in our work as educators. If

my why is tied to a desire to unleash the power that exists within each individual.

The possibilities for authentic learning are endless with so many important, student-driven topics and ideas to delve into that could help kids learn about how to change the world.

It’s only a matter of time before these same students—who were so vibrant and excited to share that they were literally jumping out of their seats—become less interested in learning or in making an impact on the world as they move through content that seems irrelevant

If we aren’t providing opportunities to engage in personal and meaningful learning, what are we doing? Are we educating for life or school?

Personal L...

When the technology is the focus rather than the learner, students have little buy-in because it feels purposeless.

Adding technology doesn’t change how we learn in schools. Change comes with the design of the questions we ask and the expectations we set.

means going off script because much of the existing curricula in schools was either created before the arrival of the internet or has been repackaged to offer the same one-size-fits-all content in digital format. In either case, these curricula don’t give stud...

Many of the teachers finally admitted that they didn’t have experience and frankly were unclear about how to chart their own professional learning, let alone how to set up and guide the personalized learning of others.

Empowerment is critical to personal learning,

he acknowledged that not everyone was making the choice to learn and try new things and actually creating more pockets of

innovation then moving toward the desired learning in their classrooms.

Instead of providing free choice, which sounded great in theory, he met with each teacher and helped them select a specific inquiry or area of focus connected to the larger school goals.

Too many kids put in little effort and just wait to be guided, which is also known as “learned helplessness.”

then they all ended up looking just like mine.

What these experiences have taught me is that we can’t control learners and simultaneously expect them to be motivated.