myways exercise 2: learning design as rich as your definition of student success

Exercise 2

Learning Design as Rich as Your Definition of Student Success

developed by Dave Lash & Grace Belfiore

for Next Generation Learning ChallengesAndrew Calkins, Deputy Director

October 2, 2015

MyWays is supported by a grantfrom the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

with additional support fromthe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

© 2015 EDUCAUSEThis work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Putting MyWays to Work

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This is the second in a series of Putting MyWays to Work exercise packets.

Exercise 2: Learning Design as Rich as Your Definition of Student Success

Exercise 2a: How Well Do Your Projects Reflect the Principles of Whole Game Learning?

Exercise 2b: How Well Do Your Projects Harness the Benefits of Junior Versions?

Exercise 2c: How Well Do Your Projects Map to the MyWays Competencies?

Quick link to the MyWays Beta ToolboxRepository for all MyWays overviews, tools, and exercises.

For a detailed listing of Exercise 2 documents, see the last slide in this deck.

Next Packet: Exercise 3 – Assessment Design as Integrated as Your Definition of Student Success


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http://nextgenlearning.org/myways



The MyWays model, tools, and reports provide auseful framework for design thinking & model building.

The MyWays model provides school designers, teachers, parents, and students with a synthesis of 20 student competencies needed for success in college, career, and life. In addition, it offers a set of simple, visual tools for mapping progress towards those competencies. The tools can be used to support strategic assessment, system development, and system implementation at the level of individual students, specific learning experiences, or overall learning model.

MyWays draws on research across the broad “student success” landscape to provide a composite framework applicable to all students regardless of academic aptitude or socioeconomic circumstance, including those students who must overcome the extraordinary challenges of intergenerational poverty.

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The MyWays project is attempting to help grantees and school designers answer three big questions:

How well are we defining and articulating what success looks like for students attending our school?

How well does our design for learning and the organization of our school directly support students' attainment of that richer, deeper definition of success?

How do we gauge students' progress in developing those competencies? And: How can we measure and articulate our school’s overall performance, beyond proficiency in ELA and math?

The exercises in this packet, 2a, 2b, and 2c, address the second of these three big questions—how well does our learning design support broader and deeper competencies?

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Putting MyWays to Work 4

Recap: The MyWays model provides school designers, teachers, parents, and students with a set of 20 student competencies needed for success in college, career, and life.


Please see Putting MyWays To Work Exercise 1 and the Introducing MyWays

overview for further information.

Activating learning forbroader and deeper competencies

[Students] need an education that is deeply rooted in . . . what is known about the human condition, in its timeless aspects, and what is known about the pressures, challenges and opportunities of the contemporary and coming scene. Without this double anchoring, we are doomed to an education that is dated, partial, naïve, and inadequate.

Howard Gardner

Two lenses shaped the MyWays model: the timeless aspects of child and adolescent development on the one hand, and the pressures and challenges of the contemporary and coming scene on the other. The first lens is richly informed by advances in brain and learning science.

The second lens focuses on the need to rekindle upward mobility in the face of troubling economic pressures for younger Americans. This new environment combines: a deepening employment crisis for under-30s; an increasingly fragmented and risky postsecondary education landscape; and a widening opportunity gap between lower- and higher-income students. (For more on both lenses, see the forthcoming report, The MyWays Model).

In this packet we apply these two lenses to learning design and the changes that best support students’ development of the broader and deeper competencies needed to succeed in the world beyond high school.


A substantial majority of the competencies identified in the MyWays model require a combination of thinking skills and real world abilities. Not surprisingly, in the arenas of Creative Know How, Habits of Success, and Wayfinding Abilities, in particular, “textbook learning” is insufficient.

This “field of learning” is a useful visual device for envisioning learning activities in terms of the thinking skills and real life abilities they engender. For example, the Mayan Community Project discussed in this packet is at the high end of the thinking skills axis while spanning both simulated and bounded authentic settings.

The following two slides map traditional student experience and a broader, deeper student experience, helping highlight those learning activities that encompass both higher-order thinking skills and real world abilities.

Bloom’s Thinking SkillsThe “left field” axis uses Bloom’s taxonomy to key a familiar progression of thinking skills. While technically the taxonomy is not a hierarchy, in our usage here, the skills are cumulative as one moves out the axis: Applying, for example, includes Remembering and Understanding while Creating includes all five of the “earlier” skills.

Real World AbilitiesThe “right field” axis indicates growing competence as the authenticity of the setting increases. For example, a particular middle schooler might be competent in Self-Direction or Communication & Collaboration within “simulated authentic” settings, such as those within school, but not in “complex authentic” settings in the adult world. This progression also allows specific learning activities to be plotted by degree of authenticity.


Mapping learning activities along two crucial axes

This mapping represents traditional student experience: lots of transmission-based instruction in the classroom, some labs and research projects focused on higher-order thinking skills, a smattering of extracurricular activities, and perhaps some simple minimum wage work with little training.


To develop broader and deeper competencies attuned to today’s real-world challenges, we need to focus on the situated learning zone where higher-order thinking skills are interwoven with real world settings that are either bounded or complex (unbounded).


Next generation learning designs that feature a heavy focus on situated learning experiences are most likely to develop capability and agency.Three key learning design constructs are of particular value.


In our forthcoming practice briefings on learning design, we highlight three learning constructs that address capability and agency. (See the Introducing MyWays overview with Exercise 1 for a brief intro to capability and agency.) The three constructs are:

• Whole Game LearningSeven principles of learning design developed by David Perkins that are the focus of this Exercise 2

• Levers for Capability and AgencyEight targeted practices based on learning and developmental science

• Wider Learning EcosystemSteps needed to go beyond the school walls toward a coordinated portfolio of diverse learning experiences

Each construct provides guidance and resources for situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991) which broadly describes many forms of learning that are embedded in activity, context, and culture; where knowledge is presented in situations that would normally involve that knowledge; and where social interaction and collaboration are essential, with novices learning from those more expert until they eventually become expert themselves —all key ingredients, we believe, for acquiring the competencies in the MyWays model.

This Exercise 2 focuses on the first of the three constructs—whole game learning. Combining situated learning with other learning science, David Perkins at Project Zero developed seven principles for maintaining the essence of the authentic activity while creating conditions that support novice advancement. For more on whole game learning, read the Whole Game Learning overview. We also recommend Perkins’ very readable book Making Learning Whole. The following slide maps selected next gen models to whole game learning.

The slide after thatdescribes “junior versions,”Perkins’ term for learning experiences that follow the seven principles.

Exercises 2a, b, and c explore how whole game learning and junior versions can be used to advance the MyWays competencies.


These seven principles of whole game learning integrate the most important elements of learning and developmental science into a practical guide for developing broader and deeper competencies.

12Putting MyWays to Work

Here’s how whole game learning aligns with selected next generation models

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Creating a junior version is like inventing Little League—transforming a real-life “game” into a developmentally appropriate learning experience by:Capturing the basic structural features of the full-scale gameThrowing out what is not as important to start with, while leaving the spirit and shape of the game intactSwapping in simulations, replicas, or scaled-down versions for elements that are not developmentally appropriate or practically possibleSetting and maintaining a reasonable level of challenge for the group and individual learners. This is essential, and requires educators to know:

The learners - their prior knowledge, their interests, how agile they are as learners

Stages of developmental readiness - “what happens to knowledge, understanding, and self-awareness as children advance from kindergarten through high school and beyond.”

Including all seven of the principles of whole game learningPrototyping and tuning to align the experience with student capabilities

“The first time around,” says Perkins, “involves at least as much learning for you as it does for the learners, because you are almost always wrong in some ways… Only over two or three cycles of working with real learners in real situations can we expect to home in on truly well-calibrated junior versions.”

Examples of junior versions Well-designed project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, and studio-based learning; rich simulations; co-curriculars like theater productions, history fairs, and DECA; service learning, youth development projects, scouting or Odyssey of the Mind programs, and apprenticeships can all be valuable junior versions—if they capture a “whole game” and embed the whole game learning principles.

Creating a Junior Version of a Whole Game

“Put it this way: When I was playing [Little League] I wasn’t playing full-scale, four bases, nine innings. But I was playing a perfectly suitable junior version of the game. A junior version was just right for my size and stamina and the number of kids in the neighborhood.

But when I was studying those shardsof math and history, I wasn’t playinga junior version of anything.

It was kind of like batting practice without knowing the whole game.

Why would anyone want to do that?”

David Perkins


Exercise 2a:How well do your projects reflect the principles of whole game learning?

These exercises are designed to help you use MyWays and whole game learning to address the second big question:

How well does our design for learning and the organization of our school directly support students' attainment of that richer, deeper definition of success?

Review the Whole Game Learning overview before tackling the exercises.

14Exercises 2a, b, and cLearning Design as Rich as Your Definition of Student Success

Exercise 2b:How well do your projects harness the benefits of junior versions?

Exercise 2c:How well do your projects map to the MyWays competencies?

Demonstrating whole game learningwith The Mayan Community ProjectWe demonstrate whole game learning and Exercises 2a, b, and c using an experiential learning project developed at a High Tech High middle school. After researching Mayan culture, students wrote, illustrated, published, and marketed a bilingual alphabet book for younger students. Proceeds helped send impoverished Guatemalan children to school.

The tools for 2a, b, and c appear on the next three slides followed by the filled-in demo worksheets for the Mayan project.

However, we encourageyou to look at the fulldemonstration in the Whole Game Learningoverview where you will also find a fulldescription of the project as well as links to an extensive set of the Mayan project documents.

Use the tools on the next three slides as checklists to aid you in evaluating and improving learning experiences with respect to:

• The seven principles of whole game learning• The characteristics of junior versions• The 20 MyWays competencies

The goal is to equip your learning design team with a reliable process for critiquing emerging curricula and instruction—strengthening the connection to learning and developmental science and encouraging the development of broader and deeper competencies. Even at a quick, conceptual level, these tools can flag key issues and “help change the conversation” within your team with respect to transforming teaching and learning.

In completing the exercises, pick one of these learning design tasks:

• Evaluate one of your existing projects (learning experiences) to identify gaps, plan improvements, or adapt the design to change or add competencies;

• Analyze an existing “exemplar” learning experience (like High Tech High’s Mayan project, or other projects you’ve been impressed with) for group workshop, or other development purposes; or

• Develop design parameters for the planning of new projects.

Exercises 2a, b, and c — and a case study demonstration 15

Using the tools in tandem to develop learning designas rich as your definition of student success

http://www.hightechhigh.org/projects/?name=The%20Mayan%20Community%20Project&uid=93e0ce7e7da75c460d22927419607ff2

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Exercise 2a.How well do your projects reflect the principles of whole game learning? Assemble a learning design team to evaluate one of your existing learning experiences (or pick one of the alternative tasks listed on the previous slide). For this exercise, we suggest selecting a multi-faceted experience that runs a semester or more.

Read and discuss the MyWays Whole Game Learning overview, including the Mayan Community Project demonstration.

Download the Whole Game Learning Analysis Tool from the MyWays Beta Toolbox.

Working individually, map how your learning experience aligns with each of the seven whole game learning principles. Record the strengths and weaknesses within each principle’s row. (See the Mayan demo for guidance.)

Discuss and combine the individual responses. Come up with a joint analysis and action plan based on that analysis.

Exercise 2a — The Whole Game Learning Analysis Tool


17Exercise 2b — The Junior Version Characteristics Tool

Exercise 2b.How well do your projects harness the benefits of junior versions? Continue working with your team from Exercise 2a to perform this second analysis of your project.

Read and discuss the junior versions section of the MyWays Whole Game Learning overview, including the Mayan Community Project demonstration.

Download the Junior Versions Characteristics Tool from the MyWays Beta Toolbox.

Working individually, map how well your learning experience design matches up with the characteristics of successful junior versions. Record the strengths and weaknesses within each row of the worksheet. (See the Mayan demo for guidance.)

Discuss and combine the individual responses. Come up with a joint analysis and action plan based on that analysis.


Junior Version Characteristics Analysis 18Exercise 2c — The Competency Correlation Tool

Exercise 2c.How well do your projects map to the MyWays Competencies? Continue working with your team from Exercises 2a and b to perform this third and final analysis of your project.

Review the MyWays Whole Game Learning overview, including the Mayan Community Project demonstration.

Download the Competency Correlation Tool from the MyWays Beta Toolbox. You used this tool in exercise 1a to assess how your entire school model mapped to the competencies. In the current exercise, you are invited to drill deeper to assess which competencies your selected learning experience project addresses and in what ways and to what depth.

Record learning details, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the project within each row of the worksheet. (See the Mayan demo for guidance.)

Discuss and draft a joint analysis and action plan based on that analysis.


19A case study demonstration of exercises 2a, b, and c

Introducing the Mayan Community Project

The Whole Game Learning overview demonstrates the use of these tools in performing a three-part evaluation of a learning project.

In this slide deck, we have excerpted a brief synopsis of the Mayan project itself along with the completed worksheets for 2a, b, and c.

You will also find more extensive information on the High Tech High Mayan project website.


Summary of the Mayan Community Project An extended, interdisciplinary project with individual & group research

on the Mayan culture and Mayan areas of present-day Guatemala Application of knowledge to collaborative writing & illustration

of a children’ alphabet book on the Mayan culture Publication, marketing and sales of copies of the book to fund

schooling for seven Guatemalan students from impoverished families

• Essential questions: Why is it important to learn about the Mayan civilization today? How are books published and marketed? What is life currently like for people of Mayan descent?

• Learning goals include: knowledge of Mayan culture, the reality of poverty in Central America, skills in writing and editing for publication, actual experience of job roles in the publishing process, business planning, marketing & sales, and the empowerment of “how to make a difference in a child’s life”!

• Process is in-depth and over time: 12-week project, with approximately 2 hours class time/day, group and individual research, 2-3 revisions of book pages, student choice of research topics & job roles.

• Authentic, culminating experiences and assessments: Peer editors wielding the “Changes Needed” or “Approved” stamps, “Book Signing” (exhibition), and book selling activities in and with the local community.


All files associated with these exercises can be found at the MyWays Beta Toolbox.

Related readingThis slide deckWhole Game Learning overviewThe High Tech High Mayan Community Project website

ToolsWhole Game Learning Analysis Tool (for Exercise 2a)

Junior Version Characteristics Tool (for Exercise 2b)Competency Correlation Tool (for Exercise 1a and 2c)

Forthcoming ReportsThe MyWays Model: A Composite of Student Competencies for Success in College, Career, and LifeFoundations of the MyWays Model: A Brief Summary of Student Success ResearchMyWays by Design: A Set of Practice Briefings on Learning and Assessment for Broader and Deeper CompetenciesSimple Tools for Using MyWays in Your School Community

24Resources for Exercises 2a, b, and cLearning Design as Rich as Your Definition of Student Success





myways exercise 2: learning design as rich as your definition of student success

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