A Framework for Innovation
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
The above Peter Drucker quote is the premise behind our work: That proven teaching & learning strategies will never achieve their potential results if they are simply treated as programs or fads. Innovative strategies such as PBL, Makerspaces, Mastery Learning, etc. can be true game changers, but only when they are implemented with fidelity and then woven into the culture of a school - one that is willing to challenge an industrial model of education that is resistant to change. We can help your school build this culture of authentic innovation through an "open source" framework that is grounded in five core elements:
A Living Mission & Vision
The school's mission & vision is not just hanging on a wall collecting dust...it lives in the actions and outcomes one sees in every classroom, every day, every lesson.
Collective Leadership
Everyone is empowered to lead through the skills & talent they bring to the school's team, exercising autonomy, mastery, and purpose in the work they do for and with students.
Radical Collaboration
The default mode of every interaction and decision is collaborative - between students, between peers, and between partners in the larger community.
Free Exchange of Ideas & Resources
The school is a true learning organization, where every member of the team knows that the work they do improves through open sharing, critique, and revision.
Systemic Innovation!
The school leverages the other core elements with a methodical approach to true innovation. It is constantly growing, improving, and modeling positive disruption that exemplifies what school can be.
Examples of Virtual STEM & Virtual PBL
Case Studies...
Some of the many examples of Open Way Learning's work with partners & schools.
The RISE Project (Redefining Innovative Schools through Sustained STEM Experiences)
A long-term collaboration between the NC State Science House and Open Way Learning to help partner schools create the cultural conditions for innovation by design - where high-quality, community-facing STEM and PBL are co-designed to thrive.
More details here.
Virtual Workshop: Catalyzing Student Engagement & Mastery through Project Based Learning
A virtual workshop led by Open Way Learning in partnership with the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. This 3-day session modeled how teachers could develop, adapt, and implement authentic STEM projects that are rooted in the elements of Design Thinking and High Quality Project Based Learning...even in a remote setting.
More details here.
Pinch Points to Possibilities
Partnering with EdNC, Open Way Learning co-founder Ben Owens led a series of webinars with , informed by the design process, so that education stakeholders could leverage the heightened focus on our education systems as a result of the COVID-19 crisis to highlight and scale innovations that are working for students.
More details here.
Leading through Positive Disruption
Open Way Learning is helping Coastal Leadership Academy, a public charter in Myrtle Beach, SC, through a series of workshops, coaching, and design sprints create an innovation culture rooted in the "positive disruptors" of Advisory, Experiential Learning, Collective Leadership, Student Voice, & Mastery Based Grading.
More details here.
A Student Led Design Sprint
Using technologies such as Zoom, Mural, and GAFE, Open Way Learning facilitated a virtual, multi-week, human-centered design process led by students at Myrtle Grove Middle School in Wilmington, NC. The goal was to co-design ways the school could bring more authentic and equitable student voice and choice to the school, especially in a time of remote learning caused by the pandemic.
More details here.
Gathering to Transformation
Open Way Learning was one of the sponsoring organizations (along with Transcend, Education Reimagined, HundrED, Next Generation Learning Challenges, PBLWorks, Prichard Committee Student Voice Team, and Student Voice) for a series of global conversations hosted by Fielding International. The goal was to share ideas and best practices that helped educators move from triage to transformation during the time of COVID-19.
More details here.
The Source Code
Open Up, Education! is the book that began the Open Way Learning movement. Backed by research and filled with case studies and examples from around the world, it provides a compelling story of how educators are leveraging open source principles of transparency, inclusivity, adaptability, community, and collaboration to disrupt the status quo and create environments of deep learning - environments that prepare students with the skills & knowledge needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Published by Rowman & Littlefield. Also available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Google Books, Trove, & Bokus.
The OWL Team
A growing team of education stakeholders willing to disrupt the status quo...
