Missing the Point

I had a conversation with a principal who is a great leader of his school. But he said something that told me he was missing the point of an important shift in his school district, probably because he felt threatened by the unknowable, but also undeniable, changes coming. 
 
He said, “I still don’t think Edgenuity will work as a school.”  

That was a very telling sentence. 

He was confusing Edgenuity, a corporate, 3rd - 12th grade, learning management system, with the district’s new online school’s holistic approach to online learning. Yes, the district’s new online school is currently using the Edgenuity learning management system to house and deliver content.

However, that is not how learning is happening. Edgenuity is one aspect of the school’s online learning ecosystem that I was part of developing. That ecosystem is being continually refined (I transitioned away from the project in the summer).  

What this principal was missing was that we built the online school to use a platform like Edgenuity by thinking of the content it provides, subject by subject, as digital textbooks. These textbooks can be edited down just as a teacher would pare down the content of a regular textbook. A teacher can identify stronger aspects of the content as well as prioritize standards and eliminate redundancies of the standards. What’s more, teacher-generated content can be added. 

Human-to-human connection is actually THE bedrock principle of online learning. The online school has developed a coaching model where a teacher facilitates personalized learning targets, kid by kid, at a level of detail much more refined, and appropriately differentiated, than what happens in a classroom of 30 students.  

The systems and practices look and work differently online, but the development of human relationships (teacher to student) are still the core mindset that MUST be maintained for successful online learning. That mindset drives the school. That mindset is why it will remain as an important school option for many students and families. That mindset is why it will cause valuable change in the community.  That mindset is why it will work.