The Online Progressive unSchool Needs You!

[Fred Bartels]

The Online Progressive unSchool is an open-source design for a

non-profit community-created learning resource. *

For OPuS to work it is essential to have the participation of a
community of educators passionate about their areas of interest and
about blended learning.

OPuS is conceived as a community of virtual learning spaces where
teachers and students from around the world -who share a passion for a
subject- can meet and work together to further their understanding and
knowledge, with the overarching goal of developing solutions that help
make the world a better place.

OPuS Communities of Practice (CoPs) will start with a teacher who is
passionate about a subject. This teacher -in collaboration with the
OPuS community- will develop a virtual learning space and Personal
Learning Network (PLN) that will nurture and support their CoP. The
elements of the virtual learning space will include a forum, a blog, a
Twitter presence, and a wiki with an excellent and well-organized
collection of references to the best online resources in their area of
interest. The teacher's PLN should include other educators and
professionals who share an interest in their subject.

In addition to having a deep knowledge and passion for a subject, an
OPuS teacher must demonstrate a sustained and solid commitment to
helping students learn. OPuS teachers should be just as interested in
helping kids grow as they are in teaching their subject. OPuS teachers
embrace a progressive approach to education, which essentially means
that their role is more of a guide than a dispenser of information.
OPuS learning is driven by a student's interest. Motivation must be
intrinsic. Students inhabit a community with fellow learners with whom
they collaborate with respect and empathy, and with whom they work
together to help others.

To get a sense of whether we are ready to raise the OPuS barn I'm
asking those of you who might consider developing and mentoring a CoP
to put a brief description of your CoP idea on the virtual unSchool
open space board here: http://www.stixy.com/guest/102515

Putting an idea up on the board is not a commitment. It is just a
sharing of ideas at this point. If a bunch of ideas get posted then
that would be encouragement to move towards implementation. Otherwise,
it's back to the drawing board.

Fred

*More information about the OPuS concept here:
http://prezi.com/7mcx3dha-ef0/brainstorming-plans-for-the-online-pr...

[Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach]

A couple things:

1. the term unschooling is used in reference to a movement John Holt started in the 80s http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.html I actually unschooled my kids.

2. I have a book being published in the summer that explains how to use PLNs, CoPs, and PLCs (I coined a phrase in the book that takes a 3 and connects them CLCs or connected learning communities) to create the kind of learning exp you are shooting for with OPuS. Might be of interest.

3. PLP uses a similar model for PD. Many of the folks who have been through PLP are a part of this site and know the value of a deeply committed group of people to self directed learning.

 

Would love to chat with you sometime.

[Fred Bartels]

Sheryl,

 

Thanks for your great comments. As noted in the prezi referenced in the blog post, my use of unschool derives more from the unconference movement than Holt's innovative and powerful work.

 

A couple of years ago there was a long intense discussion about Disrupting Class on ISENET here: http://isenet.ning.com/forum/topics/disrupting-class-brainstorming

 

One of the things that I took away from that conversation -largely as result of an extended dialogue with Peter Gow- is that a well-designed and run school (like Science Leadership Academy) is a very special place providing functions that are hard to replace. http://www.edtechtalk.com/21cl_90

 

(See Peter's latest thoughts on school here: http://www.notyourfathersschool.org/)

 

I'm not looking to replace existing school's with OPuS, but rather to make them more enjoyable and humane places.

 

Looking forward to continuing the conversation!

 

Fred