Foundation For Flexibility

Home foundations are rigid. They're supposed to be. But ironically, solid foundations allow for incredible flexibility. Indeed two homes with similar foundations could look, feel, and function quite differently atop their inflexible support structures.

This, in some ways, mirrors the foundation of our customized approach. (I say "our" as the students really have the final say in what works and what doesn't.) The approach begins with a rather rigid foundation. For now, I use Moodle as a delivery and organizational system for this foundation. Within Moodle, students are presented with a series of Measurement Topics that themselves house a series of specific Learning Targets.

Now, if the approach stopped there, it would remain far too rigid, likely at the expense of student engagement and creativity. Yet, here's where the foundation really does something magical. Once enough of the foundation is in place, students are presented with not just one, but multiple road maps through the Learning Targets. Best of all, they get to choose which adventure to pursue.

Here's an example. Susie is a (fictional) middle school student in our class. She knows that she needs to learn about many things including the following (and more):

• Government: Civics and the Legal System
• Government: Rights and Responsibility
• Geography: Maps and Tools
• Economics: Personal Economics
• Economics: Functional Economics

This content can be presented within Moodle as described in earlier posts. At first glance, our class Moodle course appears to lay out just a single path for students. However, once a critical mass of this content is frontloaded, it suddenly becomes more than just a single path. Instead of an inflexible train track for students to follow, the approach becomes more like a train station with tracks leading out in any number of directions. Even better, once these separate tracks are frontloaded, alternative spurs can then be built by teachers and students.

The result? Even greater engagement, more creativity, and students becoming more and more independent in their learning. What an amazing product from a seemingly inflexible foundation!