Why? I believe that every learner should feel inspired to have a personalized learning journey that fosters their authentic self in order to gain growth experiences and life long skills in an ever changing, digitally inclined world.
How? Implementing a blended learning environment with a flex model approach will support a learner’s customized educational journey where students can have choices, take ownership, use their voice, and have authentic learning in a significant learning environment.
What? We will have student centered learning where learners are excited about new challenges, and opportunities that encourage them to explore creative ideas and solutions that require critical thinking skills, and problem solving strategies.
My Reflection: Speaking to the Heart, and Creating a Sense of Urgency
It is all about making a real difference for learners. To sum it up, the current way of teaching is not enough for today’s students, and it is important to feel inspired to make a change now to give them the best chance to be successful in their futures. In “Leading Change: Establish a Sense of Urgency,” Kotter basically explains that without a sense of urgency, people can be complacent and resistant to change (Kotter, 2013). Urgency is the first critical step to have motivation to act on something (Kotter, 2013). There is a real need to offer learners a more personalized, flexible, and engaging learning experience in a blended learning environment using a flex model approach that supports diverse learners using a learning management system, project based learning, and small group instruction. “The sharing of more information or engaging in more rational discourse on its own doesn’t appear to help people to make significant change but an appeal to values, attitudes, and feelings first can motivate people toward making changes” (Harapnuik, 2015). We need to move away from a traditional, one size fits all approach because it is not meeting the needs of our learners in today’s world. Students deserve a dynamic, and individualized learning journey where they can take ownership of their own experiences, and feel a sense of personal accomplishment. In Kotter’s “The Heart of Change,” he emphasizes that meaningful change happens by engaging people’s emotions, and showing people the reasons for the change in ways that make a deeper impact to overcome complacency or resistance, which creates urgency and can motivate change (Kotter, 2011). We need to envision making a change towards this direction now because if we don’t then they will miss out on developing critical thinking skills for their future success. By implementing my innovation plan, we will not only be laying the foundation for academic skills and strategies, but also providing learners with the tools that they need in a digital world that is ever changing, and evolving from just a traditional classroom setting as in the past. In “Start With Why – How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” Sinek explains that people are motivated by a clear belief or purpose rather than by the product or the results alone (Sinek, 2009). He explains that those that connect by focusing on the why are making connections on a deeper, and more emotional level (Sinek, 2009). The “why” that drives this urgency is that if we don’t do it now, then we still won’t have learning environments that are flexible, relevant, and future focused for our learners. Kotter discusses how emotional engagement energizes people and encourages them to act with purpose which can drive the momentum for successful transformation (Kotter, 2011).To show that we care, we need to move forward, and take relevant action now. Let’s prioritize the needs of all learners, by focusing on the task at hand, and pursue the real benefits in a student centered learning environment.
References
Harapnuik, D. (2015). The Head Won’t Go Where the Heart Hasn’t Been. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=5461
Kotter, J. (2013). Leading Change: Establish a Sense of Urgency [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI
Kotter, J. (2011). The heart of change [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/1NKti9MyAAw
Sinek, S. (2009). Start with why — how great leaders inspire action [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/sioZd3AxmnE
Jackie Bittner M.Ed. 