4.4a

Coaches model and support educators to design learning experiences and environments to meet the needs and interests of all students. Coaches:

A. Collaborate with educators to develop authentic, active learning experiences that foster student agency, deepen content mastery and allow students to demonstrate their competency.

The fourth ISTE Coach Standard is called the Learning Designer. This standard revolves around designing a learning experience that enables all students to have their needs and interests met. It places the coach in the position of the guide, calling them to model for and support the educators that they are working with. Throughout the indicators we see four aspects of this model/support structure unfolding. Indicator a kicks this standard off in a collaborative way with coach and educator working together to ensure active learning experiences that “foster student agency, deepen content mastery and allow students to demonstrate their competency”. The beginning of this indicator addresses authentic, active learning experiences. 

1. Active learning can be completely transformed with the use of digital tools. One amazing example of active learning that I found while researching the learning designer standard was the concept of Makerspace. Makerspaces were something that I had heard little about prior to engagement in the DEL program, but once I began researching them, I couldn’t get enough! I love that they have their own design framework attached to them, but with active learning at its core. Not only do makerspaces encourage active learning, but it also enables students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in so many different ways. Read more about how to utilize these ingenious systems in my post,  Innovative Designing Through Makerspace.
   
   
2. Flipgrid was another tool that I had heard about prior to my DEL program, but was one that I was not using to its full potential. This tool is a fantastic one for promoting authentic and active learning experience for students. Not only does it give students the control to create their own responses and tailor their competency mastery to their own personal preferences, but it also helps to deepen content mastery through repeated practice and the ability to respond and interact with other students’ responses. Find more about how I used Flipgrid here, Using Flipgrid for Collaboration in a Time of Remote Learning.