Beyond the Classroom

Our guests from our partners WAY Program, Rich Klemm (Executive Director) and Heather Winter (Teacher and Team Leader) talk about student's voice and choice in a blended learning environment.

This episode explores how the WAY Program encourages students to explore their interests by choosing projects that speak to their personal experience and also how Project-Based Learning (PBL) prepares students for real-world situations through problem-solving and collaboration.

They bring students perspectives and first-hand experience with the WAY Program.

Our guests from Centric Learning, Glen Taylor (Co-CEO), Darrell Wanamaker (CTO), and Brett Emil (Director of Development) talk about the future of technology and Project-Based Learning in education.

Here we learn how PBL prepares students with skills & knowledge retention to improve their futures, and also how an array of online tools are advancing education and becoming the standard to assist students and school districts.

The guests explore the different approaches between online classroom engagement and in-person engagement, and the benefits they provide.

Our guest Kevin Hogan, author of eSchool News, talks about how he sees Project-Based Learning today.

Project-based learning, or PBL for short, is not a new educational tool although many are still unfamiliar with it. If you’ve never had experience with PBL, a relatable example is the school science fair, but much more involved and evolved. Project-based learning is a methodology of teaching and learning where students are given a project that may take days, weeks, or even a semester, but is cross-curricular so it keeps learners engaged and challenges them to hone their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Kevin Hogan, Ed Tech Content guy on the Hogan Report, joined Tyler Kern to expand on the popularity of PBL in and out of the classroom.

The pandemic disrupted learning in the traditional setting, but project-based learning online allowed students to continue their education and propelled it as usage rose. “In the positive, I think you found a lot of innovation come out of that, where project-based learning techniques were used,” Hogan said.

Today, Hogan said people understand that school needs to be different, and alternative learning methods can positively impact students. “...Schools need to have these technologies to enable it to be different and for kids to have a more real-world look at what they’re learning and why they’re learning it.”

Every situation is different, and Hogan admitted some schools had an easier time scaling up different learning practices than others. Sometimes it was a matter of school district size and equity to high-speed internet. There are also challenges to overcoming attitudes of a community that may resist changing traditional learning methods. Whatever the case may be, project-based learning is proving to be a solution to closing the learning gap and reengaing students to find their passion and purpose.

In this bonus episode, Jason Montgomery, Director of WAY South Haven, talks about cultivating confident leaders.

In this bonus episode, Tim Kumar, Principal at Clio Community High School, talks about fostering growth opportunities for all.

In this bonus episode, Heather Winter, a Team Leader at WAY, talks about engaging, empowering, and accelerating lives.

In this bonus episode, Ted Kroll, Director of WAY Livingston, talks about his hands-on experience on self-paced self-mastery.

In this bonus episode, Holly Ploch, Director of Partnerships at WAY Program, talks about being student-focused and purpose-driven.

On this episode of Beyond the Classroom, Host Tyler Kern discussed future-ready learning with Ron Stefanski, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships at Centric Learning, and Dr. Kevin Brown, Executive Director of Texas Association of School Administrators, which advocates on behalf of all the administrators in the state of Texas.

As the son of two educators, Brown has been a teacher for 31 years, an assistant principal, principal, an assistant superintendent, and a superintendent. He is also a long-time supporter of future-ready schools, even before he joined TASA. The concept entered his mind when he realized there’s more that schools can do for students than just focus on standardized tests.

“It is not easy to define, but I think for me that started when I was a principal in an elementary school that was really focused on standardized tests,” Brown said. “We were working really, really hard to do that, and we improved scores tremendously, but at the end of the day, I’m not sure we were serving our students very well.”

Learning should be more exciting, more engaging, more inspiring, and more relevant for the students, according to Brown. It shouldn’t feel like drudgery or remediation that had to go through all the time.

In 2008, just as Brown was becoming a superintendent, TASA came up with a document called “Creating a New Vision for Texas Public Schools.” Thirty-five superintendents came together to create the document, which “reads like the Declaration of Independence,” Brown said. The document focused on controlling Texas public schools at the local level, not the federal or state, and teaching students as individuals.