Giving Compass' Take:

• The author describes that more schools are finding innovative ways to transform learning through the process of remixing: using their community assets to design schools.

• How will remixing bring about innovation in education? How can funders play a role in the process?

• Read about educators who are focused on transforming learning environments rather than tech.

How do you replicate the most innovative schools in the country? It’s a trick question. The answer is that you don’t.

Over the last year, our team at Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) has spoken with the leaders of many of the most innovative schools in the country. While they’re intensely committed to sharing what they’ve learned, few are interested in “replication” as it is traditionally understood. As Jin-Soo Huh of Distinctive Schools recently argued, “cookie cutter” replication of personalized learning models runs counter to the core principle of these models: personalization.

But rather than replicating a model, many want to begin with the unique assets of their communities (including current teachers and students) and design their schools around these assets.In other words, they don’t want to replicate, they want to remix.

It turns out our partners at Da Vinci Schools and Schools That Can have been thinking (and designing) along some very similar lines. Together we asked ourselves, how might our networks link together to create something greater than the sum of its parts? And together, we launched the Transforming Learning Collaborative.

The Transforming Learning Collaborative (TLC) is a national group of innovative schools committed to sharing their signature practices and creating a sustainable national ecosystem of educator-to-educator learning. We began this fall with the Transforming Learning Conference, designed and hosted by Da Vinci Schools. The conference was also the kickoff of the Transforming Learning Incubator, an intensive year-long learning and design experience serving an inaugural cohort of six teams of educators.

Read the full article about transorming learning is remixing by Tony Siddall at Getting Smart