Giving Compass' Take:

• Peter Nichols and Sam Nelson have formed a student planning committee focused on refining a personalized learning curriculum. They are part of a network of learning labs in Vermont that are funded by the Tarrant Institute for Innovation and Education. 

• Why is it important that Nichols incorporates students in the process of editing his curriculum?

• Read about the benefits of personalized learning for student growth and engagement. 

It’s a cold morning in northern Vermont, so Peter Nichols has the heat cranked high as he pulls out of his driveway and begins the 66-mile drive south, out of the rural hills surrounding Hazen Middle School, where he teaches, and towards the lakefront properties of Shelburne Community School.

He is making the trip to visit Sam Nelson and his middle schoolers who have formed a student planning committee, a group of students who meet regularly with Nelson to help him refine his curriculum. Nelson’s early findings sound promising. Nichols is intrigued.

Nichols and Nelson are part of a network of Vermont learning labs devoted to getting personalization right. Funded by the Tarrant Institute for Innovation in Education (TIIE), these labs are led by educators who are ready to partner with their peers to experiment with practices that make learning more meaningful.

Site visits play a key role in the learning lab experience. To attract visitors, our learners post their inquiry-based questions on their educator profiles, skimmable overviews of each educator’s learning lab that include a map pinning each site’s location. A “Schedule a Visit” button makes it simple to arrange a visit, something Nichols did weeks ago.

Read the full article about learning labs by Bill Rich at EdSurge