Giving Compass' Take:

· Personal learning time may seem like it's just a high-tech study hall, but it has shown to have positive effects on the classrooms that participate in it. Allowing students to have this type of responsibility and feeling of independence helps with development, motivation, and learning.

· Teachers that use PLT have more time to focus on individual students and help them with their learning troubles. What does this mean for the education level the students receive? Is PLT a good use of school time?

· Technology is becoming a large part of the education system. Read more about digital learning in the classroom.

At Silicon Schools Fund we invest in schools that take new approaches to education. We recently wrote that many schools are starting to create flex time periods during the day, where students work independently, often online, while teachers perform high-leverage activities such as student mentoring and small-group instruction. For flex time to work well, schools have to accomplish a tricky balance between fostering autonomy in students while still holding them accountable for ambitious learning targets.

Together with Relay Graduate School of Education, we observed eight examples of flex time in schools, utilizing a data collection tool and protocol. We interviewed teachers, administrators, and students. We entered with hypotheses about what makes flex time effective and several learnings emerged including:

  1. Strong structures ultimately create more student autonomy. Classrooms that are initially teacher-driven can gradually turn responsibility over to students while still ensuring that time is used effectively.
  2. In the best classrooms, teachers are purposeful in their planning, students are clear on the norms, and expectations are continuously reinforced.
  3. Data should be transparent to teachers and students and used by both to effectively set goals and make instructional decisions for and by students.

Read the full article about personal learning time by Rob Schwartz and Jeffrey Starr at The Learning Accelerator.