Dr. Robert Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcome their guest Dr. Mag Gardner, Senior Global Capacity Building Facilitator for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning and the featured speaker at the fall EdCON22, hosted by the Galileo Institute. Her background experience includes: secondary school teacher, principal, superintendent, and work at the Ministry in different settings around Ontario, and a little bit of work in England.  Dr. Gardner noted, “Probably the most profound experience I had was leading deep learning in one of the districts in Ontario.  It was such a magical experience that I've been able to join the global team of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (N.P.D.L.) and help to generate the enthusiasm and the work around the world.”

Reflecting upon the impact of the pandemic, Dr. Klein referenced one of the N.P.D.L. papers entitled, “Defying Pandemic Gravity”.  Dr. Gardner explained, “The pandemic presented some daunting complexities that are still constraining our schools and the pandemic made it really difficult to build capacity and advance learning for both kids and for staff…we asked ourselves, how can we support staff, so they can refocus that precious energy on student learning, and what was it that educators needed to jump start deep learning. So, our suggestion was really simple: to focus on the needs of staff, to build learning, capacity and culture in small deliberate moves.”

“The key words in that paper were all verbs like: dignify, gratify, simplify, clarify, amplify, and it just speaks to our own bias at N.P.D.L. (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning) where we have a bias towards action. So, for us, doing nothing was not an option. We advocated for just inching forward and investing in relationships and looking for the good that was all around us, knowing that change happens in those small micro moments. You know those little gestures, the small tweaks, the tiny moves like the moments of courage and love that snowball into life informing significance. And so really, that's what that paper was all about.” 

Dr. Gardner encourages educators "to think six and four, which partners the six global competencies: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, with the four elements of learning design: learning partnerships, pedagogical practices, learning environment and leveraging digital. The four elements provide a simple framework, where teachers can return to designing learning that's responsive to the students’ strengths and their needs and their interests, and that stimulates students, minds and their hearts. So when we look at the four elements: learning partnerships, learning environments, leveraging digital, pedagogical practices, we're talking about well-known strategies that engage learners and also stimulate thinking.”

Learning partnerships

“How we create partnerships between and among students, relationships with teachers, with families and with the wider community. There's so much knowledge that a teacher can't be expected to know everything, but should be invited to draw in lots of expertise within the classroom, inviting student voice and their perspective. Students’ rich and robust experiences can contribute to the whole learning opportunity. This is really about relationships, relationships, relationships when we're talking about learning partnerships.”

Learning environments

“We're talking about the third teacher (the physical environment) and creating lots of flexible, inviting, welcoming spaces, but what do we do with the culture, that invisible environment? How does it foster that sense of safety and the sense of belonging? Do students feel as though they are significant, that their presence and their involvement in the class matters? What we're talking about is the learning environment, the physical space; it’s that learning community, that climate and culture that enables students to flourish.” 

Leveraging digital

“How do we leverage digital so it accelerates our knowledge and our understanding? Is there a way of using digital to go beyond those classroom walls and cultivate opportunities for collaboration and for creativity? Digital needs to be an accelerator, generating something new in the classroom; learning that couldn't be created without it.”

Pedagogical practices

“Teachers have well proven pedagogical practices to engage students, to really tap those six global competencies. It's important to acknowledge that there is good work happening everywhere. We're not asking teachers to throw all those good practices away, but rather think about how those other three elements can be incorporated into pedagogical practices to amplify innovation and to bring learning to a whole new level, and think about what's one next thing that they could do to move towards a much more fulfilling deep learning framework."

Dr. Gardner emphasized that “it is critical that teachers really understand who the students in front of them are, not the ones they taught five years ago, but the ones right now. What do they care about? What peaks their curiosity? We're talking taking the first step inviting authentic student voice, and actualizing the belief that students can contribute as change makers. And that's the way to begin to move and shift from a talking culture to a listening and coaching culture, enabling teachers to ‘defront their classroom' giving students navigational control.”

“We’re suggesting that deep learning is as important for the adult as it is for the students. Actually, the adults need to be able to exercise those six global competencies. The adults need to be able to pursue what interests them. They need to be able to exercise their strengths, and they need to be able to come together collaboratively to problem solve.”

When asked how teacher leaders and administrators start this journey, Dr. Gardner advised, “We always say begin with the coalition of the eager. Who are the teachers in your schools, who already are showing passion for this kind of work? They are courageous; they're willing to take a few risks. They want to work with each other. They want to build those connections with a global community. Start with them because they are going to learn so much together, and they will teach the school a lot about what is possible.”

Addressing concerns about low enrollment in teacher preparation programs, Dr. Gardner proposed that “we need to do a much better global marketing job. This is the best profession in the world, and it is a profession that prepares all professions, making an incredible impact on today’s society and also tomorrow’s society. There is no such thing as ‘just a teacher’; you change the world. We need to move to a space where we regenerate a real pride in the profession. We provide opportunities for professional rigor with each other, that important validation of our profession, so that people feel as though they can make a difference, that they can problem solve, that they can be creative, that they can again exert all those six competencies.We have to be optimistic about the future and we have to create conditions where teachers can thrive again. And so that's up to us.”

Dr. Gardner concluded the podcast speaking about two huge challenges: equity and well-being, which are priorities within our schools right now. “We need to create some deliberate opportunities and conditions for not only healing but for flourishing for every student. I would suggest that some initiatives such as school-wide assemblies on anti-racism, while checking a box on a school improvement plan, may not have an impact on all students. A yoga class addressing well-being may not respond to students’ needs, nor equip students with the meta-condition to manage their well-being independently. While they have good intentions, they may inadvertently work against the efforts to improve well-being and equity.”

“We can no longer tinker our way toward transformation. It's up to us as leaderful educators to intentionally create spaces where students can thrive, where equity and well-being are embedded, where equity and well-being are baked into our classroom communities and normalized in our day-to-day practice.  What we're learning in our deep learning work from our knowledge building partnership from around the world is that when classes are engaged in deep learning, it serves all of our kids, and especially those kids who are traditionally under served. It has a way of leveling the playing field and inviting all students to demonstrate their abilities in a range of ways. Students who struggled with well-being issues begin to feel empowered. Students who didn’t have a voice are now feeling as though they can exert themselves within the classroom. We know that deep learning is not only about drawing connections with what we learn, but it's about making connections with whom we learn, and making connections about how we learn, and all these connections open up hope for students. It builds a sense of individual and collective efficacy, and it changes their trajectories. We need to get at equity and well-being and deep learning is a great way to authentically get there.”

Gardner, Mag, et.al. “Defying Pandemic Gravity: How to Jumpstart Deep Learning in your School”, New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, Deep Learning in Action Series, Issue 04, March 2022.   

https://bit.ly/DefGravNP22                          

Also, here is a link to our Deep Learning Lab brochure. I forgot to mention that this is a great way for people to dip their toe into Deep Learning.   

https://deep-learning.global/DLL23/