4. Creating space for personal direction
Introduction
Empowerment ultimately is a personal affair. Every person has unique strengths, faces unique challenges and is able to tap into unique possibilities. Educate! designers commonly design for scale, does this mean that all students receive the same learning experience? And as a result that all students set up the same types of projects? No!
Empowering education leaves space for the learners to add their personal stamp to the learning experience and outcomes. Here you will learn how to shape this space as designers.
Design skills
- You will be able to build spaces in your lesson plans (or program activities) that empower learners.
Examples of personal direction
Back Home Project
Students are tasked to start a project of their choice and are supported in planning.
Passbook
Tasks learners to develop 10 specific skills. Gives 3 action options to develop those skills and leaves a space for them to do any other action.
Goal setting exercises
Gives a clear instruction and format for goals and criteria of good goals but you decide the exact goal yourself.
Planning Exercises
Gives guidance on planning process and tasks learners to come up with their own plans of action.
Self-Assessment
Identifying your own strengths and weaknesses to own your learning process.
Don't forget the facilitators
Educate! recruits teachers, mentors and youth leaders who have the potential to empower others. All facilitators come with valuable insights, life experience and knowledge that would benefit the learners. Designers are therefore encouraged to create space in their design for facilitators to integrate their insights. Think about teachers sharing tips to overcome challenges of skills based education. Or mentors sharing business experience with Student Business Clubs.
The same principle applies for designers themselves, Educate! encourages designers to suggest ways of improving program models or contextualize models to new regions and needs. Every designer has a unique strength and can contribute greatly towards Educate!'s mission.
Assessment #4:
Practical assignment
- Pick your favorite course material (e.g. YBE, LEC, PCLs, Teacher Training Modules, this can be from your own country or another E! country)
- Read through the activities to identify an example of 'space for personal direction'.
- For this session/activity explain how the process and the outcome are shaped for personal direction. Bring out how the space is opened as well as guided (max 300 words).
- E-mail your answer to designacademy@experienceeducate.org