Meet the Free Agent Learners: Changing school from the outside in
- - 2/3rds of students in grades 6-12 regularly engage in Free Agent Learning activities learning watches to learn how to do something, posting writing samples online to get audience feedback, playing online games to learn workforce skills, and leveraging social media channels to learn about and connect with ideas and people who share their academic passions.
- - Free Agent Learning is different from school-based learning because of four characteristics: 1) learning is un-tethered from school or a formal learning space – place independence, 2) students are self-directing the learning process – power ownership, 3) use of digital or online tools as a utility – purposeful tech usage, and 4) an intrinsic motivation for learning – self-initiated passion.
- - Students’ dissatisfaction with in-school learning environments is driving students to seek out their own self-directed learning experiences to meet their academic needs of self-remediation, skill development, curiosity and career exploration and preparation.
Schedule Information:
On Demand
Session Description
With a universe of online content in the palm of their hand, today’s students are increasingly engaging in purposeful, self-directed, interest-driven learning outside of school – beyond the sponsorship of educators. They are today’s Free Agent Learners. Their embodiment of any-time, anywhere learning is the focus of my book, Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students’ Self-Directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education. Based upon analyzing data from 2.4 million K-12 students, this Living Book talk provides an insider view on the activities and motivations of these Free Agent Learners and unpacks how students’ beyond-school digital learning experiences are impacting their aspirations in-school learning.