A Framework Tool for Educational Change
Have you wished for a guide to help educators make transitions in instructional practice and systems structure? So have I.
For the last few years I have been developing and refining a framework for educators taking my class for their Masters degree program. As I reflected over the years when I worked to help schools transition to customized learning (or mastery-based or personalized or blended learning), it was difficult to get the changes to “stick.” One of the problems: not everyone was on the same page as to what customized meant—everyone thought their ideas were the same as their peers’ (which turned out not to be true). Professional development was often narrowly focused (e.g. choice and pace) on single concepts without a big picture map of how it all fit together. We had asked schools to have leadership/planning teams to rethink obsolete structures that interfered with the reformed instructional practices, but often they were unclear on what they needed to target or why.
As I was developing professional development websites and working on a book, I decided a framework was needed to ground this work (the draft of the book was too “scattered” for my liking). I spent months that turned into years researching and refining. I focused not only on instructional research from articles and books (e.g. Hattie’s Visible Learning meta-analysis work), but also psychological research on motivation, Self Determination Theory. The goal was to take that complexity and make it understandable in minutes.
The tool in current form is what I call the Own My Learning Framework (OMLF). While it has evolved significantly from where it started (and probably will continue to evolve), I have held it back waiting for the right iteration to reveal. I decided it’s time so educators can use it as a planning tool, even as I finish the website and book. I’ve begun submitting articles to help educators become aware.
Because it is somewhat complex, I have created two forms of it, Simplified and Full. I wrote a white paper and two videos to help describe and navigate through it. I won’t restate them here on this blog: rather, you can view them on the website https://ownmylearning.com/#framework which describes the tool, or the site https://ownmylearning.online which houses the professional development modules.
Resources
Hattie, J. (2019-2023). Visible Learning Global research database. Corwin Visible Learning plus. https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences
Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L. (2022). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness_. United Kingdom: Guilford Publications.
