At Matchbook Learning we often talk about student centered learning or "SCL" which represents both a philosophy and a school model design that defies current convention of students fitting the needs of school, Too often today, critical decisions (i.e. calendar, schedule, assessment timing, curriculum, staffing, learning path and progression, etc.) are determined by adults namely for the convenience of adults. SCL attempts to reverse that, wherein we design every decision and lever within a school model around the needs of each individual student (i.e. student centered learning).
However, Jeff Sandefer, co-founder of the Acton Academy, in his blog on EdSurge has coined I think a better term than student centered learning: a Learner Driven Community. The Acton Academy believes that for less than $2,000/student annually, schools can create a Learner Driven Community. Jeff talks about 10 surprises he discovered in putting children in charge of their own learning including that teaching and learning may be inversely correlated, that traditional teachers days are numbered, video and computer simulations can be far more powerful than the written word, and that most young people care more about belonging than learning.
What I like about Jeff phrase "A Learner Driven Community" is the connotation that it is not only student centered but that it also requires the curation of learners who are equally empowered to pursue their own learning within a community whose design principles reinforce individual autonomy as well as peer-to-peer learning and shared responsibility. Decide for yourself whether the means of traditional schooling meets the needs of today's learners or whether today's learners require greater autonomy over their own learning. Perhaps more importantly, we should let the learners themselves decide the kind of learning community they want to create and be held accountable to.
