Personalization Through Community: Lessons from SXSW EDU 2022
The South by Southwest Education Conference, held in Austin, TX, is one of the largest events focused on innovation and growth in the education field today. The trends articulated at this conference have a ripple-down impact to businesses, districts, and schools, around the world. I was fortunate to attend the 2022 SXSW EDU conference, and build an incredible network of new professional connections, learn from amazing speakers, dive into challenging conversations, and experience a beautiful city! Everyone’s experience at SXSW EDU is so unique, because of the hundreds of offerings on a variety of topics facilitated by the event coordinators. Every type of organization was present; middle school science teachers, to assistant superintendents and IT directors, to representatives from Kahoot, Edmentum, Zoom, and TMobile, to incredible authors of YA novels and collegiate textbooks, to the United States Secretary of Education. This melting pot of ideas and backgrounds came together to, from my point of view, share new ideas on two specific points. First, the definition of ‘personalized learning’ needs to be updated post-pandemic. Second, our communities need to be intentionally interwoven in our school ecosystems.
Before the pandemic (and continuing today in some spaces), the terms ‘personalized learning’ and ‘blended learning’ were used interchangeably. The pandemic forced all educators to articulate the differences between the two, and innumerable hours of professional development was created and shared regarding different ways technology can be used, both at home and at school, in education (this is blended learning). Personalized learning is a much more challenging concept. It is the pathway by which equity can be the norm for students; where all students, no matter their background or ability, are provided with the tools and resources they need to become empowered agents of their own learning. Every session I attended addressed the need to lean into this concept, and how it can truly change the shape of our educational ecosystem moving forward.
Brent Maddin, in his session titled “Next Education Workforce: Beyond the Teacher Shortage”, shared this quote; “Deeper and personalized learning is associated with positive outcomes for students, but access to this type of student-centered learning is not equitable”.
Dr. Tanji Reed Marshall, in her conversation with Dr. Zaretta Hammond (“Beyond CRT - Creating Equitable Models for Learning“) reiterated; “We want student agency and student voice and student centered, student everything. If a child does not understand what that means, you will set that child up for being overly disciplined and sent out of classes… we have to teach students what the word means, what does it mean when you do those actions that are agentic, there might be consequences that aren’t favorable but here’s how to handle that”.
To meet all students where they are at, we need to deeply understand exactly where they are at. Students are human. Teachers are human. When we can look past the traditionally established hierarchical systems in classrooms to find and nurture the humanity that exists there, then we can truly start empowering students to take ownership over their learning in meaningful and personalized ways. We need to rethink how we see ‘student choice’ and ‘student voice’ to ensure we aren’t constricting those choices for students, and truly listening and honoring their decisions and experiences. Dr. Zaretta Hammond challenges all educators to ask themselves, “Who do [I] need to be to meet the needs of our most vulnerable students?” We will only know that when we ask what they need first, and listen to the human that is talking over the standardized needs designed for an extinct majority.
The Learning Accelerator’s Jin-Soo Huh, facilitating a discussion with Errika Baker, from Chicago Public Schools, and Kristen Watkins, from the Dallas Public School District, enumerated the ways that truly personalized learning worked during the pandemic, and shared frameworks utilized by both school districts to strengthen their capacity within their schools to provide the best possible opportunities for each individual student. Their resources and materials were shared in these slides. Both Kristen and Errika reminded teachers and school leaders that, to create enduring change, all stakeholders are involved in data collection conversations (relating to a needs survey, for example), to ensure all voices are heard in the identification of strategies to match your unique environment. This includes parents, students, community leaders, union representatives, teachers, and administrators. Each school or district is coming at personalized learning from a different place, so it is important to create an accountable framework for change that honors adaptability and evolution while prioritizing community needs.
Not only is truly understanding and practicing personalized learning critical for students, it is also the key to keeping our excellent teachers in the classroom in a supportive and sustainable manner. Kristen and Errika also shared that change only happens as a result of a “coalition of the willing”; forcing teachers into fads that are continually changing is essentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It is telling teachers that no matter what their experience or knowledge might look like, it is not important compared with whatever app, or training, or program, being implemented in the name of ‘personalization’. By inviting all voices into the conversation, and by holding innovation accountable (meaning, if it is not working, based on our pre-established metrics, then we will stop using it), you are honoring the voices and experiences of those in the room. In that way, as Paul Emerich France discussed in his workshop on ‘6 Mindset Shifts for Sustainable Teaching’, as a change-agent you are valuing the ‘Humanity Over Industry’ and ‘Process Over Product’, and those actions will speak in volumes throughout your community.
Speaking of community, the other major thread I saw throughout all my sessions at SXSW EDU was the critical importance of weaving community into classrooms. This is also a key component for personalized learning, and at the same time addresses the major public relations challenges facing the educational system as a whole across America. It is not enough to believe that, since parents were able to watch their child’s class on Zoom in 2020, they now have a better, more comprehensive, understanding of what happens in classrooms. Across the country we have seen the deep divides between parents and teachers, policy makers and curriculum designers, explode across social media, school committee meetings, and major news networks. Sharing with teachers and leaders the tools necessary to intentionally embrace and collaborate as a community will be the key to moving forward in an innovative and productive manner post-pandemic.
Apprenticeships and work-based learning was highlighted throughout the conference. In a panel discussion on ‘The Apprenticeship Revolution’, Paul Champion, director of Adaptive Construction Solutions, shared how employers are leaning increasingly towards skills-based hiring models and educational institutions need to start credentialing active education-building knowledge and skills to compete in this workforce. He shared his experience working on the front lines of training and hiring in the workforce, reminding educators that “work-based learning is not just a last mile alternative! We need to better reflect the education and workforce needs of our time”. In a different session on this similar topic, Kim Gregorie of JPMorgan Chase & Co. shared a similar view; “I can teach someone something, I can help them put it on their resume, but I need them to see how to apply it”.
Another way to bring the community into education was shared in Carlos Aponte, Claire Miller, and Thayid Wilson’s presentation on ‘Community Classrooms: A Radical Learning Model’. Carlos and Thayid shared their experiences with We Love Philly, an educational opportunity for students to learn, hands-on, throughout their community rather than solely in classrooms. Claire provided the educational research framework, the 3C Cycle of Teacher Learning, that can be adapted in any community and in every classroom.
A third way to weave communities and educational institutions was shared through the story of a high school in Central Falls, RI, by Malika Ali, Travis Pillow, Tatiana Baena, and Simona Simpson-Thomas. In partnership with the town and school leadership, as well as the Highlander Institute, ‘pods’ were organized, composed of students and community members, to intentionally strengthen the school-family-community triangle that surrounds, supports, and influences a student. Working specifically with 9th graders, students were grouped by their goals and influences with a mentor, who could check in on them regarding social challenges, academics, extracurriculars, food support, anything they needed to be the best version of themselves. This grant-funded initiative was incredibly influential to both community mentors and the students, and the data supported this work through academic and social-emotional gains in these cohorts of students.
By aligning community and school goals, and by opening classrooms up to learning experiences within the community and/or workforce, there will be a stronger understanding of what actually goes on in America’s educational system. When we can break through the rhetoric with relationships and experiences, we will see successful innovation in our schools.
One last takeaway I had from SXSW EDU was how little the concept and practice of ‘conferences’ had actually changed during the pandemic. Keynotes remained speaker-focused, workshops still had informational slides, panel discussions were still delivered from chairs in a line on a stage. While these events are designed to push the boundaries of education, I was surprised that the platform remained stagnant. During the pandemic, we held video lectures; the only difference in many of the sessions was that, instead of sitting on my couch, listening, I was sitting in a hotel conference room, listening. Don’t get me wrong, the networking everyone was able to do at this in-person event was incredible, and that can’t happen as well in an online format! There were also a few sessions I attended that began to push into a more interactive format; Carlos, Claire, and Thayid’s session stands out, because no one used the stage at all. Rather, each presenter ran around the room with their microphones, diving into table conversations and activities to create a personalized, collaborative, experience. But I am left wondering, how can in-person conferences be adapted to align with our new understanding of best practices in education?
SXSW EDU was an incredible experience that I was so lucky to attend this year. I eagerly anticipate the trends and research shared to positively impact my own school community, and look forward to more exciting opportunities to come!