Tag: learning community

bookmark_borderEndor ALC

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Endor ALC was a community and resource center for self-directed learners aged 14-18 in Asheville, North Carolina.
It was open from fall 2013 to spring 2017. A member of the Agile Learning Centers network, Endor used (and remixed) tools and practices from agile management to enable students to reach their goals and co-create the culture of the organization.

Philosophy

Endor’s “curriculum”, for lack of a better term, was based in supporting self-directed learning. We put a higher value on building the skills involved in pursuing interests than on learning specific content. This was facilitated using (and remixing) a range of tools developed by the Agile Learning Centers network.

Each week would start with students setting intentions for for what they wanted to focus on that week, recording those intentions in a kanban board, and declaring them to the rest of the class. Each week would end with students sharing reflections on what they had done that week. Had they accomplished what they wanted? What would they do differently next week? etc.

History

Without any initial funding, Endor started in a minimal viable product form in 2013, meeting in Mojo Coworking and venturing out to public meeting places for workshops and discussions.

In the fall of 2014, Endor began renting space in a downtown dance studio and operated 09:00 – 15:00 Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

In 2015, Endor moved across town to be a part of Open Space AVL, a community/project space shared with the Asheville Maker Space and AVL Tool Library.  At its height, Endor had a total of 22 students and four facilitators.

I used to blog about our goings on at least once a week. You can find that old blog here and the old homepage here.

Crowdfunding Campaign

In 2015 Endor ran an Indiegogo campaign, raising $3,000 for facilitator training, computers, and other tools.
You can see the campaign page here and watch the cutely pathetic campaign video below.

Gallery

Selected photos from workshops and field trips.

  • Visit to Black Mountain SOLE
  • Cooking workshop
  • Guest E-presenter Maria Droujkova talks about math
  • Urban exploration and climbing workshop
  • Kanban
  • Guest E-presenter Ethan Mitchell talks about game design
  • Kanban workshop
  • Urban exploration and climbing workshop
  • Backflip!
  • Class photo
  • Discussion group
  • Drawing workshop
  • Pottery workshop
  • Setting intentions for the week
  • Setting intentions on Kanbans
  • Soldering workshop with AVL Makerspace
  • Soldering workshop with AVL Makers
  • Silkscreen workshop
  • Slackline workshop
  • Daniel presents about locomotion
  • Workshop with Rochelle
  • Playtesting ‘Intrigue’ from Mad Sheep Games
  • Arduino workshop
  • First day, blanket game
  • Tomis dons Endor t-shirt
  • Gardening workshop
  • Workshop with Brenna
  • Afternoon check-in
  • Workshop with Steve

bookmark_borderPeer to Peer Play and Learning

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I ran a program at the LEGO Foundation called Learning Learning Through Play Through Learning Through Play. The program was designed to give my colleagues an embodied sense of what learning through play feels like through experiences of play and interest-driven exploration, so that their work in program design, grant management, and policy advising cold be informed by those experiences of play.

The initiative started in the form of monthly Open Space sessions where colleagues were invited to host sessions on any topic they found interesting and relevant. In a workplace of highly professional and career focused people, spending work-time playing with shadows and circuitry could be difficult. I pushed this feeling, bringing colleagues mushroom hunting in the woods after one of them voiced an interest in mycology.