Assessing Learn-Now re: G&T Education

Having been invited to present Learn-Now to the Sector Advisory Group for Gifted & Talented Education at the Ministry of Education, it posed an opportune time to assess the level to which it fits into G&T Education.

While often cruising the research articles on TKI site, this time two in particular seemed particular pertinent. Dr Tracy Riley's Creating a Learning Environment for Differentiation (2000) and Sonia White's Reasons Why Gifted Children Sometimes Underachieve (2001). With a passion for student-driven learning, Learn-Now is hugely encouraged by what's presented within both papers. While Riley's paper addresses the physical classroom, it's very easy to translate the same points to the online environment Learn-Now resides in. White's paper endears us to sighing with relief! Class-based, 3 staged enrichment programmes based on a thematic approach with topics, over an 8 week time frame is right on par. But that's not all...

Learn-Now first evolved in 2003 more by accident than design, when a principal of a decile 1 school, saw its programme, employed a 0.2FTE component and became responsible for the first of many progammes since. After a year, he spread the world, resulting in an entire cluster of G&Ts in the surrounding schools being enrolled. Some of these students hugely benefitted, others - it was literally a waste of money to have enrolled them. The difference? There were schools who either allowed the students to drive their programme, or there were those who hardly gave them enough scope to have barely 30 minutes a week involvement and dictated much of what they'd do.

As the years passed and the liberties of Learn-Now became more flexible, our emphasis on providing for just G&T students eased. We chose to open the doors to what White's paper calls 'uncovering hidden talents'. Giving more students the opportunities to demonstrate their potential...to uncover 'talent in the making'. Right on cue with White's references, there became flexibility in identification and programming, so that students at risk of underachieving can have the opportunity to demonstrate potential.

Riley's makes mention of Learning Laboratories and Learn-Now is, in our view, one such example. It's a comfortable, autonomous environment, and while our 'furniture's not comfy, we have lounges, cafe's, chat(work)rooms and personalised (but audience designed) areas. It's learner-centred, not teacher directed; teacher independent; open to new people, material and risk tasking. It's hugely complex - often to its detriment, when many teachers will cruise through and see it 'too complex for us' - but ask the students who have been allowed to determine its suitability themselves...they love it. Students simultaneously participate in variety of activities; access material at different levels; engage in instructional groupings; self manage their work (with facilitation where needed); and there's a comfortable ambience...interschool and global at that.

We're on the right track. Yet, in saying this, we believe that every student deserves opportunities for enrichment and extension. All students are at 'a place' right now. How do they get to their where-to-next? By giving them opportunities to discover their potential. One student, once deemed 'hopeless' by their teacher came to us as a 'last resort - just for some computer work to keep him quiet' they said. He became the CEO who ran an International Chocolate Factory with us; lead an online house group to a winning end and lead a computer club in his district for 3 years. He found his potential in leadership, strategic thinking, compassion, creativity and team work. Maths still isn't his thing, nor is spelling, but there was a lot more to him...

The beauty of it now, is that G&T thinking in NZ is launching into an elearning, online headspace. Just yesterday we were approached by a very forward thinking group in the Wairarapa, about to take G&T into a whole cutting-edge zone, with online thinking. For our students who often wish there were more 'like them' here, their prayers may be about to be answered.