Innovation within classrooms and education has always been something interesting to me, and I loved being able to hear about a school which is putting some of these ideas into practice. Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) was created by Jeff Hopkins to allow students to love learning without a ‘proper’ classroom. We also were able to discuss the ideas of blended, online, and multimedia education, which allowed us to see pros and cons to both sides.

PSII

Learning about PSII from the person who created it and knows it best, Jeff Hopkins, was a very cool experience. Jeff was passionate about what he does, and it showed through the way he discussed PSII. A school like PSII, that focuses on being unlike the mainstream school districts, is honestly what I see a lot of our future schools leaning towards. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think every school in the next five years are going to suddenly stop having blocks and structure, but I think aspects of schools like PSII will creep in. PSII utilizes many different ways of learning that can help students who work better in a non-mainstream class. For example, they have two main areas for work and collaboration. One area is set up in a way that students may converse, kind of similar to a coffee shop. The other is an area that is a quiet zone, in which you could hear a pin drop. Students aren’t forced or told to go to one room or the other, but simply given the freedom to go where they need in that moment. This model of schooling allows for learners to not only feel more in control of what they do, but also enables them to learn in a way that works for them. On PSII’s website, which I’ve linked here: https://learningstorm.org/who-is-psii-for/, it states that it isn’t “an alternative school or a “special ed” school, or a correspondence school, or a vocational school”, but that it aims to “serve learners of all kinds”. Even for a private school, PSII does not cost an arm and an leg, which leaves it open ended for learners of all backgrounds and income. This aspect of the school is so important in building a positive community of all kinds of learners. Learners in a school like this follow an inquiry project, which can range from writing a novel to animation and everything in between! This project guides them into different areas of learning.

Online Learning

After being able to hear from Jeff Hopkins about his experiences with the school, the class discussed our experiences with remote learning. Overall, a majority of my online learning experience was through COVID. My teachers, other staff, and us students were underprepared for this remote learning to start. Therefore, it wasn’t my favourite experience. I also felt as if I just simply didn’t learn as well online. I was constantly distracted, bored, or confused. Our assignments felt pointless and online classes felt even more pointless. However, once entering university, I took one online asynchronous class in my first semester, and more later on. This class was amazing! I learned so much, and was able to grasp content easily. I think having a class where I could take my time learning at my own pace was perfect with my increasingly busy life. So, taking both these experiences I learned a lot about blended and remote learning. First off, I learned how important having strategies to counteract the feelings of boredom, lostness, and more are when doing an online class. Also, how good a balance is with in person and online, personally. I loved having a good mix, I could work at my own pace alone, but I was also able to interact with others about my findings and thoughts, I think another main component to online classes is the course site used. It should be accessible, and easy to use. If it isn’t, there should be easy-to-access instructional videos in place for the use of the website or online classroom. This doesn’t only help the student, but also any parents who want to navigate the course site as well.

Learning is very dependent on the individual and how they find learning works best for them. This could be a traditional classroom, a school like PSII, online learning, blended, or asynchronous. Whatever it ends up being, it should be a space where the students feels welcomed and able to learn in a way that suits them.