Our Chief Growth Officer, Christian Long, spent a week at the annual PBL World summit in Napa, California doing an immersive deep dive into the role of the project-based learning coach / facilitator.
Even after 3 decades of designing and leading project-based learning programs and experiential education initiatives, Christian said the conference was energizing:
“What a gift it was to have the time to reflect deeply on the strategic role of the coach while being a ‘student’ all over again.
Professional educators bring such a diverse range of experience and emotion to Project-Based Learning. Doesn’t matter if they’re early in their career or informed by years of successful practice, genuine PBL experience invites every teacher to ‘start fresh’ each time.
And that means that it’s bigger than the class subject or the content.
Its about shape-shifting one’s relationship with students’ curiosity, questions and eventual project ideas. Which means that the role of the professional peer-to-peer coach is balance the intellectual and the emotional, as well as to help each colleague test a diverse array of tools, techniques and strategies.
Ultimately, it’s about helping each partner thrive by helping them develop a genuine career-long PBL mindset no matter the circumstance, setting or project idea.”
Article by
Russell Cailey
CEO & Co-Founder
Russell is the Managing Director and architect of the THINK Learning Studio, was voted one of the top 100 Global Visionaries in Education (GFEL, 2021) and is an awardee of Dubai Culture.
