fbpx

Collab Lab

Collab Labs Return for Season 9

Pete Reynolds Blog

Looking for a little rejuvenation?

If you’ve missed the chance to connect with passionate individuals from K12 and beyond, find a bit of inspiration, and get energized for what the school year could be, you’re in luck.  We kick off our 9th season of Collab Labs on Thursday October 10th at UWM’s Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship. 

Collab Lab 63: Empowering All Voices

Collab Lab 63 will focus on Empowering All Voices– what does it take to enable brave conversations with and between students? What becomes possible when we do? Join us at 5:30 for a bite to eat before we dive into the discussion at 6:00.

 

Collab Lab Sprints

If you want a jump start on putting ideas from a Collab Lab into practice, join us for a Collab Lab sprint.  We’ll kick off the first of these mini projects on Monday October 7th with a four week sprint focused on brave conversations. Over the course of the sprint we will give you the framework for short exercises you can run with your students. A check-in call each week with us and peers participating in the sprint  will give you the chance to share what’s working, and where you have questions, and what your students have been able to do.

Other Sessions

November through May, we’ll be back at MSOE’s STEM Center on the second Thursday of each month that doesn’t begin with “Januar”.

November 14th
Collab Lab 64: Place Based Engagement
December 12th
Collab Lab 65: Beyond Skills – Building Capabilities
February 13th
Collab Lab 66: Engaging Families
March 13th
Collab Lab 67: Connecting to Community
April 10th
Collab Lab 68: Making Progress in a Turbulent System
May 8th
Collab Lab 69: Celebrate & Re/Connect

 

CL61: What Have We Learned From Students?

If we come away from work with students having learned nothing new ourselves, we can’t hope to do better for them the next time around.

Season 8/Collab Lab 61

We started the season with a challenge to Heed the Call of Students.

Did you heed the call?

If you heard that call, where did it take you?

What did you learn from your students?

As always, you’ll be joined by peers and collaborators from K-12 higher education, industry, and the nonprofit community. If you work with or know of a student who would like to join the discussion, please extend the invitation.

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat, meet some interesting, passionate people
6:00 to 6:15 pm Welcome and introductions
6:15 to 8:00 pm Let’s talk through some ideas
8:00 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps

Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Stay tuned, we’re lining up a great group of Featured Participants you’ll want to have a chance to meet.

CL60: The Monster in the Cave

What do you do when the thing standing in the way of what you want for students or as a teacher is the system itself?

Season 8/Collab Lab 60

February’s Collab Lab focused on maintaining the energy and passion to sustain engagement of students in authentic work. This month we stare into the face of the monster in the cave– the thing that blocks us from offering all we might want for our students or what we need for ourselves. How do you drive change in a system that seeks stability?

As always, you’ll be joined by peers and collaborators from K-12 higher education, industry, and the nonprofit community. Additionally, if you work with or know of a student who would like to join the discussion, please extend the invitation

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat, meet some interesting, passionate people
6:00 to 6:15 pm Welcome and introductions
6:15 to 8:00 pm Let’s talk through some ideas
8:00 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps

Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Among others you’ll have a chance to talk with:

Bevin Christie — Founder, Pivot Consulting

Bevin is a seasoned social entrepreneur and educator, who is deeply committed to holistic education and workforce development. She drives initiatives to equip individuals with skills for success in today’s economy through strategic partnerships and mentorship. With a background in nonprofit leadership and education, Bevin spearheads innovative programs that prepare students and adults for careers and foster community engagement. She believes in the transformative power of education for building a more just society.

Mandi McAlister & Jasmine Roberson — Fair Future Movement
Jasmine and Mandi are co-leaders of Fair Future Movement. That coalition of individuals and organizations is focused on uniting the community to overcome the racism and systems of oppression that have fractured our community, created unhealthy living environments and power imbalances, and exacerbated environmental injustices. Mandi is a community organizer, consultant, and environmental justice activist. Jasmine is a  community organizer and nonprofit professional who is passionate about racial justice, education equity, and criminal justice reform with a special interest in youth development.

Deidre Roemer — Superintendent, School District of South Milwaukee

Deidre joined the School District of South Milwaukee in July of 2023. Prior to that role she served as the Assistant Superintendent, Director of Leadership and Learning, Coordinator of Special Education, instructional coach, and classroom teacher. Her philosophy of education has always been to empower every learner with an absolute faith in themselves to be curious, try anything, work hard and prepare for life after school. She models creating inclusionary communities when she coaches teachers and leaders and as an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to be a part of growing into the next version of what we need for kids. She is also a contributing author of Because of a Teacher by George Couros and has presented at national conferences on Digital Portfolios, Creating a Culture of Coaching, Leading through and Equity Lens, Support for ALL learners, and many other topics. She is presenting at the Deeper Learning 2024 conference in San Diego with Brian Delgado, from High Tech High, on how to create a system of sustainable, student-centered learning in schools.

CL59: Facing Challenges/Recognizing Wins

The demands of curriculum and pull of old routines work together to sap energy for our loftier ambitions for students.

In the cold of winter, how do we press on?

Season 8/Collab Lab 59

The focus for December was Support for Authentic Work. Even with that support, habit and curriculum goals tempt us to ask less of students and less of ourselves. How do we recharge the passion to do more for students and press on towards the spring we know is coming?

As always, you’ll be joined by peers and collaborators from K-12 higher education, industry, and the nonprofit community. If you work with or know of a student who would like to join the discussion please extend the invitation.

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat, meet some interesting, passionate people
6:00 to 6:15 pm Welcome and introductions
6:15 to 8:00 pm Let’s talk through some ideas
8:00 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps

Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Among others, you’ll have a chance to talk with:

PJ Dever — Executive Director for Playworks in Wisconsin

PJ has worked in education for over 13 years with the majority of that work in Milwaukee schools. He has spent time working with students directly, as coach for educators, and a program director. Playworks’ mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. PJ & his team coaches youth, school staff, and out-of-school-time professionals to create great recesses, youth leadership opportunities, and infuse play into their curriculum.

Lana M. Minshew — Assistant Professor, Director of the Human-Centered Design Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Minshew also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the MCW Pharmacy School. She is a learning scientist, design thinker, educator, and researcher whose
work explores the relationships between educational theory, teaching practices, design thinking, and learning and cognition in health professions education.

Nina Johnston — Program Manager of the Human-Centered Design Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin
Nina is a design thinker, entrepreneur, and educator. She is a University Innovation Fellow through the d.school at Stanford University and received a Curriculum Innovation Grant and Fellowship through the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where she is a former lecturer. In her free time, Nina loves to read, refinish furniture, garden, and learn new creative skills.

 

Shannon Smyth — US Soccer Coach Educator, Youth Technical Director

In her role as a Youth Director at North Shore United Soccer Club, you will find Shannon on the field working with both youth and high-performance players ages 3-23 years old. For the past 10 years, she has worked for the US Soccer Federation in the Coaching Education department to help implement methodologies and curriculums created to promote “free play.” Through a holistic approach, coaches are taught to provide a reality-based and experiential learning environment, yielding both wins and losses and how to handle both!

CL57: Dealing with Uncertainty

When we engage students in open-ended real world challenges there’s always the risk that things will go off the rails or students will take us in directions we don’t feel prepared for.

Then what?

Season 8/Collab Lab 57

October’s focus was Heeding the Call of the Student. This session will focus on the uncertainty that can arise from doing so, what we can gain from accepting that, and how we might structure challenges to keep some guardrails in place.

As always, you’ll be joined by peers and collaborators from K-12 higher education, industry, and the nonprofit community. If you work with or know of a student who would like to join the discussion, please extend the invitation.

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat, meet some interesting, passionate people
6:00 to 6:15 pm Welcome and introductions
6:15 to 8:00 pm Let’s talk through some ideas
8:00 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps

Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Among others, you’ll have a chance to talk with:

Amber Henzig: Scrum Master & Servant Leader, Johnson Controls

A leader of agile software development projects at JCI, Amber is a passionate advocate for building high performance teams that look like and have roots in the communities they work in. The practices she uses to manage uncertainty, build trust and, and foster courageous conversations are central to her work. As the spouse of a high school teacher and with two children in MPS, she recognizes the value those practices can offer to both educators and students looking to take on real-world challenges.

 

Kelsey Otero: Senior Director of Community Engagement, Marquette University

Kelsey is Marquette’s representative for engagement in the community, tasked to explore and promote community-engaged opportunities for Marquette students, faculty and staff. Previously she served as the Director of Innovation at the 707 Hub at Marquette University. There she ran business bootcamps for students and community entrepreneurs and helped to build a social innovation ecosystem in Wisconsin. She is naturally curious and enjoys connecting the dots between people, ideas and resources! She was recognized as one of Milwaukee Business Journal 40 Under 40 winners in 2019.

 

Sean Campbell: teacher at Pathways High School, Milwaukee

Sean is a former Boat Yard manager turned high school teacher at Pathways High, he teaches Social Studies and English. Last year, he had the unique opportunity to collaborate with Harley Davidson on an electric conversion project for a 1980’s Suzuki motorcycle. Pathways High is a project-based learning charter school with about 175 students, focused on restructuring the traditional educational model. Our diverse student body engages in discussions about equity and participates in IMPACT experiences, integrating real-world learning into the curriculum. Our school emphasizes collaboration with community members to produce artifacts demonstrating student competency. For more information, you can visit their website, Pathwayshigh.org.

CL56: Heeding the Call of the Student

Where do the voices of students call you to take them?

What do you hear that points to a path where their concerns and passions can drive a richer exploration of what you had hoped to cover anyway?

Season 8/Collab Lab 56

Join us as we kick off our 8th season of Collab Labs with a discussion focused on the value of elevating student voice, and what might unfold when we do so. As always, you’ll be joined by peers and collaborators from K-12 higher education, industry, and the nonprofit community.

The contributions of middle and high school students at our last two Collab Labs of Season 7 added a new dimension to the conversations. In light of that we invite the participation of students in grade 7 and above (when accompanied by an adult) at each of our sessions this year. If you work with or know of a student who would like to join the discussion please extend the invitation

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat, meet some interesting, passionate people
6:00 to 6:15 pm Welcome and introductions
6:15 to 8:00 pm Let’s talk through some ideas
8:00 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps

Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Stay tuned, we’re lining up a great group of Featured Participants you’ll want to have a chance to meet.

Collab Lab 54: Recap & Notes

Pete Reynolds Blog, Collab Labs

Collab Lab 54 explored issues around youth mental health and violence. One of our largest groups to date, which included middle and high school student leaders, focused on factors that impact the degree to which students and teachers feel safe and affirmed at school.  Matt Nink and Vanessa Rodriguez from SKY Schools kicked things off for us with a mindfulness exercise, after which we dove into the discussion.

The output of those conservations was a long list of interrelated factors, and some initial thoughts on how those influence each other. We pulled those factors into the first draft of a system map. If you’re not familiar with a system map, each of the factors identified in the Collab Lab is represented as a node. Solid arrows connecting two nodes indicate that an increase in the factor represented by the first node leads to an increase in the factor represented by the second node. A dashed line indicates a negative relationship between nodes. 

As an example, zooming in on one area of the map, we indicate that Students’ feeling of affirmation are driven by level of student voice and leadership, and in turn an increase in the degree to which students feel affirmed at school leads to higher levels of respect for teachers and greater levels of engagement. Conversely, we suspect that an increase in the frequency of policing interventions will lead to a decrease in students’ feeling of affirmation.

We invite you to explore the map in greater detail here. Again, this is a first draft, we haven’t been able to connect all of the factors raised in the session, so we know we are either missing nodes, or don’t understand how those do connect. It’s also likely that the connections we show between nodes might be off, and the phrasing used for some of the factors is unclear. Your feedback and ideas are more than welcome. Let us know what you see, or join us for Collab Lab 55 on May 11th, where we’ll use the discussion to get to an improved version, identify nodes where community partners are already focused, where some of the projects we’re looking at for the 2023-24 intersect and how this mapping might inform how we approach those.

A special thanks to Kyle Ashley, Lawrence Battle, Nate Deans, Clintel Hasan, Maria Hamidu, and Sharlen Moore who got us started on this path, helped us plan the session, and recruit participants.  A big thanks to the students from Glen Hills Middle School, Pathways and Reagan High Schools, and Youth Forward MKE sharing your voices and experience, and keeping the discussion focused on issues that matter most to youth!

Collab Lab 51: Recap and Notes

Pete Reynolds Blog, Collab Labs ,

Collab Lab 51 attendees explored the hopes and fears attendees commonly express having when it comes to letting students drive the issues that are the focus of their learning. 

What do we hope for when we offer students the opportunity to pursue issues they are passionate about?

What fears might hold us back from doing so? 

Hopes

Across the discussion groups we heard a number of common themes among the hopes that were expressed — that students feel heard, they are motivated and engaged in work that is meaningful to them, they have the opportunity to discover what it is that they do care about, that the work allows them to build the skills, confidence, and empathy to take on more complex challenges. 

We also heard hopes for what that process could look like — that students have a chance to iterate and learn from missteps along the way, that we are able to design and support project based learning experience effectively, with scaffolding in place that allows students to take on the work, that teachers are equipped and supported as they do this work with students.  The overarching paradigm for participants is that student driven issues would drive the process of project based learning: allowing students to discover their passions and to let those passions drive their education.

Fears

Moving forward to create opportunities for student driven work won’t happen if we don’t recognize and address the fears that hold us back as teachers. 

Chief among those is that a lack of structure on an open ended project could lead to chaos, with some students left behind. Our participants also worry school or district leadership won’t recognize what’s going on in the classroom as productive learning, that it deviates from curriculum, that we won’t hit standards, and don’t have the right tools to evaluate student learning progress. Other fears center on the challenges we might offer students — what if the topic fails to engage them, we don’t have the time or support to pull it off, or are blocked by competing curriculum demands.

Participants also noted fears students themselves might have — how they will know if they are making progress, that they won’t get “the right answer”, that it feels weird to take on work that is by nature open-ended.

Next Steps

Our final question of the evening focused on what one might do in the next 30 days to push things forward.  For our participants, the key to moving forward is building the support to take some risks and align resources that can both support and inspire students in their work. That’s the hard work that teachers find difficult to navigate individually. 

The inspirEd Community recently established a Collab Lab group to explore these and other topics in a community setting. Consider joining the Community if this sounds like something that could help you in your teaching. 

Acknowledgements

We are especially grateful to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion:

  • Leslie Fee – Talent Manager – Development, J.W. Speaker
  • Clintel Hasan – Strategic Initiatives Manager, Milwaukee Succeeds, GMF
  • Maria Hamidu – High School Success Project Coordinator, Milwaukee Succeeds, GMF
  • Adam Hengel – Coordinator of Instructional Services, West Allis/West Milwaukee School District
  • Chad Johnson – CEO and Founder of Tip-a-Script, Milwaukee

Thanks again to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting our Collab Lab series this season.

Collab Lab 52: Infusing the Arts

Calling it STEAM is selling it short.

Going from STEM to STEAM just adds another silo to the acronym. Agree?

What if we recognized the arts not as simply another discipline students deserve to be exposed to?

What if we recognized the arts as opportunities to explore and share ideas across domains?

Imagine, what more could students take on and contribute to science, engineering, etc. projects, if they had a solid set of tools to do so?

What does it take to get there?

Come explore your ideas, hopes, and dreams for how the arts can support and enrich the work of students on interdisciplinary projects with colleagues from K-12 and partners from industry, higher-ed, and area nonprofits. We’ll have Featured Guests who work in this context in their respective organizations to share their perspective. And you’ll have a chance to meet current Learn Deep Fellows who will share their experience with implementing teacher designed student inquiry projects  (we call them ‘Community Engaged Learning Experiences’).

 

Agenda

5:30 – 6:00 Grab something to eat and drink, say hello

6:00 – 6:20 Introductions

6:20- 8:30 Let’s talk through some ideas

Note:  food and beverage will be provided. There is no charge for participation but space is limited!

Featured Participants

Among others, you’ll have a chance to talk with:

Mike Cook – Designer/Fabricator

Mike is an interactive designer and former VP and Creative Director of the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. He currently splits his time between producing museum exhibits and running a small carpentry business out of his shop in Bayview.

 

 

Añamarie Edwards – Lead Artist, ArtWorks for Milwaukee

Anamarie is a Multidisciplinary Contemporary artist and artist educator currently based in Milwaukee originally from the deep south . She often intersects social justice, her identity, and interactive education to influence her paintings, installations, sculptures, and performances. With the experiences she has with community and through life itself, she builds her practice to relay that information visually to those interested in learning a variety of topics.

 

Jeff Fleetwood – Partner/Artist, Foresight Studios

For the past eight years, Jeff has been working in interactive development alongside his business partner Hector Borges, first as the co-founders of Outer Rim, where they produced and released their first game in their first year of school. They operated under the name Outer Rim for four years before rebranding as Foresight Studios. In his role at Foresight Studios, Jeff is focused on creating innovative experiences that leverage new and emerging technologies, including VR, AR, and XR. The company has worked with the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. to create a VR demo and developed “Code the Hoan,” a VR experience for Milwaukee Public School students. They are currently creating an AR application for the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. As a firm believer in the importance of teaching kids about emerging technology and encouraging exploration and play, Jeff and Hector have made it their mission to use their skills to help others.

 

Dionna L. Hayden – Lead Teaching Artist, ArtWorks for Milwaukee

Dionna is a creative professional with extensive experience planning and executing commercial projects centered on graphic design, including brand identity and logo design initiatives. Developed at an early age, some of her artistic and creative abilities include illustration, painting, photography, and graphic arts. Her extensive background in visual and graphic arts has enabled her to serve in the creative arts industry for over 20 years. Her experience also includes the founding of a children’s book imprint, serving as author, publisher, illustrator, and designer. In addition, Dionna serves at ArtWorks for Milwaukee as Lead Artist to high school interns in the graphic design + mental health advocacy program. (website: dionnalhayden.com)

 

Cindy Raimer – Director of Education, The Riveredge School

Cindy is passionate about instilling a love of nature, demonstrating the value of community, and embracing the curiosity and wonder in students. A strong advocate for project based learning, Cindy loves teaching children to communicate with their peers, collaborate on designs and solutions, and look to nature for inspiration. This year, The Riveredge School educators are partnering with the talented art educators at Lynden Sculpture Garden to create an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum that is nature based and aligns with our science and social studies curriculum for every grade level. The arts integrated framework will enable students to explore the intersection of arts, culture and nature across the curriculum.

Working with Community Partners for student success – Recap & Notes

Joost Allard Blog, Collab Labs , , , ,

How can organizations and educators effectively collaborate for greater student success?

Our December Collab Lab conversations explored the benefits, needs and hurdles of collaboration on student learning experiences. One of the major hurdles for teachers to be able to create truly engaging real world experiences with students is the challenge of involving the appropriate outside expertise at the appropriate time in a student’s project. And if the student is encouraged to determine when that additional expertise would be helpful, things get even more messy. But since we all recognize the value of bringing in that outside perspective, what are some (proven) approaches that teachers could adopt as they venture in the world of student driven learning experiences?

Our December 2021 Collab Lab  (what’s a Collab Lab?) provided an opportunity to explore how we might leverage outside resources and begin establishing relationships to shift the use of ‘mentors’ from a 30 minute ‘song and dance’ to a meaningful semester long mentor relationship that draws out the best in each student?

After taking some time to to explore the participant’s own experience with collaboration, either as an educator or as a community partner, we asked the starting question to some great conversations: How can we create the circumstance for effective collaboration amongst teachers and (supportive individuals at) community organizations?

Common themes highlighted by all groups were:

  1. Communication, including feedback, is a major factor in successful collaboration when it comes to blending learning inside and outside the classroom;
  2. Commitment to the relationship and a plan for ongoing involvement;
  3. Flexibility of participation on a week by week basis (‘school’ is a messy workplace);
  4. Clarity around who is available as a partner and what kind of input and commitment is offered;

Nothing too stunning, and in fact these are core aspects of any successful and sustaining collaboration in the business world and public-private partnerships. What is unique is that these conversations provided an opportunity for educators and community members in non-profit and corporate settings to hear from each other what makes (common) sense to pursue if we are serious about working together for the greater benefit of the students in Milwaukee. What makes this more challenging? The complex environment we’ve created that we call ‘school’.

This list is not claiming to be complete, but it does provide several worthwhile entry points for further exploration if we want to come together in an (STEM) ecosystem to gradually implement the type of learning that we know 21st century students need exposure to if we want to develop the talent our communities are in desperate need of. A great starting point for further exploration of ‘what’s possible’! 

 

Interested in this type of conversation and being part of creating the shift in education we need?

Join our Collaborative Learning Community ‘inspirEd‘ and become part of creating the future of education.

 

What should effective partnerships offer teacher, students and partners? 

Here is what the attendees uncovered:

Teachers Partners Students
setting expectations of what’s possible setting expectations of what’s possible continuous learning made possible
involving partners enriches the curriculum enables partner to better meet funder standards getting out of the classroom in a meaningful way
It addresses the need for funds for activities (and PD) offer culturally responsive practices

opportunity for hands on activities, leading to exposure to careers
having a list of partners to pull from exposure for educators and students stimulating creativity and curiosity
Receive feedback from partner receive feedback from educators active engagement in the learning: “I wonder….?”
continuity & longitudinal experiences flexibility to work with school/grade needs

accountability to learning outcomes
sustaining relationships through transitions plan of action for building ongoing relationships more than one-time experiences
willingness to try Connect with the greater community – schools, families open-ended-ness of learning and exploring
pre-planning events open, collaborative communication engagement with people and community
ideas for what to include in teaching through learning experiences who are the partners and when are they available? opportunity to explore the Why?
community involvement in learning experiences clear idea of the goal of partnering with teachers STEM and business careers exposure
sharing experience with ‘being involved’ sharing experience with ‘being involved’ sharing experience with ‘being involved’
exposure to work, careers, etc. exposure needs and challenge of teaching exposure to mentors, work and concepts
  meaningful volunteer opportunities builds hope and ability to dream about their place in the community
  hearing from others what an organization might do for the community  
  talent recruiting  

 

What is needed to develop an effective collaboration for student success?

There are a lot of good intentions among those early to recognize that collaboration with teachers in real world focused student projects present great benefit and opportunity. But how do we practically get to a place where we can start realizing those benefits?

The attendees have the following suggestions:

Teacher Partner Student
access to partners access to teachers Access to mentors ‘from the real world’
budget available budget for interaction at middle/high school level learning takes time
curriculum alignment available time to volunteer training 
available time to devote experience with mentoring (middle school) students set behavior goals (accountability)
Training (pbl, technology, management) individual commitment to engage for the duration of a student project how to drive their full engagement
management support  administration/upper management support and involvement commitment to learn
transportation and other logistical resources time  co-teaching
commitment to support  alignment to learning standards alignment to learning standards
motivation a coordinators cross curricular / interdisciplinary activities
energy growth mindset growth mindset
set of goals for collaboration patience class visits
a list of ‘what’s possible’    
willingness to take risks    
Patience    
growth mindset    

 

What gets in the way of successful collaboration ?

We all can imagine the sorts of things that get in the way of teachers doing their best teaching and community partners staying committed over time. What stood out for me was 

A lack of advocating for the benefits of hands-on learning experiences through stories of student success, both in the school context and in the community partner organization.

 

Here is the list our conversation participants developed

Teacher Partner Student
understanding of different learning styles understand (student) learning styles learning styles
experience with different teaching strategies funding in support of real world learning and your employee participation in it available time (none!)
funding do you have an overall engagement strategy motivation to learn
time how much time can you afford to dedicate? learning to get and receive feedback
understanding the audience understanding your audience (teachers) and their familiarity level with modern business language/disability
getting feedback giving and getting feedback about what works background knowledge
limited network / contact list matchmaking of relevant expertise need of deeper processing (time to process and follow through)
awareness of available resources and opportunities logistics Reflection
miscommunication miscommunication hierarchy of needs
logistics lack of knowledge  relatability
Creating the stories of ‘why’ one-sided decision making  
unwilling to showcase opportunity willingness to make involvement mutually beneficial  
Professional Development (related to pbl/domain/tech) admin involvement  
expectations for students and partners corporate structure  
  restrictive funds  

 

Would you like to join these conversations with teachers and community partners?

Consider participating in upcoming Collab Labs. Every 2nd Thursday of the month during the school year. RSVP on our Collab Lab page

Not a member of inspirEd yet? Join the Collaborative Learning Community ‘inspirEd‘ and continue this and other conversations with your peers from across Milwaukee and beyond who are experimenting with and sharing what works for our students.

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks again to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting Collab Labs this season and to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion:

Bev Bryant – Park Naturalist at Wehr Nature Center

Catrina Crane – Director of Workforce & Business Solutions, Menomenee Valley Partners

Elizabeth Taylor – Director of STEM, MSOE

Graciela Hernandez  – Senior Universal Banker with Summit Credit Union

Natalia Hernandez – Outreach Specialist, the Harbor District

2024-25 Collab Labs

Skip to content
Verified by MonsterInsights