Unbundled Learning
Key Takeaways
- An unbundled learning ecosystem serves the learner first through better tracking, mapping and enabling a diverse set of learning experiences and environments.
- Connecting learners to their community will build real-world skills and connections that will dramatically reduce friction in pathways.
Vision
Imagine every learner having access to experiences that advance their progress along a co-designed educational pathway. In this world, pathways provide equitable and personalized access to stackable learning experiences leading to postsecondary credentials and family-sustaining employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Throughout the journey, supportive coaches focus on helping learners build skills to navigate with agency. In parallel, learners develop foundational skills (literacy, math), technical skills, and durable skills and connect these to challenging co-designed experiences. The breadth and depth of experiences increase over time, and, in partnership, learners and coaches map progress toward reaching community-defined goals.
Overview
Since the advent of formal education, learning has been bundled. Most students attend schools and follow a prescriptive curriculum determined by the school, state, or other governing body. The curriculum is bundled together via classes, courses and seat time, and once the student has completed each of these at a satisfactory level, the authorizing body grants a credential.
However, even within a constrained system such as this, unbundled opportunities exist at various levels of granularity. At the classroom level, except in the most prescriptive programs, educators draw on a variety of resources and develop learning experiences from different sources. In this way, the classroom experience is often unbundled.
At the course level, high school students often can choose courses that best serve their interests. Despite typically being within a constrained system (such as a comprehensive school), learners can bundle different elements to meet their needs. The larger the school, the greater the variety of choices.
At the school level, the education ecosystem has increasingly provided an unbundled experience, where some learners (depending on geography and access) can choose from public (district, magnet, charter, virtual), homeschool, and private options (religious, secular, microschool, etc.).
At the ecosystem level, solutions already exist, but they need to be combined and scaled. Funding models (like My Tech High), badging/credentialing at the competency level (like VLACS), coaching models (like Big Thought), and open ecosystems (like New Hampshire’s Learn Everywhere) provide an excellent foundation. Thus, the building of an unbundled system has already begun but needs systemic changes to become widely available and accepted.
Purposeful
The Knowledge Society is an afterschool program that helps learners navigate interests and encourages them to contribute to their communities with a series of client-connected projects. This out of school model creates an adaptable environment for students to find what matters to them and work with coaches and mentors to do work that matters.
Intentional
Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS), a long-standing virtual public charter school in New Hampshire, allows students to link learning experiences from different providers (or build their own) with competencies. These competencies have equivalence with fractions of credit (micro-credit).
Curated
Dallas City of Learning offers a searchable database of curated opportunities for learning. Anchored by organizations such as Dallas-based Big Thought, these ecosystem databases are pivotal to unbundled systems.
Equitable
Three districts in rural Texas have built a Rural Innovation Zone, carved out in state law, to increase flexibility around shared high-demand job-connected pathways. This agreement enables districts to serve more students more efficiently and also be nimble when confronted with challenges or new opportunities.
Considerations for Getting Started
Conduct a needs assessment and share agreements about learning.
To begin, it’s critical that a community forms agreements around shared learning goals which may manifest as a Portrait of a Learner, or other set of guiding skills and values.
Build a robust competency-based system.
Unbundled systems require the dismantling of the Carnegie unit and time-based credit systems. Every state should ensure that legislation is adequate to allow for the subdividing of credit and awarding of credit upon mastery.
Create a two-way marketplace for unbundled learning.
A decentralized marketplace for all learning experiences or multiple marketplaces that are interoperable builds the foundation for an unbundled learning ecosystem. The ability to both take (learn) and give (teach), akin to today’s centralized marketplace owned by technology firms, will drive quality, opportunity and access.
Implement policy to support credit for out-of-system experience.
Connecting verified out-of-system learning with in-system credit increases access to robust learning experiences for every student. Several states allow for credit for work-based learning, a great foundation to expand opportunities in this space.
Invest in technology infrastructure for Learning and Employment Records
The industry is still in the early exploratory phase with learning and employment records built on blockchain models. Continued work on security, efficiency, stability, and self-sovereignty are needed to develop this space.
Design interoperable badging systems that connect to credentials.
The industry is still in the early exploratory phase with learning and employment records built on blockchain models. Continued work on security, efficiency, stability, and self-sovereignty are needed to develop this space.