My idea for this workshop was all about rethinking the classic sit-and-get professional development session and designing a session instilled with choice, interaction, co-creation, and ideation. I wanted to think about how to build learning experiences for professional development and explore ways to rework learning opportunities for adults. I landed on building my workshop around leading project-based learning because I’d had experience leading some PDs on PBL before. The content of my workshop – the what – needed some focus, but it wasn’t really where I spent most of my time. Instead, I returned routinely to the how, the how kept showing up for me in my evolving understanding of learning design and I was glad to think about it for my project through brainstorming, planning, and mapping out a workshop structure.
On a more personal level, designing this project taught me that it’s important to lead not with what feels convenient or what I’m already thinking about and experiencing. At first, I thought leading with my current context would help me bridge the worlds between school and work. But, in reflecting, I wish I’d lead a bit more with my own creativity, interests, and hobbies outside of work! While I enjoy the work I do, at times it was challenging to come to the close of my day at work and turn to school work that didn’t feel so different. Next time – I want to push my creativity a bit more and dive into projects that feel brand new to me. In many ways, that’s one of the biggest takeaways I’ll have for my project – along with the idea that maybe some of the most valuable learning we can be pushed/push ourselves to do is to learn more about ourselves, our joy, our motivation, and our process. While we design for learning – we also design for understanding.
