In the traditional classroom setting, teachers have always used tests, grades and reports to assess learning. If those three words make you quiver, you’ll be relieved to learn about an alternative model that SelfDesign® uses that assesses learning through observing and about our learner-led philosophy that goes hand-in-hand with supporting a learner’s curiosities.
At SelfDesign®, at the core of our Kindergarten to Grade 12 online learning school, is the belief that learning happens all the time, and the learner is always at centre. Learning stems from curiosity and each individual learner’s passion and interests, whether that's at home engaging with family during game night, or connecting with nature in an old-growth cedar forest... Learning happens everywhere.
Online learning at SelfDesign® is a diverse, engaging, personal experience that draws on resources far and near, in person and virtually to support learners’ individual learning journeys. We put learners at the centre of their own learning experience and allow them to determine the pathway towards meeting the required BC Ministry of Education competencies.
At SelfDesign®, passions are important and in every moment, children are encouraged to explore their interests. It’s not something that has to wait for after school or weekends, it’s a part of each and every day. Learn more about personalized learning at SelfDesign, and how our model encourages individuality and nurtures each learner’s passions, interests and skills.
SelfDesign® Family Services provides resources and supports to help learners and families when events or situations interfere with learning. Within Family Services, members of the Contact Assistance Team – referred to as CAT – are experienced in working with learners in kindergarten to grade 12, including learners who receive Support Education services.
In September 2020, all BC schools, including SelfDesign, will reopen in Stage 2 of the Five Stages Framework for K-12 Education. Using the guidance of the Provincial Health Officer, the Ministry of Education, and WorkSafeBC, we are launching a set of protocols and procedures to protect the health of family members and contractors in our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. [...]
In recognition that reconciliation will be one of the most important challenges facing today’s learners in the years to come, SelfDesign® seeks to integrate Indigenous culture and perspectives into the everyday learning experience.
We believe all of our learners are special, but at the Virtual Commencement Ceremony held on June 13, SelfDesign® recognized the Class of 2020 for an achievement unique to them. The group of SelfDesign learners are the first learners to have gone through SelfDesign® Learning Community’s newly designed high school program from Grade 10.
For Patricia Collins, seeing learners embrace opportunities to learn about Indigenous ways of seeing and being and build them into their learning and lives drives her. Read more about Patricia’s journey to become SelfDesign® Learning Community’s Indigenous Education Facilitator.
SelfDesign® has been working to build cultural bridges across and throughout our own organization. Our efforts are driven by the more than 80 recommendations put forwards by SelfDesign’s Indigenous education task force, comprised of a First Nations elder, a First Nations SelfDesign parent and learner, and SelfDesign educators including those with Indigenous heritage.
