Presented by Alex Dreier, Associate Director of Online Learning, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation; Blake F. Wiggs, Research Scholar, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation; and Dr. Patricia Hilliard, Research Scholar, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation

Sponsored by The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University

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The term “learner agency” can mean different things to different people, from “voice and choice” to conflicts of power and structure. The team at the Friday Institute has been designing learning experiences to help educators build their own definition of the term, identify the mindsets, skills, and contexts that can support it, and understand its expression among students of color and historically marginalized populations. Watch this presentation to learn about this vital topic.

As a result of viewing this recorded edWebinar, you will:

• Deepen your knowledge of learner agency
• Draw connections between learner agency and bias
• Identify skills, practices, and mindsets necessary to begin to foster learner agency

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to K-12 teachers and school leaders. 

About the Presenters

Alex Dreier is the Associate Director of Online Learning at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. He has over 15 years of experience in designing learning environments that meet the needs of all students, specifically initiatives around social and emotional learning, learning differences, competency-based learning for educators, digital learning, and more. He currently leads a grant that supports educators in creating learning environments to support all of their students. Prior to this, Alex spent five years managing the Friday Institute’s MOOCs-for-Educators initiative, which continues to serve a global audience of tens of thousands of educators. Before coming to the Institute, he managed the online professional learning courses for EdTech Leaders Online at Education Development Center (EDC), helping build the capacity of organizations to build and support their own online learning programs. Alex holds a B.A. from Tulane University and an Ed.M. in technology, innovation, and education from Harvard University.

Blake Wiggs is a research scholar with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation where he partners with districts to design adult learning experiences for teachers, coaches and administrators. His responsive approach to facilitation is informed by his experience with community organizing and anti-racist affinity work. Blake is an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education program and is currently pursuing his Ed.D. at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research is largely linguistic, focusing on the relationship between language, ideology and power. For his dissertation, he is conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the 287-page WestEd Report, Sound Basic Education for All: An Action Plan for North Carolina. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and co-authored the book, Rethinking Classroom Design: Create Student-Centered Learning Spaces for 6-12th Graders, with co-author Dr. Todd Finley.

Dr. Patricia Hilliard serves as the interim director of the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative and as a research scholar at the NCSU Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. She works with districts to design, develop and deliver professional learning for teachers, administrators, and support staff. She has been a high school teacher, university instructor, and instructional coach. Dr. Hilliard leads the NC Conference for Educational Equity which brings together more than 2,000 educators annually, challenging these educators to rethink current practices, disrupt our broken system, and create innovative practices and policies to better support each and every student.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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The Friday Institute brings together researchers, practitioners and policymakers to lead the transition to a next-generation education system that will prepare students for success in the digital-age world. It conducts research, develops educational resources, provides professional development programs for educators, advocates to improve teaching and learning, and helps inform policy-making. Visit fi.ncsu.edu to learn more.