Have you ever wanted to foster collaboration, choice and engagement, iterative growth and mindset, responsive visible feedback and reflection, and relationship building with staff, students, and administration in person and even virtually in your classroom, school, or district?
It was this very question that we began to answer when Blueprint Education was honored to present at the 2024 Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC), a national event held in beautiful Austin, TX, this last February.
Blueprint’s session, “Transforming the Educational Framework through Agile and Scrum Practices,” certainly opened participants’ minds to Agile solutions to the challenges within education, and led to many more questions and discussions about the impact and feasibility of an Agile Transformation.
A Bit of Context
The DLAC conference is, “a dedicated space for K-12 digital learning practitioners, leaders, researchers, suppliers, and policymakers to learn from each other and share best (and worst) practices at this innovative professional learning event”(digitallearningcollab.com).
Blueprint’s interactive and engaging extended Panel Discussion featuring leaders and practitioners, revealed how Blueprint educators, support staff, and leadership use an industry Agile approach to teaching and learning, school and district operations, and the development of self-efficacy and autonomy.
The session began with a bit of gameshow fun as well as tear-jerking storytelling. For those of you who don’t know how the Agile and Scrum journey began a decade ago at Blueprint, watch this video, and bring your tissue box!
The Hope School Agile Story
Throughout the session, panelists Erin Horne, Rebekah Cirrincione, Mark French, and Krissyn Sumare answered audience questions and shared the strategy behind Blueprint’s efforts to bring the scrum framework and Agile philosophy to life with staff and students in order to align our teams with common language so that we may work closely together to improve student outcomes, innovate curriculum and instruction, cultivate workplace satisfaction, and foster champions of learning.
Reactions and Participant Feedback
While participant responses to Blueprint’s session were overwhelmingly positive, curious, and even surprising, the true value of the session was in its impact on Blueprint’s own staff who attended DLAC and got to experience the panel session from the audience. See what Blueprint staff had to say below:
“The panel shared real-world stories with actionable outcomes based on learning by doing. The attendees of our panel session told us they walked out with real-world examples of what is possible to use back in their schools and districts.”
Michael Vizdos, Agile Coach For Blueprint Education
“Agile is at the center of the most positive and innovative work environment I have ever experienced. As a paraprofessional, using the Agile framework makes me feel like my voice is heard, respected, and valued.”
Trevor Penzone, ELA Paraprofessional
“I was able to attend a table talk for 100% asynchronous schools right after the BP session and so many great things about our presentation. One of the topics was how to engage students in our format. One of the people at my table had attended the BP presentation and had a lot of questions about our program and what it looks like.
They were interested in our innovative use of Calendly and use of Doc Sign.
They were impressed by our attempt to go to all parts of the state. Anytime I was talking to someone who had attended our presentation or had heard about it, they were always super interested in our process and asking for ideas.
Most schools I spoke with have only been doing completely virtual for 3-5 years, so to hear that we had been doing it for as long as we have, they wanted to learn from us.
I also had a few other principals/HR staff come and chat with me about staff retention and work-life balance with our online format. They were interested in how Scrum helped prevent me from working past the “work day” when my work was at my home.
My own feelings during the presentation were outstanding pride in the program we have with Blueprint Education and how much the company has evolved. I have been a part of the organization for almost two years, so to see all the hard work that has gone on and the transformation that has occurred made me proud but excited for the future.”
Amy Soucinek, Science Teacher
“Presenting at DLAC, one of my big takeaways was talking with others after the session about the possibilities of what Agile in their environment could look like. They wanted to do something different and they felt that what we shared was something different.
A big takeaway from DLAC in general, was how much I learned in collaborating with others. Each session I went to, they had the opportunity to talk with those at the table, and I learned so much from those I was sitting with. It was anywhere from how other schools vet curriculum to data practices and transparency.” Rebekah Cirrincione, Curriculum and Achievement Coordinator
Tools and Resources
If you are interested in learning more about the Learning to be Agile Transformation or Blueprint’s session, “Transforming the Educational Framework through Agile and Scrum Practices,” check out Blueprint’s official DLAC Resource: https://l.ead.me/blueprintdlac
As always, you can find all of the Learning to be Agile tools and features, from templates and infographics to unique resources that support instruction, agility, collaboration, and learning, by visiting the Tools & Features page, linked below :
Why Learning to be Agile?
The Agile framework originated from the world of software development, and a need arose to collaborate on product development in a smarter way.
Agile teams work effectively as a unit and can better react to the inevitable changes in innovation and education.
The Agile philosophy encompasses a group of methodologies that guide goal development, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
When applied to education, the Agile framework and methodologies look like Best Practices in a system of student engagement, teamwork, exploration, relevance, objective mastery, increasing depth of knowledge, 21st Century skills in action, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation.
Agile learners iteratively develop and grow trust, collaboration, culture, and reflective practice for lifelong learning and success.
Join us on the journey.
Author: Marina O’Connell, MAEd, CSM, CSPO, CAL K-12