Skip to main content

A New Model to Target the "4 Cs" of Learning

 The “Four Cs” are established goals for learning in today’s world. 

  • Creativity

  • Critical Thinking

  • Collaboration 

  • Communication


Schools around the world strive to foster these traits in students.

Companies seek out individuals who can excel at these skills to lead their teams. 


Despite the often cited disconnect between the world of business and academia, the Four Cs represent one area where there is solid agreement.  Organizations such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and Common Sense Education rightly tout these as a gold standard for what learning can be.


Unfortunately, given the recent massive shift to online learning, the current model of watching videos (or listening to lectures), followed up with a quiz provides ample evidence of where our current online learning models are falling short. 


Online learning falls short

The Huddle Up platform represents a very different type of online learning experience. A platform that specifically targets the Four Cs by providing a more authentic, interactive, connected learning experience. We provide an experience with more


  • Creativity: When the purpose of the platform is focused on each learner sharing a unique solution (instead of merely finding the “right” answer), we open up each learner’s creativity to use information and skills to creatively solve problems.

  • Collaboration: Unlike current online platforms where users are isolated and might only have a relationship with the instructor, Huddle Up flattens the learning environment so that we are all learning from one another. Each learner reviews the solutions of others (and learns in the process) and gives feedback to others (helping improve the solutions of others). It’s a mutually beneficial model of collaboration where there is purpose and sharing and communicating.

  • Communication: Knowing the right answer isn’t enough. We need to communicate our solution in a way that others (not just the instructor) will find demonstrates quality. As we do this, we unlock interactive feedback, further strengthening communication and developing a greater sense of shared understanding of the problem itself and the solutions which exist to solve it.

  • Critical Thinking: When the goal of learning goes beyond comprehension exercises like quizzes and essays, we foster deep critical thinking skills so needed in today’s world. We allow each learner to create solutions, analyze and evaluate the solutions of others, share feedback, reflect upon the feedback of others, and consider what improvements are needed. These are the thinking skills we need to foster.


Huddle Up is a custom-build learning platform meant to develop these characteristics. We know that companies and schools have valued the idea of developing lifelong learners focused on the Four Cs. With Huddle Up, we have a platform that goes far beyond the video-and-quiz model to foster these skills in an authentic, customized environment. It's what motivates us to share Huddle Up with like-minded partners, to change the way individuals and organizations learn.




In our subsequent posts, we’ll go into further detail to highlight each one of the Four Cs - and see examples of how Huddle Up’s learning model is uniquely structured to help deliver this change.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Evolution of Online Learning: Four Stages and What's Next?

(This 2022 post was modified in July 2023.) The pandemic has made everyone far more knowledgeable about online learning platforms than they were 24 months ago. We each know (and feel) the strengths and the limitations of more than a few platforms.  We each have a long and growing list of features we want to see in the next evolution of online learning.  So, it seems a rather good time to step back and explore the evolution of online learning - to see how far we've come, and where we might be heading. One of the best resources out there is a simple progression chart shared in this intriguing article by Tiago Forte. The Future of Education is Community: The Rise of Cohort-Based Courses The evolution of online learning: What's next? We love big-picture reflections like this. While we are all aware of the current disconnect that still exists between the reality of our online learning platforms and the skills and knowledge we want to transfer to learners, we can all agree that the e
Post a Comment
Read more

When did collaboration and learning become separated?

I like to talk to people about what systems, structures, and platforms they use to help their teams collaborate, learn, and problem-solve.  It doesn't really matter if I'm talking with trainers, consultants, or educators. I usually hear something like this: "We have our (training) courses inside of  ( INSERT NAME OF LMS HERE) . And, then we collaborate every week on  ( INSERT ZOOM, SLACK, GOOGLE MEET, ETC) " When did we start thinking / saying this?  Was this a prevalent phrase pre-pandemic? I don't remember hearing it then. (Perhaps I wasn't listening.) It's certainly a common paradigm now. More importantly, what impact does its arrival have on the way we structure our team's environments? For starters, it brings up a few odd questions. Aren't we naturally better learners when we collaborate? Aren't we better collaborators when we're learning along the way? Don't we do one better when we incorporate the other? When we think of the syst
Read more

AI & Organizational Learning - a different approach

Consider this post an invitation to engage for every AI expert seeking to transform the way teams and organizations learn. We consider ourselves AI enthusiasts, but not experts - and we are in need of advice and support from those higher up the ladder. These days, organizational learning is a pretty dynamic space. Everyone's abuzz with AI - and for good reason. Every day, it's linking content and context in fantastic new ways. The content has always been there.  It's the context piece that makes AI so exciting - and also its biggest challenge. How can we get AI to become ever more intelligent about "our" context? How can AI help generate solutions and feedback that are contextualized to what "we" need?   To transform learning with AI, most people are seeking to answer the following question: How can we leverage AI to capture all the relevant data in our learning ecosystem?   We're asking a different question. How can we reimagine the learning ecosys
Post a Comment
Read more