We are testing YKY, a futurist organisation in support of independent and collaborative learning

BG: Изпробваме УКУ - организация от бъдещето в поддръжка на самостоятелното и съвместно учене

 I have developed the futuristic learning organisation  

YKY -  a creative learning centre with eco orientation.

  In Bulgarian, a new word is used for this organisation instead of "school” (something like “lool”) in order to emphasise the supremacy of learning there and to distinguish it from the stereotypical mainstream school. 

 YKY also has important distinctions from the democratic schools which has been the most popular educational alternative among many educationalists and parents-intellectuals  in Bulgaria for the past decades. 

 In this blog, we will first look at those characteristics of YKY which

link it to democratic education, and then, at its key features.

 1  The common

   YKY draws on quantities of models and ideas from the democratic swings in education. YKY relies on the experience of:

•  Democratic schools:

  •    Summerhill and Sudbury Valley;

  •    Montessori; 

  •    Waldorf;

  •    Path (learning space);

• Suggestopedia and "natural learning", especially in languages;

•  Online and e-learning:

  •  MOOCs - massive open online courses from:

    1.  Coursera.org;

    2.  LiftHuman.com;

  •  The educational Experiments of Sugata Mitra;

  •  Experience of online courses and e-tutorials in English.

These models have influenced the following traits of YKY:

1.  Democratic, free space for learning;

2.  Learner is in the central role - they are  intrinsically motivated and make themselves the main decisions about their learning;

3.  YKY-team is in a supporting role, in the background, and even "behind the curtain":

   1.  Yks, expert-practitioners, expertly help learners in the activities and topics of their competence;

   2.  Asst (assistants) help all the participants in their assigned YKY-groups, both learners and Yks, with their expertise in creative learning (YK) and YKY, as well as in communication, group dynamics, and non-formal guidance;

    A YKY group can function with or without Yks, as appropriate or at the group's discretion.

   Assts always stand by their groups;

4.  Creative learning is:

   1.  Individual and independent, and at the same time collaborative with the groupmates ( through mutual reviews  with feedback on the creative projects); 

   2.  Mutual: learners learn from each other, sharing and discussing their interests and projects;

5.  Creative project work is a major method, complemented by more than 40 YK-methods.

6.  Creativity at YKY comes from creative projects and in particular from their artistic products: text in a relevant genre or visual narrative through video, audio, photo gallery, etc.;

2 Key features

 YKY is focused on organising a wider range and quantity of choices for participants; the untapped ICT potential in this regard is still enormous. It requires a systemic approach and an openness to engaging guilds and communities.

  2.1 Learners (Ls) can choose at YKY:

1.  WHAT to study:

   1.  Activity type (pursuit, science or livelihood), topic, programme;

   2.  Sources (learning content), including textbooks, study materials and everything else on the Internet, e-medium or on paper;

   3.  Activities / topics quantity to be tried out under the orientation formats ORI and DORI (children's ORI);

1.  WITH WHOM to study:

   1.  Learners can group with other learners, by interests or sympathies, and choose their group size (3-10 Ls);

   2.  Teaming with other learners on joint projects; 

   3.  Learners can choose their:

      1.  Yks and assistants:

         •  As a group decision;

         •  Individually - within the two orientation formats ORI and DORI, by choosing:

           •  Sysprothem - systemised programmes of themes;

           •  Inputs - introductory  presentations / instructions on topics / activities;

      2.  Hosts for eco-orientation tourism, connecting with practice and practice

         among the collaborators and partner organisations of YKY; 

         
         

2. HOW to study:

   While the weekly projects format remains constant, learners can choose::

   1.  Methods;

   2.  Forms;

   3.  Degrees of YK-deepening (levels) - 

      as a group and individually;

 2.2 Yks (expert practitioners) can choose:

1.  The scope of their work among: 

   1.  Active and direct work with YKY-groups;

   2.  Vuk / Iyk aspect - mainly creating input-projects;

   3.  Inactive Eol position 

of advertising through YKY their personal eco-services, which are more or less related to learning.

1.   Yk c can choose the number, age and other characteristics of the groups and learners with whom they will work;

 Yk states this in their Eol-profile on Eol-network so that groups and learners can take it into account when choosing them as their Yk  

3 Work in YKY is three in one

  Putting all the above into work requires a combination of:

1.  Creative learning events management in scale of:

   •  Microgroup (3-4 students);

   •  YKY-group (3-10 Ls) / stream of groups;

   •  YKY-format;

   •  YK-school;

   •  Networks with partner organisations and collaborators; 

   
   

2.  Logistics of the flows of:

   •  YKY-participants: 

     learners, Yks, Asst, Eol, collaborators, partner organisations, etc.;

   •  Learning content 

     within the two orientation formats ORI and DORI, in particular:

     •  Sysprothem (systemised programs of themes), which each Yk develops according to their activity; 

     •  Input-projects -

       the more and from more authors, the better;

   
   

3.  Non-formal guidance within the formats ORI and DORI the form of:

   1. Trying out every YKY-activity possible (TOE) and deepening in selected among them (PAD ) -

      these are also two of the three degrees of YK-deepening;

   2.  Connecting with practice, as well as practice in-situ

      with YKY-associates and partner organisations; 

   3.  Non-formal guidance by YKY-team members, in particular Asst;

   4.  Referral to specialised career guidance professionals and organisations.

 Perhaps a unique feature of YKY is that orientation is the foundation on which learning builds upon (and not vice versa).

 Orientation through learning-trying-out begins at the very entrance of YKY and involves even the youngest, four year old students.

 These are all significant reasons to call YKY a futuristic  organisation - a harbinger of learning support and guidance services future development. In some of the next blogs, we will also look at the ecological aspect of YKY, as part of its mission to distribute to eco-commensalism, i.e.  eco-symbiosis of man that is harmless to the natural environment.

 Hopefully, the pioneer traits of YKY will not be a hindrance in attracting both learners and Yks willing to try out creative learning (YK) as well as themselves in it.  It is certainly less difficult and dangerous than trying out living on Mars (joke).  

We rely on testing and expert feedback by like-minded educationalists and eco-people. Something really interesting may pop-up out of it.

 Naturally, the future will also provide a plurality of learning models, because it is part of evolution and life.