This post was originally published to https://learnercenteredleadership.blogspot.com/ on April 26, 2020.
I am honored and humbled to share that my first book, Learner-Centered Leadership, launched this past week. Copied below is the text from the back cover of the book which was written before COVID-19. While I never anticipated that we would be in the midst of a global pandemic, I strongly believe that the need for learner-centered leadership has never been more clear.
In addition, I believe that all of us can be leaders. I am hopeful that now is the time that we will all collectively listen to our students and empower them as changemakers.
Thanks to all who have supported, encouraged, and inspired this journey. Along the way, I have been amazed by the persistence and resilience of our students. With learners at the center, anything is possible. While the scope of the present challenges are immense, I have great optimism that our brightest days are ahead of us.
Thank you for being learner-centered. Thank you for you being a leader.
How Can Education Respond to a Faster World?
The pace of change in our society is currently accelerating. Old concepts of authority and hierarchy have been challenged by the reality of a networked world, and bedrock ideas about what citizens need to know have been overturned by a constant drive to learn anew. For Devin Vodicka, the response to these challenges is both simple and all-encompassing: it is the learner who is constant in the new world, and therefore educators must empower the learner to drive their journey.
In Learner-Centered Leadership, Vodicka offers a deeply researched and urgent blueprint for orienting education around the strengths, interests, and needs of individual learners. He makes a compelling argument for the wisdom in giving students the resources to draw their own learning paths and the power of reimagining schools as centers for the intellectual and social development of lifelong learners prepared for a rapidly changing world. Drawing from theories of the mind, change management, and organizational transformation as well as the author’s own experience leading a school district through change, this book serves as an important guide to creating a learner-centered approach to education.
An inspiring book by a visionary and courageous leader. —Yong Zhao, author of World Class Learners
A fabulous resource and well worth the read!—Pamela Moran, retired superintendent and coauthor of Timeless Learning
A research-based, experientially grounded framework for educational leaders.
—Thomas C. Murray, director of Innovation, Future Ready Schools, Washington, DC
Learner-Centered Leadership is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Please use the hashtag #LCLeadership to share your thoughts!
Learner-Centered Leadership 