REDI Lab Partners with Colorado College

Attending a presentation on the Friday afternoon before winter break may not be most people’s preferred way to ease into vacation.  But there I was on Friday, Dec 16 at 1:30 gathered in Raether Library with several other CA faculty, administrators and students.  The presentation was given by four Colorado College undergrads who, along with their professor Dr. Michael Taber, were sharing the final product of their recent education seminar.  Their subject?  CA’s new REDI Lab, which will launch at the end of February with nine juniors and two instructors. 

 

REDI Lab (which stands for Research Entrepreneurship Design Innovation) is a program that allows students to dive deep into areas of interest, allowing more time and space for exploration in both an individualized and collaborative setting.  Months ago REDI Lab co-director Paul Kim approached the education department at Colorado College to see if anyone there would be interested in doing research on the teaching strategies and methodologies that would be used in the new REDI Lab.  He and co-director Tom Thorpe were looking for research-based evaluative tools to help their students be more self-reflective and more intentional about their learning goals.  In other words, how could we measure if the REDI Lab’s goals were actually transformative to a student’s learning, and how could we get students themselves to be more cognizant of their own experience?  CC Professor Taber excitedly said he would use the opportunity to guide his college students through a real-world research process and give CA the benefit of their work.

 

His group of undergraduates researched several relevant topics, relying on existing educational research and publications, as well as new in-depth interviews with educators, CC alums and admissions officers.  They then presented their findings to us on that day in December.  For an admitted education geek, the information was stimulating and struck many chords.  Among five research objectives, one was “To describe, characterize and understand learners’ and coaches’ (teachers’) perceptions of learning as a result of the REDI Lab experience.”  This focal area will help us to understand better how students self-regulate, react to autonomous learning situations, and receive coaching to help promote their independent explorations.

 

Down the road we will continue to partner with Colorado College and their students, as they help us define and refine our learning and research objectives.  In this process REDI Lab will serve as not only an exciting learning experience for the students involved, but also as a laboratory to explore different educational strategies and how they affect and enhance learning goals. 

 

It’s very exciting for the school to create this partnership with higher education in the state. We have also been exploring some connections with the University of Denver that I hope to highlight in a future blog.  My goal as principal is to continue to look for these relevant collaborations in order to enhance our position as an educational leader in the state and to expand CA’s civic responsibilities in the region.