This project is one of the 2022 WISE Awards winners.
The world today is more complex and interconnected than ever before. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, while still essential, simply aren’t enough to prepare young people to thrive in the digital age. Communities need to come together to build on the basics and connect students with learning experiences that cultivate creativity and imagination.
Remake Learning (remakelearning.org) is a peer network based in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, comprised of over 1,200 teachers, artists, librarians, designers, learning scientists, out-of-school time educators, technologists, school administrators, and more. Stretching across 10 surrounding counties in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, Remake Learning supports a larger, local learning ecosystem. The network brings educators and innovators together to create learning opportunities that are engaging, relevant, and equitable for students — and then supports them as they navigate rapid social and technological change.
The network is directed by Tyler Samstag, an educator and facilitator with experience as a special education teacher and nonprofit leader, and expertise in human-centered design and edtech R&D.
Remake Learning hosts regular educator events and convenings; coordinates topic-specific working groups (around themes that include STEM, computer science, maker learning, and personalized learning); shares timely communications; and offers grant opportunities to catalyze new learning projects. The network makes it easier for educators to collaborate across sectors, share best practices, reduce duplication, and leverage resources for greater impact. No one organization can transform teaching and learning alone, so Remake Learning helps bring them together.
In the 15 years since its inception, Remake Learning has helped invest nearly $100 million in schools, organizations, and innovative learning projects. The network has hosted over 220 events, transformed over 400 learning spaces into STEM labs, media hubs, makerspaces, and collaborative classrooms, and brought over 150,000 children, youth, and families together at Remake Learning Days festivals in Pennsylvania and over 20 regions around the globe.
Looking ahead, Remake Learning will explore the future of learning in the greater Pittsburgh region, working to catalyze systems-level transformation around methods, relationships, and justice in learning and supporting related education advocacy.
