LearnZillion has emerged as a significant player in the educational technology landscape, capturing attention for its innovative approach to providing high-quality, free learning resources. This platform isn’t just another collection of online lessons; it’s a carefully curated library of teacher-created content designed to address the core needs of educators, students, and parents in the K-12 setting. Founded on the principle of sharing pedagogical expertise, LearnZillion offers a unique model that differentiates itself from other online educational platforms, including the well-known Khan Academy.
This article delves into the essence of LearnZillion, exploring its origins, its unique value proposition, and its vision for the future of education. We’ll examine how LearnZillion leverages the expertise of experienced educators to create impactful learning experiences and how it aims to solve the perennial challenges faced by teachers in lesson planning and student engagement. To gain deeper insights, we spoke with Eric Westendorf, co-founder of LearnZillion and a former school principal, to understand the driving force behind this innovative platform.
The Genesis of LearnZillion: Addressing a Critical Need in Education
Interviewer: What inspired you to launch LearnZillion? What problem were you trying to solve?
Eric Westendorf: The concept for LearnZillion took root when I was working as a principal at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. My team of teachers and I were grappling with a common challenge: we knew precisely what our students needed to learn, but the time and resources to deliver personalized, high-quality lessons for every student were simply insufficient. We needed to find a way to amplify our teaching capacity and share effective teaching strategies more broadly.
To overcome this hurdle, our teachers started recording screencasts of their most impactful lessons, essentially capturing their expertise in a digital format. We built a rudimentary website to host these videos, coupled with short quizzes to monitor student understanding. This initial experiment proved incredibly effective within our school. Realizing the broader potential, and with the support of key partners, we expanded this concept into LearnZillion – a comprehensive platform now boasting over 1500 lessons readily accessible to teachers, parents, and students everywhere.
LearnZillion vs. Khan Academy: Understanding the Key Differences
Interviewer: Many people are familiar with Khan Academy. How is LearnZillion similar to and different from platforms like Khan Academy?
Eric Westendorf: Khan Academy is truly a groundbreaking platform, and we certainly drew inspiration from its success in utilizing screencasts for effective teaching and learning. We share the use of video lessons as a core medium, so in that regard, there’s a similarity. However, our focus and target audience diverge significantly.
Salman Khan’s vision is to create a “university for the world,” offering a vast range of subjects from art history to computer science, primarily aimed at self-directed learners. LearnZillion, on the other hand, is deliberately focused on supporting teachers and parents in meeting the specific needs of K-12 students. Our content is concentrated on math and language arts, and crucially, every lesson is meticulously aligned with the Common Core State Standards, incorporating research-backed pedagogical approaches.
Furthermore, LearnZillion provides “coach’s commentary” videos, which offer teachers insights into the pedagogical reasoning behind each lesson’s design and delivery. These are invaluable resources for teacher professional development, enhancing their understanding of effective teaching methodologies. This emphasis on teacher development highlights another core difference: LearnZillion is built on the idea of a collaborative teacher community. We are fostering an environment where educators contribute their expertise, preventing the need for constant reinvention of effective lesson strategies. Our growing library is a testament to this, with contributions from over 120 teachers and counting. LearnZillion empowers all teachers to access and benefit from the collective wisdom of highly effective educators.
The Principal’s Perspective: Shaping LearnZillion’s Direction
Interviewer: How has your experience as a school principal influenced the development of LearnZillion? What insights from that experience were crucial?
Eric Westendorf: My time as a principal was absolutely foundational in shaping LearnZillion. At E.L. Haynes, I had the privilege of working with an exceptionally talented group of teachers. One teacher, Andrea Smith, stands out. Her students consistently demonstrated remarkable academic growth year after year, evidenced by test scores. Andrea’s success was largely attributable to the exceptional clarity of her lessons. She possessed a unique ability to demystify complex math concepts, making them accessible and understandable.
I recall observing one of Andrea’s lessons on dividing fractions. Even as an adult, the concept of dividing by fractions had always felt abstract. I had simply memorized the algorithm – “flip the numerator and denominator.” However, within just a few minutes of observing Andrea’s lesson, the underlying concepts became clear. This experience, and countless others in classrooms like Andrea’s, solidified my belief: student learning is maximized when teachers deliver clear and concise lessons. Forget the flashy gimmicks. While games and chants can be motivating, at the end of the day, conceptual understanding hinges on clear, direct instruction.
In the realm of educational technology, there’s often a misconception that content is merely a commodity. The internet is awash with readily available worksheets and YouTube videos. The prevailing thought is often that ed-tech is simply about curating and organizing these existing resources. I fundamentally disagree with this notion. Not all content is created equal. Truly effective, pedagogically sound content is incredibly valuable. I envisioned LearnZillion as a platform to contribute precisely this: high-quality, teacher-designed content rooted in sound pedagogical principles, created by teachers for teachers.
Beyond “Flipped Learning”: LearnZillion’s Versatile Application
Interviewer: “Flipped learning” is a popular concept. Do you see “flipping” as the future of education, and what role can LearnZillion play in this trend?
Eric Westendorf: Thinking about my own daughter, Zula, who is in elementary school, I am drawn to the potential of flipped learning. The idea of students accessing high-quality lessons at home, freeing up classroom time for collaborative projects, creative endeavors, and even real-world experiences like internships, is very appealing. School could evolve into a vibrant learning community where students apply knowledge gained outside the classroom.
However, it’s important to maintain a balanced perspective on flipped learning. As educational commentator Rick Hess has pointed out, the concept of “flipping” classrooms isn’t entirely new. The invention of textbooks was initially envisioned as a way to “flip” learning – students would read at home, and classroom time would be dedicated to application and projects. This vision didn’t fully materialize.
LearnZillion isn’t designed solely as a tool for flipped learning, although it can certainly be used in that way. Our aim is to create a more adaptable and universally applicable resource. We want LearnZillion to be the solution to the “Sunday Night Problem” – the challenge teachers face in planning engaging, high-quality lessons for the week ahead. This challenge is universal, regardless of classroom technology access. For tech-enabled classrooms, LearnZillion also serves as a powerful differentiation tool, enabling teachers to extend their reach, cater to diverse student needs, and dedicate more time to individualized or small-group instruction.
Empowering Teachers and Students: Utilizing LearnZillion’s Resources
Interviewer: How do you envision teachers and students utilizing the lessons available on LearnZillion?
Eric Westendorf: Teaching effectively is a complex skill. It’s challenging to deliver a lesson, even more challenging to teach it well, and exceptionally difficult to teach it in a way that truly resonates and sticks with students. Teachers must possess not only content knowledge but also pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) – the understanding of how to make that content accessible and engaging for learners.
PCK is even more critical in light of the depth of understanding required by the Common Core State Standards. Our goal with LearnZillion is to provide teachers with a solid foundation – lessons designed from the ground up with PCK in mind. These lessons, created by teachers, are not perfect, but they offer an excellent starting point.
Teachers can use LearnZillion to plan lessons for individual classes, entire weeks, months, or even a full year, all within a single platform. Furthermore, LearnZillion resources can be assigned directly to students, enhancing differentiation and personalized learning. School principals and district leaders can leverage LearnZillion for professional development related to the Common Core. Parents can also utilize it to support their children at home, ensuring consistency with classroom learning approaches.
Ultimately, LearnZillion’s lessons are pedagogically sound, aligned with the Common Core, and highly versatile. We hope teachers will integrate them into their practice in ways that best suit their individual teaching styles and the unique needs of their students.
LearnZillion as a “Social Venture”: Education with a Purpose
Interviewer: LearnZillion is described as a “social venture.” What does this mean, and how does it manifest in your operations?
Eric Westendorf: We operate as a company driven by a social mission. Our primary goal isn’t solely profit maximization; it’s to empower teachers and parents to effectively meet the needs of every student. This mission is why all of our lessons and learning materials are freely available to teachers. We believe that by creating a valuable resource that educators love – a tool that saves them time and helps them excel in their profession – we will create opportunities for meaningful partnerships with school districts in a sustainable and impactful way. In this model, student achievement remains the central focus, but we aim to build an ecosystem where all stakeholders can benefit and contribute to educational success.
