Using Kanban Boards to make Learning Visible

As inspired by the practice of Agile Learning Centers

Some children can feel daunted by the prospect of having to make a deliberate choice about how to use their time at the school. Others can have difficulties developing the plan for a project and assessing the successive steps they need to take. Kanban boards –borrowed from Agile development tools as used within the Agile Learning Centers network– can be of great help in encouraging children to establish learning goals for themselves, to reflect on the learning process and to inspire others.

Kanban is Japanese for “card signal” and a very useful tool in promoting children's self-organisation skills and sharing of knowledge.

A basic Kanban is divided into columns (such as Backlog, Ready, Doing, and Done, but you can choose whatever you feel comfortable with) and utilises sticky notes to make the children's plans visible and reflect their progress through the stages of doing.

The “Backlog” consists of things students want to do, explore, or create. On a daily basis, during the planning stage of the “design-make-review-share” cycle, each person's list of possibilities are evaluated, prioritised, visualised, and pulled into the “Ready” column as intentions for the day. As the students play, participate in the activities offered, and explore throughout the day, they move the stickies into the “Doing” and then “Done” columns. In this way, it's then quick and easy to visualise what you've done today and what you didn't get to.

Two guidelines of Kanban are Visualise Your Work and Limit Your Work In Progress. When we visualise our work, it creates a path for actually completing what we intend. It helps us to stay focused and create accountability for ourselves. Visualising your work allows you to more efficiently limit your work in progress by better giving you a sense of what you can actually do, and what you usually accomplish in a day. Using the Kanban teaches us (children and facilitators) how to effectively prioritise our time by making conscious choices about what we are engaging in.

At Kaleide, children will first learn about Kanban boards by seeing facilitators using them on a daily basis to organise and plan their own work. This “role-modelling” triggers questions, and in turn explanations and reflections, that will spark the children’s interest and help them gain practical understanding of the value of these tools.

Check out Personal Kanban, which is available at the school.