People Based Learning 2025 Campaign

“We learn best in relationship with content, with context, and most of all, with each other.” Parker Palmer

Dear Lovely Readers,

Think of the mentor who shifted your confidence.
The teammate who offered a new way forward.
The friend whose question changed how you see everything.

Those moments? That’s People-Based Learning.

And too often, they’re left out of how we intentionally design learning.

People-Based Learning centers people, not just content.

We’re inviting you to be part of our Conversation Campaign 2025, a global series of small, story-driven gatherings on what it means to learn with and through others.

Here’s what it looks like:

• A 30-minute Zoom

• 4–5 people from different corners of the world

• One prompt

• Everyone shares a short story (1–2 minutes)

• Then, we simply talk

That’s it. But it changes everything.
These conversations have been rejuvenators, sparking ideas, opening hearts, and making learning feel human again.

Curious? Intrigued? Up for it?

Fill out this quick interest form to join us. ⬇️

Fill out our interest form

If you’re not sure, read on!

People Based Learning is an emerging concept that you have helped co-create.

Last summer, many of you joined small, intentional gatherings where we explored the question:

“Tell us about a significant learning experience in which you learned with or through another person.”

The stories were honest, surprising, connective. So many stayed with us and some are shared in the People-Based Learning Project Stories post above.

So we’re doing it again.
And we’d love to have you with us.

I’m especially excited to be co-hosting this Summer with Chloe Jazzy Lau, now a sophomore at Brown University, whose insight and facilitation skills help bring these conversations to life. Keep reading for details about how to join!

This Summer’s Prompts

Each gathering will center around one of these:

• Tell us about a time when learning happened in a surprising place or with an unexpected person.

• What’s a moment you learned something with or through another person that you still carry with you?

• Tell us about a gathering, big or small, where you left seeing the world a little differently.

• What’s something someone much older or younger than you taught you — maybe without even meaning to?

• Is there a story you find yourself telling again and again about something you learned from someone else?

Follow-up questions will emerge naturally, shaped by the group and the stories shared.

Examples from previous conversations can be found here.

With the recordings, and the use of Cortico’s listening platform and transcriptions, we will engage in sensemaking of conversations.

Why This Matters

Most learning research focuses on the learner or the instructor — but rarely on the relationship between them, or on the unexpected people who shape how and why we grow.

We’re exploring what happens when we center those human connections. Together, we’re shaping a framework that values people, not just content.

Using Cortico’s listening platform and transcripts, we’ll draw insights from these conversations to inform the upcoming People-Based Learning book, out with Routledge Press in early 2026.

Ready to Join Us?

If this sounds like something you’d love or are even just curious about..last chance (in this post) to complete the quick interest form. ⬇️

Fill out our interest form

We’ll follow up with a time that works for you.

Let’s keep shaping what learning can be together.

With care,
Jane

If you believe learning is more than content that it’s about connection, conversation, and meaning join School of Thought as a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to bespoke resources, behind-the-scenes reflections, and invitations to gatherings that nourish both mind 🧠 and heart.♥️

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