The 4 C's Learning Framework | 4CS of Future Focused Learning

The 4 C’s Learning Framework

To provide guidance and clarity to learners across all of our programs, we have adopted the 4 C’s of Learning. The 4 C’s have been inspired by Jean Cote and Wade Gilbert’s research into effective sports coaching where they found coaches play a role in influencing their players Competence, Confidence, Character and Connectedness – The 4 C’s.

We have adapted these same principles and applied them in all of our courses. We believe that the 4 C’s transition smoothly across all of the learning we design and ultimately we want learners walking away with their Competence, Confidence, Character and Connection enhanced – regardless of the course they have engaged with.

This video piece goes into further detail about the 4 C’s. What they mean for us and how we harness them to help young people develop their leadership and overall social and emotional capacity. We believe this clear lens helps both students and teachers critically analyse their performance and behaviours, and with the help of our Success Criteria Matrix, clearly define benchmarks and set leadership goals.

[otw_shortcode_content_toggle title=”Video Transcript” opened=”closed” icon_type=”social foundicon-youtube”]Knowing the complexity of leadership and learning itself, we felt we needed a clear lens through which to design our curriculum and learning experiences.

Enter the 4 C’s of Leadership and the LoE Learning Framework, a contemporary approach to online and face to face education.

The 4 C’s have been inspired by Jean Cote and Wade Gilbert’s research into effective sports coaching and we have developed overarching definitions for these, as well as definitions relevant to all of our courses.

The four C’s stand for:

Competence – specifically the skills needed to be effective in a role and related to the technical, or the how and the tactical, or the why

Confidence – linked to positive self-worth, confidence in own ability and the ability to inspire confidence in others

Character – the development of self-awareness and behaviours such as empathy and integrity are central to character development

Connectedness – focuses on a learners ability to foster positive relationships with their peers, teammates or colleagues

Each e-learning course also has a success criteria matrix that teachers and learners can use to measure individual growth as they work through the course.

Our Learning Framework is designed to highlight the various elements required for successful learning to take place.

Here’s the framework explained:

The E-learning hub sits as the foundation with all resources and learning activities contained within. Teachers and students will explore this together to inspire their learning journey.

The 4 C’s sit as the critical pillars of the framework and will be investigated in each and every topic in a course.

Application is critical to take the online learning into the real world. Teacher must provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge specific to the course they are working on.

Finally, teachers play a huge role in fostering an environment where students can reflect on their experiences and learn content deeply, based off their performance and experiences.

Last, but by no means least is our Success Journey Toolkit. In order to provide every resource possible to help teachers and students succeed we have designed the toolkit to provide a simple and effective way to plan programs around the e-learning course.

This includes goal setting exercises, success criteria, onboarding information and reflective tasks to encourage teaching teams to be celebrating success and identifying areas to improve.

So, there it is – a quick guide to the why, how and what of our learning framework. We trust this information and the resources we provide will establish a successful, engaging and fun learning adventure for all involved [/otw_shortcode_content_toggle]

So, what do the Four C’s mean for Leaders of Evolution? Here’s our definitions:

Competence

Relates to the skills the learner is developing whether they be technical (what) or tactical (how) and is intrinsically linked to performance outcomes.

Confidence

Relates to the development of positive self-worth and recognition that the learner can use the knowledge gained to influence themselves and others.

Character

Relates to how the learner develops a sense of self-awareness and behaviours such as empathy, integrity and responsibility within the communities they apply their learning.

Connectedness

Relates to how the learner is able to establish and foster positive working relationships within the environments they apply their learning.

The video overview below forms part of our Young Leaders in Sport E-learning Course, here in this Communication Lesson introduction we reflect on the types of communication and how to connect with peers. Connection is a critical element in the sporting environment and as we have seen recently in professional sports, coaches are cognisant of ensuring this forms part of their leadership approach and overall coaching framework. For young leaders in the sporting environment we encourage them to analyse the way they develop positive relationships not just with teammates but with the wider members of the club also. Connectedness can often be the difference between success or otherwise and at the very core level it promotes a positive culture and leadership focus that every player can engage with.

[otw_shortcode_content_toggle title=”Video Transcript” opened=”closed” icon_type=”social foundicon-youtube”]Communication plays a huge role in effective leadership. Communication also takes on many forms – from your body language, to the words you use and the environment you use them in.

As you would know, being able to communicate effectively on game day is important and helps you influence the performance of the team but it is just as critical off the field as well.

Whether it be before, during or after training there will be many opportunities for leaders to connect with their teammates and provide appropriate support or challenge in order to get the most out of them.

Although this is the on-field course, in this lesson you will look at both an and off-field communication.

It is important to remember however that it is still aimed at how you can develop your communication skills in order to positively influence on-field performance.

As you explore what effective communication is throughout this lesson there are also many opportunities to practice doing this in your sporting environment.

You will be challenged through your leadership guidebook to tackle various communication tasks and reflect on your experiences.[/otw_shortcode_content_toggle]

The video overview below forms part of our Young Leaders in Sport E-learning Course, where our Co-founder, Damian Hecker explains this to our audience of online learners. We love to provide opportunities for our young learners to reflect on various elements of leadership and connect this to one, or more of the 4 C’s. At the beginning of course students are provided with a 20+ question self-assessment which provides them with a score on each of their 4 C’s. With the support of their teachers, our young leaders are then encouraged to investigate a particular area of focus to start their self-regulated learning journey. By providing the scaffold and autonomy we put the onus on the learner to be responsible for their leadership learning journey.

[otw_shortcode_content_toggle title=”Video Transcript” opened=”closed” icon_type=”social foundicon-youtube”]One of the ways we can measure our growth as leaders is through self-assessment. This is when we honestly answer questions which will give us information about ourselves that we can use to celebrate our development and work on areas of review.

In this self-assessment you are going to reflect on the 4 C’s of leadership, which is a pivotal part of your leadership learning journey and how you will measure your growth as an effective leader.

The 4 C’s stand for Competence, Character, Confidence and Connectedness and you will improve your 4 C’s as you investigate the various areas of leadership throughout the course.

Here’s what the 4 C’s mean.

Competence is all about the skills and knowledge you develop and how you put these into action to be effective in your role. As an example, this might be the way you communicate or your ability to make god decisions.

Character relates to your personal values, the way you treat people, how you bounce back from setbacks and the effort you put in to different tasks. By answering the self-assessment questions honestly you are demonstrating sound character values.

Confidence is all about how you feel about your own leadership ability as well as your ability to build the confidence of others. In this course you will need to focus inward on yourself as well as being outwardly aware of others.

And finally, connectedness relates to how well you develop relationships with your peers, teachers, stakeholders and the school community overall.

You will notice through the course that we identify which one of the 4 C’s you are working on in that topic – and sometimes you might be working on more than one.

In this quiz you will develop your initial benchmark against each of the 4 C’s. After you have completed the quiz there will be a task for you to carry out in your guidebook.

Finally, this information will give you an opportunity to choose what you decide to tackle on your leadership journey and when. This is called self-regulation and puts you in the drivers seat for your learning.

Enjoy[/otw_shortcode_content_toggle]

Learning Framework

To top it off, we have pulled the 4 C’s into our Learning Framework.

Our Learning Framework identifies the tools, personnel, activities and steps required for learners to experience success. To instantly receive a copy of our 4 C’s Learning Framework click HERE to access your copy.