What do students need to feel more like owners?

School is essential, because the purpose of school is to create scholars and citizens.

But these wicked problems remain:

1) School calendars stink.
Why don’t we just admit we homeschool our kids half the year since students only attend 180 school days out of 365 calendar days?

2) School emails steal your work.
Why is a report card and a yearbook the only visible outcome for a decade’s worth of learning?

3) Learning Management Systems are obsolete.
Why is the 25 year-old LMS "where learning goes to die," especially in the Read Write Own era of the Internet?

4) One-to-One technology initiatives often fail.
Why put a machine in every student’s hands only to see them submit assignments to a digital folder that no one ever sees again?

5) Students and families remain disengaged.
Why have software vendors, administrators, even parents delegated so much responsibility for students' learning experiences to systems and tools that are alienating learners?

At Fanschool, students own their learning. “Own your learning” means taking ownership of your learner record, your portrait of a graduate, your digital portfolio. Fanschool is a safe learning network where students own and share articles with an authentic audience. Fanschool’s profile of a learner enables real-world, action-oriented learning, creating ownership for young people, their families, and teachers. It’s how teachers produce even more positive outcomes through publishing and the pedagogy of play. It’s how parents support the construction of their child’s learning scrapbook and mastery transcript. It’s where students build lifelong learning blogs by actively engaging in reading, writing, and math. Two decades of research have revealed two key findings: that purposeful student work needs to be shared, and that student-directed family engagement is more effective.

The Fanschool team includes determined parents and educators with a passion for learning and life.

Primary teacher & Kidblog founder, Mr. Hardy, invented digital student publishing through safely-moderated spaces. His family lives in rural Minnesota. See “10 mistakes teachers make when publishing student writing”.

Secondary teacher & Fantasy Geopolitics founder, Mr. Nelson, became a pro learning coach with a “Let the kids play” mentality. His family lives in Minneapolis, MN. See “10 ideas for student social studies articles”.

2015: Fanschool recognized as “Most Innovative” education technology by Software and Information Industry.
2016: Fanschool awarded the Minnesota Cup’s edtech prize for promoting and building 21st-century skills.
2020: Fanschool acquired by Kidblog and rebranded to https://fan.school with Insert Learning.
2022: Fanschool recommended as “Best Learning Network” for students by Reference.com.

Fundamentals remain fun.

Learning is fun, especially when you own the fundamentals. Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are also pillars of education. This is your Fanschool profile—It showcases active participation and accountability in an ecosystem that safely decentralizes and distributes power. 

Automaticity and authenticity are core.

The bridge between understanding and application is automaticity. Students need repetition, and they have to generate answers and articles themselves. Practice and feedback matters in reading, writing, and math. You need people advocating for you, like fans, to become good at them.

Network knowledge is the learning.

Mentors engage and motivate, inspiring kids to keep them focused on the material and reach new heights. If you can see it, it’s simpler to be it. At Fanschool, you also own it!

Scientifically designed for success.

Motivation comes from achievement. Confidence is built from automaticity. Authentic audience and assessment gets you hired and leads to human flourishing. At Fanschool, everyone can win through safe social learning.