Look, Listen, Interpret, Teach: A Reggio Emilia-Inspired Approach to Supporting Individual and Group Learning (LLIT)
Learning is social. Every day, children and adults learn from and with others, encountering new perspectives, strategies, and ways of thinking.
Together, groups can achieve greater perspective and understanding than any individual can alone, but to design for those achievements, we need tools for sharing thinking and making learning visible to others. LLIT examines group learning through the Making Learning Visible framework, which began as a collaborative research project between PZ and Reggio Emilia educators. The framework has since been adopted by teachers across grade levels and subject areas, to promote individual and group learning.
Overview
In this 13-week course, you'll explore how to use documentation to "make visible" what students learn and how they learn, both individually and in groups. Through observation, evidence collection, interpretation, and information sharing, you will learn how to produce a record that students and teachers can use to build self-awareness and guide instruction.
To engage in and refine these foundational practices of documentation, specifically addressing the challenges of each, the course offers opportunities to:
- Observe and record what happens in your classroom or other learning context, and build on the information you collect
- Explore what it means to interpret learning—who can do it, for what purposes, and how it can deepen learning
- Consider the purposes, audiences, and approaches for sharing documentation with members of one's learning community
- Reflect on how the MLV framework can not only coexist with, but thrive in, contexts of accountability and assessment
This course does not cover Project Zero's Visible Thinking framework and the associated thinking routines.
Who Should Participate
- Teachers, teacher leaders, and school administrators and leaders
- Museum educators and educators working in informal learning environments
- Facilitators of pre-K to adult learning
Time Commitment
Anticipate a workload of 2.5-3 hours per week for 13 weeks. The course provides 30 total hours of professional learning. During each session:
- Team Meeting: This 1- to 1.5-hour live, synchronous team meeting happens every other week, scheduled and facilitated by the team members with a PZ-designed agenda.
- Reading, Practice, and Assignments: Plan remaining time for reading and individual reflections/assignments. If you are not currently working in a school or educational organization, you will need a classroom context or a consistent group of students with whom you can try out/practice the ideas you are learning throughout the course.
Schedule
PZ online in-depth courses normally launch on a Monday with sessions running Monday through Sunday. Due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday and U.S. school calendars, this year's course orientation period will start on a Wednesday and run five days, through Sunday. The orientation period is followed by six learning sessions, each lasting two weeks (see below). Within each session, participants decide when to work on the course material and when to schedule their team meetings.
- Orientation: September 9-13, 2026
- Session 1: September 14-September 27, 2026
- Session 2: September 28-October 11, 2026
- Session 3: October 12-October 25, 2026
- Session 4: October 26-November 8, 2026
- Session 5: November 9-November 22, 2026
- Session 6: November 23-December 6, 2026
Tuition, Discounts, and Financial Aid
For this 13-week in-depth course the tuition is:
- $655 for educators joining as part of a team (three to six members from the same organization)
- $685 for educators joining as part of a team of two (from the same organization) who will be placed on a virtual team with other teams of two (as attendance allows)
- $699 for educators joining as individuals to be placed on a virtual team
Financial aid is limited and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and typically covers 50-70% of a course's tuition for eligible educators. Applications must be submitted and accepted prior to registration. Review our financial aid criteria.
Questions?
Visit the FAQs page for more information on PZ online courses, or email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.
This course builds upon a popular Project Zero project started in 1997.
“The course is so well designed. Its layout, structure, and pacing fit with a working teacher's life, and assignments can be easily applied to the classroom. It made me look at my classroom like a laboratory and sparked curiosity and camaraderie among colleagues.”
Contact Us
If you have specific questions about any of our professional development opportunities, please email us at pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.