People-Based Learning: The Future of Learning is Human

Project-Based Learning is a buzzword, but what if we shifted it to People-Based Learning? In this insightful book, researcher and experience designer Jane Shore offers a practical guide to building a People-Based Learning orientation in schools, workplaces, and everyday life. The approach reframes learning as something we do with and through one another, where students, colleagues, and communities can all be teachers, guides, and learners.

Learning is not just the transfer of knowledge but the cultivation of connection. People-Based Learning emphasizes shared experiences, co-created knowledge, and human relationships over isolated, text-based approaches. It values diverse perspectives, hands-on collaboration, and real-world application. It also nurtures essential capacities: seeing others, managing ambiguity, learning how to learn, cultivating self-awareness, demonstrating discernment, grappling with ethics and values, and recognizing interdependence and complexity.

Accompanied by evocative visuals and hand-drawn art, this book invites readers to both see and feel the possibilities of People-Based Learning. By learning from people as much as from content, we create environments where knowledge is deepened, skills are sharpened, and dispositions for lifelong learning take root. Together, we can build cultures, whether in classrooms, teams, or communities, where every voice is heard, every story is valued, and learning flourishes in the richness of our shared humanity.

Jane R. Shore is the founder of School of Thought and a learning scientist and gathering strategist known for meaningful connections and memorable experiences. Shore helps individuals involved in teaching and learning across settings connect with innovations and each other, co-creating human-centered, People-Based Learning through her convenings, writing, and advisory work. She has served as a workshop facilitator and a keynote speaker at national and international education conferences and has been publishing in academic journals for almost two decades.