Anna Switzer is the author of the genre-breaking book License to Learn: Elevating Discomfort in Service of Lifelong Learning. She is a long-time outdoor educator, science educator, and educator of educators. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics, a masters in Oceanography, and a PhD in Education. Anna has worked for several prominent organizations including Outward Bound, National Geographic Society and EL Education. License to Learn (2021) is her first book. An audiobook version is available (2023).
The outdoors is where Anna derives her most consistent inspiration. She has spent thousands of hours exploring diverse landscapes and waterways; including incalculable time with students of all ages. She is also certified as a Nature-Connected professional Life Coach. When not outside or otherwise working, she is writing a second book that builds on the first but also has its own unique direction/contribution. More on that soon!
Inspired by this quote, Anna maintains an attitude of lifelong learning herself: “There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.” –Kurt Hahn, the founder of Outward Bound
This set of images will help the audiobook listener understand License to Learn better. There are many maps and images in the book; this set can be used as a companion while listening. They are labeled, named, and in the order they appear in the text.
This toolkit is available for use by anyone and is also part of a course for teachers. It contains eight activities designed to assist in forging new and/or strengthening existing connections between you and the natural environment. You do not need access to wilderness to use this toolkit – urban parks are wonderful spaces to utilize. You do …
Decision Making Toolkit: This toolkit is required as part of a course for teachers. If you are interested in taking the course for credit, go to: https://www.hol.edu/instructors/48129/Anna-Switzer
Life is an adventurous and winding road, and License to Learn delivers a flexible and intriguing map so that you can navigate your own unique journey. With this map, you are invited to see life’s experiences—some chosen, some not—differently, and to make meaning from them in new ways. The key is that the so-called “comfort zone” is truly not the …