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MY NOTES on 'Understanding & Using Educational Theories'

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Wednesday, 21 Apr 2021, 16:41

Understanding & Using Educational Theories 

Karl Aubrey & Alison Riley (2nd Edition) London, Sage (2019)

Harvard Reference

Aubrey. K & Riley. A (2019) Understanding & Using Educational Theories:  (2nd Edition) London, Sage

  • Benjamin Bloom: Learning through taxonomies
  • Albert Bandura. Learning through observation.
  • David Kolb: Experiential Learning Theory
  • Guy Claxton: Learning Power
  • Dylan Wiliam: Assessment for Learning
  • Carol Dweck: Mindsets and Motivation

+ Three new chapters which follow the same format as the same edition:

  • Albert Bandura
  • Dylan Wiliam
  • Carol Dweck

Teaching … 'a complex and messy phenomenon, with a multitude of contrasting facets to take into account which need a reflective and professional approach, involving ‘not just knowing what you do and how to do it. It is also about why you do it’. (p xiii Wiliams, 2008) (p.2) 

Behaviourism, constructivism, and humanism. 

There are three main psychological schools of thought which are of relevance to education and learning theory: behaviourism, constructivism, and humanism. 

Learning is simply a matter of stimulus and response (Wallace, 2008:32) (p.2)

Constructivists 

The constructivists believe that meaningful knowledge and understanding are actively constructed by learners … which builds on what they already know, causing them to change and adapt and invent ideas’. (Wallace, 2008:61)

Humanists

The humanism school of thought argues that education should focus on the needs of the individual learner, and that what is important are the aspects of personal and emotional growth. (p.3)

Humanists contend that the purpose of schools is to ‘meet the needs of the individual learner not the other way around’. (Petty, 1998:8)

John Dewey contended that learning should focus on practical life experiences and social interaction c/p8

For genuine learning to take place learners needed to make independent evaluations based on their interests.

Facilitating learning by encouraging and channelling individual curiosity and motivation so that they can develop intellectually. 

Learning as a cycle of experience where lessons are planned and executed based on observation and reflection from their own and their learners’ previous experiences and interests (Woods, 2008)

Wanted schools to accept pupils from different classes, cultures and abilities, schools would lay the foundations for building notions of democracy for children.

Opportunistic for action experience (p.11)

Skills and processes to solve problems.

Hegel - learning, developing through creative and active experience.

Kolb - active experience the groundwork for starting knowledge building process (Elkjaer, 2009)

Subject- Specific Facts and the Basis of Theory are necessary for learning to be created and built; it cannot take place just by active experience.

  • Steiner
  • Montessori

Plowden Report (1967)

2014 National Curriculum in England was a return to a subject-based approach (p.16)

England-results driven environment teachers as facilitator and co-collaborator calls into question the role of the teacher and their responsibility in terms of achievement and attainment of the learner.

Get your students to think like real scientists or historians. (p.16)

Like a sports coach it is the students who do the practice, provide the effort and create the gains. 

Dewey - his standpoint on inclusivity came from him witnessing the damage done by privilege and elitism.

  • Reflection
  • Effort
  • Courage
  • Differentiation
  • Diversity
  • Democracy

The teachers have to know the child very well. (p.18)

The teachers must be knowledgeable of cultural inheritance.

Identify the problem.

Experiential learning

Lifelong learning

Vocational education

C2 Montessori 

  • Tap into thor individual needs.
  • Respect
  • Respond to their needs.

NOTE :> Intrinsic motivation (Roopnanine and Johnson, 2005)

C3 Piaget

  • Constructors of their own knowledge.
  • Making meaning from experiences.

Vygotsky - social interactions are essential for learning to take place. (p.46)

Earlier physical and intellectual maturity (p.47)

Less formality - children learning in groups + some are more knowledgeable.

@ Secondary - activity which involves abstract reasoning, allowing pupils to demonstrate their concrete thinking.

Adaptation - learning through adjusting to new information and experiences, and can proceed through either assimilation or accommodation.

Lev Vygotsky - (p58)

Social background and construction of … knowledge … which is in tune with the culture within which they mature (Keenon, 2002)

Scaffolding - assistance.

C5 Skipper (p.77)

Vs extrinsic motivation to moderate behaviour.

‘Learning students to find their own pleasure and satisfaction in learning activity proper’. (Richelle, 1993:173)

‘Feedback should be given instantaneously given in order that children are aware of where they went wrong and can rectify this immediately’. (p.79)

C6 Benjamin Bloom 

Six hierarchical levels from simple to more complex

The cognitive domain taxonomy

  1. Knowledge
  2. Comprehension
  3. Application
  4. Analysis
  5. Synthesis
  6. Evaluation
  7. Receiving
  8. Responding
  9. Valuing
  10. Organising
  11. Conceptualising
  12. Characterising by value or value concept

The psychomotor domain taxonomy

  • Reflex moments 
  • Perceptual abilities 
  • Physical abilities 

A valuable aid for the planning of lessons, assessments and programmes of study (p.90)

What’s their level of ability at the start of the assignment?

Counter early disappointments.

Modify teaching and learning resources to the individual needs and interests of the student (Husen, 2001)

Develop talent (Bloom, 1976)

Most disadvantaged children … spend less time in direct interaction with their parents than middle-class children do.

Mavlow : Food, Shelter, Safety

Formative Learning 

Teaching and assessment so they can all achieve in an already crowded curriculum. (p.93)

Mastery learning in practice takes a huge amount of time and groundwork to prepare resources, plan sessions, organise the classroom environment and give summative feedback to learners (O'Donnell, 2007)

The terms are used to set learning objectives in short-term planning for lessons and medium/long schemes of work. (p94)

Learning objectives (Petty 1998: 347)

  • Comprehension
  • Application
  • Analysis
  • Synthesis
  • Evaluate

Cognitive : reproductive tasks or reasoning tasks.

Reproduction tasks: knowledge, comprehension, application.

Require low cognitive effort (p.95)

Reasoning Tasks:

Analysis, synthesis and evaluation - involve a deeper learning experience for a student.

Bloom’s taxonomies five teachers a framework to check that their planning and teaching help progress children’s learning. (p.95)

As pupils gain knowledge of their subject, their behaviour and awareness develop, which allows them to use and value the skills attained. (Huddleston and Unwin, 2002)

REF: Bloom, B., Hastings, J. and Madans, G. (eds) Formative and Summative Evaluation of Student Learning. New York. McGraw-Hill.

C7 Malcolm S.Knowles 

Contextualising Adult Learning - building on existing experiences.,

Internal gratification from the learning process or the desire to pass exams (p.105)

  • Self-concept
  • Role of experience
  • Readiness to learn
  • Orientation for learning
  • Internal motivation
  • Need to know

Classroom layout withdraws vulnerability predisposes the learner to believe that the delivery style will be one of knowledge transition and possibly reinforce their preconceptions of what constitutes a learning environment. (p.110)

Chairs in circles = collaboration or like the AA to ‘share’.

Away from subject-centeredness to one of problem-centredness.

REF: Knowles, M.S. (1950) Informal Adult Education. New York. Assoc. Press.

C8 Jerome Bruner

‘A Spiral Curriculum’ initial presentation, revisited later on to reinforce understanding and give added vigour.

Three ways children convert experiences: through action, imagery and symbols. (p.118)

Structure of learning and how to make it central to teaching.

Readiness for learning.

Intuitive and analytical thinking.

Motives for learning.

Enactive mode: children do things for themselves.

Iconic mode: comprehend images

Symbolic mode: understand abstract language

REF: Bruner - ‘A scaffold to support the efforts of the learner to construct his or her own understanding’ (Olson, 2007:45)

Olson - margins of a complex task to mastery (2007:46)

Blights of poverty, racism and the inequities of social life. (p.127)

C9 Albert Bandura 

> observation of cues by others.

  1. Pay attention

  2. Retention

  3. Reproduce

  4. Motivation to perform an action

‘Most of the behaviours that people display are learned either deliberately through the influence of example’. (Bandura, 1971:5) (p.139) 

Pupils achieving success bring others with them.

Behaviour is learned through observing others as rewards for that behaviour. (p.145)

REF: Bandura. A (1977) Social Learning Theory

C10 Urie Bronfenbrenner

Human development was influenced by the social structure that the individual was part of.

People learn from one another:

  • Observation
  • Replication
  • Modelling

C11 Paulo Freire Oppression

Dialogue based on mutual respect curiosity (p.166)

Students keep journals and read out what they write to each other. (p.175)

Interests, cultures, history of 17 year olds.

C12 Donald Schön (1987:31)

  • Recalling events
  • Feelings
  • Evaluating the experience
  • Integrating new knowledge

TASK

Make a list of the theories and values that you believe underpin your work in your own setting, then ask a colleague to observe you in practice.

Each student has a fascinating story to tell. (p.91)

Reflective Practice

REF: Boud,. D Keogh, R and Walker, D (eds) 1985

Reflection. 

Turning experience into learning.

C13 David Kolb (p.196)

Experiential Learning Theory

What, how and why you do a thing

People learn best when they are engaged in first-hand experiences which can later be reflected as through thinking about the details of the experience alongside the feelings and perceptions which emerged during the experience (Hankin et al, 2001) (p.198)

  • Concrete experience 
  • Reflective observation
  • Abstract conceptualisation
  • Active experimentation 

Fig.13.1 Kolb’s Learning Cycle

REF: Moon, J (1999) Reflection in Learning and Professional Development. London. Kogan Page.

REF: Scön. D (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in practice.

C14 Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger

Learners not passive receivers of knowledge

Wenger’s communities of practice

Wenger (1998) 

  • Communities of practice
  • Mutual engagement
  • Joint enterprise
  • Shared repertoire

Components:

  • Meaning
  • Practice
  • Community
  • Identity

NB. Excessive power interactions hinder admissions and participation.

Blogging

Blogs offer an informal method of writing and give a write the option to air an individual commentary (Rai, 2008:96)

Change layout of the classroom

C15 Guy Claxton

Building student confidence and character.

Process not content 

Competence not comprehension 

Engagement not ability 

Habits of thinking

Reciprocating the behaviour of those they know and trust such as family members and carers.

If children have positive and reasoned experiences which are modelled by these significant others they are more likely to have the emotional intelligence to enable them to work under pressure. (p.231)

Experience in childhood at home and at school is particularly important because these early belief systems whether functional or dysfunctional can be carried through into people’s lives as adults (Claxton, 2002 :122) (p.231) 

  • Resilient
  • Resourceful
  • Reflective 
  • Reciprocal

Teachers need to ‘split-screen’ to retain a dual focus on the content of the lesson and the learning dispositions that are currently being expanded’. (p.237)

Soft creativity

Keep your notes / workings

Keep a blog

Teachers as fallible, inquisitive not know it alls (p.238)

REF: Claxton G & Lucas, B (2004) Being Creative: Essential steps to revitalize your work and life. London. BBC Books.

REF: Gabbert. I. (2002) Essential Motivation in the Classroom. London.

C16 Dylan Wiliam (p.244)

The need for students to assess themselves and understand how to improve.

Students should be involved in the choice of tasks. 

Assess each others work

Provide helpful

Comments which would help pupils improve.

By requiring all pupils to respond to questions also increases inclusivity in the classroom (p.253)

Peer assessment was found to be ‘motivating force for pupils, with pupils applying more care to their work knowing that their peers would be assessing it.’ (p.255)

Pupils should be ‘beneficiaries’ rather than victims of testing’. (p.256)

C17 Carol Dweck

Fixed mindset or growth mindset

Dweck promotes the idea that knowing about how the brain works can foster a love of learning and enhance resilience (Pound, 2009)

Praise that celebrates perseverance, effort, study, hard work and the use of learning strategies (Dweck, 2012) (p.267) Brainology

Real learning comes from a lot of hard work (Matthews and Folsom, 2009:22)

“You really tried hard, that was a good way to do it.”

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Design Museum

MY NOTES 'Learning Theories Simplified' by Bob Bates

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Tuesday, 20 Apr 2021, 16:36

This is my teaching bible. These are my notes. Somewhat cryptic but I have my favs. These are quote ready so that as I write or reflect on my practice I have the right words and person to hand. Where I have picked out the full reference to a book it is because I plan to dig further - to get that book if I don't have it already. 

I have truly found this process transformative. All kinds of teaching in the widest sense of the word have improved - we humans are by default teachers and learners. How else have we got to where we are? Writing a blog on a distance learning website rather then sniffing about in the bushes all day for something to eat. 

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Classical Learning Theories (p.1) 

Plato ‘nature’

Aristotle 'nurture’

  • Behaviourism - react to stimuli
  • Cognitivism - individuals create, rather than receive knowledge
  • Humanism - the individual and the nature of learning

Being Socratic (p.9)

  • Never be afraid to make mistakes

  • Try to avoid giving out too many answers

  • Have the clase share their wisdom

Plato (p.10)

It is in a learner’s nature to behave in the manner that they do.

Aristotle (p.12)

Examine, interpret, self-expansive and develop self-belief.

Tips for the Class:

  • Set high expectations

  • Recognise tasks completed

  • Recognise effort

  • Look for answers themselves

  • A few early wins

Nature (p14) vs Nurture

Biologists - Behaviourists

Nietzsche (p.18)

What is personal to the student matters

What a student currently believes is important

Learning is an active process

Dewes (p20)

Learners should be provided with quality experiences that engage and build their existing experiences. 

Shared thinking and reflection should be the cornerstone of teaching.

Sartre (p22)

Education to understand who you are and your version of reality

It's a mistake when you blame it on fate and not on yourself

Freire (p.24)

Build on the language, experience and skills of the learner.

Story of Jane Elliot teaching segregation to white kids by separating them by eye colour. (p.24)

Critical consciousness

Action - Reflection - Action (p.24)

Get a rich picture of the learner’s perspective 

Have students open up about things that could be affecting their learning

Behaviourism (p.27)

Thorndike Skinner Englebaum

Pavlov Gagne

Stimulus/Response

Edison 1% inspiration / 99% perspiration (p.29)

Spell out the rules and regulations relating to how you want people to respond and the penalties for infringing them. (p.30)

Colman (p.36)

People don’t apply their learning unless they have a reason to do so.

Latent Learning

Ask the individual what experience they have of the subject matter.

Fish around and play detective

Gagné (p.38)

Gain Attention

Set out objectives (what they will be able to do!)

Stimulate prior learning

Engagement


Present content

Provide guidance

Elicit performance

Delivery


Assess performance

Provide feedback

Enhance retention

Assessment


Gagné Nine Levels (p.38-39)

  1. Get their attention

  2. What they will be able to do

  3. Test prior knowledge

  4. Organise logically

  5. Support with examples

  6. Demonstrate understanding

  7. Give feedback

  8. Final Assessment

  9. Understanding through use


Engelmann

  • Direct instruction model
  • Differentiate learner’s ability
  • Clear steps. 
  • Gradual steps

Cognitivism

Constructivism/Connectivism


Dewey-Piaget-Bandura

19115-1935-1959


Dewey (p.49)

Learning is relatable

Encourage people to have a personal interest in the subject matter

Design experiences that lead to independent learning

Research the student’s interests

Show its relevance to the modern/current world and their lives


Köhler

Gestalt (p.46)

Interacting relationships from failure through reflecting perception to insight


Encourage new ideas (p.47)

  • Use techniques
  • Reassure learners
  • Evaluate want went wrong
  • Keep on trying to find out 
  • Allow not to be bound by emphasis on ‘delivering the content’.

Vygotsky

MKO > Most Knowledgeable Other

ZPD > Zone of Proximal Development


Like ‘flow’ and Mehaly Csikszentmihalyi


Scaffolding

  • Build interest in the subject
  • Break the task into smaller sub tasks

Use MKOs


Piaget (p.50)

  • Stage of cognitive development
  • Take an active, mentoring role
  • Learn from peers
  • Learn from mistakes
  • The process of learning as well as the outcome
  • Respect limitations

Try to cater for all your learner’s needs - some flourish in a group, others on their own. (p.51)


Bandura (p.52)

Children are copycats.


Ausubel (p.54)

Link new concepts with existing understanding and knowledge

New materials should not be introduced unless it can be integrated into what is already known.


Bruner (p.56)

  • Personal participation
  • Actively in the process of knowledge acquisition
  • Design sessions that help the individual
  • Discover the relationships between bits of information

Give the students the information, but have them organise it to solve a problem.

  • Assess
  • Ask
  • Discover
  • Determine
  • Find out (assess)

Section 1.4 Humanism

People have a natural potential for learning

Most significant learning takes place when the individual can see that the subject matter is relevant to them.

Knowles (p.62)

Adult learners are more concerned with learning in order to complete tasks or solve problems than just learning subjects.

Who are you to define when or if I have become an adult?

Rogers (p.64)

Facilitating the process of individuals arriving at their own solutions.

  • Be true to yourself
  • Consider issues from the other person’s standpoint
  • Accept others for what they are

Class Facilitator

  1. Set the mood/climate

  2. Agreement on outcomes

  3. A range of resources

  4. Find out what they learnt

Maslow (p.66)

You can’t teach anyone anything unless they want to.

(You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink) JV

  • Physical
  • Psychological
  • Affiliation
  • Esteem
  • Self-fulfilment

Mezirow (p.68)

  • Experience of life
  • Critical reflection
  • Rational discourse

(What you learn at home/family or immediate community) JV

Summary of Part I (p.92)

Behaviorist theory relates to reactive

Learning and is underpinned by conditioning and reinforcement

Humanist theory is about reflective learning dependent on experience and self-efficacy.

NOTE :> Test learners’ prior knowledge of skills at the start of every lesson.

Express less objectives in terms of what the learner will know or be able to do at the end of the lesson. (p.93)

Give constant feedback on performance throughout the lesson.

Professionalism (p.100)

The seven habits of highly effective teachers:

  1. Creative in their use of materials

  2. Competent in their knowledge of the subject

  3. Caring towards learners 

  4. Communicative in the way they support learners to believe in themselves

  5. Confident and having a high sense of value of self and others

  6. Considerate in the way they approach learners

  7. Calm in being able to understand and manage difficult situations

Petty (p.102)

  1. Be Creative
  2. Solve problems
  3. Use knowledge productively
  4. Use knowledge meaningfully
  5. Increase their desire to want to learn

Inspiration - spontaneous

Clarification - intentions 

Evaluation - SWOT

Distillation - evaluation and chose 

Incubation - reflection 

Perspiration - effort 

Schneider (p.107)

Earn the respect of your learners by showing an interest in them as individuals.

Purkey (p.108) = Engagement

Teachers need to communicate effectively and invite students to participate in learning

Respect, care, trust, optimism.

Berne (p.110) = Confidence

High Self - confidence and high confidence in learners results in a harmonious situation in the classroom which will be characterised by constructive and cooperative relationships.

Dealing with conflict - focus on the issue not the person (p.115)

Learning Styles - the Debate

Coffield et al. (2004)

Should we be using learning styles?

Honey and Mumford (1986)

Manual of Learning Styles

The ‘idiosyncratic’ way in which an individual acquires, processes, comprehends and retains information. (p.117)

Neil Fleming - VARK (p.120)

(I disagree with this nonsense JV)

Kolb (p.122-123)

  • Divergers
  • Assimilations
  • Convergers
  • Accommodators

Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (p.124-125)

  • Activists - learn by doing
  • Reflectors - stand back
  • Theorists - think it through
  • Pragmatists - problem solving

Don’t teach in a way that caters for only one style of teaching (p.127)

Briggs-Myers & Cook-Briggs (p.127-129)

Myers & Briggs

  • Extrovert - Introvert
  • Sensor - Intuitor
  • Thinkers - Feelers
  • Judges - Perceivers 

ENFP (p.129)

Not having to deal with routine and uninspiring tasks. 

Understand that in a group of learners there will be a range of different personalities.

Don’t prepare learning materials that cater for only one personality type.

Sternberg (p.131)

The key to effective teaching is variety and flexibility in order to accommodate any way of thinking and learning styles, systematically varying your teaching and assessment methods to reach any learner. 

REF: Sternberg, R.J. 13 Thinking / Learning Styles

Motivation (p.133)

The thinking you do to get others to do something.

Something that happens, inside people that gets them to do something.

Do students accept:

  • They need to learn
  • They have the potential to learn
  • Learning as a priority
  • Classroom facilities
  • Student input
  • Knowledge/enthusiasm for the subject
  • Approachable but professional
  • Set realistic challenges
  • Positive and helpful

Encourage your learners to believe in themselves (p.137)

X/Y Teachers / Students (p.138-139)

Don’t let the people (learner/student) who crave power undermine your authority. (p.141)

Curzon’s Fourteen Point Plan

Show the learner how each lesson objective dovetails with long term learning intentions as set out in the course aims and scheme of work.

Set challenging but achievable tasks - aim for one level above.

Make learning materials interesting and meaningful.

Enthusiasm

Group Activities

Problems to solve (p.143)

REF: Curzon, L.B. (2013) Teaching in Further Education (7th) London: Continuum

Carol Dweck (p.144-145)

Most people are at either end of a spectrum. 

Fixed mindsets 40% - Growth mindset 40%

  • Intelligence is not fixed and can be developed through hard work and the accumulation of knowledge and understanding.
  • Potential full potential can only be reached through constant learning.
  • Validation: show the learner that they can become whoever they wish and should never try to justify themselves to others.
  • Challenge: get them to welcome the challenge and be willing to take reasonable risks to overcome this and improve. (p.144) 
  • Learning: get them to value learning for what it will do for them.

Dweck argues growth mindset learners are motivated by inner desires to improve rather than by external stimuli. In this respect, none of the above interventions will work unless the learner is intrinsically motivated to want them to work.

How to motivate your learners to have a growth mindset (p.145)

  • Praise effort as much as praise results.
  • Success comes from hard work not the individual.
  • Failure is the result of lack of effort only.
  • Use analogies, metaphors, and role models to demonstrate just what can be achieved through hard work and effort.

Get students to reflect on the effort they put in to achieve the results they got. 

Convince learners that every setback is a challenge and should be viewed as an opportunity.

NOTE :> "You really tried hard there."

Encourage the use of self-assessment and peer assessment.

REF: Dweck, C.S (2012) Mindset: How you fulfil your potential. London: Robinson.

Section 2.3 Behaviour Management

Classroom rules are in the interests of learners and teachers (p.148)

Involve learners in setting the ground rules (p.149)

Some good ideas here on managing classroom behaviour. (p.151)

Kainin, J.S. (1970)

Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Wilson

Working and long-term memory (p.154)

Memory is the residue of thought.

Encourage learners to think about a subject in a way they find interesting will enhance their capacity to remember the subject. (p.154)

Critical thinking requires background knowledge.

Learning is impossible without practice - practice reinforces basic skills and protects against forgetting

NOTE :> Learning styles are futile: effective teaching focuses on the content of the lesson, not differences in the learners’ preferred style of learning.

  • Questions
  • Case studies
  • Stories
  • Analogies
  • Practice

Don’t overload your learners (p.155)

Test your learners prior knowledge of the subject and build on what they already know as a way of helping them to understand new material.

Cowley (p.156)

NOTE :> Knowledge is power: whatever system your organisation has in place for dealing with disciplinary matters, make sure you fully understand it.

If you are uncertain about what is allowed, learning will sense it and exploit it.

REF: Cowley, S (2014) Getting the Buggers to Behave (5th Edn) London: Bloomsbury Education.

Psychopaths and how to deal with them. (p.158)

Section 2:5 Coaching and Mentoring

Teachers are (    ) trained professionals who work with people on developing their understanding of an issue. (p.161)

Coaches: to develop specific skills.

Mentoring: a relationship of mutual trust.

(p.162) see diagram


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Whitmore : the ultimate goal of the coach is as a facilitator who helps the person select the best options.

Bob Bates (p.166)


C

Clarify the role

O

Organise goals and objectives

A

Act with conviction

C

Confirm that expectations are met

H

Have a strategy for setbacks

I

Inspire creative thinking

N

Never be afraid of failure

Get to know the person


Teamworking (p.173)

In order for people to find a reason to work as a member of a team, they need a common purpose and sense of identity. 

  • Forming > Storming (p.174-175)
  • Norming
  • Performing > Adjourning

NOTE :> Francis Buckley

And team teaching (p.178)

Teaching people to be competent is good but supporting them to be creative is where the added value is. (p.181)

Part 4: Planning, Delivering and Assessing Learning (p.255)

Some teachers will be given pre-set curricula and lesson plans and have little scope for variation from these. Others will be given a blank sheet of paper and total freedom in planning lessons.

Curriculum planning

All the learning experiences which are planned and delivered. (p.257)

Ralph Tyler - a behaviourist approach. (p.259)

Objectives

Content

Teaching methods 

Assessment

  • Formulate objectives (p.261)
  • Select content
  • Select teaching methods
  • Delivering teaching
  • Measuring outcomes

Hilda Taba (p.262)

Content/Objectives

Evaluation/Methods

= learning objectives

‘Grassroots’ - developed by teachers.

Daryl Wheeler (p.266)

Rational Objective Model - teacher-centred

Diagnose learner needs

  • Learning outcomes as behavioural changes
  • Content taking account of desired behavioural changes
  • Learning experiences and content interrelated 
  • Evaluation to inform diagnosis of learners needs

NOTE :> Place the interests of your learners first by diagnosing their needs.

Always express your outcomes in terms of what change in behaviours you expect from your learners as a result of the learning experience.

Jerome Bruner (p.272)

Any subject can be taught effectively in some form to learners at any stage of their development.

A logical progression from simplistic ideas to complicated ideas.

Philip Jackson (p.224)

Recall is the highest form of intellectual achievement.

Lesson Planning (p.279)

NOTE :> Why lesson plans are important: structure, logic, objectives, assessment - an aid for the teacher.

Bloom (p.280)


Knowledge

Recall/Recognise information

Comprehension

Understanding the meaning

Application

Putting ideas into action

Analysis

Interpreting and assessing practice

Synthesis

Developing new approaches

Evaluation

Assessing how well the new approaches are working


Attract learner’s attention (p.285)

REF: Bloom, B. and Krachwork/ D (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. London: Longman

Pritchard (p.288)

  • Focus - is it clear and explicit
  • Content - based on existing knowledge
  • Context - Is this appropriate 
  • Is there scope for social interaction and for activity?
  • Is there variety and choice?

  • Focus
  • Content
  • Context
  • Interaction
  • Variety
  • Challenge

George Doran (p.290) 

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Acceptable
  • Realistic
  • Time bound
  • Exciting
  • Rewarding

Make sure you can describe in a clear and unambiguous manner, what learners will be able to do by the end of the session.

Tell the learners how their progress will be monitored.

‘By the end of the session, you will be able to … “ (p.292)

Delivering learning (p.295)

If teaching is a methodical, carefully planned delivery based on research and well-structured approached ( > then self-paced digital is the future) JV

If teaching (and being taught) is a performance where the teacher (more like a standup) responds to their audience’s reaction and relies on instincts and creativity ( > then it is 1 to 1 and classroom based).

Delivering Learning

Science or art? (p.295)

  • Behaviourist - directing learners
  • Cognitivist - transferring knowledge
  • Neurologist - process info
  • Humanist - guide

John Hattie (p.296) Visible learning

Evaluate the effect of teaching on learners

Assessment is feedback about impact

Ian Reece and Stephen Walker

  • Verbal praise - for effort
  • Feedback - timely
  • Arousal - baffle/perplex
  • Unexpected - mix it up
  • Familiar - know them

Usual Context (p.300)

Games and simulation

REF: Reece, I and Walker, S (2007)

Teaching, Training and Learning (6th Ed)

Sunderland: Business Education Publishers. 

Sayer and Adey (p.301)

If teachers give the answers learners remember the facts. If learners develop the answers themselves, they will understand.

Talking to learn. Robin Alexander (p.305)
(Isn’t this an Oxbridge tutorial being described?) JV
Carol Tomlinson (pp.304-307)
Any group of learners will differ in their motivation to learn, their knowledge of the subject and their preferred styles of learning. 

Learners respond best when they are pushed slightly beyond the level where they as individuals can work without assistance.
Learners need to see the connection between what’s being taught and their own interests.

Each learner should have the opportunity to explore the subject in terms of what they want to get out of the subject.

Learners learn better in a classroom environment where they feel significant and respected.

Section 4:4 Assessment and Feedback

  • Accountability
  • Recognition
  • Certification

  • Inductive - are they right for the course?
  • Formative - ongoing throughout 
  • Summative - at the end of every lesson
  • Deductive - at the end of the course

REF: Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (p.310-311)

  • Active involvement
  • Feedback based on clear learning intentions
  • Methodologies flexible to feedback
  • Learners able to self-assess and assess others

For formative assessment to be effective teachers need to get inside their learner’s heads and to connect with their thinking and feelings.

Clarify with your learners what the planned learning outcomes are.

Agree milestones where feedback will be given.

Encourage a culture of self-assessment and peer-assessment in the class.

If the purpose of the lesson is to learn how to make an omelette then don’t engage learners in debate about what came first, the chicken or the egg. (p.313)

REF: Jim Gould and Jodi Roffey-Barentsen (pp.318-319)

A six stage model for giving feedback.

  1. Listen to what the learner has to say about their performance

  2. Confirm that you have listened to and understood what the learner had to say 

  3. Inform the learner of the thinking behind your assessment of their performance

  4. Focus on specific points in the performance.

  5. Summarise the points that have been discussed

  6. Agree what action the learner needs to take to improve performance.

QQ: “What did you feel you did well?”

To gauge their level of self-awareness (p.318)

Shute uses the analogy of feedback as being likened to a good murder, in that a learner needs a MOTIVE (a desire for it),opportunity (can do something with it) and means (the ability to use it effectively). (p.320)

Focus feedback on the task not the learner.

  • Specific
  • Clear/simple
  • Elaborate
  • Chunked
  • Unbiased/objective

Provide feedback immediately after a learner has attempted a task.

“I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one who must walk through it.”

REF: Shute, V.J. (2008) Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research 78(1) 153-189

Section 4.5 Evaluating Teaching and Learning

Measure the quality of teaching relative to fitness for purpose: will the teaching do what the learners want it to do?

Reflection

Evaluation (p.323)

Schön (p.326)

Reflection on action

After the event > review, describe, analyse and evaluate.

Reflection in action

Thinking-while-doing - on your feet about what to do next.

NOTE :> ‘Reflecting-in-action’ - is at the core of the ‘professional artistry’, where practitioners develop the talent to ‘think-on-their-feet’ and improvise.

Stephen Brookfield (p.328-329)

See practice through four complementary lenses or what I would call their 'point of view' (POV) 

  • Autobiographical lens (pov)
  • Learner’s lens (pov)
  • Colleagues (pov)
  • Theoretical literature (pov)

Brookfield, S (1995)

Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


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Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam

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William. D (2017) Embedded Formative Assessment: (Strategies for Classroom Assessment That Drives Student Engagement and Learning) (The New Art and Science of Teaching) : Second Edition. Bloomington, USA. Solution Tree Press. 

Dylan Wiliam is to formative assessment what Chris Witty is to Covid

I’m getting used to Dylan Wiliam - I think of him as the David Walliams of Education, the Will-I-Am of Formative Assessment.

I’ve been pointed at his webinars, sat through a keynote or two, read the book and the read pamphlet ‘Inside the Black Box: raising standards from classroom assessment’ which he produced with Paul Black in 1998 and established his reputation. 

In my first pass of note taking I had over 60 quotes and ideas here, not all from Dylan William. With some editing I’ve got this down to 19 ‘Top Tips’ which are all set out ready to quote. 

I’ll go back to the book if needs be for clarification. In this case it is an eBook which makes it very easy as the digital version will correlate to actual print page numbers.

This is how I learn. 

It’s a slow and repetitive process: skim read a book to get the lay of the land, read it with an open notebook, then transfer the notes to a document like this. Then edit the notes and where necessary go back to the original book. Most important of all - give it a go. Over the last five weeks I’ve had a chance to apply some of the thinking to both online remote teaching and in the classroom face-to-face.  

When a book strikes me as really important I am likely to have it in print and eBook - they read differently and you take different things from each. 

These notes are for me to browse, refer back to and use when I next have a formal rationale or observation to write, as well as for every day reflection on the learning and e-learning experience I am currently going through. 

Myth Busting

Wiliam puts the evidence of learning above myth and has a number of bugbears. 

Good teaching is difficult

It is relatively easy to think up cool stuff for students to do in classrooms, but the problem with such an activity-based approach is that too often it is not clear what the students are going to learn. (Wiliam 2017 p.94) 

Wiliam disregards learning styles, ‘which have no discernible impact on student achievement at all’. (Wiliam 2017 p.11 also Adey, Fairbrother, William, Johnson, & Jones, (1999). Rather - ‘as long as teachers vary their teaching style, then it is likely that students will get some experience of being pushed beyond it’. (Wiliam 2017 p.48) 

Nor is Wiliam a  fan of ‘performance of a learning task’ as a predictor of long-term retention of learning (Wiliam 2017 p.47 from Bjork, R.A. (1994) Any mention of ‘neuroscience’ as the panacea annoys him. (Wiliam 2017 p.50) 

There is no shortcut

Wiliam’s firm belief is that formative assessment improves performance. (Wiliam 2017 p.11) His view - ‘the use of assessment for summative purposes - grading, sorting, and ranking students - gets in the way’ of learning. (Wiliam 2017 p.56) Education is overly prescriptive with rubrics. (Wiliam p.93 in Alfied Kohn (2006)

No one can do the learning for the student who does not engage.

Our classrooms seem to be based on the principle that if teachers try really hard, they can do the learning for the learners. (Wiliam 2017 p.225) 

According to Wiliam there is little evidence that the following ‘tricks’ have any impact of student achievement:

  • Summarisation

  • Highlighting

  • Keyword mnemonic

  • Image use for text learning

  • Rereading (Wiliam 2017 p.225) 

Wiliam sets out five key stages of formative assessment : 

  1. Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria.

  2. Eliciting evidence of learning

  3. Providing feedback that moves learning forward

  4. Activating learners as instructional resources for one another

  5. Activating learners as owner of their own learning

The Assessment Reform Group puts it this way. Assessment to improve learning requires five elements to be in place (cited Broadfoot et al., 1999) (Wiliam 2017 p.61)

  1. Providing effective feedback to students

  2. Actively involving students in their own learning

  3. Adjusting teaching to take into account the assessment results

  4. Recognising the profound influence assessment has on student’s motivation and self-esteem, both of which are crucial influences on learning.

  5. Needing students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.

Challenge them!

I like Wiliam’s thinking that ‘good instruction creates desirable difficulties’ - that we learn and retain knowledge through struggling with it. (Wiliam, 2017 p.11) I know from personal experience that the greater the struggle I am willing to endure, the deeper and the longer lasting my learning. It is when I can face the struggle … that I struggle.  Good instruction creates what he describes as ‘desirable difficulties’ (Wiliam, 2017 p.47) quoting Bjork (1994, p.193).

Pedagogy Over Curriculum

‘A bad curriculum well taught is usually a better experience for students than a good curriculum badly taught’. (Wiliam, 2017 p.11) I rather think we can apply this to many situations, for example, that pedagogy comes first - not EdTech. 

Formative Assessment above all else 

The Wiliam mantra is that, ‘attention to minute-by-minute and day-to-day formative assessment is likely to have the biggest impact on student outcomes’. (Wiliam 2017 p.42) He defines formative assessment as ‘the process used by teachers and students to recognise and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning’. (Wiliam 2017 p.59). Formative assessment, according to Bloom (1969) is a kind of evaluation - ‘a brief test used by teachers and students as aids in the learning process. (Wiliam, 2017 p.53 in Bloom (1969) It is ‘the process used by teachers and students to recognise and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning. (Cowie & Bell, 1999 p.32) It is ‘assessment carried out during the instructional process for the purpose of improving teaching or learning’. (Wiliam 2017 p.59 in Shepard et al., 2005 p.275) 

I like this : ‘Frequent, interactive assessment of students’ progress and understanding to identify learning needs and adjust appropriately.’ (Wiliam 2017 p.59 from Looney 2005)

And if you need more ways to think of it, try this: ‘assessment, for learning tells ‘us’ ‘what progress each student is making toward meeting each standard while the learning is happening - when there’s still time to be helpful (Wiliam 2017 p.62 from Looney 2005 (pp1-2) Stiggins (2005)

All kinds of formative assessment are not equal

(Wiliam 2017 p.62) 

‘The evidence is clear that the shorter the assessment - interpretation - action cycle becomes the greater the impact on student achievement’. (Wiliam, 2016). He continues, ‘short-cycle formative assessment has to be the priority for schools and teachers, because the impact on students is greater. (Wiliam p.75) 

‘ … regular use of minute-by-minute and day-to-day classroom formative assessment can substantially improve student achievement’. (Wiliam 2017 p.81)

Design backwards from the learning outcome

(Wiliam 2017 p.81 from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2000)

Three issues in the development of learning intentions and success criteria that may be useful to think about. (Wiliam p.95)

  1. Task-specific versus generic scoring rubrics.

  2. Product-focused versus process-focused criteria

  3. Official versus student-friendly language

NOTE :> By being specific about what we want, we focus the students learning too much. ‘He who never made a mistake, never made a discover’ (Wiliam 2017 p.95 quoting Samuel Smiles (1862 p.275)

There are a number of techniques which appealed when I read about them and I have used them. These are techniques to help students understand and achieve learning intentions. (Wiliam 2017 p.104 from Clarke (2001)

This is simple, these phrases work 

WALT ‘We are learning to … ‘

WILF ‘What I’m looking for … ‘

TIB ‘This is because … ‘ 

Student Engagement Techniques

The teacher asks a question, selects a student to answer the question and then responds to the student’s answer, which is generally some kind of evaluation of what the student said. (Wiliam 2017 p.124) Teacher-Led classroom discussion.

Try some of these:

  • Wait time

  • Evaluative listening

  • Interpretive listening

  • Questions shells

  • Hot-seat questioning

  • All student response systems

  • ABCD Cards

  • Mini Whiteboards

  • Exit passes

  • Discussion vs. diagnostic questions

  • Alternative questions

Pose a question, pick a student at random

Pose-pause-pounce-bounce

  • Pose

  • 5 seconds - pause

  • Pounce-random choice

  • Bounce-what do you think (Wiliam 2017 p.129) 

App or Lollipop sticks (Wiliam 2017 p.129) 

These techniques are used to ensure that all students realise that all are expected to tke part and that it is ok to make mistakes. If someone does not provide a response then come back to them and tell them  “OK, I’ll come back to you”.  (Wiliam 2017 p.132) 

Then seek Response 2 and 3 and then return to the person who gave no response and ask them which reply they liked the best and ask them why.

‘Engagement and responsiveness - are at the heart of effective formative assessment’. (Wiliam 2017 p.142) 

Managing Challenging Behaviour

To change the behaviour criticise the behaviour not the student. (Wiliam 2017 p.171) 

It is quality rather than the quantity of praise that is most important - teacher praise is far more effective if it is infrequent, credible, contingent, specific, and genuine. (Brophy, 1981 in Wiliam 2017 p.171)

The use of feedback improves performance when it is focussed on what needs to be done to improve, and particularly when it gives specific details about how to improve. (Wiliam 2017 p.180)

Motivation

“It's up to me, and I can do something about it”.  (Wiliam 2017 p.183)

When students have to struggled in the learning task, the quality of their performance on this task reduces, but the amount of learning that takes placed increases (Wiliam 2017 p.190)

Feedback functions formatively only if the learner uses the information feedback to him or her to improve performance. If educators intend the information fed back to the learner to be helpful but the learner cannot use it to improve his or her performance, it is not formative.

Motivation is not a cause but a consequence of achievement (In Wiliam 20176 p.234) from Garon-Carrier et al., 2016)

Like sports coaching, teaching takes time to master

It takes years for even the most capable of coach to break down a long learning journey from where the student is right now - to where he or she needs to be. (Wiliam 2017 p.193)

Feedback should cause thinking

Feedback for Future Action. (Wiliam 2017 p.194) 

To be effective, feedback needs to direct attention to what's next, rather than focusing on how well or poorly the student did on the work, and this rarely happens in the typical classroom.

The response from the student to feedback should be ‘cognitive rather than emotional’ (Wiliam 2017 p.205) In other words, feedback should cause thinking by creating desirable difficulties.

Peer tutoring can be more effective than one-on-one tutorial instruction from a teacher. This is because of the ‘change in power relationships’. (Wiliam 2017 p.209)

And regarding students online not using their webcams he believed you can see how a student is really taking it by seeing their faces (Wiliam 2017 p.209)

Student Reporter

Put students in a group towards the end of the class so that they can discuss then report back on what has been taught.

Two Techniques that work 

(Wiliam 2017 p230)

  1. Practice Testing 

  2. Distributed Practice

These received high ratings because they were effective with learners of different ages and abilities and were shown to boost students’ performance across many kinds of tasks, and there was plenty of evidence that they worked in educational contexts.

If students complete a practice test and get immediate feedback on their answers, students will get the benefit of the hypercorrection effect for those questions where they were correct. (Wiliam 2017 p.231)

Setting Goals

Students are more motivated to reach goals that are specific, are within reach, and offer some degree of challenge. (Wiliam 2017 p.236 in Bandura, 1986)

When the goals seem out of reach students may give up on increasing competence and instead avoid harm, by focusing on lower-level goals they know they can reach or avoiding failing altogether by disengaging from the task. (Wiliam 2017 p.236)

TIPS

  1. Think ‘how am I going to teach this and what are the pupils going to learn?’ (Wiliam 2017 p.79) 

  1. Having an in-depth understanding of the curriculum may be of more benefit to student progress than advanced study of a subject on the part of the teacher.

  1. Students don't learn what we teach. (Wiliam 2017 p.77) 

  1. Teaching the goal. Driving as teaching. (Wiliam 2017 p.78)

  1. ‘When the pressure is on, most of us behave as if lecturing works but deep down inside we know it’s ineffective’. (Wiliam 2017 p.80)

  1. The teacher’s job is not to transmit knowledge, nor to facilitate learning. It is to engineer effective learning environments for students. (Wiliam 2017 p.80)

  1. Learners of all ages need to understand what it is that they need to learn and be able to monitor their progress toward their goal. (Wiliam 2017 p.95) 

  1. Don’t simply plan the instructional activity, but also plan how you are going to find out where the students are in their learning. You need to be clear about what we want students to learn (Wiliam 2017 p.115)

  1. Ask questions either to cause thinkin and to provide information for the teacher about what to do next. (Wiliam 2017 p.126)

  1. Beware - those avoiding engagement are forgoing the opportunities to increase their ability.

  1. The most important factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows - the teachers job is to ascertain this and to teach accordingly. (Wiliam 2017 p.166) 

  1. Much of the feedback that students get has little or no effect on their learning, and some kinds of feedback are actually counterproductive. (Wiliam 2017 p.167) 

  1. Do not mix grades and comments, just stick to comments. (Wiliam 2017 p.167) 

  1. Oral feedback is best. (Wiliam 2017 p.174)

  1. Too often feedback is counterproductive. (Wiliam 2017 p.178)

  1. Don’t provide students with feedback unless you allow time, in class, to work on using the feedback to improve their work. (Wiliam 2017 p.195) 

  1. Feedback should be more work for them than you! (Wiliam 2017 p.195) 

  1. A simple approach to feedback. Pick out two things to praise, then express what they need to do a constructive wish. He calls the technique ‘two stars and a wish’. (Wiliam 2017 p.214)

  1. Teachers have a crucial role to play in designing the situations in which learning takes place, but only learners create learning. Wiliam 2017 p.246)

REFERENCES

Adey, Fairbrother, William, Johnson, & Jones, (1999) p.36 A review of learning styles and learning strategies. London. King’s College London Centre for Advanced Thinking. 

Ausubel (1968) Educational psychology. A Cognitive view. New York. Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Bjork, R.A. (1994) Memory and metamemory consideration in the training of human beings. In J.Metcalfe & A.P. Shimamura (eds) Metacognition : Knowing about knowing (pp.188-205) Cambridge, MA MIT Press. 

Bloom, B.S. (1969) Some theoretical issues relating to educational evaluation, In H.G. Richey & R.W. Tyler (Eds). Educational evaluation : New roles, new means, part 2 (Vol.68, pp. 26-50_ Chicago : University of Chicago Press.

Brophy, H (1981) Teacher praise: A functional analysis. Review of Educational Research, 51 (i), 5-32

Clarke, S (2001) Unlocking Formative Assessment. London, Hodder & Stoughton

Cowie, B & Bell, B (1999) A Model for formative assessment in science education. Assessment in Education : Principles, Policy and Practice. 6(1), 101-116

Looney, J (ed) (2005) Formative Assessment: improving learning in secondary classroom. Paris. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

Shepard et al., 2005 p.275 in L.Darling-Hammon & J.Bransford (Eds) preparing teaching for a changing world : what teachers should learn and be able to do (pp.215-326)

Soderstrom, N.C., & Bjork, R.A. (2015) Learning versus performance : An integrative review. Perspectives on Psychological Science 10 (2), 176-199. 

Stiggins R.J. (2005) Assessment for learning defined. 

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2000) Understanding by design. New York. Prentice Hall.

William, D. (2016) Leadership for teacher learning . Creating a culture where all teachers improv so that all students succeed. West Palm Beach , FL, Learning Sciences International.

William, D (2017) Embedded Formative Assessment: (Strategies for Classroom Assessment That Drives Student Engagement and Learning) (The New Art and Science of Teaching) : Second Edition 

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Daphne Koller: The University has flipped and The OU should have been there first

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Wednesday, 22 Oct 2014, 14:27

Fig. 1. Daphne Koller TED lecture on YouTube

Daphne Koller is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and a Third generation PhD. In this insightful talk we learn how e-learning is changing learning opportunities globally. Scale is at the heart of it.

A Machine Learning Class at Stanford with an undergraduate enrolment of some 400 when put online is followed by 100,000. And the lessons from scale led to the creation of Coursera where anyone can take the world’s top classes for free - delivered by the best instructors from the best universities.

  • Personalised curriculum
  • A coherent concept in 8 – 10 minutes
  • Students can traverse the content in different ways background, skills or interest.
  • Support or enrichment.

Practising with the material is important.

Video is interrupted to pose questions. Students are expected to engage.

  • Multiple choice
  • Short answer questions
  • Grade math and models

To be told when you are right or wrong is essential to student learning.

How do you grade 100,000 students?

Peer grading is a surprisingly successful strategy (Sadler & Good, 2006) .

  • Teacher and student grades extraordinarily similar, even self-grades.
  • And the student learns from the experience.

And learning is socialised

  • Around each of our courses a community of students has formed.
  • Some meet online, others locally.
  • Students respond to each other’s queries.

‘The median question to response time was 22 minutes because somewhere around the globe there was someone awake’. (Koller, 2012)

From 0:14:11

‘There are some tremendous opportunities to be had from this kind of framework’.

‘First it has the potential of giving us a completely unprecedented look into understanding human learning because the data that we can collect here is unique. You can collect every click, every homework submission and every form post from tens of thousands of students so you can turn the study if human learning from the hypothesis driven mode to the data driven on transformation that for example has revolutionized biology.

Fig. 2. Correcting misconceptions and poor learning paths

0:14:40

You can use the data to understand fundamental questions like what good learning strategies are versus ones that are not and in the context of particular courses you can ask questions like what are some of the misconceptions that are more common and how can we help fix that. 2000 students give the same wrong answer ... produce a targeted error message to give personalized feedback.

Fig. 3. Benjamin Bloom (1984) , 2 Sigma problem.

Lecture, mastery based approach, taught one on one with a tutor. individual gives you 2 sigma improvement 50/50 Individual 98% above average But cannot afford to provide every student with an individual tutor. Mastery will grade multiple times and show you the same video over and over without getting bored.

How can we push towards the 2 Sigma curve.

‘The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting. From Ian Kidd's translation of Essays’. Plutarch

0:18:50 More time required igniting their creativity, their imagination and their problem solving skills by talking with them. We do that by active learning in the classroom.

Performance improves by every metric:

  • attendance
  • engagement
  • standardized tests

It would do three things:

  • Establish education as an absolute fundamental human right.
  • Enable lifelong learning
  • A wave of innovation

FURTHER READING

Guskey, TR 2007, 'Closing Achievement Gaps: Revisiting Benjamin S. Bloom's "Learning for Mastery"', Journal Of Advanced Academics, 19, 1, pp. 8-31, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2013.

REFERENCES

Bloom, BS 1984, 'The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring',Educational Researcher, 6, p. 4, JSTOR Arts & Sciences IV, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2013.

Koller, D (2012) Ted Lecture Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education (accessed 17 Feb 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U6FvJ6jMGHU )

Sadler, P, & Good, E 2006, 'The Impact of Self- and Peer-Grading on Student Learning', Educational Assessment, 11, 1, pp. 1-31, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2013.

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Ditch the E and the M - it's learning

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Friday, 28 Sept 2012, 14:02

It's just learning ... the greatest thinkers on educational are largelly pre-digital: Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Kolb, Bloom, Briggs, Engeström, Gagnéet al.

E and M learning are advances on the Guttenberg Press or Power Point, but they are technologies all the same.

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Web-Based Training (Part One)

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Friday, 2 Nov 2012, 07:19

DSC04712.JPG

Web-Based Training (WBT) (2000)

Margaret Driscoll

I bought this book in 2001. Nearly a decade on I am delighted how apt it remains, even if the term may now have been superseded by e-learning - while cyberlearning had currency for a few years too and before this we had 'interactive learning'.

Even a decade on I recommend the book.

Training and learning are in different camps, one supposing a component of applied engagement (health and safety, fixing photocopiers, burying uranium trioxide, driving a delivery van, making cars, selling phones, employee induction) while the other is essentially cognitive (though with its physicality in this kind of prestidigitation).

Yet we made ‘training programmes’ on things like cognitive behavioural therapy. Corporate and government clients had the money to do these things.

Driscoll’s definition of WBT is somewhat longer than Weller’s definition (2007) of e-learning (electronically enhanced learning with a large component of engagement on the Internet). A bit ‘wishy-washy’ my exacting Geography A’ Level teacher would have said.

Hardly a clear definition if it has a let out clause. But when was anything clear about what e-learning is or is not, or should be? The term remains a pig in a poke; its most redeeming factor being that it is a word, not a sentence, and fits that cluster of words that includes e-mail.

Web-based training Driscoll (2000) says should be:

  • Interactive
  • Non-linear
  • Easy to use graphic interface
  • Structured lessons
  • Effective use of multimedia
  • Attention to educational details
  • Attention to technical details
  • Learner control

I like that. I can apply it in 2011. I did.

I was reading ‘Web-Based Training’ (and using the accompanying CD-rom) in 2001 and then active in the development of learning, or knowledge distribution and communication websites for the NHS, FT Knowledge ... and best of all, Ragdoll, the home of Pob, Rosie and Jim, Teletubbies and the addictive pleasures of ‘The Night Garden.’

We may call ourselves students, mature students even, or simply post-graduates, but would we call ourselves ‘Adult Learners.’

It’s never a way I would have defined my clients, or rather their audiences/colleagues, when developing learning materials for them in the 1980s and 1990s. Too often they were defined as ‘stakeholders,’ just as well I saw them as people and wrote scripts per-the-script, as if for only one person.

That worked, producing for an umbrella term does not.

Adult Learning doesn’t conjure up innovative e-learning, perhaps because of the connotations Adult Learning has inelation to the catalogue of F.E. courses then comes through the door every July or August.

This definition of an ‘adult learner’ would apply to everyone doing an OU course surely?

The special characteristics of adult learners Driscoll (2000:14)

  • Have real-life experience
  • Prefer problem-centred learning
  • Are continuous learners
  • Have varied learning styles
  • Have responsibilities beyond the training situation
  • Expect learning to be meaningful
  • Prefer to manage their own learning

With some of these definitions baring more weight than others, don’t you think?

REFERENCE

And additional references used by Driscoll but not cited above:

References (Adult Learning)

Knowles (1994) Andragogy in action. Applying modern principles of adult learning.

Brookfield (1991) Understanding and facilitating adult learning

Cross (1992) Adults as learns: increasing participation and facilitating learning.

Freire (1970) A cultural action for freedom

Merriam and Caffarella (1991) Learning in adulthood

Kidd (1973) How adults learn

 

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