You put me in a learning situation and I have high expectations. If I am highly motivated in the subject matter I get frustrated at being given activities and having my learning “facilitated”. My time is important to me. If I spend an hour stretching and saying “wooo” and then another hour doing fun learning activities, I always leave grumbling about wasting my time. I don’t like it. Often the only thing I learnt was that I don’t like stretching and saying “wooo” with strangers. If it doesn’t significantly challenge my views or opinions or provide new understanding, then the learning opportunity would have been, for me, wasted. No matter what the activities were, how much I moved around, how much I shared or facilitated, how many times I role played or game played, if my brain didn’t form new synaptic relationships, anything I did “learn” wouldn’t necessarily be retained. It would be shallow learning.

If I am anxious, or unmotivated, or learning something I know nothing about, I want to know more about the people around me. Am I unusual feeling so out of place? Am I the only one who knows nothing about this – will I look stupid? I am unlikely to participate in class, and if I am called upon to participate when I am not comfortable, I just might decide not to come next time. If I gain confidence and achieve small steps, I might start to participate. Doing activities that make the learning slow but deliberate will probably help increase my confidence – give my brain time to connect it all, commit it to memory, form or reinforce synaptic pathways. Techniques or technology that help me understand, engage, connect would all be helpful to helping my brain learn.

It is important to know our learners’ needs. It is important that learners are told how they will be taught, and why that pedagogy is considered to be appropriate. It is important, that we are reflective and change pedagogy if we are not meeting the needs of our learners. Are we offering them value? And most of all, it is important that any teaching activity encourages active learning.

One of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of teaching practice relates to the concept of active learning. Strictly speaking it comes from theories that relate to how our brains work when we learn new skills or knowledge. Successful learning generally involves creating new synaptic pathways in our brain and committing that ‘knowledge’ to memory. What this means is that in order to help learners learn, techniques that encourage active thought processes (thinking) appear to be the most successful.

Techniques that do not challenge thinking tend to not create new connections in the brain. In the first scenario above, you could say that I was not engaged. The learning activities might have been “active” but they weren’t initiating active learning in me. In that scenario where I was highly motivated and came equipped with prior knowledge and had the skills required to learn in intense periods of time - active for me, might have been a lecture. Just thought provoking discussion, thought provoking explanations, thought provoking evidence. Cognitively, very active, for me, under those circumstances.

In the second scenario, the exact same teaching methods I just dismissed as not being active, given the circumstances of being an anxious, unfamilar learner, would have engaged me – they would have been cognitvely active. Helped me engage, helped me participate, helped me think.

The biggest misconception about active learning is that the focus is on the activity – that the learner needs to “do” something physical – leave their seat, participate in an activity that requires talking, doing, negotiating or using the body or other senses. Being lectured to is commonly thought of as a passive teaching technique, and by jove - it certainly can be.  But it really depends on the learner and how it is done. It depends on the learner’s motivation, on their commitment, on their own ability to learn, and their reason for learning. It depends on the teachers methods of engagement do not just stand and deliver  – challenge, discuss, interpret, engage, stimulate, encourage, debate!

Active learning can happen using any technique that makes the student think.  The focus needs to be on the needs of the learner – not on the activity. Makes you think doesn’t  it.

Part of maturing is about owning your mistakes, reflecting on your behaviours and being courageous enough to change things for the better. As adults, although many of us still have pretty strong deflector shields it is a sign of maturity to reflect on the things that we do. Mmm, should I have shouted that hard at the child who somehow got scone dough on the roof…on the tap, on the fridge, on the cat … Apparently no body did it (darn those Teflon children).

In the ITP sector we have a new quality assurance model that requires us to lower our deflector shields and turn them around to be mirrors. Examine what we do, and why we do it. Look for ways of doing something better if it results in better educational outcomes for our students. One of the interesting things about this “new” process is the self-assessment is conducted in a workplace environment, where it is very easy to drop back into Teflon mode. These are the issues that we have identified, but they are the responsibility of “management” to do something about it. And, yes, it is ultimately the responsibility of management to do something about it. Unfortunately, we will be judged on our ability to self-assess our activities – our capability or maturity to own our own issues doesn’t just sit with management. It is the responsibility of every member of staff. In fact, according to much of the literature on evaluative methods of quality assurance, making everything the “fault” of management is a sure sign of capability that needs to be developed.

When you are conducting evaluations to self-assess your activities, you will very definitely find issues that need the attention of management. You will very definitely find issues that require your attention, that are definitely about what you need to contribute to, analyse, reflect on. You will definitely find things that you think need to be done, but maybe can’t be done, because of rules, regulations, policies or resources. But the important thing is that you must own some part of it. Those Teflon shields need to come down to be truly and honestly reflective and able to self-assess. It is the job of management to help us all do this.

Early education research tried to be like a science – it tried to use controls in its design methodology and tried to find quantifiable laws for us to work by. The early critics of this approach suggested that this was not addressing the individuality of the learner and the laws probably could not apply to all people.

Of course, those of us in education know that learning can be complicated. That is why most teacher training courses include multiple techniques and strategies to try and reach the majority of the learners, and why a good teacher continually reflects on their practice and adjusts it. And we all know that what worked well today, may not work well tomorrow. There are too many variables that we are not able to control.

Is education a science? Does it adjust its knowledge and disseminate this to the practice community after debate? How many of us in education subscribe to education research journals and read them religiously? How many of us engage with education research and then publish to inform our communities? No? Okay, then for you, it is not a science.

Some classroom teachers and tutors say they haven’t got time to read, critique and assimilate research outcomes into their practice. They might be happy to try and follow the wisdom of external influencers and follow established good practice and process. They master professional skills and continue to attempt to collect new skills to positively influence outcomes in the classroom.These teachers may not be critical consumers of research – but may be they are  good technicians.

Some teachers however are artists. These teachers look at trends and influencers and if they match with their practice and outcomes, then they will assimilate the practice but only if it seems right, and only if it inspires them. With art, there is no one right way to do it. An artist though will constantly monitor and critique their work, adjusting it, rethinking it, feeling it and connecting with it, and the creative process is just as important as the product.

Education at the grass roots level is very susceptible to trends, fashions and influences by gurus, in a similar way that health and climate change is. If it is a science, it is an immature one.  These trends may be based on research, or just commercially influenced as education is a big money spinner for some.

Often these trends are uncritically adopted by the practice community and flaunted as the way to education now. We hear about the “21st Century Learner” as if the biology and neurology of the human body has suddenly altered so we need to adjust accordingly, we hear of the “Generation Y” as if their inability to focus and take the easy and most entertaining road is something new to human psychology.

Fads and Fazes. E-learning, M-learning, white boards, I-Pods, black boards, chalk, paper, coloured pens, flip charts, powerpoint, computer simulation … all tools for education. And only that – tools that enable accessibility, communication, networking, support, demonstration, but the focus still has to be on the learning and does this tool help meet the right outcomes.

Which tools fit with your philosophy as a teacher, do they fit with your praxis and your product? A good technician will always use the best tools for the job. A good artist will always use the best tools to achieve the best possible outcome. Good teachers always look for better ways of transferring knowledge.

If education then is an immature science or an art, then each teacher has a huge responsibility. What ever you are, you have responsibility for the outcomes of your teaching. What are your main influencers? Are you a scientist, technician or an artist?

Note – this blog follows on from previous entry

The physical sciences of physics, chemistry and engineering all are based on reproducible evidence which creates an element of trustworthiness. The evidence has to be convincing. Some evidence is so convincing science refers to the equations that represent them as laws. It is from this evidence that experts can postulate theories about what this means to help us understand the world around us. Often, these theories and ideas can be confirmed with good experimental design. These are mature disciplines.

Climate change and heath however, has less certainty, less indisputable evidence, and the experts have less ability to test and confirm their ideas. There are many things that the experts are not sure about and so this can fuel debate about theories and potential outcomes, and many of these theories can not be tested using sound experimental design. Sometimes we just have to wait and see. The world’s climate is complex. Human health is complex. While we know a lot, we don’t know everything. These will always remain controversial as experts try their best to interpret complex systems with various influences both known and unknown, and because of this complexity, even experts can disagree. These are immature disciplines.

All sciences however, whether mature or immature, have a way of thinking – a way of rewriting and adjusting knowledge as new evidence sheds light on some aspect previously not understood. This new information is presented to the community of experts and debate occurs, and if the evidence is convincing, it becomes accepted.

What then is education? Is it mature, immature and is it a science? See next blog.

Once you got your groceries home, you folded the bag up to store neatly somewhere and then reused them – again and again and again. Carrying school lunches, arts and crafts (they were just the right size for a mask that fitted over the whole head) and eventually, it lined the rubbish bin. Then off to the tip, where they just rotted away as they were made of paper.

Then, suddenly the supermarket brought in plastic bags. They were a pain. They did not stand up straight waiting for you to pack things into them, their mouths did not stay open, in fact we needed wire contraptions designed to hold them open, they were difficult to separate from each other and they broke easily. We didn’t like them, the customer didn’t like them. And I am sure we all knew, at least I certainly did, that they were not biodegradable.

Yet here we are, twenty plus years later and only just recently have retailers ‘decided’ that they would be more environmentally conscious and customers would not automatically be given a bag. Once upon a time you couldn’t leave a shop without a bag – you had to have all your purchases in a bag to show that you have been through the checkout and everything was paid for. And more than that, to show everyone everywhere that you shopped at such-and-such shop – as their name, their logo or something that distinguished them was plastered all over the bag that you were carrying in full display.

Lets face it, plastic bags are cheaper than brown paper ones, but they also acted as a vehicle for marketing. Now, twenty years later large retailers have began to sway to a growing green force and are attempting to look like they care about the environment. Sorry, I don’t buy it. You knew what you were doing. It’s still a marketing ploy due to pressure. The caring retailer.

So, why did we allow it? I would have paid the extra cents for the brown paper bag in the eighties, but of course, that wasn’t on offer. You all remember going to the shop with a fabric bag with handles to carry everything home in if you were walking – the brown paper bags didn’t have handles, and could be weak if wet yet here we are, twenty years later and we are back taking our own bags to the shop. Only this time, you are made to feel environmentally insensitive if you don’t. Sorry, I don’t buy that either.

However, it does go to show that we shouldn’t just accept change as a constant state that we live in. We should question, we should lobby, and we should consider the consequences. You may have thought as I did that there were no alternatives as they were not on offer, but if we know better, why didn’t we say something at the time? I guess, in the great scheme of things, getting a plastic bag instead of a brown paper bag was not way up there in terms of priorities – but the consequences of that indifference is huge. Not just in our land fills, but in our lifestyles (throw away society) and to the wider environment including dolphins and other marine life as these plastic bags have caused deaths.

Of course, the more you know, then the more you can make informed decisions. The more you understand, the more you can predict consequences. Did everyone know that plastic bags posed a potential risk to the environment? I did but I had studied science up to seventh form and was going to university to study it some more – was I unusual? One of the biggest requirements of a school science curriculum should be to provide scientific literacy to all people – that is why it is a compulsory up to year 11. Perhaps everyone was aware that plastics posed a problem and the missing element was action – and being able working together to find solutions.

One of our requirements as tertiary educators is to try and fulfill educational requirements for our society – provide resources to our supposed knowledge economy, provide work ready skills but we mustn’t forget our responsibility to support society as a whole. As a democratic society we need to ensure that people are informed and have the ability to make decisions about their lives and have the mechanisms to be able to take action if the need ever arises. People could argue that is the role of universities but I disagree, all people need to be able to participate in society and have the ability to make informed decisions on issues that may affect their future. Incorporating these life skills into our teaching and learning is a challenge, but a necessary one that we need to meet.

My mystical enduring creature who loved me unconditionally used to bring me presents. Wonderful presents, once a year, no matter what the weather. Well, not completely unconditionally, I had to be good. I remember the intense excitement when waiting for Father Christmas (Santa Claus) – and the intense sense of magic when he delivered. He didn’t have to. He must have huge obstacles to get through to get that all done in a day, yet every year he did. It didn’t really matter what the presents were – just that he made it, that he had thought of me, that he somehow knew what I wanted or needed, and that he made the effort. He never let me down.

It‘s not about the presents – it is about unconditional love. No matter what your beliefs are about Christmas, I think it is important to give the message of love. Not that love means presents, not that love means that you have to endure all things irrespective of wrong doings or bad behaviour (sense of being “good’) but that love means that someone else in the universe knows you, and occasionally, they think only of you. Not that you have to be loved by an immortal being to feel valued, but for some of course, that is the true meaning of Christmas (Jesus is the immortal being people, not Edward!).

Enjoy your holiday and make sure you spend some time with or thinking about those people in your life that you love, or that you love you, unconditionally. See you next year.

Then I remembered who she was.  I had taught her.  I remembered her, an older woman, one of those students we sometimes call a “second-time learner”.  After lectures I remember she would come up for a quick chat, ask a few questions but I most distinctly remember her for smiling a lot.  I don’t remember picking up any particular signals about her abilities or lack of them until the first assignment was due.   In that particular paper I used to let the first assignment be quite loose – they could be quite creative on how they presented the information and so when I received her draft I was a bit surprised.  It looked like a preschooler had written it.  However, as I say, there was room for creativity in the assignment providing the content was accurate.  But this was something else …..  this was actually reflecting her literacy ability.  And she was trying to do a degree, and I was trying to teach her science. 

This story could be about a lot of things – it could be about formative feedback, diagnosis of learning disabilities in the classroom and various other pedagogical issues around detecting and supporting learning needs in the tertiary environment, but this time I am making this about entry.   This woman did not pass my course, nor did she pass her other courses.  In fact, I have never before issued a student as lower grade or mark as I had to for this student.  Yet still she smiled as I tried to work with her. 

When I think about that smile and how she looked the day I saw her on the park bench I can detect a distinct change.  I think about how proud she was about being on this degree, that she was making her way towards her chosen career path, I can imagine how proud her children were of her, and probably her extended family, I can imagine how difficult it was to find the money to pay the fees, how financially difficult it was to stop her work as a carer so she could pursue fulltime study.  Yet she smiled. 

Of course she failed the programme and could not continue.  I think about the cost of that to her.  The disappointment, the financial burden, the covert message to her children, her own self-esteem and I feel angry that we put her through that.  Entry criteria is not there as a barrier but as a indicator about what skills you need to meet the cognitive and learning needs of the programme of study.  If students do not meet the entry criteria, we need to support their career aspirations by giving them fair and transparent advice on how best to staircase to their desired destination.  It is not about letting people in and giving them a go.  We need to be sure we are not setting them up for failure.  I think sometimes we relatively successful people underestimate what it takes to be a fulltime student, and most of us have no clue what it takes to be a fulltime student who is inadequately prepared for academic study, and most of us have not experienced that sense of utter failure.  It is not fair. Whoever let her into her the programme of study probably thought they were being kind.

That day I know why I didn’t recognize her immediately – she was no longer smiling.

She changed her hair style, altered her costume, and as a final resort, re-choreographed her whole dance to the hardest, most complicated hard-sole steps she could muster. She worked in all sorts of flurrys and arm movements, head movements and pointed her little toes as hard as she could. She worked behind the scenes, practicing and performed her utmost. It did no good. I heard a few mumblings from her  “…..she over-crossed her korus ….. leap-beat-beats were crooked … blind judge…” and although I could see her frustration, she held it together.

Littlest daughter however was having a great competition. At the end of the competition the really big winners were called out “Most entertaining” cup ….. went to my littlest daughter. HUGE CUP at least 4 foot tall – bigger than her! WOW! Middle daughter still held it together.

Then it was time to go home. As soon as we were in the van and the doors were shut, she let loose. Anger, frustration, disappointment …. Every emotion the little body could muster. We sympathized, acknowledged the huge effort she put in and explained that sometimes things just don’t go our way. She bore no resentment to her sister for winning one of the big ones, but it did feel that the universe was just being unfair.

Until later that week. We got a note from her school saying that she had been elected by her teachers to attend a function to receive something special, and that this was due to her diligence, character and personality. I couldn’t go, so her granddad took her and when they returned we were bowled over to find that she had been awarded a bike! A brand spanking new two-wheeler complete with helmet and tee-shirt, awarded to hardworking and deserving kids from the Variety Club. Ahh, she was at peace with the universe again. A new bike far out shone a dancing cup or little medal. She had hours of fun on that bike.

Part of our role in education must be about helping to build resilience in our students. Many of them have had many knock backs in life, had trouble learning at school and although they have the will and the motivation, so many things make success more difficult to achieve than for others. In our teaching environment we have to make sure that our students get a sense of how they are doing, are they on the right track, where are their weaknesses, what do they need to improve on and our judging must be fair and transparent.

Students must not be left to try and guess what you need in terms of an assessment, they should not be sitting an assessment with no idea if they are up to it or not, they need guidance and clear, transparent information. We can’t guarantee that everyone will get by due to sheer will of personality – they need to know the rules of the game, be privy to the game plan, and have the confidence to know that their activities and efforts will not be judged based on subjective decision-making but instead will be fair, consistent and transparent.

 One of the tell-tale signs of a false prophet is the inability to tell facts from theory.  Of course as a reader, you may not know the difference yourself so you may succumb to the persuasiveness of the writer.  Take H1N1 Influenza A for instance (Swine flu).  I have never heard so many all-knowing everyday people with opinions about something that the real experts are only just getting to grips with.  Yet where would they get their information from? 

Mostly, people have an opinion on swine flu based on their own experience – everyone has had flu, they watch the news and if they want to know more, then can google it.  But are they making qualified decisions?  

 The free access to information appears to have created a situation of self-reliance, perhaps reducing the opinion of experts to be just another opinion.  This phenomenon is also evident in education.  Somehow theories become facts dependant on who is presenting them.  Everyone has an opinion on education or teaching.  Like the flu, everyone either went to school or had some experience of education of some sort – feeding their opinions based on their own experiences. There are many false prophets in education.

 How can you tell a false prophet in education? It’s just like the flu – an inability to tell facts from theory. They talk of constructivism, experiential, positivist, differential, accelerated, integral, authentic, e-learning, flexible, discovery, cognitive, behavioural, multiple intelligences, whole brain learning, kinesthetic, blooms, solo, facilitation  …… as if they are facts.  Theories may never become facts.  Evidence and data can lend themselves to supporting theories which may predict outcomes, and theories can provide framework for action, but in the end they are just theories. So, what are facts then?

Normally, for a practicing teacher, facts arise from reflection. Analysing information about what worked and what didn’t and why is of course, useless without further action. A false prophet will deliver a lesson based on learning theories but will not examine the evidence afterwards and learn with the benefit of hindsight. Those are the facts – the outcomes of the lesson. It’s the same for the flu – while experts use knowledge, theories and experience to try and predict what will happen, it is only with the benefit of hindsight that they will know if they were correct or not with their predictions or theories.  In education, experts teachers are continually open-minded and self-correcting, utilising learning theories as frameworks but most importantly, adjusting those theories depending on facts.

Why is this? Are educationists afraid of making decisions? Education at its most fundamental should take into account people’s various worldviews, and should have purpose that is meaningful to the stakeholders.  Often, this is articulated especially in the tertiary environment by policy and procedure, which has in term been stipulated by standards or statutes by external quality bodies.  So why do we need more committees – committees that review and re-do, and then more committees such as Academic Boards or Boards of Studies that approve.  If the policies and procedures are based on evidence based research, then what do all the extra bodies achieve?

Are they in place to manage compliance?  That is, to ensure that people are following policy and procedure we have created a bureaucracy to meet it.  Then, somehow the policies and procedures, commonly referred to as “QMS” becomes the motivation force for work, instead of the research based praxis the policy was designed to manage.  Has this system of management become necessary because of lack of professional knowledge that informed the policies and procedures in the first place? 

It seems to me, that the most efficient use of the collectives’ knowledge is to justify, debate and analyse policies and procedures at their inception.  These are the tools that allow practice to be structured to common goals and create opportunities for data collection which can further inform policy revision.  Decision-making then shouldn’t justify more debate for approval.  Quality management should naturally fall within the reflective cycle of teaching where transparent and reflective assessments are made on the praxis and the product of the education session. 

I think this is where the sector is finally going.  It is maturing to realise that people in education should not be afraid of making decisions – should not be afraid of recognizing the different values of praxis or products, and should be brave enough to illicit frank and honest reflection.  This places more emphasis on teachers being more like other professionals – accountable, self-assessing and self-improving, reducing their reliance on hiding behind committees. The next step is teacher registration  …..