Participation in a community of practice - non-participation as peripheral or marginal

Re-reading parts of Wenger, E. (1998). Communities ofPractice (CoP): Learning, meaning and identity. Getting my head around concepts of participation and non-participation in answer to comments from a peer reviewer on an article I have just re-submitted on the topic of ‘proximal participation’.

Proximal participation arose as a concept in my PhD thesis - 'belonging, becoming and being a baker. The term was used to explain how young people with poor academic attainment and limited idea of career opportunities, fell into a baking apprenticeship. These apprentices had all worked as cleaners, dish washers, retail or catering assistants for period of up to a year in the bakery, before an apprenticeship came up and they were offered an indenture. All of these apprentices provided data about how working in the bakery as ancillary workers, provided them the opportunity to view work in the bakery. Many had started to build relationships with other workers in the bakery and establish a sense of belonging to the workplace. All had little pre-conception as to what the trade of baking entailed. Proximal participation as ancillary workers meant they were exposed to the many work roles in the bakery workplace and to the challenges of craft baking.

Wenger includes an explanation of non- participation as either peripheral or marginal (chapter 7). Peripheral participants are poised on the edge of entry into a CoP and transition into becoming legitimate peripheral participants (LPPs) if individuals are keen to become members of a CoP. On the other end, marginal participants may be prevented through lack of social capital or mismatch of interests from actually becoming LPPs. I sort of see the role of proximal participation as assisting individuals to find out if they are an affinity to the CoP they are partially immersed into. If they see a fit, then at some stage, the proximal participation itself provides opportunities for them to build relationships with other CoP members. These relationships may ease the transition of marginal participants into becoming LLPs, circumventing individuals’ difficulties in entering the CoP.

The mind at work – book summary

Rose, M. (2004). The mind at work: Valuing the intelligence of the American worker. New York. NY: Penguin Books.

While out tramping at the end of January, I took along MikeRose’s book, purchased second hand via Amazon. The paperback book is small and light enough to add to the tramping pack but provides a good solid amount of before bedtime reading. After the preliminary read during the tramp, I have worked through the various ‘bookmarked’ parts of the book and these are now summarised.

I first read this book at the University of Canterbury library several years ago, as one of the books to read on workplace learning. A few parts were pertinent to my thesis but the majority I have had to put aside. Now, much of the material in this book has relevance to the ‘learning a trade’ project. see here for completed project resources

Rose’s writing style makes the book an accessible read and he interweaves stories from his own biography. He makes use of the experiences of his mother, a waitress and his uncle, a car finisher to augment research ‘case study’ interviews / observations with hairdressers and novice carpenters, plumbers and electricians. The main argument across the book is the need to value forms of intelligence that are not tested through IQ tests.

 The introductory chapter provides a succinct overview of the key ideas through the book – that all work is skilled although some take less time to learn then others. Everyone who works has to use their ‘smarts’ in order to complete their work with integrity. Work is fulfilling in many ways for people, providing opportunities to socialise, learn specialist skills, become part of a ‘brotherhood’ and earn a wage. Work that is mainly seen to be physical / blue collar, still involves a large range of cognitive skills to be learnt.  The terms intelligence, cognition and skill are defined and discussed as these terms are used through the book –notes on these terms provide the academic references.

Following chapters (1 through to 6) summarise the physical and cognitive demands of occupations – 

- waitressing  (memory, task prioritisation, judgement, people relationship skills, ability to read the context in order to do enough to get the most tip!)

- hairdressers (aesthetic dimension of hair styling, bringing together knowledge of hair and chemistry, tactile skills to work out how to shape different types of hair, fine motor skills – cutting air, putting on curlers etc., visualisation of how a cut will look on a client, ‘counselling skills’ to help customers find the right styles, build rapport etc. )

- plumbing (working with tools and materials, attitudes of craftsmanship, ability to ‘see the whole picture’, problem solving using logic and access to plumbing theory, knowledge of materials etc. important role of mentors in helping disenfranchised young people return to learning)

- carpentry (vocabulary – both text, tactile and spatial, application of arithmetic to specific problems, ability to read plans, visualise in 3D, how to work efficiently through learning tricks of the trade, visual estimation and judgement skills)

- electricians (aesthetics – neat wiring that is also functional, craftsmanship – doing a job well, physics of electrical circuits coupled with problem solving, working with something that is ‘invisible’, making sense of symbols used in electrical plans, applying maths to practice),

- welders (tactile knowledge with difficult tools, multiple materials and welding methods,  reading plans)

 - teaching a trade (compassion, ability to empathise, move from trade worker to teacher, dissect tacit knowledge to make accessible to students)

- motor vehicle finishing (tactile knowledge, persistence in assembly line work, problem solving and innovations to improve quality and save time/ money / increase productivity, ability to find the problem).

Chapter 7 on rethinking hand and brain provides a comparison of blue collar labour with the work of surgeons and physical therapists (occupational  / physiotherapists). Matching the commonalities between how new surgeons have to learn practical skills akin to those of trades people and yet, there is an honouring of surgeons’ skills but nor of the panel beater.

Chapter 8 – hand and brain in school provides a historical overview of the American vocational education systems and how things can be different.  What perhaps is already happening now in NZ, where there is the embedding of literacy and numeracy into authentic learning through pre-trade training programmes and through ‘trade academy’ courses.  Avoiding the reading /writing to be taught only by English teachers and the trades by ‘shop’ instructors.

The conclusion brings the various threads together. The brain and hand work synchronously together, one cannot be separated from the other. To learn a trade is to work dynamically both with brain and hand. 

vocational pedagogy report - summary

Lucas, B., Spencer, E. & Claxton, G. (2012). How toteach vocational education: A theory of vocational pedagogy. City and GuildsCentre for Skill Development. London, UK.

This report came through late in 2012 through my Google Scholar alerts and opened up a good resource for all vocational educators to explore. The report is written with practitioners in mind, so well laid out and written in clear language.

The 2012 report builds on work by Professors Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas (who lead the Centre for LifeLong learning at the University of Winchester) including the following:

Bodies of Knowledge; how the learning sciences could transform practical and

vocational education (2010). London: Edge Foundation. see blog entry for summary.

Mind the Gap; Research and reality in practical and vocational education (2010).

London: Edge Foundation.  - which reviews the current state of Practical and Vocational Education

(PVE), drawing on research from across the world.

The Pedagogy of Work-based Learning: A brief overview commissioned by the

DCSF 14-19 Expert Pedagogy Group (2010). London: DCSF - describing some of the main traditions in the pedagogy of work-related learning. 

The need for a vocational education pedagogy is outlined in the introduction section. In the second section, the approach used is substantiated, including some ‘contextual notes’ about the lack of a vocational pedagogy due to the lack of clarity about the purposes of Voc. Ed. (see blog on Billett’s book for a deeper discussion); the dual professional identity of  vocational practitioners as teachers (see previous work on boundary crossing from tradeworker to trades tutor); inadequate models and poor analogies for Voc. Ed. ; and reluctance of Voc. Ed. Teachers to use ‘theory’.

Page 30 – the report at a glance, provides a graphical guide to the rest of the report.

Goals (Section 3) and Outcomes (Section 4) are then summarised – these draw on previous reports produced by the authors – as above.

Section 5 introduces the teaching methods that work. Learning by watching, imitation, practicing, through feedback, through conversation, by teaching and helping, by real-world problem solving, through inquiry, critical thinking, listening / transcribing and remembering, drafting and sketching, reflecting, ‘on the fly’, being coached, competing, through virtual environments, simulations and playing games. I will draw on these for current project - learning a trade - now funding is approved by Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub.

Section 6 lays out the Voc. Ed. contexts for the students (motivations and perceptions); teachers  and settings (physical space & culture of learning).

Section 7 on designing vocational pedagogy provides a framework to bring together the ways in which decisions can be made about Voc. Ed. pedagogy.  Ten dimensions are introduced with continuums between ‘poles’ so that the discipline / context / learner etc. can be considered.  Examples include 

- role of teacher as being from facilitative to didactic; 

- nature of activities to be learnt as being authentic to contrived; 

- the means of knowing to be from practice to theory; attitude to knowledge to range from questioning to certain; 

- organisation of time is extended or bound; 

- organisation of space as workshop to classroom;

- approach to task as group to individual; visibility of process as obvious to hidden; 

- proximity teacher between virtual to f2f; and 

- role of learner from self-managed to directed.

Worked examples included for plumbing (being materials focused), child care (people focused) and accountancy (symbols focused).

Overall, a good guide and beginning towards investigating vocational education pedagogy. The report provides a framework to organise vocational education curriculum. However, common understanding of the framework needs to be established amongst vocational educators. This will take time and is dependent on adoption and support by National bodies and teachers of vocational educators.  So some ‘marketing’ required of the concepts and frameworks proposed. This may be planned to occur in the UK but there will be little traction in NZ for the moment, due to unfamiliarity with the concepts. In NZ, there is also a need to allow for cultural diversity and relate frameworks to Maori pedagogy and other ways of doing. Plus tweaking to the NZ Voc. Ed. system to allow for smoother pathways from school to work / tertiary / vocational education. 

Skill Acquisition in Sport – 2012 edition – book review

Skills Acquisition in Sport - Second Edition -

Edited by Nicola Hodges and Mark Williams

This edition contains brand new chapters (21) collated into 4 parts. The book is an up to date / ‘state of the play’ with regards to sports’ skill acquisition and has much to offer vocational educators seeking to improve their teaching by learning how to enhance motor skills training techniques. Relevant chapter main points summarised.

Part 1 – Presenting information

 Chapter 1

R. A. Magill and D.A. Anderson

The roles and uses of augmented feedback in skill acquisition

**2 types of feedback available - sensory system (task-intrinsic feedback) and external feedback (augmented, external, extrinsic feedback) from coaches, teachers, trainers, or training device. Article focuses on augmented feedback with possibility of providing knowledge of result (KR) or knowledge of performance (KP).

Forms and uses of augmented feedback then discussed including merits and guidelines for verbal augmented feedback. Amount needs to consider short term memory limits and prior experience of learners. Content includes using correct cues (e.g. clock face direction), limiting to one process at a time, identifying and prioritizing mistakes to be corrected using a two-step decision process and allowing learners to work out how to self-correct if possible.

Non-verbal feedback using a variety of training devices in different sports provided as examples (e.g. swimming using different types of flippers to train specific muscle groups).

Theory based guideline for offering augmented feedback based on guidance hypothesis then presented.

Future direction for research include finding out which aspect of performance requires augmented feedback, how and when to provide and what are effects over a long period of practice

Chapter 2

Mixing it up a little: how to schedule observational practice

N. T. Ong and N. J. Hodges

This chapter discusses ‘when and how’ to provide demonstrations.

Recommends – early observation of a skill is useful to novice learners so that learners are able to begin building their own conceptual framework of the activity. So generally, before practice demonstration is more effective that during practice. Learner control may have benefits as well. Mixed practice refers to using both demonstration and practice, not just one method for learning motor skills.

Learners are encouraged to seek a demonstration as required – dependent on their own KR of the progress. In some tasks, demonstrations may compensate for some practice time.

Chapter 3

Attentional focus effect movement efficiency

K.R. Lohse, G. Wulf and R. Lewthwaite

Recommends that learners focus on EXTERNAL feedback rather than internal. Coaches etc. should therefore be careful to ensure that verbal feedback encourages learners to pay attention to external features of movements and not draw attention away from this.

Chapter 4

Advances in implicit motor learning

R.S. Masters and J.M. Poolton

Sort of supporting the above chapter, studies in using analogies to improve skills in table tennis and basketball are used to explain the following.  Learners are encouraged to work towards whole skill targets – move the bat as if travelling up the side of a mountain’ or ‘shoot as if you are trying to put cookies into a cookie jar’ instead of breaking the task down into small steps and for the learner to construct their own strategy through trial and error.  Basically, for motor skills – cut to the chase – rather than over-analysing each movement.  Works perhaps because the human body is already ‘well-trained’ in most motor movement and overanalysing, may lead to confusion of the ‘innate process’ for laying down neural pathways to assist with accomplishment of motor tasks.

Part 2 – Optimising practice conditions

Chapter 5

Contextual interference: generalizability and limitations

T. D. Lee

Discusses the pros and cons of different scheduling protocols on learning skill. The term contextual interference (CI) effect is used to explain how differences in the organisation of practice, impacts on learning. Initial acquisition of skill favour block practice (i.e. repetition of skill to be learnt). However, after initial acquisition, random practice leads to higher quality learning ie. ability to be flexible in response to a range of contexts. 

Large numbers of studies have found that CI is now limited to lab tests, practice in single session, CI is not limited to task outcomes, is not only found with young adults, not limited to motor learning, or to learners who expect the effect.

Chapter 6

Mental imagery, action observation and skill learning

A.Moran, M. Campbell., P. Holes and T. McIntyre

Overviews some studies on the efficacy of mental practice (MP) to improvement of performance in a range of sports (golf, tennis, swimming, finger strength, strength performance etc.). Summarises the theories of MP including neuromuscular model; cognitive / symbolic approach; bio-information theory and the PETTLEP. This is an emergent area and important to continue to understand how athletes construct MP.

Chapter 7

Ecological dynamics and motor learning design in sport

K. Davids, D. Araujo, R. Hristovski, P. Passos and J.Y Chow

Takes the view that individuals approach learning from different starting points. Goal is for all learners to achieve ‘experthood’ and for learning to be based on practice that will assist in the attainment of expert practice. Therefore, starting skill or expertise level of learner to be taken into account; understanding of the overall goal of the training needs to be identified; and primary constrains to learning need to be manipulated, or accounted for in the training process.

Chapter 8

The representation, production and transfer of simple and complex movement sequences

C.H. Shea and D.L. Wright

Seeks to explain how understanding the sequence or structure of movement, assist with optimising training. Imagery does not have to encompass the whole task but ‘unravels’ as the task proceeds Example provided is where pianist will retrieve relevant parts of a piece of music, as the instrument is played. Therefore when learning what to ‘upload’ when, it is important to establish movement structure. Learning of movement sequence is impacted by practice extent, schedule and influenced by non-practice factors (for example amount of sleep).

Experts organise the sequence of movement without mental effort, the challenge is to assist novices to learn the task, assist the formation of efficient sequence of movement and be able to transfer the learning to a range of similar tasks.

Chapter 9

Physical guidance research: assisting principles and supporting evidence

N.J. Hodges and P. Campagnaro

Physical guidance involves coaches physically guiding learners movements (haptic guidance) or use of mechanical equipment (passive guidance). Guidance of this sort is recommended for tasks that are difficult to learn and /or might be dangerous to perform without guidance (diving, ski-jumping, trampoline or gymnastics). The pros and cons of guidance of this form are discussed. Recommendations that guidance should be administered through a schedule of ‘fading’ so as to build learner independence; level of guidance and technique to be used determined by individual’s learning needs; and includes active involvement of the learner.

Part 3 – issues in motor learning

Chapter 10

Motor learning through a motivational lens

R. Lewthwaite and G. Wulf

As practice is critical to attaining motor skills, motivation of individuals needs to be also taken into account. Aspects that affect individuals’ motivations include perceived competence; role of positive feedback; and conceptions of ability. Providing learners with autonomy to act on feedback either through coaches of using assisted devices to gather ‘augmented task information and movement demonstrations all assist learners to maintain motivation.

Chapter 11

Motor skill consolidation

M. Tempe and L. Proteau

One of the longer chapters in the book covering some important ideas about how learning is only the first step. Practice is required to ensure neural linkages and strengthened and the relevant motor control areas in the brain are exercised and sometimes enlarged. Sustained practice to consolidate and stabilise performance is required. Practice need not be ‘situated’ or physical but includes ‘offline learning’ – whereby learners ‘digest’ practice and improve performance through perhaps visualisation or internal imagery, rest and sleep. Therefore important to allow time for skills to ‘bed down’ along perhaps with providing strategies to undertake ‘offline’ learning.

Chapter 14

Motor skill learning and its neurophysiology

K.P. Wadden, M.R.Borich and L.A. Boyd

The brain is ‘neuroplastic’. The chapter describes changes in the brain as motor learning is undertaken and consolidates; summarises the current research on what happens to the brain with short-term, within session changes and with long term, more permanent changes; what areas of the brain change during the various stages of motor learning; and what brain networks work together to support motor learning.

Practice and experience leads to recorded changes in brain neural networks and structure.

Part 4 – skilled performance

Chapter 15

The development of skill in sport

J.Cote, J. Murphy-Mills and B. Abernethy

Compares two approaches to talent development in sports. The deliberate practice and one in which later specialisation is possible through development of a range of skills through for instance ‘play’. Findings include early diversification can still lead to later elite performance’ early diversification linked to longer sports careers; early diversification allows for participation and learning of a wider range of positive skill sets; deliberate practice may lead to solid intrinsic motivation; high amount of deliberate practice play establishes motor and cognitive experience that can be transferred to principal sport; end of primary school may be good time to choose specialisation; and late adolescent time to invest in highly specialised training in one sport.

Chapter 16

Anticipatory behaviour and expert performance

B.Abernethy, D. Farrow, A.D. Gorman and D.L. Mann

Overviews the expert performance approach to skill acquisition. In particular summarises and discusses the ability to anticipate or predict events. This skill is important in many sports where speed in decision making and ability to adjust rapidly are important. Includes not only ability to predict fast movement but also have good overview / ‘read the play’ type skills which are important for strategic decision making. Strategies to increase anticipatory behaviour presented.  Visual-perception training approach needs to identify the limiting factor to be improved; device a suitable training medium to address the training need; and ensure improvements lead to enhancement in factor focused on.

Chapter 17

Perceptual expertise: What can be trained?

J. Causer, C.M. Janelle, J.N.Vickers and A.M. Williams

The ‘quiet eye’ approach for training visual acuity in sports like archery, shooting and basketball is backgrounded. Then the range of perceptual-cognitive skills that contribute to athletes being able to anticipate and make decisions in racquet and team sports also discussed. A good follow up chapter 16 and useful for skills requiring accuracy in targeting and visual overviews for rapid decision making.

Chapter 18

Embodied cognition: From the playing field to the classroom

B.Kontra, N.B. Albert and S.L. Beilock

Covers the ground of expertise leading to observable physical / structural changes in brain. Skills attained through practice of motor-skills may transfer across to specific higher-level cognitive activities – like learning language and comprehension of scientific concepts. The chapter uses studies on expertise (London cab drivers) and musicians and studies on embodiment exampled include ballet dancers and capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) practitioners.

Overall, much in this book to constantly dip into for insights. In the past decode, much progress has been made in the sports psychology discipline on skills learning. Vocational educators need to tap into this source of rich literature and work already completed to inform on better ways to design curriculum and engage students learning trade skills.

Bodies of knowledge - report summary

Bodies of Knowledge; how the learning sciences could transform practical and

vocational education (2010). London: Edge Foundation

Claxton, G., Lucas, B., & Webster, R.

This report is a precursor to another published at the end of December on vocational pedagogy - blog entry next week. It is a summary of  recent work and written for educational practitioners and policy makers in all education sectors.  For the school sector to better prepare children for the future world of work and for the further and higher education sectors to change current approaches to vocational education.

The report lays out the argument that learning practical skills and the curriculum of vocational education are no less demanding or complex than ‘academic’ disciplines. They summarise recent research in cognitive sciences, especially in the area of embodied cognition / embodiment (Johnson's book summary) and other ways of knowing to argue the following:

• Doing comes before seeing and thinking
• The body and the mind are closely interlinked
• Our bodies are cleverer that we thought
• Physical movement helps thinking
• Much thinking is not conscious

Therefore, practical and academic learning are much more similar that previously theorised.

The myths surrounding practical and vocational education include: practical learning as being cognitively simple, involves lower order thinking and is second rate; that clever people grow out of practical learning; understanding has to happen before learning occurs; clever people don’t get their hands dirty or to work with their hands; practical learning is only for the less ‘able.

Compares the learning required to become glass blowers, motorcycle mechanic and scholar to be similar in complexities but with different focuses. However, all require the learning of ways of doing and approaching tasks which have commonalities. They call these ‘presence of mind’ and argue the importance of schooling in helping young people learn these important generic skills.  “it is only a very narrow view of intelligence that cabinet ministers are in a sense ‘brighter’ than cabinet makers”

The habits of mind – investigation, experimentation, reasoning and imagination along with frames of mind – curiosity, determination, resourcefulness, sociability, reflection and wisdom, all contribute to the development of ‘presence of mind’.  These are summarised in the 4-6-1 model. 4 habits and 6 frames lead to presence of mind.

The last chapter (chapter 5) also brings in the ‘social contribution’ to learning as the 4-6-1 model focuses on individual learners. Has a good overview of ‘situated learning’ summarising and updating Lave & Wenger’s work. Combines the 4-6-1 model with aspects of activity theory (leading to socio-materialism / sociomaterial approach) to extend understanding on the context of where learning occurs. Of note is a comment on how the authors have not come across work on “how talk between apprentices and those engaged on vocational learning can best be facilitated” – perhaps some of our work on peer feedback  and peer learning is a beginning contribution. Various approaches to teaching and learning are also discussed with regards to relevance to the 4-6-1 model and vocational education.

Footnotes are provided on the side of pages, providing for a few articles / books to follow up. References provide a comprehensive list of contemporary cognitive learning scholarship.

Shop class as soul craft - book summary

Crawford, M. (2009). Shop class as soul craft: An inquiry into the value of work. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Worked through this book in greater detail over the last few days. Second hand book in pristine condition purchased through Amazon, taking about a month to arrive in NZ, just in time for summer weekend when it was too hot to do much gardening or walk in the hills.

I had borrowed the book from the library and browsed through the book when it was first released. This time a good opportunity to read the book in greater depth.  Here are notes taken, summarising each chapter of book.

Introduction provides background on the decline of ‘shop class’ in the U S of A and Crawford’s thesis that the manual occupations are still important in contemporary life due to our reliance on large numbers of material goods. People who make, maintain and repair things are now more important than ever (as per $$ we pay plumber to unblock drains) and yet the education system puts its main emphasis into preparing ‘knowledge workers’.

1.       A brief case for the useful arts. Here the discussion revolves around how manual work can be fulfilling and requiring use of both bodily and cognitive skills. Plus an argument on how some forms of work in the trades, cannot be ‘outsourced’. So American workers in occupations that can be accomplished remotely (accounting, IT, call centres etc. ) may be more at risk to job restructure than builders / carpenters and joiners who build houses.

2.       The separation of thinking from doing. An overview of how thinking and doing has been seen to be either white or blue collar. Some white collar work is now similar to ‘assembly line’ work and some blue collar requires high levels of adaptability and innovation.

3.       To be a master of one’s own stuff. In this chapter, the argument for work to allow individual agency is presented. Plus some history on the development of motorcycles (and cars) from being fixable by the ‘amateur’ to being difficult for even mechanics to get into.  How society has moved from individuals being able to rectify their own tools / appliances / vehicles to machinery becoming so complex (and relatively cheap to replace) has removed individual’s choice to fix and re-use. Yet, it is more satisfying for humans to have input (using cake mix example – all in product does not sell as well as a product that requires the addition of an egg).

4.       The education of a gearhead. The chapter traces Crawford’s development as a mechanic His first experiences as an apprentice in an automotive workshop where he did the boss’s housekeeping before being allowed to clean engine parts. And reflections on learning the complexities of automotive engineering from mentors, mistakes, dwelling on problems, development of individual understanding and knowledge base.

5.       The further education of a gearhead: from amateur to professional. Here Crawford describes his on-going learning as a motor cycle mechanic and self-employed business owner. How he learns on the job by undertaking difficult work on obscure, older models of motor cycles. How he undercharges as some of the jobs take effort to work through beyond what would seem to be commercially viable charge out rates.

6.       The contradictions of the cubicle. Provides examples of some of his ‘knowledge worker’ jobs and how some have become production line orientated, as per his work indexing and abstracting articles, or without clear outputs that lead to job satisfaction (work in a ‘think tank’).

7.       Thinking as doing. Provides arguments and examples of how manual work involves many aspects of having to also use large amounts of brain power. How practical know how is difficult to pin down. Examples include fire fighters’ ‘sixth sense’, common sense and tacit knowledge in automotive trouble shooting (lubricant or air to clean spark plug based on recent weather  activity or if sand is found around the vehicle), the role of being able to ‘ask the right question’ in problem solving, deciphering archaic and poorly translated vehicle repair manuals.

8.       Work, leisure and full engagement. How leisure and work may be complementary. Also how many people now work to earn $$ to indulge in activities that feed their soul. Perhaps some forms of manual work may both earns $$ and be fulfilling.

Concluding remarks on solidarity and self reliance: Summarises the argument – to have a trade skill means having solidarity with other trade workers in the same field (understanding a common language / ethos and practising skills), being attuned to learning from mistakes / failure and yet taking individual responsibility for one’s on-going learning and improvement.

The notes themselves make interesting reading, some revealing Crawford’s personal history, others filling in on the specialist knowledge of motor cycle repair and overviews of various philosophical approaches. The style of writing is readable without being condescending to the reader.

The return of 'making'

Summer holiday reading included a couple of books on the return of ‘making’. Firstly, a book published in the UK by the Crafts Council, edited by D. Charny (2011) called ‘power of making: the importance of beingskilled’ and a book by C. Anderson (editor for Wired Magazine) called ‘Makers: Thenew industrial revolution (kindle version 2012).

Both extol the return to making. Humans evolved as makers of things. The industrial revolution shifted manufacturing into mass production, removing many artisanal , small /family owned businesses. Specialised craft skills and craftsmanship approaches have been lost as a result of the ‘material’ society whereby all products are ‘mass-produced’ / manufactured and purchased from retailers. A similar theme explored in other books, including Sennett’s ‘the craftsman’ and Crawford’s ‘shop class as soul craft’.

Now, it is possible for designers to manufacture their own product through using open source / crowd sourced software / hardware, ability to tap in to specialised manufacturers for components / parts and access to the ‘long tail’ of the market demand curve.  Specialists products / bespoke / individualised items now attainable. Rapid prototying using 3D printers and crowdsourcing lowers time for product development. Availability / democratising of hardware also assist the process. In the Makers book, Anderson compares the example of his grandfather, who invented a system to set up automatic / timed lawn watering. Anderson’s grandfather had great difficulty finding a manufacturer and then keeping control of the quality of the product. In contrast, Anderson himself set up a business that designed, assembled and sold radio-controlled  or robot helicopters. The process evolved quickly, with design and software development in US of A, parts sourced via internet, website took care of sales, just-in time manufacture in Mexico and delivery via the extensive courier / mail delivery system we now all take for granted. Development of hardware and software was completed with a mixture of open-source, crowd-source and mashing, leveraging on global intellectual minds of enthusiasts and specialists. 

Therefore, there is now greater need for skill sets that include conceptualisation of the ‘entire’ making from notion, to design process, to testing and production. The focus of the ‘crafts person’ has also shifted - a book reviewer who is also a cabinet maker details how his business now works. Customised kitchen cabinets etc. are ordered from specialist manufacturers who put together these components using CNC machines. Delivery time 24 hours. Then a need for craftsmanship skills (Pye’s - craftsmanship of risk) to fit the cabinets into kitchens where walls, floors and ceilings are not always guaranteed to be square. So focus has changed from skill sets required to manufacture to problem solving required to work through real-world challenges. Another example of how not all types of work can be ‘outsourced’.  Production of cabinet components may be mass produced but installation still needs to occur in-situ. Therefore, training of young trades people need to account for work skills now required plus include generic skills to learn new technology / new skill sets as the market evolves. 

plans for 2013

Last year, I devoted a large amount of time to reading related to improving ‘learning in the trades’. The literature from sports psychology, learning music/voice/performance arts, expertise, and practice-based learning all contribute much material to work through, evaluate and contextualise.

In the first half of this year, I hope to be embarking on a project that is a continuation of the first year apprentices project. The funding application is still in the process of seeking approval. Apprentices who we interviewed in 2010 will be re-contacted to find out how they went about learning the skills to become trades people. The apprentice cohort in the original first year apprenticesproject will now be near the end or would have just completed their apprenticeship. A synthesis with recent work on vocational learning / pedagogy exampled by booklet from the City and Guilds Centre for learning and the literature I have been working through will inform the outputs from the project. This will be two brochures, one to assist apprentices to enhance workplace learning opportunities and another for workplace and polytech/private provider educators to help prepare apprentices for the challenges of workplace learning.

The second half of the year will be busy with programme design work with several programmes. These include programmes for fabrication/engineering, automotive, tourism/travel, business admin., veterinary nursing and electrical engineering, all interesting subject disciplines, with a mixture of staff capability / willingness to change. This is an outcome of the NZ Qualifications (NZQA) targeted review of Qualifications(TroQ). As programmes complete TRoQ, institutions need to redevelop programmes. At CPIT, we will also be working with strategic direction for increasing flexible and sustainable delivery. We need to build capability with our staff with regards to the pedagogical implications of shifting from content-based to student-focused  and flexible delivery programme design.

There is also on-going work with Ako Aotearoa on their professional development workshop series. Dissemination through journal articles and conferences will also continue. I will also need to continually chip away at drafting and refining articles for submission to peer-reviewed journals. So, looks like another busy and interesting year. 

2012 review

Have a read through my plans for 2012 and evaluate that progress has been made. In general, it has been a quieter (underground) but more productive (above ground) year. The Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub funded project on improving students’ critical reflective practice in front-office reception skills using net tablet to record role plays and ‘virtual tour’ of hospitality physical facilities has gone well. I am in the process of writing up the report and both Debbie Taylor and Heather McEwan have worked conscientiously with their students through several iterations of each part of the project.

The project with Tony Smith and the manufacturing team was not funded externally, but the CED found a small amount of money to get this going. So far we have interviewed several students who completed their programme in the first semester. The findings have been interesting, showing that students perceive ‘literacy and numeracy’ to be ‘work-task’ focused and only seek to engage with activities that will enhance their work readiness.

Dissemination has progressed well. On-going discussions with Ako Aotearoa led to the offering of the professional development workshops centred around vocational education. So far, 7 workshops have been run, involving over a 100 participants. Several more planned for next year, with one in Tauranga already confirmed. The workshops have been great learning for me as well as (hopefully) for the participants. There are so many passionate educators in the ITP and private provider sector, working to enhance learning for their students.

I have also made some inroads in to the challenging area of journal publication. Two journal articles published:

Perspectives of new trades tutors: Boundary crossing between vocational identities. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40(4), 409-421.

Using feedback strategies to improve peer-learning in welding.  International  Journal of Training Research, (10) 1, 23-29.

Two are now in review (both from my PhD) and one in process of submission (from the earthquake case study project). I have found the peer review process to be helpful. Critical comments have been constructive and provide a fresh eye on the article’s argument. I now bear in mind the time taken to get the article through the system. So at least two now in progress with one about to be submitted. Will work on a couple of articles through the summer ‘break’ so that they are ready for submission. Keeping the momentum up is a challenge but I now have a large amount of material suitable for re-working into articles for submission.

Completion of the PhD has freed up time for me to catch up with reading pertinent to finding out more about enhancing 'learning a trade'. Several book summaries have had extensive 'hits' on this blog, signalling that is a gap in the information trail for this type of work. One book summary on Lave's critical ethnography of apprenticeship, was reworked into a book review in the journal - Vocations and Learning. I have found blogging to be a good way to draft, sieve through and consolidate ideas.

I have also enjoyed working with several programmes to improve teaching, mentored new trades tutors and taught one of the Diploma in Tertiary Learning and Teaching programme. So overall, a good year with lots of new learning and challenges.

Will now be recharging the soul with a few tramping trips into the NZ outdoors. Back in early January to begin the 2013 year. 

Nokia Lumia 800 and Windows Mobile 7.5

CPIT has now replaced blackberrys with windows phones. I picked up my Nokia Lumia 800 at the beginning  of the week and have been evaluating its performance with regards to usability, availability of apps and options for mlearning. In general reviews for the Nokia Lumia have been positive as per this post and also in this one.

Useability

Takes 10 seconds to boot. Battery use is high compared to the blackberry or ipad. I usually charge up the blackberry twice a week and get over 10-11 hours use out of the ipad from full charge (so sometimes only charge once a week).  The Nokia seems to require daily recharge if it is left on standby all day and used intermittently to web surf or check emails/calendar. Having access to wifi most of the time will assist with the data plan $$ aspect. Tried out the tips on the official NZ Windows phone site and also picked up a couple of hints from the maximumpc site.

CPIT has organised synchronisation between phone and PC using skydrive. A windows live account needs to be set up first. I found the process to be relatively painless. Once set up, docs., photos and items on ‘personal web’ are accessible between phone and PC. The personal web is also linked to onenote on my PC. The first time I dropped a pdf journal article into the PC skydrive, access on the phone was almost instantaneous. Skydrive then asked if pdf reader needed to be installed to read the pdf. So generally intuitive for this aspect. Synching with contacts on outlook also straightforward.

However, going back to reading on the small screen after enjoying the larger screen on an ipad takes some getting used to. Landscape mode works a bit better and font size can be increased by ‘pinch and open gesture’ although continued scrolling will mean my preferred mobile ereader is still the ipad.

Apps

Took an hour or so to get used to the various ways to access apps. The touch screen is sensitive, so had to get into the habit of light touch in middle of screen to scroll up/down through the tiles. Otherwise, heavier touch on a tile would launch the app. 

A range of apps recommended on honeytechblog. Kindle app synched into my existing archive and I was able to download selected books speedily. Readability better than with the Adobe pdf reader.

A nifty app is the NZ radio – providing the ability to tune in to radio stations and listen to music while also working on other tasks.

Other apps relevant to NZ is the NZ Herald (the ipad version is more visually attractive) and Air NZ to process etickets. The Maps app works well and I tried out the Nokia maps while driving. I am not a great fan of using GPS but found the Nokia map app to work well. The app marketplace seems to have a reasonable selection of apps, with many familiar iOS and Android apps featuring in their Windows form. 

Mlearning

There is NO front camera.

Access to Moodle was straightforward but the login page came up minuscule! As did the course pages.

There is a smaller selection of apps for 'education' and this site, provides examples of apps to increase learning capacity.

NO screen shot capture!! This is one feature I use to copy maps in to my ipad photo gallery for reference when out of wifi range. Will be able to use mobile data but sometimes good to have a couple of maps for reference as well.

In general, our students tend to own Android smart phones or have ipad touches. Iphone with dataplan still expensive on a student budget. Have not come across any student with a Windows Mobile phone as yet. So Windows phones might be a similar category to blackberrys, mainly a corporate / business phone rather than one used as a personal phone. iphones and Android phones seem to be more for personal use.We need to continually be conscious of what our students use as bring-your-own device is now pretty much the norm.

Overall

The phone is perhaps just a tad large for my small hands and weightier that the blackberry pearl I have had since mid-2009. Getting used to a slightly different way to accessing apps and working through them was relatively straight-forward. With skydrive and access to Kindle archive, I can use the phone for reading and editing of documents on the hop. Will play with the camera over the weekend, especially to try out app options for panoramas, a list of options on this blog.

Ako Aotearoa academy symposium - day 2

Day beings early with breakfast with Dr. Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa director. Peter provided an update on Ako Aotearoa direction and business plan. Also engaged members in how the academy may fit in to the new business model. Although the mission and vision of Ako Aotearoa remains the same, there is government direction to improve student outcomes, improve parity of success for Maori and Pasifika learners, improve progression to higher levels of study and improved consistency of academic standards. Currently tertiary sector still highly fragmented, still allows mediocre delivery, not good at collecting evidence of added value but also allows great teaching and learning to happen. New Ako Aotearoa model is to expand level of activity, demonstrate value of Ako Aotearoa to sector and leverage organisational change. Some achieved via income generation and co-funding. Priority to projects that enable change, work in partnership with organisations and stakeholders and development and deployment of professional development opportunities. Academy already assists with a range of activities, but encouragement to engage with future professional accreditation scheme, partial funding by sponsorship. Involvement in organisational, National and regional projects.

Then a session with Dr. Kirsty Weir on the various national and regional funds available from ako Aotearoa. I present examples of projects that ako Aotearoa has funded and also provide some pointers for writing proposals and the support provided by ako Aotearoa to prospective applicants.

Parallel sessions begin after morning tea. I attend the session with Dawn Garbett on constructing a pedogogical identity. Originates in Dawn's research using self- study and teacher identity. Self study is to look at effect of teaching on students, not just an introspective process. Involves recording teaching stories to derive themes. We participated in an activity, using card sorting, to work our own teaching approaches.

Before lunch, Alison Holmes returns to discuss responses to the questions on accreditation she distributed yesterday. Challenges with keeping accreditation of tertiary teachers voluntary and based on model of continuous professional development. Important the process is not just another compliance requirement. Levels of accreditation maybe useful to engage educators who are at different stages in their developments as teachers.

After lunch, the session I attend is with Adrian Woodhouse on assessment strategies for transforming from "yes, chef" to "why chef". A design - based culinary arts degree replacing traditional master/apprentice, behaviorist model. The new degree adopts a constructivists, co-created and facilitation model. Programme has 3 years, year 1 is welcome to world of culinary arts, year 2 is being a culinary designer an in year 3 is to decide on my place in the culinary world. Learning environment is problem-based where theory and practice is intertwined and assessment IS learning. Referred to paper by horng, hu, Lin et al (2006) - link to 2009 paper - on culinary creativity. Need to connect students world with the world of culinary arts. Traditionally show, tell, observe, practice and apply , so, new approach to understand underpinning theory and develop new product. Use theme to provide opportunity for learner to connect with own world and to world of culinary - example develop a childrens' inspired dessert e.g. Peter rabbit. Examples of student work on facebook page.

Home groups meet to share on other parallel sessions.

The 2012 members are welcomed and a short session on "where to from here?"

A poroporokai closes the symposium. Overall, a slightly more informal symposium with a good range of sessions to cater for the diverse needs and teaching contexts of the participants.

Ako Aotearoa academy symposium - Day one

The annual gathering of NZ tertiary teaching excellence award winners convenes today and tomorrow for the fifth Ako Aotearoa academy symposium. Good to catch up with familiar faces and a chance to meet the 2012 award winners. This year CPiT is represented by members of the restaurant bar and wine team and one of the chef tutors from the 2003 team award.

A busy programme all day today including symposium dinner. Tomorrow the day begins with breakfast with Ako Aotearoa director, Dr. Peter Coolbear.

Session one after the welcome mihi is with Tim Fowler from NZQA Quality Assurance. Provided an overview of NZQA direction regarding qualifications in the next few years. First focus is in 'outcomes' driven by government policy and funding structures. Outcomes can mean different things to each sector but from NZQA it is to try to improve outcomes through qualification restructure.
Biggest issue and challenge is the targeted review of qualifications (TRoQ) to create robust qualifications that are easy to understand by learners, educators and employers. Reduce 6000 qualifications to 1200.
International education important as a way to bring $$ into NZ. Need to not only increase international student numbers but also to allow NZ educational institutes to teach NZ qualifications overseas.
Also just approved 180 credit masters degree now approved to be available.

Home groups are formed with 7 groups of 6 to 7.

A practice session of the academy song -tenei te karanga - followed.

Pre - lunch session was A panel discussion, focused on 'what is success?' with Mark Brown, Sam Honey and Welby Ings.

Alison Holmes introduced an Ako Aotearoa initiative on an accreditation system for tertiary educators in NZ. Argued for a need to establish a professional structure for tertiary teachers so that tertiary teaching is valued and better supported. Feedback to Alison via email on the questions posed in the discussion paper.

Concurrent sessions in three streams follow lunch.

I choose session with Oriel Kelly on - refreshing the elearning guidelines. Reported on applying then NZ elearning guidelines project (2006). Addressed learner centredness, good practice etc. while taking perspectives as teacher, manager, administrator etc. project is to refresh the guidelines by adding a broader range of stakeholders e.g. Quality assurance, industry etc.
Areas also broadened to include learning support services. Workshopped a draft with each of us taking on a perspective (different hat), an area and guideline area. Hats include QA, organisation leaders, manager, teachers and learners. Area include design, relationship, outcomes, support. And guideline areas are learning,improving, collaboration, enhancing and future proofing.

Then I present findings from work with Debbie Taylor on applying principles of deliberate practice and feedback to improve learning of front office skills using role play. Opportunity to try out a few apps that assist the reflective learning process also included.

After afternoon tea, student panel of Sharon Robbie, Mary Ellen Orchard and Tom Sheehan provided a student point of view. The students talked about their sense of what is success and what sorts of support worked well for them.

Home group catch up, with group members sharing feedback on thensessions they attended, closes official section of the day.

We meet early evening for launch of Maxine Alterio's book.

Dinner in the evening closes a busy day.

CPIT lunch time PD session: Mobile learning apps

The CPIT Centre for Educational Development (CED) and the Learning Technologies Unit (LTU) has been running a series of professional development sessions this term. Today’s lunch time session was on mobile apps. Almost 30 tutorial and learning support staff attended. Katrina Fisher provided some examples of the work she has been doing following completion of the Ako Aotearoa net tablets project. Included is the work on developing video content supported by quizzes and glossaries that students access via Moodle. Shifting content from tablet to Moodle opens access to web enabled hardware.

Sam Hegarty then provided a show and tell of several useful iOS apps.He started with evernote as a good option to upload content on to the cloud and access through a range of devices and operating systems.

Nearpod was met with great enthusiasm. This app allows a teacher to share the image on their screen with other iOS devices. The app includes options for quizzes, sketching, polls and picture/website/video sharing. Something we will need to test with a large number of tablets through a CPIT wifi site. The app seemed to run in a timely manner during the demo when there were about a dozen devices accessing the site.

Socrative was recommended by one of the staff as a multi-platform alternative although it did not have quite all the options that were available on Nearpod. Its main objective is to be a ‘student or audience response’ system.

Educreations allows a recording of a lesson in the form of whiteboard notes and audio. Photos can be attached and annotated. Basically a screen capture plus voice recording of a short interactive ‘learning presentation’. 

By a nice coincidence, Derek Wenmouth’s blog today was on Bring your own device (BYOD). This was one barrier raised by staff – the expense of obtaining tablets and the lack of support for non-windows OS devices at present. Therefore, an important next step is to establish institutional BYOD policy that is visible to staff and students, providing clear guidelines on what is institutionally supported.

Bounce - book overview

Syed, M. (2010). Bounce.the myth of talent and the power of practice. London, UK. Fourth Estate.

This book has an excellence in sporting achievement focus, stemming from Matthew Syed's background as a competitive table tennis player. It is along similar lines to Gladwell’s book Outliers - summarised in earlier blog, covering some similar ground but providing an update through the use of more recent work on psychology and neurology. The sports focus keeps the book tight and there is much information of relevance to trade skills development.

There are 10 chapters in 3 parts with parts 1 and 2 of most relevance.

Part one covers the ‘talent myth’ and similar to Outliers, spells out how the path to sports excellence relies on a mix of being at the right place and the right time; having connections with the right people; and possessing the discipline and diligence to engage with deliberate practice over a long period of time.

Part two brings in the ‘paradoxes of the mind’ with the role of motivation and the placebo effect. Chapter six on ‘the curse of choking and how to avoid it’ provides an interesting read of the danger of collapsing under the strains and pressures of external expectations and provides tips for the individual on how to surmount this hurdle.

All in, part one provides a good overview of the learning involved in getting to become an expert. There are summaries of current literature and good examples of application of these studies to sports training and development are provided. The book is also written in an easy to read style, explaining concepts in sports psychology with clarity. 

NZ ITP conference - part of day 2

In Wellington today to do a short presentation on the 3d project as part of presentations in number of 'innovation for industry ' projects. The conference is for management and council members of institutes of technology and polytechnics in NZ.

Managed to get in in time for the last keynote of the morning from two industry representatives, Frank Dean (service manager) Gen-i Southland and Davey McDonald ( owner and manager) from Ortega Fish Shack. Both provide employers' and ex-students' perspective on vocational education's contribution to individual's life aspirations. Both are successful and were supportive of flexible delivery options, allowing integration of work and study. Appreciated ITP 's small class sizes, hands on learning activities, industry relevance of learning content and assessments and tutor's currency with industry. Both spoke realistically about their vocational choices, parent's influences on career choice and support for completing qualifications part-time while working full-time. Recommended need to keep up with play with regards to technology, approaches, collaboration, contribution of technology to extending learning and workplace connections for students.

Innovation presentations in 2 concurrent streams with 5 projects presented in each. There were more projects submitted than time allocated so several other projects will have presentations featured on conference website.

I attend the ones in the stream I am presenting in.

First up, Dr. Juan Pellegrino, also from CPIT who presents on 'supporting international expansion of SMEs'. Covered aims, rationale, methods, sme partner, issues and interim findings. Used case study to build narrative and the focus group of academics to study how sme could work through challenges along with linkages to current literature on innovation.

Dr. Ken Simpson and Diana Sharma from Unitec on ' relationships between ITPs and local business sector collaboration' - TEPU - the platform. How to encourage academics and industry to form a bridge. Could take at least 5 years with a report now about 2 years in. At the moment regular monthly meetings and hospitality exchanges at now has a draft collaboration proposal submitted. So build understanding first and then formalize. First up jointly establish a business development capability unit. Either to get better at what they were doing and assist to move into new or unfamiliar. now have 11 objectives to assist businesses to grow and to share institutional infrastructure.

My presentation next, centering around how to leverage the installation of a 3D printer to encourage institution and industry collaboration. Including rationale for project, summary of initial literature review and recommendations from this. Data from pre printer arrival presented along with some data from post printer.

Then from Eastern Institute of Technology with a group of researchers (viticulture Dr. Mark Krasnaw and business Dr Frina Albertyn) on a specialised industry project to reduce rot in vineyards through early non chemical defoliation. Need for outreach with stakeholders, then develop project, implement, analysis of data and dissemination of results and how to encourage uptake of new technology.

Last up, Jimmi Rosa from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (BOPP) on the development of a elearning tool for dentists. A project initiated by industry for an ITP to design and develop a specific elearning tool to provide information on dental equipment. Reference used from Bakker et al. 2011 and Schindler and Epper, 2003, activity theory (Engestrom) and knowledge reuse (Markus, 2001) to evaluate efficacy of knowledge transfer. Projects involved staff, students and industry partners. Project website http://triohub.com/demo

Off after presentation to fly back to Christchurch so will catch up on several other presentations of interest once they come up on the conference website.

Practice based education summit Sydney 2012 April – checking out web archive

Was unable to be at the practice-based education (PBE)summit, held in Sydney in early April this year. An Ako Aotearoa meeting at the end of September and touching base with one of the presenters at the summit, Dr. Dale Sheehan, reminded me to check through the summit archives. I now also see that presentations have been uploaded to youtube.

Presentations of interest are from the following with powerpoints and videos of each presentation available:

Professor Stephen Billett on Learning through practice: Origins, practices and potentials which contains aspects from his book on Vocational learning as summarise in recent blog.

Professor David Boud on the practice of practice-based education.

Professor Joy Higgs presented on pedagogies relevant to practice based education

Dr. Dave Sheehan talked about her projects around the education and training of doctors with PBE and the next generation of general practitioners.

The 2013 summit website also now up and the main Education for Practice Institute has pertinent information   and useful resources.