Ulearn 2020 - Keynote #1 -Janelle Riki-Waaka on redefining success for all learners

 Ulearn, the elearning conference for the schools sector in NZ, is now an online conference for this year. Since there have been a paucity of relevant conferences due to the pandemic, many of our team are attending this conference this year. Due to other work commitments, I will be viewing keynotes (2 today and 2 tomorrow) over the next few days and then thrawl through the other presentations at a later date for relevant presentations.

Janelle Riki-Waaka

Offered the opportunity to re-imagine learning and also the associated outcome of success. Encouraged teachers to hope on the ‘waka’ which aligned with their objectives. Everyone in the waka needs to paddle in the same direction and therefore aspirations of all in the waka needs to be the same.

How do we define success? Not one definition of success works for all learners so it is important to work out what success means. Queried whose voice is missing from the conversation? Need to ensure we have all, who are impacted on, to provide their perspectives. Will learning has designed contribute to learners’ aspirations. How can we discover the unknown potential in our learners? Education is to help learners find out about what they are good at, their passion and attributes. Need to remove the F word (failure) – as failure is not just something borne by the learner. Important to not only teach the engaged but also re-engage those who are unsure about their educational purpose. Shared her experiences at school and compared to those of her son twenty plus years later. Onus still put on learners to be responsible for their learning but not all have the social capital or support to ‘succeed’. Important to look at the overall system and to gauge the ways individual learners and their supporters view success. The current emphasis on ‘school-based’ definitions of success needs to be re-negotiated. Some of the traits of independent thinking and assertiveness, are not necessarily supported at school. Instead, the predominant cultural viewpoint is sustained, leading to dis-engagement but those whose ideals do not match. Challenged teachers to reimagine success in a uniquely Aotearoa way. Quoted Ta Aparina Ngata’s call to not look to the past but to innovate into the future. Assimilation into the dominant culture, as the current school objective has not worked. Surveyed Maori and non-Maori adults as to what they considered was important at school. All value reading the most and Maori’s valued digital literacies above others. With skills, communications was highest. Problem solving, critical thinking, creativity also slightly higher valued by Maori. Attributes had kindness and respect being high valued. History and cultural awareness /heritage, valued higher by non-Maori. Overall, attributes were most valued followed by skills, than cultural awareness and then literacies.

Proposed the use of personalised criteria to measure success – based on attributes, skills, cultural values ad literacies. Grades may not always be appropriate. How do we grade an attribute – since it shifts with context, development and motivation. How do we grade being brave, able, bold?  A scaled approach to  show progress more informative and formative. Success needs to be defined by learners, not the system. Failure replaced by potential and passion!

A good year for educational designers ??

 This article by Michael Sankey and Amanda Bellaby  hit a chord with me this morning. This year has seen learning design / educational development / education design attain greater visibility. The disruptions caused by instituional 'closures' has led to unprecendented call on support to shift courses into the online space.

Educational design, as per the article, encompasses course design, academic mentorship, project manatement and educational research. As such, it is a discipline combining aspects of academic teaching development, curriculum/instructional design and nowadays, a strong requirement to understand the potentialities and workings of digital technologies which contribute to enhancing learning. As such, it is a demanding area of work, requiring continual professional development to keep up with the constantly developing educational 'technologies' and maintain pedagogical integrity.

In NZ, there are qualifications for 'learning design' but these have never been uplifted by providers and used. The recent review of the qualifications have thankfully retained and updated these qualifications, in light of the recent visibility of 'learning design' work. Hopefully, going forward, Te Pukenga / NZ Institute of Skills and Technology, will take up  the gauntlet and support the development of programmes of study for learning design, Only then, will there be a pathway for those now working in 'learning technologies' or in community / institutionally situated 'adult learning' and teaching, to be able to take into the field.

Te Pūkenga - NZ Institute of Skills and Technology - official name launched

 

Yesterday, Te Pūkenga was launched as the offical neame for NZIST. All the polytechnics are currently operating as Ltd. until April 2022 and will merge into Te  Pūkenga along with the ITOs (Industry Traiining Organisations).

The CE and DCEs are now all appointed with the CE, Stephen Towns starting in his role in July and all of the DCEs will be on board by November. We should see some movement by early next year, beyond the release of the interim planning documents.

Teaching on-line resources

 There has been a large amount of energy poured into supporting the shift to online learning due to the closure of educational institutions as a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic.

Through Proffesor Mark Brown's LinkedIn post, comes this link to a large collection of resources. 

The resources are largely from higher education, produced by universities to support their lecturers. 

There is a useful list of research reports (see 5.7) of relevance for reference and this is followed by a section on the planning for the new future of education. In sum, these resources call for the need to have a longer term plan, strategy and vision, going forward beyond 2020.

A good site archiving contemporary material and the responses to the pandemic as things evolve. 

kick off workshop #20 - research informed teaching

 Today's lunch time session, and the last of this year's 'kick-off' series of professional development workshops from Ara Institute of Canterbury, is on 'research informed teaching.

Dr. Michael Shone and I facilitate the session with four of our researcher lecturers presenting their take on how they integrate research into their teaching. Talei Howell-Price from events hosts the session.

After welcome and housekeeping from Talei, I run through an overview of the session. Michael then speaks on various ways research informed teaching may be defined, drawing from recommendations provided by the NZ Universities group. These are research-informed teaching, research-led teaching (which can be research-orientated, research-tutores or research-nased learning).

Then each of the presenters provide their examples:

- First up Dr. Hossein Askarinejad from the Department of Engineering and Architectural Studies sets the scene by rationalising the reasons for connecting research with teaching including the needs to develop higher order thinking and sense-making skills with students; the job market seeking people who have novel thinking and are adaptable; and the requirements to work with data etc. to inform practice. Provided a continuum between teacher and student focused ways to link research to learning (Turner & Wuetherick, 2006). Followed by examples from his own teaching practice. Problem-based learning and the use of BYOD to allow inquiry-based learning during sessions supported.

- Then Dr. Bronwyn Beatty from the Broadcasting School described how to engage students with the research aspects of a largely practice-based, applied learning programme through participation in authentic simulated and work-based learning environments. She detailed the concept of media ecology, and how this is introduced to students. Research teachers improves knowledge, allowing it to be brought into teaching. Of importance is the small amount of NZ research. Access by students to these provide better contextualisation and currency. Students conduct projects at each year of the three year degree, gradually increasing in complexity and work on individual and team projects. One good example is for students to replicate NZ studies, to update the data and findings as social/political factors evolve. This helps students realise the role of research and allows them to experience and learn research.

- Next, Dr. Peter Olson from the Department of Applied Sciences and Social Practice provided an overview of his research in sports sciences and how students are engaged through participation with projects.Described how he shifted from unversity type research to applied research by forming networks and relations with 'industry'. These create opportunities for teachers and students to apply theory to practice via participation in real world projects. 

- Dr. Andrew Frost, who teaches in the Social Work programme then provided an example of a project with students Randolph Grace and Anthony McLean whereby students participated as research assistants. Presented on the context and details of the project, methodology and discussed findings.

Brief discussion on 'principles' for incorporating research into teaching at Ara then ensued. 

Question and answer session followed with questions on scaffolding research and incorporating research at various levels of student study. 

A good session showcasing the applied nature of research at Ara and the calibre of research undertaken. 

Kick off session #19 - supporting/supervising post-grad students

Today's lunch time session was a workshop on supporting or supervising post-graduate students at Ara Insitute of Canterbury. Post-graduate programmes are relatively new at Ara and currently, three programmes are offered. One in Nursing, one in Creative Arts and one in Sustainability Practice.

Talei Howell-Price from events hosted the session. Dr. Michael Shone and myself facilitated the session with Michael providing the overview of definitions, models, guiding principles and Ara policies and resources.

Firstly, Michael shared some definitions post-grad student supervision.

We were supported by two lecturers who presented their perspectives.

- Dr. Tony McCaffrey - brought in his context as a lecturer on the Bachelor of Performing Arts and Post-Graduate Diploma and Master of Creative Practice. He summarised his approach as assisting students to find their voice and identity and to critique their own personality-derived creative performance/practice. It is important for students of creative arts to know where they are from , their turangawaewae (of where they belong) and this is central to their work. There is a balance between engaging the student in critical research and in helping their voice to be heard and articulated.

Explained there are many 'modalities to performance research. Provided a list of 26! Helping students make sense of all of this complexity is an important aspect given that performance research is also a team effort. Students bring their embedded practice, knowledge and experiences of colonialisation, their own cultures' expectations and assumptions. Empathy is an important aspect of supporting the students to 'ask the questions about performance' and not so much to 'find answers' but to enter into a discourse.

- Dr. Allen Hill - Teaches on the Master in Sustainable Practice. Drew on his experiences as research coordinator in his previous position at the University of Tasmania which had 120 post-grad students at a time. One of his roles was to assign supervisors to students and projects and another was to deal with stuff when things went wrong. He cautioned on just depending on one's experiences of being supervised and the need to be critically reflective of the process, and the need to be adequately trained for the role.

Apprenticeship model may not be the best approach as it depends on what students bring, the supervisory team's strengths and the type of project being undertaken. The important thing was to establish communication, and an alignment of expectations, assumptions and shared understanding early on. It is important to be humble, recognise and acknowledge the presence of power relationships, work respectfully and encourage collaborative and reciprocal relationships.

Shared that the supervisory role is one of the most enriching aspects of teaching at post-grad level.

Michael then went through the roles, characteristics, types, expertise required, guiding priciples and Ara policies. It is important to source instructions on the process and allow that the journey is not linear. Supervisor characteristics which are helpful include being available, interested, supportive, providing good and consistent communication, subject (or technical) expertise, career awareness and appropriate conflict resolution skills. A supervisor is a mix of manager, educator and supporter with each role coming up as required through the thesis journey.

Question and answer session closed off the session. All in, a good session to share practice.

Vocations and Learning - Professor Stephen Billett's blog

 This blog provides a good archive of Professor Stephen Billett's woork. It extends on the list provided in this previous post from 2017.

Stephen's university page is also another good place to find a list of his work.

Kick-off #18 - Engaging under 18 year old learners: Super practical tips and tools

An interactive session with Q & A underpinning the session.

Session hosted by Lynette Winter, faciliated by Jane Bates (educational developer) with Chris Habinshuti (humanities), Anna Livingstone (sports) and Adam Brasell (outdoor education).  

Jane covered introductions and introduced the first activity. Think of the time when you were a young learner and had a positive experience and why this was positive. Break out groups formed up to share these perspectives.

Group reconvened and progressed to discussing two themes communication and learning environment.

Chris talked about passion and how teachers who had passion for their work influenced and inspired their students. This helps learners see another side of learning, that interest in a topic can lead to other things. Passion is contagious :)

Anna shared her tips on communication. Setting expectations is important, including for behaviours, standards for work, communications, in-class relationships, activity participation etc. 

Adam covered communications within learning environments. Important to realise not all 'chatter' is frivolous. Identifying relevant chatter adds to discussions and encourages learners to express curiosity, interest and contribute to their learning. Sometimes, extraneous chatter can be 'parked'  for later and acknowledging the importance of contributions is helpful in building a participative learning environment.

Chris shared learning 'stepping stones' activity to help learners see the steps required to complete the course, used at the beginning of the course. Reference to this activity helps reassure students and provides them with a visual guide to progress through the course. The metaphor becomes a shared experience and reference point for each class.

Jane then asked participants to enter any items on communication type hints into the chat not already covered or if there are any questions.

Question on autism - Jane provided recommendation that information offered visually and aurally. Clear instructions and not too many items at one time.

Communication should also include lots of feedback and modelling of 'being a learner'. Learning is hard work and support required. The learning process may have to be 'explained' to learners and that results do not occur instantly but requires effort and time.

Positive learning environments then explored. Each presenter provided some ideas.

Adam maximises the advantages of using the outdoor environment to help create positive learning environments. Important to provide opportunities for curiosity, to be excited about their peers' success and then use these to further celebrate learning success. 

Anna provided the example of getting students' names correct by checking with them during the first session. Therefore important to build relationships with students instead of just a focus on covering content. Through firm relationships with learners, there is better recipocal learning. 

Chris covered the need to have respect for what the students bring with them into the course and to work with them to enhance their strengths. Listening to students also important and ensure everyone's ideas are valued. Learn from students - e.g. Maori from students so they are offering their expertise and sharing experience.

Last item was for each panelist to share challenges and how they were overcome.

A good session for sharing practice.

Kick off session #17 - Learning from neuroscience – cognition and design of learning

 

This workshop will look at the question “From what we have learned from cognitive neuroscience, how do we learn?  How should we teach?”

Derek Chirnside, educational developer at Ara Institute of Canterbury Ltd. Provides a consolidation on the various neuroscience concepts introduced in previous kick off sessions.

Summarised insights around cognition and learning based on cognitive neuroscience and to stimulate thinking on how to connect these to teaching.

Used recent experience at ‘bagel school’ to provide examples of what worked and what did not. Used Ausubel – the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner brings with them into the learning. Revised how working memory works – how many items can be held in the brain at once and how long the brain is able to engage with learning (perhaps 15 – 20 minutes).

Revised cognitive load theory. Extraneous load (noise, distractions) is not useful. Intrinsic load is the items being processed – new learning, linking to past learning etc. Germane load is the effort required to process the learning.  Therefore, do not talk to long, chunk your delivery, take breaks.

The pause procedure is useful in reducing load. Breaks in long lectures help with processing and later recall. Recommended to train your students to take ‘thinking breaks’ and to ensure students know that learning is not always easy (desirable difficulty is useful in progressing learning).

As a teacher plan transitions, instructions and have clear goals.

Revised the information processing model – working memory and long term memory with schema being the things that are formed by individuals to represent concepts etc. (encoding)

Highlighting and just reading notes does not lead to deep learning. Retrieval practice is more effective as it creates the neural pathways required to achieve ‘fluency’.

The reason 3 exposures to concept etc. works because of the ‘forgetting curve’. Interleaved practice is better than repetitive practice of a single skill/concept. Instead of doing xxx.yyy.zzz. do xyz.zxy. yxz

Cramming not recommended by spaced learning more effective. Elaboration also useful as it causes learner to have to re-interpret/re-explain something they have learnt, leading to reinforcement.

Shared the work on cognitive overload from Sweller - worked example effect,, redundancy effect, Split attention effect, modality effect

 Had to then leave for another meeting!

Project Zero (Harvard University) thinking routines toolbox

 One of the aspects of the shifts in educational direction and strategy cased by the pandemics, is the need for all to be more circumspect and develop deeper critical thinking skills.

Without 'looking outside the box' we are doomed to repeatedly rely on the known when the current situation may require new ways of doing and being.

Alan Hoskin introduced our educational developer team to the thinking routines toolbox developed by Harvard's Project Zero. These thinking routines arise from a series of projects run through the Harvard Graduate School of Education for sharing with the wider educational community.

Although many of the projects are focused on school contexts, the learning from the many projects are applicable across all educational sectors. The entire website is always worth a look through for updated resources. 

Kick off session # 13 – Nathan Wallis on the teenage brain

 

In this session, Nathan Wallis shares his ideas on the teenagebrain. As per previous presentation (2015), Nathan provides a good overview. 

Alan Hoskins facilitates the session. This time around Nathan begins with the anatomy of the human brain, with the 4 brains. Re-emphasised that 3 of the brains are presents in all mammals. Humans have a well evolved brain 4 – the cortex with the frontal cortex the most relevant to today’s presentation. The frontal cortex takes time to develop fully and is essential in development of our emotions, conscience, empathy etc.

Explained the function of brain scans and how they are useful in understanding how we tick. Large scale brain scan studies over the last few years show frontal cortex maturity to be beyond the late twenties and for some people, into the early thirties.

In general, female’s brain mature earlier (between 18 -24) with males much later. The better the nurturing/’data’ during the first 1000 days of life = better language and interrelationship skills going into the future. First born children have major advantages compared to their siblings, due to focussed attention. Therefore, in general, first born females mature earliest. Summarised balancing risks (single parent, parent in jail etc.) with advantages/resilience (one parent at home during first year, two parents, active grandparents/extended family, bilingual, music learning).

Returned to importance of brains 1, 2 and 3 which are conduits to brain 4. Brain 1 referred to as the survival brain. Brain 2 controls movements and brain 3 is the feeling/emotional brain.

Shared Perry’s neuro-sequential model (2002) as an overview. Revealed the 4 brains using human development from birth to adolescents using the neuro-sequential model. The frontal cortex tends to have to do a re-wiring around 14 – 17 as it deals with the developments required to mature. Hence, the teenage years are challenging.  10 year olds often have better emotional control than 15 year olds! Adolescence involves putting the frontal cortex onstream from 19% to 90%. Adults use 90% and use this to logically think through impact, consequences etc. Teenagers unable to engage the large frontal cortex input required and return to the emotional/limbic brain.

Introduced the need for balance within brain activity. When brain 1 is active, the cortex is less so and vice versa. To effectively use the cortex, requires the brainstem to be calm. Therefore, if brainstem is disturbed, learning is not supported. Explains why mindfulness is useful as it helps relax the brainstem. Connecting new/challenging learning with learners’ context/interests/motivations helpful in getting the frontal cortex up. Accessing cortex during exam is better if limbic system is relaxed. Recommended ‘boxed breathing’ as one way to calm down so the cortex is engaged to its maximum capacity when required.

Recommended the following to help learners learn. Use cognitive training to help learning occur – tell them what to do (not what not to do!) – describe the learning that you want – as 25% of the cortex will visualise it. Well-reinforced, this leads to changes in behaviour. Meet needs of the brain stem by calming it down to prepare for learning.

A good overview using good examples to illustrate complex ideas. 

As always, important to remember neuroscience is still on a journey to understand how the human brain works. As per understanding behaviour - see overview of book - behave - "things are complicated. We may understand some of the underlying biological basis for behaviour but there are many contributing factors beyond the biological. There is never one factor or cause, but a multitude of interactions, concurrent shifts, biological and social coevolution etc." 

Micro-credentials - advantages and disadvantages

Read Wendy Cato's linked in post (written within the Australian context I think) this morning and it triggered a reflection on the status and use of micro-credentials.

In NZ, micro-credentials were piloted a couple of years ago. They are now 'mainstream' and the general rule is that they should be 'stakable' rather than strictly standalone. 

Overseas, recent articles support the provision of micro-credentials. For example bbc posted an article on whether micro-credentials could compete with traditional degrees. And todayonline had an article on google courses which promise a shortcut into high paying jobs and what this means for skills training. 

Examples on youtube and individuals' post indicate self-directed learners are able to leverage of microcredentials - possibly in the ICT discipline.

So there is a place for micro-credentials but they really need to be led by individual's learning needs, rather than be imposed. Going down the micro-credentials route may be productive in the short term. However, by the nature of their small size and deep specialisation, microcredentials have limited reach. They are good for just-in-time, keep up with tech/latest processes type learning outcomes. Used as a supplement to broader education, micro-credentials have a distinct niche.

However, saying micro-credentials will replace degrees may be too far reaching. A good general education is still something all should aspire to. The world needs broad and critical thinkers, to help deal with the large challenges posed by climate change, globalisation and the ongoing pandemic. Micro-credentials allow for quick and deep specialisation, required to solve wicked problems. However, the ability to look beyond the narrow confines of ones specialisation are key to creativity and innovation along with the many skills, knowledge an dispositions to understand and work collaborative with others - who may think very differently from ourselves.

So as with everything,there are pluses and minuses to micro-credentials. The important aspect is to ensure the completion of small components of learning, helps people achieve work outcomes. However, to also remember, that qualifications of any sort, must not lead to 'dead ends' given the speed at which the future of work is evolving.

Kick-off session #12 - Powerful and authentic assessments

 Today's lunch time kick-off session was facilitated by Jane Bates, one of our team of educational developers at Ara and hosted by Marion Hale. The topic covered was on powerful and authentic assessments, in particular the transfer of learning to work. 

Jane provided an overview before several lecturers (Michelle Thompson from nursing, Dr. David Weir from computing and Dennis Winter from architecture) provided examples of their assessment practices. 

Jane began with key points towards ensuring assessments enhance students' learning and work readiness. Reviewed the concepts of 'work ready' vs 'work ready plus' graduates; and the Ara teaching and leanring framework. Work-ready plus draws from the work of Emeritus Professor Geoff Scott. Work readiness includes generic/transferable skills and role and discipline specific skills and knowledge required for effective practice. These could be thought of as competencies. Work ready plus also includes capabilties like personal (self awareness, decisiveness, commitment), interpersonal and cognitive skills and knowledge. 

Summarised the Ara teaching and learning framework which takes us to 2022. Key attributes or capabilties include graduates being critical thinkers, able to act sustainably, communicate effectively, innovate, be cuturally intelligent and responsible. Provided link to access the framework.

Emphasised the need to ensure assessments are embedded into teaching and learning processes. Referred to presentation by Arun Pradhan who referred to 21st century requirements including digital fluency, learning to learn skills, problem solving, working collaboratively and empathy and the T shaped graduates with both disciplinary and broad soft and cross-functional skills.

Defined power assessments as high quality assessment practices that address key employment competencies and personal, interpersonal, and cognitive capabilities.

Assessments have to be authentic and demonstrate what people can do, are problem based and directly related to what is being learnt. Graduates need to have industry skills and knowledge but also the personal, interpersonal and cognitive capabilities to adapt to the challenges of the future of work.

Michelle shares her example, first year nursing students reinforcing communications skills as practiced within the health context. Used scenarios and students practice with each other to hone these skills. Used videos to assist with formative feedback and eventual completion of the summative assessment. Nursing have been refining this process for several years.

Dennis shared the architecture year 3 project. The projects are supported with a comprehensive brief as per architectural practice. Students present their project as it progresses with 'crits' from tutors, peers and industry, again reflecting industry practice. An exhibition of students' work and presentation along with portfolio of work also required to evidence their learning. 

David shared the project-based year 3 capstone computing course objectives and results. Year 3 computing students work on an industry led project through a semester. Their results are reported through a report, poster and a presentation. Important to ensure computing students are provided the opportunity to learn key communication and presentation skills.

All the three examples use authentic assessments to elicit students' reflective learning on not only the core knowledge and skills of the discipline but also the occupationally specific dispositions required to be effective professionals. Lecturers model the industry ways of doing and thinking and provide important 'checks' as students progress through the curriculum.

Active discussions ensued after each example is presented.

Jane provided summary - a powerful asessment checklist and examples of powerful assessments- before thanking all presenters and closing the session. 

A decade on from the Canterbury earthquake sequence - What we have learnt

 The week, marks 10 years since the first Canterbury earthquake (Sept. 4th 2010) woke us up with sustained shaking and noise. The local paper remembers the event with a 7 part series of videos.

I blogged on this first event with some sense of optimism as although damage was widespread, there was no lose of lives. However, worse was to come, with the Sept. event triggering the deadly February earthquake sequence :(  This led to significant infrastructural and land damage across Christchurch city. The institute lost access to out city campus for all of the first semester.

Martin Jenkins (then the manager of the Centre for Educational Development) and I were invited by Ako Aotearoa to study the effects of the earthquake on teaching and learning. Our report concentrated on the learning design aspects and how some programmes retained the innovations made during the lost of campus access and others, returned to the 'tried and true'. 

This year, as the pandemic began to affect life in NZ, Ako Aotearoa launched their series of Ako talks with videos of two Christchurch 'earthquake' projects. The above project and another completed by our Nursing department were featured. The learnings from these projects, inform some of the strategies in coping and dealing with the present situation.

Of note is 'being prepared'. One outcome of the Canterbury earthquakes was not only our institute's but the population's ability to cope with sudden challenges to established 'ways of doing'. The word resilience is used regularly but it is more than that. It is also a mindset about not taking for granted various amenities (water, power, electricity) and the knowing that the community is there to support everyone. These intangibles, help people cope and not be wound up in the negatives. Being kind is not just something promoted by the NZ prime minister and government, but practiced on a day by day basis by Cantabrians. 

However, although the Canterbury region and Ara may have been more prepared to cope with the challenges of the pandemic. There are always many things still to be addressed. One is, as summarised in last weeks #8 kick off workshop with student perspectives, the need to continually ensure the institute has information on students' device ownership and prepareness for shifting to distance learning. Every cohort of learners require preparation this semester and into the coming year. The institute needs to also be cognisant of the digital equity divide. Many students do not own laptops or have access to PCs at home. Moving to distance learning needs to acknowledge this and learning design for distance learning must include options of mblend. This is the blended learning using mobile devices and requires careful development, sourcing of relevant resources/tools/apps which are 'vanilla' and will run on the range of mobile devices owned by students.

Kick off series #9 - Flexible learning - engaging learners

This session - on engaging learners with flexible learning approaches - ran from 3 – 4 pm. Alan Hoskin began the session with reference to the work undertaken by lecturers to shift to distance learning using the SAM-R model to unpack how they went about with the conversion.

I then provided a brief overview of the concept of flexible learning – as flexiblility of qualification structure, with learning and assessments negotiated/ co-constructed with learners and the need for tools to support the approach.

Dr. Jeremy Ainsworth overviewed the ‘executive diploma’ a Level 5 business programme. Here, students undertake a recognition of prior learning process before entry. They then complete outstanding learning outcomes through ‘normal’ blended learning to complete the qualification. Jeremy presented on the learning design required along with challenges and advantages for learners.

Roger Blyendaal from the carpentry team supporting managed apprenticeship then summarised their 16 year journey into supporting apprentices. They now have a mobile app for students to upload evidence of their learning; use onenote classroom notebook to complete the ‘bookwork’ section of their learning; use fortnightly f2f sessions (on zoom during lockdown) to support students’ ‘theory’ learning’; and use the 4 yearly visits to ensure workplaces, employers, apprentices are on track with supporting apprentices towards completing their qualification. Roger provided good examples of how flexible learning worked for his students including how they could align their work to the various 'steps and modules' in the once a month day release sessions. 

I then used the two examples as exemplars of flexible learning.Allowing students to assess what they already knew or were already doing at work; facilitating and supporting the co-construction of a curriculum and assessment/s to help evidence the learning; to lead eventually into completing learning outcomes or qualifications.

 

Kick off sessions #8 - Students' and student advisors' perspectives

 

I assist with the facilitation of two sessions today at the Ara Institute of Canterbury Kick-off series of professional development workshops.

Firstly, session #8 with Marion Hale revisiting students perspectives on ‘distance learning’ and then session #9 with Alan Hoskin to introduce the concept of flexible learning - see later blog.

#8 ran from noon to 1 pm. We began with reiterating the importance of the student voice as it is part of Ara strategic focus to have the learner at the heart of learning.

3 vignettes from the session we ran in May were replayed. These were recorded statements from students on how their courses went. In the main, the students appreciated the pastoral support provided from their lecturers and the wider Ara team. They were happy with the many ways lecturers restructured their courses, the use of zoom to run synchronous sessions and access to zoom recordings and resources via Moodle. Challenges were individualised to the contexts of students. Finding resources for learning was difficult for trades student; students with young family found it very difficult to carve out time and space for their own study over the lockdown; most found there was too much communication from Ara coming their way – a balance would have been good.

Statements from student advisors were then played. Our student advisor team support students with outside of course pastoral care. Their perspectives were enlightening with respect to two important items. The first is the issue of digital equity. Many students did not own a laptop or have access to a PC. Mobile phones were not sufficient for distance learning structured around using a laptop or PC. Access to WiFi/mobile data was also difficult for some students. The other issue was the implication of withdrawal/deferment. Lecturers advised some students to defer or withdrawal last semester and these now impact on students’ eligibility for student allowance and entry back into programmes. These implication need to be better understood.

We then went through the common themes and discussed how Ara has responded and what needs to be still done to address the themes.

The themes indicate the need to be prepared by ensuring learners and Ara knew the types of digital devices learners had with them to access learning. Lecturers need to introduce the tools likely to be used if distance learning is required. Resources (videos, online quizzes, learning activities etc.) require preparation or finding before distance learning needs to be started up. 

Therefore prepareness are keys to ensuring the next time around (hopefully not!) the online learning experience is less stressful and more enriching for all. 

Adult learning Australia webinar – Professor Stephen Billet on lifelong learning

Second webinar today organised by Adult Learning Australia (ALA) as part of Adult learning week.

Professor Stephen Billett shared findings from his latest project.

Provided an overview of the project which was to try to understand how working age Australians learning progresses and be better supported.

Involved collecting retrospective accounts of participants life histories, monitoring their learning longitudinally and surveying.

Also on the team are Professor Henning Salling Olesen(Denmark) and Professor Laurent Filliettaz (Switzerland) With Professor Sarojni Choy, Dr. RaySmith, Leah Le, Dominka Ohana, Dr. Debbie Bargaille and Dr. Darryl Dymock.

3 phases. 1 – collected histories through 2 interviews. Used both qualitative and quantative analysis. 200 participants.

Phase 2 had to be adjusted to allow for effects of Covid 19 . Map 30 participants’ work-life changes and learning through progressive analyses of their current work and learning

Phase 3 consolidating findings.

Phase 1 findings reported here. Stephen shared stories of two participants, including experiences of a refugee re-establishing in a new country and moving through a series of work as it became available; and an adult with learning disability.

Transitions through working life are important as learning is required to negotiate them. Most accounts of development across the lifespan emphasise stages along with various social and societal factors. Therefore include stages of life, changes in employment status, changes in occupations, changes in location, changes in physical and psychological health/well-being and changes in personal circumstances or lifestyle.

Personal/lifestyle, occupational and employment status are the most frequently mentioned in the sample.

Kinds of learning include language and literacy, cultural practices, the world of work, work/life engagement and occupational skills.

Conceptualised these as initiating factors through changes imposed. The types of learning and development and eventual outcomes of the learning.

Summarised implications for lifelong learning. Personal agency are important. Learning is mimetic. Discovery learning is not sufficient, access to guidance to access socially-generated knowledge, effortful engagement and external support required. In general, learning is goal-directed  but may not be singularly focused, long-term strategic or coherent. Therefore, individuals’ ‘education’ across working life is personally shaped. There is need to account for the continuities of transition.

Mediating factors include educational provision and community of the person.

Summarised main points. Lifelong learning needs to be broad, to meet the diverse needs of learners as each has different circumstances and goals through the life course.

Q & A session followed.

Kick off presentation #6 - Arun Pradhan on learning

Sue McBain, team lead for the educational development team introduced Arun Pradhan.

Used a feedback mechanism – thumbs up and thumbs down to provide feedback on the presentation. Used menti.com to present an interactive session.

Began with rate the importance of – to find out what topic is on top.

Introduced a reality check with regards to change. Covid being one challenge of many.

Trends include continued impact of digital and pervasive data; rise of personalised customer experience, refocus on human connection and underlying needs, rise of agility and drive to innovate, reinvent & disrupt,  FAST.

Proposed the overriding questions as ‘how do we survive the robot apocalypse’!

Moved on to discussion the educators’ dilemma. What are the most important skills moving forward. Robots are better are info recall and recording, algorithms / calculations, rule based problem solving, rote/repetitive tasks, physically demanding work.

Humans better had learning to learn and unlearn, empathy, problem solving and critical thinking, collaboration and communication and digital fluency/data intelligence.

Used T shaped skills as the visual – broad soft and cross-functional expertise and deep expertise. Siloed expert has deep expertise and superficial generalist have (or need to have) the broad soft skills. However, T-shaped people have both.

Compared careers in the past (front loading and then predictable career) and now/future (optional front loading and then continuous learning to have adaptive work.

Suggested education as modular solutions, credentialing and industry partnerships, micro-learning in the workflow, position to ‘value add’, flexible and adaptive curriculum and focus on learning how to learn.

Discussed briefly the many myths about learning and introduced alternative – classic, millennial/right=brained/existentialist/ gangnam style learners – which again are myths. Debunked learning styles and the need to be more critical about how learning is understood.

Encouraged the need to understand how to help learning by unlocking blocks to behaviour. Attributes and dispositions are a key rather than skills and knowledge.

Proposed knowledge as being facts and info and mental approaches (assumptions, generalisations and concepts). Interleaved study across several topics and spaced study (study, test, test, test) more effective.

Recommends the minimisation of cognitive load (less content) augment facts and info, used spaced retrieval if facts and info require memorisation and use concepts and mental models (infographics, stories, metaphors).

Therefore, learn less facts but learn more mental models. Important to construct a ‘latticework of mental models’ (Charles Munger) or an expanded cognitive toolkit.  Provided a list of mental models including pareto principle, sunk cost, opportunity costs, ockams razor, A/B testing, return on failure, confirmation bias, scientific method, deliberate practice, Feynman technique, habit forming, EAST nurdge, inversion, circle of competence etc.

Skills development based on deliberate practice (Ericsson) the way to go. Not just 10,000 hours of doing but the ability to act on feedback and to constantly improve. 

Mindset and motivation requires helping learners finding out -what is in it for me  and the need to foster a growth mindset (Dweck).

Environments to support continuous learning also required.

Promoted the application of design thinking for learning design – starting with empathy, define, ideate, prototype, test and refine.

Shared how blended experiences can be designed through engaging the learner, priming with information, applying, connecting, reflecting and embedding. Advocated blended whould be about asynchronous vs synchronous, collaborative vs independent and formal vs experiential.

Good overview of the state of the play on learning from a corporate point of view with a synthesis of many of the current concepts on learning brought together and applied to the challenges of the future of learning. 

Why we make things and why it matters: The education of a craftsman - book overview

 Ebook from local library published 2013

In the vein of Michael Crawford’s ‘Shop class as soul craft’ - see previous blog for summary, Peter Korn uses his life’s journey and experiences to reminisce on becoming and being a craftsman. The book is relatively short. Life experiences are interleaved with his joy and passion when designing and building furniture. See NY Times article for book overview via interview of Korn.

Korn’s parents (father a  lawyer and mother an academic) are surprised at his choice of vocation. He basically falls into woodworking via helping out a carpenter and eventually working on various building projects across the 1960s. The making of a cradle for the christening of one of his friends provides the shift from carpenter to joiner. He documents the many years, trying to make a viable living as a craftsman. Occasionally, he has to seek financial support from his father, who did not understand his son’s interest in manual work.

Korn’s experiences with cancer in mid-life precipitated his decisions to keep going at something he enjoyed and found great satisfaction from. He eventually opens a furniture/woodworking school, the Centre forFurniture Craftsmanship, in Rockport, Maine. Wrote several seminal books onwoodworking.

Video on his work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zweMkuQc3pU provides insight into his philosophy on life, his journey as a wood craftsman and his passion for the craft. The video also shows his immaculately organised workshop.His work encompasses both the design and  the making of fine furniture.

He writes eloquently about the sociomateriality of woodwork, the need to be attuned to the tools, machinery and materials of his work. In short, a worthwhile read about how working with our hands, provides us with much satisfaction, perhaps difficult to achieve with other forms of work. However, my thoughts are that all work requiring expertise is satisfying. The need to put major effort into attaining expertise, requires persistence and preseverance. Without these, experthood is never full realised. Only when expertise becomes embodied, will continued episodes of 'flow' be engaged with. The intrinsic motivation to reach flow, then leads to a loop of work and aspirations in which flow is encountered regularly. Whilst one is struggling to attain experthood, flow may not be triggered as learning and honing new skills is hard work. It is only on getting to expertise that the routine of work, whether it is manual or cognitive (e.g. problem solving, scholarly/ fiction writing) becomes a joy!

Ara Kick off session #4 - Hutia te Punga: Lifting up the anchor - helping integrate culturally responsive teaching

 

Hutia te Punga: Lifting up the anchor a recently completed project to integrate culturally responsive teaching and learning into tertiary institutions to help support Maori learners.

The sessions was presented by Piripi Prendergast from Tokona Te Raki: MaoriFutures Collective.

Heperi Harris opened the session with a karakia and introductions.

Piripi recounted his biography and how he came into this area of research. Drew on the report - 'A journey of many paths' 

Also reported in the local media (The Press) today.

Presentation on work funded by Ako Aotearoa.

Shared a graph which projects the types of work – post covid 19 at the beginning of this year – with the growth in work being for the highly skilled and less growth in the lower skilled jobs. The pathways report indicate many young Maori being channelled into lower level tertiary training, many not completing and therefore falling into the low skilled job categories.

The Hutia te Punga studied apprentices and trainees in carpentry and farming. Two items to carry forward. Firstly, was the Maori success rate was lower than for others. Secondly, the strong ethics of care from the participants – tutors, trainees and supporters.

There was much willingness by the training providers to engage with Maoritanga. Cultural responsiveness was being practiced tacitly.

Shared the resources produced as part of the project. The video of how culturally responsiveness was integrated into a whole institution context. Reviewed the many ways culturally responsiveness was practiced as derived from the video.

Discussed one aspect that helped students to become part of the group. Banter/humour was seen to be useful but requires careful use. Sarcasm and humour with racist/derogatory undertones are not welcome.

Communities of practice by bringing apprentices together every few weeks to share a meal and work through their ‘book work’ was one factor that helped apprentices complete their qualification. Forming cohorts of Maori apprentices a useful process.

Finished with the demographic challenge, older pakeha population and growing numbers of younger people who are Maori and Pacifica. Need for older non-Maori to build relationships to help the younger demographic step up.