Ngā Pātai Whakakīkī - Critical Questions- Prompts
Consider:
What makes my example in the vignette really learner focused?
In my vignette, to what degree will the learners still be under the power of my authority for their learning?
What aspects of my understanding of education and practice are being challenged in this sprint?
What changes might happen in my learners if I use more learner focused education?
What problems in my practice, or education in NZ more generally, would learner focused education solve?
Are there significant differences between ‘student-centered’ and ‘learner focused’? What are they?
Overview
“Today’s education system was built to standardise the way we teach and test. This worked well when most students would progress from school to an industrial job. However, students are expected to perform more complex tasks in today’s workplace, when the current education system does not adequately prepare students for success in career and life.”
There are many learner focused solutions in education. As a result, there are a range of definitions used such as ‘student-focused’; ‘student-centered’ and ‘student-led’. These definitions can sometimes refer to activities that are essentially short term educational approaches. In this sprint we are interested in ways of thinking about education that do more than this and will likely require you to think on a pedagogical level more deeply if you apply them.
In general, learner focused approaches to education are connected with several foundational aspects of education and society. The work of Dewey is one example of learner focused solutions in education. He saw that education was about knowledge that could transform people and their lives not just be about facts and curricula.
In a more contemporary sense, learner focused solutions are also about how to empower learners through student agency and how this is developed through education. For example, Carol Estes draws on Freire's work when she describes the nuances of a learner focused approach through dialogue:
“Freire promotes the use of dialog in place of teacher-led discussion, because through dialog, teachers and students reflect together on what they know, and do not know, and can act critically to transform reality (Shor & Freire, 1987). Dialog implies the absence of authoritarianism and is an epistemological position— in dialog, the teacher does not own the object of study; rather, the students stimulate the teacher’s curiosity, and s/he brings enthusiasm to the students. Together, then, they can illuminate the object of learning. Dialog requires that students participate critically in their own education” (Estes, 2004).
In terms of teaching and learning strategies that are more learner focused there are several to signpost you to. Of note are: Problem-based learning; Project-based learning and learning that is grounded in the Real World such as in local places and communities.
📷
[2018 HQPBL.org.]
Project-based learning is one example and this document is an overview of the pedagogical principles in a project based approach to teaching and learning.
In this sprint we are encouraging you to THINK BIG! THINK NEW! THINK DEEPLY!
We are doing this because to change your pedagogy in ways that encourage learner focused education is quite a big deal. In this sprint we want you to think creatively and unchained from your current restraints and limitations. To do this we have created the vignette task where you can write about an idealised, future focused, example set in your context. Forget the limitations you have in your context for now, just think what you would love to see/do/create in the classroom differently that is learner focused. This example will be the basis of the vignette. We also want you to share your vignette with another MCE peer and get some feedback - there are instructions in the task.
📷
This Ted talk by Shelley Wright (a teacher/education blogger living in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a great introduction to the changes educators can make to more learner centered education.
As you watch the video ask yourself these questions:
How deeply did she need to change her pedagogy?
How did she change as an educator in this process (more confident? Less confident? etc)?
What aspects of her role as teacher changed?
Which of these might you find the hardest?
What were the learners allowed to do in this new approach? Where did the power come from for these changes to happen?
Going deeper into the kinds of changes that Shelly made is captured in a quote from Le Thi Cam Nguyen & Yongqi Gu (2013; 10) in the springboard resources. These authors identify some curriculum approaches to develop Learner Autonomy:
“Curriculum-based approaches focus on the negotiation between teachers and learners. The negotiation is intended to enhance learners’ participation in making decisions on learning content, activities, and tasks as well as to evaluate learning. Curriculum-based approaches take two forms: a weak and a strong version of the process syllabus (Benson, 2001). The weak version involves learners’ project work in which determinations on content and methods are made by themselves (Cunningham & Carlton, 2003; Nix, 2003; Stephenson & Kohyama, 2003). In the strong version, the syllabus is not predefined. Rather, it is selected, organized, negotiated and renegotiated by teachers and learners as the learning goes on (Cotterall, 2008; Dam, 1995).”
These authors also suggest some classroom based approaches on page 11. These are worth noting too. The authors list these as: cooperative learning; portfolios; self-assessment; peer-assessment and out-of-class learning.
In your creation of the vignette, you might find it helpful to use the 7 principles for learning (and evaluative questions) in the ERO springboard resource. These are summarised as:
Learners at the center
The social nature of learning
Emotions are integral to learning
Recognising individual difference
Stretching all students
Assessment for learning
Building horizontal connections
📷
📷
Points of Departure
1.This document is from the ERO but is taken from the OECD project on Innovative Learning Environments that harnesses many of the ideas that exist in learner focused pedagogy. As a document it is a very comprehensive read. There is a ‘practitioner guide’ that can be found here:
The ERO document is found here:
This ERO document has 7 principles of learning and guiding questions to evaluate learning that is learner focused.
2. This article is titled “Teachers' beliefs about issues in the implementation of a student-centered learning environment”. It does have some interesting comments about the definitions of student centered learning and four ‘types’ on page 65
3. This article, titled: “Strategy-based instruction:A learner-focused approach to developing learner autonomy” gives a good overview of the types, and conditions for successful learner-focused approaches in education.
or alternatively use this link Strategy Based Instruction
To access this article - go through Mindlab library and search for the Journal using it’s title in the EBSCO search Database and Ebook link. Then download the PDF.
4. Vignettes and using them to develop instructional strategies in teachers. This paper is useful to read in conjunction with the Vignette task we have set.
5. Dumont, H., Istance, D., & Benavides. (2010). The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD, Paris.
6. Estes, C. A. (2004). Promoting student-centered learning in experiential education. Journal of Experiential Education, 27(2), 141–160.
Timperley, H., Kaser, L., and Halbert, J. (2014) A framework for transforming learning in schools: Innovation and the Spiral of Inquiry. CSE Seminar Series Paper No. 234. Melbourne, Australia.
The Curtain Raiser:
Setting The Scene - Year 1-13, Urban, Area, State School:
Empowerment of the school values of success, manaakitanga, alofa, service and hanga whare are really important in the Haeata Community Campus curriculum. These values will become obvious in all learning and actions of ākonga (students) and kaimahi (teachers). All the learning we design will come from these values.
Ākonga will be at the centre of everything. All learning programmes will aim to empower and improve the wellbeing and achievement of each ākonga. Learning programmes will be significantly personalised. Learning will be centred around ākonga interests and passions, as well as through carefully designed experiences planned by kaiako to broaden ākonga interests and passions.
The cultural narrative written by Ngai Tahu for the East of Christchurch will be a central feature in the development of both the physical environment and ongoing learning programmes. Te Reo Māori and Tikanga Māori will be valued and emphasised throughout the campus.
Haeata Community Campus will push boundaries of traditional thinking about schooling and be open to all possibilities for ākonga to engage in and be empowered to take control of their futures.
Collaborative teaching using flexible learning spaces will be a feature of programme delivery at Haeata Community Campus. This means that each ākonga will work with many different adults over the course of each day and week.
Key Relationships
The key relationship each ākonga will have will first be with their puna Ako teacher, and then with all of the adults in their hapori. There will also be lots of opportunities for ākonga to work with adults in other hapori across the school. The senior leadership team will also be actively working alongside kaiako and ākonga in their hapori.
The Vignette
I would like to use digital technology: 'Virtual Reality' being the platform as a way of enhancing student learning and engagement. Specifically combining VR gaming and Māori language, culture, and values.
The Virtual Learning Journey
Using our school's cultural narrative of the river, students create/design their own interpretation of these 'areas of our school' or 'worlds' of Hikuawa/Well-Spring (yr1-4), Kaunuku/Running Waters or Stream (yr5-7), Kōrepo-Wetlands or Swamp (yr8-10) and Ihutai/Estuary (yr11-13), Kōmanawa/Heart (Maori Medium Learners yr1-7) - They also create/design their own 'avatars': Help Kaia and Maia to explore, discover and navigate how they will go about protecting these areas.
The journey starts in Hikuawa/Well-Spring, as the start of their learning journey into the school system for English medium ākonga. Then as you enter Kaunuku/Running Waters or Stream where knowledge or learning is fast paced, exciting, learning new things and so on. Kōrepo/Wetlands or Swamp then becomes the steady flow of the river where you have a chance to spread out from the stream they have been on, start to absorb a lot of knowledge from characters and/or places, start to develop close and trusting relationships with different characters and discover and explore objects and places that can help them navigate through to Ihutai/Estuary that begins to mix with the sea, where our ākonga are getting ready to leave our safe harbour and journey out into their own ocean.
I would like to see our Haeata VR Cultural Narrative to start off with Kōmanawa Hāpori (not sure about the year level maybe yr5-7s) initially, to see how it goes and to see if there is buy-in from students. It may prove beneficial to narrow the scope to begin with like how Kōmanawa got its name and the cultural narrative surrounding that. If successful, then I would like to see it broaden out school-wide and making it available to all students across the school. What would also be of benefit would be whanau and visitors being able to use the VR themselves and navigate their way through our school cultural narrative.
We already have a VR headset, screen and speakers. The costs for programming with all the recommended specs for 'Haeata VR Cultural Narrative' would be in the thousands. Government funding and/or private businesses would prove superbly beneficial here!
Comments