Monthly Archive for April, 2006

Good boy Daddy! - Intervention and Learning

One shovel at a time“It’s bit tricky for Miriam, Daddy…”, chirps my eldest daughter as she strains to lift the wheel of her loaded wheelbarrow - the most obvious way to change its direction.

“Yeah, I know honey. Wheelbarrows are a bit tricky.”

“Not honey, it’s Miriam!”

While moving some manure onto the garden with my two year old today, I was slapped in the face observing how kids learn in day-to-day life. It’s not obvious how to change the direction of a loaded wheelbarrow when it’s not moving. You’ve kinda got to leave the wheel stationery and walk yourself with the handles in the opposite direction that you actually want to go. Mim would repeatedly do the obvious thing - stand still holding the handles and try to lift the wheel to point it in the right direction. This technique worked fine when the barrow was empty…

Should I intervene and show her the ‘right’ way, or leave her to keep trying so that she can discover a way that works for her? Teacher intervention is something that I’ve been thinking about lots lately in the context of learning… how helpful is it for a facilitator to step in and show the right way? On the other hand, how helpful is it to leave learners feeling like they’re stumbling in the dark and getting frustrated trying to find a way that works?

That's beautiful Mim!“Whoopsie Daddy!” Mim tips the wheelbarrow sideways while trying another technique that seemed to work pretty well when she was moving forward but apparently doesn’t help when you’re not moving. We scoop up the ‘cow poo’ and I enjoy again standing over her, holding her hands on the handles and running through how we can turn the wheelbarrow to face the right direction by walking with the handles while the wheel doesn’t move. It’s the third or fourth time now, and I’m starting to think that the concept of moving the opposite direction from the one you want to point at is just a bit too complicated (out of Mim’s ‘Zone of proximal development‘?).

The question of when (or whether) to show someone a solution to a problem is one that I’m constantly facing at TAFE - especially in our Web Design class where there’s quite a range of learners and quite a steep learning curve. I usually try to encourage people to develop a strategy for attacking the problem that they’ve got (whether it’s isolating the error, googling the problem, or chatting with other learners about an approach). For some learners, this works well, but for others it’s a constant frustration…

“But can’t you just show me how to do it?”

Aah, pulling the barrow is much easierWhen learning a new technique or skill, I think it’s invaluable to have someone with expertise demonstrate how they approach the problem - most importantly, the strategies that they employ to investigate and develop a working solution. And I try to ensure this happens in our class. But sometimes the technique or skill is just a bit too far outside a learner’s “zone of proximal development” and they feel unable to apply the new skill to a problem of their own. In these situations I reckon sometimes it’s just time that’s required to fill in the gaps, and where possible an intermediate solution that might not be the best solution, but can be used by the learner to get the job done without too much frustration.

“Good boy Daddy! Dat’s beautiful.” - mimicks Mim as I tip the ‘cow poo’ onto the garden. We eventually found that it’s much simpler to pull the wheelbarrow in the direction that we want to go. That way there’s no confusion. This solution allowed Mim to enjoy the task at hand without frustration, and without having to learn the more difficult skill of manouvering the barrow when facing forwards. This wasn’t something she discovered herself, but she certainly learned the technique pretty easily as we enjoyed a beautiful father/daughter time together.

Top reasons for blogging in class

“If I had never heard of blogs before, what would be the top 5 reasons that you would give me to start blogging as an educator?” - I’ve been thinking about this a bit lately while browsing Will’s Why Weblogs and the comments on Nancy’s Why we blog with our classes… and thought I’d put together my own top reasons for a short (10 minute) discussion tomorrow… if you’ve got any feedback, I’d love to hear it!

“Weblogs ….. are redefining the way students and teachers use the Internet, turning them from mere readers into writers to the Web as well… In fast-growing numbers, educators across the country and throughout the world are finding just how powerful this new interactive Internet can be.” (InfoToday Jan 04)

1. Your own professional development as an Educator

I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly hearing that I need to be working on my own professional development and my technical currency - providing evidence to be signed off that I’m participating in professional development activities. Why not have fun while doing so and extend your audience of 1 (your “line-manager”) to anyone else out there who’s keen to learn with you? (for e.g., see Teaching Web Design Part II)

2. A complimentary way to communicate with and engage your learners

At their simplest, Weblogs are a like an email that is published on the web, allowing others to read and comment. At first this is pretty daunting (and there are some issues that would be good to think through as you start), but the benefits are huge:

  • Students can see what’s happening in class even if they are not able to attend (and if you link to some great free resources on the net, they don’t have to miss out!). They can even take part by commenting on the thought-provoking questions that you’ve posted.
  • It’s automatically archived there so learners can come back to review the questions that you’ve asked, or discussions that you’ve prompted, even after they have completed the course. And next year when you come to the same topic, you can build on the post from last semester.
  • You are demonstrating how, as a professional, you are continuing to build your own learning network, interacting with current issues in your own professional field, interacting with the thoughts of other professionals in your field, and most importantly, linking your current learners into this professional network (for e.g., see the DesignWebsites blog)

3. Encouraging your learners to learn beyond the course

Beyond the course both in content and duration! As you develop your own skills using a blog for learning, your learners may be encouraged to join the network and start contributing themselves (lessening the dependence on you - the “teacher” - providing the content!)

If, by the end of a course, learners are used to learning from other professionals out there in the industry and are reflecting on their own learning experiences (blogs provide a great flexible way to do this but are not the only way!), then they are much better prepared for lifelong learning.

If you’ve got other ideas, please let me know!