Wow, final week for blogging for SI 643. My goal is to continue doing so weekly, with a focus on my library work. But for now, I'll discuss the readings for this last class...
Semadeni - When Teachers Drive their Learning
Semadeni's article about professional development (PD) in his district was quite encouraging. The Fusion method of professional development for teachers based on coaching, mentoring and observing simply made sense and seems to be much more effective than what I know about other PD (where teachers mostly sit in a room all day and hear presentations). The interactive ideas of involving teachers in their learning process in a real way seems effective and motivating. I also like how time is set aside for this (and he makes great points about the amount of time that teachers don't have outside of school) and also how it provides teachers choice in how they develop professionally. Finally, the idea of fostering leadership within schools is something I see is lacking - it is quite hard to "advance" professionally in a traditional school system while this method provides teachers with those opportunities.
At first I thought, why are we reading this? We aren't going to be teachers. But, we are, in our own ways - we will be in instructors who have a say in how things are run in our libraries and we can bring these ideas of professional development with us. Why can't librarians do this for each other? Maybe not in exactly the same way, but in a similar way - coaching observing mentoring. I bet that anyone in a new position could use an approach to professional development that is highly engaging and where they can direct their own learning.
Blowers and Reed - The C's of our Sea Change: Plans for Staff Training, from Core Competencies to Learning 2.0
This was an interesting article - written in 2007 but still applicable today. It seems that staff do need to have core competencies when it comes to technology but that very few libraries take the time to do training on things that are assumed people would know. I like the Four Tier's model and the idea of play - a lot. When people get to play, they don't think of things as work. Further, this model pushes collaboration which provides automatic community building among staffs. The more collaborative and "fun" something is, the more people will want to discover how new Web 2.0 tools can be useful to them and their work. And, I'm betting that those who needed this instruction in 2007 most definitely need it in 2011. With all of the new tools available online, it can be overwhelming to jump into one that people have been using for years now (ahem, Twitter).
This article, in it's own way, applies to something on which I'll undertake soon. For the Enriching Scholarship, U of M's week-long technology symposium, I'm co-instructing a Computer 101 class. We'll talk about what a browser is, how to open multiple tabs without closing a browser, what right-clicking can do, how to download something from a website, how to put a usable link into a PowerPoint presentation... etc. These all may seem like things people know how to do - but they don't and it hinders their efficiency and abilities to understand how to use computers and not fight them in their work. I'll follow up with a blog post about this in the first week of May :)
Fontichario - Planning an Online Professional Development Module
What I liked most about this article was that it recognized the changing needs of staff and how, even in tough financial times, librarians can do outreach for instruction and purposes of getting others excited about new tools. Again, the idea of "play" was emphasized and I cannot express enough how glad I was to see it. Even children don't play enough anymore in schools - their experimental classes like music are being replaced with training for standardized tests. So, the ideas of adults playing - and passing that passion onto students - is pretty exciting. Further, this module forces instructors to pave the way for thinking about how Web tools can be used personally AND professionally and to consider the privacy and safety issues which are still being defined overall in the world of the web.
This week's reading, like many of the others, provides me with resources to consult when thinking about technology instruction and training, and how to truly engage the learners in the process. Paired with the Fusion model, I can envision a comprehensive PD program involving both social and technological learning. Pretty exciting stuff :)
Showing posts with label educational leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label educational leadership. Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
EdLeadership & How People Learn Chapter 3
Educational Leadership
The Educational Leadership piece "Put Understanding First" by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe was a concise article that discussed how important it is that when students learn, that they actually understand what they're learning. The authors list three academic goals for curriculum and instructor to aid in the process of understanding: "helping students (1) acquire important information and skills, (2) make meaning of that content, and (3) effectively transfer their learning to new situations both within school and beyond it." Ways that instructors can help learners complete thie process of learning for understanding are through direct instruction, facilitating and coaching. The article discusses research in congnitive psychology that says that students don't necessarily need to learn all of the facts and basic skills before dealing with concepts or applying the skills in authentic ways. This is a problem that plagues lower acheiving students. The article also suggests that curricula need a new sequence for learning - a meaningful process that helps students really understand what they are learning that involves meaning, acquisition and transfer. The statement that "we must recognize that the purposeful and effective use of content is the ever-present goal, and we must design all instruction with that goal in mind" is a reflection of what we must do when assisting students in their learning process.
This article was a great discussion of how schools are disconnected from students' experience with what they will encounter in the real world. Learning rote knowledge and regurgitating it back to a teacher does not necessarily help students learn - they need to be able to connect it with something they will need or perceive they will need to use in the fugure. I hadn't really thought about the idea of students not needing skills prior to application of a process, but I like it. It feels more useful and "real" than doing worksheets to identify facts. It seems this is very relatable to the idea of job training. When going into a new job, I've always had basic communication skills, but not necessisarily the skills needed to run a database full of relevant information I'll use every day. But, I can learn this through on the job training because it's applicable to the work I'm doing to do. The company didn't need to hire someone with all of the skills they were looking for, but rather basic skills that they could build upon during training. In a school setting, this suggests that students could learn "on the job" once having a foundation of knowledge. They could learn science vocabulary better after having seen it a few times and then applying it in the lab. Just one thought/example of how this relates to the real world which students enter after they're done with school. :)
How People Learn Chapter 3
The "How People Learn" chapter on transfer was great in-depth supplemental reading to the Educational Leadership article. The idea of initial learning being necessary for transfer sounds obvious but is a good starting point for understanding transfer. The discussion of initial learning, abstract representations of knowledge, and prior knowledge was important for my understanding of how transfer is effective. Ideas of mastering the original subject, taking the appropriate amount of time to learn something, deliberately practicing, engaging in a feedback process, understanding motivation, and contexualizing the learning are critical to transfer of information.
When the chapter discusses that learning should be done in multiple ways and allow for a flexible representation of knowledge makes a good deal of sense. Psychology tells us that people learn in different ways, and putting knowledge into a context that is applicable to student's understanding seems a simple way to do this. However, schools are not tying information learned in schools to what students already know or will need to use in the their lives. The section on previous experience was fairly eye-opening: thinking about how to activate knowledge and interpreting it in a way that is meaningful through using tools, group problem solving and abstract knowledge are all things I know I've used in the real world but never really thought about in terms of schooling. But John Dewey's quote on page 77 really says it all - students should be taught life preparation in school. Facts are important and a good foundation for knowledge but they don't help problem solving and day-to-day interaction.
It's clear that our students are not being taught things that they feel are useful - some students are becoming less and less engaged in school because it doesn't use the tools or technology they use in their everyday lives. This is one area where librarians can help - we can work with people's previous knowledge and help them discover what they can do with that knowledge either through articles, books, or community resources. I see this as a place we can really help people understand what they're learning.
The Educational Leadership piece "Put Understanding First" by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe was a concise article that discussed how important it is that when students learn, that they actually understand what they're learning. The authors list three academic goals for curriculum and instructor to aid in the process of understanding: "helping students (1) acquire important information and skills, (2) make meaning of that content, and (3) effectively transfer their learning to new situations both within school and beyond it." Ways that instructors can help learners complete thie process of learning for understanding are through direct instruction, facilitating and coaching. The article discusses research in congnitive psychology that says that students don't necessarily need to learn all of the facts and basic skills before dealing with concepts or applying the skills in authentic ways. This is a problem that plagues lower acheiving students. The article also suggests that curricula need a new sequence for learning - a meaningful process that helps students really understand what they are learning that involves meaning, acquisition and transfer. The statement that "we must recognize that the purposeful and effective use of content is the ever-present goal, and we must design all instruction with that goal in mind" is a reflection of what we must do when assisting students in their learning process.
This article was a great discussion of how schools are disconnected from students' experience with what they will encounter in the real world. Learning rote knowledge and regurgitating it back to a teacher does not necessarily help students learn - they need to be able to connect it with something they will need or perceive they will need to use in the fugure. I hadn't really thought about the idea of students not needing skills prior to application of a process, but I like it. It feels more useful and "real" than doing worksheets to identify facts. It seems this is very relatable to the idea of job training. When going into a new job, I've always had basic communication skills, but not necessisarily the skills needed to run a database full of relevant information I'll use every day. But, I can learn this through on the job training because it's applicable to the work I'm doing to do. The company didn't need to hire someone with all of the skills they were looking for, but rather basic skills that they could build upon during training. In a school setting, this suggests that students could learn "on the job" once having a foundation of knowledge. They could learn science vocabulary better after having seen it a few times and then applying it in the lab. Just one thought/example of how this relates to the real world which students enter after they're done with school. :)
How People Learn Chapter 3
The "How People Learn" chapter on transfer was great in-depth supplemental reading to the Educational Leadership article. The idea of initial learning being necessary for transfer sounds obvious but is a good starting point for understanding transfer. The discussion of initial learning, abstract representations of knowledge, and prior knowledge was important for my understanding of how transfer is effective. Ideas of mastering the original subject, taking the appropriate amount of time to learn something, deliberately practicing, engaging in a feedback process, understanding motivation, and contexualizing the learning are critical to transfer of information.
When the chapter discusses that learning should be done in multiple ways and allow for a flexible representation of knowledge makes a good deal of sense. Psychology tells us that people learn in different ways, and putting knowledge into a context that is applicable to student's understanding seems a simple way to do this. However, schools are not tying information learned in schools to what students already know or will need to use in the their lives. The section on previous experience was fairly eye-opening: thinking about how to activate knowledge and interpreting it in a way that is meaningful through using tools, group problem solving and abstract knowledge are all things I know I've used in the real world but never really thought about in terms of schooling. But John Dewey's quote on page 77 really says it all - students should be taught life preparation in school. Facts are important and a good foundation for knowledge but they don't help problem solving and day-to-day interaction.
It's clear that our students are not being taught things that they feel are useful - some students are becoming less and less engaged in school because it doesn't use the tools or technology they use in their everyday lives. This is one area where librarians can help - we can work with people's previous knowledge and help them discover what they can do with that knowledge either through articles, books, or community resources. I see this as a place we can really help people understand what they're learning.
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