For my most recent learning quest, I decided I wanted to look at another element of my credo that I have a theoretical understanding and appreciation of, but I sometimes struggle to translate into the online teaching venue. I have written before (link blog post) about authenticity, and how it’s critical when forming solid relationships with students (posers need not apply), and how lending authenticity to your lessons can deepen learning and make it meaningful and rich. In the 2016 NMC Horizon Report (link), pages 22 and 23 discuss the emerging challenge of constructing authentic learning experiences. I enjoyed the discussion, and I am continuing to broaden my understanding of the implications of the systems under which we operate as educators. Let’s start with a discussion of the report, and end with the implications that I envision for the bigger picture. The New Media Consortium start this section of the report by addressing the five barriers to authentic learning experiences being more widespread in schools. Understanding these barriers is the first step to beginning the process of disrupting the existing systems and moving towards transformative educational practice. For example, the current rigidity of curriculum and content is a real barrier to authentic learning experiences - we can’t ignore our mandated obligation to cover certain material in a certain amount of time. Additionally, teachers feel pressure to alter their teaching to prepare students for standardized testing and to meet the demands embedded in the current reporting paradigm. Furthermore, the system demands that we take attendance and that we have certain blocks of time for certain subjects. Moving beyond these restrictions would make huge strides towards being able to create authentic learning experiences. I would also add that one of the biggest barriers to creating authentic learning opportunities is that it requires risk-taking on the part of the educator. Many of us would prefer to stick with what we know will be successful, especially when the school culture is one of achievement (get results!) rather than one that cultivates teaching and learning. I keep using this phrase: “authentic learning experiences”. The NMC Horizon report describes these as “an umbrella for several important pedagogical strategies that have great potential to immerse learners in environments where they can gain lifelong learning skills; these approaches include vocational training, apprenticeships, and certain scientific inquiries” (p.22). I would argue that authentic learning includes more than just the environment, but the mindsets behind the lesson and activity design. There are so many aspects of authentic learning experiences that are clear winners according to the filters of my credo. I want my students to have real-world learning experiences and be ready for higher learning or a vocation. Challenge-based learning honours the individual and their connection to the real world - empowering students to realize that their abilities are transferable beyond the classroom. It is student centered and values the importance of the learner over the importance of the content by stressing metacognitive reflection and self-awareness. This section of the report reads a lot like my credo. I am totally convinced that I need to allow for more authentic learning experiences - and I even have a bit of an idea how to do this in my online classroom (connecting with experts in the field, focusing on critical questions and challenge-based learning with a high degree of autonomy). I love that it is proven to improve retention, which is no stretch of the imagination since making the learning authentic automatically makes it more meaningful and easier for students to actually connect with. I am reminded of Yong Zhao and the notion that if we want to help our students compete in the global market then we need to let them explore their own passions and talents, rather than sticking to the rigid constraints of curriculum. (Of course, this is improving with the new BC Ed plan - once we figure out how to properly implement it). I immediately connect again to a theme I’m seeing over and over again - the importance of school culture and school leadership. For example, there are lots of cool, innovative, authentic learning activities taking place in my school district, but it really isn’t becoming VIRAL (to use a word from “Alive in the Swamp”) and it isn’t becoming sticky. These experiences are more like isolated highlights rather than the norm, and I have a few ideas why. I don’t think there is a strong, universally understood pedagogical underpinning. Individual teachers are trying things that are working, but the "big picture" pedagogy behind them isn’t clear to other teachers. Then because we can't all see the big picture, these initiatives seem like a fad. “We” as a district (or school) aren’t connecting the initiatives and pedagogy to our shared vision or values because we haven’t taken the time to establish our shared values - and this reflects on our school leadership and culture. It is my belief that leaders need to communicate the vision - they need to build a connection and include all staff in it, rather than taking direction from who-knows-where and foisting initiatives upon us. When we see admin applauding individual teachers who are doing amazing things, but we don’t understand the vision or the values or the pedagogical underpinnings, then it risks seeming like favouritism. This can alienate those teachers who are skeptical and less likely to jump on board with something until they really understand why and how it will work. Just as the feedback paradigm is a two-way conversation that needs to have all the partners engaged in it, sustainable change and innovation in a district needs to include all stakeholders and ensure that ALL teachers understand WHY we’re doing it and that it builds upon concepts that we ALL find important - and you can’t actually do this without consulting and building relationships. In conclusion, the deeper I delve into these quests on emerging challenges, emerging pedagogies, and sustainable change, the greater my understanding that to have our systems properly align with the values that I think we educators hold dear, to be properly transformative, we will have to disrupt the current culture and systems and rebuild them anew. Note: image created using easel.ly
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Leslie McCurrachEnthusiastic Learner. Avid Gardener. DL Teacher. Archives
March 2018
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