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Changing the world, one learner at a time

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 23, 2015 — Leave a comment

This past week in a curriculum development course I was facilitating I was reminded of a huge responsibility I have as a professor; and that we all have as members of humanity.

As is normally the case when I show my class a Youtube video on Carol Dwecks Mindset the ensuing discussion was lively, passionate and sobering. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck makes the well researched argument that intelligence and talent are not fixed a birth and that by adopting a growth mindset, learners become more willing to take on challenges, try harder, embrace setbacks, learn from feedback/criticism, find inspiration in other’s success and ultimately reach higher levels of achievement. These are all the characteristics that we want in all learners especially as we move into the digital information age.

Unfortunately this too often is not the mindset that we see in most of our learners. One seasoned and insightful instructor taking my course pointed out that too many of his learners believe they are entitled to an “A”, believe that challenges are only for those who lack ability, are not willing to learn from feedback and are threatened by the success of others. He rightfully pointed that many of these types of learners would be quite upset with having to deal with this idea of the growth mindset because they been feed a consistent diet of fixed mindset thinking. This type of thinking could shake their world.

He was right…this type of thinking has the potential to change the learner. Change often puts people on the defensive or even makes them angry. Even if we just reach one learner at a time in our classrooms, the ripple effect from this change will eventually change that learner’s world. It is possible to change the world one learner at a time.

So is this yet another responsibility placed upon college and university professors, teachers and instructors? When you consider that anywhere from 70 – 90% of learning is informal and happens outside of the classroom (see Jay Cross post Where did the the 80% come from) the responsibility to impact the learners around us is societal. We are all learners. Whether they are our children, family, friends, co-workers our staff or colleagues we all have learners in our sphere of influence.

Are you changing the world one learner at a time?

In Learning Change, mindset

PIDP 3210 Curriculum Development Resources Supplement

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 6, 2015 — Leave a comment

The following are the links to articles, blog post, YouTube videos, TED Talks and books that were used or referenced in the PIDP 3210 Curriculum Development course that ran in College of New Caledonia in Prince George British Columbia (January-February 2015).

Not Suited For School But Suited for Learning

You will find this video, learning philosophy and links to many of my presentations, and my favorite blog posts on my blog About page.

The Head Won’t Go Where the Heart Hasn’t Been

Benjamin Bloom argued that we need to address all the domains and find a balance. We often over emphasize the cognitive domain, relegate the psychomotor to the trades or other overtly physical disciplines and limit the affective domain to ethical or values issues. This limitation will severely limit the change that is necessary for learning. The blog post The Head Won’t Go Where the Heart Hasn’t Been post includes a more detailed explanation of the importance of the affective domain and has links to the Behavioral Science (BS) Guys video How to Change People Who Don’t Want to Change and also a related TED Talk Why TED Talks don’t change people’s behaviors.

Fixed VS Growth Mindset
The Power of belief — mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach

You will find a very useful Fixed vs Growth Mindset graphic and a short comparison of how the Fixed Vs Growth Mindset is equivalent to the Print Vs Digital Information Age on the blog post Fixed Vs Growth Mindset = Print Vs Digital Information Age

Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is definitely worth the read.

Mistakes are for learning
It’s a Mistake Not to Use Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process blog post refers to Brian Goldman’s TED Talk:

Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that?

Intrinsic VS Extrinsic Motivation
RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
is worth the read.

Don’t Let Learning Styles Limit Your Learning
Learning Styles Don’t Exist

Content Saturation
In the article Rescuing Nursing Education from Content Saturation: The Case for a Concept-Based Curriculum Jean F. Giddens and Debra P. Brady argue that nursing education has been plagued with a saturation of content for many years. Fortunately, they offer recommendations on how to move away from content delivery and saturation and how to create a learning environment based on a conceptual approach to curriculum development. Even though this article is focused on nursing it is a good read for any instructor in any discipline.

People Don’t Buy What You Do They Buy Why You Do It
Start with why – how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek | TEDxPugetSound

Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
is worth the read.

Parenting and Child Development
There were several discussions over the final weekend regarding parenting and Gary Neufeild’s book Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers was referenced and is worth the read.

The BEST TED talks to take in:
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

The blog post Want to Change the World – Tell a Good Story offers links to the top TED Talks of all time.

In Learning 3210, curriculum, PIDP

2 Steps Forward & 3 Steps Back – MOOCs Impact on Online Learning

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 5, 2015 — Leave a comment

Source: deathtothestockphoto.com

Progression of Blended, Online & Mobile Learning

I built my first blended learning course in 1994 and started teaching fully online in 1995 and in the past twenty years I have seen steady progress in the use and acceptance of online learning. Unfortunately, I have always been overly optimistic and have believed that well designed online learning could radically improve our educational systems. When the smartphone started to hit saturation levels in north america and mobile learning hit the peak of its hype cycle in 2010/11 I was further encouraged that the notion of “all the time and anywhere” learning had finally become widely accepted. The forward momentum of mobile learning was abruptly interrupted by the latest disruptor to higher education–MOOCS

MOOC Hype

The MOOC hype started in earnest in 2011 and was in full force with formation of Udacity, Coursera, edX and several other content/course delivery organizations in 2012. Many higher education administrators and proponents of the MOOC hype claimed that the disruptive aspect of MOOCs would not only change education but that it would bring an end to traditional education. Many of these claims are similar to the claims made in the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s when the online learning pioneers started to take advantage of the potential of the internet. The reality of immature learning management systems, poor or missing instructional design, abysmal completion rates (often in the single digits) and the high costs of MOOCs have significantly quenched the MOOC hype.

Reality Check – Its Still About The Learning

The latest figures that come from the Babson Survey Research Group’s annual survey, which was based on a 2014 survey of more than 2,800 academic leaders, reveals:

MOOCs are no longer considered a useful tool to learn about online pedagogy

MOOCs are not sustainable

Education costs, learning outcomes, and competency based education are much more important than MOOCs

The Babson survey also reveals that academic leaders believe that some aspects of online learning are positive:

Online education has become mission-critical, even at small colleges.
“Hybrid” courses are at least as good as face-to-face courses.

The survey reveals that most professors still don’t think online courses are legit so whether the adverse effects of the MOOC hype are a contributing factor or that faculty just have not learned how or received the professional development to build effective online learning environments, even in 2015 we still have a long way to go before online learning is fully accepted.

Read the full report…

In Online Learning Babson, blended, mobile, MOOC, Survey

What kind of learners do you want?

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 16, 2014 — Leave a comment

The following was inspired by Seth Godin’s post “What king of customers do you want?“

Do you want learners (students) who are:

Needy
Independent
Inquisitive
Apathentic
Bored
Engaged
Followers
Leaders
Distracted
Attentive
Analytical
Checklisters
Grade oriented
Learning focused
Creative
Plagarists
Empathetic
Selfish
Optimistic
Cynical
Eager
Confident
Afraid
Focused
Easily distracted

Here’s the thing: you get what you reward. Your learners respond to the learning environment that you create. If you don’t purposefully build a learning environment that requires personal responsibilty, reinforces a growth mindset, and fosters a passion for deeper learning you end up with what you tolerate.

You might not get the learners you deserve, but you will probably end up with the learners you attract.

Sure, you can stick to traditional methods and make it easier for everyone by teaching to the test. But is it worth it?

Choose.

In Learning Creating Significant Learning Environment, CSLE

Problems are just opportunities for growth

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 12, 2014 — Leave a comment

I usually find Simon Sinek’s quotes of the day inspiring even if I don’t fully agree with them. For example, today Sinek offers this pearl of wisdom:

If everything goes right, we get a good experience. If everything goes wrong, we get a good story.

From one perspective I agree if everything goes wrong you at least get a good story but if you can manage to stay optimistic and work to turn a problem around or just work through it, the problem becomes an opportunity for growth. When you resolve the problem or just work through it and learn from it, you get the good experience and the good story. I do need to qualify that a good experience isn’t not necessary one that we may enjoy at the time but one that helps us to grow. Let me explain.

A few months back my aged mother had a stroke, fell and broke her hip, had surgery and then had another stroke. Her life has been devastated. She went from being a fully independent senior in her 80’s to being hospitalized and requires constant care. My brother and sister who live in the same city as my mother have had their lives radically changed. What little spare time they have in their busy lives is now spent visiting and caring for my mother in the hospital.

My mother’s condition is still unstable which means she goes from being on death’s door one day to showing signs of improvement the next. This constant turmoil is weighing heavy on my brother and sister. Because I live in another province I don’t experience this first hand but I speak with my siblings on a regular basis and have some insight into what they have been experiencing. I have also been speaking to my mother when she is able and have reconciled myself to the fact that she may not make it out of the hospital.

Fortunately, my mother is a woman of faith and believes that she will be moving onto a better place and the physical distress and turmoil she now faces now will soon end. My siblings and I also hold this belief and recognize that the pain and suffering will end because we all face death. This faith has strengthen my family’s resolve because we recognize that there are life lessons to be learned as we go through this unfortunate stage in my mother’s life. I have had in-depth conversations with my mother and siblings that I would never have had with my family if it wasn’t for this unfortunate situation. We are all facing life and death issues that most of us ignore due our hectic lives.

Right now, this is not an enjoyable or good experience in any way, but we are living and working through it and at some point will be able to look back and draw some good from this difficult time. Even though it really doesn’t feel like it right now I also know that we learning and growing in this season in our mother’s life.

In Leadership, Learning life, problems