In his daily blog post The difference between commitment and technique Seth Godin makes the argument that we (society) would be a lot more successful if schools created an environment where teachers used commitment as a foundational part of the learning environment. Students with access to resources are almost unstoppable if they are committed to learning.
Instead we have created an environment where learners can say:
“teach me, while I stand here on one foot, teach me while I gossip with my friends via text, teach me while I wander off to other things. And, sure, if the teaching sticks, then I’ll commit.”
This is another example of the principle of “The head won’t go where the heart hasn’t been.” Genuine commitment must involve the affective domain and until we are willing to engage emotionally our heads will not follow.
I agree with Godin that “great teachers teach commitment.” I would add that great teachers use passion to teach commitment.
In a recent 3260 Professional Practice class (part of the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program) one of my learners was sharing an Ah-Ha! moment that was inspired by Ken Robinson’s Bring on the Learning Revolution TED Talk. Robinson argues that we need to move away from the industrial model of education where we stamp out standardized students and move toward an organic model in which we create the environments where learners can grow and develop in their own unique ways.
The ensuing class discussion reminded me of Mortimer Adler’s insight in How to Read a Book that teaching is an art that shares special characteristics with two other disciplines:
Without going into learning theory as psychologists conceive it, it is obvious that teaching is a very special art, sharing with only two other arts—agriculture and medicine—an exceptionally important characteristic. A doctor may do many things for his patient, but in the final analysis it is the patient himself who must get well—grow in health. The farmer does many things for his plants or animals, but in the final analysis it is they that must grow in size and excellence. Similarly, although the teacher may help his student in many ways, it is the student himself who must do the learning. Knowledge must grow in his mind if learning is to take place (p. 11).
To teach organically we need to create the environment in which the learner can do the learning, grow and flourish. We need to become proactive, start with a learner centred focus, and purposefully assemble all the key components of effective learning into a significant learning environment so that we can help our learners to learn how to learn and grow into the people we all hope they will become.
For a learning theorist and Professor there are few things more invigorating than working with a group of highly motivated learners. My long time colleague and friend Dr. Craig Montgomerie often asks me to join his online Athabasca University class MDDE 610: Survey of Current Educational Technology Applications to provide his students the opportunity engage with a professional like myself who has extensive experience in promoting the use of Educational Technology.
In the MDDE webinar for March 10, 2015 titled Leading learning and technological change we focused on the most difficult challenges in any organizational change — dealing with an organization’s culture and implementing strategies that require a cultural shift. Through examining a case study of the ACU Connected Mobile Learning Initiative we explored how addressing the following four key principles increase your chances of success significantly:
Start with Why
Identify and engage key influencers
Install an effective execution strategy
Enlist and empower self-differentiated leaders
We also analyzed how ignoring even one of these principles can contribute to failure and how these principles are currently being used in the BCIT School of Health Sciences Future of Learning initiative.
The following resources were mentioned or briefly discussed in the webinar and can be used to gain a deeper understanding:
The Head Won’t Go Where the Heart Hasn’t Been
This post stresses that:
If you really want to bring about change in people then you need to appeal their hearts and not to their heads. The sharing of more information or engaging in more rational discourse on its own doesn’t appear to help people to make significant change but an appeal to values, attitudes, and feelings first can motivate people toward making changes.
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Includes a short annotation and links the books Start with Why (Simon Sinek), Influencer, Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) and Freidmen’s Failure of Nerve.
