Archives For Change
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.
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
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?
Simon Sinek quote of the day both frustrates and motivates me:
Curiosity is essential for progress. Only when we look to worlds beyond our own can we really know if there’s room for improvement.
Source: Sinek’s Start With Why
It frustrates me because our primary and post secondary systems of education focus so significantly on getting the right answer through the passive educational environment of main lecture points, individual competition and standardized testing. “Will this be on the test”, or “will we be tested on this” become the primary questions students learn to ask rather than questions like: “how does this___ really work” or how can we fix or improve this…”
Fortunately, as we can see from Steve Jobs Heres to the Crazy Ones video that there are enough misfits, rebels and trouble makers who are curious enough and believe that they can change the world.
http://youtu.be/8rwsuXHA7RA
