Recently I had a blast, attending an inspirational workshop by Alan Levine (I grab professional development opportunities like these with both hands!). The workshop gave me some ideas for new things to try with my students next year, and I thought I would share the notes I made at the time (with commentary) in case there might be useful things there for others.
Alan kicked off by asking us if we knew when the internet was created (heaps of history here), by whom (I've never really understood why so many people think it was Al Gore), & for what. It was originally intended to allow scientists to better communicate with each other – but sometimes it feels as if the science is being swamped & lost in amongst everything else that's posted on the web. (A friend once said to me that one day the internet could collapse under the weight of funny cat pictures. She could be right.)
The web certainly allows openness, reduces insularity, and engenders connectedness. Well, in an ideal world it does, and many parts of the internet do function in that way (eg the sub-reddit on science), but at the same time the web has also seen the development of various silos where dissent isn't tolerated and the ban-hammer is wielded on a regular basis.
But in education openness is to be valued, because we can all – teachers & learners alike – learn from each other. Alan introduced us to one of his projects, which involves videoing teachers as they talk about what goes on in their classrooms. You'll find these stories at True Stories of Open Sharing, and he sees them as a form of 'paying it forward'. At this point one of the others at the session volunteered a story about how she's using twitter to support student learning. I still haven't got into tweeting & I found the whole thing quite fascinating- it seems an even more direct connection than Facebook.
Alan noted that people see many barriers (perceived and real) to doing this sort of sharing around teaching:
Which I guess may be why many of my colleagues don't actually share a lot about what goes on in their classrooms – too many perceived barriers.
Yet that sharing & feeling of the personal are important, because education is becoming less about 'product' and more about relationships, connections, and engagement. With information so readily available on-line at the click of a mouse (think MOOCs, for example), universities do need to re-examine, & perhaps re-invent, the way they do business. What is the 'added value' that we provide, that makes students want to continue to come to a bricks-&-mortar institution? And how do we make on-line learning a valuable and engaging alternative, for those who choose it?
Because the knowledge is already out there. We need to move from seeing ourselves as deliverers of content, to delivering a learning experience. And that really does require some fairly significant changes; we're not really talking business-as-usual. (One of those changes will probably be the development of a code of ethics around how we share materials, ideas, and content with each other & between institutions.)
After this we moved on to the idea of improv(ing) ourselves – as in, improvisation: being natural, rather than forced. After all, the ability to improvise is a valuable skill as classes don't always go as expected. Alan asked who knew about pecha kucha (usually, speaking to no more than 20 slides for no more than 20 seconds per slide – it really forces you to focus on your message!). I've used this presentation style several times now, & in fact had something of a baptism of fire for my first one: got roped in to do one at my first Academy symposium – except that I didn't know the subject until just before speaking, & someone else chose the slides 🙂
Anyway, quite a few of us knew of pecha kucha – but what, he said about pecha flickr? He set one up for us, with each person taking a slide in turn. It was hysterically funny and we could straightaway see that Alan was right: this sort of improv changed the energy levels in the room, raised enjoyment (as if we weren't already having fun!) and engagement, and got everyone participating. I could see how good it would be as an icebreaker at a (smallish) conference, but I also started wondering how we could use it in first-year bio classes. Maybe in tuts, as a revision tool? The students would have to be comfortable about it, but the technique would have a lot of potential for diagnosing gaps in knowledge and also for giving practice in verbal communication.
And we finished off with the idea of 'connected courses'. (This was very brief as we'd spent so much time having fun.) There's a need to find ways of making on-line spaces personal, welcoming, & engaging – connected. For example, MOOCs tend to have a high attrition rate, & it's possible that's because they're a bit like motel rooms (Alan's metaphor): impersonal, & with no real sense of ownership. In contrast, many blogs are the equivalent of a personal bedroom, with comfort, boundaries, & security. How can on-line courses generate that sense of connectedness? One way to find out is to experience it – at Connected Courses: an open course in how to run an open course 🙂 I'm really hoping that next year I'll find myself with the 'free' time to invest in investigating this one further!