Connecting to Learning Centeredness

@ PVCC

An E&OL Learning Session presented by:

Sally Rings, Reading FacultyRenee Cornell, English FacultyBob Bendotti, Dean of Learning

Learning Session Outcomes

At the conclusion of the "Connecting to Learning Centeredness" session participants will:

1. Deepen their understanding of the why, what and how of being a "Learning Centered College."

2. Enrich their understanding of learning and the potential "pathologies of learning."

3. Think more clearly about the critical importance of learning outcomes.

Learning Session Outcomes(Continued)

4. Distinguish competencies from learning outcomes.

5. Begin to recalibrate your course to sharpen the focus on what matters most.

6. Understand why assessment is one of the

cornerstones of a Learning Centered College.

Some Beginning Premises.....

• Learning is PVCC's core value and the unifying focus of our college's vision and mission. • Learning is a natural process; we are all "hardwired" to learn.

• Our understanding of learning and its dynamics has advanced dramatically in the last two decades.

Some Beginning Premises..... (Continued)

• Advances in information technology hold tremendous potential for enriching the learning process and making learning more accessible.

• Community College faculty and staff are leaders in advancing and modeling best practices related to student, employee and organizational learning.

• Faculty and staff are ultimately responsible for the decisions related to how to enhance deep student learning.

• Transformational work is difficult work!

Point of Inquiry

Can a good organization become a great organization, and if so,

how?Or is the disease of “just being

good enough” incurable?

(Jim Collins, From Good to Great)

A Few Thoughts........

• PVCC'S journey from "Good to Great" is embedded in our continuing effort to become a “more” Learning Centered College.

• However, we need to understand that putting learning at the heart of our college means overhauling the conceptual, procedural, curricular, and other architecture at PVCC.

A Few Thoughts........(Continued)

• This is extremely challenging work!

• If PVCC's mission is to be taken seriously, then this is work that needs to be done.

What is a Learning Centered College?

• The LCC creates substantive change in individual learners.

• The LCC engages learners in the learning process as full partners, assuming primary responsibility for their own choices.

• The LCC creates and offers as many options for learning as possible.

What is a Learning Centered College?

(Continued)

• The LCC assists learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities.

• The LCC defines the roles of all the learning facilitators by the needs of the learners.

• The LCC and its learning facilitators succeed only when improved and expanded learning can be documented.

(Creating More Learning Centered Colleges, Terry O'Bannion)

PVCC'S Twelve Indicatorsof a Learning Centered College

1. Learning outcomes have been identified and made explicit.

2. Learning outcomes serve as the centerpiece for program and

curriculum development.3. Learning outcomes are measured for the purpose of

intervention, remediation and continuous improvement.4. Learning opportunities are accessible to learners. 5. Learning opportunities are offered in a variety of formats

and methodologies.6. Learners are encouraged to develop relationships and

connections with faculty, staff and peers.

Twelve Indicators(Continued)

7. Research about learning and learners is routinely considered and

systematically incorporated into the college's learning processes,

programs and services.8. Learning is foundational to the development, delivery and

assessment of student, academic and administrative support services.9. The college's systems (policies, procedures, structures

and technologies) are designed and evaluated in terms of their support of

learning.10.Learning serves as the focus of the college's strategic

planning, budgeting and institutional effectiveness processes.

11. The college's employees demonstrate a commitment to continuous

learning.12. An employee and organizational learning initiative

supports, coordinates and helps integrate employee and organizational

learning.

What We Know About Learning

Learning is:

1. Complex -- research in psychology, neurosciences, biology. Individuals are by their very nature complex with divergent values, abilities, motivations, and degrees of prior learning.

2. Transformational -- so fundamental it is often overlooked. Learning is quite simply the most powerful process in human development.

What We Know About Learning(Continued)

3. Natural and Life-long—a natural condition of being human. Humans inherently look for opportunities to create meaning. As Aristotle noted:

All human beings, by nature, desire to know.”

4. Both a personal and social process – the degree to which a learner connects with faculty, learning support personnel support staff, fellow students, tutors, etc.

What We Know About Learning (Continued)

5. Learning is Active and Interactive—active learning is redundant. Challenges concept of faculty as dispensers of knowledge…recent studies continue to re-confirm that 80% of class time dedicated to lecture.

6. Learning is Measurable—continuum (Can’t be measured…all can be measured)

7. Learning is significantly influenced by Organizational Factors:

Leadership Culture Systems (policies, practices, procedures,

structures)

Visualizing Learning

Visualizing Learning

Four Pathologies of Learning

Let's Diagnose Learning at PVCC:

1. Amnesia -- How do we feel about knowing that most of what we teach is rapidly forgotten? What can we do about it?

2. Fantasia -- This is when our students think they under- stand something but they really don't. I call this "illusory learning."

And remember, since new learning rests on old learning, illusory learning represents a time-bomb.

Four Pathologies (Continued)

3. Inertia -- Ideas just "sit there." The learner has ideas but does not know what to do with them.

This is knowledge that can't be applied, knowledge that the learner can't do anything with.

4. Nostalgia -- The best way to teach was the way we learned.

Warning sign of nostalgia -- "Academic rigor equals teaching more."

A Compelling Question

So, if one or more of these pathologies exist

(or are at the epidemic stage)what are we going to do about it?

Learning Exercise Powerful(10 minutes)

Instructions:

1. Pair up with one partner at your table.

2. Now, think about a recent powerful learning experience that you have had.

Learning Exercise Powerful

3. Describe your powerful learning experience to your partner

-What was the context?-Why did it happen?-Was there a teacher?-How did you know you had learned

something?

4. Now describe what made the experience so Powerful:

-What characteristics contributed to its success?

5. Were there similar characteristics? What were they?

Learning is Natural...

But education and "schooling" need to be designed....

1. Learning is an integrative process common to all living things.

2. Educating is the deliberate development of knowledge skills and values carried out by a wide variety of social institutions.

3. "Schooling" involves the use of formal institutions of learning and trained individuals who assist in accelerating the learning process.

Question:

So Just How Do We Begin to "Design" the Learning Process?

Answer:

By Identifying Learning and Making Them Explicit to Our

Students

(Remember PVCC's LCC Indicator # 1)

Initiating the "Work Backwards"

Design Process

1. We begin by designing a course, program, degree or an experience by envisioning what students need to be able to DO in their "rest of life" (ROL).

Initiating the "Work Backwards"

Design Process

2. We ask the question: What will the student be able to DO differently in the community, family and/or workplace as a result of this course, program or degree?

Initiating the "Work Backwards" Design Process

3. It is only after we are able to articulate these learning outcomes in a few clear and agreed upon outcome statements that we can decide on content and assessment strategies.

(Stihl and Lewchck, The Outcomes Primer)

One of the Most Frequently Asked Questions:

"What is the difference between a competency and a

learning outcome (LO)? Aren't they the same?

Answer: Competencies and LO'S are Different

A. Competencies are largely discrete, miniscule tasks the student must demonstrate for a grade. (See the MCCCD Course Competencies List)

B. Learning outcomes tells right up front what the student will be able to DO in the rest of life (ROL) with what s/he learns in the course (or program or upon completion of a certain degree).

(Stihl and Lewchuk,The Outcomes Primer)

Thank You!