Core Business

In the most basic terms, the core business of educational institutions is the quality of student learning outcomes. In the SP context this is captured in our vision, which states:

Our graduates will be highly competent, innovative and versatile, imbued with sound values and committed to life long learning

Teaching Quality – the big factor in Student Learning

“…nothing is as important to learning as the quality of a student’s teacher. The difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is so great that fifth-grade students who have poor teachers in grades three to five score roughly 50 percentile points below similar groups of students who are fortunate enough to have effective teachers”

(Izumi, T. L. & Evers, W. M., 2002, ix)

“The effect of the teacher far overshadows classroom variables, such as previous achievement level of students, class size…heterogeneity of students, and the ethnic and socio-economic makeup of the classroom.”

(Rivers, C. J. & Sanders, W. L., 2002, p.17)

Enhanced Professional Teaching Role

The professional teaching role is now much more than thetransmission of knowledge through traditional didacticmeans.

If teachers are to prepare an even more diverse group of students for much more challenging work – for framing problems, finding, integrating and synthesizing information: creating new solutions; learning on their own, and working cooperatively – they will need substantially more knowledge and radically different skills than most now have and most schools of education now develop.

(Darling-Hammond,1995, p.154)

Is this still the case now?“Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance.

In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach”

(Peter Drucker)

“…few facts concerning teacher effectiveness have been established” (Ornstein, 1995, p.77)

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Education is a Creature of Fashion

Traditional (3 RRR’s) - Progressive Education - Back to Basics (Traditional)PBL - no longer ‘Sage on the Stage’ but ‘Guide on the Side’ (Constructivism)

Failure of Teacher Education ProgrammesReport by the American Federation of teachers (April 2000) called for teacher-training programmes to develop a credible core in pedagogy:

“We can no longer tolerate a ‘do your own thing’ pedagogy curriculum”

“What teachers are told...is that student differences are important and if their teaching is truly creative, energetic and engaging, they will succeed inindividualizing and bringing forth the best from all students. In effect teachers are being taught to make diagnoses that heighten their awareness of differences withoutadvancing their ability to teach”

(Stone, 2002, p.43)

Educational Jurassic Park

The present vogue is Constructivism and the teacher is no more the Sage on the Stage but the Guide on the Side

Copyright: Dennis Sale

“...move educational reform efforts from the fuzzy and unproductive world ofIdeology – which sometimes hides under the various banners of constructivism –to the sharp and productive world of theory-based research on how people learn” (Mayer, R., 2004, p.18)

Paradigms/Perspectives

“Perspectives are neither good nor bad. They are simply philosophical orientations to knowledge, learning and the role and responsibility of being a teacher. Therefore, it is important to remember that each of these perspectives represents a legitimate view of teaching when enacted appropriately. Conversely, each holds the potential for poor teaching”

(Pratt, 2002, p.14)

“What is needed more than a philosophy of education is a science of education. Modern attempts at educational improvement point back to theorists (Piaget, Vygotsky, and Dewey) whose theories are vague by current psychological standards and lack the strong connection to empirical evidence that has become standard in the field”

(Anderson, 1998, p.237)

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Typical framing

Many teaching approaches are embedded in a paradigm oflearning and stress particular methods, such as lectures, PBL, inquiry based learning, technology-based learning,etc. Furthermore, this typically leads to questions aboutparticular approaches and methods, e.g.,:• Are lectures a poor way to teach?• Is cooperative learning effective?• Does computer enhanced teaching help achievement?

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Wrong Questions?

“Maybe these are the wrong questions. Asking which teaching method/technique is best is analogous to asking what tool is best –a hammer, a screwdriver, a knife, or pliers. In teaching, as in carpentry, the selection of tools depends on the task at hand and the materials one is working with.

Books and lectures can be wonderfully efficient modes of transmitting new information for learning, exciting the imagination, and honing students’ critical faculties – but one would choose other kinds of activities to elicit from students their pre-conceptions and level of understanding,or help them to see the power of using metacognitive strategiesto monitor their learning”

(Bransford, 1999, p.22)

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Better frame

• Using a Core Principles of Learning, based on how people learn, to design the student learning experience:

• This will enable Better Choices in the selection of learning structures (activities) and how they are ‘woven’ together to become an effective learning design

• It is to be Noted that a good learning design (lesson plan) does not guarantee a successful learning experience for students. Skill in actual Teaching is central to the likely effectiveness of the learning experience for students

Metaphor

CreativeTeaching

Framework

Making the simple complicated iscommonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

Charles Mingus

Good Pedagogic Design

In Awesomely Simple Terms (he says hopefully)

A Problem

solved by

which takes

When the learning experience is Painful -many students descend into the World of Bla

ATTENTION

SESSION TIME (minutes)

0 15 30 45 60

(%age)

100

80

60

40

20

Bla

Bla

Bla

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Just what you fancy after lunch at 2pmNewton's second law of motion can be formally stated as follows:The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object

Then follow this with 40 mins of exposition and equations

Are there useful Theories of Motivation?

“We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it.” (Peter Drucker)

Copyright: Dennis Sale

The brain and motivation(why many students are not well motivated)

Cloniger 1987 argued that 3 neural systems run our lives

1. The Cortex’s quest for Novelty

2. The Mid-Brains quest for Pleasure

3. The Lower-Brains desire to avoid Pain

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Meeting Human Needs

• Survive and Reproduce• Belong – Love, Share and Cooperate• Power – Control and Competition• Freedom – Autonomy and Choice• Fun – Humour and Laughter

(From the writings of William Glasser)

Everything is Experience & Perception

As human being we are stuck in a process of continuous Experience – even when sleeping

Given a choice, people seek experiences that are perceived as pleasurable, novel, and pain reducing – because they satisfy needs

As a teacher, you are a major player in Experience Shaping

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can

be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration”

(Hain Ginott, 1995)

Activity 1: How we learn

“If it bleeds, we can kill it”Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator

What are they key processes involved in human learning, and how do they work?

Novice• Dependent• Uncertain• Erratic and poor performance

Expert• Independent• Confident• High performance

A Practical Model of Learning (MUDD)How competence develops

MemoryMemoryUnderstandingUnderstanding

DoingDoing

Compe

tence

Desire

MUDD

Memory

Understanding

Doing

Desire

Putting things into your memory, keeping them there and being able to get at them

when you need them

Making sense of concepts, principlesand procedures and seeing how they fit

together – results from thinking

Developing actual skills through practice

To learn well is to mix MUDD well

Having the motivation, belief and perseverance to learn

Physiology of learningLearning results in connections between neuronsAs we learn neurons connect with each other and pass on information. At the physiological level, learning results from the development of connected groups of neurons. As learning is reinforced, myelin is produced which enhances long term memory.

Learning Styles/Learning Preferences – what does it mean in practice?

There is some debate as to whether people have distinct learning styles, or whether these are mainly modality preferences (e.g., visual, auditory, kinaesthetic - VAK)

Schank (199), for example, challenges the notion of Learning Styles:

“Contrary to common belief, people don’t have different learning styles. They do, however, have different personalities. The distinction is important, because we need to be clear that everybody learns in the same way” (p.48)

Coffield et al (2004), in a comprehensive review, highlights the lack of reliable evidence that stable learning styles exist independently of the context in which they are expressed, and the lack of consensus about how teaching ought to be organized in light of these apparent differences.

(Coffield, F., Mosley, D., Hall E. and Eccleston, K. (2004) Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning: A Systematic and Critical Review, Learning and Skills Development Agency.

Activity 2: Good Teaching/Training – Science or Art?

...and what does it look like specifically, and how does it work?

The Serial Position Curve80

70

60

50

40

30

20

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Position on List

Pro

port

ion

Cor

rect

Primacy Effect

Recency Effect

von Restorff Effect

Psychological Effects

• Primacy Effect (the tendency for the first items presented in a series to be remembered better or more easily)

• Recency Effect (the tendency for the most recently presented items or experiences to be remembered best)

• Von Restorff Effect (the tendency to remember distinct or novel items and experiences)

Typical Attention Span

Brain Barriers to Learning

Restricted Working Memory Despite having almost unlimited capacity for information – Working Memory can only deal with about 7±2 bits of information at once.

Limited Attention Span Unless a stimulus is particularly pleasurable, novel or threatening, attention will drift onto more interesting stimuli (either in the present situation or in our imagination)

Slow Conscious Processing Speed The actual processing speed of the brain is slow compared to its capacity and organising ability.

Model of Human Memory

SightHearingTouchSmellTaste

SightHearingTouchSmellTaste

WorkingMemory

5-9 bits ofinformation

Long –TermMemory

ENVIRONMENT

Infinite CapacityForgetting

Long Term Memory

...long-term memory is now viewed as the central dominant structure of human cognition. Everything we see, hear and think about is criticallydependent on and influenced by our long-term memory.

We are skillful in an area because our long-term memory contains huge amounts of Iformation concerning that area. That information permits us to quickly recognize the characteristics of a situation and indicates to us, often unconsciously, what to do and how to do it

Expert problem-solvers are able to draw on the vast knowledge bases in their long-term memory and quickly select the best approach and procedures for solvinga given problem

(Kircher et al, 2006, pp3-4)

Activity 3: Implications of the way our brain processes information

• What are the implications of the Serial Position Curve for the design of learning experiences?

• Are there ways to exploit the psychological effects (PE, VRE, RE) for enhancing learning effectiveness

• How can we reduce the rate of forgetting (e.g., failure to transfer information from WM to LTM)?

• Are there ways to consolidate learning in LTM and help build understanding?

Minimize Forgetting through Review

10 next next next minutes day day week

with continuous periodic reviews

Recall without reviews

Recall with reviews at intervals

100%

Prob

abili

ty o

f rec

all

Effect of the Senses in Learning

Mental activity is stimulated through our five senses. Research suggests the following as approximations of how much each sense contributes to our learning:

The greater the combination of our senses that are stimulated in learning, the more successful the learning is likely to be. For example, it is estimated that we learn:

10% of what we read

20% of what we hear

30% of what we see

40% of what we see and hear

50% of what we discuss

70% of what we experience

90% of what we teach

Thinking – A major key for effective learning

“The best thing we can do, from the point of view of the brain and learning,is to teach our learners how to think” (Jenson, 1996, p.163) Brain Based Learning.Turning Point Publishing: Del Mar, CA

“Thought is the key to knowledge. Knowledge is discovered by thinking, analyzed by thinking, organized by thinking, transformed by thinking, assessed by thinking, and, most importantly, acquired by thinking” (Paul, 1993 vii)

However, thinking needs an extensive and well organized knowledge- base. As Resnick (1989) summarizes:

Study after study shows that people who know more about a topic reason more profoundly about that topic than people who know little about it. (p.4)

Pedagogic Design

A systematic approach, using evidence-based principles and practices, for creating learning experiences (strategies incorporating instructional methods, activities and resources) to facilitate desired learning outcomes for a group of learners

Good pedagogic design is both systematic and creative – skillfully utilizing available resources and being responsive to the situated context (adaptable to what actually happens in real learning situations)

A Frame for Good Pedagogic Design

LearningExperience

LearningStructures

Core Principles of Learning

Creating Effective Experiences for Learning: Big Questions

1. How do trainers create Experiences that maximize learning effectiveness

2. Are there guiding principles that can be systematically applied to the design and practice of these experiences?

Why is He here again?

Learning Structures

A Learning Structure is a content free method or tool for organizing the student learning experience. Content is placed into a learning structure to create a Activity which structures the learning experience for students

For example, a lecture is a learning structure in that it has a formatfor organizing a particular type of learning experience

Similarly, cooperative learning works on the same principles, except that the Structures promotes more active learning than a lecture structure

Activity 4: Lets do an example..Lecture or Presentation structure

Both a lecture and a presentation are examples of learning structures.In groups of 3-4, select one structure and identify:

the important design features that are essential in making the structure effective

the key skills involved in making the structure work in practice

other attributes or considerations that are important in making in enhancing the impact of the structure

Attributes of a Good Lecture

Key method is explanation with Q & A and short activities• A good lecture is characterized by:• An attention grabbing introduction that connects to the main topic• clear statements of what is to be learned, main topic areas and relevance to what learners

need to know• logical organization of information with appropriate examples, analogies and stories to

illustrate concepts and principles• linking of key topics, concepts and principles• Incorporation of relevant situated humour• re-capping of key points at the end of each sub-topic• a clear engaging style of presentation• well-designed and appropriate teaching and learning aids• opportunities for student involvement via Q & A and short activities• Key summary and link to future learning

Activity 5: Active Learning Structures

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

(Chickering & Gamson)

How many Active Learning Structures can you identify?

Active Learning Structures: Some Examples

• Group work & Cooperative Learning • Questions (especially those involving thinking)• Cases• Projects• PBL Activities• Simulation (including Role Play)and Games• Poster Tours• Minute Paper (e.g., what was good, bad, could do

better, etc)

The Learning Experience is the result of how the Learning Structures are interwoven?

How do we do this ‘weaving process’ – what are the the guiding principles – to get the best ‘pattern’?

Another Metaphor

Towards a Science of Learning

…over the past 3 decades, we have amassed enough research and theory about learning to derive a truly research based-model of instruction.

(Marzano, 1992, p.2)

There are systematic and principled aspects of effective teaching, and there is a base of verifiable evidence of knowledge that supports that work in the sense that it is like engineering or medicine.

(Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2006, p.12)

Copyright: Dennis Sale

Basis of the Learning Framework

The Learning Framework has been constructed from acomprehensive and critical review of the researchliterature on human learning from a wide range of fields (e.g., experimental, cognitive and socialpsychology) and research on best practices in a rangeof educational and cultural contexts.

Learning Framework: Key Purposes

1. A research-based practical guide to help SP lecturers produce and deliver effective and creative learning designs that result in quality student learning outcomes

2. An empirically grounded base from which to structure effective and efficient staff development programmes, events and research for the range and level of professional competence needed for a high quality lecturing force.

Not a ‘one size’ fits all approach

It is important to note that the Learning Framework does not prescribe strategies and methods to use in teaching or planning learning, nor is it aligned to any particular perspective or paradigm in education or psychology.

The core principles of learning, which are a key component of the framework, provide lenses or frames from which lecturers can thoughtfully plan student learning from a solid empirical base.

Core Principles of Learning

1. Learning goals, objectives and expectations are clearly communicated

2. Learners’ prior knowledge is activated and connected to new learning

3. Motivational and Attentional strategies are incorporated into learning designs

4. Content is organized around key concepts and principles that are fundamental to understanding the key structure of a subject

5. Self-directed learning is encouraged through facilitating the development of good thinking

Core Principles of Learning [cont’d]

6. Instructional methods and presentation mediums engage the range of human of senses (e.g. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic)

7. Learning design takes into account the working of memory systems

8. Learner competence is promoted through active and experiential learning

9. A psychological climate is created which is positive, success orientated and promotes self-esteem

10. Assessment practices are integrated into the learning design to promote desired learning outcomes and provide quality feedback

Core Principles – How they work

While each principle focuses attention on a key area relating to effective pedagogy, they are mutually supporting, interdependent and potentially highly synergetic.

As Stigler & Hiebert (1999) highlight:

Teaching is a system. It is not a loose mixture of individual features thrown together by the teacher. It works more like a machine, with the parts operating together and reinforcing one another, driving the vehicle forward. (p.75)

Using Core Principles Thoughtfully- The Fly Fishing Analogy

Key situated factors involve:

The specific learning outcomes (e.g., recall of facts, conceptual understanding, competence) Learner characteristics (e.g., motivational level, prior competence, learner preferences) Learning context and resource availability (e.g., learning environment, facilities, resources)

Activity 6: Apply the Core Principles of Learning to the design of learning experiences

If you were applying the Core Principles of Learning to your training context, what questions might you raise and address in planning the learning experience?

Online Learning in the context of Core Principles

The core principles that underpin good learning design in the face-to-face learning context are equally applicable to designing andmanaging learning in the online environment. Learning online doesnot change the way the human brain functions or the basic processesof learning.

Clarke and Lyons (2005) illustrates this fundamental point when theyargued that:

The most robust instructional principles are those based on a model of human psychological learning processes….Any given instructional method will be effective or ineffective depending on the extent to which it supports or disrupts basic-learning psychological processes regardless of the delivery media. (p.594)

Hyperlink the ‘Killer’ online feature?

“…the hyperlink, which is practicably without counterpart in the physical world of traditional academics. Within an internet document, hyperlinks are used to bring multisourced information into the primary text or to give the reader a path to alternative media. In essence, this eliminates the physical separation of material messages that are logically connected. In addition to text, hyperlinked messages may be pictures, sound files, animations, or video clips. External links can refer students to other information-rich Internet sites, including personal Web pages, specialized bibliographies, and professional specialists”

(Hamilton, S. & Zimmerman, S., 2002, p.270)

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One dark foggy night in Halifax, as Percy Shaw was driving home, he saw two small green lights, very close together near the edge of the road. He was curious so he stopped and saw the ‘lights’ were a pair of cats eyes reflecting the light from his head lights. Percy got back in the car full of ideas and subsequently invented a small deviceinvolving two marbles placed close together in a rubber casing; this would then be set in the road at intervals between the lanes of traffic.

After a year of experiments, Percy patented the invention and then, in 1935, formed his company, Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd. (That’s Innovation & Enterprise)

What is Creativity?A product or response will be judged creative to the extent that

it is novel, useful or a valuable response to the task at hand. (summarized from Amabile, 1996, p.35)

Creative Teaching

Do you know Java script well?

Yes, I do, I once had a girlfriend

from Jakarta

How technical am I?

Creative teaching occurs when a teacher combines existing knowledge in some novel form to get useful results in terms of facilitating student learning. This may be either planned before the act of teaching, or invented as a response to the demands of the learning situation

Creative PlanningNewton's second law of motion can be formally stated as follows:The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

What would happen to the ball if these conditions were changed:

1. The opposition played a trick on David and put down a much heavier ball

2. David plays a trick on the opposition by doing extra power training and can now hit the ball some 10% harder

A Creative Solution – Situated Invention

Kolkata Story

What is SHAPE ?

Stories Humour

Activ

ities

Presentation Style

Exam

ples

A Heuristic for the design of creative learning experiences

The Power of SHAPE“We understand everything in human life through stories”

(Jean-Paul Sartre)

“Humour is by far the most significant behaviour of the brain”(Edward De Bono)

“Learning activities are the best and most productive way to learn”

(Lambert and Coombs)

“The meaning of your communication is the response that you get”

(Bandler & Grinder)

“A fine example nurtures learners, enhancing their concentration and effort”

(Wlodkowski)

The Benefits of Humour for Learning

• Refreshes the brain• Creates mental images that retain

learning• Reinforces desired behaviour and

makes classroom management easier

• Develops positive attitudes• Promotes creativity• Contributes to the enjoyment of

teaching

Using SHAPE to Shape the learning experience

• Stories told to provide context, understanding and emotional anchors

• Humour used to achieve rapport and provide novelty• Activities provided to integrate, apply and consolidate

learning• Presentation style employed (e.g., words, tone, body

language – as well as observation and listening) to provide clarity, meaning and influence student attention, beliefs and psychological states

• Examples used to illustrate facts, concepts, principles, procedures

…and use these Resources Creatively

SHAPE as a Metaphor for Expert Teaching

“...expert teachers use a repertoire of strategies, selecting the most appropriate for use in a particular context and adapting it if necessary for a group of learners

A pedagogic repertoire consists of two aspects: approaches, activities, examples, analogies and illustrations for representing facts, skills, concepts, beliefs and attitudes to others; and the skills and strategies used as an integral part of these approaches “

(Turner-Bisset, 2001, p.69)

“Teaching Holistically” What does this mean?

• Understands learning has an holistic system• Ability to recognize and exploit “Teachable

Moments”• Competence in ‘Social & Emotional

Intelligence’

Learning is part of an Holistic System

Learning is not simply the result of cognitive processes, such as memorizing and thinking, but is profoundly influenced by our beliefs and emotions, which in turn are affected through our interactions with significant others and events in the external world.

How these play out in our minds will shape our psychological state at any point in time.

Magic Eggs - Story

“Mum, Mum, you don’t have to buy eggs anymore coz I’m laying them”

“We forget that beliefs are no more than perceptions, usually with a limited sell by date, yet we act as though they were concrete realities”

(Adler, H., 1996)

“We forget that beliefs are no more than perceptions, usually with a limited sell by date, yet we act as though they were concrete realities”

(Adler, 1996, p.145)

... And they shape our Psychological State (attitude) to the situation we are in

Beliefs

Cognitive Dissonance

ExistingBeliefs

New experience,which creates a

perception that…

I’m laying eggs

Chickens lay eggsI am not a chicken

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

ExistingBeliefs

New experience,which creates a

perception that…

I can do this

I can’t do thisI am not smart

Cognitive Dissonance

Beliefs & Emotional Intelligence: Caught in the Act

What is a Teachable Moment?

A teachable moment is an unplanned opportunity that arises in the classroom where a teacher has an ideal chance to offer insight to his or her students.

The Importance of ‘Emotionally Intelligent’ Teachers

How emotions impact learning• Determining attention• Memory and recall• Associate learning with pleasure, novelty and pain – hence

can foster intrinsic interest, perseverance, etc – or kill it• Influence the affective climate of the classroom

“The emotions that teachers display – both consciously and unconsciously – can significantly enhance or inhibit student learning”

(Powell & Powell, 2010)

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Daniel Goleman’s 5 Dimensions1. Self-Knowledge (Understanding oneself, integrating internal conflicts,

knowing strengths & weaknesses emotionally)

2. Self-Management/Regulation (The ability not to just react to events, but consider carefully the implications and consequences)

3. Motivation (Our energy source – motivated teachers are seen as enthusiastic, optimistic and energetic)

4. Social Awareness (Ability to empathize and feel what others might be experiencing)

5. Relationship Management (Knowing how to use emotions – emotionally sensitive – in the ways we communicate with others to build rapport and motivate them)

The 3 Brain Paradox – you can’t talk to the snake or rat brain

Far more neural filters project from our brain’s emotional centre into the logical/rational centres than the reverse

Amygdala

Becomes the Default System when we are threatened

Imitation & Mirror Neurons

When people are interacting with each other, the same brain structures are simultaneously activated in their brains. For example, if you watch someone making a cup of coffee, your brain not only processes the action – it also reproduces it. Essentially, we are predisposed to imitate those around us, and much occurs subconsciously.

This has big implications for how we impart beliefs and values to students. To a large extent, what they see in our behaviour - their perception - may be central to how we might influence them in the affective domain, for better or for worst.

Emotionally Intelligent people can..

• Empathize effectively with the emotional states of others• express their emotions in ways that are supportive of other

people• Manage and moderate their emotions so that they do not

leave to disruptive outcomes (e.g., anger turning into rage; sadness into despair)

• Use emotions to support their cognitive capabilities (e.g., through maintaining good self-control, reduce impulsiveness and motivating one-self)

What is Social Intelligence?

• There are many definitions in the literature. A simple but useful one is..

… the ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you (Karl Albrecht)

Key skills include:• Sensory Acuity - ability to notice, to monitor, and to make sense of the external cues from other people. We do this through evaluating the result of any behaviour. Requires good observation and listening skills• Empathy - ability to put oneself into another persons situation and see

the world from their set of experiences and perspective• Clarity of communication - ability to communicate clearly and

authentically through calibration of words, tone and body language