Learning

Learning

PKM – my best tool

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Technology is the application of organized and scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.

I dug up this quote from my personal knowledge management (PKM) system, or outboard brain, or whatever you want to call it. The quote is from Harold Stolovitch, and it’s stored on this blog from a post I made over three years ago. My PKM system is a technology in this sense.

I know people who get hundreds of e-mail each day. I don’t. I also meet people who work in companies and have to make decisions or set direction but who do not have time to read. I can understand how time constraints force you to reduce “discretionary” activities such as reading, but how are you able to learn if you don’t take the time to read, listen, reflect and then make your own understanding explicit for others to understand?

One PKM process, of using web tools to sort [triage] , categorize, make explicit, and retrieve, is shown in this graphic:

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Some of my practical problems, when I started this blog were:

  • I needed a way to connect with others in my field in an inexpensive way (blog)
  • I wanted to mine some of the knowledge out there (feed reader)
  • After a while, I wanted to share what I was finding, or have it available when I was in a discussion (social bookmarks)

What I found out later was that I was creating a resource that I could use whenever I had some related work to do. My blog is the first place I search when I have an article or report to write. The process of writing, reflecting, discussing & annotating has given me a digital library brimming with my own sticky notes that I can easily find.

If you’re looking for a resolution for 2008, I would recommend the adoption and use of some kind of Web PKM system if you don’t have one yet. Here’s a reason why, from Ryan Lanham:

Leading, or leadership, is the process of using our own learning to enable the learning of others.

Blogs at the core of KM & Collaboration

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I’m helping to create a collaborative work and learning space for a group of executives and this is part of the introduction to the site:

Blogs: The main communication tool is your blog, which each participant has registered in his or her name. Think of your blog as a professional journal, where you can record your thoughts and ask questions of your peers or the staff. Each blog post has a unique identifier, called a permalink, which can be referenced by others. Blog posts do not need to be perfect essays. Blog posts can help make sense of your learning process. Comments can be made on another person’s blog, or you can discuss it on your blog and then connect with a hyperlink to the other one. This creates a network of the conversations around an issue or topic. Here’s a video called Blogs in Plain English.

Wikis: Blogs are personal, while wikis are for groups. A wiki is a collaborative web document that records all activities so that any person can add to it, without losing what was previously written (it’s like “track changes” in MS Word). Here’s a video called Wikis in Plain English.

Jon Husband has dusted off a piece on blogging and dialogue that he wrote in 2004, which I think bears repeating:

  1. Firstly, individual or group blogs that are focused on a domain of information and expertise chronicle and catalogue the blogger(s)’ knowledge. Over time, this grows to create a recognizable “body of knowledge”.
  2. Secondly, by offering the capability of commenting and interacting, the information on offer can be better defined, refined, explored, tested, and built upon.
  3. Thirdly, the information on offer provides a latent platform for action – information that can be acted upon often turns into knowledge that can be shared and used in various ways.
  4. Fourth, by linking to the blog or blogs that offer related information, the knowledge that is built can be shared more and more widely, if desired.
  5. Fifth, the rhythym and cadence of the posting, reading, commenting and linking replicate the dynamics of dialogue in very effective ways. There aren’t the same kinds of interruption and distraction that so often occurs in conversations that only weakly replicate the dynamics of dialogue.
  6. Finally, an ecosystem of knowledge can develop that consists of the aggregated sets of links and content the participants in a blogalogue create. And this “body of knowledge” and understanding remains online, available to anyone who cares to become involved.

The more online communities and social networks that I’m involved with, the more I view blogging as a core process that keeps them going.

Learning Classifications

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Readers

Informal learning is a theme of this blog and has been an area of professional interest for the past couple of years. There is a link between informal learning and collaborative work; the latter is a key focus of my consulting. This link was highlighted by Teemu Leinonen in a recent post on networked learning, starting with a definition of informal learning:

Informal learning means learning that is taking place in every day life situation when we are interacting with the outside world or with our own inside world. Most of the learning is informal and purely accidental and random.

This is an adequate working definition, in my mind, but what I find most interesting is Teemu’s definition of non-formal learning, a term that I haven’t used much or really noted:

Networked learning can also be non-formal. Non-formal means that it is informal but with objectives. If a group of criminals are organizing a discussion group in a bar to share ideas about latest burglary techniques they are having a non-formal learning session. It is informal but with an objective.

Given these definitions, I would say that much learning in intentional online communities (such as a community of practice around knowledge management) is non-formal, whereas it is more informal in looser social networks like Facebook. My sense of this is that non-formal learning would involve mostly self-generated objectives though objectives could also evolve from the group. Formal learning would differ from these in that most, if not all, objectives would be externally directed.

These three working definitions may help in defining and explaining different approaches or strategies when working with communities of practice, work groups, professional networks or even classes.

Informal Collaborative Social Learning & Work

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Some recent threads seem to be interweaving and creating patterns in what is becoming my de facto field of practice – “informal collaborative social learning & work”.

One thread is what Jay Cross has referred to with Hole-in-the-Wall Learning (HiW), which I first came across in the book Design Like You Give a Damn, and this conversation has been picked up by Peter Isackson:

It seems to me that the fundamental key to the success of HiW is the notion of “self-organized groups” who learn on their own. If education is to become truly non-invasive, as Jay suggests, it must refrain from defining both the goals and the means to reach them, entrusting the groups with this task. If educational gurus (authorities) notice that a group is neglecting what is considered “essential” in the curriculum (for whatever reason, whether it’s basic security, survival or inculcating an existing set of values), the group could be challenged to account for why they may be neglecting a certain topic or reminded of the interest in pursuing it. Respecting the self-organizing group and its decision-making capacity is the sine qua non of success. It also happens to be the absolute opposite of the organizational principles of traditional education and training.

The idea of self-organised groups is a key theme in informal workplace learning, which Jay and I experimented with last year in the “unworkshops“. The HiW data is corroboration that we may be on the right path, though these studies involve young children only.

The other thread came via Michele Martin when she described some “new” roles that may be jobs of the future. The roles of Personal Learning Environment Assistant; Social Media Specialist; Online Coach; Social Network Catalyst and Social Network Analyst are ones that I’ve taken on at some time over the past few years. These descriptors are, for me, a clarification of the work that I’m doing.

One on my constant challenges has been in describing my work to others, and these roles can help with that. A current project with the Advanced Leadership Program of the Canada School of Public Service has me in the roles of Social Network Analyst & Catalyst and perhaps later as PLE Assistant. As we develop the online aspect of the wildlife emergency response network with AWI next year, I will assume similar roles and perhaps even that of Online Coach. If we use these terms in our proposals and work descriptions, they will become mainstream and should make it easier to get away from industrial-style roles such as workshop trainer, when not applicable.

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The two threads of self-organised learning and some commonly used terms in online collaboration have come together for me and should make it easier to ‘splain just what the heck I do.

Reduce the load and improve the learning

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Technological delivery may make training efficient. It does not necessarily make for effective learning. It is the relationships among people and sharing contextualized experiences that create emergent knowledge that is the basis of education.

Mark Federman also says that “education is not merely about transferring information”, which is the part of the question that Will Richardson is wrestling with in the context of teacher professional development [lots more on Will’s post and worth reading all the comments]:

But the workshops are a different story. In the best case, they are a full day of one or two particular tools. In the worst case, they are one or two hours on a lot of tools. Either way, the experience usually serves to overwhelm, and at the end of the day (or hour) the participants head back to the craziness of their teaching lives where I’m guessing much of what they have “learned” fails to take root.

Much (most? all?) of our training and education is still based on transferring information, whether it be “death by powerpoint” or a hands-on workshop. I’m just as guilty as others in trying to get everything covered in the allotted time. So how do we change?

 

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I have a few engagements coming up in 2008 and I am going to start practicing a new approach to my workshops and presentations. One of my inspirations comes from this article in The Star, about Carl Wieman and the Science Education Initiative at UBC, reinforcing what I already know, but still don’t practice well enough:

“Studies show we can remember only seven items at a time and can process only four ideas at once, so having an expensive professor read from a textbook is not an intelligent way to transfer information. It’s like overloading a computer that doesn’t have enough memory,” Wieman says.

Old-style introductory science lectures were “rotten for most people;” he says.

“The average student never mastered more than 30 per cent of the key essential concepts.

“But if you reduce the load of information and have students work the brain vigorously  – very much like developing a muscle – research shows you can increase retention to about 65 per cent.”

Often, with paying participants or attendees at conferences, we may not feel comfortable in challenging them and getting them involved in a learning process. The easy way is to present information [hopefully in an entertaining way so that we get invited back] or give follow-me activities and then let them ask questions at the end. People can tune out, yak on the back channel or check their e-mail.

Even when you provide additional resources and avenues of conversation after the workshop, few people follow up because they’re too busy with the craziness of their lives. The learning moment, which may only be one, has to happen there on the spot. Instead of a shot-gun lecture approach, covering lots of ideas and information, focusing on only a few key ideas and reinforcing them through engagement is the cognitively superior approach. However, forcing participation may turn off people used to the lecture approach and may even result in fewer smilies on the feedback sheets. It could be an interesting year.

What I’ve learned about learning

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The LCB Big Question for December is about what we have each learned this past year, “What did you learn about learning in 2007?”. Since my blog is my outboard brain, I thought I’d review the posts that I’ve made on learning.

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Here are some highlights:

I learned how computer games, especially epistemic games, can help people learn.

I learned more about coyotes.

I learned that good teaching can almost eliminate homework but that homework is only the tip of the iceberg that is weighing down learning.

I learned that hacking skills are also learning skills.

I learned that improv acting skills, which my son is developing, make for good work and life skills.

And I also learned to keep the important things in focus.

A Golden Story

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We used to read to our boys when they were young and as they became older we chose longer books and read these to both boys at once. The first three books of Harry Potter were favourites and then we started on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, a trilogy with the first book, The Golden Compass. This series was the last to be read aloud, as the boys soon preferred reading on their own.

Golden Compass

To this day, those books stand in my memory and Harry Potter pales in comparison. By the time we got to the third book, The Amber Spyglass, I could not put it down. I never even finished the Harry Potter series once we stopped reading to the boys. Pullman creates a universe that is believable and fantastic at the same time. Adult readers can find complex themes such as organised religion and quantum physics, all within a great story.

Perhaps it’s because these books may make you think (and question the status quo) that the Halton Catholic District School Board has pulled the trilogy from its schools. These are the only children’s books that I would wholeheartedly endorse and recommend to pretty well everyone. They are a fantastic read, and our youngest son even sat down and read them again on his own. True praise indeed. I think I’ll go and re-read the last book, before I see the movie.

Photo by Angelo Su.

Language Learning

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About 15 years ago I planned on going into the field of language learning, but I got sidetracked along the way with flight simulation, computer-based training and the Web. Ken Carroll on Learning is a new blog, with a post this week on language learning, in this case Irish. Since we’ve been running circles around French Immersion in our province, Ken’s perspective may be a welcome change, especially since he’s the founder of the successful ChinesePod language learning service.

Here’s Ken on his own experience:

There is no single reason for the failure of traditional language teaching. It’s more like a constellation of bad pedagogy, irrelevant objectives, a school system that was calcified in another era, etc. Crowning it all was the illusion that you could and should teach a language to children, i.e. that you could/should explain it to them. The teachers’ focus was grammatical, rather than psychological - What are the structures of the language?, rather than How might we induce the language learning process?  It didn’t seem to occur to anyone that if the kids were encouraged to use the language they would pick it up painlessly and quickly. Nothing (and I mean nothing) could have been less relevant than lectures on declensions or the conjugation of prepositions (they do that in Irish) to a bunch of children, but that’s what we got.

French as a Second Language Commission

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Following up from my post on pedagogy and politics, here is an update on what is happening in New Brunswick. The best place for up to date information and contacts for the FSL Commission is at Canadian Parents for French NB.

Locally, Amanda Cockshutt sent a letter to the FSL Commission:

Dear Commissioners Lee and Croll,

 

As a parent and PSSC member, I have submitted my opinions on FSL programs in the province via the online forum as requested.

 

In light of recent alarming media coverage, including interviews with the president of CPF New Brunswick, the Minister of Education and authors of the Rehorick Report, I would like to extend those comments.

 

1. The Research: The research, as eloquently summarized in the Rehorick Report, clearly indicates that the most successful programs in FSL in the province are the early and late immersion programs, and that these students currently represent virtually all of the students meeting or exceeding the QLA target. Clearly, these programs are central to FSL acquisition and every effort must be made to increase the scope and enrollment in these programs.

 

2. The Misconceptions: Research clearly shows that there is no negative effect of EFI on English Language Arts performance by the Middle School level. Reviews of the Report Card Documents over the years indicate that EFI students routinely outperform Core Program students in ELA Assessments at the Middle School level. Arguments that students should have a basis in English before beginning in French immersion are fallacious should not enter into this discussion.

 

3. The Timeline: Achieving 70% French proficiency of grade 10 students by 2012 as outlined in the QLA is an unreasonable target (that cohort is currently in grade 6). Short term strategies to meet the needs of those students and those following them (currently in grades 1-5) would require significant remedial French and redirection of resources. A more realistic solution to the problem is to focus efforts on increasing the proportion of students across the province entering both early and late immersion in September 2008. If 75% of students were enrolled in these programs, the 70% outcome could realistically be expected by or before June 2018.

 

4. EFI is Streaming: No, it isn’t. Students are not chosen or screened for entrance into EFI. The choice remains in the hands of parents. If parents are not choosing the program, or the program is not available to their children, this is a failure on the part of the Department of Education. If the Core Program is not able to meet the academic needs of the children in the program, then fix that program. The ridiculous knee jerk response to pool the current EFI students with the Core students to boost the performance scores of the latter, is both short sighted and laughable.

 

The province of New Brunswick has two FSL programs: French Immersion and Core French. The former is highly successful, the latter is not. The Department of Education needs to preserve and strengthen immersion programs and fix Core French.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Amanda Cockshutt

The Minister of Education, Kelly Lamrock responded:

 

 

Thanks for your comments. I might take issue with Point #4. I have yet to meet a principal who has not agreed with the proposition that if a student in FI struggles, they are inevitably “dropped” into Core French due to a lack of student services in the FI context.

 

That is streaming, and the “success” of FI cannot be judged until we give thse programmes the tougher task of teaching all children — in other words, making the immersion experience universal. (I accept that this is your point about resources in FI).

 

I don’t think we’re that far apart — but no one has ever asked for a study on what resources and what mechanism of choice/assignment would be necessary to provide a universally-accessible immersion programme, and if such a large investment would in fact deliver the very result you propose. I think the reason no one’s asked for that study is that no one’s ever been serious about paying to fix the problem (even though Scraba says we will be mediocre until we do).

 

Until I get that answer, I can’t truly know if the current method of streaming is (a) right but underresourced, or (b) based on flawed assumptions that cannot be fixed by resources alone. Even put another way — if one simply made the immersion teaching experience universal, what would immersion look like?

 

As always, and respectfully, I welcome your thoughts on this more nuanced (but more probative) debate.

 

Kelly

 

Hon. Kelly Lamrock

M.L.A., Fredericton – Fort Nashwaak

Minister of Education

I’m sure that there will be more to follow …

Student Entrepreneurship, Part 2

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Once again, I’ll be going to TRHS and talking to the high school entrepreneurship class this week. I had some good feedback last time and would always appreciate more input. Zach, the teacher who is behind this, said that the Spring session was a hit, especially the trailer for the movie The Corporation. Many of the students now go and rent the movie and show it to their parents.

I may have a larger group of students this Thursday and I’m working on keeping the presentation quite short, with only a few themes – the end of the industrial age; 3 billion people now connected; hierarchies & wirearchies. There should be lots of time for questions or more discussion. I just want to create a spark or two.

I’m thinking of showing one of two short videos from TED Talks (any advice?):

  1. The last half (10 minutes) of Sir Ken Robinson’s Do Schools Kill Creativity?
  2. Richard St John’s Secrets of Success in 8 Words (3 minutes)

The reason for #2 is obvious and it’s very short, while my logic for #1 is that creativity is the key for success in work & entrepreneurship, especially in an inter-connected world of intangible goods and services.