My Philosophy of Learning
For decades I used to believe that education (not educators) and learning were so interconnected that I assumed they were two sides of the same coin. However, over the past 10 years I have come to realize (through Masters research, working in a number of different countries, and a deep dive into tacit knowledge research) that learning and education need to be as conceptually separate as the church & state discussion. (more)
I see learning as ubiquitous in human activity. The only thing that changes is the context or setting. This has huge implications about one’s epistemology and ontology. How we as individuals define (whether implicit or explicit) learning will influence assumptions we make about how others ‘make-sense’ of content in any situation.
From both a research and instructional design (ID) mindset, I have come to greatly appreciate a cluster approach. For researchers, it provides yet another option for deconstruction of learning phenomena. Within ID, it allows for a flexible design of how, when and where content/activity is delivered, as well as being able to build in time for individual purposes and processes.
If life-long-learning is nonlinear, then should not a certain amount of content delivery also be nonlinear? This greatly changes (and frees up) course/program design and provides the educator with much more flexibility. This also changes the role of the educator! A realignment of our role from content expert to ‘content curator’ also puts content itself into a new perspective. (More)
Just as Schon made the distinction between reflection-on-practice and reflection-in-practice, I will make a distinction between ‘context-of-curriculum’ and ‘context-in- curriculum’. ‘Context of’ refers to the “why” we deliver content we do, and ‘context in’ deals more with the “what” — specifics of certain content. (More)
International Students
For those focusing on International students I ask, how familiar are you with your international students’ pain points? How well are your international students adapting to the tacit expectations of your learning and assessment processes? If you are actively targeting international students, you need to get a handle on your CIP (Culturally Inclusive Pedagogy)! [More]
The ROI of CIP is pretty obvious:
- Greater retention rates
- Increased completion rates
- Increased student success rates
Any or all three can lead to increased financial growth, more word-of-mouth referrals, better marketing stories, and a potential for more institutional partnerships.
Evaluations
Any evaluation of a program, course, person (teacher, instructor, etc.) or student should be focused on the achievement of authentic measurable and observable outcomes of the student. This holds true for any setting, whether academic, vocational training or corporate contracts. The challenge is, sometimes that which is observable takes longer for some than for others.
What are your underlying assumptions about how people learn?
