Visual aids and prompts for Day One of the Developing Educational Practice course at the University of the Arts London.

1. Developing Educational Practice Lindsay Jordan Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design

2. Overview of the course Day 1 Personal theories and metaphors How do we understand learning and teaching? Context What is Higher Education for? Why is Higher Education like this? Practice How do people learn? How can teaching enable learning?

4. People bingo!

5. In pairs Who is this? What have they brought with them? What are they hoping to leave with?

6. What is learning? Take about 5 minutes to write down what you think learning is or should be

7. What is teaching? Take about 5 minutes to write down what you think teaching is or should be

8. What we think learning is will shape how we approach learningWhat we think teaching is will shape how we approach teaching

9. Conceptions of teaching Think about the teaching staff you’ve encountered – one’s you’ve liked and/or ones you’ve had difficulty with - how would you describe their beliefs about teaching?

10. Conceptions of teaching (Richardson, 2005) Teaching as imparting information Teaching as transmitting structured knowledge Teaching as an interaction between the teacher and the student Teaching as facilitating understandingon the part of the student Teaching as bringing about conceptual change and intellectual development in the student

11. Teachers’ approaches(Richardson, 2005) Disciplinary Characteristics Conceptions of Teaching Approaches to Teaching Perceptions of the teaching environment Situational Factors

12. Conceptions of learning Think about the students you’ve encountered – those you’ve enjoyed working with and/or those you’ve had difficulty with – what do you think their beliefs about learning are?

13. Conceptions of learning (Richardson, 2005) Learning as the increase of knowledge Learning as memorising Learning as the acquisition of facts or procedures Learning as the abstraction of meaning Learning as an interpretive process aimed at the understanding of reality A conscious process, fuelled by personal interests and directed at obtaining harmony and happiness or changing society

14. Students’ approaches (Richardson, 2005) Demographic Characteristics Conceptions of Learning Approaches to studying Perceptions of academic context Contextual Factors

15. Ways of understanding learning and teaching Some big words: Constructivism Social learning theory Transformative learning Threshold concepts Experiential learning Deep, surface & strategic

16. TEA!

17. Higher Education Context What is Higher Education and what is it for? Discuss in groups of 3 and come up with a list of at least 3 things that your group believes to be the purpose of Higher Education You will have 10 minutes to do this and then you will present your list to the big group and explain why you think those 3 things are important

18. Higher Education Meaning-making Critical thinking Reflection Analysis and evaluation “deep” versus “surface” learning

19. Higher Education? What are the factors that have shaped the HE system we work in today? Discuss in groups of 3 for 10 minutes Present your conclusions to the group

20. Massification Enormous increase in HE participation in relatively short time In 1962 there were 125,000 students at 25 Universities In 1996 there were over 1,000,000 students at over 100 universities Today the figure is over 2,000,000

21. Massification What are the likely consequences of a mass higher education system?

22. Widening participation HEFCE is “concerned with ensuring equality of opportunity for disabled students, mature students, women and men, and all ethnic groups” Attainment, Aspiration, Application, Admission

23. Widening participation What are the challenges for HE in focusing on widening participation?

24. Quality (1) The `modern’ system of higher education has its roots in the 1950s when it was devised to admit the top 5% of the population. It is now expected to admit the top 30%. Unless our teaching has improved by a tremendous amount or the population’s general level of academic ability has risen considerably, there must be a `dumbing down’.(Senior University Manager A) What do you think? If more people do well, does that mean dumbing down or does it mean a fairer, more accessible system?

25. Quality (2) People have been moaning about declining standards for the last 30 years. I doubt if it is possible to prove anything either way. The standards themselves are probably changing, but the old standards had a great deal wrong with them so it is just possible that these changes may be for the better. (Senior University Manager B) What do you think? What might have been wrong with the old standards?

26. Need to satisfy stakeholders Who are the stakeholders in HE today – who do you think should have the right to have a say in what goes on at University?

27. International students Currently more than 8% of the total income of UK universities comes from overseas students' fees On the one hand it means an injection of much needed funds into the sector, on the other hand there are concerns about reliance in this kind of money. Is this model of financing HE sustainable? Are international students getting a fair deal?

28. Quality assurancehttp://www.qaa.ac.uk

29. Quality assurance agendas Universities need to be accountable to stakeholders They need to say what they do – to have predictable measures of achievement They need to do what they say – deliver consistency and measurable outcomes This drive for consistency, measurability and control is problematic for some academic staff – why do you think that is the case?

30. LUNCH!

31. How do people learn?

32. What do we already know about how people learn?

36. What does our knowledge about how people learn mean for teaching?

37. Ways of understanding learning and teaching Some big words: Constructivism Social learning theory Transformative learning Threshold concepts Experiential learning Deep, surface & strategic

38. Learning changes people Different theories explain how this happens in different ways, but most are concerned with some developmental process in the learner

39. Transformative learning theory Jack Mezirow (1991) Recognising limits of existing knowledge Developing an expanded understanding – becoming more inclusive, discriminating, integrative Acting upon new understanding

40. Transformative learning theory In this model, being challenged, stretched, required to defend positions that you don’t necessarily support, being able to understand and engage with conflicting view points, are all important teaching and learning activities. The most important idea is that the student’s existing understandings of the subject area are disturbed and have to be newly formed.

41. Challenging within a framework Challenging existing viewpoints is important, but new learning has to be structured, supported and scaffolded We have to understand who students are, what prior knowledge and experience they bring to the learning situation and how best to enable their learning

42. Constructivism We learn by fitting new understanding with what we already know, reorganising, extending and supplanting existing knowledge. A good explanation of constructivism is available at this websitehttp://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html

43. Constructive Alignment John Biggs (2002, p.1) “The ‘constructive’ aspect refers to what the learner does, which is to construct meaning through relevant learning activities.”

44. Constructive alignment Biggs (2001, p.1-2) “The ‘alignment’ aspect refers to what the teacher does, which is to set up a learning environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes.”

45. Constructive alignment Biggs (2002, p.2) “The key is that the components in the teaching system, especially the teaching methods used and the assessment tasks, are alignedto the learning activities assumed in the intended outcomes. The learner is ‘trapped’, and cannot escape without learning what is intended.”

46. Social learning theory Learning is not just about change within an individual learner Communities of practice theory (Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger, 1991) argues that learning is a social activity that is just as much a part of everyday life as it is the focus of formal education

47. Communities of practice The domain Participants in the COP share an interest in a particular area of activity The community Participants are linked by relationships in which they help each other, have discussions and share information The practice Participants develop a shared repertoire of resources, stories, tools, ways of thinking and problem solving

48. Legitimate peripheral participation It is Ok to be a beginner: We enter new communities not knowing the rules of the game, not understanding all the terminology and the unspoken codes of behaviour Think about communities of practice that you belong to – draw a circle for each one (some may overlap) How involved are you in each one? How did you move from peripheral to full participation?

49. Communities of practice Importance for teaching practice: Understand that learning is about relationships between people An educator’s role is to cultivate community Knowledge and involvement with activity go together

51. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvOWJjyTpp4

52. Experiential learning

53. Experiential learning Kolb’s learning cycle Concrete experience Reflective observation Abstract conceptualisation Active experimentation Most importantly, the learner is ‘engaged’ – they are personally and directly involved, they can’t be passive. They have to reflect on the activity and learn from it.

54. Threshold Concepts

55. Threshold concepts Notion of a portal or a gateway – some essential understanding or way of being in a discipline that we must gain in order to progress Passing through the threshold is transformational, exhilarating or even distressing Can get stuck in a liminal state – leads to mimicry, lack of authenticity

56. Threshold concepts Transformative – can lead to shifts in values, feeling or identity Irreversible – unlikely to be forgotten and difficult to unlearn Integrative – enables connections between different areas of a subject Potentiallytroublesome – e.g. tacit; conceptually difficult; culturally alien; inert

57. What have you learned today Take 3 minutes to write down everything you can think of from today 30 seconds - feedback to group

58. References Biggs, J. (2002) “Aligning the curriculum to promote good learning”. Available at http://www.palatine.ac.uk/files/1023.pdf (Accessed: 27 October, 2009) Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Meyer, J & Land, R. (2003) Threshold concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practising int the disciplines. Available at http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf Richardson, J. (2005) “Students’ approaches to learning and teachers approaches to teaching in hgher education”. Educational Psychology, 25(6), 673-680.