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Learning to Participate in Post-Secondary Education
- 2. Learning to participate in your post-secondary education Image from http://secondlanguagewriting.com/images/learning_networks2.jpg Brought to you by
- 3. First – know what you are participating in What’s the difference? Image from http://www.seobook.com/archives/cat_seo_tips.shtml
- 4. Bigger classes Mainly lectures More independence required Attendance and progress not monitored Less contact with teachers More group work Self management is essential Expectations are much higher Lots of tests Less class time Freedom More distractions
- 5. Are you Ready? How do you know?
- 6. Predictors of Success Ability Personality Situation
- 7. One thing that you can control Your degree of participation
- 10. Participate in Support Peer study groups Counselors Learning Success Office Health Centre Academic Advising Financial Aid Career Centre Workshops
- 11. Participate in your Learning
- 12. What is a Participatory Approach to Learning? Playing a part in your own learning Being engaged in the process of learning Understanding the dynamics of learning Using the available resources to help you Getting it. Questioning it.
- 13. As Opposed to PassiveLearning? Waiting for learning to come to you Allowing others to control your learning Keeping questions to yourself Learning in isolation Waiting for it. Accepting it.
- 14. Allow me to Demonstrate
- 15. University Knowledge Passive approach Filters Trickle You Knowledge Lost
- 17. Textbooks and Classrooms How do we turn this….
- 18. Into this…?
- 19. Classrooms How can I be engaged in a context like this…?
- 20. Textbooks How can I possibly learn all of this…?
- 21. What do you do now?
- 22. What role do you play in the industrial, credential based, test obsessed education system you find yourself in? It’s worth asking.
- 23. What assumptions are implied in our traditional model of education about how human learning happens? It’s worth asking.
- 24. Do you think that the best learning happens through interaction with others or in isolation? Do you think that the best learning is a process or an outcome? Do you think the best learning happens through collaboration or through competition? Do you think the best learning happens through engagement or through passivity? Which kind of model do you think is better?
- 25. Tough questions to answer – but well worth pondering and re-visiting often And your thoughts on these questions will help you to find levels of participation that make sense to you - to give your approach to learning some foundation. Otherwise, you wander aimlessly, follow blindly, and learn un-critically.
- 26. So let’s start a list of principles for more participatory learning: Reflect on your current approach Commit to some changes Find people to talk to Question the education system Discover how learning works Examine your role in learning Determine what you have some control over Ask questions Ask more questions Discuss things often – with everybody
- 27. We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. ~Lloyd Alexander
Editor's Notes
- Welcome – to stumblers and to folks at Ryerson taking the online module connected to thisPurpose – to trigger some questions and foster some deeper thinking on how you approach learningMy assumption – that learning is participatory, not acquisitive – but I invite you to think for yourself on this
- First – just an image to get you to begin thinking about what it is you are participating in in post-secondary education. What is involved in this most potent of life’s transitions?
- A few things will be immediately apparent…But it’s more than that.
- People ask that question a lot…”are you ready” It’s a bit of a silly question if you think about it. How do we know?But it is a good way to start thinking more deeply.
- One thing to do is to refer to the research. Cognitive factors (intelligence)Non-cognitive factors (personality)Situation – family background, income levels etcSome things are changeable, others fixed..
- It relates to engagement, motivation, to learning as a process to be involved in. It also may call into question what we mean by “success”. Is it grades? Is it the experience? Is it the extent to which you deepen your involvement in your own learning – something lifelong.
- Lets’ look more closely at some of the things I mean.
- Change is hardChange is necessaryChange is good (sometimes)If the situation is different, doesn’t it make sense that the approach should be different?
- Don’t do it alone.
- A more common term is “Active” learning but typically this term refers to things that a teacher can do to create more engagement in the classroom. Important to be sure. But I’m more interested in what students themselves can do to deepen their engagement in learning. The term participatory is better. This is the crux. What does it mean to participate in your own learning anyway? First, you must ask yourself if you think learning is simply the acquisition of knowledge. Or is it something else? Is it a process of involvement? Is it something done with others?
- In any event, a participatory approach involves these things essentially.
- Always start any of these sorts of inquiries with an examination of what's happening NOW – what do you currently do? What do you currently think about learning? Is it the last word? Is there room for any evolution in your thinking?
- Perhaps a leading question but it is worth thinking more deeply about the education system you find yourself in. If you want to be able to participate more meaningfully, you should ask some questions. Can you envision an alternative paradigm of education? Do you feel engaged by your current education system? What is its purpose anyway?
- Really, as I mentioned at the beginning, the purpose here is to simply get you thinking more deeply and to question the system(s) you find yourself in and whether you feel like a participant or a recipient.
- My preference is obvious so I’d like to end by triggering a short list of thing that you can begin incorporating into your approach to learning – broad level themes. This is the first step – to rock the foundations of your thinking about education and learning and your role in it all. Questions are the key. They are meant to perturb – teaching begins with perturbation.