CORE LwDT facilitators – Auckland, Jan 2014

Modern Professional

Learning

FOCUS

•  Today is about CORE’s provision of professional learning services. We’ll be exploring… •  What is the CORE way? What models and frameworks do we

promote and use? What makes our approach different and more effective than other providers?

•  What facilitation strategies and approaches are required to work effectively with schools and teachers into the future?

•  Where does the work of the LwDT team fit within the wider services of CORE – now and into the future? How can we leverage the considerable expertise across the company?

•  Where do modern learning environments fit into our thinking and way of doing things – in 2014, 2015…

GROUP ACTIVITY

Introduce yourself with a statement about you as a teacher – what

would your students most remember

about being in your class?

GREAT TEACHERS…

ACTIVITY ONE

CHANGING SCHOOLS…

“Schools may be the starkest example in modern society of an entire institution modelled after the assembly line. This has dramatically increased educational capability in our time, but it has also created many of the most intractable problems with which students, teachers and parents struggle to this day.

If we want to change schools, it is unlikely to happen until we understand more deeply the core assumptions on which the industrial-age school is based”

Peter Senge

TESTING ASSUMPTIONS…

1996, Prof. Hedley Beare

egg crate classrooms set class groups based on age

period-based timetable linear curriculum

division of all human knowledge into “subjects”

division of staff by “subject”

allocation of most school tasks to teachers

assumption that learning is geographically bound

notion of stand-alone school

limiting ‘formal schooling’ to years 0-13

9-3 school day

SO…

•  Form a group of 4-5 people •  Choose one of the assumptions identified by Beare •  Brainstorm together the things you know about what

happens currently •  Share some of the assumptions you think lie behind the

way these things are done/organised currently •  Be ready to report back a brief summary of the 2-3 key

ideas that emerged from your discussion.

MENTAL MODELS

Mental models are the assumptions & stories which we carry in our minds of ourselves, other people, institutions, & every aspect of the world. Differences between mental models explain why two people can observe the same event and describe it differently; they are paying attention to different details.

CHANGE

RESPONSE TO CHANGE

Supportive of change

Not supportive of change

Not aligned with vision

Aligned with vision

RESPONSE TO CHANGE

Supportive of change

Not supportive of change

Not aligned with vision

Aligned with vision

RESPONSE TO CHANGE

Supportive of change

Not supportive of change

Not aligned with vision

Aligned with vision

Moving ahead together – goals achieved, innovation evident

“Rogue” staff – enthusiasts who are difficult to harness

Reluctance, silent resisters, grumblers, lacking confidence

Vocal opposition, resisters, underminers

3rd place

COMPETING AGENDAS?

Centralised De-centralised

Networked

•  Self-managing •  Autonomous •  Customised •  Competitive •  Agile •  ‘Local’

•  Bureaucratic •  Compliant •  Equitable •  Aggregated •  Cumbersome •  ‘National’

•  Federated •  Ecosystem •  Collabetition •  Complexity theory •  ‘messy’

Cluster

Improvement agenda

Improvement •  Quality •  Achievement •  Equity •  Standardised •  “Same but better”

Tran

sfor

mat

ion

agen

da

Transformation •  Paradigm shift •  Complete, major change •  Renewal •  Metamorphosis •  “Different and better”

COMPLEMENTARY AGENDAS

Centralised De-centralised

Networked

COMPLEMENTARY AGENDAS

Centralised De-centralised

Networked

COMPLEMENTARY AGENDAS

Centralised De-centralised

Networked

COMPLEMENTARY AGENDAS

Centralised De-centralised

Networked

ACTIVITY TWO

What is concerning you about the future?

What are some of the questions you have?

THREE LEVELS OF CONCERN

Concern about self How will this affect me? What new skills will I need? Who can help me? Where can I find the information?

Concern about task How will I do this in my class? How will students be organised? How does this link with the curriculum? What about the core competencies?

Concern about impact What difference does it make? Are we achieving what we say we want to? Who else can I collaborate with to learn from? I think I know a better way?

3 TYPES OF CONCERN

Self Task Impact

CBAM

Level of concern Expression of concern

Refocusing I have some ideas about something that would work better

Collaboration How can I relate what I am doing to what others are doing?

Consequence How is my use affecting learners? How can I refine it to have more impact?

Management I seem to be spending all my time getting materials ready

Personal How will using it affect me?

Informational I would like to know more about it

Awareness I am not concerned about it

ACTIVITY THREE

STEP ONE: LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1.  What sorts of activities do learners in your classroom engage in for learning?

2.  What is the purpose of each? 3.  How are learners organised

or arranged? 4.  What is the teacher doing? 5.  What resources are required,

and how are these made available?

STEP TWO: PLANNING A LEARNING SPACE

1.  Draw the outline of a desired learning space on a sheet of paper.

2.  Focus on a particular learning activity/lesson, and draw the arrangement of learners, furniture and resources.

3.  Create a ‘story’ to explain what is happening in your learning space, and why you have arranged things this way.

LEARNING SETTINGS

LINKING PRINCIPLES TO PLACE

Students in physical school, instruction and

assessment predominantly on-

site

Students access formal learning via

the network, instruction and

assessment provided online

Students learning through their

online personal learning network,

incl. social networking

environments

Students at home, library or other space, pursuing

own interests individually or collaboratively

FORMAL  

INFORMAL  

PHYSICAL

  VIRTUAL  

e.g. Classrooms, field trips, music

exams, sports awards etc.

e.g. Virtual Learning Network, online classrooms, Coursera, virtual

field trips etc.

e.g. PLN comprising

Facebook, Twitter, Khan academy, YouTube etc.

e.g. Community library, sports

organisations, after school clubs etc.

FORMAL  

INFORMAL  

PHYSICAL

  VIRTUAL  

School A

Groups

NETWORKED LEARNING

Network PLN

Federally organised Collections of entities Collaborative Networked knowledge

Externally organised Single entity Competitive Knowledge transfer

Personally organised Association of entities Connected Personal knowledge

The way networks learn is the way individuals learn

MLE MATRIX

http://www.core-ed.org/professional-learning/mle-matrix

MODERN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

http://bundlr.com/b/core-education-modern-learning-enviroments

ACTIVITY FOUR

REMEMBER THIS…

Self Task Impact

CHALLENGE:

•  How do we design professional learning experiences that address the concerns of people in each of these areas/

•  What are the consequences of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach?

CONSIDER THESE SCENARIOS…

•  What assumptions might you make about the school…

•  Leadership? •  PLD programmes? •  Age/stage of staff?

•  What sorts of things do you anticipate staff are wanting to know?

•  What approaches to PLD might be appropriate?

•  What evidence of change would you be looking for?

A

B

C

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT PLD:

•  Is about change •  Takes time •  Needs to be in-depth •  Should be relevant, address

concerns •  Should be in context •  Is done with you, not to you

or for you

SWIMMING OUT OF OUR DEPTH?

Schools could ensure that a proportion of their teacher professional development programme is designed to support all teachers’ cognitive growth, while at the same time establishing clusters of experienced teachers who could work together across school sites (possibly online) to develop systems that better meet the needs of today’s students.

NZCER 2012

Derek Wenmoth Email: derek@core-ed.org

Blog: http://blog.core-ed.org/derek Skype: <dwenmoth>