Talkin' 'bout my cerebration.

In an effort to enable the steep learning curve of the staff I have recruited to be part of this project, I threw together this quick summary of transformative learning and how the theory might translate into action within the Physical Education cohort in 2010.  Preparation goes well.  The teaching team has thus far redesigned the course overview, established a group within Diigo for bookmarking and cataloguing resources and slowly developed the team site on One Portal.

The next challenge for the staff involved is to perform a performance review and plan for development.  I have created a template to streamline the process across my staff, beginning with a trial for the two transformative learners.

Transformational theory of Learning as applied to the Qld Senior Physical Education syllabus.

Description:

Summarised from the;

• Wikipedia article on 25 November 2009  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_learning
• Transformative Learning Theory webspace on 25 November 2009  http://transformativelearningtheory.com/index.html

Transformative Learning is a theory of learning that goes beyond just content knowledge acquisition.   It is a process where learners learn to think for themselves, developing freedom from unquestioning acceptance of what they have to come to perceive through life experience.  Freedom is experienced through active engagement and questioning of how we know what we know. (Learning as Transformation, by Jack Mezirow & Associates, 2000, published by Jossey Bass, San Francisco)

Transformative Learning Theory, as originally described by Mezirow (1991, 2000), explores a learning process where learners become critically aware of their own implicit assumptions and expectations of the learning experience.  Merriam and Caffarella (1999) further codify Transformative Learning into three phases, including critical reflection, reflective discourse, and action. Mezirow (2000) suggests that Transformative Learning often involves deep, powerful emotions or beliefs and is evidenced in action.

Implementation of the Transformative Learning Theory considers;

• the teacher’s role in establishing an environment that builds trust and care and facilitates the development of sensitive relationships among learners. The goal is to create a community of individuals who are “united in a shared experience of trying to make meaning of their life experience”. The teacher also serves as a role model by demonstrating a willingness to learn and change.
• the role of participants for creating the learning environment.
• the role of the rational and the affective. Teachers need to consider how they can help students use feelings and emotions both in critical reflection and as a means of reflection.

Watkins and Marsick (1993) suggest that learning networks can become the medium for moving new knowledge through the learning organization and that such collaborative structures and processes enhance the organization’s ability to learn because they enable critical conversations and challenging of assumptions and norms.

Yorks and Marsick (2000) suggest two strategies that can produce transformative learning for individuals, groups and/or organizations: action learning and collaborative inquiry. Both strategies are concerned with learning around significant issues and can be directly applied to learning within Physical Education.   A critical assessable criteria calls for solutions to problems.  These solutions can be found through collaborative inquiry (drawing on the inquiry process as a framework for learning) and action learning.  Integration of physical performance and academic learning allows the opportunity to develop and test hypotheses based on the targeted concepts.  Action learning is a process involving a team or group working collaboratively on a project or problem-solving task.   It involves the participants not only in the joint analysis, evaluation and reflection of the task, but also in reflecting on the process of how they worked, and taking personal and group learning from that process.

How will this look?

Learning to think for themselves:

• selecting evidence and resources
• determining suitability of resources for learning and validity of evidence
• think about personal learning habits and preferences.  Understanding data that predicts learning styles and preferences.
• problem solving strategies
• contributing to information streams
• understanding thinking processes, in particular the difference between lower order and higher order thinking.

Freedom from unquestioning acceptance:

• questioning norms (eg. Power in learning relationships, learning norms)
• Determining assumptions and preconceptions from knowledge and learning
• Use of tools to enhance learning
• Response to feedback – seek further info themselves
• Compare personal performance with assessment criteria
• Choosing learning activities (in and out of lesson time)
• Personal accountability for learning and achievement, and the reporting of such.

Teacher as a model learner:

• public reflections
• Engaging in critical conversations about teaching and pedagogy
• Learning from students, acknowledging and publicising such learning.
• Personal accountability for learning and achievement, and the reporting of such.

Use of feelings and emotions

• differentiating choices influenced by pleasure from those influenced by learning.
• identifying influences on learning, and management of those influences.

Collaborative inquiry:

• contribution to information streams
• collaboration on learning
• providing assistance to enable learning of others

Reflection:

• individual learning journal – reflect on learning choices, influences on such choices and extent of learning
• data from surveys and achievement
• teacher reflection (blog)

How will it be measured?

• Achievement data (PE and across other subject choices)
• Teacher surveys
• Teacher performance data (eg. movement on SCPDF)
• Student surveys
• Student reflective blogs
• Student surveys
• Student reflection on achievement
• Student reflection on contribution to information streams
• Teacher reflections (blog?) – could be in LP project room.
• My blog
• Surveys of critical friends
• Action / performance plans after reflection (teachers re. curriculum, teachers re. practice, students re. practice)

Skills:

• Teaching student research, including identifying valid sources for referencing vs. appropriate sources for instruction and content.
• Contribution to information streams (blogging, commenting, social book marking, resource wikis)
• Attribution of sources
• Choices in capture, storage, annotation and conversion of information.

Systems to be established:

1. One Portal Team Site
2. Learning Place project room
3. BlackBoard virtual classroom
4. Teacher accounts in Diigo, Delicious, iCyte
5. Wordpress install on MIS space

There is still a considerable amount of work to do to be adequately prepared for the implementation of this project, however progress can be seen.

In a recent meeting with my upline manager I was challenged regarding the selection of my staff for the transformational learning project.  My upline manager expressed concern that I had chosen two young and relatively inexperienced staff members, and specifically two staff members without experience in implementing this particular syllabus.  I appreciate and encourage this questioning as it ensures I am reasoned in the decisions that I make.

There was one critical factor in my selection of the staff.  Choosing two teachers new to the school, who have not taught the specific subject previously, certainly enables radical change.  And there is no doubt what I am asking for is a radical change.  No teacher in this school has taught in this manner previously, and no student has learnt within this type of environment.  I feared that if I recruited staff who had already taught the specific subject then I would be dealing with “tradition” and “hangover” from what has occurred previously.  I don’t believe this would have enabled the success I am aiming for.

What has excited me is the professionalism displayed thus far by the project teachers.  I permitted them open license to design a work program that enabled them to teach effectively.  I have never been concerned about changing work programs, and in Health Education have made changes annually.  This is the first change for Physical Education since the original work program was approved in 2004.  In the re-writing of the program, both of the project teachers have independently accessed the syllabus to ensure what they are planning is appropriate.  This has even resulted in them picking up on an error I made with suggestions for the program.  Considering I did not ask or suggest they access the syllabus, in fact I expected they would propose a program and I would check it for syllabus suitability, has really impressed me.  Coupled with this is the independent research they have each done on the transformative theory of learning to prepare themselves, which is impressive.  Inexperience has not restricted them.

The project team met yesterday to finalise the program skeleton.  In this meeting (held whilst on playground duty!) I believe a significant indication of progress was achieved.  The teachers were discussing logical ordering of content across the two year program and decided that we should begin with a unit on Motor Learning.  Their justification was based on the fact that the students would not have experienced this type of learning environment previously, and this allowed us to teach them “how to learn” and to specifically learn within the environment we are establishing.  This to me was a breakthrough as it demonstrated an understanding of what they have volunteered to be part of, and deep thinking on how to structure the learning environment to enable success.

I couldn’t be happier with the progress of these two teachers.  I’m excited by the changes they have proposed.  I’m excited by the enthusiasm they are displaying.  I’m impressed with the professionalism they are demonstrating at this stage of the project.

The next phase of the project will be collaborative visioning and the establishment of mechanisms for measurement.  Our visioning will be based on a number of documents that I have grouped as “Documents informing the project” and categorised under a range of headings.  I will outline these in another post.  The teachers will be asked to familiarise themselves with the documents and then discuss how they will impact the project.

Teacher toolkit

Now that I have my staff selected, I believe my time is best spent exposing them to the software that will enable transformative learning.  My first focus will be on software that enables sharing of information.  In this initial phase I will install software that utilises data stored on the local hard drive.  This is purposeful so that I can facilitate use of the team site for the project to share files.

The software I will install tomorrow is;

1. Mozilla Firefox
2. Zotero add-on for Firefox
3. X-mind
4. FoxIt PDF Reader (including FoxIt toolbar)

FireFox is essential for the functionality of the add-ons, particularly on the Windows powered laptops provided to teachers in our organisation.  Zotero is a notebook and research tool.  We will build notebooks and share them out to the learners.  FoxIt toolbar allows the markup and annotation of PDF files.  Simply choose “Save As” when finished and all markups and annotations are saved as part of the file.  X-mind is a concept mapping program, within which we will build learning maps for the units we implement.  Each of these programs are cross platform.  I’m aware there are platform specific programs that may perform these functions more effectively however I want a solution that can be modelled in class and implemented on any platform.

Tomorrow I will install these items on my staff’s laptops.  I will then provide them with the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework file (PDF).  They will be tasked with opening it within FireFox and using the markup tools to identify the indicators they believe they are currently demonstrating.  As well as providing them exposure to PDF markup and file sharing via One Portal, this will also provide base data to map performance improvement upon.

Its been reassuring that both staff have been showing real interest in this and a desire to learn.

Yesterday I invited two staff members to be the teachers in this project.  Both seemed excited by the invite which is a good thing.  I have purposely picked them for a number of reasons.

Staff member A sits in the main HPE staffroom and I believe has the potential to be an excellent teacher.  2010 will be their 3rd year at our school.  They are well organised and always working within timelines from myself or administration.  They have spent large amounts of time preparing resources for their classes, and although this will change tact with this project the time commitment is important.  Their learning management needs refinement, and I believe this process will allow them to critically reflect on their influence on the learning environment and improve their practice acordingly.

Staff member B is my most energetic and motivated staff member.  They are constantly seeking advice and feedback on performance and show an ability to critically reflect and adapt their practice.  They sit in a staffroom across the other side of the school, which should result in a spreading of the influence of the project.  The fact that they like to talk about their teaching will aid this process.  This will also encourage me to leave the main HPE staffroom more often to interact with my other staff.  This staff member is well organised and always works within timelines.  They seem to thrive in team situations, although I see the potential for leadership within them.

So now I am getting excited.  At this point there are three priorities that need to be addressed.  First and foremost I need to formalise the plan for the project.  As it is an action learning project I need to frame it as such.  This includes the recruitment of critical friends.  I’d like to have critical friends for each of the following aspects;

• syllabus implementation
• staff development
• student achievement and satisfaction data
• pedagogical practices
• digital pedagogy (incl. use of specific tools and processes)

There may be other areas I incorporate critical friends and no doubt they will become evident in the plan formalisation process.  I have not yet identified the requirements or commitment of critical friends, but if you are interested in being one for this project then I encourage you to let me know.  If you can’t dedicate the time (I know we are all busy) there will be opportunity to read our progress and comment as such.

Secondly I need to provide a range of readings to my staff to increase their understanding of transformative theory.  I will do this through the creation and transfer of a Zotero notebook, demonstrating to them the use of such technologies that I want incorporated into the project.  Thirdly, we need to meet to refine the work program so that it enables the success of the project.  Aspects like the use of physical activities that allow the teachers to be “close” in the early stages.  Our classroom is next to our hall, so if the first unit of work has an activity in the hall the teachers will be relatively close.  This will enable student choice and teacher support of each other.

I can feel the momentum building.  I am excited, I am heartened by my staff’s excitement.  And I am strong due to your support.  Those that are reading this and sending comments via the blog, twitter, email or facebook are keeping me strong.  Thanks to those who have already volunteered to be a critical friend.

After a couple of attempts, I finally have a viewable video of the project pitch to staff online.  I’m hosting this one on Vimeo as it is slightly longer than 10 minutes.

Transformative Learning Project pitch to staff from Shane Roberts on Vimeo.

I’ve been asked to present this to the executive administration today, after which I will need to select staff to work within the project and begin professional development and specific planning.  Exciting times.

Recently I was fortunate enough to be involved in the facilitation of a workshop designed to prepare HODs and HOCs (middle management) for a 1:1 environment.  The 1:1 environment will essentially be forced upon all secondary schools by the current federal government as they fund the provision of computers and laptops for every student in years 9 to 12.  Unfortunately, too many school administrations believe that preparation for a 1:1 environment is as simple as having the space and furniture.  Inevitably this results in poor integration of ICTs into the curriculum.  One particular session I was responsible for was entitled “What it looks like.”  My role here was to describe some of the processes I have in place to enable a rich ICT experience for learners in my class and staff in my school.  As regular readers of my blog will know, the whole school strategy is very new therefore I could not provide much information there.  However I could provide plenty of ideas in regards to processes I put in place to enable ICT rich learning in my classes.

My interpretation of a 1:1 environment is more complex than having 1 device for each child. Its about a process that encourages use by students to achieve learning outcomes.  My 1:1 environment involves four processes.

1. Increase choices
   I’ve found in my experience that when you increase the options available to students, the use of ICTs in learning is greater than when you specify a particular item. Sometimes one has to be creative in promoting this choice.  For example you may wish your students to blog a response.  This does not provide them a choice, but if you ask them to choose how they blog (words, audio, pictures) then engagement generally increases.  I have no hard data to support this, just observations from my own experience.  In particular I notice that when a range of devices are available, then student use is increased.  Not all may use the camera, but if they can choose between camera, iPod, phone, audio recorder and Flip Mino there is bound to be something they will use.

   The increasing choices also aligns with a significant aspect of Transformational Learning Theory – student negotiation.  Provide the learners with some power in the learning relationship for increased engagement and ownership of learning.

2. Increase access
   Improving access to ICT is as much about learning design as it is marketing.  By designing learning experiences and assessment items that utilise ICTs you are increasing required access.  Marketing is still for me the biggest challenge.  This marketing could be relevant to staff and administration in an attempt to change policy and allow or encourage utilisation of a particular device or resource, or it could be to students by demonstrating the benefits of use to their life long learning (learning beyond that required within my subject).
3. Increase usability
   Increasing usability has some crossover with the concept of increasing access.  Through marketing of benefits I hope to promote the usability of certain technologies to life long learning, and cross curricula performance.  I believe the main influence on increased usability is the role modelling by the teacher.  If the learners see the teacher using the resource effectively, they are more likely to attempt use themselves.  So increasing usability for me is generally a focus on teacher competence and utilisation of a resource.
4. Increase prevalence
   The age of ubiquitous learning – anytime, anywhere, anyhow.  This in itself drives the need for increased prevalence of ICTs.  I specifically encourage my learners to continue learning once they leave the boundaries of the timetabled class and walled classroom.  Simply using a camera to capture items of interest as they continue through their lives, and using them when in th “boundaried learning” is a step towards ubiquitous learning.  The concept of information consumption and analysis as continuous is enhanced and enabled by the use of a range of devices and technologies.

The Smart Classrooms strategy of my employer has developed a concept entitled 21 Steps to 21st Century Success which outlines a program of preparation for a 1:1 environment.  My take on it is a little more focussed on learning implementation but both deomonstrate the need for preparation prior to implementation.