Page 82 - Microsoft Word - The Future of Learning April 2017.docx

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Stage 2 (55–65 mins)
• Groups come up with a different context for the concept and find an appropriate prompt for that new context (5–7 mins).
• Groups share their new contexts and find with each one using a prompt (30 mins).
• Each group develops an artefact to summarise their learning. The learners can create a
short video, image or other artefact including a story, poetry, posters, etc. (10 mins).
• The class decides as a group how they will remind each other to maximise the impact of their new learning to instil the new learning as a new habit (10–15 mins).
It is important to note that educators might initially model these leadership roles, but after 4–5 micro-lessons, the educator reduces their role as leader, with small teams of learners encouraged to take turns taking on the role of leading the process. This can begin with 3 or 4-year-olds taking on small roles and gradually expanding their involvement. The more competent the learner becomes, the greater agency they have over their learning so that educators can focus on driving the learning deeper, along with developing the learner’s ability to apply the Learning Process.
The best evidence we can collect on how the learners are progressing is to video them working with each other and when they are presenting their summaries of their micro-lessons. It is important that we gather ‘evidence of progress’ of the learner’s ability to apply the Learning Process with increasing capability and agency over time. Creating a video of the learner’s progression is immutable and very powerful evidence of their progress.
As learners gain confidence in their ability to manage their learning, educators need to allow learners to gradually build their capacity and become increasingly independent. If learners know their educator will rescue them, each time they have a problem they will never develop the necessary self and group management skills they desperately require. Evaluating and managing this process is a balance that educators need to assess and be comfortable with.
What we are attempting to do via this process is make the educator’s job manageable, so we can support the learning through effective questioning of the learners understanding and recording the development of the Learning Process as it unfolds. Learners can also record their own and their peer’s progress in the same way.
The ‘micro-lesson’ approach is a very efficient way of learning. Learners enjoy the short, sharp nature of the micro-lesson approach to learning and they also enjoy having agency over what they are learning. The micro-lesson can be divided into the two parts over two days, or separate morning and afternoon sessions, or both sessions can run into one longer session. Experiment with each approach and see what works best for the learners and you, as the educator. A very useful tool in this approach is the ‘Swivl’. When a phone or tablet is attached to the swivl it will track and record video of the learner’s or educator’s activities. Videoing of the educators and the learner’s activities is probably the richest feedback we can obtain. A set of 50 questions for educators to support this are available as a free download from www.markTreadwell.com
3. The Conceptual Approach to Learning
Are there things we can change in our learning approach to make the Learning Process leaner, more efficient and more effective? Looking at the historical notion of thematic units of work being taught by teachers to students, where are the efficiency gains to be made? Transitioning teachers into becoming educator-learners, and students into becoming learner-educators provides us with some new options in how learning is structured. The ‘flipped classroom’ approach is just one innovation of many that allows educators to transition the education landscape to one that is more efficient. What follows is another change that allows significant increases in the efficiency of learning.