DEVELOPING OUTCOMES BASED LEARNING SPACES Stephen Brookfield Jewish
DEVELOPING OUTCOMES BASED LEARNING SPACES Stephen Brookfield Jewish Education Project th June 6 , 2018
HOME PAGE - www. stephenbrookfield. com • My home page is open access so if you want to find out more about any of the exercises or activities I mention go to the page and click on the ‘Resources’ link. • Scroll down to ‘Workshop Materials’ for PDF files or power points of stuffed with activities & exercises. • You do not need to ask my permission to use any of these resources. If they’re useful then please try them out and adapt them to your context. • www. stephenbrookfield. com
Todays Meet • Go to: www. todaysmeet. com/jep • Sign in by creating a nickname for yourself USING ONLY NUMBERS! (birthday, favorite year, random numbers etc. ) • Please post a greeting so we know the system is working
Todays Meet • Provides immediate information about participants’ learning & experiences • ANONYMOUS so people can ask ‘dumb’ questions or raise difficult issues without embarrassment or risk. • Feed is open throughout a session & you check it every 10 -15 minutes to see if anything is being expressed you need to deal with. • You can open a session w/ a question to which all respond. Indicates the perspectives & levels of understanding people bring to the topic. • Pose a question if you think problems are emerging – What am I doing that most bothers you? What’s most confusing about my instructions? How well am I addressing a particular issue / need? What changes would help you? What do we need to keep/add/drop?
Question • Think about what you consider to be the best learning experience you’ve ever had in which someone was in charge of directing your learning. • What was it about this experience that made it so satisfying?
Common Responses • The skills, information & insights I learned were exactly what I needed at that time – even though at first I didn’t realize their importance • I felt treated as an adult – respected, heard, not talked down to • The leader/teacher modeled what s/he was asking me to do • I felt I could always ask for help & get a good response • I always felt clear about what was expected – even when this involved a journey into complexity & ambiguity • The person in charge was open to changing things up if we found particular approaches difficult • The leader/teacher was clearly expert & qualified The Skillful Teacher Stephen Brookfield (2015, 3 rd Ed. )
What Do These Responses Mean for Optimal Program Planning? • The learning outcomes of the program are identified by participants as crucial to their development • The expectations communicated & the directions provided by the educator / leader are clearly understood by participants • There’s a continuous effort to find out how the program is being experienced by participants & an effort to make changes when these are justified
How do We Build Commitment to Learning Outcomes • To explore & deepen my understanding of ‘Who Am I’? • To explore & deepen my sense of connection to a Jewish identity • To explore & deepen sense of whom & what I have responsibility for • To explore & deepen my understanding of living these commitments • MODELING • By Staff – autobiographical disclosure of where you are in your journey • By Teens – video testimony of how they grapple with these processes • “I am from” poem https: //scribblingtoday. com/2011/03/31/writingexercise-i-am-from/ • I am from – place, smells, touch, spirituality, nature, feeling, family, friends, art, gender identity, race, ethnicity, music
MODELING A COMMITMENT TO OUTCOMES • HOW DO YOU MODEL YOUR OWN COMMITMENT TO CREATING OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR YOUR COLLEAGUES OR TEENS?
Circular Response (Groups of 8 -10) Someone starts by giving his/her reflections on the topic. S/he speaks for up to 1 minute - no interruptions Person to left of 1 st speaker goes next. It’s fine to pause & think for a while. When speaking whatever 2 nd speaker says MUST somehow refer back to/build on the previous speaker’s comments (can be a disagreement or express confusion). Up to 1 minute is allowed – again, no interruptions Process continues leftwards around the circle with people speaking in order until all have participated Group then moves into open conversation with no particular ground rules in force
How do We Ensure Alignment? • Most important knowledge we need is how people experiencing learning • Todays Meet or other social media can be used as an anonymous continuous evaluation tool • Critical Incident Questionnaire can be used in professional development, task force meetings, department meetings, classes or any group event in which you want to get valid data on how people are experiencing what’s happening to them
CRITICAL INCIDENT QUESTIONNAIRE (CIQ) • MOMENT MOST ENGAGED TODAY • MOMENT MOST DISENGAGED TODAY • MOST HELPFUL ACTION ANYONE TOOK TODAY • MOST CONFUSING ACTION ANYONE TOOK TODAY • WHAT MOST SURPRISED YOU TODAY
CRITICAL INCIDENT QUESTIONNAIRE (CIQ) • Given out last 5 minutes of an event. • Anonymous - participants hand completed CIQ’s to a volunteer collector • Copies handed to leader who reads & prepares a report summarizing main themes & how s/he will respond • Report shared at opening of next meeting – highlights different reactions, common clusters & questions that need to be addressed • Leader talks about possible changes s/he’s making or why s/he can’t always do what people want
Appreciative Pause – Gratitude Institutionalized • Toward the end of every meeting, workshop, professional development or class, reserve 3 -5 minutes for an appreciative pause • This is a time when people speak ONLY appreciations for how others have helped them in their learning and development • Appreciations are expressed for… • Something that someone said that helped clarify what you’d been struggling with • Someone gave you a new way of thinking about something • Someone recognized and affirmed your presence in the room • Someone suggested a new practice for you • Someone helped you think more critically about your assumptions
Further Reading • Mike Klein 2018. Teaching Intersectionality through ‘I Am From’. In, Stephen Brookfield (Ed. ) Teaching Race. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley) • Pat Cranton 1996. Professional Development as Transformative Learning. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley) • Stephen Brookfield 2013. Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley) • Stephen Brookfield & Stephen Preskill 2016. The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley)
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