Teaching for Learning Power Making it happen in

Teaching for Learning Power Making it happen in higher education Dr Linda Rush

Wider evidence • Chris Watkins’ National School Improvement Network Bulletin No. 13, 2001 • ELLI (Bristol project) • Guy Claxton • Alistair Smith • Campaign for Learning

Widening participation

Learning A process of active engagement with experience. It is what people do when they want to make sense of the world. It may involve an increase in knowledge or understanding, a deepening of values or the capacity to reflect. Effective learning will lead to change, development and a desire to learn more. (Campaign for Learning)

Learning Abbott (1994) defines learning as: …that reflective activity which enables the learner to draw upon previous experience to understand evaluate the present, so as to shape future action and formulate new knowledge

Features highlighted by Abbott’s definition include: An active process in which the learner relates new experience to existing meaning, and may accommodate and assimilate new ideas Past, present and future are connected, although a linear connection is not assumed: un-learning and re-learning may be implied The process is influenced by the use to which learning is put: how the learning informs action in future situations is vital

Lifelong Learning Continuation of learning beyond formal education

Not about telling Information is not enough About ‘shifting’ human beings About skills, process and behaviour L 2 L A language to discuss the process of learning Ditching reliance on short-term memory A model of how we learn A set of deep learning strategies

Learning to Learn (L 2 L) A process of discovery about learning. It involves a set of principles and skills which, if understood and used, help learners learn more effectively and so become learners for life. At its heart is the belief that learning is learnable. (Cf. L)

Learning is learnable • Old idea - intelligence is fixed • Research into the brain - mind is improvable • Intelligence is - ‘the sum total of habits of mind’ Resnick • Intelligence is - ‘knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do’ Piaget • Getting stuck is the liberating point, when learning begins • The key - know that learning is learnable - live that possibility in all your interaction with students

L 2 L: A moment of promise… • • • knowing proving converging systems more non-sense - learning improving diverging people less common sense

Key points emerging • Yesterday’s thinking doesn’t solve today’s problems • Text based learning has a very limited shelf life • Spoon feeding teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon (E. M. Foster)

ELLI’s seven ‘learning dimensions’ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Growth orientation v being stuck and static Meaning making v data accumulation Critical curiosity v passivity Creativity v rule bound Learning relationships v isolation Strategic awareness v robotic Resilience v dependence

The 4 Rs • Resilience being ready, willing and able to lock on to learning

The 4 Rs • Resourcefulness being ready, willing and able to learn in different ways

The 4 Rs • Reflectiveness being ready, willing and able to become more strategic about learning

The 4 Rs • Reciprocity being ready, willing and able to learn alone and with others

BLP: Making a step change 4) Becoming better learners -beyond hints and tips -seeing & thinking of self as learner -Expanding self as learner -Developing learning capacities COACHING 2+3) Learning better T - tips & techniques - mind maps L - learning styles - MI 1)Learning more: raising C - conditions for learning attainment S - study skills - better results GRAFTING - chunking curriculum - booster classes TOWING

Being a good learner Being a good real-life learner means knowing what is worth learning; what you are good (and not so good) at learning; who can help; how to face confusion without getting upset; and what the best learning tool is for the job at hand. Just as being a reader involves much more than simply being able to read, so ‘being a learner’ means enjoying learning, and seeing yourself as a learner, seeking out learning as well a knowing how to go about it. (Claxton, 2002)

A Lecturer’s palette Explaining: telling students directly and explicitly about learning power Explaining Commentating Orchestrating Modelling

A Lecturer’s palette Commentating: conveying messages about LP through informal talk, and formal and informal evaluation Explaining Commentating Orchestrating Modelling

A Lecturer’s palette Orchestrating: selecting activities and arranging the environment Explaining Commentating Orchestrating Modelling

A Lecturer’s palette Modelling: showing what it means to be an effective learner Explaining Commentating Orchestrating Modelling

Planned learning interventions • Explicit talk about learning • Mind mapping and concept development • Scaffolding meaning • Self-assessment • Explicit learning objectives and review

Planned learning interventions • Time for reflection • Real life problems and learning • Teamwork and learning relationship challenges • Creating opportunities for problem solving • Differentiated learning outcomes

Some key ideas • Making the learning process explicit • Using ‘stuckness’ as a site of interest • Using twin focused tasks - curriculum content - learning capacities

Some key ideas • • Developing a language for learning Lecturer as coach Using ‘could be’ language Establishing a learner research partnership between • Students and teachers • Nurturing creativity