Diversity and variety in learning

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Diversity and variety in learning
P. Robert-Jan Simons IVLOS, Utrecht University
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Educational vs noneducational views
Educational
Noneducational

• Learning is mostly explicit and aimed at goals
• Learning is mostly understood as a cognitive and
  rational process
• Educators usually guide learning

• Learning is largely implicit and aimed at work-
  or person-related goals.
• Learning is part of belonging to and
  participating in a real life context involving
  emotions and the development of a professional
  identity.
• All kinds of interaction partners play a role but
  not necessarily a guiding or directive role.    

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Educational view
Noneducational view

• While the educator represents authority, access
  to learning and knowledge is largely equal.
•  
• Learning produces individual knowledge and
  skills.
• Learning content is well-defined based on
  established truths, and in keeping with the
  state of the art.
• Learning represents an improvement in the sense
  that the individual acquires more of established
  content other results are not noted as learning.

• Hierarchical relations characterize the social
  work context,
• Learning results in individual as well as shared
  understanding.
• Learning content consists of not only truths
  but also messy problems and changing views.
• Whether prior or new learning actually
  constitutes improvement is open to question.

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• Trend leaning outside educational institutions
• Dual learning
• Learning at the work place
• Life long learning
• People, even educational psychologists, take
  their school perspectives with them to the
  workplace and ICT, perhaps even without knowing
• Thereby neglecting
• Social learning
• Collective learning
• Implicit learning
• Dynamic, unstable, innovative learning

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Doornbos (2006) how to categorise learning at
work (police officers)

• Deliberate vs spontaneous learning (50/50)
• Individual learning 10
• Learning from others 80
• Higher status, experts 20
• Peers 40
• Lower status, newcomers 10
• Outsiders clients, family, concullegae 10
• Learning with others reciprocally 10

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Conclusion

• We need a perspective of learning that includes
  spontaneous learning and learning from and with
  others

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Learning styles according to Vermunt

• Surface
• Meaning oriented
• Application or vocation oriented stijl
• Undirected / ambivalent

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KOLB

• Concrete
• experience
• assimilator diverger
• Active Reflective
• experimentation observation
• converger accomodator
• Abstract
• conceptualisation

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• http//reviewing.co.uk/research/experiential.learn
  ing.htm2

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Honey en Mumford

• activist,
• reflector,
• theorist
• Pragmatist
• http//www.ruby3.dircon.co.uk/Training20Files/The
  ory20Pages/learning20styles.htm

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JUCH

• Thinking
• window skin
• Sensing Planning
• bridge portal
• Doing

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Problems

• Many measurement issues
• Reliability, validity
• Assumptions
• Concept of style as such (vs strategy)
• Content and context dependency
• Theoretical issues
• No bipolar dimensions
• Not independent
• Thinking in learning cycles

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Problems 2

• No attention forlearning from and with others
  only individualistic conceptions
• No (or unclear) mix of deliberate and spontaneous
  learning either the one or the other
• Educational or noneducational approach, not
  combined
• Lacking relations with current learning theories

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We wanted to device a system that escapes from
all these problems

• Overlapping patterns instead of styles
• Educational noneducational
• Individual and social
• Deliberate and spontaneous learning
• Without learning cycles
• Related to prevailing learning theories

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Sfard
Acquisition metaphor
Participation metaphor

• dialogue,
• with others,
• enculturation,
• collaboration,
• discourse,
• conversation,
• in practice

• objective facts,
• transmission,
• knowledge,
• from experts,
• research based,
• explicit learning,
• from theory to practice

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Paavola, Lipponen Hakkarainen in need of a
3rd metaphor

• Dynamic knowledge creation / newness
• Mediating elements to the process of knowledge
  creation
• Learning is fundamentally social
• Yet individuals play important roles
• Tacit knowledge is an essential resource
• Focus on modelling, theory, symbols and
  risk-taking, uncertainty
• Discovery metaphor
• Meaning, deep understanding, inspiration, design
  based learning, critical reflection, innovation,
  creation

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Two more metaphors from practice and theory
Apperception
Practicing

• safe experimentation,
• deliberate practice,
• skill training,
• explicit learning,
• role-playing
• games

• role models,
• imitation,
• best-practice,
• real-life,
• pressure,
• competition

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Five metaphors of learning
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Five metaphors of learning
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15 components

• situations in which one learns
• relations with others
• dealing with mistakes
• the role of emotions
• acquiring knowledge
• guidance preferences
• allergies for ways of learning of others
• preferences in training

• who determines learning
• how to organize learning
• what is annoying in learning
• what makes you think
• reaction to unknown situations
• what is knowledge

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Example 1 Dealing with mistakes

• I learn a lot from my mistakes
• Mistakes keep me alert
• I try to prevent mistakes through a good
  preparation
• I do not learn a lot from mistakes

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Example 2 Allergies

• Boredom
• People who withdraw from collaboration
• Lack of knowledge
• Acting without feeling competent
• Lack of room for initiatives

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Example 3 Who stimulates your thinking?

• Experts
• Colleagues
• Critical outsiders
• Can be everybody

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Each of the five metaphors has a deliberate and a
spontaneous variant examples from ICT
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Communities
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Bereiter Knowledge building

• There is a practice of working
• for producing cultural knowledge
• typical of scientific research groups
• or other expert communities.
• Knowledge building focuses on
• creating,
• articulating, and
• building
• different kinds of conceptual artefacts

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Virtual action learning

• Competencies to be developed
• Logged learning activities
• assignments
• advises
• challenges
• Participants write learning products
• Give each other improvement feedback
• Send in publications for editorial review
• Competence assessment
• Electronic portfolio

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Overlap
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Differences
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Example question

• What should an ideal guide have?
• Excercising Pedagogical skills 1 2 3 4 5
• Partipation Skills in directing group processes
  1 2 3 4 5
• ApperceptionPractical experience 1 2 3 4 5
• Discovery Sagacity 1 2 3 4 5
• Acquisition Domain knowledge 1 2 3 4 5

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Correlations between the 5 metaphor scales
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Large study with police students and
professionals (N 3000)
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Expected workplace profile
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Expected profile of educational parts
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Some findings

• General learning preferences correlated with
  workplace profile but not with educational
  profile for students
• The other way around holds for professionals
• Discrepancy between general preference and
  experienced profile predicted satisfaction
  (r-.55 on the average)

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Some more experiential findings

• Some students know their preferred ways of
  learning quite well
• But others do not!
• Scans can make students and professionals aware
  of their preferences
• For some, however, experiencing ways of learning
  in practice may be needed
• Taking diversity of learning preferences into
  account decreases resistance against learning and
  teaching

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How can we increase variety using the 5 learning
metaphors?

• Designing education with a varied supply
  involving all metaphors in a balance
• Discussing with staff and students what
  combination of metaphors is desirable
• Looking at existing curricula to see what
  metaphors dominate
• Connecting preferred outcomes to ways of learning
  organized and redesign according to conclusions
  reached

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How can we deal with diversity using the
metaphors?

• Measuring learning preferences at entrance in
  education / at workplace
• Opening the conversation with students about
  their ways of learning
• Making students aware of their learning
  preferences and of the existence of other ways of
  learning
• Following the development of learning preferences
  of students

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And

• Measuring discrepancies between general learning
  preferences and experienced learning environments
  in education and at workplaces
• Talking with students who show great
  discrepancies between general preference profiles
  and experienced profiles
• Fine tuning education and workplace learning to
  general learning preferences