Changing roles; a collaborative practice impact story

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If we understand what collaboration is and the impact this can have on ākonga (learners), and on our own teaching practice, we might be more likely to commit time and energy towards collaborative practices. This relates to the changing role of the teacher trend (CORE Education, 2019) and how we can harness the power of collaboration because as teachers, we work in increasingly complex and diverse settings. So what are the benefits or impacts collaborative teaching and learning practice provide for our learners, and for us as teachers? First we need to understand what it is and make sure we are clear about the difference between cooperation and collaboration.

“Collaboration refers to the capacity to work interdependently and synergistically in teams with strong interpersonal and team‐related skills including effective management of team dynamics, making substantive decisions together, and learning from and contributing to the learning of others.” Michael Fullan (2004)

Collaboration is about everyone creating and moving towards a shared goal that is greater than we would have been able to achieve independently. Through developing collaborative practice we can support building relational trust across teams. This is one of the many key drivers in the changing role of the teacher trend. Sometimes we think we are a collaborative team for example, when we say “we plan together”, but collaboration in this context goes beyond taking different areas of the curriculum and planning it. So what do we need to do to ensure that we are a high performing collaborative team that positively impacts learning for all ākonga?

Where do we start?

Crafting our ‘Why’ or what we believe needs to be done together and mutually agreed upon is a good place to begin. Using a framework like Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle will help to clarify thinking.

The time taken to kōrero and explain our own thinking is an important part of collaborative learning because it enhances everyone’s understanding. Sinek’s Golden Circle is similar to Julia Atkin’s approach ‘From Values and Beliefs about Learning to Principles and Practice’. Why do we believe collaboration is important? If mutual belief is at the centre of what we do then it is easier to reflect on whether we are achieving what we value and believe, and allows us to ask if our belief matches our current state.

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Linton Camp School has been focusing on collaborative practice for two years. Recently they were asked to think back to the beginning of the journey and what their initial thoughts and assumptions were about collaborative practice.

“Getting to the core of what collaboration was versus cooperation was eye opening and that helped me to focus my thinking when I thought about how our collaborative practice would look like. Also that collaborative practice meant more than just having shared goals and mutual respect, it’s about a high level of mutual trust, having vulnerability and a shared vision and shared values. When we worked together as a staff to develop a shared vision for collaborative practice it allowed us to generate new ideas as a team and agree on shared values that would be at the heart of our practice.” Ella Diprose (Junior Team Leader, Linton Camp School)

 

“Initially I assumed that collaboration was all about cutting holes in the wall and having to share a space with another teacher. I was worried about how that could clash with my style but I was pleasantly surprised by all the new learning and approaches that we could use to make it a truly collaborative practice.” Jamie Taylor (Bi-lingual Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

The key part of the process is deciding together on ‘The Why’ (our belief), ‘The How’ (The principles that guide our belief) and ‘The What’ (action in practice) that will help your team to collaborate successful. This all helps to make explicit what you stand for and what gives direction to your actions in practice.

These examples from Linton Camp School and St Anthony’s School (Seatoun) show the outcomes from the process of developing a schoolwide collaborative vision. They look different, because they were developed authentically and collaboratively to suit the context. You can’t pick up what someone else is doing, this needs to be created from scratch so that has purpose and is meaningful

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The next step was to take this even further. Teams within the school developed what Dalton & Anderson (2016) call a Team Charter. Some schools have named it an ‘Essential Agreement’ or a M.A.T.E’s (Mutually Agreed Team Expectations). This was an opportunity for teams to decide on and craft shared understandings about what they do as a team, and how they work and talk together. Suggestions for teams to craft shared understanding about from Dalton & Anderson (2016) include:

  • Meetings (how these are run, agenda, purpose, chair, timing, how priorities are identified)
  • Actions (accountability, responsibility)
  • Communication (how are we respectfully honest and open, different perspectives, how we challenge ideas)
  • Conflict (how we disagree respectfully, issue/person)
  • Decision making (strategies for decision making, explanations, communicating the decision)
  • Progress and celebration (how we celebrate, how we monitor and evaluate)

The impact of developing Team Charters:

“The MATES document has been amazing. Writing our expectations in clear language and being able to refer and refine it as things changed. This has flowed on into many other aspects of my life- my whānau, kōhanga and wider community projects. It really helps to set boundaries, expectations and build trust and respect.” Jamie Taylor (Bi-lingual Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

“One of the biggest successes of collaboration is the growth in collaboration with our team which started from out MATEs agreement and has just grown from there. I believe our team is a supportive and collaborative unit.” Anna James (Senior Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

“The MATES agreement work has really helped me as a leader now and into the future.” Warrick Price (Deputy Principal, Linton Camp School)

 

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Ok, now what?

The next challenge was transferring and applying the shared understandings to practice. How do we design learning experiences where students can develop social skills and relationships, collaborating with a range of different people and peers? Linton Camp School decided to focus on Maths as a team to start testing the waters out with collaborative practice, using their vision and team charter to help guide them. A flurry of exciting, innovative and creative ideas started flowing as they designed their collaborative team approach.

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Left: Teachers trying out a collaborative learning design task (Dance Squad Challenge with Sphero) Right: Juniors science collaboration – learning about simple machines. These photos were of groups of 3 or 4 students working collaboratively to create an inclined plane car ramp.

 

“The ‘aha’ moment was definitely the Maths hub organisation. Working together to provide a high-quality maths programme using the principles of collaboration was excellent and has stood the test of time as we are willing to continually refine the processes.” Warrick Price (Deputy Principal, Linton Camp School)

 

“The Maths Hub has been a big change to our practice and we really have a sense of ‘our’ students as a senior team. I think the focus on collaboration with the students, moved them from cooperation.” Anna James (Senior Team Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

“I would say there was a lot of ‘aha’ moments. The maths hub organisation was one of them and being able to develop our practice and learning systems for the students to bring greater success. I also loved having the MATEs agreement to have something to refer back to.” Kiri Parkinson (Senior Team Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

The teachers used the CORE Education Collaboration Framework as a way to monitor and reflect on collaboration as a team. One of the five sides to the pentagon framework is ‘Challenge and Critique Practices for Transformation’. This helped to guide the conversations to debate and inquire into each others’ thinking.

The impact of working collaboratively

What has been the most effective approach/strategy that has supported your team to be collaborative and why?

“Our Maths Hub. The shared planning and regular discussion about effectiveness and tweaks required to ensure success. The focus is on student achievement and we are reliant upon all team members playing their part for success.” Anna James (Senior Team Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

When you started to transfer collaborative practice into the classroom, how did your plans focus on capacity building and cultivating the expertise of every learner?

“As a team, we have purposefully planned for learning experiences that require students to take on specific roles that help the team to succeed. These structures are still being refined but I know we are onto a winner.” Warrick Price (Deputy Principal, Linton Camp School)

 

“When we began to bring our collaborative practice into our classrooms we worked to model collaboration first amongst us teachers in front of the students in our science focus in Term 2 as for example we would model in writing. The students enjoyed seeing the teachers working together and it was a great opportunity to practise working collaboratively.” Ella Diprose (Junior Team Leader, Linton Camp School)

 

“We were open with the students about the teachers learning to be more collaborative in our practice. I shared with them the journey we were on and talked about how the Maths Hub and our communication unit (Podcasting, Audio Books, Stop Motion) were ideas that have come about from our work. We used strategies such as students building MATEs agreements, role assigning and building success criteria and matrices to support the learners.” Anna James (Senior Team Teacher, Linton Camp School)

 

“Modelling collaboration by the teachers and using hands-on activities to engage them. We showed different types of learners and also modelled what wasn’t collaboration.” Hanna Bills (Junior Team Teachers, Linton Camp School)

 

“Having students having specific roles that were clear and defined to them. Modelling collaboration and using it a lot in our regular teaching vocab to build students’ understanding.” Kiri Parkinson (Senior Team Teacher, Linton School Camp)

What impact has the collaboration vision, principles and practices had on learners and how do you know?

“There has been an obvious impact on the students as the vast majority of the PLD we did has become commonplace within the senior team learning systems. The links with the 21st century skills has been an obvious match for collaborative practice and we are as a result structuring more and more learning areas to reflect collaborative systems.” Warrick Price (Deputy Principal, Linton Camp School)

 

“This is one of the most motivating and engaging PLDs I have ever been involved in. If I am enthusiastic then this rubs onto the students. I believe our students are more aware of the 21st century skills and the importance of these for them. We are planning for a lot more collaborative activities and systems. As a result the students are working more collaboratively and definitely improving in this area.” Anna James (Senior Teachers, Linton Camp School)

 

Linton Camp School teachers identified once they took collective responsibility for the progress of all learners they found there was improved learning and achievement in the Maths area (this was the focus for their pilot) and higher level thinking skills. Learners expressed satisfaction with the learning experience. The teachers had a deep understanding of collaboration within their teaching team which supported them to effectively model the skills with students. It also allowed the teachers and students to be creative with how they use their spaces which impacted engaging in increased professional conversations about all students, the approach and feedback on their own teaching.

The collaborative practice approach also led to improved empathy skills, social interaction skills, self-management skills and opportunities to develop leadership skills. The list can be extensive when highlighting and identifying the impacts and effects of collaborative practice. One of the biggest benefits is the opportunities it allows for improved dialogue (with all learners) and communication skills.

 “Collaborative learning aims to promote dialogue. Dialogue enhances understanding when learners explain to each other. As learners become more adept in talking themselves through problems and contexts, their ‘outer speech’ develops, and so does their ‘inner speech’, giving greater power of self-direction.” -Watkins (2009)

It is important to allow opportunities to review the experiences of collaborative learning with your students and your team.This helps to grow assessment capabilities with students so they can articulate their thinking about their learning. A few key questions could be:

  • What helps our group/team work best?
  • How was our communication? (how we talked together, equal chance to talk, managing disagreements)
  • Next time, what would we like to improve?

A final thought from Linton Camp School teachers…
“We have proven that single cell spaces can still have great collaboration happening in them. Developing systems that promote collaboration between students is important and it relies on understanding what collaboration is and designing tasks that help students to improve their skills.”

 

If you have a story to share, question to ask or a response to this blog post then head to the edSpace discussion around the changing role of the teacher.

References

Atkin, J. (1996). From Values and Beliefs about Learning to Principles and Practice. Harden-Murrumburrah. Retrieved from http://lnnz2.vivid.net.nz/shared/professionalReading/1124.pdf

CORE Education. (2019). Changing role of teachers » CORE Education. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from http://www.core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/ten-trends/2019/changing-role-of-teachers/

CORE Education. (2019). Collaboration Framework » CORE Education. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from http://core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/resources/white-papers/collaboration-framework/

Dalton, J., & Anderson, D. (2016). Learning talk: Important conversations at work, Volume 5. Hands On Educational Consultancy Pty Limited.

Fullan, M., & Scott, G. (2014). Education PLUS [Ebook]. Seattle: Collaborative Impact SPC.

Grow Waitaha. (2019). Shirley Primary School – Using team charters for collaborative practice. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.growwaitaha.co.nz/our-stories/shirley-primary-school-using-team-charters-for-collaborative-practice/

Watkins, C. (2009). Co-operation vs collaboration. School Leadership Today, 1(1), 22-25.

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Appreciative inquiry: Searching for the best in people

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Photo by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

What comes to mind when you think of the word ‘change’? What emotions come to the fore? What models do you associate with? How is change enacted at an organisational level? A team level? A personal level?

What if we challenged you to look for the positives in every situation, actively use the strengths of each individual as the benchmark for excellence, and constantly search for the best case scenario as an innovative way of moving forward? Change is the constant and reframing how we view change can have a powerful effect on the way positive transformation occurs in organisations. This blog will look at how appreciative inquiry (AI) is a positive approach that underpins change and uses the strengths of the people, and the system to produce extraordinary results.

Appreciative inquiry has its foundations in a collaboration in the 1980s between David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva. What became apparent during their research was the powerful influence of ‘life centric forces’ on the outcomes of initiatives. Searching for the best of what is and the best in people was affirming and led to a collective sense of purpose.

“At its heart, appreciative inquiry is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, and the strengths-filled, opportunity-rich world around them. AI is not so much a shift in the methods and models of organizational change, but appreciative inquiry is a fundamental shift in the overall perspective taken throughout the entire change process to ‘see’ the wholeness of the human system and to “inquire” into that system’s strengths, possibilities, and successes. ”

(Stavros, Godwin & Cooperrider, 2015)

Appreciative inquiry is a philosophical approach to change that can be used with individuals, teams, or in early childhood centres, schools/kura or kāhui ako to create positive system-wide transformation and innovation. It is a way of thinking, a way of bringing the best to the fore rather than a traditional problem solving approach.

The cycle of appreciative inquiry supports the individual/team/organisation to discover what strengths, talents and positives already exist and build upon these to design the desired future. The 5D Cycle is a process that underpins the inquiry.

The 5 Ds are:

  • Definition. Choosing an affirmative topic as the focus of inquiry. The focus is on choosing a meaningful theme that is developed collaboratively. From this initial development, you are setting the stage for positive interactions.
  • Discovery. During this stage, you inquire into the exceptionally positive moments of each group member/team/organisation, share your stories and identify the life-giving forces from which you will build your foundation.
  • Dream. Creating the shared images of a preferred future
  • Design. Innovating and improvising ways to create the ‘dream’ future
  • Destiny/Delivery: Implementing and sustaining the design.

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This approach is what brought three CORE facilitators together to develop the use of appreciative inquiry in educational organisations as a positive change process.  All three of us have a background in using appreciative inquiry. The interesting aspect is that each practitioner drives the initiatives from their unique appreciative inquiry perspective and the nuances of each person add to the flavour of each situation. To illustrate our successes we wanted to share our thinking around appreciative inquiry as a way of understanding some of those nuances, and describe different applications within our roles.

Natalie O’Connor

Appreciative inquiry is a transformative force that supports individuals, teams and organisations to always be positively future focused. It is underpinned by five principles:

  • Our words create our worlds. Our conversations create the reality we desire.
  • Questions create change. The questions we ask direct the way we move forward.
  • What we choose to study/learn is the world we are creating.
  • Our image of the future drives us towards that destiny.
  • Positive questions create positive change.

In the facilitation mahi I am currently involved with I constantly use the language of appreciative inquiry, and the five principles, to drive innovation.

Coaching 1:1 Situations

One such initiative is working with middle leaders on developing their e-learning leadership skills and linking this to their appraisal. We spent the initial sessions consolidating the appreciative inquiry approach, with particular reference to the five principles and then introduced the e-learning lens as an overlay. The success of the programme has been captured in the reflections of the participants:

“It has been an interesting reversal of values, to approach the leading of change from the opposite direction. By this I mean that; instead of looking for a problem to fix, for obstacles to remove – we have instead been looking for what is already good, what is already a strength, what is already working and then seeking to harness those in order to help lead the change we seek.”

“Another reinforcing factor is the use of relationships; making connections and strong relationships with others in pursuit of the change can create a self-sustaining momentum that lends itself to one in times of lapses. Overall I have found this process to be challenging and rewarding and also somewhat liberating in that I am encouraged to place trust in building relationships with others, in moving towards a vision that is not wholly my own and in accepting that I do not need to know all the answers nor provide all the ideas.”

“Personally, appreciative inquiry has helped frame the mistakes I have made and the challenges that I have faced as learning opportunities. As I have continued to use appreciative inquiry to guide my development, I have found that challenging situations that I once would have found daunting or threatening are no longer so. These moments still may be challenging, but they are vital spaces for me to reflect on myself and my practice.”

Mentoring Situations

Developing leadership capabilities is another area where appreciative inquiry promotes positive transformational change. Mentoring leaders, utilising their strengths and the strengths of their team, and working towards a common destiny develops a strong collaborative approach that benefits the entire community:

“Appreciative inquiry is a process where it engages, involves and motivates people on working on what their goal is in their professional and personal life. The appreciative inquiry approach has shown me my strengths which I was not even aware of. Appreciative inquiry has taught me how to build relationships amongst colleagues and not only in my professional life but in my personal life too.”

Using appreciative inquiry across a Kāhui Ako

All three of us are now designing mahi with Kāhui Ako from an appreciative inquiry perspective. At recent teacher only days, we underpinned the learning by creating collective visions based on the positive, future focused dreams of the Kāhui Ako. We focused on listening, utilising the best case scenarios and using the strength of the collective as the driving force. We challenged colleagues to positively question the process, and use the language to build trust and forward momentum. This focus on creating the destiny they desire has liberated staff, and innovation has been the outcome.

Ara Simmons

He waka eka noa.

We are all in this together.

a double hulled waka at sea
Double-hulled Waka Te Matau a Maui by Shellie Evans. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Enabling systematic flourishing

Another way to consider appreciative inquiry is how it can support our wellbeing. If wellbeing is to feel good and function well, hunting for what’s good, what’s working well offers both individuals and the teams that they belong to the energy and motivation that can propel us forward.

The teams that we work in, the schools and communities that we are all part of are indeed living systems. And to be able to dance together within these living systems we need to be open and curious. Consequently, this type of mindset supports us to live in what is described as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) times.

Flourishing whānau

Because appreciative inquiry is so much about the collective as opposed to the individual, I often use the concept of flourishing whānau in the work that I do. Culture and wellbeing are inextricably linked together. It is to ask the questions, what are the factors that can support us as a whole whānau/system to flourish? What does whakawhanaungatanga, manaakitanga, tino rangatiratanga look like for us?

Research tells us that currently only twenty five percent of the New Zealand population in the workplace experience flourishing whilst the rest of the population are languishing. To flourish is to experience high levels of wellbeing. By hunting the good within the discovery phase of appreciative inquiry supports collective whānau flourishing.

Supporting high quality connections

Through discovering the positives the wisdom that exists within the team emerges, and enables different networks and interactions between those teams. It goes without saying that appreciative inquiry enables connection, where connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued. We are hardwired for connection.

Positivity is contagious

As we slowly move through the discovery, dream and design phases of appreciative inquiry, our emotions naturally spiral upwards and our body language shifts. We look up, see what’s possible and tend to be more creative. Just some of the benefits that positive emotions offer us. A natural state that is generated within this approach.

Sat at the very heart of this approach is

He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

(The people, the people, the people)

Lesley Brown

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Anne Frank

Why are we consistently aiming to ‘solve problems’ rather than celebrate and grow those experiences that enrich our human experiences? This is a question that would be useful to ask in any organisation, and in particular services and Kāhui Ako. If we consistently seek to identify the weaknesses in an organisation, especially in regard to human capital; we risk damaging the organisational culture and erode the efficacy and authenticity of the people so critical to the organisation. appreciative inquiry offers a window and framework towards building a strengths-based culture and a place of work that recognises and builds those actions that are making a difference for the clients (learners in services) and those delivering the product (teachers and leaders in services).

Appreciative inquiry is about the coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organisations, and the relevant world around them. In its broadest focus, it involves systematic discovery of what gives “life” to a living system when it is most alive, most effective, and most constructively capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilisation of inquiry through the crafting of the “unconditional positive question”.

In appreciative inquiry “the arduous task of intervention gives way to the speed of imagination and innovation; instead of negation, criticism, and spiraling diagnosis, as the cycle shows there is discovery, dream, and design. Appreciative inquiry seeks, fundamentally, to build a constructive union between a whole people and the massive entirety of what people talk about as past and present capacities: achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, innovations, strengths, elevated thoughts, opportunities, benchmarks, high point moments, lived values, traditions, strategic competencies, stories, expressions of wisdom, insights into the deeper organisational spirit or soul and visions of valued and possible futures.”

Appreciative inquiry deliberately, in everything it does, seeks to work from accounts of this “positive change core” and it assumes that every living system has many untapped and rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.
The appreciative paradigm, for many, is culturally at odds with the popular negativism and professional vocabularies of deficit that permeate society.” (Cooperrider and Whitney, 2005)

“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes.”

Marcel Proust

Using our collective experience through future-focused Theory of Change initiatives

The three of us are using appreciative inquiry in CORE Education’s Theory of Action: He Ariā Kōkirikiri. The approach leads itself perfectly to be integrated into authentic situations that are personalised to our particular contexts. The same can be applied to the situations that arise in any organisation particularly with reference to your theory of change.

CORE Education’s Theory of Action

1. Te Mārama Pū – Deeply Understand.

Appreciative inquiry is the vehicle to truly and deeply understand and connect with people. It is about developing positive interactions with stakeholders and understanding the people who are invested in the success of the organisation. We celebrate perspectives and endeavour to truly listen and understand. Personal narratives are used as the foundations for the life-giving forces that underpin the success of the initiative. Our positive language is linked to the reality we desire and supports us as a collective to strive for excellence in what we do.

2. Te hoahoa kia rerekē – Design for change.

In sharing our personal narratives, we can now focus on our collective future reality. Through the development of shared images of our preferred future, we construct our questions and design our language to drive positive change. We make conscious choices about what we want to change, and the way in which we approach that change.

3. Te whakatinana kia auaha – Implement to innovate.

Once the foundations have been laid, we design our mahi around innovation and improvise ways to create the ‘dream’ future. We ask questions such as, “What will have the greatest positive effect?” “How are we ensuring that every voice has been heard?” “Who has the skills to be the driving force to ensure success?” “What does our best case scenario look like and how do we reach this?” This cyclic approach leads to innovation, sustainability and strengthening of the relationships that underpin the forward momentum.

Embedding appreciative inquiry is an investment that reaps incredible rewards. Within the facilitation work we collaborate on we have noticeable successes that are future focused and are proving the power of collective efficacy.

Appreciative inquiry is the glue that binds systems and communities and propels them into the future that they desire. We challenge you to take a positive leap of faith and join us in the power of appreciative inquiry.

Bibliography

5-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry – The Appreciative Inquiry Commons. (2019). Retrieved 29 October 2019, from https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/learn/appreciative-inquiry-introduction/5-d-cycle-appreciative-inquiry/

Appreciative Inquiry – A Brief History – The Appreciative Inquiry Commons. (2019). Retrieved 29 October 2019, from https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/learn/appreciative-inquiry-brief-history/

Cooperrider, David & Whitney, Diana. (2005). A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry. The change handbook: The definitive resource on today’s best methods for engaging whole systems. 87.

Firestone, L. (2019). Thinking Positively: Why You Need to Wire Your Brain to Think Positive. Retrieved 29 October 2019, from https://www.psychalive.org/thinking-positively/

Stavros, Jacqueline, Godwin, Lindsey, & Cooperrider, David. (2015). appreciative inquiry: Organization Development and the Strengths Revolution. In Practicing Organization Development: A guide to leading change and transformation (4th Edition), William Rothwell, Roland Sullivan, and Jacqueline Stavros (Eds). Wiley

Author bios

Natalie:

Natalie is a lead facilitator, certified executive coach and academic life coach for students, and currently enrolled in the Positive Psychology Practitioner 12 month Certificate programme. Her background as head of schools and developing five schools in a network internationally, places her firmly in the areas of strategic planning, whole school development future focused education, individual/group coaching and leadership development.

Lesley:

Lesley is currently an expert partner to Kāhui Ako and a senior education consultant. She has worked across and within all education sectors. Having taught and led for 25 years in a range of high schools across New Zealand, Lesley works to grow the human capital and leadership capacity of schools and kura through a positive psychology perspective. Her previous work as a leadership and management advisor has drawn on a wide range of theory, as well as practical experience in strategic planning, culturally responsive practice, teaching as inquiry and change management.

Ara:

Ara is a Positive Psychology practitioner, facilitator and certified Positive Psychology based coach. Ara works alongside schools in supporting a whole school systems response to both culture and wellbeing which includes staff, tamariki and whānau. This includes strategic planning for delivering wellbeing, growing wellbeing teams within schools and supporting the design of wellbeing initiatives. She draws on a variety of tools that support both school leaders and teachers for career development and job crafting that support transformational shifts in individual’s that enhance self-efficacy, confidence, direction and wellbeing.

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Make the most of uLearn19

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With two weeks to go, it is timely to look at how to get the most out of your uLearn experience.

Still looking for reasons to join us in Rotorua? uLearn is CORE Education’s annual professional learning conference.

ulearn-keynote

Across three days of professional learning opportunities, you will connect and collaborate with others who have the interests of all learners at heart, and the drive to explore innovations and develop practical solutions to learning challenges.

But wait, there’s more! You can take part in uLearn even if you are not coming to the conference! The #notatulearn hashtag offers you the chance to follow along and experience uLearn virtually this year.

BEFORE

Plan

  • Read the uLearn updates you’ve been sent.
  • Familiarise yourself with the conference themes and focus questions.
  • Identify what you’d like to get out of the conference.
  • Take time to read the programme and pick a pathway through the breakout selection. Pre-book your breakouts to ensure a seat.
  • Make sure your device is fully operational outside your place of work.
  • Make sure you have all your charging cords with you, but travel as light as possible!

Connect

Pack

  • Wear comfy shoes – you will do a lot of walking.folder
  • Bring your own drink bottle.
  • Wear a backpack so you’re hands free.
  • Make a uLearn dinner costume to fit the ‘Into the Jungle’ theme. Homemade costumes garner much admiration, and there are prizes to be won for your efforts.
  • If it’s too late to do this, make a note for next time!

DURING

The good news is you can still do many things from the BEFORE section, when you arrive.

Network

Visit the CORE Education stand and meet the Connected Educator Team.

connected-educator-team

Embrace social spaces at uLearn

Ten Trends conference showcase

WHEN: 5.00pm – 6.15pm Tuesday 8 October (optional, all welcome)network
WHERE: Unison 3, Energy Events Centre
Want to connect before the conference gets underway? Register via the app, or just come along and join in on the day, after you’ve picked up your lanyard and name tag. The Ten Trends Conference Showcase, brought to you by a CORE Education team, includes audience participation. So grab a drink, and get social with us.

Welcome reception

WHEN: 5.00pm-6.00pm Wednesday 9 October
WHERE: Exhibition rooms – Bay Forum and Trust Sportsdrome, Energy Events Centre
The Welcome Reception is a chance to engage with exhibitors and other delegates in the exhibition spaces, and continue the first day of your conference experience, while enjoying fine wine and canapés. The interaction continues with the Town Square fun and games.

ulearn-social

Town Square

WHEN: 5.30pm-6.30pm Wednesday 9 October (optional, bookable)
WHERE: Exhibition rooms – Forum and Trust Sportsdrome, Energy Events Centre
The Town Square is the heart of the community where people come to meet and socialise. As an extension of the welcome reception, Town Square is an opportunity to experience the vitality and heart of the uLearn community. Gather around the Digi Smackdown stage to hear impassioned speakers share their stories, tips and resources. Join the speed geeking conversations, play the giant games and begin the uLearn19 prize challenge. Try your hand at the Interactive Digital Mural in the Grand Hallway. Take the time to get connected in edSpace so that you can continue the conversations. Talk with the exhibitors and find out what’s on offer, and plan to come back to them during the conference. Meet up with your pals, meet new people, and flow on out to dinner at your leisure.

Eat Streat

Eat Streat is a vibrant, colourful must see as one of Rotorua’s coolest hot spots in the city. At the lake end of Tutanekai Street, you can enjoy quality restaurants, cafés and bars. The covered central walkway will keep you dry and the retractable roofing gives you all all-weather al fresco dining. Take a team there on any evening except on Thursday, if you’re going to the uLearn dinner.

Participate

  • Your colleagues are your best collaborators, so don’t be shy to ask about successes and failures, share your learning, and offer strategies that may apply to them.thumbsup
  • Take time to visit the Exhibition Hall and ask exhibitors about their wares. They are there to assist you to do your job.
  • Branch out and broaden your horizons, or stay focused on your identified goals – there’s no right way to do it.
  • Be brave – ask questions, offer thoughts.
  • Be thoughtful and invite others to join you if they are looking lost or alone.
  • Contribute your questions to back channel conversations and share ideas and provocations to social media.
  • Contribute feedback to the presenters by completing the breakout evaluations as you go. Read the live keynote blogs and consider your own thoughts.
  • Keep an eye on Strea.ma on the conference screens, as an easy way to track social media
  • Visit the CORE Education stand just inside the door in the Forum Room. Meet the team, explore our 2019/20 professional learning offerings, and peruse resources.
  • Complete the challenge and enter for your chance to win the ultimate uLearn prize – a complimentary uLearn20 ticket plus flights (within NZ) and accommodation.

ulearn-engage

Record

  • Find out about our keynote presenters: Shay Wright, Dominic Liechti @domiliechti, and Sally-Ann Wiliams @sallyannwtwitterbird
  • What do you know about them already? What do you wonder? Have you followed them on Twitter?
  • Keep notes. Set up a collaborative doc for your group and add the link to the uLearn19 collaborative keynote docs. Shay Wright, Dominic Liechti and Sally-Ann Williams
  • Share in notes and join in uLearn discussions in edSpace.
  • Tweet as a way to include your #notatulearn friends. Share your favourite quotes and resource links.
  • Remember to use the conference hashtags to be part of the hashtag story. #ulearn19, #CENZ19, #notatulearn
  • Meet up with colleagues to discuss and reflect on what you’ve learnt.

Plan

Consolidate your learning, prioritise, and decide what you will action back in your learning community.

AFTER

Collate and share resources

  • Think about ways to share what you have learned in your workplace, and how you can positively influence other staff. shareconnect
  • Presenters are asked to share their presentation slides and resources. Access the urls from the breakout sessions that you attended. 
  • Watch out for the keynote resources that are added to the uLearn website and to edSpace. Watch the keynote videos to revisit key messages. 

Continue conversations

  • Write your own blog to share your reflections.
  • Join a discussion in the edSpace uLearn discussion group or start your own conversation.

ulearn-connect

Take action

  • Award yourself the appropriate digital badge and identify the level you achieved on the uLearn19 digital badge rubric.
  • Gather evidence of the impact of your conference experience and attach evidence to your badge as part of your digital portfolio.
  • Bring others into your action plans and find ways to implement them.

And above all, plan to have some fun while you learn!
Now that you’ve read this, come along to meet the Connected Educator team at the CORE Education stand at uLearn, and share the ‘secret message’ and you will receive a treat:

Ehara mā te takitahi, engari mā te takitini, ka angitu koe!
Not as an individual, but as a collective, you will succeed!

All images copyright CORE Education, all rights reserved.

 

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Zero budget gamification of online learning

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In my last post I wrote about game-based learning and differentiated it from gamification. In this article I look at the gamification of online courses. I suggest that gamification is not only about points, leaderboards, and badges. It may simply be about the language we use, and our approach. However the learning experience designer chooses to go about it, I assert that it will always have three dimensions: harder, faster, and levelling up.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Image source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Gamification of online learning is a serious business. Let’s start by making a collaborative document and setting out a table of goals and actions. Let’s wrap some theory around this, and pull together a cross-disciplinary team. Yeah, right. Or let’s sit on the floor, behave like kids, think like Māui the Trickster, and have some fun with it. Which do you think will work best? Are you on for this? Press START.

Harder

Sure, you want to make it easy to get started, but soon after that you want to get busy putting artificial obstacles in the way. Not too many. You have to get just the right balance between difficulty and progress. If you ever played Machinarium (insert any dungeon crawl you did play) you will know that the thing that kept you coming back was that it was insanely hard to find your way out of one room and into the next.

Everyone likes to quiz

Quizzes, puzzles, and challenges are a great way to structure the content. You don’t necessarily even have to lay the content out first, rather you just embed it in the quiz. Or flip the usual layout: put the quiz first and put the content second, served up like a resource to be trawled for facts if required. Crafting Socratic questions into the feedback fields of a multi-choice will lead the learner to the right answer. Give them multiple attempts, encourage guessing, require a high passmark like 90% or even 100%. Moodle and H5P (and many other platforms) offer the learning designer different flavours of multi-choice, no longer are you stuck with radio buttons and checkboxes.

Demand submissions to unlock the levels

There’s a good learning model that lends itself well to gamified online learning: aggregate, remix, repurpose, feed forward (Cormier). Require your learners to collect new knowledge, synthesise it into something of their own, apply it to a problem, and submit it for examination by the Old Wizard to allow them passage to the next level. No passkey, no access. Learners of all ages understand and acknowledge this motif; that is why Rowling and Tolkien are such popular authors.

Instant feedback

For every hard thing there must be immediate recognition and reward for achievement. For every failure there must be a penalty, an instant fine. Forget higher-order learning strategies, this is pure behaviourism. That is not to say that learning strategies that work with the intrinsic motivation of the player-learner cannot be deployed inside each discrete activity. But progress through the learning landscape is old-school carrot and stick. It’s all about framing, you have to make receiving the penalty part of the fun. Drop and give me fifty, soldier. If that doesn’t sit well with you, then maybe this is time to go for a long walk and ask yourself The Big Question: Is gamification for me?

Well-crafted games are an artful blend of intrinsic pleasure and extrinsic scaffolding.

Amy Jo Kim

Faster

If computers sap your energy, they also eat time. When someone says to me ”online learning”, I see a pool of light from an angle poise light. The clock says one a.m. and everyone in the house has gone to bed except me. But you can do more with a clock than stare at it. You can use it as a powerful motivator. Just as a fitness freak says I wonder if I can run 10 kilometres in an hour, so a learner releases endorphins by saying I wonder if I can complete this quiz in under five minutes for 500 bonus XP. It’s a balance of anxiety against boredom. Yes, your river runs deep, but it flows swiftly too.

flow-chart

Far-off deadlines kill online learning

Like Christopher Columbus, online learners need rhythm for a compass. A strict weekly beat marked out by the Metro Gnome is what makes eLearning go. Practice it in the mirror: “I need you to do the reading, score 100% in the quiz, and submit the assignment by this time next week.” Depending on your context you might even want to substitute ‘day’ for ‘week’. Oh, and some points, tokens, awards, and a place on the leaderboard will really help to make this happen. It won’t work for everybody. You’ll need a rescue truck. Tick the boxes that enable multiple attempts and late submissions.

Treasure hunts are fun

Put those potentially isolated individual learners into teams. Give those teams fun names like ‘The Tigers’. Put up a prize like 1000 XP for the winning team and 250 XP for entering. Now, set the Challenge. Imagine you can contrive for each individual to find a nugget of learning, carry it to some forum or wiki where the first team to assemble all the nuggets into a golden chalice wins. I’m being metaphorical here, I’m not suggesting you have to be a world-class animator. What I am saying is that dividing the learning, running with it along some pathway, collecting it into one place, and combining it into an exhibit is a powerful model. This kind of thing will get the majority of the learners through into the next Level. I’m assuming you’re either a teacher or a learning designer, so you no doubt have a rich repertoire of creative ideas you can bring to dry old online learning.

Nano-learning builds skills

Provide resources that learners can do in the interstitial spaces in their life: waiting for mum, stuck in traffic, medical centre waiting room. Flip cards are a good example. If you get 25 XP every time you run through them, why would you not run through them 4 times? Drag and drop, same story. Barbara Oakley emphasises retrieval practice. She says it’s easy to kid yourself you’re learning when all you’re really doing is repetition. Try breaking this cycle by creating a five-question quiz of the text box type where the learner must actually type five remembered words, correctly spelt, to gain the XP. Repeat the quiz on each level, but progressively reduce the time in which it must be done. Now the learner is tapping right into their neural networks, retrieving, and articulating. Harder. Better.

Level Up

In games, we are the protagonist—the person with agency, facing a series of choices and challenges along our journey towards mastery.

Amy Jo Kim

The reason progression through Modules 1, 2, 3, and 4 can get boring is that there’s no sense of getting stronger to face greater challenges. Too often it’s just more of the same, resulting in attrition from about mid-course on. In games your character gains knowledge, skills, tools, and powers in each Level to prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead. Online learning is sometimes doing that, but it’s not worn on the sleeve like it is in games.

Mind your language

Gamification of online learning could be achieved simply by the language we use. For example, “Be sure you know the twenty terms in the glossary by heart because you are going to need this knowledge to complete the challenges in the next Module. There is a twenty-question quiz on the terms in the glossary, you must get 90% to unlock the next Module.”

Nudge, tempt, shove

Gamification of online learning may be no more than using some well-crafted well-placed nudges. We are herd animals. Some will be happy to be the stragglers at the back, but they won’t want to be left out altogether. Try announcing “half the class have now moved to the next Module”. The principles of universal design for learning apply to gamified courses just the same, so you want to offer multiple pathways to unlock the next Level. However, if one of these pathways has a track-record of success you may want to make it the default pathway, or sign-post it as ‘recommended’, or simply call it the Yellow Brick Road.

Provide real time support

Pretend you’re Florence Nightingale and create a cool chart. It might show how half the learners drop out when they fail the first level-up quiz. Watch the activity logs or if you’re geek-gurl set them up to notify you. Get in there at fail time with consolation prizes and words of encouragement. Throw XP around like confetti (after all, it’s virtual and it doesn’t cost a cent). Do not do what so many online teachers do, and abandon them in their hour of need. Richard Bartle, in his wonderful book Designing Virtual Worlds, calls this the Live Team. You are the live team.

It’s a wrap

There are a lot of products on the market. I am assuming, reflected in the title to this piece, that you are not in the market for those. Moodle continues to be one of the most powerful free environments for online learning. Each release it gets better and better. Now you can record video and audio directly into a forum post. How good is that? This is where the individual learners could bring their nuggets of new-found knowledge to assemble them into that golden chalice.

As a teacher you must design it. You must create situations that demand sharing.

Jesse Schell

If you’re a teacher you may like to approach it from first principles and know why you’re doing it before you address the how. Like me, you may have to approach this in a creative way and hack your way to success on a shoestring. Good luck, and follow the code: harder, faster, level up!

By the way, did you uncover the Old Pirate Pass Phrase hidden in the text? Clue: “Let no word go unturned until you have the key. Hover your mouse my hearties only then I’ll set ye free. For where you see gold, there treasure be!” Email the pass phrase to stephen.lowe@core-ed.org to claim your share of the treasure!

Suggested resources

Jesse Schell, Learning is beautiful. YouTube Video (23 mins)

Amy Jo Kim. Game Thinking: Innovate smarter & drive deep engagement with design techniques from hit games. (Available from Amazon)

Richard Bartle. Designing Virtual Worlds 1st Edition. (Available from Amazon)

Ploy Buraparate. Dungeons & Dragons & Design Thinking on the UX Collective Blog.

Moodle plugins Level Up.

Featured image by N. on Unsplash

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Ripples in the pond

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ripples-in-the-pond
Image source: Julian Böck, CC0

Throw a stone into a pond, and you will create ripples. The ripples will undulate outwards from the source of the disturbance towards the edges of the pond. There is a cause and effect relationship. These particular ripples will not happen without the stimulus of your stone-throwing action. You can choose the size of the stone, the force of the throw, the direction of the throw. These choices will have a flow-on effect to the size, magnitude and force of the ripples. But there will be other forces at play too. Sometimes the size of the ripples may appear to be disproportionate to the size of the stone, or the strength with which it was thrown. While we do know that there will be ripples when we throw the stone, we cannot completely accurately predict exactly how those ripples will evolve.

So it is in education.

We plan learning experiences – they will have some impact, but not the same impact on every learner, and we can’t be certain about what kind of impact they will have. Further, we can’t know of the unintended, but still potentially beneficial, learning that may occur for some learners.

We conduct inquiries into our teaching. After careful thought and deliberation, we select a particular strategy or concept to experiment with, and gently lob it into the pond of our learning environment. We notice and observe the ripples the stone creates. We reflect on whether these ripples are desirable, as well as noting the unintended ripples. We might then wait for another opportune moment to select another strategy, another stone, and to toss that into the pond.

The analogy works in other ways too.

The pond, like a learning environment, is a complex ecosystem. It is made up of many different parts: the water, the flora and fauna, bacteria, microbes, etc. Every part has its own role to play, and interacts and intersects with some or all of the other parts in both predictable and unpredictable ways. This ecosystem appears generally stable, but can easily be affected by other influences: the weather, a person throwing a rock into it, the introduction or decline of a constituent part: the dynamics of the ecosystem shift in response to changes.

Our classrooms are the same. They are made up of many different parts, not the least of which is a range of individual and distinct personalities and their learning interests, preferences and needs. Most days the learning environment ecosystem appears generally stable, but can be easily affected by other influences: the weather, the actions of an individual, a new person coming into the environment, or a familiar person leaving. The dynamics of the environment shift in response.

So how is thinking about education in this way helpful?

It supports us to consider the idea that everything we do as educators creates ripples – both intended and unintended. Being mindful of the stones we choose, and paying careful attention to the ripples that result, is part of being an effective educator. Additionally, the analogy honours the agency we have as educators: we are inherently part of our learning environment, our learning ecosystem. What we do creates ripples. The stone can be a pebble or a mighty rock: everything we do nudges the ecosystem, which dynamically shifts in response. The system is not external to ourselves. What we do matters.

Like to think about this some more?

 

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