HOW DO WE LEARN … (that)?

Cecilia Jacobs and Hanelie Adendorff

PREDAC: July 2013

SESSION OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Conceptions of learning

• Reflections on own teaching

• Theories of teaching

• The university as a learning space

• The ‘absence of knowledge’

• Meta reflection on process

Rethinking learning• Modern societies have come to see (learning) as a

topic of concern.• We wish to cause learning, to take charge of it, direct

it, accelerate it, demand it, or even simply stop getting in the way of it.

• Therefore our perspectives on learning matter.• More than learning itself, it is our conception of

learning that needs urgent attention, when we choose to meddle with it on the scale that we do today.

Wenger, E. (2002). Communities of Practice: Learning, meanings and identity. Cambridge: CUP. pp 8-9

ACTIVITY 1:

What is your conception of teaching?

• Think about this for a moment.• Write down, on a page, a short response to the

question.• Not more than a paragraph, not less than a

sentence.

1 2

3 4

Which of the 4 images relates best to your own approach to teaching?

25%

25%

25%

25% 1. Image 12. Image 23. Image 34. Image 4

What do we know about learning?

• Two dominant knowledge bases: Psychology and Sociology.

• Education draws predominantly on Psychology and Sociology to theorise learning.

• Learning theory is contested terrain.

The knowledge bases of education

Education

(an inter-discipline)

Psychology

Cognitive theories

Behaviourism

Phenomenology

Constructivism

Sociology

Social theories

Critical realism

Social realism

Critical theory

Socio-cognitive theories

Activity Theory

Academic literacies

Two views of learning (and teaching)

– Individual (cognitive, psychologised,

autonomous) understandings of learning

(and teaching)

–Social understandings of learning (and

teaching)

Boughey, C. (2012). Social Inclusion & Exclusion in a Changing Higher Education Environment. Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, 2(2), 133-151.

Individual understandings of learning

• Learning dependent on factors inherent to the individual;

• Lack of success seen as deficits in the individual;

• Dominant Discourses - disadvantaged and underprepared students;

• Remedial measures to address ‘gaps’• Focus on generic ‘skills’ courses; • Learning becomes decontextualised.

Social understandings of learning

• Acknowledges the socially constructed nature of learning;

• Sees all HE students as having the potential to learn;

• Acknowledges the role of context in learning; • Learning and knowledge construction

dependent on access (or not) to social structures and communities;

• Interrogate the university context and how it might include or exclude students from access to learning.

Activity 2: Jigsaw (Part 1)

EXPERT GROUPS: (2 groups of 4 at each table)•Check the number at your end of the table. This is your number.•Select the reading corresponding to your number. •Read through your piece individually.•Assign a group role to each group member: (in envelope)

– Taskmaster (making sure the task is completed & in the allotted time)

– Recorder (taking notes, recording main ideas of the group)

– Encourager (encouraging everyone to participate)

– Checker (checking that everyone understands)

•Discuss what you have read with your group making sure you understand what you have read and are able to explain it to someone who has not read it.

Activity 2: Jigsaw (Part 2)

BASE (HOME) TEAMS:•Form new groups of 4, making sure that each team has a number 1, 2, 3 and 4 in it.•Number 1 explains his/her part of the reading to the team.•Then Number 2 has a turn, then 3 and then 4.•Make sure that each person in the team understands the whole reading.•Now, go back to your original tables and find the paper on which you wrote your thoughts during the first activity.

Theories of teaching

SIMPLE THEORIES

DEVELOPED THEORIES

Teaching is subject-focussed.I teach: Law; Engineering etc.

Transfer theories Travelling theories

Teaching is student-focussed.I teach prospective Lawyers; Engineers etc.

Shaping theories Growing theories

Fox, D (1983) ‘Personal theories of teaching’. Studies in Higher Education. Vol 8, no 2, pp 151-163.

Does the university play a role in learning?

“… many enormously motivated students with huge ‘talent’ simply cannot make sense of the learning which is required of them and the teaching which is offered to them. Their failure is not a matter of lacking personal attributes, but rather of simply not being able to access the university as a particular kind of learning and knowledge making space.”

(Boughey, C. Mail and Guardian Higher Education Supplement. November 2010)

Universities are institutions of higher education and this means that you will be pushed to think and work in ways which are different to those you may be used to.

Soci

olog

y

Economics

Maths

MusicPhysics

HUMANITIESENGINEERING

EDUCATION

NATURAL SCIENCES

HEALTH SCIENCESLAW

ICT

EMS

THEOLOGY

A knowledge supermarket?

A k

now

led

ge f

acto

ry?

Knowledge supermarket• Lots of different packages of

knowledge• University sells knowledge

• Degree is a receipt at the check out

• Students insist on notes and handouts to learn and remember

• Learning as remembering and repeating

Knowledge factory• A range of books, articles,

patents, creative works• University produces

knowledge• Degree is ability to think and

argue, based on reasoning and evidence

• Students engage in all sorts of activities and readings

• Learning as building new knowledge

How do we learn … (that)?• Knowledge-blindness in educational research (Maton,

2013).• Knowledge (what is being learned) is often obscured.• There are different knowledge structures:

– Hierarchical (e.g. Natural Sciences)– Horizontal (e.g. Humanities and Social Sciences)

• Different knowledge structures are learned differently and need to be taught differently.

• To really understand learning (and teaching) we also need to understand the nature of what we are learning/teaching – the nature of knowledge.

So, where have we come?• There are many ways of understanding learning and all the

factors which impact on it.• The more we read about different sets of ideas regarding

learning and try different approaches, the better we will understand the learning contexts in which we work.

• We need to access a range of examples/contexts and draw comparisons to our own context.

• We need to be open to many variations or options for analysing learning.

• We need to give ourselves time to practice different ways of facilitating learning.

• We need to give ourselves time to develop resources to support the learning process.

• We need to understand the nature of what is being learned.

Meta-reflection on co-operative learning techniques and group process

Learning technique:

– Think-Pair-Share (Think-Write-Pair-Compare)

– Jigsaw

GROUP PROCESS:

Academic function:

• Concept development and reflection, information-sharing, active listening

• Mastering a learning unit (readings, worksheets, handouts, discussions), teaching or explaining the topic/area of expertise

• Small group/interpersonal skills should not be assumed, they need to be taught and practiced explicitly (alternate the roles)

• Two skills sets for small group work:o Task-orientated roles (taskmaster, recorder)o Social roles (checker, encourager)

• Two types of groups:o Expert groups (vary, randomly assigned or voluntary)o Base/Home teams (constant, develops an identity, teacher assigns these groups,

maximise heterogeneity)

• The ‘magic’ number 4 (greater accountability)

• Build in time for reflection on group processes

Take a moment to reflect on this session

… and then answer the following questions:

Has this session challenged your thinking about student learning?

If so, how?