Monday, June 22, 2015

Interruptions: Learning to Plan for the Unexpected

As I've been trying to get this post started, I've been interrupted twice already with the chiming of alerts on someone else's tablet.

Interruptions happen. They surprise us with their timing: by definition--look at the roots of the word--they come between ("inter") and break apart ("rupt") our plans for a stretch of time.

Photo, George Mason Memorial, by KellarW
Although the timing may be unanticipated, interruptions aren't really surprising. Alerts chime, icons and chat boxes pop up, phones ring. Many interruptions aren't unwelcome: colleagues, students, family, and friends stop to chat or ask questions. And even when we do have longer stretches of time, eventually we find that we need to pause when our stomachs growl, nature calls, or it's time to call it a night.

So, as any teacher (or parent) who has been in it for the long haul can tell you, it's probably wise to plan for some interruptions--to expect to be interrupted, and plan for more time than you need to get something done. O'Grady calls it creating a buffer, or planning a margin. We might also call it being realistic. (I didn't say I was good at it.)

As I reflect on what I've learned this week in our pedagogy seminar, one of the standout reminders is this: expect the unexpected. For me as a student, that means planning some extra study time to allow for interruptions. For me as a teacher, it means that I should expect students will need to stop and start, often for great reasons. Instead of complaining about it, I should anticipate this reality and help bolster their ability and desire to keep coming back to their learning and moving forward in their studies.

Robin Smith (2008) puts it this way: "...interruptions become part of the expectations of Web-based learning, and they require your course content to have these components": chunkability, repeatability, pausability, and understandability. (Conquering the Content, pp. 64-65).

That's great advice. It makes sense for writers as a way to help readers. (Look at those little chunks of content on this screen--manageable paragraphs make a difference! And notice the pauses that you get with headers and occasional boldface or bullets--places to rest your eyes, thanks to contrast!)

Expecting the unexpected also makes sense as a way for teachers to plan course design with the goal of helping students. For online videos, if we can make higher quality screencasts by recording in short bursts AND our students are more likely to watch them (because they can commit to smaller chunks at a time, in case they need to pause), it's a win-win. I'm excited to try this out with some screen casting.

I also want to think about how we might apply this to written texts, so that we can assign some sustained reading of longer texts while also helping students with some chunking. Chapters are a start (wondering if my students will buy it if I tell them to read chunk 1?), but we can occasionally take this to another level.

Interruptions are as old as time. Best to plan for them!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Downsizing Online Discussions

One of the great things about having teachers take courses where we are the students is how it pushes us to re-examine common teaching practices. That is happening for me and, I think I can safely say, for many in our cohort in BOLT 101 (Blended & Online Learning & Teaching).

The place where we're really feeling the pinch is in our online discussion forums. We've tried a variety of formats, including several of the standard threaded discussions in our Canvas learning management system, some discussions that are more like a physical mailroom bulletin board in Padlet, and some that are text/image-centered, audio/visual discussions, via VoiceThread.

Image by Richard G
We're learning at least two things.

1. Mode matters. Our discussions are shaped, in part, by our ability to post links and pictures, to change where we insert ourselves in the conversation, to hear the voices and see videos of our colleagues, to mark up a common whiteboard or shared image/text. We like the ability to be more socially present, so options like VoiceThread where we can point at texts, mark them up, and see and hear each other are helpful for asynchronous learning. (Though given the chance, I'd still opt for some real-time meetings too, as I love the flex of synchronous discussions. I'm so glad I have tools like Google Hangouts and Google Drive for real-time meetings with colleagues around the country!) In short, it's important for us to pay attention to the discussion tools we choose, and to keep tabs with students to find out how these tools help and how they hinder them.

2. Group size matters...more and more over the long haul. The second big takeaway from our online discussion is nothing earth-shaking: it's that group size matters. What's new is that we're finding group size matters not only in each smaller conversation, but also over time. It can be tough to be the 16th person to join a discussion already in progress and feel like you have something new to say, let alone to keep track of all of the different lines of thought in play within one conversation. It can be tougher yet to try hear others and feel heard (to know and be known?) when we are working with that larger group size over a series of weeks. We notice that we may hear/read shorter snippets from each individual, but if everyone in class is in the same conversation, we don't get a more in-depth or sustained perspective from any one person.

So....what to do about group size? Smaller groups seem like a promising solution. So far we've tried out these tools in whole-class discussions. But I've also experienced models where there are sub-groups within the class, with 4-5 people in a cluster chiming in more often (say 4 times per week) in order to draw out ideas, challenge each other, and explore some tangents. Members of the group then take turns reporting to an all-class forum, so that there are a limited number of posts in that "whole class" conversation, which makes following the threads more manageable.

This shouldn't be surprising....in face-to-face classes, we use small groups for some of the same reasons. If we see speaking as a mode of thinking, then it's important that students have opportunities to speak often and be challenged to improve their ideas along the way.

We're trying this on a small scale with our blogs (we have assigned sub-groups to read and comment on each other's pages), and I'm glad to know that at least a few of my colleagues are on the hook to have to read this and respond. I'll be curious to hear what you have to say, friends!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Discontent with Content

I'm finishing up week three of my online seminar, which means I've persisted long enough to hit the halfway point. As I hoped and expected, this course is stretching me a bit, and that's a good thing. It means my teaching muscles should be a bit more limber, more flexible--so long as I keep using them and keep stretching.

What I like is that when I push a little on this course, it pushes back at me. Isometrics, anyone?

Dark Side of the Moon album cover,
Pink Floyd
The word "content" (as in , "the content") is where I've been pushing. I don't love that term as a summary of what teachers teach, so although our textbook has been a helpful resource, I don't love its title: Conquering the Content. My concern is that "content" sounds so static, maybe even stagnant. It makes it sound like we are teaching a body of facts and stats....and that's it. But we are teaching so much more: whether we realize it or not, our students are likely also learning from us about habits of mind and heart--habits that direct their worship at each moment of their lives. If we're not careful, we'll reinforce the ways in which our students conform to culture; in faithful teaching, we seek to help students be transformed.

That's why I like the SKA framework that was introduced in our seminar this week via MIT's Teaching & Learning Laboratory page about planning for learning outcomes. It's a simple acronym, but it encompasses much more than "content." SKA stands for skills, knowledge, and attitudes. When we're planning for each of these dimensions of learning, we're planning to put students' hands, heads, and hearts to work. That's a task that has the potential to result in true transformation.

And whaddaya know? When I've been using SKA this week as a grid to help me plan a future course, it helps me to stretch my course design...to ensure that students will do more that fill their minds with "content." Maybe it will even prompt some healthy discontent for them, too.




Monday, June 1, 2015

Permission to Play

It's week two of our online course, and what fascinates me most is not the technology, but what it looks like as we "students"--actually professors--tend to do as learners. It's striking to me that we seem to need someone to give us, overtly, permission to play. There are lots of opportunities to be playful, but we aren't necessarily taking them. For example, this week on the Padlet bulletin board, which could be a very visual and interactive way to riff back and forth, we tended to treat the space like a place to submit mini-essays. I wonder why?

Maybe it's because we're concentrating so hard on getting tricky new things right. (Reminds me of what it felt like to be in the front passenger seat tonight while me daughter drove me for the first time on the blacktop: that was a good time to concentrate on tricky new things and leave joking and play for later!) There's probably something to that, especially for anyone who feels like one false move might put them in the cyberspace ditch. Picture us with our teeth clenched, shoulders hunched in concentration....

Or, maybe it's because we're teachers, and rule-following comes to us pretty naturally. Hmm. I suspect none of you who know more than a handful of teachers are going to believe that one.

Maybe it's because we need someone to show us how to be playful? I think this is an important part of learning to be playful, at least for me. I need someone to help me imagine how I might BE playful in our online spaces and activities. I know about wordplay. I am not so fluent in using images and memes in playful ways. I'm so used to doing things as I know how to do them that I need to see someone else go first to envision something new.

Photo by David Goehring
The kind of help I (we) might benefit from is a little like the good that comes form being out for a walk with my youngest. Yes, of course, I know how to walk. Yet I'm used to walking simply as a way to get from one place to the other. But through her example and a little coaxing, my daughter reminds me that "a walk" is also for skipping, for wandering, and for having some fun. That's the kind of walking partner I need with me as I head out for an online adventure. Want to come along?