Critical Instructional Design

So I came across this thing called #moocmooc on Hybrid Pedagogy. Essentially a mini-mooc, that is, a short one, only three weeks in duration. The topic is Instructional Design and is guided by suggested readings, but is really wide open. The first week I read and viewed the reading then was late to the party for the twitter chat. The tweets buzzed by with multiple threads of conversation ... so I just read and lurked, not knowing where to jump in - plus these were very smart and thoughtful people!

The second week prompted us to consider defining critical instructional design. The readings were all thought provoking and I found myself often nodding in agreement, but mostly wondering and thinking. I have numerous tabs open of things to read, and then I need time to just let it percolate and reflect on (it is nice to be on sabbatical so I can take that time!). The twitter chat again flew by, but I did manage to take part, again so many interesting comments and questions.

To put my thoughts - as rambling as they might be - in some sort of context, I should point out that I realize that I am a result of the 'traditional' system. I have been in the education field for 38 years. I taught math, science and computer courses as a high school teacher. I now teach in an education faculty at a small rural university. So the way things are done in these systems is deep within my identity. I should also point out that while the main thrust of #moocmooc is online courses, I have not taught one. So far I have only taught in our B.Ed. program, most of our M.Ed. offerings are online or hybrid, so sometime I will take that plunge. I have, however, used a hybrid approach with one of my courses, but my experience in this venue is limited.

The first thing I would suggest is that the name instructional design needs change. I know instruction is the traditional term, but the words we use convey meaning, to me instruction implies a one way flow. Someone will be instructing - telling you what to do - "what are my instructions?" For critical design, I think that a basic premise would be attention to agency and power. Who has the power? How can we shift traditional power structures to grant students agency for their learning? All of these articles, the various pressures on secondary or post-secondary alike, and my own experiences over the years - always bring me back to a question of purpose. What is the purpose of education - at any level? This is why, I think, instructional design is mostly about content. Generally it seems lots of people confuse learning with regurgitating snippets of information or some 'basic skills'. Certainly content and these basic skills are important, but as Morris suggests "Content does not equate to learning, but should instead form the foundation for inquiry, discussion, dissension, and the production ... of knowledge."  In some cases, the purpose is to learn a certain skill or procedure, say, change a car tire, in those cases we are really talking about training, and simple delivery of content is fine, but in most of schooling, at all levels, it is not fine.

I think that we need to be critical at all times in our instructional design, regardless of purpose. We should strive to give students (learners?) some authority on what they are learning. I enjoyed Morris' "6 principles of critical pedagogical course design". It would be a worthy endeavour to incorporate these into higher ed courses, whether they be online or not. In my primary role teaching in a B.Ed. program, the goal is to prepare people to become certified teachers in Manitoba. In this situation there is an expectation that graduates will have a knowledge of provincial curricula and of the nature of teaching in Manitoba. This knowledge, however, should be a point of discussion and exploration, and critique. Some of my colleagues may disagree, but I think these future teachers must question and interrogate curriculum and the system. If we don't allow this freedom, then they will become technicians, never questioning what they are doing or pushing back when in disagreement. When I teach a 'methods' course, I ask students to think about why the mandated curriculum is the way it is, to consider other approaches, and how they can allow student choice and voice. I try to allow my own students this choice and voice as well.

So a critical instructional design, to me, needs to ask how all students will be allowed agency for their own learning. Providing avenues for students to explore and branch out should be a goal of any design.

My Sabbatical, so far ...

Well, my sabbatical is about half done, and  with a new year beginning, it seems a good time to reflect on what I have accomplished, and where I want to head.

So, what have I accomplished - and learned? Well, I don't feel I have done as much as I wanted, but perhaps I was too ambitious. First off, after a few weeks with my daughter at home (she resides in the UK) and time with family and friends, I am having trouble getting back to work, but I am sure I will. In fact, I have gotten some done over the past few days. A recently retired colleague sent me this image - it maps out nicely my sabbatical progress so far ;-) (sorry I don't have the source!) I love the flexible time, and the break from teaching. I find it strange to say that, I have taught something every year since I began my teaching career 37 years ago and I never regretted going into this career, but I am really enjoying the freedom of the sabbatical and being able to pursue research and other projects of my choosing. I have also decided to walk my wife to work when she walks, it is only about 2 km round trip, but it gets me moving. This week the weather decided to turn to normal, so it is darn cold. Today was -18C and a windchill of -28C. But it is sunny and when dressed properly it was actually a great day to walk. Hopefully I can keep this up! The photos at the end of this post are from one of the walks - a Manitoba winter is beautiful - although ccccold!!

So far I have;

• attended Social Media and Society (in Toronto) and presented 2 posters in July (this was a great conference!)
•  co-authored book chapter, now going to the publisher
• prepared and submitted an application dossier for promotion to Associate Prof - so far it has been supported by the Department, the Dean and now the University committee, now it is in the President's hands.
• presented at a provincial superintendent's conference (this was fun - it was part of a team with a colleague, admin and teachers from a school division we have been working with, and a local office furniture company)
• have an article undergoing final revisions for an online journal (I will post a link once published)
• currently working with 6 K-12 teachers on action research projects (for a study on action research & transformative learning)
• working with a school division on a systemic change initiative that also involves action research (the chapter above is based on this project)
• just starting a study (with a colleague) examining a 1:1 computing initiative in a school in SW MB
• am writing an article on social media pedagogy (based on my Ph.D. work)
• took part in #DigiWriMo (well as much as I could)
• conducted a session (with a colleague) on using social media in higher ed at BU
• put out a call for chapters (with a colleague from U of Manitoba) for a book we plan on putting together about ed technology use in MB schools
• and, of course, some reading and other activities.

For the second half I hope to make progress and complete some of these projects, I also have some presentations planned - hopefully at CSSE in Calgary. I really must do more writing - even if for this blog, but I want to complete the articles I mentioned earlier, as well as some other pieces. I also have to allow myself the time to read & reflect. I have had this problem since starting my career in higher ed - I know reading and keeping up with research in my area is an important part of what I should do, but I always feel that I should be producing and that reading is not really 'work'. I know I have to get over this and commit the time. I have some books and a tonne of articles on my list. Recently, @JeffreyKeefer wrote a blog post about committing to read more, he is doing 5 articles a week, I think I will take this idea and try it as well. Not sure if I will blog about them, but perhaps, that way I am doing a bit of writing as well. Anyway, this is great idea and I thank Jeffrey for the inspiration!

Winter shadows

Cold winter morning in MB

#DigiWriMo: Visual Writing

The second week (yes - this is written in the third week) of digital writing month focused on the visual. In the Manitoba ELA Curriculum documents, the six language arts are described: Listening & Speaking, Reading & Writing, and Viewing & Representing. In my experience (as a teacher, principal, teacher educator) it is clear we value reading and writing above the others. No doubt all are dealt with in schools, perhaps more in some schools than in others, and in higher education it is clear that reading and writing dominate. The visual has always been important, but increasingly so in the digital world. The visual surrounds us and images can convey powerful ideas and emotions. I am currently reading the book Learning and the E-generation and in the chapter on visual literacy the author's state, "relying on traditional print as a means for literacy instruction can often restrict and marginalize learners." In my 'Using ICT in Education' course, we spend much time on using images and multimedia and explore ways to bring this powerful way of communicating into the classroom. We use digital images, infographics, video, and more - these ways of writing are not only important, but kids seem to love to create them as well.

I also value the visual in my own work and life. One of my personal interests is photography, I have taken part in photo of the day projects, and like to look at images on Instagram and Flickr to get ideas - and to see things from a different perspective. I also  enjoy taking my photos (or perhaps ones under a CC license) and create slides/posters - some are in my flickr stream. I share images on Instagram, Flickr, and Google photos. (Google photos is for my other interest - flight. Also see the Photo Project tab on this blog)

The power of visual writing was evident this past week. A colleague and I were working on revisions for a book chapter, one of the editor's comments was to include a visual timeline. We went to the chalkboard (yes, in the ed building we still have chalkboards in some rooms - and chalk actually helped us because the ease of shading ... but I digress) and began to sketch one out. As we did this and reflected on the work we were trying to illustrate, we had several insights into the research as our diagram became more complicated. To make this short - we now have a deeper understanding of the work we are doing - and an idea for a subsequent journal article. By sketching out various phases in the process, shading to illustrate certain ideas, seeing relationships that we did not think about before - these insights came clear and we had a great discussion.

Visual writing, by means of mind maps, were also important in my dissertation work. I found them invaluable to organize codes and themes in my data. They helped me see more data at a glance, see relationships, and generally make sense of the data. I started these by hand on large paper, then transferred them to MindMeister for ease of manipulation - and inclusion in the dissertation.

One of my posters (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nantaism/20822157790/)

So, back to DigiWriMo - the posts and items shared by participants have been great reading, I even managed to share a few 'eyes in the sky' photos' on the shared slideshow. The various forms of writing and sharing have been enlightening.

#DigiWriMo: Setting Goals

So, my goals for #DigiWriMo. As I said in my unofficial CV post, I signed up to take part in this event so that I could expand my writing, and explore new ideas. I am not really comfortable as a writer, so this should be a good process. But, I have to revise my goals a bit, it seems I have several more traditional pieces of writing to do as well. These include: revising a book chapter (with a colleague), revising an article submission (I have to add more of me into it - hmmm, who am i?), a conference proposal, and I have [finally] just started a journal article based on my dissertation research. Ahh, sabbatical is great.

I will try to respond to various prompts and will definitely be reading others' work. I admit I have always been a little hesitant to put stuff out there, although I am a firm believer in "teaching is sharing" to paraphrase David Wiley. Alas, I must change, and I am getting there. I do like playing with and using a visual approach, I enjoy creating slides/posters (some of which I have on my flickr account). I have also been designing covers for the journal of the Manitoba Education Research Network (MERN). So my goals this month in a nutshell, is to complete the tasks above and also to find time to try some things. Here goes.

#DigiWriMo: "Unofficial CV"

So, I have signed up for Digital Writing Month. During the month of November various digital writing challenges will be given. It sounds like fun, and I would love to play with some other ways of writing, and improve in this area. The first task is to create an unofficial CV. I considered a way to be a little creative, and decided to make an infographic. I have my students make them to explore ways they can be used in the classroom, so I  thought I should give it a try as well. I used Piktochart - it was fun to do and here it is:

Grades, Revisited

from: http://www.slideshare.net/jessestommel/critical-digital-pedagogy

Recently a few items have popped up about grades, grading, and assessment. A few years ago, I also wrote a post about my going to - what our university calls a pass-fail system. Basically, I view it as a growth model and a 'mastery' model. In some cases I want to simply have students explore a topic or try something they have not tried before. I have had more than a few comment that they like the comfort to try things without fear of a poor grade. In a few recent classes, where I had reverted to the usual letter grade system, the students asked me to reconsider - which I happily did. A few weeks ago grading and assessment came up in conversation with a participant in one of my research projects. This high school teacher was talking about how he 'knew' where students were at and did not need a bunch of tests to tell him. We talked about formative assessment and outcome based assessment. It was an interesting discussion, but he still has to give a grade. Also recently a slideshare from a presentation was shared by Jesse Stommel (a slide from another if his decks is with this post). Later, a blog post by Maha Bali (also related to this slide presentation) appeared. Maha wrote at one point; "I do think that people who are not educators have difficulty listening to these voices that are anti-traditional forms of assessment because they are indoctrinated by the hegemonic discourses they have been surrounded by all their lives. They can’t imagine alternatives to homework and exams, so they assume they must be good, or at least the only options." So true, some educators still cling to these ideas. These items brought me back to my thinking on this issue. As I proclaimed on twitter, I 'hate' grades and giving them, as I mused in the old post, I was brought up in the grading system, I understand why they are used, I have struggled in my thinking about them ... but I doubt their value for motivation - not real motivation anyway, and definitely not for learning. They can be used to rank and sort, but is that the purpose of education? I guess in some instances it is  - but I would call that training. In the area in which I teach - teacher education - isn't growth as a (potential) teacher most important? I would rather students engage in deep, meaningful discussions, I would rather my students go outside their comfort zones to try things, to reflect, to learn, to grow. If, for example, we are telling a story by video - isn't the experience and thinking about how the idea can be used for learning in a classroom situation more important than how great the video is (especially if it is the first time making one)? Isn't the discussion and exchange of views and ideas about an issue, like digital citizenship, lead to more learning than telling me what it means in a paper? These recent conversations and readings have renewed my thinking about grading - since I am currently on sabbatical it has not been in the forefront ;-) - and helped reinforce my thinking on the non-use of grades in my own practice.

Professional & Personal Accounts ... or just one?

At one of the sessions at the Social Media & Society conference in July, a presenter asked the audience about our use of SoMe - do we have personal and professional accounts or just one? My answer was that I use one, while another participant expressed that he used two. A short discussion ensued as to our reasons. I understand and respect the separate account perspective - whatever works for you! Most people do that, it seems, so that the personal and professional are kept separate. Often it is expressed that some of the personal is not appropriate for the professional setting. Fair enough. I also understand why some K-12 teachers keep separate social media accounts. I certainly understand that inappropriate use can have repercussions, we see examples of that all the time, but that goes beyond having two account.

My use of one account for each medium is based on a few premises. I believe that the 'online me' is - well, me. Sure, I try not to use profanity online, but I do post about my favourite beverage, beer, and I do post some political or other thoughts, but just like offline, I don't go about spouting anything that comes to mind - I try to use a filter.  I also think a person's role has a part to play in that choice. For me, I see a modelling role, and also I teach older students. The majority of them already have one post-secondary degree and are entering a profession - namely teaching - and should be able to relate at a personal and professional level. I also feel, as mentioned, that I am who I am - so take it or leave it. I also think that folks who share some of their character are more (I don't care for this over-used word, but) authentic, or real. It is nice to know a bit about the person as they are. So, if you follow me on SoMe, you will see a mix of personal and professional.