Comments on: Rethinking Design: Pedagogy

By: David Glow

David Glow — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:55:08 +0000

Clark- this make a ton of sense to me (“class” metaphor may throw some folks, but I can translate that to most contexts which I would apply the model).

This actually seems very close to what I am currently working on in redesigning new hire orientation. The “pre-class” in my world is more of a “preparation prior to taking up time with a mentor”. And yes, I have actually used the words “we want them to come prepared for class”. The key thing for us was taking a huge load off of manager’s shoulders, better preparing employees for deeper mentoring engagements early in their career vs forcing the managers in a position of starting with a blank slate.

The question on pre-testing I see as a pretty unique scenario. We get a ton of new hires with industry experience. Pretests help all parties involved understand where they are, and what remains to be developed. I dislike the word pre-test, since test often comes with connotation of “meeting a bar”- this evaluation is for understanding where to best invest development efforts. We also use pre-testing in our spaced interventions. Thus, we quickly learn what 20% of performance is the problem, and provide support/content/training on that area instead of drone them through 100% of a training intervention and then test (it also gives us great metrics organization-wide on what skills atrophy and common pain points; helps us determine where the puck is headed so we skate to it vs trying to boil the ocean).

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:22:09 +0000

Bill, not a big fan of pretest, unless you use it to the learners advantage. And you’re absolutely right, this isn’t about the initial qualification to study (that’s important, but not here). I do have a mantra (at a level of more detail than this) that if they’re supported in the performance environment, they should be supported in the learning environment. And it does support spaced practice, that’s the whole reason to do related practice pre-, in-, and post-class. And it’s very definitely problem-based learning, there’re tasks (conceptual processing or practice) that are guided but not totally determined, requiring them to process information in context. Maybe I didn’t make that clear enough. And Kolb’s model is based upon his learning style model, which doesn’t stand up to psychometric scrutiny (cf Coffield, et al). There’re inherently multiple cycles of activity, content access, feedback, and reflection however. Now, this is very clearly contextualized with a classroom portion, and very clearly focused on formal learning. For specific reasons that I should’ve perhaps made clear.

And to the point of spaced practice, Urbie, I do not see the pre-class just being content exposure (e.g. watching a video), but instead practice before class, in class, and post class. It may be variations on a theme (scaffolded from simple to complex), but it’s multiple activities where they actually have to put the knowledge into action. It could be scenarios, or meetings, of course.

By: urbie delgado

urbie delgado — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 19:48:55 +0000

Thoughtful post. It reminds me of what’s happening at @techninjatodd’s middle school in Navasota, Texas.

His was the evidence-based voice that turned me on to ft he flipped learning experience. In your model, flipping involves the learning doing something prior to the event. This could be watching a video, reading a story or scenario, or meeting with your manager to review what their expectations are for you post-event.

Check out this 2013 blog post of Todd’s for more.. http://nesloneyflipped.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50

By: Bill Brandon

Bill Brandon — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:33:07 +0000

For a 50,000 ft view, and for “formal” learning, it works. I’m not sure that it addresses or provides for elements that are harder to encapsulate within an event, e.g.:
– Pre-requisite selection criteria validation (would be pre-Intro, so maybe that’s not within the scope of what you are trying to define)
– Pre-requisite skill/knowledge testing and remediation (would be pre-Intro, or maybe Intro, so ditto)
– Performance support (really out of scope, probably, but people do learn with the help of PS)
– Spaced practice
– Problem-based learning

I don’t know how this would work if one were trying to apply, for example, Kolb’s experiential learning model. Reflection is identified, but not seeing the cycle here. Maybe this is out of scope as well, or belongs at a lower altitude.

Maybe I’m getting bogged down by the “-class” tags across the bottom. Are you only looking at what could be lumped under the “formal learning” category, or are you looking at a more general view of teaching/learning strategies?