Learning and Motivation

Motivation is used as a catchall term to describe how people are moved to act in a certain manner or direction.  In everyday use there is a tendency to conceptualise motivation as mono-dimensional we often seek the motive for why a person acted in a particular way.   

Single explanations for people’s actions or goals are often inadequate and misleading.  People tend to justify past-behaviour and will report a retrospective rationale.  However, models of motivation, if they are to be of use, need to provide predictions of future behaviour.

The term motivation is used in many different contexts and can mean different things in everyday language. Motivation is often used to describe a level of commitment even energy such as during half time at a football match where a manager gives a team a motivational talk to ‘lift’ the team for the second half. 

In such uses of the term motivation is likened to a psychic booster; one could imagine an internal M meter reading either high or low. This meaning of motivation is not limited to physical activity - people might say “coming up to the exam I became really motivated and studied for five hours every day”. It’s even the case that certain speakers at business conferences describe themselves as ‘motivational speakers’. However important it is to be ‘psyched up’ and however interesting it might be to study motivation as degree-of-determination or drive toward a particular goal - this is not the aspect of motivation that is of interest here. 

What I wish to focus on is the decision to set goals, the ‘why’ of action and in particular, decisions to learn.  In order to explain most human behaviours a fuller spectrum of influences needs to be appreciated.  Serious consideration of the concept of motivation leads to a realisation that motivation is both complex and multi-dimensional.  

Ryan and Deci (2000) refer to motivation in terms of the ‘energy, direction, persistence and equifinality of activation and intent’.  Equifinality, a term borrowed from systems theory, in this case meaning that the same result can be arrived at through many different paths or trajectories.   

A dictionary definition such as in Colman’s A Dictionary of Psychology (Colman, 2006), describes motivation as a driving force or forces responsible for the initiation, persistence, direction, and vigour of goal-directed behaviour.  This introduces the notion of goals and goal-directedness within an individual.  Where learning is the goal we may, within the framework of the above definition, regard motivation-for-learning as having a cuasal relationship with learning oriented behaviours.

Ahl (2006) summaries different theoretical orientations gleaned from her extensive literature review of learning motivation.   Ahl argues that the concept of motivation is itself questionable and she challenges three assumptions that are often implicit in many of the theories: first that such an entity as motivation exists; second, that it resides with the individual; and third, that motivation causes behaviour (Ahl, 2006).  Ahl argues the large variety of definitions of motivation from the literature contribute to the questionability of the motivation construct.  

Wlodkowski (1999) seems to support this:

We have invented a word to label this elusive topic –motivation-  but even its definition continues to baffle the most scholarly of minds.

  (Wlodkowski, 1999: 1)

Ahl also points out that motivation is socially and psychologically construed and that operational measures such as self-report surveys are mearly reinforcing research-generated concepts.  For example, to ask people to report on their need for achievement is to create the notion of a ‘need for achievement’.   

The importance of learning decisions cannot be over-emphasised; almost all learning theorists make a seemingly obvious point that adults learn what they choose to learn.  Time and again the capacity to make one’s own decisions and to self-initiate and self-manage learning is identified as a key characteristic of adult learning – see for example Knowles (1978), Cyr (1999) and Merriam, Cafferella and Baumgartner (2007).  

Learning decisions are therefore important sites of investigation and can provide powerful insights for educators and policy makers on the development of skills and competence in future populations.

References

Ahl, H. (2006). Motivation in adult education: a problem solver or a euphemism for direction and control? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(4), 385 - 405

Colman, A. M. (2006). A Dictionary of Psychology: Oxford University Press.

Cyr, A. V. (1999). Overview of Theories and Principles Relating to Characteristics of Adult Learners: 1970s-1999. Access ERIC: FullText (070 Information Analyses). Florida.

Knowles, M. S. (1978). The adult learner : a neglected species (2d ed.). Houston: Gulf Pub. Co., Book Division.

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood : a comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being, American Psychologist (Vol. 55, pp. 68-78).

Wlodkowski, R. J. (1999). Enhancing adult motivation to learn : a comprehensive guide for teaching all adults. The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series.

The School

The recent 3-part RTE series "The School" broke new ground in terms of education and television.
What takes place in schools is both familiar and mysterious to most adult viewers.

Our school experiences resonate throughout the entire span of our lives and, for many, learning identity forged during teenage, years remains fixed and unchallenged long after our initial schooling is complete.

Every society looks to young people to reproduce and reinvent itself for the future.  Put simply, organised societies that are good at education will survive and outlast societies that fail to do so.  Schools and education are our biggest investment apart from health systems.

Strangely, unless you are currently an active participant in the school system, there is little visibility of what's going on.  We seldom get an opportunity to compare schools today with the schools of our childhood.  This issue is more important that a simple need to satisfy our curiosity: we need to know about how much has changed, the improvements, new ways of teaching, a new understanding of learning, and new thinking on what should take place in schools.

Since we left school we have grown and developed into who we are today - few of use would say that we have not radically changed since the day we left school.  And yet, we often assume that the school system that we left so long ago has remained fixed and unchanged.  Obviously this is not the case.

And this is why "The School" as a television series did us all a great service.  It provided an opportunity to 'open our minds', to see and to experience contemporary school life.

The school principal, Eamon Gaffney is a good friend of mine.  Eamon, the staff and students of St Peters Dunboyne showed great courage and self-confidence in facilitating the making of these programmes.   I remember Eamon saying that he felt that this story needed to be told "people need to know about schools of today, the breath of learning and the holistic approach to education".

"The School" has captured something that's important to us all.

Really Useful Websites on Learning and Teaching

As a follow-up to my previous blog on the Top Ten Insights on Learning I would like to provide a list of web sources and resources that may act as good places to start with insights on learning and teaching.

I'll try to give a brief description of each and why it makes the cut for me.

Starting Points: Aggregation Sites
Theory into Practice (TIP)
Greg Kearsley has put together an excellent resource that deals with a wide variety of learning theories.  This is an excellent starting point and it will give the beginner a good appreciation of the breath of theories and their practical applications.

Emtech's  Learning Theories
This is another excellent starting point with a comprehensive list of learning theory orientations.  What I like about this list is that each section is authored by a different person and you can cite each as an individual resource.

Martyn Ryder's Instructional Design Models
Martyn Ryder's very comprehensive listing of instructional design and learning theory resources -this site is well maintained, comprehensive and deals with an wide expanse of theoretical orientations.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching Tips Index
This is another great starting point for lot's of interesting exploration.  The index is compiled by the faculty development team at Honolulu Community College.  I've looked at many of these teacher development sites and I have to say this is certainly one of the best!

Angles on Learning
James Atherton's resource for called: An introduction to ideas about learning for college, adult and professional education - brings together ideas about learning for college, adult and professional education. Great piece of work!

The ETL Project
This project sought to identify evidence-based good practice in teaching-learning environments for a range of undergraduate courses.

National Survey of Student Engagement If you are genuinely interested in what goes on in college classrooms then this site dealing with an extensive US research project is a good place to start.

Doing What Works
This is a US Government site that promotes research-based educational practices.  This resource is particularly relevant for primary and second level teachers. 

Learning Research

ERIC
The Education Resources Information Center - a search-able database containing loads of journal articles and other resources on education and learning.

Education and Policy
European Commission
The Education and Training Directorate of the European Commission - a good starting point for EU and national policy documents.

Top Ten Insights on Learning

It's the time of year for reviews.  I call it the season of the "top tens": we have the top ten songs of 2009, the top ten sporting moments, the top ten films and so on.

I have decided to step on the band wagon and am now pleased to present my Top Ten Insights on Learning.

Here we go:

1. Learning is constructed
2. People are curious
3. We learn best in social settings
4. Much adult learning is child's play
5. We have a Learning Identity
6. Meet the Digital World
7. Adults learn what they want to learn
8. Learning can be additive or transformative
9. We learn throughout life
10. We strive to be all that we can be

 1 Learning is constructed

 The best analogy is that of a tree with many branches.

We learn through the integration of present and past experiences.  As we experience the world we connect new experiences with our past - in other words we construct knowledge.

Learning has nothing to do with transmission of knowledge - it about personal construction.

Educators who recognise this focus on process rather than output and encourage students to make their own meaning rather than reproduce the work of others.

 2 People are curious
We can use whatever terms we wish: "learning as inquiry" "problem-solving" "achievement goals" - the plain fact of the matter is that people are curious.  

We can be both mentally and physically curious.  We have evolved our higher order thinking skills because our curiosity has provided a competitive advantage on this planet.  

Curiosity is at the root of learning - to make learning happen provide conditions where curiosity is aroused.

 3 We learn best in social settings
We have created our society and culture by developing systems to share knowledge, organise tasks, transmit knowledge between generations and collaborate with others to solve problems.

No matter how clever or knowledgeable a person is - very little can be achieved alone.


When we learn our instinct is to share and communicate with others.  

Students who work together through group work will learn much more than the task at hand: they will have to listen, discuss, debate, concede, collaborate, co-operate and share.  These are really usefull skills.

4 Much adult learning is child's play
I said above that people are curious both mentally and physically. Curiosity can be very dangerous if it is left unregulated. 

I could be curious about what its like to walk on the central partition of the motorway, manage an international bank or pilot a 747 but I'll never do these things.  

However, through play and imagination I can experience these actions and their consequences.  
Many talk about "lifelong learning" I think we should call it "lifelong playing".  These day's I'm playing with the Italian language.

Teachers should let students play - this is also important in 3rd level: role play, simulations, gaming, problem-solving, apprenticeship and peripheral participation can be regarded as adults at play.

 

5 We have a Learning Identity

We all have a Learning Identity and I have written about this in a previous blog post.   

In my own research on how adult's go about learning digital skills late in their careers I found that Learning Identity loomed large whenever educational endeavour was considered.  I would ask "why do you want to learn computer skills?" and people would respond with "well I was no good in school..."

Perhaps it's because society places such a high value on schooling and educational qualification that those who have had difficult experiences in school feel so inadequate when it comes to learning in later life. 
It's as if what they learned in school was that they were not good learners.

Educators and trainers should not underestimate learning identity.   It's not just about praising and encouraging (although we should do this all the time) it's about being aware of social comparison, fear of humiliation and genuine exam anxiety.  The big message should be - this is not like school.

6 Meet the Digital World

Your first thought might be that the digital world is "out there" in the places where people are using technology to make things happen.  But what I want to talk about is the Digital World that's "in here" - I mean inside your mind!   

We all build the world in our mind and through this process we organise, ascribe our values, assumptions, unquestioned beliefs and preconceived patterns of thought about aspects of the world.

For me its the Digital World but for other people it may be the world of the literate, of the wealthy, of the workers, of the young or of the future.  

The important point is critical awareness.  That is the learning task: to be cognisant of our assumptions, prejudices and patterns of thought. 

7 Adults learn what they want to learn

This should be written on the wall of every training room and college classroom.  

Learning decisions are often neglected.  I find this a fascinating area of inquiry: why do people choose to learn at a particular point in time?  


We can pack our children into a classroom and somehow get away with telling them what they need to know but there is no way this will work with adults.

Connecting usefulness and application is integral to the learning task for adults.

 8  Learning can be additive or transformative
Of all the learning typologies this simple distinction is the most useful.  We tend to think often about adding to our bank of knowledge but we seldom describe learning in terms of reorganising our thinking about something.  


One of the characteristics of transformative learning is that it it involves loosing something (and this can be disconcerting) and rebuilding or putting something new in its place.


I think that transformative learning can take place at a societal level also.  Imagine the upheavals caused by Calileo's assertion that the Earth orbits the Sun or when Darwin described the Origin of the Species.  It wasn't so much that we rejected the new ideas but we also had to face the reality that to do so involved moving away from preexisting, more comfortable, beliefs.


Transformative learning can take people outside their comfort zone and challenge 'the way we've always thought about things'.  This is not always an easy experience.


One example of transformative learning that I frequently encounter is the process of college students moving beyond a positivist view of the world to become more comfortable with uncertainty, different perspectives and and awareness of their own subjectivity.

Teachers who challenge students to think differently, to appreciate other perspectives and to self-reflect on practice will create conditions for transformative learning.  When students argue and critique we know we have accomplished.

 

 9  We learn throughout life
We tend to compartmentalise our short existence into a series of stages each with its own tasks and challenges.  


We are born and grow in childhood developing of motor, language, thinking and communications skills.  As teenagers, we build our identity and later we are tasked with our partner relations, parenting and success in the workplace.  Later still, we face the challenges of ageing and the fragility of our bodies and finally we face the fact that we are mortal.  

We need to learn as we go - there is no point of arrival where we have all the we need to confront the challenges ahead.  This is why learning is often described as a journey, this journey parallels the journey of life.

People of all ages look for meaning in their life, learning is one way to give meaning.  Senior learning is often regarded as "nice" - in fact it is much more, it is essential.  Lifelong learning is also learning for a long life!

 10  We strive to be all that we can be
This is the so-called drive for individuation.  

One way to think about this is in terms of a desire to be competent no matter what the field of activity.  
This is not the same as wanting to be good at everything.  To strive to be 'all that you can be' is to take account of opportunity, capability and circumstance.  

But what you need to be good at is: who you are - you need to be the best "put your name here" possible.  As we grow this guides our approach to learning and life.

We learn to be all that we can be.

My pictures are from Christmas Day in Maynooth 2009 when Maire and I took a walk by the canal. 

 


 

Lord Mayor's Commission on Employment

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Emer Costello, is to be commended for establishing a Commission on Employment for Dublin.

This is an inspired and necessary goal for the City Council and tackling unemployment or, to put it more positively, creating employment is essential for the future well-being of all who live and work in our city.

The Lord Mayor's Commission has set up working groups on a number of key areas: (1) Unemployment & Employment, (2) Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance, (3) Education, Skills and Training, and (4) Volunteering & the Social Economy. 

The commission have invited submissions and I have copied below my own contribution on the area of Education, Skills and Training. 



Dublin City of Learning

Let's stop and think and about learning.  No I don't mean schooling, or formal training or the pursuit of new qualifications.  I want us to think about learning - what it means for each each of us and how it gives purpose to our lives.
We learn throughout our lives and each time we face new challenges, we take on new information, adapt our thinking and develop new skills.  We learn how to build our identity as we emerge from teenage years, we learn relationships with our partners, to be successful parents and to face the horizon of our life.
The workplace is a specific context of learning and for those who are employed, valuable learning is embedded in the contribution of work effort.  This is especially true for the so-called 'smart economy'.  In fact, economies of the kind envisioned in the government plan are better described by the on-going process 'learning' rather than the end-state 'smart' or 'knowledgeable'.
This is not just a flaw in the language it is much more fundamental.  People who find themselves unemployed are often people who know how to learn but who find themselves without a meaningful context for learning.  This is the tragedy.
Some knowledge economy rhetoric does them no service - to talk about the need to upskill people to a condition of 'smartness' is to completely miss the point of how knowledge contributes to economic growth.  If, on the other hand, we think process then we can make a much more plausible case - that learning itself can lead to innovation and contribute to economic and social well-being.
So when we ask "what can the City of Dublin do to ensure future employment and well-being of its people?" I suggest that we create a vision of a Dublin City of Learning.
What we mean is a city where learning is regarded as an activity rather than a commodity, and where we strive to provide contexts and meaning for everyone so that the learning process is nurtured and sustained through unemployment, retirement or other circumstances of disengagement.
There are many ways in which this vision can be brought about, and there are many challenges to be overcome.  This submission does not provide all the answers.  But if we get our thinking right from the start, if we challenge flawed policies and if we genuinly consider what it means to learn then we will have made a good first step.  After all, it's the process that matters, this is what will get us there in the end.
As to an action that Dublin City Council can lead and support I suggest the following:

Dublin City of Learning Web Site
The best of the Internet is socially constructed.  This process of construction is itself a learning process and for the millions of authors of Wikipedia, writers of blogs and contributors to Facebook, web boards and Twitter, participation in the social Internet brings meaning and purpose to their lives.
We are a city - not just buildings and spaces but a city of people.
With some basic infrastructure and initial support we could create a new structure for Dublin in the on-line world.  Not like the institutional web sites that abound but something akin to the social spaces that we all enjoy.
Everyone who lives in, or has an interest in the city will be encouraged to contribute.  Some can contribute technical expertise, some as editors and lead writers, some as teachers to help those who need support with the technical and writing skills.  We will need projects to develop new areas of interest by theme or location, we will need to capture the stories of our city, install a photographic collection, display the paintings of our citizens and celebrate the achievements of all our sports people.
If we do this we will have the best resource ever to advertise the experience of Dublin to those who wish to visit, we will create a valuable resource for future generations but above all, we will be Dublin City of Learning.

On Motivation and Learning

Much of the scholarship on adult learning can be summarised in the following statement:
Adult's learn what they want to learn and what they find useful and applicable to their life experience.
In contrast, young people, certainly up to teenage years, are happy to learn what is put before them.  Adults, on the other hand, will discriminate and select when it comes to learning.
It stands to reason therefore that motivation for learning is an important topic in adult education.  Motivation theories address the question of why we learn as distinct from cognitive theories that try to explain how we learn.
When we use the term "motivation" in everyday life it can mean several different things - we often say "the football team came out motivated by the half-time talk" or such a person is a "motivational speaker".  In these examples we see motivation as a kind of energy or mind set that can be triggered for short intervals of time.  Another meaning we have for motivation suggests a long term quality, a propensity to achieve - one who is "motivated to get to the top".  But motivation is not always directed at achievement - when a crime is committed we know that every good detective looks for opportunity and motive in suspects. 
One drawback of everyday language is that we tend to think of motivation in the singular - we look for one reason for a particular action.  In reality, motivation is a complex matter; there is usually a mix of influences and mindset; circumstance and chance all play their part.
What then of motivation and learning?  I suggest that we need to consider two types of factors - those that predispose a person to take on a learning project and opportunity factors connected with the circumstances and conditions of learning.
Let's take a look at predisposition. If you ask adult returners, in a college for example, you will often hear people describe that they had been thinking about doing a course for a long time.  In my research (on adult's learning computer skills) I hear phrases such as: "I've always wanted to go back to school" or "I've been thinking about doing something about this for many years".  So it's clear that many people nurture a desire for learning.  What's interesting is that many people report that they were so inclined over a long period of time.  I think of this as a kind of priming.  It stands to reason that even when so 'primed' some people will act to learn and others will remain with an unfulfilled desire.
So, the other set of factors come into play - these are connected with the opportunity.  "I was in the supermarket and I seen the sign for the course and the two girls at the stand were very helpful"  this is how one of my informants describes a moment of opportunity.  At this point a person may (not necessarily as a conscious process) weigh up all the factors and ask questions such as:
What will I get from this?
How hard will it be?
How will other people regard my actions?
Will I have the time, space, money, support etc.?
This is the complex of motivation.  And here I am just describing one decision point.  Even when people start a course the questioning continues throughout.
As I said Adult's learn what they want to learn and what they find useful and applicable to their life experience.

Problem Based Learning: The Apprentice?

Those that know me will know that I am a fan of Problem-Based Learning, usually referred to as PBL.
Ireland's version of "The Apprentice" is being aired on TV3 and watched by many including our household. The idea is that contestants are fighting it out to get a big job as apprentice to Bill Cullen (Ireland's best known, self-made entrepreneur).
For each episode the contestants are asked to complete authentic tasks usually with a sales or design element.
We get to see them work in groups, select a project manager, set goals, solve problems and think and act creatively. As television it's quite absorbing and informative and there is plenty of learning taking place, for the contestants and vicariously, for the the viewers.
When I first watched these sequences I was impressed to see a good instructional approach transferred to television.
However, all this is let down by the final sequences of each programme. These scenes take place in the boardroom where groups are asked to report on the process.
Bill is naturally a good teacher and in fairness, he tries to balance his negative criticism with supportive comments.
But the show's structure calls for an inevitable reduction by one contestant (you're fired!) each week. This leads to verbal abuse, recriminations and outright humiliation for some of the participants.
All this makes great television but the message is too savage for genuine learning and personal development.
Most importantly, Bill looks for "the creative spark" in the actions and thinking of the contestants.
Genuine creative thinking arises when we relax our learned inhibitions - creativity requires a safe and secure foundation (see Bowlby, for example).
Faced with the prospect of ridicule on national television few people are going to genuinely take a risk and truly express novel thinking.
We need innovation in the workplace - to nurture innovation we need to provide 'safe spaces' for exploration - we also need to encourage learning from failure as well as from success.

My Philosophical Development by Bertrand Russell

I am reading a wonderful book called My Philosophical Development by Bertrand Russell - I picked up a 1959 first edition in a wonderful second hand bookshop, Trinity Books in Carrick On Shannon.  This is like a beginners guide to Russell by himself and, in it he traces his thinking down through the years.
There is a particularly poignant section where Russell reproduces copies of his notes from his teenage years.  He writes (p280): Just before and just after my 16th birthday, I wrote down my beliefs and unbeliefs, using Greek letters and phonetic spelling for the purposes of concealment.
What Russell was at pains to conceal at this young age were his doubts about religion and the existence of God.   What troubled him was not necessarily the social consequences but rather, the intellectual consequences.
Here is is entry of April 29th 1988:

In all things I have made a vow to follow reason, not the instincts inherited partly from my ancestors and gained gradually by selection and partly due to my education.  How absurd it would be to follow these in the questions of right and wrong.  For as I observed before, the inherited part can only be principles leading to the preservation of the species, or of that particular section of the species to which I belong.  The part due to education is good or bad according to the individual education.  Yet this inner voice, this God-given conscience which made Bloody Mary burn the Protestants, this is what we reasonable beings are to follow.  I think this idea mad, and I endeavour to go by reason as far as possible.  What I take as my ideal is that which ultimately produces greatest happiness of greatest number.  Then I can apply reason to find out the course more conducive to this...

Not bad for a sixteen year old.
Seventy one years later, in 1959 the following occurred: Allen and Unwin published the book, Russell recorded a television interview included below and (of no relevance to Russell) I was born. 
Fifty years after that, as a consequence of my bookshop brousing in Leitrim, I reproduce the thoughts of a teenager writing in a personal blog: I have made a vow to follow reason.  
 Yes you did Bertrand, yes indeed!

Weekend in Rota d'Imagna

Maire and I and our Caoimhe (19) and Jim (16) decided to spend a short weekend away in Italy - we had spotted cheap flights to Bergamo on Ryanair and used Tripadvisor to scour the area nearby for cheap but good hotels.

We came accross Hotel Miramonti which is about 40 minutes from Bergamo up in the mountains.
The town was called Rota d'Imagna and it is very pleasently located high up in the alpine foothills.

We also spent a day in Bergamo itself - this is a wonderful town especially the old city.

This was a great weekend - really enjoyable with just the four of us.  Maire and I were especially keen to practice our Italian.  But we had little opportunity as most people were so nice and of course, wanted to speak English to us.

Jim was keen to practice his photography skills and indeed he took some very beautiful pictures.

It's great just to go somewhere quiet.  Rota d'Imagna was a quiet town.
Pictures are from the town of Bergamo.

Problem Based Learning

     Students from the Post Graduate Diploma and Masters in Learning and Teaching participating in a Problem Based Learning Workshop in the Centre for Research and Innovation in Learning and Teaching at National College of Ireland

This year we are running a new course at National College of Ireland - the Post-Graduate Diploma and MA in Learning and Teaching.  I am course director for this course and I present a module on Theories of Learning and Cognition.

We have a core of sixteen students with some additional attendees from the PhD course and faculty development.  The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds with one thing in common - a passion and commitment for learning and education.

We used an instructional approach know as Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a means of integrating the three semester one modules on Theories of Learning, Research Methods and Philosophy of Education.

PBL was structured around a series of workshops on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays.  My colleague Rachel Doherty from the School of Business organised the students in groups to complete a series of authentic tasks.

In the first exercise the group tasks were to compose and present a series of student induction presentations - the kind that would be presented to new students starting a college course.

Each group was given a different profile for the entry cohort.  In one case the students were adult returners with no previous formal education, another had to prepare for recent graduates continuing to a post-graduate course and still another had to present to a group of busy professionals attending a career oriented course.

Organised in this way students had to draw on theory, research and underlying philosophy to prepare their solutions to the problems.  This is PBL in action.

Afterwards, students were asked to write a reflection - on the whole PBL was very enthusiastically endorsed.

From a teachers perspective there is a lot of work involved in preparing the workshops - thanks to Rachel for doing this - and we needed to work out a fairly detailed assessment matrix to make sure that individual and group participation was recognised.  Most of the marks go for the process rather than the outcome - this is characteristic PBL.

Seminar on the Pedagogy of Messy Play

Each Friday during term we hold professional development seminars for faculty and staff at NCI.

These events focus on learning, teaching and research and we always have interesting and engaging topics.

Today, our colleague Catriona Flood from the Early Learning Initiative at NCI presented a seminar on the pedagogy of messy play.

During the summer a number of messy play sessions were organised by the ELC and children and parents from our hinterland attended.  The kids got stuck in so to speak and often when we looked out our windows into the enclosed garden at the college we were treated to the sight of a multitude of little ones splashing, banging, playing with sand, glup, paint and 'coloured stuff'.  Yes generally making a mess!

One might ask - is this really learning?  Yes it is and it is in its purest form.  The natural instincts for inquiry, socialising and 'messing' with the environment are fundamental for development and growth of thinking skills.  Catriona's presentation focused on the principles of early school education and the thinking behind each of the play activities.  Participants at the seminar were also treated to some messy play objects which they duly played with.

Subsequently the discussion focused on the relationship between play and learning even in third level contexts.  Play often provides a safe space where new roles and activities can be explored.

One further thought - the kids who participated in the messy play sessions had their first encounter with a college as 3 to 8 year-olds hopefully we'll see them again as students in the future.

Weekend in Paris to "Sea the Stars"

Ryanair have a lot to answer for.
A few weeks ago Eamon, a good friend of mine, rang me to say that he had spotted cheap flights to Paris for the last weekend in September - the Arc weekend. 

Eamon and I both had busy Septembers so this was great timing for a short break.

Our main interest was the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, perhaps the most prestigious race for top grade horses and this year something special was on the cards as Sea the Stairs an Irish (John Oxx) trained horse was on to complete a remarkable run of group one wins. 

What this horse achieved in winning this race has never been completed before and without doubt makes him the most valuable horse in the world - watch and enjoy!

Learning Italian Together (translated by babelfish)

La mia moglie Maire ed io ha deciso di imparare insieme l'italiano questo termine.

Poichè siamo entrambe l'implicato nella formazione abbiamo pensato che fosse una buona idea imparare insieme la lingua.

Dopo che molto cercando abbiamo trovato che il nostro istituto universitario della comunità locale ha fatto funzionare un corso di sera su Wednesday' s alla volta che ci ha stato adatti.

Ho mancato i primi due codici categoria dovuto altri impegni ed in modo da ero molto di scuse quando ho unito per la prima volta ieri il codice categoria.

L'insegnante era fantastico - una giovane donna italiana molto amichevole che ha un regalo naturale come insegnante.

Era grande - sono un principiante completo e con Maire (chi non aveva mancato i primi due codici categoria) abbiamo lottato con le introduzioni di base, vocabularly e la grammatica.

Arrivederci per ora Leo

My wife Maire and I decided to learn Italian together this term.  As we are both involved in education we thought it would be a good idea to learn the language together.

After much searching we found that our local community college ran an evening course on Wednesday's at a time that suited us. 

I missed the first two classes due to other committments and so was very apologetic when I joined the class for the first time yesterday. 
 
The teacher was fantastic - a very friendly young Italian woman who has a natural gift as a teacher.

It was great - I am a complete beginner and with Maire (who had not missed the first two classes) we struggled through basic introductions, vocabularly and grammar.

Bye for now

Leo

Our Digital World invades the Bicycle!

The Dublin bike scheme is a welcome addition to our city.  It will be great for toursists and locals alike.  Dublin is a relatively flat city and if you can brave the wind and the rain then cycling is a great way to get about.

I had seen the new stands being constructed and looked forward to the inauguration of this new service for many months now.  How practical!  How green! How good of our city and government to, at last, offer something for ordinary people to use and to enjoy.

So you can imagine my enthusium to read the practical details as they were published in the newspapers this weekend.  Then I saw something that made me slightly uneasy:

Users, who must register online at www.dublinbikes.ie, pay a €10 annual membership fee and leave a €150 security deposit through a credit card or bank draft.

Mmm...  I've been around long enough to realise that you can't just leave bikes lying around and expect people to use and return with honour.  No - the need for a deposit did not bother me - nor the €10 annual membership.  Even the charges per hour are reasonable and it is understandable that we should be charged for such a service.  No - none of these aspects would cause me to take to a blog and have a rant - no it's this:

Users, who must register online...

Are you joking! Our government, our city will offer this service to some citizens - the digitally literate and broadband connected privileged majority.  Tough on you if you don't use the Internet, tough on you if you haven't a credit card or if you are reluctant to set up a new direct debit on your bank account.

By the way, I went through this process on-line and it is one of the least user friendly experiences you could imagine - you will even need you IBAN number and an address with a compulsory post code (we don't use post codes in Ireland).  The company operating the service is JCDecaux (an advertising company) and although the front page of the website clearly displays the Dublin City Council logo when you go through the payment process you are actually dealing with a private company.

Now I don't want to appear to whinge - for me the new service is of great value.  But whatever happened to our notions of an egalitarian society - if we offer a service to people of the city then it should be available to all.  Consider groups such as retired people (the older you are the less likely you are to be an Internet user), people who are currently having trouble with credit, perhaps unemployed, all of whom could reasonably be expected to be prime users of this service and yet even with cash in hand they cannot use the service.

Likely the explanation centres on creating an effective service with low administration costs.  The irony should not be lost - the humble bicycle is simple and efficient but in order to use these city bikes you need the Internet and a bank account. 

There is nothing worse than feeling left out - those who struggle with the Internet, fear it, or just havn't figured it out are the forgotten many in our society.  We are all citizens of this land and we should have a reasonable expectation to be treated equally.

 

Learning Identity and Learning Italian

In previous posts I spoke about learning identity.

I emphasised that we all carry many (often unquestioned) assumptions about who we are and who we can be as learners.  The notion of learning identity is proposed as a component of one's overall self-identity.  I argued that learning identity is often framed in one's school years and can remain fixed through life especially for non-participants in further formal learning.

In my own research on participation in the digital world I came accross learning identity as an important influence on people's decisions to enroll on basic computer courses.  The recurrent theme is captured in the phrase "I was no good in school".

Well, I decided to turn the spotlight inwards and direct my scrutiny at my own learning identity.  I have always believed that I am no good at language learning.  My French is dreadful despite struggeling through six years of it in school.  I can speak a bit of German because I lived in Munich for a time after college but here's the thing about German - outside of Germany no one wants to speak it!

So I'm going to learn Italian.

Wikipedia as a source in academic writing

Have you ever heard of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi?


Pestalozzi was a Swiss educationalist - he had interesting ideas for progressive education - at the start of the nineteenth century he was advocating an enlightened approach to schooling.  

Perhaps in a future blog I will further discuss Pestalozzi but the topic I have set out above is Wikipedia and I have introduced Pestalozzi as an example to support a point I wish to make.




Could I invite you the reader to open a new tab and look up Pestalozzi in Wikipedia.  

There you will find an excellent illustrated article containing biographical details and illustrations.  It is a good place to start if you wish to find out more about this influential thinker.  

Notice that the bottom of the entry there is a list of references and links for further reading (I have inserted these below).  Starting with these references and links you now have a means to explore the writings of Pestalozzi and commentary thereon.


For me this is the best use of Wikipedia - I find it a great starting point and signpost to other materials.


Is Wikipedia itself an appropriate source?   In other words, if I write an essay should I cite Wikipedia as my source?  I believe that, for academic purposes, Wikipedia is not an adequate source.  My main reason is the lack of visibility of the writers.  

Each time I use Wikipedia I can make my own judgment as to whether the information is accurate and useful - I base this on other readings and resources.  I would be very reluctant to put forward an idea and to suggest that my source for this is a page on Wikipedia.  There is always someone somewhere who is the source and it is always better to go back to the original.  

Still - its a fantastic resource and an excellent place to start if you need to find out about something or someone - did I mention Pestalozz - look him up in Wikipedia but don't stop there!  

References

Considerably more late-twentieth-century scholarly work on Pestalozzi has been published in the German language than in English.

• Biber, George Eduard. Henry Pestalozzi and his Plan of Education. Orig. pub. London: John Souter, School Library, 1831. Repub. ISBN 1-85506-272-0. Among the earliest and probably the most influential 19th-century account of Pestalozzi's work in English, this was widely read in America (for instance, by Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson) and in England. Contains translated excerpts from many of Pestalozzi's works.
• Silber, Kate. Pestalozzi: The Man and his Work. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960. ISBN 0-7100-2118-6. Written by a German-speaking lifelong Pestalozzi scholar, this remains the most recent complete biography in English.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

• Encyclopaedic documentation about Pestalozzi – Publisher: Swiss association „Verein Pestalozzi im Internet“
• PestalozziWorld biographical links - A handful of short and longer biographies and references to his methods
•  "Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Pestalozzi_and_Pestalozzianism.

NAMA - having a haircut or taking a bath!

This week experienced a turning point in the public consciousness regarding NAMA the National Asset Management Agency.


People are asking questions - really fundamental questions - about the wisdom of the government's strategy of using NAMA to buy up the bad loans from the banks.

If ever we need a very public debate about what we should do - this is the time and this is the issue. The amount of money involved is staggering - decisions made in the next few months will have implications for generations to come. It is not good enough to say that we can't understand what's going on, each of us has a responsibility to get to grips with the nature of the problem and the proposed solution.

What's noticeable is the way language is used to filter our thinking.

Toxic
We describe the loans as "toxic" thereby conveying an almost medical imagery - that of surgically removing the bad stuff so that we can cure the situation.

Haircut
This is the very gentle description for the reduction in the value of the loan book that should be considered. So one hears we'll take those 90 billion worth of loans and give them a haircut of say 30% so NAMA will pay about 60 billion for them.
This is really soft language - what could be more reasonable than a haircut!

Market Value and Long-term Economic Value (LEC)
Poor us! We really don't appreciate the complexities of the word "value". We are told that the market value of the 90 billion loan book is only 30 billion but we should pay more we should really take account of the long-term economic value - the "lec" so to speak.

So now we have some new maths:
30 billion euros is really 60 billion lecs
90 billion with a haircut gives 60.

Any three card trickster would be proud.

Knowledge Surveys

I came across an interesting piece on Knowledge Surveys from Edward Knuhfer and Dolores Knipp (linked above).

They advocate the use of Knowledge Surveys as a tool in support of learning and instruction.
These surveys consist of a series of questions - similar to a set of exam questions - but the difference is that the learner is asked not to answer the question but to rate their own ability to respond.

For example - consider the following questions:

Q1 Describe three characteristics of an constructivist theory of learning?

Q2 Compare constructivism with social constructivism?

Q3 Outline practical applications of a behaviorist approach to learning?

Now, in a traditional assessment the student would be asked to write short essays on the above.

With a knowledge survey the student is asked to rate their level of knowledge as:

A - I feel confident that I could answer this question

B - I know about 50% of what may be involved and perhaps if I went away for twenty minutes I could find the missing information

C - I am not confident that I would be able to answer this question at all

Do you get the gist? The knowledge survey gauges a student's perception of their own ability.

Knowledge Surveys may be very useful particularly at the beginning of new courses or topics. A word of caution though - students may not always have or report a reliable estimate of their own ability.

Slea Head

We decided to spend some days in Dingle, County Kerry.
Why Dingle?
Well this is a place that I've always had a fondness for and it has been many years since I visited.

I made a documentary in the mid-1980s called Up Sraid Eoin (John Street) - it was the story of the Dingle wren boys. We filmed it one St Stephens Day and it was broadcast on RTE the following year.

I had been introduced to Dingle while I was working in UCD's Audio Visual Centre - we spent a whole summer recording stories and music for the Department of Irish Folklore/Irish Folklore Commission.

The irony was that we were using television to capture the last remnants of an oral storytelling tradition that was dying out because of the pervasiveness of television.

I learned so much through these projects and although I was responsible for sound and video I really did not have enough Irish to understand what was being said. Strange that the way it worked out I was happy to be there and to listen to the rhythm of the telling and observe the engagement of the listeners as they fell under the spell of a great story-teller.

We traveled the length and of Ireland mainly coastal regions and Gaeltacht areas.

All this came back when we visited Slea Head on a wonderful day last Friday. We stopped at the beehive huts - reportedly 2000 BC.

The photo is of myself and my son Jim.

Folklore in Irish is called bealoideas - literally translated this means education of the mouth.

There was a time before literacy when knowledge was passed on between generations using the spoken word. When you think about it stories are a means of engagement and the best stories - the ones that are more likely to be passed through the ages - are the ones that resonate and have meaning for people.

Karl Jung pointed this out but it has been known since ancient times.
Great stories survive through a kind of evolutionary process. Great story-tellers were highly respected in rural communities that is until television.

The Blaskets and Slea Head remind us of our past and the heritage we share with our ancestors - not just those who inhabited the bee-hive huts four thousand years ago but also the people who in my lifetime and in my presence recalled the wondrous tales that are perhaps as old as the stones.

On Holiday in Nerja

I am not quite a techie - I use technology as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The most used tool that I own is my laptop, it is my companion and I take it everywhere.
I have been using a Mac notebook for the last three years (or is it 4?) and in recent times it has shown signs of wear and tear - the power cable broke, the processor became very slow and I had to replace the battery.
So I decided to invest in a new MacBook Pro and I took delivery of it just the day before my holidays here in Nerja.
As I write these words I am sitting at a cafe by the side of the Balcon (literally translated as the balcony) and of course I am using the new laptop.
Macs have a built in camera facility - the software that supports it is called Photo Booth and I have just taken the picture sequence.
Nerja is a lovely town with just the right balance between tourism and local culture. There are restaurants everywhere and as my friend and colleague Eugene points out there are plenty of wireless hot spots.
I really like the small Spanish eateries that seem to combine a bar and seafood restaurant. These are not the posh places they have plastic tables and chairs and you are unlikely to get air conditioning. But whow! try a plate of grilled sardines - delicious.