CUSTOMIZING AS QUALITY

“CODDLING” — A PATH TO

QUALITY LEARNING AND EXPERTISE

Judith V. Boettcher, Ph.D.

Designing for Learning

University of Florida

judith@designingforlearning.org

March 30 2012 1

FIU Online Conference – March 30 2012Florida International University

Challenging

Energizing

Satisfying

2

Why Promote Customized Learning?

Increases learning quality, rigorand satisfaction

Is easy, doable, and exciting

At the heart of how we learn – we are all constructivists

Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Randy Buckner, Ph.D and the Laboratory of Neuro Imagingwww.humanconnectomeproject.org

SEQUENCE OF TOPICS

March 30 2012 3

Getting a handle on quality and rigor

Three Customizing Design Strategies — What, how and

why

Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Randy Buckner, Ph.D and the Laboratory of Neuro Imagingwww.humanconnectomeproject.org

Why customizing brings quality and why it deepens the

student-centered movement

ONE CHALLENGE – WHAT ARE STUDENTS

LEARNING AND HOW DO WE MEASURE IT?

March 30 2012 4

“A Lack of Rigor Leaves Students 'Adrift' In

College”

February 9 2011 NPR Interview with Richard Arum, one of coauthors of

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Richard

Arum is a professor of sociology at New York University

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/09/133310978/in-college-a-lack-of-rigor-leaves-students-adrift

“No measurable improvement in critical thinking skills through four years of education.”

CHALLENGE — GRADUATION RATES AS A

MEASURE

March 30 2012 5

“The Rise and Fall of the Graduation Rate”

March 2, 2012chronicle.com/article/The-RiseFall-of-

the/131036/

collegecompletion.chronicle.com/

Based on 2004 data from 30 public 4 year institutions in Florida

“Do College-Completion Rates Really Measure

Quality?” March 2, 2012

http://chronicle.com/article/Do-

College-Completion-Rates/131029/

DEBATE IS HEATING UP AS

IMPLEMENTATION BEGINS

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“Completion and Quality at CUNY” March 22, 2012

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/22/cuny-faculty-sue-

block-new-core-curriculum

• A slimmer, standardized core curriculum of

30 credits for CUNY‟s 23 campuses”

• Laudable goal - facilitate transfer and

promote curricular alignment

• Feud over speeding up of graduation rates

vs. sacrificing quality of a CUNY degree

KEEPING TRACK OF THE ISSUE

March 30 2012 7

Association of Colleges and Universities

(AACU) – “Completion and Quality News

Watch”

http://www.aacu.org/leap/newswatch.cfm

What is Quality?

A PRIMARY CATALYST FOR

ONLINE LEARNING WAS

ACCESS; NOW OUR

CATALYST FOR CHANGE IS

QUALITY AND STUDENT

SUCCESS

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DEFINING QUALITY

When you hear someone talk about a high quality online course, what images

or descriptors “pop” into your head?

March 30 2012 9

What is Quality?

Growing connections,

data links, synapse

s

Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Randy Buckner, Ph.D and

the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging www.humanconnectomeproject.org

DEFINING QUALITY – DO THESE WORK?

Energizing – I created something useful and meaningful to me and for others

Exciting — I pondered deep questions

I struggled thinking about serious problems and ideas

My teacher really “dialogued” and was involved

Analytical – I made choices on challenging questions so that I know now what I think

and why I think what I do….

I got to know some great people…

I developed confidence in my own thinkingMarch 30 2012 10

A QUICK LOOK AT “RIGOR”

March 30 2012 11

Understanding and Reporting on Academic Rigor (2009)

http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/pubs/Abstracts/FiezRigorous.pdf

DEFINING “RIGOR” …

• When we talk about a ‘rigorous course’ in something, it’s a course that examines details, insists on diligent and scrupulous study and performance, and doesn’t settle for a mild or informal contact with the key ideas.”

March 30 2012 12

Understanding and Reporting on Academic Rigor (2009)

http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/pubs/Abstracts/FiezRigorous.pdf

Robert Talbert, Mathematics and

computing science, Franklin

College, Franklin, IN

DEFINING “RIGOR” …

• “To me, this is the heart of academic rigor. One must take a given set of facts and derive conclusions based on the rules of logical reasoning, with each steplogical, transparent, and well-documented.”

March 30 2012 13

Understanding and Reporting on Academic Rigor (2009)

http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/pubs/Abstracts/FiezRigorous.pdf

Richard, Scharr, VP of math and science

education at Texas Instruments

RIGOR FROM NEUROSCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

• “If we always stick to what is easy, we

diminish the amount of neuroplasticity

(changes in brain organization) that

occurs, because we can rely on already-

established neural

connections…Generally, „demanding‟ is

good because it recruits the high-level

areas that we most associate with

intelligence, creative problem-

solving, executive control, deep

reflection, and so forth… There are also

time limits on our ability to sustain high

degrees of cognitive effort without taking a

break.” (p. 11) March 30 2012 14

Julie Fiez, cognitive scientist from U of Pittsburgh in Hechinger Institute

Report on Academic Rigor (2009)

EXAMPLES OF “RIGOR” IN DISCIPLINES

• In literature, a focus on the text, its ambiguities, and possible interpretations based on what is actually in the text.

• In chemistry, a focus on the “why”, stimulating curiosity about how the world works and its complexity, what we know, what we don’t

• In professional programs, assessment by outside experts, expand the “audiences” for projects

• In general, much more dialogue, coaching, mentoring between faculty and students and between students

March 30 2012 15

REFLECTION/THOUGHT QUESTIONS FOR

YOU

1. What does quality mean to you?

2. How do you define "rigor" in your course, in your discipline?

3. What is your top quality strategy?

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March 30 2012 17

HOW DO WE CUSTOMIZE FOR

QUALITY?

THREE CUSTOMIZING DESIGN PRACTICES

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1. Design for core, structured

choice and optional learning experiences

2. Design in flexibility and choice — in

roles, collaborations, “evidences” of

learning

3. Design in sharing choice activities to develop a body of

experience and expertise in the

community

CUSTOMIZING DESIGN PRACTICE #1

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How do you go about this?

1. Design for core, structured choice and optional learning

activities

KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES AND INPUT

ALL LEARNERS DO NOT NEED TO LEARN ALL COURSE CONTENT /KNOWLEDGE; ALL LEARNERS DO NEED TO LEARN THE CORE CONCEPTS… AND DEVELOP USEFUL KNOWLEDGE

Learning Principle Supporting Content Choices

March 30 2012 20

PRINCIPLE REMINDER

STEP 1: ALIGN GOALS, ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVITIES

EXAMPLE — DECISION MAKING & PROBLEM SOLVING

Articulate how my personal leadership practice informs my approach to problem-

solving and decision-making

Learning outcome (1)

1. Complete self-assessment instruments to determine my leadership practice

2. Evaluate PSDM approaches and select one that is a good match for me and my work

environment 3. Share the process and results in a leadership

journal and project

1. Coach & provide feedback on leadership journal entries and what is shared in

community2. Assess project with rubric and small

team review

Learning experiencesFeedback & Assessment

March 30 2012 21

STEP 1: ALIGN GOALS, ASSESSMENT AND ACTIVITIES

EXAMPLE — DECISION MAKING & PROBLEM SOLVING

Articulate how my personal leadership practice informs my approach to problem-

solving and decision-making

Learning outcome (1)

1. Complete self-assessment instruments to determine my leadership practice

2. Evaluate PSDM approaches and select one that is a good match for me and my work

environment 3. Share the process and results in a leadership

journal and project

1. Coach & provide feedback on leadership journal entries and what is shared in

community2. Assess project with rubric and small

team review

Learning experiencesFeedback & Assessment

March 30 2012 22

Note Personalizing…

Core Concepts

and Principles

Core Concepts and Principles

Applying Core Concepts

Problem Analysis and Solving

Customized and Personalized

STEP 2: IDENTIFY AND CATEGORIZE

COURSE CONTENT

March 30 2012 23

STEP 2 (PLUS) ANOTHER DIMENSION OF

CONTENT WHEN CATEGORIZING…• Prepackaged authoritative content

– Textbooks and other expert, reviewed content

– NOT blogs, comments, vendor materials

• Guided learning materials (Teaching Presence)

– Faculty prepared

• Interactive and spontaneous performance content

– Learner-generated content, blogs, journals, wikis, projects

March 30 2012 24

Boettcher, J. www.campus-

technology.com/print.asp?ID=18004

Increasingly important

STEP 3: PROVIDE CHOICES IN CORE AND

STRUCTURED CHOICE CONTENT

• Develop core assignments

– Core assignment builds community with “shared experience” with differential focus

• Structured choice in content resources

– Provide personalization, focus and fodder for discussion

– Lessen stress and encourage responsibility for learning

– Encourage local and personal application of core content

March 30 2012 25

EXAMPLES OF CONTENT CHOICES

• Global leadership course – Core readings on leadership concepts

– Set of 3-4 articles, of which two are required, one closest to world area of interest

• Education, pedagogy and learning theories – Core reading on key theorist such as Dewey, Vygotsky, Bruner

– Set of 2-3 articles by other theorists, one of which is required

– Link to a key learning theory website where learners choose a learning theory that best fits content and style of interest

• Public health – Core readings and practice on measuring water quality

– Assignment to report on water quality in a body of water local to learner

March 30 2012 26

SUMMARIZING WORK OF FACULTY

• Requires content analysis for aligning learning outcomes, activities and assessments

• Analysis (decoding) of just what the core concepts, skills, and processes of a discipline

– More focus on process — the how of a discipline, not just the what …

• Requires broadening perspective of content and bringing in more media resources + openness to “whatever”

• Requires shifting to modeling, coaching, mentoring use of concepts and processes within the discipline

March 30 2012 27

CUSTOMIZING DESIGN PRACTICE #2

March 30 2012 28

2. Design in flexibility and choice in course roles, in

collaborations, in “evidences” of learning

APPLICATION, OUTPUT, PRA

CTICE

EACH LEARNER EXPERIENCES THE COURSE DIFFERENTLY ... AND CAN HAVE DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITIES

No matter the design… with shared elements and creating as they learn…

March 30 2012 29

PRINCIPLE REMINDER

“BUT, OF COURSE, EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER WHAT

HAPPENED, SOMEWHAT DIFFERENTLY, YOU SEE..."

Inspector Craddock to Miss Marple in Agatha Christie’s mystery “A Murder is Announced”

March 30 2012 30

THINKING LIKE A HISTORIAN…LIKE A SCIENTIST…LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR… DIFFERENT ROLES IN AD HOC TEAMS, GROUPS AND DISCUSSION FORUMS

Immersion and practice…

March 30 2012 31

Process thinking…

READING LIKE A HISTORIAN

• Shift to investigating historical questions using finding, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading.

• Shift from memorizing facts to evaluating the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives– Montgomery bus boycott

• Learners argue their historical claims using documentary evidence

March 30 2012 32Stanford History Education Group

sheg.stanford.edu/?q=node/45

Who was responsible for

the Battle of Little Bighorn?

Teaching Strategy: Scaffolding - Cognitive modeling to guided practice to independent practice

THINKING LIKE AN HISTORIAN

March 30 2012 33

“The key was to construct every history course around two core skills of their discipline: assembling evidence and

interpreting it.”

chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Experiment-Decodes-a/49140/

History faculty group at Indiana University at Bloomington Chronicle of Higher Education 11-15-09

CLINICAL REASONING STEPS AND ROLES

“Thinking like a Clinician”

March 30 2012 34

Patient, pharmacist, researcher, diagnostician

Learners “take on”

roles

CLINICAL REASONING STEPS AND ROLES• Scan/Apprehend

– Identify features, boundaries, patterns of a scenario, situation that need “attending to”

– Familiar from past experience and noting unusual patterns, configurations

• Gather

– Collect information such as resources and protocols to aid understanding the scenarios

– Clarify the known and the unknown from our experience and that of colleagues

• Appraise

– Sort, organize, theorize as detectives to determine best interpretation of facts

– Analyze our own judgment for bias, accuracy

– Determine accuracy and validity of assumptions

March 30 2012 35Brookfield, S. (2000)

CUSTOMIZING DESIGN PRACTICE #3

March 30 2012 36

3. Design for sharing “choice” experiences as a way of

building a body of experience and thus developing

confidence and expertise

Community collaboration and practice and review

LEARNERS DO NOT HAVE TO DO IDENTICAL TASKS; TASKS ONLY NEED TO BE SIMILAR ENOUGH FOR ASSESSMENT AND OUTCOME PURPOSES. REMEMBER VYGOTSKY AND JUNGLE AND TUNDRA BRAINS

Learning Principle Supporting Assessment Choices

March 30 2012 37

PRINCIPLE REMINDER

2011

LEVELS OF EXPERTISE

Defining roles and responsibilities of licensed professionals. The journey from novice to expert …

38

Learners want to develop expertise…

March 30 2012

LEVELS OF EXPERTISE (1)

• Novice

– Person with minimal exposure to field

• Apprentice

– Person working in a domain under supervision who has completed an introductory period of study

• Journeyman or Assistant

– Person who can perform routine work unsupervised

M. T. H. Chi 2006

39March 30 2012

LEVELS OF EXPERTISE (2)

• Expert

– Person whose judgments are uncommonly accurate and reliable; is highly regarded by peers; performance shows skill, economy of effort; can handle difficult and unusual cases

• Master

– Can teach others; member of an elite group of experts whose judgments set regulations, standards or ideals.

M. T. H. Chi 2006

40March 30 2012

HOW DO EXPERTS EXCEL?• Generate the best solutions faster and more

accurately

• See and detect features that novices do not “see”

• Analyze a problem qualitatively including domain-specific and general constraints

• More successful at choosing appropriate strategies

• Are more opportunistic in using resources

• Retrieve relevant domain knowledge and strategies with less cognitive effort

From M.T.H. Chi, 2006

To become experts, we need a wide, broad and deep experiences in our chosen field.

March 30 2012

41

CREATIVE WORK SHARING: PEER

CONSULTING IN “PIN-UP REVIEWS”

College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University (IN)

March 30 2012 42

Interactive plasma screens make it easy and affordable for architecture students to review and consult on each other’s work.

CREATIVE WORK DOING AND

SHARING: PROJECTS AND “INWORLD” PRESENTATIONS

College of Health and Human Performance /University of Houston -http://grants.hhp.uh.edu/secondlife/vital-spring-12.htm

March 30 2012 43

• Teams complete a project that requires

integrating knowledge across courses

• A virtual scientific conference is open to the

Second Life public• Sample projects: Meniere's

Disease, Scoliosis, Traumatic Brain Injury

WHY CUSTOMIZING WORKS

Customizing engages and touches learners

March 30 2012 44

Moving towards curiosity, questioning, analyzing

CUSTOMIZING LEARNING

ENGAGES AND TOUCHES

LEARNERSContent and experiences “make sense” to the learner

– Content “touches on” and links to learner’s existing knowledge base

– Content is contextualized and situated in meaningful, understandable experiences

– “Look forward experiences” focus on building skills and competencies

March 30 2012 45

“I can see how /why this is important.” “Wow, I wish I had had this

tool/knowledge/understanding back when…

WHAT CAN LEAVE LEARNERS

DISINTERESTED…

• Abstract, formal, uncontextualized content; not situated in a time & place & purpose

– Experiences are not part of learners’ zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978)

– “Invisible” authors & writers (Clark & Mayer, 2006)

• Course requirements are not perceived as learning experiences

– Papers, postings & tests do not include community or opportunity for revision & growth

March 30 2012 46

ALL LEARNERS …

• Are most engaged when their learning experiences enable them to experience feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Hayles, 2008)

• Enjoy being a part of the generation and analysis of shared, spontaneous content.

March 30 2012 47

Learners instinctively embrace learning experiences that challenge & stimulate

ERIC KANDEL – OUR

BRAIN CHANGES WITH

EXPERIENCES…• Long-term memory involves

enduring changes that result from

the growth of new synaptic

connections.

• This means that …”the brain can

change because of experience. It

gives you a different feeling about how nature and nurture interact.”

March 30 2012 48

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/science/a-quest-to-understand-how-memory-

works.html?scp=1&sq=kandel&st=cse

Dr. Eric R. Kandel

CUSTOMIZING TO THE LEARNER

March 30 2012 49

CONCLUSION

VERY IMPORTANT

GUIDELINE

50

In course design, we design for the

probable, expected learner; in course

delivery, we flex, we customize to the

specific, particular learners within a

course.

“I really enjoyed the project and how my teacher supported me in doing what was important for me personally.”

March 30 2012

THANKS & QUESTIONS

March 30 2012 51

SELECTED REFERENCES• Brookfield, S. (2000). Clinical reasoning and generic thinking skills. In J. J.

Higgs, Mark (Ed.), Clinical Reasoning in the Health Professions (pp. 62- 67). New York Butterworth-Heinemann; 2nd Ed.

• Boettcher, Judith (2006, March) The rise of student performance content, Campus Technology. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://campustechnology.com/articles/2006/02/the-rise-of-student-performance-content.aspx?sc_lang=en

• Chi, M. T. H. (2006). Two approaches to the study of experts' characteristics. In K. A. Ericsson, Charness, N., Feltovich, P. J., & Hoffman, R. R. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., Feltovich, P. J., & Hoffman, R. R. ed., pp. 21 - 30). Cambridge Cambridge University Press.

• Hayles, K. N. (2007 ). Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes. Profession, pp. 187-199. Retrieved 3/26/2012 from http://www.english.ufl.edu/da/hayles/hayles_hyper-deep.pdf

• Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University. (2009) Understanding and Reporting on Academic Rigor. Retrieved February 28 2012 from http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/pubs/Abstracts/FiezRigorous.pdf

• Middendorf, J., & Pace, D. (2004). Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2004(98), 1-12.

• Quality Matters Program (2012). MarylandOnline. Retrieved January 12, 2012 from http://www.qmprogram.org/about

• Sloan C Quality Scorecard. (2011) Sloan C Consortium, Retrieved Jan 16 2012 from http://sloanconsortium.org/quality_scorecard_online_program.

March 30 2012 52

Judith V BoettcherAuthor, Consultant, Speaker

Designing for Learning University of Florida

judith@designingforlearning.orgjboettcher@comcast.net

www.designingforlearning.info

The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips

March 30 2012 53

by Judith V. Boettcher

and Rita-Marie Conrad

INSPIRATIONS FOR TEN LEARNING PRINCIPLES

54

Zone of Proximal Development

Lev Vygotsky

Experiential personalized learning

John Dewey

Jerome Bruner Daniel Schacter

Memory

John Seely Brown

Cognitive apprenticeship

Constructivism and active learning

www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue3/Ten_Core_Principles_for_Designing_Effective_

Learning_Environments-__Insights_from_Brain_Research_and_Pedagogical_Theory.pdfMarch 30 2012

March 30 2012 55

WHERE DID THE BEST PRACTICES COME

FROM?

Community of Inquiry model Social, Teaching and Cognitive Presence

Garrison, Anderson, A

rcher, Swan, others

Community of learners Idea of a University

John Henry Newman

Research on dialogue and communication Discussion as a way of teaching

Brookfield and

Preskill

Instructional design and learning theory How People Learn reports

Bransford, Brown and

Cocking

Maryellen Weimer

Learner-centered Teaching…

www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html