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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…
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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,…
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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…
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What are we teaching in schools?
Two very interesting comment pieces appeared in today’s Irish Times. The editorial commented on the draft report by the National Economic and Social Forum on the connection between school literacy levels and social exclusion and inside, a piece by Breda O’Brien (link above) on creativity and second level education. It is interesting to connect the two pieces.As a society we have a responsibility to prepare young people for the future – this is what we expect of our education system – but we cannot possibly know what the future has in store. As the educational philosopher John Dewey put it – the best we can do is to teach children…
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Leaving Cert English Fiasco – There Was Another Way!
Big Problem! In assessment terms, the majority of our state exams may be characterised by unseen (in advance) questions and time limited tests.The shock news of today is the fact that through some unfortunate human error the questions for Leaving Cert English paper 2 were inadvertently distributed to a small group of students intending to sit paper 1.“The integrity of the exam had been compromised by the regrettable incident” said the Minister for Education Batt O’Keefe.The State Exams Commission considered they had no option but to cancel today’s paper 2 exam and ordered that a new paper 2 should be taken by students this Saturday.This is no small inconvenience it…
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Plagiarism Reframed
Mention plagiarism to any third level academic and you are likely to be greeted with groans and laments.This is one topic that gets into people’s hearts – it leads to animated discussions and hard views. It is unwise to be regarded as soft on the issue. It is annoying, very annoying to be reading something presented as a student’s original work when it dawns on you – this is familiar – or – this is not the same style of writing as expected.Plagiarism is genuinely offensive to many academics – it offends one’s sense of academic integrity and is regarded as a dishonourable practice and a form of cheating.Many also…
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My Learning Identity
The term “identity” is widely used in many different contexts – we often speak or our national, cultural, linguistic or sporting identities. This multifaceted aspect of identity signifies that we should really think about our identities rather than a singular identity.There seems to be two ways in which we use identity in everyday life; firstly, we identify with a particular group or practice – in this we seek to belong or to be a part of something and secondly, we develop an internal notion of our own identity – this is self-identity – and it is often used to compare ourselves with others.It is not difficult to see how the…
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Can we measure learning?
Somewhere in recent conversations someone came up with the line “if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it”. I have heard this many times before and I’m not sure of its origin – if I was asked in a pub quiz I would suggest Jack Welsh of GE but I could be wrong.Anyhow, the axiom is part of everyday management speak and is often cited as a core principle used in change management and strategic planning.We’ve had a good example of this recently where financial systems and governments appear unable to ‘measure’ the extent of the bad bank loans (aka toxic debt) and, so the argument goes, we need…
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The Meaning of Work – Aronowitz on Schooling in a Time of Crisis
On Tuesday I had the good fortune to attend a seminar (in NUIM) by Stanley Aronowitz – he is Professor of Sociology at City University in New York and has written extensively on many topics to do with knowledge, education and economy. His ideas are radical and challenging and yet timely. He presented his analysis of this “first truly global crisis” based on his experience (in the US steel industry) and many years as an author and teacher. Aronowitz posed critical questions that challenged our conception of labour in developed economies. He pointed to the structural changes in industry evident since the seventies when high numbers of workers were employed…
