Hear 2.0: Find Radio's Future in this Presentation

Hear 2.0: Find Radio's Future in this Presentation

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A Simple Guide To HTML - Cheat Sheet

A Simple Guide To HTML - Cheat Sheet

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As We May Think - The Atlantic (July 1945)

As We May Think - The Atlantic (July 1945)

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Key Discussion Point - #2

Thank you Susan, Laverne, Patrick, and Joshua to your comments on the first discussion point. But - I'm not liking the long string of comments and my inability to respond underneath yours, etc. So I start anew!

I'm working through a current 'education dilemma' and am diplomatically asking for what I need. I was talking to my daughter about the situation and she states, "It's distance learning, what did you expect - something like face-2-face?"

So ... does Vella's principles work in a distance learning setting? Can you really do an adequate needs assessment? Create safety? and accountability?

I'm really curious about this - because no matter your very best intentions, it really doesn't matter if your learners aren't checked in and engaged with the process. And if they're not tuned-in and engaged - then what? You are on-line and without the body language, tone, etc. - how do you know they are checked out?

Boy did I call that right!

I've got some downtime so I'm cruising the EDAE 692 blogs and if you've noticed on the left side I have links to almost all (?) the class' blogs. Some I renamed so I'd easily know who was who.

Anyway - Laverne has this ongoing 'ethical issues' case study (very popular.) On my link for her blog I labeled the link, "Laverne's Ethical Issues". Ya, I know why is that so special? It's the little things in life - like Patrick drumming up business for his blog. Patrick do you have a new survey? I've already voted on the Castaway survey.

It's really creative how Laverne has roped many of us in on her case study (why didn't I think of that!) It's like I knew she was so cleaver as an unfolding case study - thus why her blog link is Laverne's Ethical Issues!!! Stay tune - or better yet, hit her link!

Vella links

Being the somewhat obsessive compulsive individual I am - I have a tendency to do a lot of research on stuff. I'm usually not satisfied to just read an 'educational' textbook - I want more.

This happened with Jane Vella - I wanted more. I've posted some what I found to be interesting links to resources with Vella's 'dialogue education' in practice:

* WIC - Nutrition illustrates a clever 'recipe card' application
* Life Trek - uses a life coaching approach
* Habitat for Humanity/Latin America and Caribbean. Public Awareness Department. (September 2007) - Outlines the design steps
* Global Learning Partners - Vella's own company and a table illustrating 'How Dialogue Education is Different' between traditional training, dialogue education, and informal approaches.

New Day - New Attitude

Amazing what a good night's sleep can do for the ol' troubleshooting skills. I woke up realizing I needed to take all the formatting out of the book analysis post and start over. I'd copied the analysis from a Word document into a Google doc. I attempted to do like Amy had posted in class about uploading the file; but that wasn't happening either (the world kept spinning.)

So first thing this AM I tried something different and republished. The post now appears to have fewer additional lines (??) - but they are still there; definitely not there in the Google doc. I'm to afraid to even look at the 'edit Html'. I'm having my coffee first! Whoa - just hit something on my left-side of the keyboard and a 'developer tools' screen came up in a new window. This learning curve just continues.

Key Discussion Point

Supposing and Proposing

Vella's last chapter of her book has a question which ties this journey together and one I'd like to pose to you:

Suppose you hadn't heard about or read Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach (and many of you haven't) and you need to plan a course for adult learners. What do you do?

I'm so tired of trying :-(

Much apologies on posting my 'book analysis' - the edit Html feature is scaring the you know what out of me! There is so much code and I can't seem to be able to delete the correct line to delete the extra lines??!! What I see in Google docs is not what publishes in blogger :-(

Abstract

As described in the course syllabus, this paper is a personal analysis of Jane Vella’s, 2002 book – Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach. Vella has much to say and share about the implications of incorporating her principles and practices of ‘dialogue education.’ As one who ascribes to a Dewey influenced, constructivist approach to education, Vella’s principles make logical sense to me. It’s an affirming and validating feeling to know I’m not alone in my views towards facilitating learning for adults (and self.) Vella presents her own real life examples to illustrate her principles and practices. They are just that – her own, I need to explore applying the principles and practices to my ‘world.’ This paper is a revisiting of many long-held beliefs I have engaged while wearing the ‘hat’ of teacher, trainer, manager, boss, etc. – (and mother, too.) Vella has provided me a reawakening and mindfulness of just how dynamic ‘dialogue education’ can be and adds another tool to my ever growing toolbox of learning strategies that fit and strengthen my educational philosophy.

 

Vella book analysis

Introduction

The purpose of this analysis is not to discuss Vella’s vast 30-plus years’ experience with ‘dialogue-education’; but to look closely at what she proposes as the framework to her acclaimed twelve principles. Vella’s life work as a community education and staff development educator is a good read in Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach (2002). You are certainly transported to the settings she uses as case studies to illustrate and explain her work; but it can certainly be difficult for some to identify and apply the principles and action to their own work as an educator. I’m seeking a ‘take-away’ from this book; I am the learner seeking to learn.
The true test is putting learning into practice. It is one thing to passively read and at times cognitively reflect; but it is the embodiment of Vella’s ideas into practice. Vella is very deliberate and structured in her delivery; which is somewhat a misnomer because the structure ultimately leads to flexibility within the learning event.

Twelve Principles

Vella presents twelve considerations when designing a learning event – they are known to be called ‘principles of dialogue education.’ For my own analysis, I will review and discuss those I needed a bit more understanding.

Needs Assessment: Vella states, “Doing an adequate needs assessment is both standard practice and a basic principle of adult learning …” (p. 5). The nugget I take away from this discussion is the WWW question: “Who needs what as defined by whom?” (Vella, p. 5).

Safety: Is much more than creating a physically safe environment, Vella on pages 10-11 offers five considerations to create a feeling of safety for the learners:

1. Trust in the competence of the design


2. Trust in the feasibility and relevance of the objectives


3. Allowing small groups to find their voices enhances the power of safety


4. Trust in the sequence of activities


5. Realization that the environment is nonjudgmental

Sound Relationships: Personally, this principal was initially very abstract; although establishing a connection between the educator and learner for enhanced learning is within my realm of understanding. I do like the way Vella succinctly describes on page 85, “…for learning involve respect, safety, open communication, listening, and humility.” Tall order – big dividend.

Sequencing and Reinforcement: Arrange the content from simple to complex and allow for reinforcement of the learning. Vella states, “The more competent the teaching (with sequence and reinforcement), the more capable [fill in the identifier]…” (pg. 232).

Praxis: Learning by doing and reflection. I’d never heard this word until Fall Semester 2008; now it’s emblazoned on my brain. Vella describes praxis as “a collage of efforts: psychomotor, cognitive, and affective” (p. 232). As Vella discusses on pg. 233, praxis is vital in the design of learning tasks, it’s a combination of inductive and deductive learning, and it’s when learners begin asking questions and thinking critically not just about the content but also about the process.

Respect for Learners: Recognize learners as subjects of their own learning. Vella makes two points that I take away from this discussion especially in my work with disadvantaged/low income populations:

1) “Healthy adults desire to be respected as subjects and resist being treated as objects” (pg. 129).

2) “showing … our respect for them as subjects or decision makers of their learning.” (pg. 233).

Ideas, Feelings, and Action: Incorporate the three domains of cognitive (ideas), affective (feelings) and psychomotor (actions) in the learning event.

Immediacy: Design the learning tasks to have immediate usefulness to the learner. In a perfect world this would be the ideal. But as an example of myself as the ‘learner’, I am not in a ‘situation’ to immediately apply my learning; but I am gathering tools and strategies.

Clear Roles: It could be Vella’s word choice – she uses varying descriptors in different sections of the book. I need a few additional ‘cues’. Vella does offer very good examples with this principle in practice, one being of Freire and what I describe as the ‘banking’ concept. Vella also states, “…stresses that the roles must be clear and ambiguity must be avoided” (pg. 237).

Teamwork: Involve all the learners by using small groups. Vella states on page 238, “when you invite learners to find their own voice and not listen to only yours, you invite a quantum leap in learning.”

Engagement: Involve the learner in the educational process. Vella states on page 238, “Without engagement there is no learning.” This is the linchpin for me, “In dialogue education we design programs based on a competent learning needs and resources assessment that is engaging.” (Vella, p. 238.) Points directly back to principal #1.

Accountability: A mutual principle – teachers teach what they say they will and learners do the work of learning. If #11 is the linchpin, #12 is the show stopper and Vella provides two excellent quotes to sum up: “Accountability is a synthesis principle—it is the result of using all the other principles (p. 25) and “Dialogue education is as accountable as the design of it.” (Vella, p. 239).

Conclusion

After this process of reading, reflecting, and determining my ‘take-away’ of these twelve seemingly logical principles – I’ve gained some additional strategies to my ‘educational’ toolbox. Though at this time I am not actively able to engage in the application of these twelve principles, this paper has provided me just one more piece to that on-going journey of reeducating Linda. I can envision a time in the near future when Vella’s framework of dialogue education will serve my career endeavors well.

References

Vella, J. (2002). Learning to Teach, Learning to Listen. Revised Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Google Docs - to Blog

This is the link for the HOW TO on publishing a Google Doc to your Blog ...

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=37571 

Google Docs supports posting documents to most of the popular blog sites, as well as to any blog that supports the Blogger, metaWeblog or MovableType APIs.

To specify your blog settings, and instruct Google Docs to publish to the blog of your choice, follow these instructions:

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After these settings are in place, you can post any document to this blog. To do so, follow these instructions:

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Please note, at this time, it's not possible to publish PDFs.

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Vella book summary

Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach is Jane Vella's vehicle to demonstrate through application her belief that adults learn best when engaged in dialogue. She is not the first to pioneer this approach; but her book does clearly explain her thoughts and methods of applying twelve principles and practices of dialogue-based learning.  Vella’s book does not read like a textbook. Her personal multicultural work from all over the world serves as the backdrop to demonstrate the application of her twelve principles through a myriad of situations and settings. The reader is not only taken on a journey of near and faraway places; but also called to engage and analyze the principles along the way.

Vella is also a strong believer that strong design through her ‘seven steps of planning’ (Who, Why, When, Where, What, What For, and How) will enable the ‘teacher’ to determine:

• the needs and experience of the participants
  
• the learning objectives
  
• the topics and activities to meet the objectives
  
• the materials needed for a successful learning experience

This book demonstrates the power and value of dialogue over monologue and active over passive learning when it comes to educating adults. Vella is able to craft a strong case that supports a framework of strong design, coupled with principles for dialogue-based learning equals extraordinary outcomes for all.

What is Brief Book Summary?

I love it - why in the world can I not write a 'brief book summary'? Because nothing I ever do is brief! I liked the book - I want everyone to know everything about the book so they will like it too (or not, I can accept that too.)

I love that Leann has left this assignment open and not put confines around the requirements (well except to just get it done.) Jane Vella would be proud - I'm demonstrating the 'praxis' principle - learning by doing and reflection. What I'm now doing is also a principle in the book - ideas (cognitive, thinking), emotions (what I'm feeling) and actions (my typing.) Vella also believes in affirmation - so I affirm I will select one of my five or six varying length summaries and post tonight.

Zero-scaping

I know the 'blog' is for thoughts, reflections, summary, etc. on our BOOK choice - but hey, I'm different and this is still about 'class' discussion. I might actually become a 'blog native' before this class is over.

The below posts caught my attention because I love landscaping. I'm not a master landscaper, heck I can't even identify half the plantings in my yard; I just like them and that's good enough for me. I'm truly at peace when I'm out-of-doors, far from the city noise. As a city dweller, who at present is not venturing far, I make my own outdoor oasis.



Here's a cut/paste of the exchange - almost a comedy sketch:

Subject: Re:Greetings from Salida, Colorado
Topic: Week 1: Introductions
Date: June 21, 2009 2:47 PM
Wow! I need some xeriscape help - I need a flowering bush that doesn't need much water and that will grow up big enough to block the view to my neighbor's back yard - any suggestions? Lorrie
___________
Hi Lorrie, Depending on where you live, you might try a Butterfly Bush as they flower in different colors and attract butterflies and hummmers. Start out with larger, vibrantly healthy ones from a reputable nursery. I don't have great luck with Wal-Mart but have had success with a well attended Home Depot nursery. They grow "relatively" quickly and attain some good height. You could even make a privacy panel by planting 3-5 in a row and let their branches intermingle as they grow. Butterfly bushes have good spread and bushiness when mature and flowering. Only problem with any flowering bush used for privacy is that they're usually deciduous so
winter privacy is limited.Happy planting! : )Susan
___________
Lorrie: I do have one butterfly bush now but I didn't realize it could be okay with limited water. It sure has been happier with water!
___________
Susan: Many plants are happier with water but we do tend to overwater most yard elements, especially trees, and plants then have a hard time adjusting to reduced water schedules. Butterfly bushes are used often in water wise gardening. I've attached a pic from my Santa Fe strolling garden (translate: limited water) of a bb next to a croked birch. Soaker hoses and drip systems, organic soil amendments, right plant-right place, and mulching are all part of water wise gardening as well. As we always tell our learners right up front, xeriscape does not mean no watering! Best of luck. Search the CSU Extension website for more!
__________
Patrick: We did xeri in the back yard and you're right--it's not just a matter of plant and forget it (which was what I had been hoping for). We've been using the "survival of the fittest" method of selecting plants. We put in a bunch of plants each spring--if they survive they get to stay.

Susan: I know that method and subscribe too. No time for fussy botanicals anymore. : )

Patrick: Some plants are used to being coddled and have no coping skills.I have no use for them.

Tim: I take that one step further. I let the weeds grow. If they produce some semblance of color on the top, they have just become flowers.

Patrick: That still takes some of your attention that could be spent on other things,like twittering Larry King. My wife vetoed my "dream yard" idea. Imagine a big concrete slab over the entire back yard. I call it ZEROscaping. Maintanance free, and you can roller blade on it.

Tim: LOL!! Zeroscaping. That's clever. I'm all for it. Slowly getting there myself.

-------------
With only 168 hrs./week (shout out to Stacy), I've learned the art of when to be a master procrastinator and when to 'getter done.' Besides all work and no play makes Linda a very dull girl. But I literally had to look up 'zeroscaping' and by God, it is a term that is used - I've already bookmarked the two links below.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-zeroscaping.htm

http://www.learn2grow.com/problemsolvers/water/conservingwater/xeriscapingnotzero.aspx

Thanks to Lorri, Susan, Patrick, and Tim for the diversion - it was much needed.

Chapter 1 and Principle #1

I really need to check out Vella's 1995 book - she named 50 principles and practices that work to make dialogue education effective. Can you image attempting to remember 50??!! I'm just working on the 12 in this book!

First, Vella's basic assumption "is that adult learning is best achieved in dialogue. Dia means 'between,' logos means 'words.' Hence, dia + logue = 'the word between us.' (p. 3.). Vella further quotes from Knowles that "adults have enough life experiences to be in dialogue with any teacher about any subject and will learn new knowledge, attitudes, or skills best in relation to that life experience" (p. 3.)

Sticking with the 12 principles in this book - Vella states all are interconnected and intrinsically related to one another and you cannot exclude any of them. The first chapter briefly discusses each principle.

Principle 1: Needs Assessment. This is the WWW question: Who needs what as defined by whom? That short questions speaks volumes -- who (as needers), what (as needs), whom (as definers.) As Vella states "reveals the political issues involved in preparing a course for adult learners" (p. 5.) Vella also makes another statement that I like, "Remember that needs assessment does not form the course; it informs it" (p. 7.)

Applying quantum theory to a needs assessment may open a plethora of alternatives to capture this information. Vella is not short on offering ideas that have been used. One that caught my attention was contact with participants prior to the learning event. Now some of the naysayers might be saying, 'how the heck can you call every student?' - but I follow the path 'if there's a will; there's a way'. I just have to spend more time figuring out the way!

Learning Curve Continues

I'm so impressed with myself, I had to share :-). The last post included a 'blockquote'; but the end of the post wasn't suppose to have the 'block' and I couldn't figure out how to change it. Luckily for me I'm from the era of DOS prompt, Word Perfect and 'reveal codes'. I was able to edit the code in 'edit html' and problem solved in under 5 minutes.

Newtonian and Quantum Paradigms

Earlier in my 'research' I posted on June 6 that I was more mature and could decipher metaphors - well I was wrong. I truly represent Dewey and Constructivist Theory - I've got to build the foundation before I can critically reflect on the BOOK.

Since I never took Physics or even had a passing interest (that I know of); I had to go a searching (thank goodness for the Internet!)

This will be somewhat brief, but it provides me (and maybe you) with the background I need to explain what Vella is talking about when she compares dialogue education with quantum thinking - I'm actually taking this information from an article I found on-line, An Additional Way of Thinking About Organizational Life and Leadership: The Quantum Perspective.

This is where I wanted to insert a table; but couldn't figure it out - so I'll include the link below if you would like more information:

http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/articles/fris.html

My business and HR background seems to always draw me back to organizational thinking, I'm not one to look to the science world for explanation. The article quotes Zohar (Vella does too),

According to Zohar (1997, p.9) the two sets of general beliefs that are now driving theories and research contrast in the following fundamental ways:

[Dang, this is when I wish I had two monitors - or at least a really big monitor so I could easily read a split screen!]

Newtonian belief:
Absolute truth
Absolute perspective
Uniformity
Certainty
Simplicity

Quantum/complexity belief
Multiple possibilities
Contextualism
Pluralism, diversity
Uncertainty, ambiguity
Complexity

So visualize the two groups above in a table - I needed to know where Vella was starting from to fully understand where she was going - it's the context. Similar to what I had to do when writing the Dewey paper - I had to understand from what context Dewey was viewing. Now I can read and view the book from Vella's context.

Now the above is not an either/or - they are complementary - it's dependent on the situation.

Good Day for Blogging

To all those that wear the hat and have the role.

For me it's a good day for blogging - uncooperative weather for gardening, dust up of pollen, allergy-sinus - yep, a good day for blogging :-)

The Book - for real! Well sort of.

Now that you know I'm taking a circular approach to Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach, I'll update you on what I've been reading. It seems Vella has come up with a method for success in educating adult learners. This book contains 12 principles for effective adult learning. Remember in an earlier post I mentioned Vella had been introduced to quantum thinking and now she incorporates the two.

The book has three distinct parts - from the publisher's web site the book outline:

Part One: A Process That Works and Why.
1. Twelve Principles for Effective Adult Learning.
2. Quantum Thinking and Dialogue Education.
3. How the Principles Inform Course Design: Two Examples.

Part Two: The Principles in Practice: Across Cultures and Around the World.
4. Learning Needs and Resources Assessment: Taking the First Step in Dialogue.
5. Safety: Creating a Safe Environment for Learning.
6. Sound Relationships: Using the Power of Friendship.
7. Sequence and Reinforcement: Supporting Their Learning.
8. Praxis: Turning Practice into Action and Reflection.
9. Learners as Decision Makers: Harnessing the Power of Self Through Respect.
10. Learning with Ideas, Feelings, and Actions: Using the Whole Person.
11. Immediacy: Teaching What Is Really Useful to Learners.
12. Assuming New Roles for Dialogue: Embracing the Death of the Professor.
13. Teamwork: Celebrating Learning Together.
14. Engagement: Learning Actively.
15. Accountability: Knowing How They Know They Know.

Part Three: Becoming an Effective Teacher of Adults
16. Reviewing the Twelve Principles and Quantum Thinking.
17. How Do You Know You Know? Supposing and Proposing.

< http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787959677,descCd-tableOfContents.html>

I'll admit I've read the Amazon reviews and other reviews of this book and though I can appreciate Vella's beliefs - I too got a bit tired of her 'rah rah', 'everything works out' writing style. I'll keep to the 12 principles (or may be not!)