Formal vs. Informal Learning

For the past two years I’ve been completing my Bachelor’s of Education in Adult Education through Brock University. Completing this degree was something I had set as a goal for myself and it was part of some unfinished educational business for me. When I graduated from University in the 90’s, my goal was to go to teacher’s college. I unsuccessfully applied and ended up getting a job at Fleming College on a temporary contract. Fast forward many years later… and I decided it was time to pursue that education goal again, but since that temporary contract turned into permanent work in a post-secondary institution, my education focus would be on adults.

That late summer when I decided to go back to school was a time in my worklife where I was feeling very stuck. I wasn’t moving forward, I wasn’t feeling connected and I definately wasn’t feeling relevant. I had just returned from vacation and it was a quiet time at the college so I decided that I was going to dive into the twitter account that I had created months earlier. I had been hearing and reading that twitter could be used for professional learning and I decided that I needed to really give it a chance and see if I could figure out how to make it work for me.

I don’t really remember who I followed first and how things led to what as I was building but early on I had started to follow Alec Corous (@courosa). That August he sent out a tweet inviting learners to register as non-credit students in his EC&I 831 Open Education and Social Media course. I checked out the site, watched the trailer and immediately registered. That fall I was registered in my first online course through Brock, I was a non-credit student in Alec’s course and I was jumping into twitter with both feet. It was seredipitous chaos…

My online Brock course felt very comfortable and familiar although a bit overwhelming at first but it was a structured routine of reading, responding and completing assessments. The EC&I 831 course was a form of online course which was different from anything I had experienced before. The class met syncronously every Tuesday evening using web -conferencing and guest speakers (experts) joined us every week. The format for the course felt like a very focused twitter stream. I was exposed to experts, topics, tools and skills that was truly unbelievably inspiring. I was also building my twitter network and trying to find my voice in a completely new and rapid paced forum.

The three different environments were very different: formal, kinda formal and informal and they were exactly what my tired old brain needed. To say I was completely overwhelmed was a understatement but it was also weirdly energizing. I had been needing to get out of my comfort zone for a long time and I’m not sure why it all came together so quickly and so relevantly (if that’s even a word). All of a sudden I was feeling connected, inspired, inquisitive and relevant. The information that was being shared and the people sharing and helping was incredibly powerful.

Now I won’t take the rest of this blog space to document the last two years but what inspired me to write this all down was because I’ve come to the end of my original goal. I’ve just finished my last assignment for my last course for my education degree. Once the final mark is posted, I’m done. Goal accomplished.

Or is it…

What I’m starting to understand is that formal learning has its place and its space. But, its the informal learning that I experience every day in the space and place that I’ve created that has powerful implications. It has allowed me to contribute, share, learn and collaborate in ways that I didn’t know were possible 2.5 years ago.

Two years ago I knew about having a digital presence and I didn’t have much of one other than what was posted about me from conferences and race results (running). Because of many different projects and collaborations I have a online presence that is evolving and growing…

As I end this chapter of my formal education, I am celebrating the fact that it was the decision to ‘go back to school’ that opened my eyes and my mind to a personalized way of learning that keeps me wondering, stretching, connecting and sharing. I feel closer to my home community, my learning community and many other communities that weren’t available to me until I got myself unstuck and started moving forward…

While I write this for purely selfish reasons, I can’t help but think of the many people I’ve learned with over the past few years … often in very surprising ways… I do want to say thanks but I’m also wondering what’s next??

Anyone got any suggestions??

27 November 2011 ·

#ECOO11 - Great connections, conversations and learning

ECOO11 was a first for me for many reasons. It was my first time attending. It was my first time meeting people face to face that I had communicated with on twitter. AND, it was my first time a conference was so closely connected to my current professional PD that the conversations, and learnings are continuing and building as we continue to connect.

I had hoped to share my conference notes via my livescribe.com notes that I took with audio but I’m having a bit of trouble with ‘ghost’ text from previous pages showing up on my ECOO notes pages that make the pages hard to read… I’ll try and see if I can fix the problem and may repost this with them at a later date.

The conference a-ha’s started the day before when @shannoninottawa (Shannon Smith) shared her flipped workshop format with us via twitter. With the pre-conference chatter and this open sharing the conference had begun.

Conference Tag-line: Play to learn and learn to play… and play we did… and it began in the Keynote.

Sheryl (Sheryl Nussbaum Beach) and Will (Will Richardson) changed things up in their keynote and engaged and challenged us in active learning right away and we were off and running. http://plpwiki.com/ECOO+2011

The tag line game got us thinking differently right away and was touched on throughout the conference and in the time since, especially with the #plpnetwork learning and sharing.

Thursday Sessions:

1. Facebook in the Classroom with Mark Carbone@markwcarbone

What mattered for me in this session is that leadership is important. Waterloo District School Board was able to move ahead and use Facebook as a classroom tool for those teachers that wanted to use it. The leadership (Mark Carbone) didn’t created a separate appropriate use policy to support Facebook in the classroom (or beyond the classroom) He used existing policy to support and drive its effective use. Appropriate supports and encouragement were put in place and communication with parents and community was open and consistent. Hearing the teacher’s voice and their stories of its use and success was very inspiring. Good conversation in the session.

2. Collaboration: Practice it, learn it, teach it with @hadleyjf

What mattered for me in this session was that it didn’t matter that Hadley wasn’t in the room with us for her presentation but that she brought us to her classroom (in Philadelphia) and led us through collaborative practices in a collaborative and engaging way. Really enjoyed the session and what we produced and shared in our individual groups.

3. Pecha Kucha with Jamie Weir (@msjweir) and friends (@markwcarbone, @shadiyazan, Cal Armstrong @sig225,and @jaccalder)

What mattered for me was the format of this session and the excellent information shared by each of the pecha kucha presenters. This format is fast, informative and fun. Love the use of personal images and cartoons to complement each speakers topic and presentation.

4. Our Digital Footprints with Zoe Branigan-Pipe (@zbpipe) and Royan Lee (@royanlee)

What mattered for me was the discussion that took place in the session and continued beyond the session and into the social event. Google yourself and see how you are represented - do you like what you see?? How do you feel as an educator about creating and maintaining a digital presence? How do you feel as a parent about your own children’s digital presence?

Educators Digital Footprint Google Doc

Friday Sessions:

1. Bringing Them Along: Involving Students in your Travel and Research w/ Michael McVey (@mmcvey)

http://japannearby.blogspot.com/

What mattered for me was how you could create artifacts from your travels and bring them back to your students to learn from and create with. You can share your travel experiences with your students so that they better understand culture and geography and they can use the artifact to create their own meaning.

2. Future Forums Project: Building the Classroom of the Future…

Scott Kemp, Anne Doelman, Emily Schmuck, Ken Quarrie, Christy Wood (and @snbeach look-a-like), Rob Woldeck, Barb Ayre and Dave Lambert

Great collaborative presentation by a group of 7 grade 10 educators from Waterloo District School Board (what is it about Waterloo District :) and their cross-curricular teaching project that is now in year 2 and will be branching out to incude 7 more classes in the near future.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/70117093/FFP-Presentation-ECOO

What mattered for me is the information they shared and their unique personal experiences and perspectives that they brought to the project.

The discussion was lead with the following guides/topics: (from my notes)

• Collaboration
• Technology
• Inquiry based learning
• Cross-Curricular Integration
• Assessments

The comment that stuck with me from this was from @englishschmuck “I am a different teacher because of this.”

3. Survival with your staff: Adventures in Technology Teachers Training with Alanna King @banana29

Google Survey results from the session.

What mattered most for me was the questions that we were tasked with and that we need to be mindful of when we plan or conduct Technology ‘training’ with our educators.

Q1. How to start supports for your staff?

Q2. How do you support differentiated learning for your staff and the tools that they use?

Q3. How do you sustain the (their) enthusiasm?

4. ECOO Web 2.0 Face-off

https://sites.google.com/site/ecoofaceoff2011/power-play

What mattered most for me was what a full-body experience this was, just like a real hockey game. The resources shared and how they were tied to learning was AWESOME. Loved that there was a tweet stream (twitterfall.com), an announcer/master of ceremonies (Anita Brooks-Kirkfield), expert analysts (Brenda Sherry and Peter Skillen), twitter play by play commentator (Andy Forgrave) and that it was broadcast live on the radio #ds106radio.

Team 1 (Red): Doug Peterson, Colleen Rampelt and Rick Budding

Team 2 (Blue): Zoe Branigan-Pipe, Diana Maliszewski, and Roger Nevin

Audience participation was key, in fact, the 3rd period of play was handed over to the audience and here is the wallwisher of what was shared.

Both teams were excellent and the collegiality between them could serve as a good model for Brendan Shanahan and the NHL :)

Special thanks go to the ECOO11 organizers @brendasherry and @peterskillen and the awesome ECOO11 organizing committee and to @willrich45 and @snbeach for setting the tone for our learning in their opening keynote which challenged to focus on what changes we were willing to make and explicitly state in our tag lines… mine is “Don’t get stuck”… physically, mentally, institutionally, or personally!

29 October 2011 ·

Working on my ‘plan’ …

Up early this morning to work on my first assignment for my course which is outlining my ‘plan’ for my personal inquiry narrative. My final product for this project will include text, video and images so while I was working on my ‘plan’ I ended up creating two wordles using words I use to describe how I learn and words that I value as an educator…

Alana as Learner

Alana as Educator

While I tend to shy away from using labels or descriptors I am comfortable with the label of learner…

What words do you use to describe yourself as a learner? as an educator?

27 September 2011 ·

Unplug’d 11: 25 Kilometres later

It’s been six weeks since the unplug’d11 community said goodbye and we all headed back to our regular lives. But we were not the same people returning to our normal routine. Many of us had formed friendships with people we had never met before based on common passions, and we had experienced an openness with each other that we believed was rare in a classical PD venue.

For Heather Durnin and me, it started on a train headed to an off-the grid retreat known as The Edge outside of South River. During a short “exchange seats” format, we were randomly seated with Kelly Power and John Evans. We were suppose to be talking about….hmmmm….Tom (@tomfullerton), what was that topic you assigned? Instead, we found our shared passion for running. We were talking about how people connect with educators online, and John discussed how he chooses people to follow on twitter by checking their profile to see what resonates with him. He used running as an example. The conversation that ensued sparked something in all of us which paved the pathway for our friendships. For some of us, it was the encouragement needed to get back into long distance running. It was the conversation where connections were beginning.

During the next 2 mornings Heather and I continued our sharing during our morning runs. The off-the-grid natural setting reminded me of a upcoming opportunity to run a 25 km trail run hosted by a similar retreat in Mattawa a mere six weeks away. At the time we were nowhere near being physically ready, but the conversations and coaching that followed from Chris Harbeck and John proved to be the spark we needed. A genuine connection.

Over the next 6 weeks, we trained hard, planned and were motivated by our unplug’d team members. Chris, Andy, John and Kelly continued to post words of encouragement as each of us independently worked towards the deadline. On September 24, we completed our goal.

So now we’re in the car driving home writing this blog post on an iPad. Sore, tired and proud, we’re both wearing big grins and reflecting on why this was such an emotional and empowering run for us. For starters, when we met up on Friday, we instantly picked up right where our f2f friendship left off. On Saturday, as we struggled up that grueling, slimy, muddy wall of a hill at kilometre 18, we both felt Chris, Andy, John and Kelly pushing us on. Heather could hear John’s voice in his last tweet. “Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy. Trail running is THE BEST!! It will fly by. Take some pics to share!”

When we finished the race, we knew with certainty that we wouldn’t have had the confidence to take on such a challenge without the unplug’d experience. We wanted to stay connected and saw this as a way to do so with a purpose that mattered.

There were similarities between this experience and unplug’d. As we prepared for unplug’d, we began our connection by sharing our uncertainties with each other. Was our topic worthy? Were we? The preparation for the race was similar. But because of the relationship that developed over those three days at The Edge, we already had the commitment - that was solidified at unplug’d. We knew we were going to get there, and our unplug’d cheering squad knew it too as they regularly checked in with us.

When we left The Edge, many of us were adamant that we didn’t want to lose these new connections, the sharing, the collaboration. For some of us the link is running, ds106radio and math. Yes, math! Our next project involves a classroom collaborative math project with Chris and Andy’s students using all our running data.

And so we wonder, how do others maintain the unplug’d connection when we all live so far apart?

25 September 2011 ·

WARNING: Changes can make you feel uncomfortable and learning can be messy…

During the summer I had taken part in a course redesign project with our Introductory Computing team (Introductory Computing is a mandatory first year course for all of our students) . A small team were charged with redesigning the course to work with the new 1 + 2 weekly structure. One hour would be spent in a lab with an instructor and two hours would be spent engaged in self-directed learning activities. The course would also make use of an online testing or placement tool (Accuplacer) that would allow the students and faculty to get an idea of experience and knowledge that the students were coming into the course with as well as giving the students an opportunity to gain an exemption from the course.

Part of the redesign allowed us to talk about how the two hours of self-directed learning could be structured and what supports and information would need to be in place in order to support the students learning. Decisions were made to create a course wiki with tutorials, exercises, and resources to be made available to the large teaching team and to the students. Teachers and students would be encouraged to add to the wiki and this site would be accessible to them after they were successful in the course and for those faculty and students that wouldn’t normally have access to the course resources and materials.

http://compassist.pbworks.com/

Now this is all background to the meeting that took place yesterday (Friday)…

Most of the teaching team had been off for the summer and they left knowing that a small group were working on changes that would be implemented over the fall. Yesterday was the day that the entire teaching team was brought together to meet and discuss the changes for the fall and begin to discuss how to best implement these changes…

For the most part the meeting was going along fairly well, great support for the design of the wiki and the intention behind it. The placement testing was well received as it would teachers an idea of the level of experience that each student brings with them. The big discussion took place once the delivery of the curriculum was discussed. The teachers were really struggling with having even less time with the students then they had previously. They were certain that the students wouldn’t use their two hours of self-directed learning and that they would end up trying to cram more into their one hour with them further alienating the struggling students. And who could blame them for being worried about this, I would have been as well!

I recorded some really key quotes in my notes:

“We don’t have time to experiment on the student”

This quote came early in the curriculum discussion and it was a good discussion opener to get people opening up and sharing their concerns with what they were being presented with and were be asked to own and implement for September.

We had a great discussion on how many of them were already experts in the teaching techniques that we were discussing, they were just naturally doing it. The big difference (besides the contact hours) in this new course design was the premise that by providing structure and accountability for the self-directed learning components of the course they would be allowing the students to come to their face to face sessions more prepared and just needing to fill in their own learning gaps or ask next step kind of questions or to work on the planned exercise or project.

There was fear that they would no longer be teachers… and this wasn’t a fear that I expected to hear… I’m not sure why… but it truly took me by surprise.

The discussion continued and then another quote came from the floor:

“We need to change the way we teach these learners in order for them to successful in the real world and help them develop independent learning skills”

More discussion resulted based on this and we were able to talk about what that means and what that could look like… for me at the meeting this was the game changer in the discussion…

It allowed us to talk more concretely about what the self-directed learning hours could look like. How content could be ‘delivered’ and how to assess that the outcomes of the learning were being met.

There is still much to resolve and discuss but the discussion continued after the meeting yesterday through email and hallway conversations and will continue on as we work our way through the semester…

Change certainly can be uncomfortable but staying the same wasn’t an option in this case. We had heard from the students that this course needed to be changed and we’ve known for a long time that this type of course (A mandatory introductory course) had to be designed in a way that allowed for flexible delivery and the opportunity for students to demonstrate the knowledge they had already gained through other course work or experience and be given credit for it…

Looking forward to our continued learning and sharing as we move … well … forward.

27 August 2011 ·