From Teaching to Learning

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From Teaching to Learning

• Whats a Paradigm Shift?
• Do we really need one?
• Can we possibly avoid it?
• Has it already happened?
• Did anybody notice?

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Whats a Paradigm?

• A paradigm has two basic elements
• It provides us with rules for inquiry its the
  frame of reference we use in our own discipline
  to guide the kinds of questions we ask and
  determine what questions are inappropriate.
• It also provides us with a standard for reliable
  knowledge. We trust knowledge that has been
  produced under paradigmatic rules.
• Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific
  Revolutions

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For example.

• We dont trust medical knowledge that has been
  produced by meditation
• And we dont really trust spiritual insights that
  claim to have scientific foundations.
• BUT there are some scientists who claim that
  various aspects of physics can lead us to an
  understanding of God. If theyre right, we will
  have to change our ideas about God and
  spirituality- and shift our paradigms about a lot
  of things.

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Every field of study has its own paradigmatic
frame of reference and every profession or human
endeavor also has a paradigm that guides its work
and helps members decide what knowledge is
reliable.
5
Higher Education currently has two competing
paradigms,

• The Teaching Paradigm and..
• The Learning Paradigm

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In the Teaching Paradigm

• The purpose is to provide instruction
• The emphasis is on what the teacher does
• The model of learning is information transfer
• The guiding metaphor is the Storehouse, the mind
  receives information/knowledge from the teacher
  and stores it.

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TP emphasizes

• Accumulation of credits
• Uniform assignment of credit courses by hours of
  exposure in classroom
• Independent disciplines
• Summative assessment of learning
• Covering material
• Linear, generally decontextualized learning

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The Learning Paradigm

• The purpose is to create environments in which
  students can learn efficiently and effectively.
• The emphasis is on student activity,
  comprehension, reflection and application of
  knowledge and skill.
• The model of learning is constructivist,
  understanding how perspective shapes
  interpretation of data.
• Learning outcomes are held constant but
  environments, time on task and context may vary
  depending on student characteristics, aptitudes
  and experience.

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LP emphasis

• Cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skill in
  contexts where it is applied
• On-going, iterative assessment and feedback loops
  for purposes of helping students deepen their
  understanding
• Uncovering the possibilities for continuous
  learning, raising questions and looking for
  answers.
• Metaphor is riding a bicycle

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Contrasting Roles

• TP teachers lecture, demonstrate and assess
  students ability to replicate what the teacher
  has done or said.
• LP teachers design learning environments, provide
  direction and correction and engage students in
  discussion of their learning and their learning
  process.

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Use of power in the classroom

• TP teachers are experts, decide correct answers
  and approaches, make judgments based on their
  expert status.
• LP teachers are experts who guide the group by
  asking questions, design learning experiments and
  help students articulate what they have learned
  and what learning processes they have used.

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Each of us is capable of being either type of
teacher.The question before us is which type of
teaching is most effective in the 21st century
for the students we teach?
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And if we begin to shift our paradigm

• What will that do to our self-image as experts
  as teachers as people who can be in control in a
  classroom?
• Our status?
• Our own sense of role stability?
• As Alice said to the caterpillar ( or was it the
  caterpillar who said to Alice?) I knew who I was
  this morning but Ive been several others since
  then..

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And finally..

• Lets look at Derek Boks list of the desirable
  outcomes of undergraduate education, the learning
  that lasts, and discuss which model is most
  likely to help students learn these skills and
  attributes that cross disciplinary lines,
  integrate thinking, feeling and behavior and
  produce the kinds of graduates who become good
  family members, good workers and good citizens/