What are Pedagogies of Learning?
In a nutshell, pedagogies are the methods by which learners learn - and analysis of pedagogies involves the study of the learning process. Different students have different learning styles, so if you make a great learning experience, some students will benefit fully, while others may struggle to get as much out of the experience. Ideally, academic colleagues will be able to create tailored learning experiences, with a bit for every style of learner, thus meeting the needs of the whole class.
Experiential Learning
Experiential learning involve students working on projects in a simulated environment, such as a group working situation, where students have the opportunity to pick up skills that are transferable to the world of work, or in a virtual environment where students take part in a simulation or business game for example. By setting up challenging and stimulating activities for students to get involved with, academics can make progress getting students to learn at a deeper level. The depth of learning taking place may not be evident to the student until the activities are completed, when they reflect on what it is that they have done and learnt from it.
Problem Based Learning (PBL)
It is possible to set students problems to solve. These may be created by the academic, and the students then solve the problems with the academic as facilitator for student analysis and discovery. Alternatively, the students work in groups to define the problem itself - effectively defining their own learning objectives.
Students confronted by having to take charge of the whole learning process may at first complain that they expect to be 'taught' (at). After all, they have paid substantial sums to learn at university.
What problem based learning does is foster transferable skills by allowing students to explore what are the key questions in a subject area, then to define the problems that these questions throw up, and finally to arrive at solutions to those problems.
PBL can involve the academic in defining the questions, and then acting as a consultant, providing advice to students seeking reassurance that they understand the extent of the problems raised, or that they have a grasp on the solutions. If the academic allows students to define the questions too, then the learning done is fully independent.
Problems with PBL
Firstly, teaching using PBL methods involves smaller seminar class sizes to allow for proper facilitation of small student groups, and this raises the cost of teaching (which will not be popular in recessionary times).
Secondly, a PBL unit expects students to work a lot harder than other units where the learning outcomes and methods are prescribed and controlled by the academic. If a PBL unit is but one of that type, with other units being prescribed, evidence shows that students gravitate to completion of the prescribed units, at the expense of their performance on the PBL unit.
So while students may want learning to be student-centred, when offered student centred learning in the form of PBL, students may not like the prospect. As the saying goes:
'Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it!'
Problems with Student Freshers
This is especially true in year one of an undergraduate course, where students arrive from school. They may have endured intensive but prescribed study regimes for years, where the combination of school work, after-school gaming, and the social networking culture, have created distracted students, unable to reflect, and unable to take responsibility for driving their own learning as independent learners.
They have learnt to cope with work overload by studying at a superficial level in order to pass, not to extend themselves. They study 'snack', getting their information on what is important from short internet browsing sessions, where they may rely on spurious evidence derived from a range of websites.
If they apply this methodology to PBL units, the combination of a surface approach to study and a PBL 'syllabus' will not mix well!
If they apply this methodology to PBL units, the combination of a surface approach to study and a PBL 'syllabus' will not mix well!
Solving the Problems of PBL
It is possible to have some of the benefits of PBL, but without resorting to small seminar class sizes. Project-based learning involves students in solving problems in groups, but each project is initiated by a body of evidence provided via a VLE in the form of PDF documents, screencasts, videos, and formative quizzes. Students work on the project and must interact with their group to provide a solution.
Group working, often facilitated by a new type of learning space - comprising a private booth suitable for digital natives to use a PC, or LCD TV, and to search for evidence on the internet - develops practical skills students will need to be employable on placement and after graduation. Again the academic facilitates the learning, acting as a consultant for each group. Students collaborate in private discussion groups (allowing them to communicate from any web browser).
Lectures can be replaced by scripted screencasts, that act as briefings for students to preview prior to a new type of student-centred lecture. This may involve the use of case studies, videos, interactive discussions and student-led presentations.
Assessments can include video presentations of project results, the use of screencasting, possibly combined with an examination component. They may include quizzes at the end of videos on a topic.
The Taxonomy of Experiential Learning
If Type 1 is simple tutor-centred content sharing, where lectures are one way expositions by the 'sage on the stage', and depth of learning is low, then Type 6 is action learning suited to work-based learners, and Type 5 is problem-based learning.
We should seek to move towards student-centred learning that comes from a higher experiential element, such as may be drawn from interactions with simulations.
These may be located in Second Life, where the student interacts with the learning simulation via a Head Up Display (HUD). Simulations can be stepped through to aid reflection and understanding. They lead to more round trips around Laurillard's 'Conversational Framework', and richer deeper learning.
Further Information on PBL and Social Constructivism
A number of PBS eLearning Team papers are available for staff to download. These include:
Group working, often facilitated by a new type of learning space - comprising a private booth suitable for digital natives to use a PC, or LCD TV, and to search for evidence on the internet - develops practical skills students will need to be employable on placement and after graduation. Again the academic facilitates the learning, acting as a consultant for each group. Students collaborate in private discussion groups (allowing them to communicate from any web browser).
Lectures can be replaced by scripted screencasts, that act as briefings for students to preview prior to a new type of student-centred lecture. This may involve the use of case studies, videos, interactive discussions and student-led presentations.
Assessments can include video presentations of project results, the use of screencasting, possibly combined with an examination component. They may include quizzes at the end of videos on a topic.
The Taxonomy of Experiential Learning
If Type 1 is simple tutor-centred content sharing, where lectures are one way expositions by the 'sage on the stage', and depth of learning is low, then Type 6 is action learning suited to work-based learners, and Type 5 is problem-based learning.
We should seek to move towards student-centred learning that comes from a higher experiential element, such as may be drawn from interactions with simulations.
These may be located in Second Life, where the student interacts with the learning simulation via a Head Up Display (HUD). Simulations can be stepped through to aid reflection and understanding. They lead to more round trips around Laurillard's 'Conversational Framework', and richer deeper learning.
Further Information on PBL and Social Constructivism
A number of PBS eLearning Team papers are available for staff to download. These include:
- Engaging Learners
- Problem Based Learning and Social Constructivism
- From Teaching to Learning
- The Student Experience of Business Study
