EdX course – deep learning through transformative pedagogy

transcript – how has schooling changed over time

4:13 / 4:13

1. In western culture, approaches to teaching and learning have shifted over time.
2. While it’s not a tidy timeline, in very broad terms, compulsory and universal public
3. education was largely a product of the industrial age.
4. Prior to that, education was largely reserved for the privileged – nobility, wealthy landowners
5. and clergy, for instance.
6. But new technology – the printing press, trains, electricity and so on – meant that more people
7. had access to knowledge and also that people needed new kinds of knowledge and skills.
8. So new approaches to education developed in response.
9. What we often refer to as ‘traditional’ mass schooling was designed to prepare people
10. to take their places in this new society.
11. This approach to education aimed to produce compliant and punctual workers.
12. The teacher was the ‘sage on the stage’ – the holder of knowledge and the ultimate
13. authority figure.
14. Students were viewed as empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge – certain knowledge,
15. of course, not of their own choosing.
16. The physical environment was one of hierarchy and control – desks in rows, children facing
17. their teacher who controlled subject matter, talk, and activities from the front of the
18. room.
19. The focus was on rote learning and correctly recalling information.
20. Across time, this has shifted – mercifully!
21. That’s not to say that teacher-directed learning episodes don’t have their place;
22. indeed they do.
23. Nor is it to say that the ‘chalk and talk’ model is extinct or always undesirable, because
24. it isn’t.
25. But we no longer live in an industrial age.
26. Twenty-first century life is very different and it isn’t effective to keep on trying
27. to pump out students like a production line.
28. We live in what is sometimes called the information or digital age.
29. The kinds of skills that students need if they are to thrive in this contemporary world
30. are quite different from the past.
31. I am not simply referring to the kinds of skills we associate with digital technology,
32. although of course technology has contributed significantly to the changed educational landscape
33. we now occupy.
34. As a result, approaches to education have shifted from a teacher or knowledge centred
35. approach to a student or learner centred approach.
36. Contemporary pedagogical frameworks, such as constructivism, encourage learners to ‘construct’
37. their own knowledge individually and collaboratively by making connections with prior knowledge
38. and experiences.
39. We might even say that in the past, surface learning was sufficient – memorizing facts,
40. selecting the correct answer and so on.
41. But to be equipped for today’s world, surface learning is not enough.
42. Today’s ‘facts’ may not be facts next year.
43. Today’s ‘skills’ may be obsolete within a decade.
44. The kinds of approaches associated with deep learning – approaches that develop higher
45. order skills, encourage critical thinking, and the capacity to be agile, flexible and
46. adaptable – these skills are not optional or reserved for a small percentage of learners,
47. they are critical for all students.
48. Now, teachers know this and, I think, want to be the kinds of teachers who design learning
49. experiences that equip learners with these skills.
50. But of course, the question is how?

Effective and Active learning

1. Robyn: Research shows that student-centred approaches to teaching that change and develop
2. students’ thinking gets better student learning outcomes than the more traditional, teacher-directed,
3. information-transmission approaches.
4. For teachers to make this shift, it’s important to have the capacity to reflect on one’s
5. own practice and to be familiar with evidence-based research into effective teaching.
6. To be effective, learning must be active.
7. So effective and active learning are interdependent and one cannot occur without the other.
8. They are two sides of the same coin.
9. When learning is effective, students are actively engaged and they are motivated.
10. They accept responsibility for their learning, work together to achieve shared goals, listen
11. to others’ ideas, and support one another through challenges.
12. So the effectiveness of active learning is not limited to the academic or cognitive,
13. but extends to social and personal development.

Constructivist Theory

Sensorimotor stage: Developing motor control and learning about physical objects.

Pre-operational stage: Developing verbal skills, naming objects and reasoning skills.

< i think dylan’s in transition between these 2 stages>

Concrete operational stage: Developing skills to learn about abstract concepts, numbers and relationships.

Formal operational stage: Developing skills to reason logically and systematically.

PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky’s Social Cultural Learning Theory (SCLT) was based on the idea that social interaction is fundamental for cognitive development.