The Future of Faculty In the past few weeks, I have been part of a NQ Futurist group tasked with opening up conversations and getting feedback regarding the future of teaching and learning at NorQuest. More specifically, gauging how ready our instructors are for the rapidly changing nature of post-secondary education. It was kinda fun. I ended up working with a small group (Heather, Justine, Farah and Rasoul) and we did some reading and research, considered the various scenarios that were already part of the Reimagine Higher Education document and tried to design an interactive workshop that might also secure meaningful data and suggestions. Then our little group went “on the road” (digitally) and did seven presentations in two weeks, reaching a sizable number of NorQuesters (126 responded in the Mentimeter polls!) All the same, I think we broadsided some instructors. Very early in our presentation, we asked participants to gauge how ready they were for current and emerging trends in post-secondary learning. For many, who focus mainly on supporting their students on a daily basis, the terms may have been a bit unfamiliar. I thought I might use this MMM to tackle these terms and provide helpful, reader-friendly links for those who want to know more. (No dry research articles in this lot!) Overall Trends https://thebestschools.org/magazine/current-trends-online-education/ Personalized Learning As the name suggests, this kind of learning allows students to complete an individualized or “customized” course/study that adapts and adjusts in light of their prior learning and experience, their specific learning strengths and needs, and their program and professional goals. This is a major shift from the standardized, one-size-fits-all courses and programs that most of us have encountered in post-secondary or at least, undergraduate education. For a better understanding of how personalized learning might look at the college level check out these links:
Students as Co-Creators This idea takes personalized learning and agency to the next level. From what I could learn, this approach asks students to help frame and build their own educational programs. Initially it reminded me of a couple of courses I designed for myself when completing my doctorate. My supervisors had to step aside from being the “experts” and facilitate my learning through coaching and check-ins while I tackled concepts and models that were unfamiliar to them. However, these co-creations seem to be more of an instructor-student collaborative study that has connections to research and designs for learning. While students collaborate with other students and instructors to do research In the process they learn and get credit for it. Moreover, there are co-creator programs that involve partnerships with organizations or industries. Although I could find could find many “references” to the idea of student co-creation being employed at a college level, I had a tough time finding short, summary-type articles on this. Instead, I pass on to you several examples of programs that use a co-creation model.
Online Facilitation Online facilitation is nothing new. We’ve been taking and hosting online courses for a couple of decades already. What is new is the extent to which we are now teaching online (it’s 2020!) and they way in which online teaching has evolved in terms of course design, flexibility, student engagement, OERs, interactivity, assessment, synchronous and asynchronous delivery, and online platforms, tools, and apps. Here’s a few articles and links that explore the advantages and disadvantages of learning in this way and some of the recent developments in online facilitation.
Micro Credentialing
A micro-credential is a certification or badge of assessed learning. It allows students and employers the flexibility to take small and targeted studies to develop a specific skill or competency without having to spend time in a comprehensive program. Micro-credentials can help prospective students effectively address learning gaps or continuing employees acquire immediately required training. In post-secondary, These credentials can be bundled to provide equivalencies for courses and programs. At this moment, many Canadian colleges and Universities are using microcredentialing to attract more part-time students and are looking at how to make these micro-credentials transferrable from institution to institution. Here are some more detailed explanations of micro credentialing from some institutions you may know:
HyFlex Learning At our Teaching and Learning Day last Friday, Jenni Hayman shared the HyFlex approach to course design. Unfortunately, I had to run my own session so I was unable to attend! However, with a little surfing on the net, I was able to gain a better understanding of this approach. HyFlex courses allow students to choose how they want to participate in their courses. One day they might attend class in person, another they could choose to join synchronously online, and on a third day they might watch the class asynchronously when it was more convenient. It is the “hybrid” or “blended” approach taken to another level of flexibility. HyFlex allows students to choose when and how they might go through their course, allowing students to stay engaged (f they have self-discipline). However, HyFlex requires a lot! Instructors must become very familiar with their program outcomes and to be extremely adaptive using in-person and online strategies and structures to construct a learning experience that is complex (multi-layered and varied) yet consistent in learning expectations and overall assessment. More information on the HyFlex approach is here:
Virtual and Augmented Reality Virtual and augmented reality is something that our college has been experimenting with for a little while. In the Innovation Studio, we had a VR set up where nursing students could put on the VR goggles and attend to a patient in a hospital setting virtually. On the other side of the retractable wall, students learned about human body systems by using the Z Boards, which allowed students to explore various parts of the body through 3-D interaction. This fall, NorQuest is investigating VR models and systems with an eye to helping students learn professional judgement through simulated interactions. More information on how VR and AR are changing the face of education can be found here:
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Bring Your Whole Self… Last Thursday and Friday, Sarah Apedaile hosted two faculty talking circles on “Learning Environments that Enhance Student Wellbeing”. The intention was to elicit ideas and strategies from NorQuest instructional staff so that we could learn from each other. Both circles were very rich in discussion and specifics and while the first seemed to focus on actions that you might do immediately, the other spent more time on proactively building a course and environment that creates a safe space. One of my favorite quotes came from an instructor on the first day, he said (and this is my paraphrase because I could not remember word for word), “Instructors need to bring their whole, authentic selves to the classroom (online or in person). This may mean sharing your own successes, missteps and failures as you have travelled through your educational journey.” Now I know this instructor, and I know that he isn’t saying that a teacher should dominate the classroom with personal anecdotes and ego-centric lessons. What he was getting at is the importance of being real, being vulnerable, and being approachable. On the weekend, I kept coming back to this thought, and I compared it to when I began teaching. In my first few placements, I came across many seasoned educators who were very willing to share their life lessons in teaching with me. Some of the most frequent messages I heard were:
Their advice was something more like an antiperspirant commercial: “Never let them see you sweat!” I remember feeling quite uncomfortable in “faking it”. I knew I had much to learn about time management, subject area content, lesson design, and relationship building and that I would make more than my share of mistakes. That said I quickly found that frequent apologizing was not the way to go. The teacher still needs to be the teacher. Just how does an educator, often given courses and materials that they have not mastered themselves, come across as “confidently human”? How do they effectively lead their students with passion, assurance and a good dose of humility? It is something that I continue to work on. One thing is for certain, in the past couple of decades the role of the educator has changed. We can longer be “experts”, the explosion of information and access has broken our shaky hold as the sole purveyors of truth! Moreover, while in many different countries the position is highly esteemed and one would never think of challenging their instructor, in North America we have learned to be less directive and more collegial, especially at the college level. We want open discussions in our classroom, where students are comfortable asking the hard questions and where we can be real in our responses and concerns. Nonetheless, as instructors we still have responsibilities that require some distancing. Ultimately, we are gatekeepers, for programs and professions. We also have high expectations, for our students and for ourselves. Moreover, as many of us have learned, there is a big difference between being friendly with our students and being friends with them. Sometimes our students can get a little too comfortable and then feel shocked or offended when we have to deliver news they don’t want to hear. So it can be very challenging for instructors to navigate and negotiate their role with each student group. Complicating all of this is the current and ongoing requirement to do most of our relationship building online. The Covid crisis has presented challenges, created distances, and generated feelings of isolation and anxiety. Our students, and many of us, need the subtle interactions and affirmations that came so easily to our in-person classes. As the instructor I quoted earlier also said, “Sometimes if you see students as students you might be missing the point in terms of supporting them. You have to see students as regular and normal human beings who go through ups and downs like all of us... and therefore, even if they are obligated to study or learn, you have to support them as much as you can to help them deal with their other challenges which are not classroom based.” Just as we bring our whole selves to class, our students should feel comfortable bringing their whole selves too. Covid has pushed this further, many of us now face listening and counseling challenges, we need to be available and “confidently human” as we deal with the new online environment and the continuing strain of pandemic and economic uncertainty. Thankfully, many of the participants in the talking circle had suggestions that might just help us in adapting to this environment, providing the support needed to our students, and finding ways to create a safe learning community. I’ve grouped and listed the thoughts of your colleagues below: Suggestions for daily or one-on-one interactions
Suggestions related to lesson design
Suggestions regarding course design
For many of our students, their studies have given them something to dive into, perhaps even as an escape from the rising Covid numbers, the imminent specter of a lockdown, and the isolation brought on by our “new normal”. Our job is to encourage, engage, support, guide and assess with an eye to the whole student. More information on ways to support students in the online environment can be found here: https://campusmentalhealth.ca/toolkits/faculty/how-to-recognize-when-a-student-may-need-support/in-the-virtual-classroom/ https://tatp.utoronto.ca/teaching-toolkit/teaching-with-technology-teaching-online/supporting-students-online It’s all about ME and six C’s Just after finishing my master’s program in 1994, I started looking at what makes an adolescent learner persevere in their learning. From research and experience, I found that teens have less patience in learning than pre-teens. When charged with teaching teens Trigonometry in Math, Poetic Meter in English, the Past Progressive Tense in French, Mitosis and Meiosis in Biology, or the Causes of the Great War in Social Studies, my students would often fire back three questions:
Now, at first, a teacher might resent such questions. After all, learning for the sake of learning is a noble pursuit, and many of us became teachers - not only because we love teaching - but because we also love learning. Nevertheless, these three student questions are significant and we needed to be ready for them. Moreover, our responses needed to be better than “because it is in the curriculum/syllabus” or “well, some day you might….” So I continued to dig into the research and surprise, surprise, I found out that perseverance in adolescent learners is dependent upon ME! You might take that in a number of different ways: 1) that it all comes down to the teacher or 2) that the single most important factor is the student and their personal (almost selfish?) needs for learning. In fact, both are wrong, what the research told me is that it all comes down to Motivation & Engagement (ME!) and the interplay of these factors in a teaching and learning environment. What is more, as I continued my odyssey in education, teaching at King’s, U of A and NorQuest, I discovered that what applies to adolescent learners aligns with much of what we know about adult learners. Just like teens, adult learners are concerned about practicality, immediacy of application, and personal and professional relevance. In other words, “So what?” and “Just how can I use this?” For our learners at NorQuest, it also comes down to ME - motivation and engagement. However, the idea of motivation is a tricky one. I have heard a number of scholars say that motivation is completely dependent upon the learner and that the teacher has no influence on this. If a student is unmotivated, either intrinsically or extrinsically, there is very little a teacher can do about it. Other educational scholars say that this is poppycock and that such teachers simply do not want to figure out what motivates their students, individually or collectively. Yes, these scholars say, motivation does come from within, but it is also very much influenced by situation, culture, necessity, and rewards (and many other factors). Teachers cannot create motivation, but they can learn and act upon the motives of their students and discover their “motivators”. This makes me think to the work I am doing now with my four-month-old puppies. Daisy’s “motivators” are food and love, Edgar is less interested in food rewards, but thrives on praise and attention, and Rufus is a very smart little dog who likes a challenge (He has already figured out how to open and close the back door.) and is motivated by play. I often catch him doing that Border Collie head cock thing where he looks like he is trying to figure out just how to get into that cupboard, or take away a toy from his siblings. Now, I am not comparing our learners to puppies (well, maybe a little…). Coming to class with a bunch of “puppy snacks” or a clicker would be absurd. However, I am saying that every learner is different and it is up to us to explore ways to use motivators to ignite and fuel their passions. Thankfully, most of our learners at NorQuest come to us of their own free will and chose programs that they see as beneficial to their development a persons, citizens, and professionals. So finding their motivators is a little easier than connecting to teens. Adult “motivators” might be self-improvement, a new career or challenge, a permanent residency card, or simply the love of learning. Junior and senior high school students do not have that same liberty as adult learners – they are conscripts in more comprehensive programming that they may or may not appreciate. Coupled with motivation is engagement. In order to tap into the motivators of our students we need to design learning environments and challenges that allow students to participate in a variety of ways and on a variety of levels. In this way, we might reach and inspire more of our students and support them in their learning journey. That still leaves us with an important question, “Just how can we better engage our students?” Well this is where the six C’s come in. In researching engagement, I found that students engage and persevere in learning, when they:
Keeping these six C’s in mind (choice, confidence, challenge, context, connections and collaboration) when we plan our courses, units and lessons, gives us a better chance in reaching our students and in making courses meaningful and relevant. The Future is Now! When I first started teaching, many years ago, the world of teaching was a much different place (I know, I know, but I have changed very little!). I began my career in a small school on the outskirts of Chatham, Ontario. I taught multiple grades in the same classroom (7/8/9 and 9/10) and many of my resources (readers and texts) were from the 1950’s. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I taught typing on the old, manual machines (earplugs anyone?). There were only a couple of computers in the school, and I did not own one at the time. The school had one photocopy machine and it was expensive to use. The copies had a slippery surface and the kids liked to sniff the pages, there was kind of a chemical druggy type smell. Instead, we were encouraged to use the spirit duplicator and recycled green or pink papers, if we wanted to make handouts or worksheets. Spirit duplicators worked by applying alcohol to a carbon sheet and then cranking the drum so that the ink might transfer to individually fed sheets. Unfortunately, it could be a messy process. I often arrived to class with soggy copies and blue fingertips. The recycled paper did not hold up very well, but it was much faster than having students copy notes from the board. We were a little behind the other schools in terms of technology, but we did have cassette players and filmstrip machines. I put these to good use when I was teaching French - dimming the lights and having the all the students “Repetez, après moi!” If I was organized, I could request feature and documentary films from the local school board’s resource center. However, certain resources were popular, and you had to stake your claim well in advance and make sure you were at the right point in your curricula, when the films actually arrived. Our projector was a complicated beast, but you could run the film backward (a frequent request from the students) if you had a bit of time at the end of the period. Now jump forward 40 years. We’ve seen tremendous change. Affordable computers, the availability of resources through the internet, the influx of interactive whiteboards, Wi-Fi, the ever-presence of smartphones, and a constantly changing smorgasbord of learning apps has changed the way we teach and learn. And yet, with all that change in our lifetimes, it was still hard to make the leap to online teaching as a result of Covid. Many of us were stretched in ways we were not prepared for, pushed to learn new technologies and systems in a moment of near crisis, in what I like to call “the great hack of 2020”. That said, times of crisis could sometimes bring forth great leaps of progress. The Second World War necessitated tremendous advances in manufacturing and similarly, our year of Covid has seen tremendous improvements in online conferencing tools and teaching apps. You and I have learned a great deal about engaging and supporting learners in ways that we’ve never learned ourselves, and we continue to learn! In the next couple of weeks we continue on a visioning process for NorQuest, its learners and the people who make the place go (you and me)! There are sessions being offered by both the futurist group and the culture team. I’m very much involved in the Futurist work as a member of the group looking at “the role of faculty” and we will be connecting with you through LRN sessions as well as through presentations to individual faculties and departments. These presentations really won’t be “presentations”, we’re hoping to provide a few things to think about, ask several big questions, gather your thoughts and hopes, and continue to envision and prepare for the future of post-secondary learning. Some questions you might want to consider are:
Have a great week! Jeff Pandemic Pressures! “I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love.” –J.R.R. Tolkien This weekend I found myself reflecting on some very difficult things:
I found it a bit wearying. It did not help that what we are experiencing on a global scale, we are also experiencing in a more immediate way; on a NorQuest scale.
As instructional staff, we are under a lot of daily pressure. Pressure to engage and support our students at the same levels as pre-pandemic. Pressure to ensure that our students will gain the knowledge, skills and professional judgements that will ensure their success in their careers. Pressure to work from anywhere, with less opportunity to collaborate, less opportunity to commiserate. Pressure to be a “team player”, to keep working on a positive culture and to look forward to the future of teaching and learning. If you are anything like me, you’ve probably been sighing more frequently lately, and you may also fervently long for when things were a little simpler, like say, a year ago? Oh, this pressure has not necessarily been put upon us by the college itself or by our deans, chairs and managers. The NQ leadership messaging from the outset has been encouraging and full of grace. In fact, much of the pressure comes from ourselves. Most instructors at NorQuest College are “wired for service”; we desperately want what is best for our students and we often sacrifice hours and hours trying to meet their needs. We are also acutely aware of our own shortcomings as educators, as “tech facilitators”, and as care providers.
No matter the source, the pressure is there. The isolation and the steady stream of negative news does not help. This past week there were numerous articles and TV features about stressed-out teachers. My frequent interactions with faculty also bore this out. Instructors told me that:
Yikes! When I listened to all of this, I realized that I was struggling with many of the same pressures. So I asked many of these same instructors for coping strategies. How did they continue to keep their heads above water and find satisfaction in their work? Here are just a few suggestions:
These strategies, suggested by our colleagues, can be quite helpful. However, just like dieting, knowing the plan and actually sticking to it are two different things. (Guilty as charged!) It might be worthwhile to find an “accountability partner”, a friend or a colleague who can “check in” to chastise us when our self-care actions do not actually align with our intentions. One last suggestion given – and this is my favorite – reach out and start a conversation with someone new or someone you have not talked to in a while. There is a tendency for all of us to get a bit myopic, seeing the world only through our own field of vision. One of our colleagues shared that, when she feels weighted down with planning, decisions and problem solving, she seeks out conversation. Just talking to a student or a colleague from a different faculty can help us see that there is a bigger world out there. Our work is just our work. Other people have very different stressors and satisfactions, and listening to them can give us new perspectives. Opening up your heart and mind to the world of someone else can be extremely beneficial, to them and to you! After this reflection and inquiry, I know that I have some work to do on establishing a healthy work/life balance. Perhaps you do too. I am looking forward to this week’s Faculty Talking Circle with Sarah Apedaile and Sherry Greenbank. I hope you have time to join us. That’s all for this week, Jeff |
AuthorJeff Kuntz Ph.D. ImagesExcept where indicated, images used in the blog posts are personal photos, images from NorQuest College or images from Pixabay. Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. https://pixabay.com/ Archives
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