Nocking the Arrow

"...renewable assignments result in meaningful, valuable artifacts that enable future meaningful, valuable work." - David Wiley My personalized learning routine involves skimming through a few dozen blog posts first thing in the morning. I slammed on the brakes, and adjusted my reading glasses when I came across David Wiley's discussion of disposable versus renewable assignments in higher education. What do these terms mean, what are the differences, and why should educators care about the fate of their assignments? According to Dr. Wiley, disposable assignments are those that end up in a garbage can shortly after the instructor has graded it. This signals the learning, if there was any, has now ended. An assignment at the bottom of a garbage can adds no additional value to the world. My friend Shawn McCusker dislikes the thought of student work ending up in piles. He says, " If we want to increase the importance and validity of student work we need to extend i...

"In the abundant world in which we now find ourselves, transformation in schools must be about empowering learners to organize their own learning and about delving deeply into the subjects that interest them, to live on a “perpetual learning curve.” Those are the skills they need to be successful learners in their adult lives. The emphasis shifts from knowing to learning." -  From Master Teacher to Master Learner , Will Richardson Here is my visual interpretation of what Will Richardson calls  the perpetual learning curve of the modern learner.  I have no scientific basis for this graphic other than the influence of co-learners ( PLN contributors ) like Will Richardson , Jackie Gerstein , Jon Andrews , Aaron Davis , George Siemens , Yong Zhao , Stewart Hase ,  Alan November , and many others. Observations and Experiences - Stewart Hase states, "Learning is intrinsic to the learner. Every brain is different as a result of experience. People are nat...

Blaschke, L.M., 2012 - Heutagogy & Lifelong Learning Recently, while researching learning spaces to support modern literacies, I came across an interesting term that I was unfamiliar with, heutagogy. Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning. Introduced in a report by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon , heutagogy emphasizes skill competencies, primarily learning how to learn. Heutagogy also relates to the concept of life-wide learning by acknowledging the learner's opportunity to profit intellectually from authentic experiences and settings. Unlike pedagogy and andragogy , which place an emphasis on instructor control and direction, heutagogy is indeed learner orchestrated. As information becomes more readily available, providing students opportunities to assume more responsibility for their learning, the role of the pedagogic instructor shifts to that of a facilitating lead learner providing advice, resources, and encouragement. Over the past few years, my in...

Flickr CC image - PLN Last weekend, after enjoying  Joe Morelock's  keynote about the facing the challenges of rapid change in education, I shared my thoughts on personalized professional development with a group of about twenty eager educators. Midway through our session I made the mistake of asking the group, "What is your favorite activity, or tool, for engaging with your PLN?" A few averted pairs of eyes, a few puzzled looks, and a few others choosing to be distracted with mobile electronics (wait time...), and then courageously, Anna asked, "What's a PLN?" "Hold the phones! Stop the presses! What is a PLN? ", I let the question simmer for a few moments. I swiped back to my previous slide, and a few participants took their turns at defining a personal learning network, along with how they personally interacted with their own learning communities. "After learning a bit more about PLNs , how many of you regularly engage w...