A Seminar about

Self-Directed Learning

And its Importance in the EDIT Studio

Lloyd Rieber

Myths about learning and teaching in K-12 schools

• Joseph Campbell's definition: A "myth" is not a falsehood, but a world view about something.

• Don't be insulted by being asked to use this term to describe your belief systems.

• I often equate "myth" to "mental model", a term more aligned with our field.

First, about the word "myth”...

Myths about learning and teaching in K-12 schools

• Students would not know how to handle the opportunity to take more responsibility for their own learning.

• School has to teach students to do things they don't want to do because that's the way life is.

• Everything in the curriculum is important to know.• Teachers should never put their own learning first.• Good teaching is when the teacher talks and students listen.• Teachers have to know everything about a topic before they

try to teach it.• The role of a student is to try to figure out what the teacher

already knows.• Classrooms are quiet places in which the teacher dominates.• Teaching is the hard part, everything else a teacher has to do

is easy.

Myths about learning and teaching in a university

graduate program• ?• ?• ?

Stories about self-directed learning experiences.....

…stories about successful self-directed learning experiences.

…stories about not so successful self-directed learning experiences.

Motivation

• Motivation– Hallmarks of intrinsic & extrinsic motivation

• Self-determination– Hallmarks of self-determination

• Self-Regulated Learning– Intrinsic motivation, metacognitive awareness,

willingness to act to ensure one's own learning

• Flow theory

Issues in any learning experience involving

technology

• The constant risk of triggering the phenomenon of "learned helplessness".

• Confronting group-based "negativism"

The Studio structure's relationship to self-directed learning (1 of 4)

• Changing of roles traditionally associated with the "student" and the "teacher".

• Greater freedom/flexibility begets greater responsibility.

• On Sebastian Fiedler's "Conversational" framework

• Recognizing the need to talk about self-directed learning and one's myths about learning and teaching

The Studio structure's relationship to self-directed learning (2 of 4)

• Studio expectations of students– Accept responsibility for one's learning– Take much greater responsibility for personal time

and work management– Recognize the need to leave one's "comfort zone"– Participate in the defining of criteria for evaluation– Be willing to accept and give critical feedback (giving

it may be the harder of the two)– Expect help from those with more experience or skill– Expect to give help to those with less experience of

skill

The Studio structure's relationship to self-directed learning (3 of 4)

• Studio expectations of instructors– Give students the expectation that you can be

trusted– Believe that students will make good decisions when

given the opportunity– Expose all personal agendas– Manage the studio macro-structures well– Provide scaffolding and other support structures– Continually monitor all studio support structures– Continue to develop professionally

The Studio structure's relationship to self-directed learning (4 of 4)

• Weaknesses of the Studio model– Lack of a stable community of learners– Inappropriate competition: Understanding that

participants have different areas of focus and that resulting projects will be different as a result.

– The never ending need for resources (hardware, software, human)

– ?– ?

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• When the studio structure works well for an individual student, it works very well. I have seen some of the most outstanding projects of my teaching career over the past 3 years.

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• The studio structure has not worked well for all students. Students who cannot "break out" of the "one-course, one-instructor led, controlled, and organized" model have been quite frustrated.

• Students who continue to focus on "the final grade" as the hallmark of success or failure find themselves having a difficult time coping.

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• The studio shifts the source of feedback and support away from one individual (i.e. the instructor) and towards a group of people which one may call the Studio Community. The instructors are but part of this community.

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• The time-honored "game" (er, learning strategy) of figuring out what the instructor really wants or values as the most important does not work well in the Studio. There are still a variety of instructor expectations that must be met, but design knowledge and skills are not crystallized, but remain fluid and dependent on the context of the design problem.

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• Because the Studio Experience is based in a university setting, we still confront the realities of having to assign grades. We have therefore tried to be as explicit as possible in the Handbook about how grades are determined. I have no difficulty assigning grades lower than an "A" when necessary and appropriate and I consider it ethical and fair to do so. However, I feel the emphasis should be on the personal and professional outcomes and consequences. Good grades should be a secondary outcome, not the focus. A more telling assessment of a person's professional success is the willingness of a colleague to write a letter of recommendation and the tenor of that letter.

Some of Lloyd's observations over the past 3 years

• Confronting one's needs and goals in an environment founded on self-directed learning is crucial for making sense of the experience.

Some Final Thoughts

• I think this represents a truer, more honest approach to how this stuff is really learned.

• The studio approach at UGA is being watched closely by other programs.

• I’m proud that we had the courage to take advantage of the opportunity to do this!