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Learning from LEAN

Dwayne Harapnuik — October 10, 2014 — Leave a comment

Having just completed the LEAN 201 workshop and earning my LEAN White Belt I now have a greater appreciation for the LEAN methodology advocated by the Continuous Service Improvement group at BCIT and I can now see how it can be used to bring greater efficiency to process intensive workflow scenarios. If you are looking to improve a mechanical or logistical process in your work setting LEAN can definitely help solve problems and improve situations. I have also confirmed that if your work-setting is hampered by organization culture issues and you need to make changes in that culture then the Influencer model provides a much better starting point because it addresses how to bring about behavioural changes and motivate the key organizational influencers who can lead or hinder this type of change. Ideally I see how you need to use and combine LEAN, Influencer and the 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) as well as many other methodologies in your organizational change endeavours. I explain this eclectic approach in my post People who like this stuff…like this stuff.

The power of LEAN is in its simplicity. We were able to go from very minimal knowledge of the LEAN methodology to being able to recommend a very detailed solution to a real world problem in just 3 full days. While the LEAN 101 afternoon workshop I took 12 months ago as a pre-requisite exposed me to the central LEAN processes it wasn’t until we worked through an entire real life case that I full appreciated the power of this methodology. I am questioning the value of the 101 workshop because several other workshop attendees also commented on the fact that they were not really able to appreciate LEAN even at its most basic level until going through the 201 workshop.

The 201 workshop worked well because there was no need to read anything in advance, there were no special tools other than sticky notes, paper, markers and basic presentation software. Another significant factor to LEAN 201 working well was the authentic case study where we solved a genuine problem which ensured that all participants were engaged and contributed. Our group of 5 participants worked out a solution for the degree audit process that Records Officers faced on an annual basis at BCIT. We not only solved the main problems with the existing degree audit, we were also able to show how the new process could be used to address student retention and graduation issues by moving from a reactive audit at the end of the student life cycle to a proactive live and dynamic auditing process that started at the beginning of the students time at BCIT. The added benefit of this move is that students could now have an active program map of their progress. In addition, faculty, department heads, Associate Deans, Deans and other administrators could also use the live program map to catch the students who were having problems at the beginning and enabling the institution to provide solutions to these students quickly enough to get them back on track.

By the end of the second day of the workshop our group not only assessed the situation but had identified the appropriate solutions and on the third day we built a presented a summary of the degree audit solution to the main stakeholders in the Registrars Office, and to key administrators like the Assistant Registrar and the VP Academic who immediately asked what it would take to start working on the implementation of our plan. I am looking forward to seeing our plan used as a foundation for a more detailed gap analysis and the development of an implementation strategy.

We were not only able to save some valuable time for the hard working group of Records Officers, the changes will significantly improve the student experience and contribute to increasing the student retention and completion. Whenever you can help more students complete their programs and achieve their dream you know you are involved in something special.

The LEAN 201 workshop and methodology was definitely beneficial and will be added to my toolbox that I bring to future organization change challenges.

In Change LEAN

Alarmist reaction to Alberta’s Discovery Learning model

Dwayne Harapnuik — March 4, 2014 — Leave a comment

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/28/does-discovery-learning-prepare-alberta-students-for-the-21st-century-or-will-it-toss-out-a-top-tier-education-system/

Does ‘discovery learning’ prepare Alberta students for the 21st century or will it toss out a top tier education system? | National Post via kwout

My first reaction after reading this National Post article is that the reporter is playing the sensationalism card. My second reaction was frustration. These types of polemics are frustrating because the average reader will not be fully aware of what discovery or inquiry based learning really are. If the reader simply relies upon the content of the article it would appear that Alberta students will be left on their own to not only figure out how to learn but what to learn.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Constructivist models like discovery and inquiry-based learning, if well implemented, will provide a structure for openness which addresses the critics main concern that students need a structure. The best way to understand a structure for openness is to consider Apple products. On the surface they are elegantly simple and easy to use but to achieve the elegance and simplicity the structure and programming underneath are extremely completed. Similarly inquiry-based learning environments require a very well thought out structure that underlies the openness and freedom.

Furthermore inquiry-based learning by its design has built in scaffolding and additional supports that enable the learner to discover, explore and inquire in a supported fashion. So this alarmist notion that students are “left on their own” to learn is just typical reaction from a concerned but uniformed source. The key to the success of inquiry-based learning is the implementation and paradoxically how it is structured.

When I was at ACU we developed on a Gates Foundation funded research initiative called the Mobile Enhanced Inquiry Based Learning (MEIBL) project in which we used mobile technology as the tool to provide the scaffolding that is necessary for inquiry based learning in introductory undergraduate chemistry and biology classes. Videos of lab lectures, procedures, access to databases of information and much more were available to students on their mobile devices which provided a scaffold and helped them gain experience with scientific discovery process. Because of the scaffolding enabled by the mobile devices the instructor had more time to work with students in a mentorship role which enabled the students to go much deeper into their studies and explore subjects in ways they could not do in a traditional drill and grill classroom. The students “did science” rather than just “learn about science” and when combined with the additional time the instructor had to mentor the leaner their success and grades revealed that this approached worked as well and often better then traditional classes.

Bottom line — if inquiry based learning is done right it is great. However, if it isn’t then the critics are may be right. Time will tell how well it is implemented in Alberta.

In Learning discovery, inquiry-based learning

I Never Knew I Was Doing All These 24 Things Wrong

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 24, 2014 — Leave a comment

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/never-knew-24-things-wrong-every-day-read.html?utm_source=Lifehack&utm_campaign=fd65a93da1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_983e966a3e-fd65a93da1-414682309

I Never Knew I Was Doing All These 24 Things Wrong Every Day Until I Read This via kwout

I am always looking for an easier or better way to do everything so when I came across this post from LifeHacker I knew that I was going to find some gems. Since I have always been on the lookout for the best way to do things several of the videos did not provide any new information but the ones that did provide new insights are exceptional.

If you don’t have time to review all twenty four take a few minutes to review the following three brilliantly simple videos:

This falls under the category of “Why didn’t I think of that”
How to Eat a Cupcake, Like a Gentleman

I immediately tried this one and it works so well that I have been telling everyone about it.
How To Use One Paper Towel: Joe Smith at TEDxConcordiaUPortland

I am still working on the advanced version of the method but this process is crucial to anyone who has to deal with cables.
How to Coil Cables

See the full list…

In Productivity right, right way, tips, wrong

45 Design Thinking Resources for Educators

Dwayne Harapnuik — December 9, 2013 — Leave a comment

45 Design Thinking Resources for Educators – InformED : via kwout

We design information systems, smart buildings, ecological friendly communities, learning spaces and so many aspect of our society but we unfortunately do not apply this holistic approach to designing learning environments. Apple has always designed excellent hardware but with their iPhone, iPad and the whole IOS ecosystem they gone a step further and have designed a mobile communication or networking environment that just works. If we apply a similar purposeful design to our learning environments we also can create a significant learning environment that just works. Whether we are purposeful in its design or we just allow the circumstances to dictate its development education at all levels are providing learning environments. Rather than allow the environment to come together on its own and respond reactively to the learning dynamics that arise I suggest that educators become more proactive and create significant learning environments.

Therefore it is exciting to see an emphasis on purposeful design in the list of resources on Design Thinking for educators. Design thinking consists of four key elements:

Defining the Problem, Creating and Considering Multiple Options, Refining Selected Directions, and Executing the Best Plan of Action. (InformEd, 2013)

Several of the resources listed are links to a either the IDEO group or related sites that have been influenced by the working and writings of Tom Kelly and Tim Brown, who are two of the foundational thinkers behind design thinking.

View the full list of resources…

In Design creating, CSLE, Design, design thinking, Ideo, purposeful

New Council to Develop Standards, Best Practices for Online Learning

Dwayne Harapnuik — November 14, 2013 — Leave a comment

New Council to Develop Standards, Best Practices for Online Learning – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education via kwout

When I first read this article my first reaction was to post a comment suggesting that there are many well established standards of quality for online education. So when I scrolled through all the comments it was clear that almost everyone who commented had the same idea. Except for the sarcasm the first commentator Steve Foerster really captures the essence of what I was planning to say:

You’d think that online education were some new thing no one had ever heard of before. Why this and not one of the existing organizations focused in this area? I wonder sometimes whether anyone out there is better at reinventing the wheel than higher education administrators. They seem to be masters of leaping to the front of whatever parade they see and shouting “Follow me!”

I also have to agree with DrDave8563 who stated:

…Except instead of leaping to the front of this parade, they are leaping somewhere into the middle of the last third of the parade shouting “Follow me!” This parade has been going on since the Bulletin Board days – it’s hardly something new. There is a great deal of history and data about online education that already exists in both for-profit and not-for-profit realms.

There are many educators like myself who have been teaching online since the early 90’s and we have all seen a healthy complement of standards developed from organization like the Sloan Consortium, Quality Matters or any one of the many Universities who have been involved in online learning since its inception. So when I read the following statement by Hunter R. Rawlings III, the president of the Association of American Universities I have to sadly admit just how out of touch some of our academic leaders can be:

I think too many people are trying to deliver final judgment on the quality of online education, on the value of online education. It is just much too early in my mind to give any kind of final judgment. Let’s give this some time, and some real scrutiny.

We know what constitutes effective learning and exceptional learning designs. The technology plays a secondary role to effective learning design and whether the courses happens fully online, in a blended format or fully face2face we KNOW what good constitutes good education. I have always been hesitant to pile on and take shots at academic administrators because I have spent time in senior leadership so I understand the challenges. However, I have to admit that this is one time when a group of administrators are publicly demonstrating just how out of touch they are with the reality of the learning environment and the research. As one of my peers was so apt to point out with their comment this is an example of the

“blind leading the sighted”

On a positive note, I expect this group of academic heavy hitters to leverage their positions and influence and produce a report that will satisfy the online learner critics.

In elearning Online Learning, quality, standards