The following posts should confirm that the authentic learning opportunities, inquiry based learning and taking ownership idea that I talked about in the video are ideas that I have been exploring for a long time:
This past Saturday morning when I walked into our living room I couldn’t help noticing the large sheet of black ABS plastic that Caleb, my 19-year-old son, had acquired for his latest project.
Ever since Caleb was a toddler he has enjoyed creating things that would change and enhance his world. For the most part, he was just like every other young kid who loved playing with Lego and other toys but Caleb and his older brother Levi would migrate away from typical play and look for ways to improve their toys and their environment. Both my boys would use Lego and Kinex and other constructables (what I like to call toys that you can build things with) to make things that they could use for other purposes. Their desires quickly moved beyond using Lego and Kinex to using authentic resources to change their environment. For example, when my older son Levi was three he wanted to be able to pull his wagon with his bike and rather than just use a rope he wanted my help to rig up a hitch system which we created and he used and then passed onto his younger brother. Caleb was equally industrious and I have so many fond memories of heading down to the hardware store to gather the items my boys needed for their latest projects.
So when I saw the big piece of plastic I reminisced about Caleb’s passion for making things. I also thought about how my wife and I carefully nurtured and helped him and his brother develop their interests and created the environment in which they could fully develop their creative abilities and learn how to learn. If there was just one thing that I can point to that really made the difference it would have to be the use of authentic projects. While we didn’t deny our boys models, Lego, Knex and other constructables we also encouraged them to explore working on authentic projects. My boys were always working on something that was real and that would make an authentic difference in their world.
The bike hitch, bike ramps, countless other smaller projects, and the major fort project were just the starting point for exposing my boys to authentic learning. When I purchased and renovated a rental property the boys who were just 8 and 10 worked alongside me at every stage from cleaning up the junk in the yard to demolishing the basement rooms, to building new rooms and doing all the work that was necessary to bring the house into a state where it could be rented and then sold. Later that spring when the boys were still just 8 and 10 they planned out all the details of our month-long summer bike trip which included everything from getting the maps from the AMA, planning the route, to identifying what we could do along the trip to, where we would stay, and what we could do when we got to the interior of British Columbia. They put together a detailed binder that had all the information we would need. That first major biking holiday is still one of the most talked about trips that my boys will reminisce about. As professional DownHill Mountain bike racers and extreme athletes Levi and Caleb travel continuously so this early experience has served them well. The have spent the majority of their short lives working on authentic projects that not only enhance their lives but lives around them.
Authentic projects work because they not only give the learner choice and ownership over the world that they live in but they also give the learner the ability to find and use their voice and show the world what they have created. Caleb’s projects are getting very sophisticated and while the air splitter he created for his high-end sports car is not a project you would ask a novice to undertake Caleb is able to create a professional quality enhancement and add significant value to his car because he has lived a life filled with authentic projects.
The cognitive and analytic processes of prediction, modeling, experimentation, diagnosis, and problem-solving that Caleb experiences through his countless authentic projects has also contributed to his desire to take on in bigger and bigger challenges. I enjoy helping Caleb with his projects because his passion for learning and creation are contagious.
In our typical education rhetoric we talk about engagement, individualized instruction, and life-long learning but the reality of standardized testing or, if our learners are lucky, the occasional analysis of case-based studies offers our learners very little motivation for learning in the present, so how can we expect them to be excited about learning in the future. We can change this. But that means we have to give back control of the learning to the learner. We need to allow our learners to choose and work on authentic projects that will inspire their intrinsic passions for learning and help them grow their learner’s mindset. When we do this for our learners the possibilities of what they will be able to do are virtually limitless.
This is my personal website, blog, ePortfolio, and part of my learning environment. It is focused on learning and learning environments. My primary goal is to change the world one learner at a time. To do that I strive to help you all to understand and build significant learning environments that will serve all learners. To fully understand why I believe it is crucial for everyone to have a personal learning environment read my post Why Learners Should Blog. Because this blog is part of my learning environment it will never be fully finished.
I write/post regularly on all aspects of the Learner’s Mindset, significant learning environments, leadership & change, disruptive innovation, instructional technology, mobile and web-based learning, constructivism, and instructional design. As of the summer of 2013, I also started writing and reflecting on Becoming an Intentional Father. On occasion, I write about stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories. You will also notice that I am an advocate for new media–especially video and infographics and I believe that we should be incorporating media into everything we do (see my… Embedding Media into all Programs post for a full justification). On Wednesdays, I add to my Wednesday Watchlist where I post an amazing video I found at TED, Youtube, Vimeo, RSA, or one of the many other sites that I monitor on a regular basis.
The following videos provides a snapshot of my thoughts on school and learning:
My Top Posts
If you are new to my site, you might want to start with my posts on the following topics.
I have also provided Instructional Design and Technology Integration support as an Instructional Development Consultant at BCIT. Prior to working at BCIT, I served as the Vice President Academic of Concordia University of Edmonton. Concordia’s priority is to prepare its learners for a future that is very difficult to predict and my responsibility was to provide the leadership that ensured that Concordia developed learning environments that utilize innovation to stimulate critical and analytical thinking and that equipped its graduates to effectively communicate as they tackle global challenges.
Prior to joining Concordia, I was the Director of Faculty Enrichment at Abilene Christian University in Southwest Texas. As the Director of Faculty Enrichment my primary responsibility was to help the faculty to develop active and engaging learning environments and to provide strategic direction for Mobile Learning; instructional design; faculty development; teaching, learning, and Technology; and the Researchers in Residence, and Scholars in Residence programs.
My previous professional appointments include Manager Educational Technology at Lethbridge College and Adjunct Professor for the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. As Manager Instructional Technology, my primary focus was to provide vision, leadership, expertise, and creativity to support and develop the use of educational/instructional technology at Lethbridge College.
While at the University of Alberta I was involved in pioneering web-based instruction in the Faculty of Education. In my work on online and web-based learning and I developed an approach to learning called Inquisivistism. My research has demonstrated that Inquisitivism is an effective approach for web-based instruction as well as most other forms of inquiry-based learning.
This approach is at the foundation of many web-based courses that have developed, facilitated, and instructed in a blended or fully online format at several institutions across North America. In addition, to my research into adult learning, I am also researching the application of the Project Approach in Elementary and Early Childhood in a homeschool and/or tutorial-based learning environment.
As an advocate of practical hands-on learning, I put theory into practice as a consultant and have served as a Director of Information Technologies for one of the largest private Residential Real Estate firms in North America and also served as a volunteer Chief Information Officer for a global mission and relief organization.
I strive to find a balance between my academic and professional career by regularly volunteering at a variety of community-based programs and by focusing on my family.
In the post To Own Your Learning You MUST Use Higher-Order or Deeper Thinking which I am referring to as Part 1 of this series, I argued that we need to move into an ongoing iterative process of higher-order thinking if we hope to own our learning and improve our situations. I also referred to earlier posts How to Change the World One Learner at a Time from January 2021 which is an update to a 2015 post and Changing the World, one learner at a Time where I started this whole line of thinking and writing. Since that time I have co-authored the COVA eBook and we are just about to publish a second edition of this book as well as are just about to publish the Learner’s Mindset book, so there has been a lot of time and research to help advance the development of these topics.
In the recent video Overcoming Challenges How a Learner’s Mindset Fuels Success I continue my exploration of how to move forward with the Learner’s Mindset and I point to the major challenges that we face when we adopt and live out a Learner’s Mindset.
The reason I continue to add a short written summary for many of my videos is that I want to offer my audience the benefit of an author’s summary perspective and an expansion of my personal story. The current video can be broken into two parts. The first part deals with the challenges of living a Learner’s Mindset and the second part is my admonition that I too experience these challenges and all too often long for a quick fix. Why not just deal with the facts and not labor the point by offering a personal story? I have learned that stories or narrative is what helps people engage and make their own meaningful connections. Don’t take my word for this; look at the evidence yourself. In the post Want To Change the World – Tell a Good Story and The Human Mind is a Story Processor, Not a Logic Processor I point to evidence that shows we are moved by stories because we each have a story of ourselves that we use to reconcile our place in the world so when we hear other’s stories it helps us to understand were this new story can fit. This notion is affirmed further by the research and sources post Feeling Machines that Think and my synthesis The Head Won’t Go Where the Heart Hasn’t Been.
Challenges to the Learner’s Mindset
Pursuit of the quick fix
School works – we learn in spite of the system of education
Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule
While I do list 3 specific challenges, they are all closely related. I also argue that regardless of your cosmology (whether you believe we have evolved or are the result of intelligent design) the human being is the most amazing entity on the planet. As a result, we have a tendency to look for heuristics, more efficient ways of doing things, or finding shortcuts to problems. This perpetual pursuit of a better way, unfortunately, can lead to another human tendency; embracing the quick fix. While there are immediate time-saving advantages to the quick fix we know from research like Stanford Marshmellow Experiment which reveals that there are benefits to delaying gratification that have long-term consequences in improving our lives. I will also add that a quick fix like a visit to MacDonalds while on a trip can be a wonderful time saver and even a treat, but a steady diet of burgers and fries from MacDonalds will have dire long-term health consequences demonstrated by Morgan Spurlock in Supersize Me (2004). When we apply the quick fix to education, we must acknowledge that last-minute cramming or last-minute stream-of-consciousness writing will enable most learners to pass the test or write a passable essay. While this will work to get by one should consider if they would be willing to trust their safety crossing a bridge designed by an engineer who perpetually crammed for their exams and just did the bare minimum to get by.
When you combine our intrinsic capacity to do enough to get by with our current behaviorist model of education, which simply asks for the regurgitation of information on an exam or other summative assessment, many people will look back on their educational experience and confirm that this quick-fix can work. I also have to admit that I have used this quick-fix approach in my high school upgrading and also in much of my undergraduate studies. I recall a couple of Psychology courses that I not only passed but scored 110% (there were bonus points) in all the exams. Once I learned that the instructor was using the questions at the back of each chapter, I simply memorized the questions and variations of answers and aced all the exams. When I was sure that this model of instruction and testing was going to be consistent I also stopped going to the lectures. This enabled me to do better than the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule because I put in about 10% effort and got 110% results. I also quickly realized I could easily put in 20% effort and get a “B” or an “A-” in most other courses. Getting that “A” or topping the class did take more effort and in my undergraduate studies, I did put in that extra effort in very selected courses and graduated with High Distinction which is equivalent to a 4.0 average. When I moved on to my graduate studies I realized that the information transfer model and the pursuit of an extrinsic motivator of grades was still being used in many required courses so I put in 10-20% effort to get that B or even an A and used my remaining time to focus on the courses that required more effort. I used the remaining time to improve my family’s living circumstances by working full-time to support my family and paid for my education without incurring any debt. In contrast, most of my classmates were more concerned with getting good grades and passing the test rather than using the learning environment as an opportunity to prepare for life.
One of the biggest problems with our system of education is that it only prepares students to pass the test but it doesn’t fully prepare students for life. Passing the test is easy and we all know people who have become very proficient at passing the test or demonstrating a skill or process. While these people are able to regurgitate information or recite a process, too many do not have the capacity to make a meaningful connection and use all that acquired information, recipes, and processes to change significant aspects of their lives or anyone else’s.
This leads me to the shift back to the video summary and to the story/narrative or the point in the video where I admit that I also have struggled with staying in the Learner’s Mindset just like anyone else. While I have successfully eliminated or prevented the need for knee surgery by moving completely to Xero barefoot shoes and working through a combination of Ben Patrick’s Knees Over Toes/ATG processes, Kelly Starrett’s Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Ed, Stuart McGill’s research, and many other approaches to rehab my knee I have also failed repeatedly along the way. Some of those failures were attributed to my nagging tendency to go for a quick fix and try to implement a partial solution rather than fully analyze and evaluate all the options as I tried to synthesize a more complete solution that was unique to my circumstance. Fortunately, these failures are simply part of the learning process. The quicker you fail or find out what doesn’t work the quicker you get to what will work. John Maxwell coined the term failing forward and offers Seven Principles for Failing Forward in his post Failing Forward.
Living the Learner’s Mindset, using my research skills and my uncompromising need to go to primary sources counters my laziness and has enabled me to sort through the plethora of copycat videos and sites to find the true authorities in a variety of integrated health disciplines including but not limited to exercise physiology, kinesiology, medicine, and nutrition. Because I live the Learner’s Mindset I am able to embrace my latest challenge of increasing my mobility as another opportunity for growth. Many of the lessons I learned in fixing my knee by fixing my feet can now be directly applied to fixing my mobility. Many of the resources and experts that I have already vetted can help me with this new endeavor.
My goal of being able to do a pistol squat is getting more attainable every day. Nearly a month has passed between when I finished the video in this post and when I have written this post and in that time the latest mobility solution that I have adopted is beginning to show improvement. I can stand and balance on one foot and put on my shoe and then switch to the other foot and put on my other shoe without falling over; most of the time. This is a major improvement. It doesn’t look very stable yet with my left side but as I strive to increase my stability with this movement it will continue to improve. Because I am continually evaluating my performance and also continually analyzing what I need to do to improve, I have noticed that my balance on my right side is much stronger and I have some persistent issues with my left side. The ongoing iterative process of continual improvement that is part of the Learner’s Mindset encourages me to see this latest challenge with balance as one more opportunity to grow and improve my mobility overall. I am also at the point in my personal diagnostic process where I will need another set of eyes and hands to help me determine the most appropriate actions to improve my strength and balance and overall mobility. One more trip to my integrated health specialist (fancy name for a Chiropractor) is in order to help me analyze/diagnose where I am at and what I need to do to make the next set of improvements.
This is going to take more time, but as I stated earlier the ongoing iterative process is necessary for the higher-order thinking process of evaluation, analysis, synthesis, and creation to be fully realized. This is just part of the Learner’s Mindset. This is not a treatment or a remedial activity; it is the way that we all need to live out our daily experiences. I am just going to add the qualified opinion of a trusted expert to help me with my analysis and help me to synthesize and create a new refinement to my current routine. Time and persistence is the key as is remembering that the effort is worth it.
In this episode, we explore how a limited definition of learning and mislabeling learning as training can hinder the learner by trapping them in lower levels of thinking. We encourage everyone to shift from the information transfer definition of learning to view learning as the making of meaningful connections which encourages higher order thinking and involves analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and creation.
The following links include a wide assortment of perspectives that can you used to either reinforce this notion of learning or to explore other aspects of learning:
