Dewey’s 4 Principles:
- Learning by doing or experiential learning
- Discussion
- Interactive
- Interdisciplinary
Archives For connecting the dots
In a TED talk and blog post Connecting dots (or collecting dots) Seth Godin argues:
Without a doubt, the ability to connect the dots is rare, prized, and valuable. Connecting dots, solving the problem that hasn’t been solved before, seeing the pattern before it is made obvious, is more essential than ever before.
Godin also asks why then do we spend so much time collecting dots. We overwhelm our learners with so much data, ask them to regurgitate this content in tests, and simply focus on the delivery of content instead of helping our learners make meaningful connections. While Godin has coined the notion of connecting the dots rather than collecting the dots, the idea of developing connections within a conceptual framework was first introduced to me by my colleague Robert McKelvain, Ph.D. at Abilene Christian University in 2010. McKelvain suggested that the difference between an expert and a novice is that an expert has a fully developed conceptual framework.
In the diagram, the main concepts are represented by the larger blue dots and the dotted lines between the concepts represent the connections that the expert has developed as they have expanded their conceptual framework. The expert not only relies upon their full conceptual framework, but they are also able to enter into this framework from many different perspectives. They can see all the pieces and understand all the connections and when dealing with new information they have a much broader base in which to understand and encode that new information—which makes them a more adaptable, efficient, and effective learner and problem solver in their areas of expertise.
In contrast to the expert, the novice may not only have a minimally developed conceptual framework, but they may also even have some of the concepts wrong, miss the connections, and not fully understand all the connections that they do see. If we understand that learning is the making of meaningful connections then the role of the expert teacher is to:
- Provide the context for learning which includes introducing the fundamental conceptual framework components.
- Create an environment where the learner can start to make meaningful connections between those concepts.
- Model the learning process needed to: make those connections, add new concepts, and see the patterns that lead to solving problems.
- Mentor the novice in building and expanding their conceptual framework.
In a nutshell, the expert models what it takes to become an expert learner and take ownership in the development of one’s own expertise.
One of the biggest challenges in this process is the expert’s bias, which is the inability of an expert to see the challenges that a novice or beginner faces. This can have significant ramifications in areas where subject matter experts with limited teaching knowledge and experience are tasked with teaching. Subject matter experts have often forgotten more than a novice even knows and unless they are also expert teachers and have developed the conceptual framework of an expert teacher, they can have difficulty understanding the challenges that the novice is experiencing. Therefore, teacher training and professional development will be crucial if we hope to move from the notion of collecting dots to connecting dots.
The whole notion of connecting dots involves analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and creating that leads to deeper learning and Learner’s Mindset. Connecting dots is a foundational or fundamental idea that we need to consider when we look at creating significant learning environments. The other key foundational concepts include:
Applied Learning,
Assessment Of/For/As Learning,
Change of Focus,
CLSE,
COVA,
and the Learner’s Mindset.
It is also essential to consider the role of analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and creating that leads to deeper learning which is expanded upon in the post How to Change the World One Learner at a Time
Revised February 22, 2021
In his most recent book, What To Do When It’s Your Turn, Seth Godin laments that many people who apply to his seminars or for internships have no hard skills to brag about and that:
They’re happy to check off boxes like “business development” and “making a rukus” but they rarely say that they know how to code or to use CSS or even InDesign. They’ve spent so many years following instructions, fitting in, and getting good grades that they have failed to learn to do anything that independent.
The side effect of a lack of hard skills is that these very same people almost never have much to show for themselves in the way of a project portfolio, online or off. They can’t point to something and say, “I made that.”
Other than a degree or certificate these people all too often have nothing tangible to show for their many years in education. It isn’t just the evidence of being able to create something that is lacking, many of these young graduates are not able to tangibly show that they can think critically and solve problems. Godin has been pointing to this inability of many students not being able to make meaningful connections for the past several years – see my blog posts Connecting Dots vs Collecting Dots and Experts Connect Dots not Just Collect Dots. His fundamental argument bares repeating:
Without a doubt, the ability to connect the dots is rare, prized and valuable. Connecting dots, solving the problem that hasn’t been solved before, seeing the pattern before it is made obvious, is more essential than ever before.
Why then, do we spend so much time collecting dots instead? More facts, more tests, more need for data, even when we have no clue (and no practice) in doing anything with it.
Their big bag of dots isn’t worth nearly as much as your handful of insight, is it?
It isn’t just the likes of Seth Godin who is concerned about the plight of our young graduates. Generation Jobless, a Doc Zone documentary by CBC points to the crisis of an increasing number of university and college grads who are underemployed – scraping by on low-paid, part-time jobs that don’t require a degree. The documentary reveals that while there “there are no official statistics in Canada, it’s estimated that after graduating, one in three 25 to 29 year olds with a college or university degree end up in a low-skilled job.
While there many systemic ways of addressing this issue that may include more co-op programs in higher education and resolving the embarrassing fact that Canada is the only country in the world without a national body responsible for education there is a very simple and effective way for students to show everyone what they have made, the problems they have solved and the insights they have gained.
A purposefully designed learning portfolio, ideally in the form of an electronic portfolio or eportfolio, would give students a platform that they could show future employers what they have done, what they are capable of doing and perhaps most importantly how they learned how to learn. I have been very explicit in calling for a purposefully design learning portfolio because the typical assessment portfolio that too many institutions purchase separately or as an add on to their Learning Management Systems (LMS) are simply glorified digital filing cabinets where students dump artifacts (assignment documents).
These LMS add-ons or other assessment portfolio tools are not useful eportfolios because they miss the primary point of creating a portfolio. An eportfolio is not just a digital file cabinet where one show how many dots they have collected– it is domain of one’s own where the student reveals their learning journey and shows through reflection, speculation and documentation all the meaningful connections that they have made. The eportfolio itself is a space that the student creates. Perhaps most importantly, an eportfolio can be used to show a students growth and how they have matured over time and how they have made a connection between their schoolwork and their personal and professional lives.
An eportfolio developed over the span of high school to the end of undergraduate or even graduate studies is a tangible asset that can explicitly show what a student has made and who they have become. Why aren’t we striving to give all our student this type of learning and growth experience?
