Authentic learning opportunities are key motivational and transformational aspects of the COVA approach which you can read about on this website or in the COVA eBook.
Learner’s Mindset – a state of being where people act on their intrinsic capacity to learn and respond to their inquisitive nature that leads to viewing all interactions with the world as learning opportunities. This state enables one to interact with and influence the learning environment as a perpetual learner who has the capacity to use change and challenges as opportunities for growth.
When you are in the learner’s mindset everything is about learning. Being in the learner’s mindset can be likened to Csíkszentmihályi’s (1990) state of flow which is where a person is performing some activity fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus. This notion of not being aware of something that is basic to everything is not a new notion according to the philosopher Alan Watts:
As the fish doesn’t know water, people are ignorant of space. Consciousness is concerned only with changing and varying details; it ignores constants-especially constant backgrounds. Thus only very exceptional people are aware of what is basic to everything (Sreechinth, 2017, p. 56).
This is why we argue that the learner’s mindset is a state of being where people act on their intrinsic capacity to learn and respond to their inquisitive nature which leads to viewing all interactions with the world as learning opportunities. When you are in the learner’s mindset you are like a fish in water. You don’t think about it because it is basic to everything that you do. Moving into or using this state of being requires that you change your thinking about learning, your approach to helping yourself and your learners learn how to learn, and by changing the learning environment.
Change your thinking about learning – By adopting a Learner’s Mindset you will see that learning is much more than the transfer of information, knowledge, skills, or process through instruction, self-exploration, or experience. This information transfer model just uses the lower order thinking which includes remembering, understanding, and applying while the Learner’s Mindset definition of learning is the making of meaningful connections which includes analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing the information you have taken to create something new or to solve a real-world problem.
Change your approach to learning – By embracing your Learner’s Mindset and asking the key questions of why, where, and how will this new information, skill, or process be used in the real world to solve a real problem.
Change your learning environment – By seeking out the actual real-world scenarios where the information, skills, and process will be used and applying the constraints of the real world to your learning you will leverage the authentic learning opportunities and create meaningful connections that will lead to growth and development.
How and why this works
Change your thinking about learning
The Learner’s Mindset approach to learning requires that you use all levels or orders of thinking. Even if you are only going to be asked to regurgitate information on a test or apply a process or skill knowing where and why this information, process, or skill will be important and in what real-world context this will be used will help you to encode the information for future retrieval.
Educational psychologists, learning theorists, instructional designers, educators, and many more learning professionals refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning which looks at learning from three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
Cognitive = Head/Knowing
Affective = Heart/Feeling
Psychomotor = Hands/Using the Sense
Bloom intended the taxonomy to be holistic and assumed that all three domains would be included when we develop learning environments. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case in our educational systems and most other sectors of our society. Unfortunately, our systems of education have focused primarily on the Cognitive domain and all too often just on the lower levels of thinking that include remembering, understanding and applying.
Even though Bloom’s taxonomy was updated in the early 2000s the changes have only shifted in the higher order thinking putting creation at the top of the list. You will often see the levels labeled as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating to denote the action by shifting from the noun to the verb form.
We prefer to go further and use the inverted Bloom’s taxonomy because it combines the higher-order thinking into a continuum and reveals that analyzing, evaluating, and creating must be conducted in conjunction which we often refer to as the synthesis level.
The synthesis perspective is extremely important because it not only requires that you take information apart and explore relationships (analyzing), critically examine the information and make judgments (evaluating), and then use the information to create something new (creating). All these higher-order levels still work with the information that would be acquired in the lower levels of thinking. In order to work at the synthesis level, you still need to find and remember information (remembering), understand or make sense of the information (understanding) and apply that information in a new but similar situation (applying). These lower levels of thinking are still very important because they are used to provide the information that will be analyzed, evaluated, and then synthesized when something new is created.
Depending on the context in which you’re in you will need to emphasize some of the levels more so than others. It is important to remember that knowing how you fully learn to make meaningful connections will help you even if you are just being asked to regurgitate information on an exam.
Change Your Approach to Learning
To change your approach to learning you need to ask why or where will this information be used. This is a much different question than asking “Why do we need to do this” next to “Will this be on the test”. These are among some of the most annoying questions instructors dread.
If your instructor has created a significant learning environment where they have given you choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (CSLE+COVA) then you will have the context and should be able to discern where this new information, skill, or process will be used. If your instructor is more focused on the information or acquisition model of instruction then they more than likely will not have created this type of learning environment and you may need to ask them the question about why, where, and even how this information, skill or process will be used in the real world. As we have pointed up earlier learning is really a process of making meaningful connections. If your instructor is focused on just the information, skill, or process then you will need to ask the key questions that will help you to make the connections you need to effectively learn. We often refer to this as a sift from collecting the dots to connecting the dots.
The conceptual framework referred to in this video is essential to the meaning-making process. This is especially important if you are brand new to the information or have very little experience or knowledge of an area. A good instructor will scaffold you into their level of understanding by helping you to see the conceptual framework in the way that they do. As you gain more knowledge and experience with the new ideas or concepts your conceptual framework will grow and you will make meaningful connections that will help you to retain the key information that you need to be successful.
If you have an instructor who is focused on covering the content in the text or in the assigned curriculum resources and isn’t willing or able to guide you to where and how this new information, skill, or process will be used in the real world then you will need to look for additional support from your classmates, from industry or from Google. We live in the most amazing time to be a learner. Virtually all the world’s information is accessible in the palms of our hands. Within a few minutes, you can do a Google search on almost any topic and get enough information to help you create the context and see the bigger picture.
Change in the Learning Environment
Learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom, library, or study space it actually happens all the time and everywhere if we are involved in using a real-world context. While we have been arguing this for several decades you may run into an instructor who does not hold this same position and view the classroom, lab, shop, or virtual meeting spaces as the location of learning. Obviously, you need to respect your instructor but we strongly encourage you to ask your instructor where this information, skill, or process can be used in the real world. We also encourage you to consider that a learning environment includes social and cultural factors.
If you are fortunate enough to have an instructor who creates a significant learning environment where they give the learner choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (the CSLE+COVA framework) or other aspects of constructivist learning theory then you will be immersed in a learning environment and also encouraged to expand your learning environment to include the real world scenario or project.
If you are not fortunate to have this type of instruction then you will have to consider the “where will this be used” question on your own. Relying on Google, friends, family, and classmates to help you to see where this new information, skill, or process will be used will be as important as it is in the Learning Approach section. Please keep in mind that if you are in high school or post-secondary education you should have some sense of what you may be planning to do after your studies so if you use this end as a focus for your learning journey and view your schooling is a means to an end. If you have a very specific focus like being a nurse, doctor, engineer, or trades-person then you have goals in mind and should be exploring your potential career environment to see how to apply everything you are learning.
We must warn you that this will be one of the harder parts of this process, especially if you have an instructor who is solely focused on delivering the content they are assigned to distribute. When COVID hit many instructors had to shift to remote learning where the primary form of interaction was Zoom or some other online collaboration tool, and this move was not made easily. Many instructors only know the information transfer or acquisition model of learning and they see content delivery as their primary responsibility. They give you the content in some form and you give it back to them in a form of a test, paper, or summative assignment; this is how the educational system works. Any shift away from the classroom is a difficult shift for these people because they are only focused on delivering content.
As a student you are not able to change these instructors so when you ask where and how this information, skill, or process will be used, please do so as politely and professionally as possible. You may find that many of your classmates will appreciate your questions and given a bit of time your questions should warm your instructor to the point where they start to look beyond just delivering you the content and focus on helping you to prepare for your future endeavors.
References
Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. Harper & Row.
Harapnuik, D. (2021, February). Learner’s mindset explained. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8705
Harapnuik, D. (2021, June). Reignite your learner’s mindset. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=9069
Sreechinth, C. (2017). Extracted wisdom of Alan Watts: 450+ lessons from a Theologist. UB Tech. https://books.google.ca/books?id=xruxDwAAQBAJ
Getting Back to Regular Writing
In the past 6 months, my family and I have experienced 3 major traumatic events that have consumed our lives. During this time, I have not been able to do much more than keep up with my workload and the new challenges that I am dealing with. While I have managed to keep up with my instruction and other responsibilities I have in running the Applied Digital Learning Masters, unfortunately, my writing, publication, content creation, and other development tasks have been severely limited. Even though the impacts of these challenges are still present I have learned to live with the changes and am moving forward. I have also gotten to the point where I am able to share the lessons I have learned and over the past few weeks have started writing again. As I move forward I hope that the new stories I am about to share will help others. The following are some of the key points that I will be focusing on as I move forward.
It’s About the Story/Purpose In the post Sharing Stuff That Sticks and Want to Change the World: Tell a Good Story I make the argument that good stories or a good narrative can have a huge impact. Unfortunately, academics, teachers, and students often forget this simple fact and get caught up in the mechanics of writing, and lose sight of the purpose of the writing.
Eliminate Passive Voice and Us Active Voice Consider how difficult the following statement is to understand:
It has been observed in a frequency all too significant that students upon submission of their written assignments have been inclined to have chosen a manner of composition that is too often far from one that is direct enough to be understood as conveying meaning in a fashion that is most expedient.
You will find the interpretation of this statement as well as an assortment of resources and links on how to avoid using passive voice in the post How to Use Zombies to Kill Passive Voice.
Primary Sources In the post To Get the Real Story You Need to Go to Primary Sources I point to the fact that YOU have the responsibility to verify what you read by reading critically and thinking analytically while looking at the evidence. I have also argued that the notion of trusted sources is something that we cannot rely on anymore, at least not completely. I will go as far as to suggest that there are some sources that I may be more inclined to initially trust but I would still verify.
Whom can you trust? Trust yourself. You need to do your due diligence and look at all the facts and make an informed decision. There is no quick fix. The most efficient way is to go back to the primary sources and see what is really being claimed. Please keep this in mind as you do your research for your writing.
Literature Review – What Does the Data Say Tips Even if you have to write for a very specific academic purpose like a literature review remember that purpose or story behind what you are looking to the literature for support. Make sure you take some time to review the Literature Review tips on the ADL/EDLD 5305 Tips & Perspectives page –
Going Deeper
Please remember that the following sections of my website/ePortfolio will have a wealth of information that will help you Change the World One Learner at a Time by adopting a Learner’s Mindset and sharing that journey.
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:
Research, surveys, and most people’s anecdotal experience would suggest that moving is one of the top five most stressful life events. Moving doesn’t have to be stressful and I argue that if you adopt a Learner’s Mindset it can be a wonderful learning opportunity and a significant opportunity for renewal and growth. I am speaking from years of experience so consider the following.
My landlord is selling his house and we now have to move. We have been in our current location for 8 years which is the longest time we have been in one home. All through this time, I lamented with my wife that we had grown complacent, collected too much stuff, and needed to move to help force us to adjust our lifestyle. The past 8 years have been a major shift from 2006-2013 when we moved 14 times which included moves to 7 different cities and also included moving to and from different countries. In our previous move from Edmonton to North Vancouver, everything we owned fit in a 10X20 container and this was in storage for nearly 8 months because we were staying at Whistler for the biking season and then house sat for a few months. When we finally moved to our house I recall selling and purging so many things from our storage container because I realized just how little we really needed.
This current move is only going to be for a year because we are once again house sitting for a friend so most of what we have will be in storage. This has given us the opportunity to once again purge and eliminate all the things that we just don’t need. My younger son is getting married this fall and is living in another part of the province. My other son is still off racing and this fall will be going to school for the next few years so life has significantly changed for my wife and me. Since I have a Learner’s Mindset I have tapped into my intrinsic capacity to learn and view all interactions with the world as learning and growth opportunities so this current move has been one of the most exciting and exhilarating times. We have purged, sold, and given away so many things that we just don’t need. We have the next year to lighten our load even more because our next move will require us to have even fewer possessions than we have now.
I am looking forward to the unpacking stage of this move because I know from previous experience I will be able to get rid of even more and par down my possessions to the minimum that I will need to continue to flourish and grow.
