Thursday 9 June 2016

Learning maps: capturing the essence of our learners

Becoming an effective future focused educator is a deeply human experience. That's how i have grown to see education. Imagine a curriculum that is focused on students learning more about themselves than subjects. A curriculum that enables our schooling systems to nurture learner identity, thinkers, community. I see this as a very real possibility considering the first half or our current NZC. However how can we ensure that our teaching practices are focusing on our learners needs in a manner that effectively captures their learning progression?

I am interested in how our education system is becoming more personalised. One area that is intriguing is assessment. In my experience to personalise assessment of learning we need to design assessments that capture more than the easy measurable quantitative data but also the more qualitative learning progressions.

For the last month I've been learning about learning maps with Brian Annan and Mary Wootton from Infinity Learn
  • Low tech (easy and effective with pens & paper) 
  • Enables educators and learners to explore learning experiences as a narrative 
  • Student advocacy is promoted
  • Encourages Ss to talk about their own learning in relation to people,places,tools and interactions
  • Promotes personalised learning, networking & constructivist concepts
  • Provides a holistic view of learners
  • Learners self identify areas that could be altered for increasing learning success
  • It promotes student centred decision making regarding their learning 
  • Learning maps are positive focused
I have chosen to implement learning maps into my learning advisory,(my LA is a vertical home room class with students from yr 9-13), as a result I feel that i have already developed a stronger sense of advocacy. This is really helpful considering this is still my first term here at Lytton High.

Im excited by the opportunities that this kind of assessment provides for our students. The discussions that I have already experienced in my LA are more focused on personalised learning, student ownership of learning and sharing experiences. Points of interest that i thought about during last night workshop relate to identifying when learning is seen as isolated occurrences, passive vs active learning and sustainability of learning. 


Isolated experiences:

Many of my learners saw interactions between them and others,places,tools P,P orT as separate events. They drew themselves in several places around the map instead of having the P,P or T surrounding them in a mindmap style. I wonder if this reveals how the learner sees these interactions as separate events and not as a part of a network of learning?
Passive vs Active:
Arrows showing interactions were mostly pointing towards the learner therefore they saw themselves as passive in their learning. 
Sustainability
How embedded is the P,P or T in the learners network? If this is a node with several interactions then for me this might indicate that this aspect is significant for the learners experiences and more likely to remain so in the future. People,Places or Tools that are nodes with fewer connections might be more tentative in the learners current experience.. these may need to be analysed further to explore if this can be used more or worth reducing. In what I know about Mason Durie's Tapa Whā model, I see as opportunity to explore the information to gain an insight into our students hauora or essence. This is another aspect that relates to the sustainability of our learners learning practices.

I wonder which digital technology will best capture these narratives and images? This will be something i will explore no doubt as i continue on with these maps. 

Overall learning can be difficult to capture at anytime , but i feel that using Learning maps are a strong step in the right direction if we are to develop truly effective assessments for a more personalised education system.