Transcript Int.conf.SessionJ2.sept14.06.Collins

Injecting Surprise into a Course or Module:
Using Synergistic Learning Methods and the Art
of Participatory Learning
Dr. Lorna Collins
National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship
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session outline
• Background
• What are synergistic learning methods?
• Experiential session
– Where will these methods be of use?
– What is the value of them?
– What are challenges?
• Discussion
• Linkage to Entrepreneurial Outcomes
Template
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health warning
• this is an experiment
• methods described have not been used in
a short session like this before
• meant to be illustrative – to give a feel for
what they are like
• more detail available afterwards, readings,
hard copy examples of exercises,
materials
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highlight linkage with
Entrepreneurial Outcomes Template
• Main links with
– Creating empathy with the entrepreneurial life
world
– Managing relationships
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A. Key entrepreneurial behaviours, skills
and
attitudes developed
B. Students ‘feel’ the
life-world of
the entrepreneur
D. Motivation towards an
entrepreneurial lifestyle and
occupation has been
built
F. Students understand the
process (stages)
of setting up an organisation
T
E
M
P
L
A
T
E
H. Students understand the
relationships they need to develop
with key stakeholders
C. Key entrepreneurial
values inculcated and
Emotional response
calculated
E. Students grasp the key generic
entrepreneurship competencies
in practice
G. Students grasp key
how to’s of developing
holistically managed
sustainable
entrepreneurial organisations
Creating empathy with the
entrepreneurial life world
• Students need to clearly empathise with,
understand and ‘feel’ the life-world of the
entrepreneur
–
–
–
–
–
living with uncertainty and complexity
having to do everything under pressure
coping with loneliness
trust relationships
learning by doing, copying, making things up, problem
solving
– managing interdependencies
– working flexibly
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Managing relationships
• Understanding the nature of the relationships they need
to develop with key stakeholders and are familiar with
them
• identify all key stakeholders impacting upon any venture
• understand the needs of all key stakeholders at the start
–up and survival stage
• know how to educate stakeholders
• know how to learn from them
• know how best to build and manage the relationship.
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motivation to develop this approach
• Based on work with colleagues
• We believe
– different learning methods could be used to
instil entrepreneurial ethos in students
– taking a tripartite approach - existing
entrepreneurs, nascent entrepreneurs and
educators beneficial to all learners
– entrepreneurship education is valuable to all
students – not just business and management
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what we did – underlying assumptions
• Entrepreneurs have knowledge and experience to share
with others
• Students have knowledge and experience - may be
different but valuable to all
• Collaborative and co-learning environments are the
perfect medium for encouraging this exchange of
information
• Involving all parties in development, design, and delivery
is likely to lead to effective learning of entrepreneurial
knowledge, skills and behaviour
• Creating mutuality and reciprocity between students,
entrepreneurs and academics is beneficial – challenging
but beneficial
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what we did - experiment
• 15 students were self-selecting – different
disciplines
• 5 entrepreneurs were local – all industries
• Academic ‘pool’ from several East
Midlands universities
• 3 member development team from two
different universities; also members of
academic pool
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what we did - programme
•
•
•
•
•
Ran over ten weeks
10 sessions in total
Each session was four hours in length
Held at different venues
Including a project that ran over the 10
weeks
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what we did – approach used
• Action research and learning approach to
developing programme and methods
• Delivered whole in entrepreneurial, experiential
and participatory manner – encompassing
qualities in delivery that were trying to be
instilled in participants
• Developed ground rules - specific and designed
to create a safe environment for all participants –
who all agreed to the experiment
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Synergistic (participatory) learning results from
the interaction between people having different
experiences and perspectives where the
potential for mutual learning is increased
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• Used where? social and community
enterprise contexts (environmental sector)
• Grounded in a constructivist learning
theory
– learner is actively involved in the joint
enterprise of learning with the educator and
together they create new meanings
– Social construction of knowledge
– synergistic learning involves everyone in the
learning process
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Participatory methods:
allow for articulation and interaction
between different perceptions,
interpretations
and arguments between people
when problem solving and
developing new ideas
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• Cooperation
– students work with entrepreneurs and academics to
determine priorities; responsibility to direct process lies with
entrepreneurs and academics
• Co-learning
– students, entrepreneurs and academics share knowledge
and create new understandings - work together to form
plans of action
• Consultation
– student’s opinions are sought - entrepreneurs and
academics analyze and decide course of action to take
• Collective action
– students set own agendas and act to carry out the action
without the help of entrepreneurs and academics
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Ground rules –
modified from the full set of rules
• Everyone is responsible for what takes place;
• Mutual respect for other participants;
• A non-judgemental approach with shared and
open communication between all participants;
• Co-operation and collaboration;
• Agree to commit to try anything and be openminded (to try to say ‘maybe’ instead of ‘no’).
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Roles
• Three observers/adjudicator – one for each
group, provide objective feedback on what goes
on in the group and adjudicate
• Three exercise groups – 5 people in each group
• Three different roles needed in each group
– 3-5 Students – ratio matches our programme
– 1 Educator
– 1 Entrepreneur
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Students, educators and entrepreneurs - take 4
minutes now to get into role
• Students – focus on deciding how you will
be marked, what the lecturer wants from
you at the end of this exercise, or where
you are going to go out tonight!
• Educators – focus on learning outcomes
• Entrepreneurs – focus on taking short cuts
and breaking the rules and winning the
exercise – being entrepreneurs you can
break this rule!
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Using cooperation method – Exercise 1
• Students work together with entrepreneur
and academic to determine priorities
required to achieve the task – build the
tower
• Entrepreneur and educator direct the
process – in this case, the process of
getting the tower built to specification
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Task – Exercise 1
• You are required to use 3 sheets of A4 paper
and make a tower to the following specification:
– able to stand constructed for a minimum of 30
seconds
– over 10 cm high
• You cannot use any other items to build or
support the tower – only 3 sheets of A4 paper
• Total time to complete task 10 minutes
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Observers – Exercise 1
• There is a 10 minute time limit
• The group with the highest tower wins
• Breaking the rules results in
disqualification
• Adjudicate that the tower meets spec
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Adjudication – Exercise 1
• Take note of the following:
– Did the tower meet the spec?
– Did everyone stay in role?
– Did anyone break the rules?
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Co-learning
• students, entrepreneurs and educators all
share their knowledge and work together
to form the plan of action for completing
the task – to build a tower to spec
• there is a 10 minute limit on the task
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Task - Exercise 2 – 10 minutes
• You are required to use 3 sheets of A4 paper
and make a tower that meets the following
specification:
– able to stay constructed for a minimum of 30 seconds
– over 20 cm high
– able to withstand windy conditions
• You cannot use any other items to build or
support the tower – only 3 sheets of A4 paper
• Total time to complete task - 10 minutes
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Observers – Exercise 2
• There is a 10 minute limit
• The group with the highest tower wins but
it must be able to withstand a outward
breath from someone about 3 metres
away
• Breaking the rules results in
disqualification
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Adjudication – Exercise 2
• Take note of the following:
– Did the tower meet the spec?
– Did everyone stay in role?
– Did anyone break the rules?
– What did you observe?
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Feedback within groups – students,
entrepreneurs, educators and observers
• For each method, how did it feel for the students, the
entrepreneurs, the educators?
• Focus on the method not the exercise itself
• 8 minutes in groups to discuss and record thoughts
• Observer to serve as reporter/feedback ensemble
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discussion - 1
• What would be the impact of using these
methods?
– Students
– Entrepreneurs
– Educators
• What do you think would be the
challenges of using these methods in a
course/module?
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feedback - impact on staff and students
• For educators - time consuming?; knowledge
levels variable; difficult to manage? Not sure of
outcomes – ambiguity?
• For students – find it difficult; willingness to take
risks?; work together with others; do something
that is open ended – may be unwilling to do this
given desire to achieve high marks – buy-in?
ability to operate comfortably?
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challenges
• Flexibility
• Accredited units require consistency,
replicability
• Resource intense – finding entrepreneurs
• Experience and knowledge set maybe
different from expected standard
• Risky
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what else might be needed
to make these methods work well from
students perspective?
• Preparation, before, during, after
• Consider:
– Attitudes
– Skills
– Knowledge
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Attitudes - accepted
– Willingness to try something new and to be
wrong, and to make mistakes
– Helping others – collaboration is vital
• Skills – which need to be introduced beforehand
and are enhanced through using these methods
– Reflection – an understanding and the ability
to engage in the reflective process
– Observation – being practiced at watching
what is going on around them; able to
interpret and translate
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Reflective learning is the key element in
learning from experience – it is the core
difference between whether a person
repeats the same experience several
times…or learns from experience in such
a way that he or she is cognitively
(thinking) changed or affectively
(emotion/feelings) changed’ (Boyd and
Fales, 1983)
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student’s knowledge levels
• How they learn best?
• What is their preferred personal method?
• Language – do they need to know the
basics of business, and be able to speak
with entrepreneurs – and visa versa?
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discussion - 2
• is there any added value in using these
methods?
• where?
• for whom?
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where is the added value?
• Wider range of learning outcomes achieve ?’able
• Unpredictable, open-ended learning that takes
place can be surprising and stimulating
• Personal interaction, team teaching = dynamic,
complex, emotional – for entrepreneurs the
stimulation and challenge was a ‘buzz’
• Taking people outside their experience zone has
unexpected outcomes for all – good and bad
• Risks can be taken – ground rules offer mutual
protection
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added value for students
• Students have a chance to feel ‘real’ world
through relationship and interaction with
entrepreneur
• They can observe how the entrepreneur:
– Learns
– Solves problems
– Thinks about things
– Gets things done
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summary
•
•
•
•
Discussed participatory methods
Experienced them first hand
Discussed how they might be used
More information available
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thank you
any questions?
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