Tag: e-learning

  • How to Balance Theory and Research

    How to Balance Theory and Research

    I love to dwell in both theory and research. Both are fascinating to me.

    But how do I balance theory and research when they conflict with each other?

    I share an example and I know this is stormy waters ahead for some readers because I’m going to create waves.

    Photo of waves set against a cloudy sky.

     Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash

    First, the theory; Andragogy or Adult Learning Theory credited to Malcolm Knowles and to smaller degrees to other theorists.  Before I go any further, I have to acknowledge that in 2022, there is a STRONG movement to discredit Knowles and Adult Learning Theory.  More than I can count, it’s currently cool to disrespect this around instructional design. It’s quite ugly.

    Examples:

    Screen capture of post from Learning Scientists.org called: Pedagogy vs. Andragogy: What's the Difference with a comment, Spoiler alert: Nothing really. 
     
     

    I find this trend really disturbing and an example of cancel culture. Realistically, I find that IDs that put no mental effort into truly studying Andragogy dismiss it out of hand as unreal based on their surface understanding. Said another way, they believe that they know what Andragogy is and then they say it does not exist. BTW, LinkedIn comments have become hot when I’ve described that THE MOST COMMON COMPLAINT against andragogy is that “children occasionally display these adult traits too, so, therefore, adult learning as an exclusive or separate thing does not exist.”  Heads-up: Classic  logical fallacy of composition. 

    Once in a while someone will ask “What is an adult anyway?” which I find to be at least a cognizant thought and then explain “Yes, defining an adult is the first exercise in an Adult Learning Theory class.” Duh. It’s actually really hard to define an adult because there are so many different standards. 

    In summary, using a logical fallacy of composition argument is already weak.

    Additionally, I find that Andragogy is well-respected, research-supported part of education around for over 30 years. What’s next to pick apart? Gender studies?!? 2022 does seem to be the Year to Attack Women. What about Black Cultural studies? How about studies about any particular group?? Or should I be saying “Any particular group that isn’t White Mainstream?”  See? That’s where cancel culture gets you eventually; no one is good enough. I reject all of this.

    Rinse & repeat on Brain-Based Learning.

      (more…)

  • Bizarro World Training

    Bizarro World Training

     

    Photo of light bulbs hanging upside down from a wooden bar.

     

    Photo by Christopher Machicoane-Hurtaud on Unsplash 

    I was given an assignment to go over good student appointments on the phone protocols with my online faculty.  This was one of those “somebody’s done it wrong so we all need to be punished” training assignments.

    I was pissed. My team was great on the phone. How did I know?

    1. I trained them.

    2. I observed them.

    3. Better than #1 or #2, my team understood that our behaviors with students on the phone reflected upon all of us, not one of us. As the Disney song says “We’re all in this together”.  You’re welcome for that earworm.😛

    So I was mad and didn’t want to do the training. But I had 2 items in my favor:

    1. We could design and run the training any way we wanted to. We only had to make “recordings” of the training.

    2. My boss didn’t care to check on the deets. He just wanted to hear that I had completed the training with my team.

    So…. I decided to do Bizarro World Training. That is, the opposite of everything that should be done, we were going to do.

    Photo of Yoshi's Adventure Park somewhere in the real world, made in the likeness of the Super Mario computer game.

    Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash

    I directed my team to team into teams of 2 and they had a certain amount of time to make a recording of “The worst faculty – student phone call ever.”

    They would make a recording – it could include video or not but everyone on the team had to appear at least once in a recording, being either the faculty or the student.

    We would watch all of the recordings at one team meeting one week.

    The results were PERFECT.⭐

    I had faculty who started the video literally with her feet up on her home desk, doing her nails. She just casually called a student. She was completely oblivious to the student’s needs and had not prepared at all.

    Another faculty gave off-the-cuff advice, dismissing everything that the student thought *might* be important and just said things like “yeah, whatever!” It was like the most un-clued-in faculty member ever.

    But the winning entry was a faculty member who called a student and they arranged for massive interruptions by their kids during the phone call– on both ends. The student threatened their kids on the phone. Yes as online faculty we hear that a lot “If you don’t quiet down, I’m gonna [insert true reason to call DFS on the student]!”

    But that was not all, the faculty member’s kids broke into the call too, explaining things they were excited about and playing the violin right next to the phone.

    The call devolved into just a cacophony of the faculty member and student yelling at each other to barely be heard.

    We were all dying of laughter, tears streaming out of our eyes, when we finished with this training.

    I kept the recordings and used them to train new faculty. 

    Always with the qualifier, “Here’s how NOT to do it.”

    #SomeOfMyBestTrainingEver

    #training #elearning #OnlineLearning #faculty #leadership #edtech #InstructionalDesign #BizarroWorld #WhatHappensWhenYourLeaderIsAnInstructionalDesigner 

    Article also posted to LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bizarro-world-training-heather-elizabeth-dodds-ph-d-