Human beings actually have a lot of experience engaging each other in learning. But sometimes we forget we have this repertoire of “ways of being together” that engage and delight us. Let’s explore and expand that repertoire. We’ll focus on the simple, replicable and often VERY fun things we can do to engage and support meaning making. And heck, these can be valuable in your day to day life, online or offline!
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ETUG Spring 2013 - The Blissful Survival Rucksack for Engaged Online Learning by Nancy White
1. The blissful survival rucksack for
engaged online learning
Nancy White
Aka hoping not to be a “disappointed optimist”
in the end
http://www.fullcirc.com
@NancyWhite
2. With a deep bow of appreciation to
Keith McCandless and Henri
Lipmanowicz who led me up the
mountain…
3. The blissfulsurvival
rucksack for engaged online learning
Nancy White
Aka hoping not to be a “disappointed optimist” in the end
http://www.fullcirc.com
@NancyWhite
4.
5.
6.
7. I remember reading once that the late comedian
George Carlin used to hate it whenever anyone
labeled him a cynic; whenever anyone did, he would
correct them by referring to himself as a
disappointed idealist. The distinction was important
to him, and I get it. To be an idealist is to hold tight
to the belief that regardless of how jaded an
environment has become, there is still a place and
maybe a reward for someone who chooses to plat
to a different standard.
Youngme Moon
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd /pg. 226
13. 11-22-44-AllAll
Remember a teaching and/or learning time
when you were feeling when you were
blissfully ENGAGED! That magic moment.
What was happening? What was the story?
•1 minute quiet reflection (@Cogdog &
@BGBlogging twist… object experiment)
•2 minutes in pairs
•(maybe) 4 minutes in sets of 4
•Quick debrief
15. What, so what, now
what?
Together, Look Back on
Progress-To-Date and Decide
What Adjustments Are Needed
http://www.liberatingstructures.com/9-what-so-what-now-what-w/
16. How we shape our mental maps (from Senge, 1994, adapted by Ian Metcalf)
http://dev.change-management-toolbook.com/mod/book/print.php?id=74&chapterid=32
17. What makes the magic? What’s
in our teaching & learning journey
rucksacks that creates magic?
19. “…knowing how to use who you are as
a vehicle for opening spaces for
learning. It’s about being able to use
who I am to take my community to a
new level of learning and
performance…space for becoming
learning citizens“
– Etienne Wenger
". . . the art of enhancing human capacities in the
light of social complexity. It seeks to bring new ways
of thinking, being and doing to social challenges in
the world.…Social Artists are leaders in many fields
who bring the same order of passion and skill that
an artist brings to his or her art form, to the canvas
of our social reality. - Jean Houston
32. What do youWhat do you
recognize hererecognize here
from your work?from your work?
McCandless and Lipmanowicz
33.
34. Name That
Structure
Game
1.Go find a partner
from another table
2.Together pick three
LS structure cards from a deck
3.Make up the process they
represent
4.Identify how you could use them online
for teaching and learning
5.Share your ideas with another pair
35. Best idea you heard forBest idea you heard for
doing thisdoing this
online?online?
36. "If our approach to teaching andteaching and
learning onlinelearning online was totally
obliterated last night, what parts
would you re-establish this morning?"
"What new functions or attributes
would you add?"
40. "Every time we gather becomes a model of the future
we want to create" (Block, 2008). Your question Sylvia
took me back to this quote - and left me wondering
about how the exchanges, gatherings, convenings at
the heart of social learning spaces - really are
representative of a future still in creation. It then
becomes less about the online platform or the meeting
room - but more about that "social artistry" that's
required to intentionally scaffold social learning spaces
that are representative of a preferred future…Block's
quote takes me to a place of recognizing that each
interview, each email of information, each tweet within
a CoP can be seen as integral of the process of future
creation.
Jonny Morris via CPSquare
The blissful survival rucksack for engaged online learning Human beings actually have a lot of experience engaging each other in learning. But sometimes we forget we have this repertoire of "ways of being together" that engage and delight us. Let's explore and expand that repertoire. We'll focus on the simple, replicable and often VERY fun things we can do to engage and support meaning making. And heck, these can be valuable in your day to day life, online or offline!
I’m happy that I met Keith McCandless of Seattle a number of years back (we were co-graphically recording an event centered around the Dali Lama) and have continued to learn from him and his collaborator, Henri Lipmanowicz who together have created http://www.liberating structures which was the inspiration for this talk.
I want to stress the blissful part. Around me, regardless of field, I see people working so hard, pressured from all sides. We need to keep/bring joy to our work.
I recently was facilitating a meeting (in the field of international development) and it was remarkable how many unhappy faces walked into the room. People were internally focused. As we started, each was hungry to have his or her say. Few were listening and engaging with each other. They had their own agendas. I’ve seen this in learning contexts as well. It is a painful place to feel unheard. It is an unproductive space to not truly hear others.
Little things can move us from a painful place to a blissful place. Some time and attention to engage. A shift of practice. Too often, however it is easy for these little things to get lost in big institutions. So we are the agents of change to keep those practices alive.
I am a believer that we can practice these little things.
You may have noticed in the title slide, I listed myself as “Aka hoping not to be a “disappointed optimist” in the end. It seems to me that the attitude we bring to work every day - be it in learning, international development or serving a meal – matter. Deeply
Here is my intention for our hour together
We will explore social artistry as a way to engage each other in learning.
While I acknowledge we do this in challenging circumstances and institutions, what I’m talking about is process, not protest.
While I recognize the importance of content – syllabi and such – are important in learning, I’m focusing on the social processes of engagement.
So enough with the words. Lets engage
(The group did an exercise together) The twist referred to can be found here: http://cogdogblog.com/2013/06/03/heart-of-stories/
For another great illustration of this, see http://www.nathanlewit.com/portfolio/ladder-of-inference/
In 2011 I participated in one of the MOOCs, #Change11. I was the facilitator for week 8 and my topic was very related to what I want to talk about today. So I want to thank and acknowledge them as thinking partners. There were also a few individuals who really both helped me clarify my thinking and show me the “sweet spots.” My starting assumption is pretty obvious. We can’t handle the volume alone. We can’t tap into the richness of networks alone. And in an era where we can connect widely, and across a lot of diversity, it is worth paying attention to HOW. What I did in my week was (tell story)
http://socialreporter.com/?p=474 http://www.jeanhouston.org/Social-Artistry/social-artistry.html Some people have described the practice of creating social engagement as “social artistry.” https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150473672076145&set=a.64231186144.83513.709226144&type=1&theater http://www.michelemmartin.com/thebambooprojectblog/2011/11/learning-careers-and-social-artistry.html amplifies on a post I had written earlier for the #Change11 MOOC http://www.fullcirc.com/2011/11/08/reflecting-on-socialartists-and-change11/\ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150473672076145&set=a.64231186144.83513.709226144&type=1&theater http://zmldidaktik.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/are-we-social-artists/#respond Wenger's article a social artist is a person "enabling social learnig spaces". Social artists network because there is something they care about, some new learning they want to enable. Yes, we do! We want to irritate and challenge people and make them reflect their learning processes until now to help them experience new ways of learning - democratic, open, playful, reflective ways. Social artists have a genuine intention to create a collective learning process. Yes, starting in 1998 (when our institute started) we believed in shared learning processes and designed collective learning scenarious. Social artists care that people feel ownership of their learning spaces. We care about supporting our participants and students in being self-directed and going their own way, defining their own objectives, finding their learning spaces. Social artists are patient with social processes, they do not seek control. Uffa, it is not easy to be patient and Natasa said that she is struggling with being patient whereas in my opinion she has a lot of patience with her course participants. We do not seek control but want to facilitate and support the learners. We try to be as open as possible in the perception of different ways of learning, other velocities, other attitudes with regard to learning. We reflect what we observe in our virtual groups and learn a lot during our courses. Social artists can tolerate chaos, dissension and negotiation. Yes, we can but it is not easy. It means to be patient, to have confidence into the virtual groups, and to support them to survive these periods. Social artists inspire people to do things these people never thought they would do and end up feeling good about it. Yes! It is always great when we succeed in achieving this aspect, when people write that they "appreciate the potential of the virtual room", when they have learned to value the exchange between each other and realise how much they can learn from each other and profit from the shared expertice. According to Gilly Salmon this is phase 5: development when the group gets independent from the moderator and organsises itself. Social artists are pragmatic .... Social artists have visions and aspirations even when they are quiet about them... They are able to navigate the complex politics of communities and organizations to promote and protect the learning spaces they care about. Yes, we definitely try to protect our learning spaces and further develop "New learning" and infect as many persons as possible to induce changes in communities and organizations. Social artists live what they seek to bring about....They use their own experience and¦nbsp; identity, as a source of inspiration. Yes, we are focussed on learning, reflecting, making experiments, designing, developing, discussing to support people better in their own elearning processes. The work of social artists has to do with the heart as well as the mind, with passion and commitment.... And it is hard work. Yes, caring about virtual groups and social learning spaces is part of our daily work and keeps us occupied. It needs a lot of energy, of openess to perceive what people need, it never finishes. But to observe the learning processes, the changes, the reflections at the edn of a course, a semster is a great gratification. jupidu | November 11, 2011 at 11:14 pm | Kategorien: #change11, Kritik / Zukunft | URL: http://wp.me/p1b7vg-3a
We often fall into ruts and limit our repertoire.
See the work of June Holley http://www.networkweaver.blogspot.com/
One of the most basic network weaving practices is closing triangles – connecting people we think would benefit from the connection http://www.networkweaving.com/blog/2006/06/network-weaving-101.html
Another social artist is Dave Gray http://www.gogamestorm.com/?p=42 http://app.looplogic.com/davegray/empathy-map-exercise
His empathy map is a great engagement tool http://www.gogamestorm.com/?p=42 http://app.looplogic.com/davegray/empathy-map-exercise
One of the most influential set of practices in my work right now come from Henri and Keith, http://www.liberatingstructures.com
This is the visual menu of LS
http://www.liberatingstructures.com/principles/
The group does a second exercise with the LS card deck (soon to be available from Keith and Henri)
Let’s explore then a typical path of bringing technology to teaching and learning. Learning happens through a series of activities that people do alone and with each other. What comes to mind when you think about this. For many of us, the first thing we do is list the tools, not the activities. If we flip and start with the activities, we might actually do a better job matching tools and tool practices with those activities. And that assumes we are actually THINKING about and designing learning activities.
Another activity…
Another activity…
Liberating structures has had impact in health care, and many places. It is beginning to influence education. I challenge you to infect your academic world with LS. We benefit from ACTIVATING this sort of potential in ourselves to learn, do, engage, PRACTICE!
This changes the moment. Changes the learning. Changes us. Dare we think, aspire, believe that we can also change the field. More on that in a bit, but hold on to the idea that we are revolutionaries for positive change in the learning world by believing and acting on the power of activation and intention through connection. Yes, powerful stuff. (At this point, I shouted “Occupy Education” in the name of all you who have been shouting this out in rooms and online spaces around the world for the past months!)