Teaching / learning ideas tap our shoulders all the time. Which are worthy? Would Think-Pair-Share work for me, or should I try One-Minute Paper instead? Can I do both – and maybe Muddiest Point too?
When I attend a cross-discipline conference, I typically find a dozen intriguing ideas among hundreds of very good ones. Back in the office, precious gems that had been carefully captured in conference notes get buried under homework to grade, new mail, textbooks, and so on. Even eNotes are lost on my iPad, waiting to be re-discovered when I next launch that particular app. My enthusiasm morphs into “nice” ideas for next semester’s prep time – and when I do prepare for upcoming classes, I often forget that I had such plans; when I do think of them, I struggle to find details.
I now accept that I must focus and sacrifice. From the dozen possibilities, I whittle my list to no more than one or maybe two “best” ideas, trying hard to get this filtering done before I return to campus. To guide my selection, I carefully ponder those learning activities that really haven’t been very effective in the past – those seeds of opportunity.
I commit to test a new idea in a specific lesson, in a specific class, carefully integrating it by either supplementing or supplanting the older approach. How would it best fit in my class context? Do I need to demonstrate a technique? Can I invent and construct an applicable learning activity? How can I tune the lesson so that students really do learn better?
When the day for teaching with the new idea arrives, I dig deep to re-energize my enthusiasm. I can’t be passive – I can’t meekly admit that I’m conducting an experiment! After trying the idea, it’s critical that I reflect right away. How well did it work? Should I keep it? Grow it? Discard it? How should I adapt it for next time?
But what happened to those other very good ideas, the ones that failed to clear my harsh one- or two-idea cutoff? They remain filed in my subconscious, ready to bolster credibility if/when they surface again. Others – those I do not hear of again – drift into oblivion. Perhaps that’s best; they might have been simply fads. I need not worry, for the well of great ideas will never go dry.
Great questions about how we move forward in our teaching and learning. I have two thoughts. One from the learners perspective and the other for the conference presenters viewpoint.
Going to a conference and being saturated with new ideas, new people, new places is pretty overwhelming. And you are so right about the return to work and the instant “back to work” with no time to explore the newly discovered ideas. One way as you note is to, “…commit to test a new idea.”
You also comment on the challenge of the notes you have taken at the conference. They get lost in the shuffle. Yep, they do.
I have had some success taking notes and turning them into my “conference review” that I share with the faculty. For the note-taking it is just a Google Doc. I try to add links and images. Here are the original notes for an online conference I attended. It includes some of the chat from the Collaborate sessions. https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1f4_wFolVp4JHX-drfvRqiWF5MGY3YzE8SOF7SY-byJM&pli=1
I spent a bit of time rewriting session evaluations and making the notes into a Google Site and this is what I sent to my boss and the faculty here as a description of what I saw and maybe learned: https://sites.google.com/site/teachingonlineconference/
What is interesting to me is how little is expected from the institution in the way of demonstrating what was experienced. Here there is a very short review ( like a few sentences) and maybe, if you are lucky, you might be asked to share 5 minutes with he faculty at a division meeting. That’s it. Seems like we could do more to encourage deeper reflection and sharing of what we experience at conferences.
So from the presenters perspective I now bring a website as my “handout” for conference sessions. That does one thing right away for participants: it gives them access to the “handouts” from anywhere and all kinds of other things a “handout” could never share. Videos for example.
http://informallearningnetworks.wordpress.com/
http://humantouchanddigitalpersonality.wordpress.com/
It is just a link that can be widely shared. And it is interactive so people can discuss the content. Seems like in 2013 we should all be doing that…
Great post. It is a huge challenge to find a new idea and be willing to find and take the time to implement it. Not only can it be risky ( a good thing in my opinion http://www.slideshare.net/tconaway/im-a-loose-cannon ) but it does take time. And these days faculty have very little of it.
I think this 4x4x16 challenge contains some possible solutions to help create ideas, share them, and encourage faculty to risk and “”…commit to test a new idea.”
Great post. Thanks!