Educator Instruction

In a recent CPD session I was articulating my view that an aspect of effective teaching is to be or aspire to be as close as you can to your 'authentic self' in the classroom. I have no empirical evidence to support this claim, in part because how do we measure authenticity of behaviour? However, I do have a deep belief that we have all at some point experienced the impact of an encounter, whether in a formal learning environment or in everyday life, with someone who is at ease with themselves and has a deep knowledge of their discipline - they are authentic.   A colleague politely challenged my claim, highlighting that we cannot ever be our real authentic self when teaching, as the professional standards and expectations as well as the performance aspect (whether the sage on the stage or guide on the side) requires us to act accordingly. While I agree that there is always an element of performance or putting on our game face , hence my caveat 'as close to..' I st...

At the time of writing we are just over 4 years from the initial lockdown (in the UK) of the covid-19 pandemic, a significant period in world history, that will have ramifications for decades to come. For anyone that was a teacher or learner during this period, they will no doubt reflect upon this experience as one that required a rapid adoption of new technology and approaches, and that involved challenges, confusion, frustration, breakthroughs and new learning about what is achievable through Digital Education. However, taking stock of where we are now requires a recognition that much of the optimism of a sunny upland where we might ‘embrace the opportunities for change and innovation that this dramatic event has afforded us.’ (Wieland & Kollias, 2020), has not necessarily been fulfilled. During some recent teaching workshops with HE lecturers, an informal poll identified that approximately 90% of those in attendance were teaching ‘mainly face to face’, having returned to the in ...

  Effective learning design is the goal of teachers and trainers, to optimise the learning experience, creating an engaging and rich learning environment. There are many components that contribute to effective learning design and therefore, following a systematic process can ensure a coherent learning plan and outcome. The following recommendations are my 8 top tips for effective learning design. 1. Purpose In order to plan effective learning, it is important to have a clear understanding of the Purpose of the learning experience, programme or intervention being delivered. Clarity of this purpose is an often overlooked aspect. For instance, it may seem obvious that you have some knowledge that you need your learners to obtain, and so construct a plan of how to transmit the knowledge from your head to theirs. However, having a clear understanding of how the learner will use and apply the knowledge, what its’ utility is and in what context it will be used, in addition to knowled...

The role of a teacher is to engage in a process that facilitates learning for the individuals (student, learners, pupils, colleagues) we are teaching. This then begs the question - what is learning? While there are many ways of conceptualising learning, at its’ core is the idea that learning is the transfer of knowledge and skills to the long term memory - it is a change in our long term memory, our human hard drive. Returning then to our main question - if learning is a change in the long term memory of learners, what does the teaching that will help to achieve this look like? In many respects this is a difficult question to answer. Learning as an outcome can be relatively easily measured by a test, however the process of learning, the journey to the learning goal is difficult to measure as it involves the mysterious organ that sits within our skull - the brain. If we also factor in the multitude of contextual factors that impact if learning will occur, such as the learners’ situatio...

  When seeking to evaluate our teaching practice, one metric we may choose to use is student engagement - how immersed did students appear to be in the session? A quick (but potentially problematic) sense check of this might be the volume in the room for a group task. However, is engagement the panacea it is heralded as and if so how can we create learning experiences that facilitate the engagement we seek from our learners? In his discussion of student engagement, Groccia (2018) provides a detailed summary of literature supporting the benefit of engagement on student outcomes and performance, however perhaps more importantly outlines a multidimensional definition of engagement, that help us to not only understand what engagement is but as a result, to recognise what steps we may take to promote it. This multidimensional model of engagement suggest that to be fully engaged students need to engage in three domains: Behavioural (doing) - a learner needs to participate and complete ...

The Academic lecture has and continues to be the backbone of Higher Education teaching practice, such that when we hear the word ‘University’ it is likely the first image we imagine is a lecture theatre full of students listening intently to an academic addressing their audience. However, for all the history and tradition of a Lecture as a teaching approach, it has its limitations, in particular due to it being inherently a passive experience for the students, centred around a one directional didactic transmission mode of delivery. The result can be boredom and a lack of engagement, which might lead to poor attendance, and ultimately an ineffective and inefficient learning experience. There is hope however, as below I outline six ideas and approaches that can be adopted, to enhance the effectiveness of lectures for both the lecturer and audience alike. Be clear on the goal of the session (and let the students in on it as well - see signposting below!) Clarity of the purpose of a sessio...

This post will provide a brief overview of what the Behaviourist theory of learning is, and some examples of the learning design approaches that can be aligned to behaviourist theory. Central to the Behaviourist theory of learning is the premise that: Learning is the acquisition and replication of observable behaviour . Behaviour is seen as a response by an individual to a stimulus from the environment, and importantly the individual is considered a passive responder to the stimulus/environmental cues, and shaped by the feedback they receive. It suggests that we learn from the feedback we get from an action, for instance if we are rewarded (reinforced) for an action then we are likely to repeat it, and if we experience negative feedback (punishment) then we are less likely to repeat this action. Over time we therefore learn (and can be relied upon to execute) the responses and behaviours that are appropriate, based on the environmental cues we are presented – we have learnt! In this th...