Mager – Mr learning objectives. In this course you will…..yawn, yawn!

Robert Mager published the second edition of his book Preparing Instructional Objectives in 1975 (first edition1962). It was an attempt to bring some rigour to the often woolly world of education and training by making learning professionals start with clear goals. It essentially says, start with the end point and work backwards. Additionally, his Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI), an extension of Gagne’s method of instruction, is a method for the design and delivery of training. His aim was to produce a more rigorous and precise approach to the design of learning experiences based on competences and assessment that relate to defined learning or performance objectives.

Learning objectives

Learning objectives should be designed to determine the outcomes of learning. A good learning objective has to have three primary components of an objective:

1. Conditions. An objective always states the important conditions (if any) under which the performance is to occur. This could include tools, assistance or assumptions.

2. Performance. An objective always says what a learner is specifically expected to be able to do and may also describe the product or the result of the doing.

3. Criterion. Wherever possible, an objective describes the criterion of acceptable performance by describing how well the learner must perform in order to be considered acceptable.

Mager held that an important part of writing good objectives was to use ‘doing words’. These are words which describe a performance (e.g., identify, select, recall) acts which can be observed and measured. Words to avoid are fuzzy terms that describe abstract states of being (e.g. know, learn, appreciate, be aware) which are difficult to observe or measure. Mager's model is still used as a guide to good objective writing.

Criterion Referenced Instruction

His Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI) framework is a set of methods for the design and delivery of training programs. It relies on a detailed task analysis, the identification of performance objectives, then assessment against those objectives and a modular course structure that represents the performance objectives.

Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI) was based on five principles:

1. Competences - Instructional objectives derived from job performance should reflect the competencies (knowledge and skills) that need to be learned.

2. Scope - Learners study and practice only those skills not yet mastered to the level required by the objectives.

3. Practice - Learners must practice each skill and get feedback about the quality of their performance.

4. Reinforcement - Learners need repeated practice in key skills that are to be used often or are difficult to learn.

5. Autonomy - Learners have some freedom to choose the order in which to complete modules and progress self-paced based on their mastery of the objectives.

The advantage of this approach is that is prevents the teacher, trainer or lecturer from falling into the trap of delivering just abstract knowledge, regurgitated in written answers and essays. It pushes learners into in mastery of defined knowledge and the practice of real skills. Note that these skills may be academic e.g. analyses, critical thinking, communication and so on.

Criticism

Performance objectives can be tricky to define and miss some of the subtler aspects of the learning experience. It can lead to an over-emphasis on objectives and assessments that turn many learning events into dull and demotivating experiences for learners. The approach may also miss key issues around motivation, engagement and attention. For example, many learning experiences, be they classes, lectures, manuals or e-learning courses are plagued by dull learning objectives presented as the first event, (At the end of this course you will….) thereby dulling down the experience and failing to initially engage and increase attention.

E-learning

CRI promoted the idea of self-paced learning using a variety of media. It heavily influenced the objective-led, modular, self-paced, assessed design model that has become common in e-learning. Some have argued that it has led to the dominance of the ADDIE model. Opponents of this model prefer a more complex, iterative or rapid development models. However, for learning talks where the outcomes are clear, the model still has some worth.

Conclusion

On the positive side, Mager, like Gagne, introduced rigour into the process of instructional design. In his case, these were; learning objectives, competences and assessments. It brought discipline to training and design by pushing professionals to match learning to performance. However, behaviourism still underpinned the approach. Learners were, in effect, seen as subject to be conditioned to meet behavioural objectives and behaviourism tends to encourage behaviour at the expense of other important cognitive functions such as motivation, attention, context and so on.

Bibliography

Mager, R. (1962). Preparing Instructional Objectives Palo Alto, Calif.: Fearon Publishers

Mager, R. (1975). Preparing Instructional Objectives (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA: Lake Publishing Co.

Mager, R. & Pipe, P. (1984). Analyzing Performance Problems, or You Really Oughta Wanna (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA: Lake Publishing Co.

Mager, R. (1988). Making Instruction Work. Belmont, CA: Lake Publishing Co. 

Kandel (1929 - ) Nobel Prize winning learning theorist

With a Nobel Prize (with Arvid Carlsson & Paul Greengard) for his work on learning and memory, Eric Kandel’s is a towering figure in the science of learning. Yet he is barely known among learning professionals. His interest in memory came from an interest in psychoanalysis but also reflection on his own experiences as a child in Vienna and his escape from the Nazis in 1939. But it was solid science and laboratory work in the US, and the realisation that memory does not reside in neurons but in the reconfiguration of their connections that drove him forward.

Learning is memory

Learning, for Kandel, is the ability to acquire new ideas from experience and retain them as memories (a simple fact often overlooked). His insight was to first recognise that the functional and biochemical features of nerves and synapses in snails, worms and flies are not substantially different from mammals and humans. His work on giant marine snails uncovered not only the physiological but molecular pathways in short-term memory but also storage in long-term memory through spaced practice.

Initially, he focused on implicit (procedural) memories such as habituation, sensitisation and classical conditioning skills and habits, but then moved into explicit (declarative) facts and events, where he made further discoveries about the molecular mechanisms in memory. He then moved on to the identification of memory at the molecular level showing that long-terms memory used protein synthesis, namely chemical change in the process of memorisation, unlike short-term memory. Short term memory storage modifies existing proteins and alters existing synaptic connections. Long-term storage involves gene activation, the creation of new protein and new synaptic connections. Kandel therefore found the link between experience and biology. Learning could now be seen as experience captured as cellular change.

Relevance to learning

Even without Kandel's chemical and physiological confirmation, we have an abundance of psychological evidence showing that the distinction between short and long-term memory is clear. Why then is it so often ignored? If this seems a little too abstract consider how hooked education and training is on short-term memory experiences and assessment. We know how deficient short-term memory is because there is no fundamental chemical and physiological change, whereas long-term memory does involve chemical and physiological change. A simple change in focus away from short-term, once-only, event based teaching would radically alter almost everything in education and training. These discoveries also open up the possibility, not only of enhancing and curing disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, but understanding how learning actually works, leading to significant improvements in practice.

Conclusion

Kandel has identified some of the chemical pathways of memory and therefore learning, for both short and long-term memory. This is important as an understanding of the physiological mechanisms in memory may hold answers to questions of improving memory and learning. In practice, the very basic lessons from memory theory are ignored in education and training. Largely, we have sheep-dip courses, cognitive overload, poor encoding, too much emphasis on facts, little in the way of spaced practice and cramming leading to temporary success in summative assessment. The net result is little, long-term retention and application. We teach and train to forget.

Bibliography

Kandel, E. R. (2006). In search of memory: The emergence of a new science of mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Co

Kandel, E. R. (2012). The age of insight: The quest to understand the unconscious in art, mind, and brain : from Vienna 1900 to the present. New York: Random House

Tulving (1927 - ) Cue memory: episodic & semantic memories and, encoding

Endel Tulving, in 1972, made an important distinction in our long-term memory between episodic memory (remembered experiences and events in time and space) and semantic memory (facts, ideas, concepts, rules independent of time and space). This was largely based on an analysis of internal memory states, and the experimental testing of memories, an anathema to pure behaviourists. It was also confirmed by brain damage studies. His 1983 paper Elements of Episodic Memory has become a classic in memory theory.

Episodic and semantic memory

Episodic memory is important for our sense of identity, in that it places us in ‘time’ and helps define who we are. Episodic memory makes time travel possible, a skill that stood us in good stead when remembering past experiences, predicting future events and deciding what to do based on this recalled knowledge. This cognitive function must have played a significant role in our evolutionary past. Episodic memory is thought to have evolved out of semantic memory and relies, to a degree, on semantic memory. Semantic memories, stored categorically, are quicker to recall than episodic memories that are stored temporally.

Elaboration through cues

Episodic memories are encoded, Tulving has shown, through cues that overlap the memories themselves. These cues allow retrieval. The theory therefore explains memory failure, not so much in terms of memory decay, as failure in retrieval. Research on cues and retrieval have shown that context and physical environment do improve memory, encouraging the view that learning should take place in the context in which it is likely to be used. Semantic memories may be turned into episodic memories through loci and peg systems. For examples historical sequences placed along a known route.

Encoding is perhaps the one area of memory theory that has the most direct impact on learning, as understanding encoding can led to both better teaching and better learning. Tulving showed the importance of cues and when learners make the effort to identify and note down cues they improve retention (an obvious example is mnemonics). We now know the difference between maintenance and elaborative encoding strategies. (Elaborative encoding leads to deeper processing and therefore better learning.) We also know that the organisation of learning is important in terms of relating new learning to previous knowledge, emotional and context.

E-learning

Does the distinction have relevance for the use of technology in learning? Media mix is one area of interest where one tries to match the appropriate media to the most appropriate type of memory, as well as using useful cues. Video and the use of scenarios to illustrate behaviour may appeal to episodic memory and the contextual cues may be more appropriate for learned behaviour in specific real world contexts.

Conclusion

Tulving’s work distinguishing episodic from semantic memory is important for those who teach or learn. It is an important guide for pedagogy in terms of what medium one should use as well as appropriate cues for encoding and retrieval. He has given us the theoretical understanding that supports the use of tools that encourage the organisation of learning and content. Memory is not monolithic and Tulving showed us that the differences are instructive.

Bibliography

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving and W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of Memory (pp. 381-402). New York: Academic Press.

Tulving, E. & Madigan, S. A. (1970). Memory and verbal learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 21, 437-484.

Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of Episodic Memory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Foer, J. (2011). Moonwalking with Einstein: The art and science of remembering everything. New York: Penguin Press.

Tammet, D. (2009). Embracing the wide sky: A tour across the horizons of the mind. London: Hodder Paperbacks.

Baddeley (1934) complexity of ‘working’ memory

Working memory is the door through which all learning must enter, so it is important to know what it is and its limitations. Baddeley looked specifically at ‘encoding’. to unpack what he called ‘working memory’ to replace the previous, simpler ‘short-term’ memory model. This is important as a working knowledge of ‘working’ memory can lead to better teaching and learning. By designing material which is optimised for getting through working memory to long-term memory, significant improvements are theoretically possible.

Working memory

Working memory, he showed, had three components:

1. Executive decision making

2. Verbal rehearsal loop

3. Visuospatial sketch pad

Episodic buffer

The original 1968 model had three components but he refined the model in 2000 with the addition of an ‘Episodic buffer’. So the three ‘slave systems’ are: 1) The phonological loop which takes auditory information as sound or from written language which is rehearsed through our ‘inner voice’; 2) The visuospatial sketch pad copes with visual information such as space, shape, colour, location and movement, and 3) The episodic buffer adds the dimension of time and integrates experiences.

E-learning

There are often questions in e-learning about the presentation of audio and text. Should audio accompany text or be heard on its own. Clark & Meyer recommend not confusing working memory by playing both at the same time. This seems to cause problems with attention through interferences or switching. So research into memory and the way we cope with different media can help with media mix choices. Cognitive overload, an almost constant problem in learning, especially long lectures and experiences where the learner has no control over the pace of presentation, is another issue illuminated by research into working memory.

Conclusion

The phonological loop has resulted in much fruitful research around vocabulary and language acquisition. By exposing the complexity and components of working memory, a huge amount of subsequent research was possible. An interesting line of inquiry os whether working memory can be trained to improve and result in significant improvements in learning.

Bibliography

Baddeley, A. D., & Baddeley, A. D. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baddeley, A.D. (1990) Human Memory: Theory and Practice. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Baddeley, A.D., Hitch, G.J.L (1974). Working Memory, In G.A. Bower (Ed.),

Baddeley, A.D., Thompson, N., and Buchanan, M., 1975. Word Length and the Structure of Memory, in Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, I, 575-589.

Atkinson & Shiffrin - three-stage model of memory (sensory, STM, LTM)

As memory research moved away from the purely behaviourist, stimulus- response (S-R) model, and its offspring the stimulus- organism -response (S-O-R) model towards information processing, psychologists started to think of memory in term of information processing. This proved to be useful in determining models for memory, models that could be tested in laboratory experiments. Although distinctions between different types of memory had been present in the literature, Atkinson & Schiffrin, in 1968, laid down the first solid schema for memory that acted as a solid foundation for further research and refinement.

Three-stage model

This first major, sophisticated stage model, starts with input through our eyes, ears and other sense organs, to the sensory register, where representational copies are created. For images and sound, the sensory register has iconic memory for images and echoic memory for sound. That feeds, through attention, into STM (Short-Term Memory), a temporary store which has a 15-30 second passing window of consciousness, and if not noticed, the content decays. However, STM memories can be moved into LTM (Long-Term Memory) through rehearsal and encoding, to be retrieved later.

Critique

The model has been criticised as being too rigid, linear and ignoring the different types of presented memories and has indeed been supplanted by other models and more recently dynamic descriptions of memory that rely less on information processing models. For example, a simplified version of the model SAM (Search of Associative Memory) has been proposed which drops the sensory store leaving just a buffer STM and LTM (Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981). It is supported by strong ‘recency’ effects, where we remember the last thing in STM more clearly.

Conclusion

Memory is a necessary condition for learning, yet not enough teachers, lecturers and instructors know even the basic psychology of memory.  These models may not wholly reflect the complexities of memory but it makes useful distinctions and attempts to explain how memories move from one state to another for subsequent retention and recall, the aim of most education. The Atkinson-Shiffrin model also stimulated intense and fruitful research on memory, that is on-going.

Bibliography

Atkinson & Shiffrin  Human Memory: A proposed system and its control process in Spence, K. W., & Spence, J. T. (1968).The Psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in theory and research. New York: Academic Press.g

Miller (1920 - ) Magic number 7 plus & minus 2 - chunking

George Miller is best known for his paper ‘The magic number 7 plus and minus 2’ (1956) which focused attention (literally) on a problem that plagues teaching and learning, the danger of ‘cognitive overload’. For this reason alone, he deserves mention. Short-term memory has a limited capacity and this capacity can be seen as being dependent on ‘attention’ i.e. our ability to attend to things in short-term memory. More than this Miller was one of the first to bring in cognitive information theory, famously saying the the mind had been brought back into psychology on the back of the machine.

Chunks

Miller started by identifying relevant studies that show we remember ‘chunks’ of information. But what is a ‘chunk’? We can remember, on average, seven randomised numbers but only six letters and four or five words. Miller’s solution was to posit clusters of chunks e.g. a word is a cluster of letters, a phrase a cluster of words. But Miller’s definition proved inadequate. This problem, that we remember different types of content differently giving variable sizes of chunks, was to open up a whole field of experimental work that began to reveal how short-term memory works. The concept of a ‘chunk’ has proved enduring and useful in memory research.

Encoding methods

Research by Bower (1970, 1972) showed that meaning also played a role in chunking so that, for example, TVFBIJFKCIAIBM is far more difficult to remember than TV FBI JFK CIA IBM. Mnemonics, as chunks, can also be used to unpack larger amounts of information. Gardener (1988) then showed the power of the ‘generative effort’, where creating your own chunks, is even more effective.

Encoding

Of course, chunking is just one form of encoding that increases retention, the organisation of material is another, chunking categories logically and with relatively few numbers of items in each category, increases recall, as do outlines. Imagery is another useful form of encoding, which is why loci and peg-word systems have been used for centuries to improve memory. In particular, movement and interaction between images so that they do things to each other, were shown by Wollen, Weber & Lowry (1972) to be particularly effective. Craig & Lockhart (1972) popularised the word ‘elaboration’ for techniques such as paraphrasing, summarising, highlighting and note taking, all of which improve recall.

Duration

Miller’s work also led to research on the time we are able to hold attention in short-term memory. Waugh and Norman (1965) found, in recall experiments, that this was around 18 seconds. However, if recognition, and not recall, is used this can stretch out to 90 seconds (Lutz & Wuencsch 1989).

E-learning and chunks

E-learning, with its learning objects, nuggets and page-based delivery has long sought to chunk material to make it more digestible and to increase encoding and retention. Chunked media objects such as short videos, animations, examples and so on, have also been part of the e-learning landscape. Attempts have even been made to determine standards around reusable learning objects that can be re-assembled in different orders and in different contexts and courses, like LEGO. The problem is the conflict between usability and the flow and context of the learning experience on one hand, and the fragmented nature of chunked learning objects on the other. This has also led to standards such as SCORM, that some believe traps designers in to producing learning objects and does not cope with more complex entities such as simulation and games pedagogy.
Conclusion

Miller, a pioneer in the information processing or computational model of memory, set us on the path of defining the limits of short-term memory, the gate through which attentive learning must pass. It proved to be limited in time, capacity and the way we encode information. This has opened up research on cognitive overload and a deeper exploration of what we now call ‘working’ memory and encoding through elaboration. The magic number ‘7’ may have proved misleading, as our short-term register often operates at a lower 3-4 register level, but the principle of cognitive overload remains a limit on learning.

Bibliography

Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97. http://www.well.com/user/smalin/miller.html

Miller, G.A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K.H. (1960) Plans and the Structure of Behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Miller G Psychology Penguin

Bower G. H. (1970) Organisational factors in memory Cognitive Psychology, 1, 18-46

Bower G. H. (1972) Mental imagery in associative learning in Gregg L,W. Cognition in learning and memory New York, Wiley

Gardener (1988) Generation and priming effects in word fragment completion Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 14, 495-501

Wollen, Weber & Lowry (1972) Bizarreness versus interaction of mental images as determinants of learning Cognitive Psychology, 3, 518-523

Craig F. I. M. & Lockhart R.S. (1972) Levels of processing: A framework for memory research, Journal of Verbal learning and Behaviour, 11, 671-684.

Waugh N. C. and Norman D. A. (1965) Primary Memory, Psychological Review, 72, 89-104.(1965)

Lutz J. & Wuencsch K.L. (1989) Acoustic interference in a recognition task. The Journal of General Psychology, 116(4), 371-384

Ignatius (1401-1556) Jesuit zeal, Latin and child-abuse

Ignatius was a soldier turned priest who formed the Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, a missionary order driven by a military-type zeal to spread the Catholic faith. Education was to be their primary and most successful weapon. Jesuit education is apostolic and the order demanded missionary and educational service in whatever part of the world they were sent. This is what drove Jesuit priests into many remote lands and ever remoter locations – the demand to defend the faith and, above all make converts. The Jesuits are still active with nearly 40,000 in the order and educational activities in 112 countries.

Ratio Studiorum

Jesuit education was founded across Europe as part of the Counter-Reformation to prevent what the Catholic Church saw as heretical teaching in the Universities of the day but after the publication of the Jesuit educational manual, the Ratio Studiorum by Acquaviva, known as the second founder of the Jesuits, in 1586, the Jesuits had added a practical method to their zeal. Acquaviva formalised Jesuit education making it easy to replicate and scale. The book is a detailed account of how to set up a school, classes, curriculum, schedules, and methods of teaching.

The primary function of education for the Jesuits was religion, specifically the teachings of the Catholic Church, so that moral character and religious devotion became habitual. This was not done through direct religious instruction but through a religious approach to all learning. Boarding was encouraged as it was in line with the indoctrination of the whole student. Strong and well-trained teachers were essential with constant evaluation and feedback throughout the year. Good teachers who were talented, prepared and inspiring were sought, poor teachers rejected.

Curriculum

It is a highly academic education with a focus on the humanities and the classics in literature, history and language with the emphasis on reason, leading to philosophy and theology. Mathematics, for example, was seen as a secondary, worldly subject. The curriculum, however, aimed to ‘form’ and not just ‘inform’ character through analysis. Critical thinking was encouraged. This is not to say that the curriculum was wholly academic, as the arts, especially drama and physical education, were encouraged.

Latin

As the idiom of religion and the Church, Latin was compulsory even into the 20^th Century. Not only was Latin taught but much of the teaching was done in Latin, with some schools not allowing vernacular to be spoken, even outside of the classroom. The Ratio makes it clear that Latin was not about helping learn other languages but about inculcating learners in the culture of the church and the classics. It was taught directly and through immersion, translation being frowned upon. The religious basis of the Jesuit education is seen by many as at odds in our more post-colonial and secular world. The promulgation of Latin can also be partly traced to its religious role in Universities, and not as is commonly assumed, for utilitarian purposes.

Child-abuse

It would be wrong to taint all Jesuit or Catholic schooling with the recent crisis in the Catholic Church around child abuse, but it would also be wrong to ignore it, as it was clearly practised, through supposedly educational institutions, on a global scale. The Jesuits paid out $166 million in just two states in the US for systematic rape and abuse of Native American children over 40 years in their boarding schools. This is just one of many cases brought against the Jesuits around the world. The Ryan report, describes what some have described as Ireland’s Holocaust’ and is possibly the most depressing document in the history of education. The endemic and systematic rape and violent abuse of young children by the Catholic Church, in collusion with the state, was evil and terrifying. Even after the publication of the report, the Church was in defensive mode. The report shows that there is little or no remorse, only active damage limitation. Serious lessons about disentangling church and state from education could be drawn from this. Both institutions, unless checked, have a tendency to be authoritarian, and when they operate in tandem, the culture of deference and authoritarian abuse is amplified. It's the vast scale of the abuse over such a long time that is so disturbing.

Conclusion

Ignatius Loyola famously said ‘give me a boy until he is ten, and I’ll give you the man’. How hideously true this turned out to be. Jesuit education has modernised and in its many universities and colleges, especially in the US, has become part of the mainstream educational landscape. However, zealous religious education, whether it be Christian, Islamic or Judaic has an obvious tendency to close, not open, young minds.

Bibliography

McGucken, William, S.J.,The Jesuits and Education (1932)

Jesuit child abuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_scandal_in_the_Society_of_Jesus

Black & Wiliam Don’t praise the child! Formative feedback is key to better learning.

Feedback is seen as a key feature of good teaching, yet precise research and theory is hard to find. Black and Wiliam published a well-researched and influential paper, Inside the Black Box, that recommended methods of feedback, making it more focused and potent. William claims that this is the sweet spot in improving productivity in schools, even beyond lower class sizes.

Inside the Black Box

The classroom is the ‘black box’ and they attempt to change teaching with clear advice on ‘formative assessment’. This is the powerful lever, they claim, that unlocks potential through good teaching. Most educational policies focus on ‘summative assessment’ yet this is an end-point, when it is often too late to influence the learner. Even on formative feedback they researched the common practice of straight or primitive marking as opposed to constructive guidance and feedback from teachers. Marking as formative assessment may do more damage than most educators realise.

Praise the work not the child

Too many students ‘get by’ and seek tactics that lead to good marks not good learning. ‘Never praise a child, praise what they did’ says Professor Black, and by this he meant praise the work of the learner and not the learner. To praise the student encourages two ideas that are powerfully corrosive in learning; a) the idea that it’s all down to ability b) the idea that the ‘teacher’ likes me. To counter this, teachers must praise the work and effort, not ability of the student. Nor should teachers compare students with other students. Praising the person also stops students from trying harder. Learners must believe they can change for the better.

Avoid ‘hands up’ techniques

They observed that teachers jump in too early when asking questions (often less than a second) and often answering their own questions. They are critical of teachers that rely on ‘hands up’ techniques, as it encourages the extroverts and achievers but discourages the rest. It also encourages, not diagnostic or ‘hinge’ questions that reveal understanding but the simple knowledge of facts.

Constructive, formative feedback

His advice is to target questions to individuals, then wait, for at least three seconds. Tasks should elicit thoughtful reflection, students be given time and asked to express their ideas. Don’t pass judgement as every answer deserves a positive response in terms of building confidence and not knocking students down. You have to steer between being too dominant and too open, but steering students in the right direction is the real art of feedback. Asking the right questions get right answers so teachers must reflect in depth on the questions they ask. Many questions just fill time or don’t stretch the students or probe understanding. Hinge questions are carefully structured to diagnose students, which is why coloured cards and clickers can accelerate a teacher’s diagnosis of whole class performance. Comments on student work is hard work but some simple rules help. Avoid vague, general, ‘Needs more detail….expand…add a few thoughts of your own’ comments. Be specific about errors and recommend a specific positive action. A good comment would be, ‘You’ve used ‘particle’, ‘element’ and ‘compound’ in your answer, look at the glossary in your textbook to see how they differ’.

Evils of marking

A terminal test promotes the idea that it marks an end-point. Tests are therefore seen by learners as terminal. You’ve passed or failed, a success or failure, bright or dim. It is far better for teachers to deliver feedback in the form of specific comments that point to improvement. For many learners, marked tests are literally the mark of Cain, as they leave their psychological mark, for the majority a mark of failure. The mark is seen as a score on fixed ability, fixing in the mind of the learner a view of themselves. It says nothing meaningful about how they can change and improve. Even for high scorers, full competence is rarely the aim, so they see a high mark as ‘having done enough’ and take their foot off the pedal. A score, rather than understanding and improvement, becomes the goal. It promotes the idea that you need to pass the test, not master the subject. In short, for Black and William, we need to focus more on ‘formative’, not ‘summative’ assessment. They recommend high quality, small, frequent tests that require good feedback. It is the feedback on what they don’t know, not that which the student got right, that leads to learning.

Black quotes an important study of 132 mixed ability, Y7 students in 12 classes across 4 schools. The students were given three types of feedback:

1) Marks,

 2) Comments,

3) Marks plus comments.

The ‘Comments' only group had a significant attainment gain with NO gain in the 'Marks' only and 'Marks plus comments’ groups. Increased interest and motivation was positive with all in the ‘Comments’ only group but only positive with high achievers in the ‘Marks’ and ‘Marks plus comments’ groups, where low achievers registered lower interest and motivation. This is at first puzzling. Why does more feedback 'Marks plus comments' have such a negative effect? The researchers concluded that ‘marks’ signalled the end of the matter, a terminal test, which stopped learning and further interest. The message is clear - hold back on marking in formative assessment.

Teachers

They see teachers’ traditional views of learning (transmission) and traditional views on ability (fixed IQs) as being the main barriers to effective formative feedback. For Black and William it is quite clear that teachers should not be left to their own devices on this subject. They need professional development and support. Self and peer assessment also raises the quality of formative assessment while taking pressure off the teacher.

E-learning and formative feedback

Technology, in the form of self-paced e-learning content, simulations, games and adaptive learning have all contributed to increasing the level of feedback in learning. In real time simulations and games, such as flight simulators, the feedback is continuous and in real time. More recently. In adaptive learning, powerful back-end algorithms have supported sophisticated feedback, especially in maths, based on what the learner has done, where they want to go, presenting the right content and feedback, dynamically on their learning journey.

Conclusion

Is there evidence that improving formative assessment raises standards? Yes. Is there evidence that there is room for improvement? Yes. Is there evidence about how to improve formative assessment? Yes. Black and Wiliam shone a spotlight on a critical weakness in educational theory and policies – the lack of focus on effective teaching and, in particular, formative feedback, which they believe is the key to increasing the effectiveness of teaching and learning in schools.

Bibliography

Black P & Wiliam D (1998) Inside the Black Box Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf

“Assessment in Education” (Black and Wiliam, 1998)

White (1934 - ) What is education for? Autonomy

What is education for? This key question still elicits puzzled looks, ill-formed answers, even platitudes, from students, parents, policy makers and even learning professionals. Few can fully articulate the purpose of education. John White has clear views on the subject that escapes the usual formulations to focus on the idea of autonomy. A product of London’s Institute of Education, he asks what we should do in a world where the old certainties of religion and a job for life are gone. How should we define education in a more liberal, complex, fragmented and technological world?

Autonomy

To avoid the trap of instrumentalism, seeing education as a slave to the state and employment, as well as the woolly thinking around education as a good in itself, White uses a concept that combines the needs of learner but also links directly to the needs of a democratic society. That concept is autonomy.

Autonomy, not reason or any other end, is chosen, as it defines, in terms of the self, what one must learn to be a fully functional adult in a complex world. In this sense it avoids the narrow strictures of an inflexible, over-academic curriculum, but it widens education out to deal with the individual as a rounded functioning being. The learner needs to avoid being the slave to desire but also being a slave to a given authority.

Always wary of unreflective existence, a theme going back to the Greeks, he is keen to encourage a reflective form of autonomy that is in line with our responsibilities to ourselves and others.

Curriculum

In Beyond the National Curriculum he had attacked the narrow, prescriptive definition of a curriculum, based not on evidence but the personal prejudices of politicians, a debate not unfamiliar in our own times. His alternative is an education that promotes rational, freedom of choice. The curriculum therefore needs to foster moral, intellectual, financial and practical autonomy to allow people to lead happy, healthy, lives, form relationships, cook, find jobs and think for themselves. The system is stuck in a mode that allows the people who benefit most, the middle-class, to defend its outmoded values, as it has served them well.

He is critical of current schooling, based as it is on flawed theories of intelligence, and like Illich sees a strong Calvinist tradition as lying at the root of our overly-academic curriculum, along with the political influence of highly selective schools. He is just as critical of the fuzzy thinking behind John Gardener’s ‘multiple intelligences’.

Work

Neither does he shy away from work as an important topic in education. In ‘Education and the End of Work’ he assumes a more fragmented, work environment where too narrow vocational training will leave learners ill-equipped to deal with the future. We must educate for the ability to cope with the changes that the future will bring. This is, in some ways, the weakness of his reliance on autonomy alone. It can break down when it comes to detailed policy and prescription. James Tooley was to pick up on White’s work, again using Rawls Theory of justice in a thought experiment in Reclaiming Education, where he imagines us starting again, to choose an optimal educational system. White and Tooley draw on deeper philosophical though to guide their thinking, a refreshing approach, compared to the shallower prescriptions based on personal experience.

Conclusion

White draws on analytic philosophy to ask a tough question to come up with a sophisticated answer. He succeeds in placing ‘autonomy’ at the heart of educational thinking and planning, and his approach is grounded and useful in that it is not linked to a specific political or cultural outlook. The concept of autonomy can be seen a universal good, linked to the individual, strong enough to define curricula and choices yet flexible enough to cope with a changing future.

Bibliography

White, J. (1973).Towards a compulsory curriculum. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

White, J. (1982).The Aims of Education Restated. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

White, J. (1994).Education and Personal Well-Being in a Secular Universe. London. University of London Institute of education. White, J. (1997).Education and the end of Work. London: Cassell.

White J. A properly rounded academic education  (http://www.philosophy-of-education.org/uploads/papers2011/WhiteJ.pdf)

Illich (1926-2002) deschooling – school as the ‘new Church’

As an ordained priest Illich had worked with the poor in Peurto Rico but at 43 resigned from the Catholic Church because of what he saw as its institutional dominance and flaws. It was this that led to a similar evaluation of the ‘new Church’ schooling. This led to his seminal text Deschooling Society’ but this was not his title bt the title applied by his publisher. In fact it is misleading  as he doesn’t argues not for the abolition of schools but their disestablishment, the separation of school and state, just as the Church and State were separated in the US.

‘Schooling’ for Illich confuses teaching with learning, grades with education, diplomas with competence, attendance with attainment. Schools are separated, unworldly places that lead to psychological impotence and we become hooked on their role in society to the extent that other institutions are discouraged from assuming educational tasks.

Deschooling

We are ‘schooled’ in institutions run by technocrats that take responsibility away from otehrinstitutions for social responsibility and learning. . It is all based on an illusion, he claims, the illusion that most learning is the result of teaching. Most people acquire most of their knowledge outside of school. Most learning happens casually, and even most intentional learning is not the result of programmed instruction. Most learning is, in fact, a by-product of some other activity defined as work or leisure.

He attack schooling on three fronts:

1. Age – grouping according to age

2. Teachers and pupils – that learning is the result of teaching

3. Full-time attendance – incarceration of the young

4. Packaging instruction with accreditation

Adults tend to romanticise their schooling, yet most, when pushed, recognise the smothering atmosphere of the classroom and feeling of incarceration in school. Even supporters of schools and schooling recognise that the school has remained largely unchanged since Victorian times with their classrooms, desks, terms, prefects, rituals, curricula, bells, corridors, timetables, prize givings and reports. It will be all too familiar.

Educational diversity

By deinstitutionalising education, making it non-compulsory, we can return to its true, authentic value and improve quality. We need to break our diction to traditional schooling and break its almost religious hold on our consciousness. Fascinatingly, he related this obsession with compulsory schooling to the religious idea of original sin, that we are born imperfect and have to atone. It was not the abolition of schools that concerned him but the recognition that a wider and more diverse landscape was needed. Illich sees alternatives in skills-centres, educational credits and

Technology and education

the ‘possible use of technology to create institutions which serve personal, creative and autonomous interaction’. Well before the age of the internet he foresaw its power in education and knowledge he saw an alternative to schooling through a network or service which gave each person the same opportunity to share his/her concern with others motivated by the same concern. His core idea was that education for all means education by all. He sees us providing the learner with new links to the world instead of continuing to funnel all education through the teacher. In this sense, the inverse of school is possible, recommending four types of educational resource:

1. Reference services to Educational Objects

2. Skill exchanges

3. Peer-matching

4. Reference services to Educators-at-large

One could argue that this is starting to happen with the advent of technology in learning, through search, free content in Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg and Open Educational Resources and social media.

University

His critique of the University system is as fierce as that of schools. He sees them as having betrayed their original values, becoming the ‘final stage of the most all-encompassing initiation rite the world has ever seen’. In practice, it is here that students redouble their resistance to teaching as they find themselves more comprehensively manipulated. This, along with unlimited opportunities for legitimised waste and the rising costs makes them ripe for reform. University, he claims, creates skills shortages by institutionalising professions such as nursing and teaching.

Once exposed to intense ‘schooling’ it is very difficult to free oneself from school and the expectations it sets. He is also right in noticing that this re-emergence of values comes through in educational reform where he saw that the solution to bad schooling is always more schooling. He also resists the idea of turning our entire culture into a school through ‘lifelong learning’ and attacks the ‘teacher-as-therapist’ culture. He is opposed to pushing out the walls of the classroom until they envelop everything we do in our lives.

Conclusion

Although disparaged by many educators and academics, unsurprisingly, as he attacks their schooling institutions and outlook, Illich remains a huge influence on educational thought. His critique of schools is regarded as extreme but intellectually profound and related to the corrupt influence of institutionalisation, rather than political ideology or oppression. Above all, his ideas for alternatives, such as ‘learning webs’, were prescient.

Bibliography

Illich, Ivan (1973a) Deschooling Society, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Illich, Ivan (1973b) Celebration of Awareness. A call for institutional revolution, Harmondsworth Penguin.

Illich, Ivan (1975a) Tools for Conviviality, London: Fontana.

Illich, Ivan (1976) After Deschooling, What?, London: Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative.

Reimer, E. (1971) School is Dead. An essay on alternatives in education, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-illic.htm

Excellent profile and summary of thought

http://reactor-core.org/deschooling.html

Full text of Deschooling Society (a must read)

Freire (1921-1997) educator & activist

Paulo Feire is more than an educational theorist. Arrested and exiled from Brazil by the Military Dictatorship in 1964 he continued to work as an activist and educator in South America, Central America and Africa, teaching literacy and defining education for the poor and oppressed. After being appointed at Harvard he went back to Brazil to implement the ideas he had developed over his lifetime.

Education is a social act

Education, for Freire, is not separate from politics and like many social educational theorists he takes the Marxist position that there is no neutral position on either knowledge or education, everything has a social context. You’re either in the business of social improvement or perpetuating inequalities and injustice. Freire thought that most current education simply perpetuates the oppressive values of capitalism through a culture of silence and compliance and one must side with the poor if one is to educate for real social improvement. This means emancipation through understanding, not the simple gathering or ‘banking’ of knowledge. Teachers and learners shape culture but students lie at the centre of his concerns. Teachers and schools must be wary of seeing learners in as inferiors or their beliefs as primitive and uninformed. Learners must be encouraged by teachers to build from their existing beliefs and knowledge.

Literacy method

He was best known for his work on literacy, but developed general methods for learning. His starting point is to identify generative ‘Themes’ drawn from the context and communities where learners live. These are then discussed in ‘Culture Circles’ which produce a ‘Thematic Universe’ and ‘Vocabulary Universe’. This basic vocabulary of 17 or 18 words is ordered phonetically and reading proceeds, with awareness of real social situations relevant to the learner.

Banking knowledge

Traditional education is based on ‘banking’ knowledge, he claims, but the ‘banking’ theory is certainly not original, as many had described and rejected the knowledge-based model in the past, including most Enlightenment theorists, Pragmatists and others. What was different was the alternative critical pedagogy, where the student was encouraged to recognise their own position in these power relationships and free themselves through critical reflection.

Criticism

Freire follows the dialectical thinking of Marxist theorists in education by pitting oppressors against the oppressed. This for and against position is a restatement of Marxist dialectics and a serious flaw in his thinking as it reduces analysis to a set of simple oppositions. This refuted Marxist view of history may be relevant in some political contexts but not all. For example, many find it difficult to apply his work to developed countries or in contexts where the new group start to ideologically influence through education. His position on religion is also ambiguous. Many reject the abstruse jargon and Marxist language, which is at odds with his stated aim of being a teacher in real, situated dialogue, rather than a didactic, banker of knowledge. One term that has been roundly criticised is ‘conscientisation’ or ‘consciousness-raising’, as it seems to imply some superior, but ungrounded, moral outlook among those who teach others to think correctly. As he himself says, there is no such thing as value-free education and Freire may be as guilty as those he criticises in terms of values taught. One man’s emancipation is another’s dogma.

Conclusion

Freire is seen by many as one of the key 20^th century figures in learning theory and practice with his focus on context and community. Yet his influence on schools and schooling has not led to a significant shift in this direction. Despite the crude dialectics, Friere was a champion for literacy and education among the poor, especially in the developing world. He has been partly responsible for a global push on education and literacy among the disenfranchised, although little in the way of clear methods seem to have lasted. The Millennium Goals are but the latest in a long list of initiatives that have pushed forward the idea that education matters in solving the problem of global poverty, yet we are still far from realising these goals.

Bibliography

Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Freire, P. (1995) Pedagogy of Hope. Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Continuum.

Freire, P. (1996) Letters to Cristina. Reflections on my life and work, London: Routledge. 

Taylor, P. (1993) The Texts of Paulo Freire, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Steiner (1861-1925) mysticism, three 7 year stages & eurythmics

Rudolph Steiner, a Hungarian, developed his own philosophical system, ‘Anthroposophy’ based on spirituality. It is, in fact, a mish-mash of Eastern thought, neo-Platonism, Christianity and Hegel. There is much talk of ‘inner experience’ and its amplification through the ‘secret society’ but its philosophical ideas are based on three realms, the physical, soul and spiritual. From this rather unlikely theoretical basis, Steiner schools have grown to be one of the biggest not-for-profit school systems in the world, headquartered in Switzerland. Founded in 1919 in Germany they grew, initially after being funded by a cigarette tycoon, and have flourished for nearly 100 years. Note that Steiner schools often go under the name of Waldorf schools.

Education as development

Education, for Steiner, is not so much teaching, or even learning, as a process of spiritual development defined within Steiner’s ‘Anthroposophy’. The system assumes ‘three births of men’, in three, seven-year periods. Up to 7, 7-14 then to 14-21. These stages are based on obscure and esoteric ‘astral’ and ‘ethereal’ principles. There is a curious neo-Platonic idea of the soul, where the mind needs to recover the soul’s memory through a gentle, empathetic education. There is also a curious Medieval throwback, where teachers use ‘choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine’ to judge the temperaments of their pupils.

Children start school at seven and are encouraged to play, as well develop their creative and imaginative abilities. Early competition is avoided in favour of collaboration and students are allowed to develop at their own pace. The curriculum from 7 onwards covers common academic subjects but, compared to mainstream schooling, has more emphasis on the arts, with the addition of a subject unique to Steiner schools, ‘eurythmics’, a form of slow-motion dance.

Radical appeal

Whatever the occult origins of the Steiner philosophy, it has some radical approaches to learning that have some appeal to progressive learning theorists. Children start schooling later (7) with reading is held off until that age, there is no marking or grading and the developmental process studiously avoids placing pressure and stress on children. They are taught in groups, often by the same teacher, for up to seven years, to foster the idea of the school as a family and teacher a parent’. They are non-selective, co-educational, teachers are given a great deal of autonomy and parents encouraged to be part of the school community. Long regarded by parents as an alternative to the pressurised environment of state schooling, it seems to satisfy a need for parents who see schools, whether they be state or private, as too rigid, uncaring, non-spiritual and obsessed with assessment.

Evidence

Steiner’s philosophy is derivative and scarcely credible, clairvoyance, the astral and ethereal being just a few of his mystical ideas. He has also been criticised for racism, believing that reincarnation proceeds through three races, African, Asian and European, in that order. People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools(PLANS) is a group of former Steiner students, parents, teachers and administrators who want to expose the hidden missionary and religious agenda in the movement.

Does it work? There is no definitive evidence as little real comparative research has been done. However, in several countries, independent reports are favourable towards Steiner (Waldorf) schools in terms of English, literacy and the arts.

Conclusion

Esoteric claims about the soul, spirituality and process aside, Steiner schools do practice some methods that many regard as positive and progressive. They have a counter-cultural appeal that avoids the commonly held view that education is a grind, designed to filter and fail, rather than develop children into autonomous adults. It is not unusual, in the history of educational theory to come across outliers, that have survived despite their sometimes naïve, even bizarre, underlying theory. They survive because they develop strong brands, financial models that work, their own teacher training and an appeal to a clearly defined need or group.

Bibliography

Steiner R. (1973)Theosophy Rudolph Steiner Press.

Wilkinson R. (1993)Rudolf Steiner on Education: A compendium. Hawthorn.

Rudolph Steiner College http://steinercollege.edu/

PLANS (, http://www.waldorfcritics.org/