Self-directed learning is hard--

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“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.” ― John Dewey

Almost over--

The Blended Learning eCourse

And I've lots of thinking to do following 8 weeks with a group of accomplished co-learners.  My burning question: What can I learn from what transpired and how can I grow the learning environment to best enable the deepest learning?

This is the first in a number of reflections

The focus-- self-directed learning

Learners from different backgrounds with varying goals collaborate to come to a deeper understanding of blended learning-- elementary teachers, integration specialists, consultants, middle grades educators.  The learning environment is designed to be self-directed, even more self-governed with personal learning pledges, a menu of  resources and multiple options for collaborating and deepening understanding.  Intentionally based on research, some of what I found to be critical to my thinking:

http://cme.mcgill.ca/sdl/v0.07/index.php

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In self-determined learning, it is important that learners acquire both competencies and capabilities (Stephenson, 1994 as cited in McAuliffe et al., 2008, p. 3; Hase & Kenyon, 2000, 2007). Competency can be understood as proven ability in acquiring knowledge and skills, while capability is characterized by learner confidence in his or her competency and, as a result, the ability “to take appropriate and effective action to formulate and solve problems in both familiar and unfamiliar and changing settings” (Cairns, 2000, p. 1, as cited in Gardner, Hase, Gardner, Dunn, & Carryer, 2007, p. 252). Capable people exhibit the following traits: self-efficacy, in knowing how to learn and continuously reflect on the learning process; communication and teamwork skills, working well with others and being openly communicative; creativity, particularly in applying competencies to new and unfamiliar situations and by being adaptable and flexible in approach; positive values (Hase & Kenyon, 2000; Kenyon & Hase, 2010; Gardner et al., 2007).
When learners are competent, they demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge and skills; skills can be repeated and knowledge retrieved. When learners are capable, skills and knowledge can be reproduced in unfamiliar situations. Capability is then the extension of one’s own competence, and without competency there cannot be capability. Through the process of double-looping, learners become more aware of their preferred learning style and can easily adapt new learning situations to their learning styles, thus making them more capable learners. With its dual focus on competencies and capability, heutagogy moves educators a step closer toward better addressing the needs of adult learners in complex and changing work environments (Bhoryrub et al., 2010).

When designing a self-determined learner experience, certain considerations should be made. A heutagogical approach to learning and teaching is characterized first and foremost by learner-centeredness in terms of both learner-generated contexts and content. Course design elements that support learner-centeredness in a heutagogical approach are presented below.
Learner-defined learning contracts: Learning contracts support students in defining and determining their individual learning paths. These individualized contracts, such as those used at distance education institution Empire State College (see www.esc.edu), define what will be learned (e.g., scope), how it will be learned (e.g., teaching and learning approaches, learning activities), and what will be assessed and how it will be assessed (Kenyon & Hase, 2010; Gilbert, 1975; Cristiano, 1993).
Flexible curriculum: In a self-determined learning environment, the learner is the driver in creating flexible curriculum, which is defined by the student: learners create the learning map, and instructors serve as the compass (Hase & Kenyon, 2007; Hase, 2009). Flexible curriculum in this sense is negotiated action learning, which adapts and evolves according to learner needs (Hase, 2009; Hase & Kenyon, 2007). Learners negotiate “how, when, where and to what upper (rather than minimal) level they want to take their learning” (Hase, 2009, p. 47).
Learner-directed questions: Learner-directed questions and the discussion that results from these questions are what guide learners and serve as mechanisms for helping learners make sense of course content, bring clarity to ideas, and promote individual and group reflection (Kenyon & Hase, 2001; Eberle, 2009). Guiding learners to define self-directed questions is one of the biggest challenges facing developers of heutagogical courses, as designers must be “creative enough to have learners ask questions about the universe they inhabit” (Kenyon & Hase, 2001, para. 29).
Flexible and negotiated assessment: In heutagogy, the learner is involved in designing his or her assessment. Negotiated and learner-defined assessment has been shown to improve the motivation of learners and their involvement in the learning process, as well as make learners feel less threatened by instructor control of their learning process (Hase & Kenyon, 2007, p. 115; Hase, 2009; Ashton & Elliott, 2007; Canning, 2010). One way of incorporating negotiation into the assessment process is through the use of learning contracts (Hase, 2009). The assessment should include measurable forms of assessing understanding of content, including whether the learner has achieved the competencies desired. Rubrics can also be used effectively in guiding learners in their self-assessment process, for example by assessing “discussion skills, quality of work, outcomes, collaboration, academic soundness and knowledge of material” (Eberle, 2008, p. 186).

The above two paragraphs are from this resource, recommended years ago by @foxdenuk.

The course environment incorporated all of the above and of course I had the highest of expectations for deep engagement by all co-learners.

For the first 2 weeks, we co-created, we engaged in conversations synchronously and asynchronously, we developed norms, we got to know each other, we shared burning questions in a collective wondering about blended learning and some developed learning pledges.

And yet, as the opening quote from Sheryl noted, self-directed learning is hard.

Life gets in the way.  Anne (@foxdenuk) mentioned in a posting: “We all need to be led through a gently sloping florr into the deeper waters of self-directed learning."  Although I was gentle and ever present, I asked everyone to step off the cliff into the deep waters of self-governed learning. And perhaps there lies the problem. As the weeks progressed, there was less engagement on the part of some co-learners than I had hoped that we would experience.

In a survey, I will ask co-learners to share their feedback on the self-governed environment so that I can learn how can I grow the learning environment to best enable the deepest learning.  With that feedback, I'll reflect on each element and think lots more--

Self-directed learning is hard--

Learning Postures Emerging

They are becoming even more curious, inquisitive, tentative, collaborative and reflective-- the co-learners in the current PLP Blended Learning eCourse.  And it's difficult, if not impossible, to sit on my hands and not celebrate that for it was many years ago that I wrote on this blog what's below; now wanting to highlight again what I sense as the importance of that stance. And wondering what else you might add to this thinking?

---

Stand up straight; watch your posture. Do you remember that or is it a product of my generation? I heard it lots when I was young; even had to practice walking with a book on my head—my folks really stressed it and I never had good posture to their chagrin—

In the classroom, I did think about posture-- from a different perspective, always searching for a more accomplished practice. Initially, my posture was upright, in the front of the class, talking, giving information, and telling. My “teaching posture” evolved -- I was often sitting, in the back or with a group of students or a student, sometimes prodding, questioning, and listening. Yet I’ve noticed that my initial posture still is in vogue in many classrooms.

And as I’ve been involved in various learning communities more recently, I’ve noticed that teachers seem to be so comfortable in “teaching postures” which mirror my initial one, that it is translated into their professional learning too. I’m really feeling, and I could be wrong, that negatively impacts moving forward toward a global 21^st century practice. So lately I’ve been spending time pondering on a learning posture-- what it looks like, what it sounds like, and how to help teachers adopt one.

I’m wondering, after reading and thinking, might a “learning posture” be characterized as:

Curious and Inquisitive

So I am curious- what do you think? Should we be focusing on a different conversation than the one we are having? Should we be re-envisioning education in ways that are radically different? And if so- How do we move from talking to doing? Or is that important? --Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

What does this new design look like? What are the big questions regarding learning, teaching and schooling that we need to begin to address? How will the roles of elementary schools and high schools begin to evolve? How will we address the divide issues that these opportunities outside of school create? And how do we personally plan for these changes as learners, parents and teachers? --Will Richardson

My focus for the next while will be an experiment as well as a creative outlet. I’ve created a space to publish fictional narratives where my true identity is intentionally obscured. I want to see what happens to the questions of digital identity, social structures and relationships, and network dynamics when the identity of the author is replaced with a fictional character – and the readers are aware that the "I" and "me" in the blog entries refer to someone who does not actually exist. –Mike Bogle

Tentative and Unfinished

Examples of “process as text” are recordings of classroom conversations, considered temporary and fleeting, that become something more than a passing conversation when they exist as video or audio recordings. These types of texts stay fixed – we can’t really go back and change the flow of a conversation – but our finished products, when published digitally, are easily and perhaps even secretly editable and revisable after publication. So we’re able to fix the temporary and fiddle with the permanent. That seems interesting and worthy of further exploration. –Bud theTeacher

That’s all I’ll say for now. I hope to revisit these ideas on occasion. I also hope you’ll help me think through them. – Jon Becker

Much to continue to mull over here: some ideas to tinker with, and some practices to encourage, but still very much a set of “conjectures and dilemmas” (Bruner) to keep exploring. – Gardner Campbell

Collaborative and Participatory

I was part of an interesting discussion on Twitter Friday night and I wanted to share it here, as well as add a few final thoughts. Participants that I reference are Bud Hunt,Brian Crosby, Dean Shareski, Anne Van Meter, Barbara Barreda, and Karen Fasimpaur. Thanks to all of you for helping me think through these ideas. – Karl Fisch

Reflective

That’s one of those really concise shift statements that makes me bend my own frame a bit. I think too often I fall into looking at these tools and wonder what they can add to our classrooms and our teaching when the real question is how can our classrooms and teaching add capacity to the tools. – Will Richardson

When I began mulling this over I had not anticipated that I would be including a sense of unfinished business; yet I have begun to feel that is particularly important. I’m not yet satisfied that I’ve captured the essence of a “learning posture” yet am feeling pretty strongly that it’s worth pursuing, especially avenues for helping teachers with an awareness of their posture and how that may affect not only their own professional learning but also that of others.

Might it not be possible that such a focus may open doors for many to possibilities for learning not yet imagined?

Constraints and Possibilities

Creative Commons Licensed

Designing for learning
And realizing in the process

How coming up against a constraint (thanks to Amy Musone for sharing the importance of that term)
Is tough
Is frustrating
And can uncover insights into learning that became somehow buried a bit

As I considered the learning environment for the new Blended Learning eCourse I'm designing and facilitating for Powerful Learning Practice, I had what I thought was a terrific idea.  During the week that we explored questioning and feedback more deeply, I'd use forums for that purpose on the Edublogs class blog that I'd created.

Knowing little to nothing, like always, I jumped in confident that I could tinker and figure out how to make it work.  There was documentation with clear instructions. I activated the bbpress plugin and figured I was on my way!  Thinking I was on a roll and anxious to see how the forum would display, I created a forum, a topic within that forum and a reply and embedded it on a page on the blog only to find that the contents didn't display.  It clearly said there was a topic with a link to click which in turn provided an option to reply ---  but with no content--  sigh!!!

So I tried it in another browser.  I searched in troubleshooting forums. I changed themes as suggested in one forum.  And I tinkered, I left it to try again another day, I deleted everything I did, I reread the documentation, I tried creating again, I searched the forums, and I played and tinkered to no avail.  After some 12 hours of that, I knew I'd hit a wall.  I didn't know enough, I didn't have enough foundational knowledge for what I wanted to do, and I didn't have time to continue.

Two epiphanies--
I had moved too far from my zone of comfort

Excerpted from https://thecurriculumcorner.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/danielsons-fft-3b-questioning-discussion/ with permission

I can't say I was panicked, yet I did not have enough background to make progress, to ward off frustration.

As I thought of all I was designing for learning for the ecourse, I realized that  many co-learners might experience similar frustrations when faced with creating their own dashboards, or repurposing a tool for deepening learning; I have always tried to be sensitive of that and this experience will support me in being even more mindful of that.

Second, and perhaps just as if not more important--  I began thinking more deeply on what technology really best suited the goal of engaging in more meaningful conversations by making use of more accomplished questioning and descriptive feedback. The conversations I envisioned can occur in a forum, or on a message board or in the comment feature of blogs.  And yet, strangely, I had discounted that last option; strangely because I had incorporated blogging as a potentially powerful medium for blended learning.  It makes good sense to continue to examine more fully the possibilities that blogging and connected learning offer.

So I'm switching gears, so to speak, realizing my current constraint--  we'll be having our discussions in the comments of co-learners' blogs.

And the bbpress forums-- I haven't let that go--  something keeps nagging at me--  what if it's just one little thing you didn't realize--  that nagging may compel my future learning that will start with foundational knowledge on which I can grow my troubleshooting skills.  Just imagining the possibilities--

Teaching in High Gear-- a compelling story

In Teaching in High Gear , Marsha Ratzel, NBCT, chronicles a powerful journey into connecting, collaborating, and transforming learning experiences for her students.

Marsha highlights the importance of connection -- with her local colleagues, with other global connected educators, with her students and with the content and context of her classroom. Her transparent sharing illustrates the potential of these connections to amplify and deepen student learning and also provides a roadmap for others to follow or adapt.

For educators feeling mired in prescriptive reform efforts yet yearning to design student centered learning experiences for their students, Teaching in High Gear demonstrates the possibilities, addressing head on concerns over coverage, time, and control.

When Marsha writes:

My students today “get” that learning is a process. And while
they may encounter moments where something doesn’t turn
out the way they expected, they know how to change that into
something positive. If students have a better idea than the one
I present, they ask me to change things up. We co-create and
co-learn with each other—we do the hard stuff. (p. 95)

We don't have to imagine how that happened. Because of her transparency, myriads of educators can now more comfortably forge their own journey to vast learning landscapes for both themselves and their students.

A new journey into Connected Coaching

My father was a mechanical engineer, a man of the slide rule, precise and always planning ahead of time (I still have his plan for my garden done to scale). When my sister and I were young, he would call AAA one time each year-- for maps for our 2 week vacation when we'd take a trip-- to New York, to Washington, to Jamestown. All of those trips-- as wonderful as they were, the memories so vivid as if they were yesterday-- were all about the destination.

photo credit

I can still picture those AAA maps clearly in my head (I can't find an image) -- they would be in a booklet format with a number of pages and the route we would take was highlighted with a marker. We'd go so many miles and have to flip the page to see the map for the next leg of our journey. When our trip was longer, there would a notation at the motel where we would spend the night. We knew just where we were going and when and eagerly explored those maps prior to our departure.

School, for me, was a planned journey too-- one in which I had no part in planning the destination or the travel. I was simply along for the ride-- usuallyone lacking side trips-- Sure, I had 1 or 2 options of courses I could take-- all which had to fit within the profile needed to gain entrance to college. The one learning journey of my own choosing in high school-- a source of great pride and meaning to me-- was with a group of adults in night school. At the height of the Cold War, and a senior, I had decided I wanted to teach Russian; having no options for doing that in the high school, with my parents blessing I spend a semester learning Russian-- in conversations, listening to stories of the adult learners. Здравствуйте Zdrastvooyte  (Hello) and Спасибо Spaseeba (Thank you) pretty much define my remembering of the language; it was the journey that I carried with me to this day.

Fast forward--

Our trips in this day of Google Maps and GPS are wide open, flexible and at times on the spur of the moment, at least for Gus and I. They are more about the journey- the times we spend together in the car singing with Chicago, Three Dog Night, and Seals and Croft and the stops and sidetrips we make along the way-- rather than the destination.

My learning journeys and the ones I facilitate for others have evolved too, from carefully planned with a specific destination to wide open with room for serendipitous and more personalized learning. As a co learner and facilitator, the possibilities arising from inquiry and following passions capture my imagination-- compelling a quest for deeper understanding.

My most recent trek into Connected Coaching was no different--

I had the privilege in the January to mid March section of the Connected Coaching eCourse to travel with an accomplished group of co learners, many with significant experience in face to face coaching.  Although I hope that everyone in the course will always view the potential for change in our Connected Coaching model and see the possibilities throughout the process, I am never sure how our journey will play out for so many reasons. Since I've requested that each co learner create his/her own learning contract, since I've stressed our time together is about their following their personal interests under the umbrella of coaching in online spaces-- it has been my fervent hope that that request and some possible paths outlined mapped in the MentorMob playlists and
weekly overviews set the stage for organic, messy, linked learning increasing the likelihood of trips characterized by detours, side trips and loop backs.

For this trek, the discussion and angst around the learning contracts which are shared with the entire group and for which many request feedback went deep with serious questions around its purpose and value. Initially, this request (the learning contract and it is a request as are all the learning opportunities) is open with few parameters or introduction. When the questions arose  I added a resource on heutagogy that speaks to the importance of self governed learning, the contracts filled the discussion thread as did comments supporting each others efforts and various paths towards personal goals emerged. We were on our way-- together. And I had my first big aha moment! When I had adapted the learning contract for the eCourse, I had not given thought(and should have) to the connotations of "contract". When Doris  suggested she'd prefer to call her contract a learning pledge-- my brain stopped for a moment-- and then realized the implications and what a difference one word can make and how much more aligned pledge is to the community building of the eCourse and to the Connected Coaching model! Next trip-- learning pledge is it!

What else characterized this journey? Where did we go? What learning landscapes did we explore with each co learner as point person at one time or another?

Exploration of trustbuilding, co creating content was in many ways similar to other journeys-- the collaborative presentation illustrated beautifully the many and varied perspectives on building trust in online spaces.

Appreciative inquiry; listening, paraphrasing and questioning; stories; protocols -- became high points as we uncovered their potential in coaching. Lisa and Carol engaged in a remarkable appreciative inquiry conversation in one webinar; in breakout rooms, coaching pairs spread their AI wings as they responded to each others stories and aspirations. And upon request, they coached each other again and again! Stopping there and exploring-- exciting, exhilarating -- and a first for the cohorts with whom I've traveled. The potential of story to elicit areas of strength and passion captured the attention of co learners and enabled some very personal "aha" moments. Through stories, such as the one below, we came to more fully know and trust each other.



The wayfinding, the inquiry, the strength based approach-- modeled in the course and extolled in the Connected Coaching model compelled Janelle to write:

"What I have come to understand is that coaching online especially connected coaching has the essence of what makes us tick in person as well as online and that it is the embodiment of inquiry that is truly essential. What better way to be coached than through thoughtful questions, exploration in a dynamic environment not pre-packaged or pre-defined. We have the liberty to innovate as we work in partnerships with teachers, coach and learn as we make our way."   

The co learners traveled a formerly unbeaten path deep into protocols in the threaded discussions and in the webinars. As they skillfully led and implemented protocols in the webinars, learning landscapes for everyone widened and expanded. Carol engaging the group in Speed Dating Brainstorming and The Workstyles protocol truly illustrated her exhortation in chat "the power of protocols". Jennifer's brainstorming question around reflection led to a leveraging of technology for unique and meaningful reflections. Eric's thoughtful explanation of Immunity to Change compelled each of us to consider its use more deeply.

The reflections, often a path less traveled, revealed that immersion in an strength based inquiry environment facilitates personal learning rated by Amanda as "profound". For Eileen, our journey was a bit of a surprise:

"As I reflected back on my learning contract I was so focused on the technology piece but what I really got out of this course was a deep understanding of what coaching is and how stories, positive inquiry and coming from strength can really affect change. Very powerful for me."

Eric discovered:

"I’ve known for a long time about the value of careful listening and paraphrasing, but I learned to focus on the positive perspective in the paraphrasing--for the purpose of helping the other recognize strengths they might not see for themselves--and then to build on those strengths moving forward."

Reflections, filled with learning and realizations, demonstrate "our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”-- Don Williams, Jr.

Joe 

Jennifer

Amanda 

Pat

Kathy

Fellow travelers define the journey-- more so when they are passioned, smart, eager to travel, always ready to explore a new view, or examine the implications for the bumps in the road/the meaningful detours. This journey was no exception. What an honor and a privilege it was to have Amy Musone as my traveling partner co facilitating and learning with me. She added a new dimension to learning for all of us with her practitioner perspective pointing to new horizons.

It was a trek I'll long remember-- deep into areas often passed by -- all for the love of the journey.

Unlike Dad's- without a clear roadmap-- thinking he might not find that a bad thing--

Celebrating

Have you heard?

Powerful Learning Practice has launched a new initiative-- Powerful Learning Press!

From their website:

The Connected Teacher: Powering Up shares stories written by teachers and school leaders who are making the shift to technology infused, student-driven learning on behalf of their iGeneration students.

The 22 helpful articles in Powering Up first appeared here in our Voices from the Learning Revolution group blog. In addition to the original text, the book includes images, clickable links, videos and selected comments from readers of the original posts.

You can download your free copy at the new Powerful Learning Press website.

Celebrating too 3 of the authors who are Connected Coaches.

Becky Bair
Patti Grayson
Marsha Ratzel

Becky, Patti, and Marsha give selflessly to their coaching practice and now the world has the opportunity to become more closely acquainted with these passioned educators.

Gifted

Those of us living in NE Ohio have been gifted the last two weeks with sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s. That's big here-- rarely does the sun shine in November and often we are deep in snow -- for example 

The irresistible sunshine pulled me outside to garden chores I had left for spring. On my knees with the sun on my back, cutting back the 3 foot high Monarda  stems blown askew by Sandy, I smiled as I remembered the pink blossoms in their glory the past summer. Their strength-- the height and pink they bring to a landscape also graced with shorter yellow daylilies, pink peonies, deep pink coral bells, orange lillies, and yellow primrose. The Monarda are a favorite of the hummingbirds as they blossom and of the finches and chickadees for strong enough stalks to hold them as they light to check out surroundings. As I looked over the cut back, brown remains of the other perennials, I recalled their glory as they stood alone and  their wonderful swath of color as they grew together.

Stems cut back, basking in the sun, my mind turned as it does so often these days, to Connected Coaching. Strong connections to the array of perennials in my garden struck me again as I reflected on the remarkable opportunity to improve a collective coaching practice with 13 talented, passioned educators in the Powerful Learning Practice Connected Learner Experience.

The group thrives and grows on the extraordinary synergy that emerges each time we meet together much like the collective swath of color from the garden. And coaches bring that synergy into the CLE community in their own unique ways much like the blossoms of each perennial in the garden. They become immersed in the ebb and flow of the community, much like the garden gives to the ends and beginnings of seasons. Can it be coincidence that with their pairings, their strengths and characteristics beautifully compliment the approach they bring to their coaching as do the groupings of perennials in the garden?

Anne and Amy, Amanda, Becky and Dave, Patti and Heidi, Gene and Pati, Mark and Lisa, Marsha and Debby -- bring warmth, enthusiasm, joy, and caring to their  coaching in addition to a meaningful belief system and foundation of values that support them in the work they do with a very diverse group of learners. Their propensity for and understanding of strengths based, appreciative approaches; their tendency for mindfulness (paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally); their commitment to understanding gained through listening and asking good questions related to practice; their perseverance toward deep thought by exploring ideas and concepts, rethinking, revising, and continual repacking and unpacking, resisting urges to finish prematurely; their courage and initiative to engage in discussions on difficult or messy topics; their willingness to leave one's comfort zone to experiment with new strategies; their commitment to deep reflection and growth over time; their inclination toward being open-minded, integritous, and professional; their dedication to the ongoing development of expertise; their ardor for a culture of collegiality- that "None of us is as good as all of us" and that the contributions of all can lead to improved coaching practice; and their comfort level with and thoughtfulness for the affordances of current technology for learning --collectively and individually create a brilliant splash of color and diversity that rivals and surpasses in so many ways my garden.


Gifted again and grateful beyond words for both.

Making their own connections

4th graders in PA
2nd graders in TX
5th graders in PA
Grade 1's in Saskatchewan
High schoolers in TX
2nd graders in PA

Learning  and collaborating together
Teaching each other

How did this come to be?

Their teachers, participants in the year 2 Powerful Learning Practice community (http://plpwiki.com/Year+2+%28PBL%29), team together on the Whole Teacher/Child team (http://plpwiki.com/The+Whole+Teacher+Child) to design a PBL unit in which students inquired:

"How can making global connections help me learn and grow in different ways?"

In this learning experience, students connected and created videos of introduction and learning, and a story together.

Powerful learning across time zones--
Making their own connections--

One of their introductions




A collaborative story created by grade 1s and 4th graders can be viewed here: http://wholeteacherchild.blogspot.com/p/artifacts.html

To their teachers, a standing ovation for your collaboration, for helping your students connect and learn--

When teachers provide theses kinds of opportunities for young people to engage in these kinds of collaboration, possibilities abound--

Winding Down

In our walled garden PLP virtual learning community--
Scanning through the "latest activity" when this caught my attention--

Amy Musone (@musone), a year 1 team leader in the IU 13 community from the Central York District, PA (http://plpwiki.com/Central_York_School_District), encouraged her team members to reflect with her as they wind down this year of Powerful Learning Practice professional learning. The team had been immersed in an action research project, examining how their teaching would be transformed as they engaged in PBL in order to promote 21st century learning.

Our goal for this post is to reflect on where each of us started and where we have come.

Remember our driving question:   How will the Pringles Project transform our teaching practices to promote 21st century skills within our students?  

Our beginning: We started with a survey to gather information about how each of us perceived ourselves along with information about what we felt comfortable and uncomfortable with. We input data using this Google form. We shared our thinking when we met via Skype and on the Community Hub.  

Now: Now it is time for us to reflect on what we have done, how we've grown, and struggles that still hold us back. It is also important for us to consider and share where we plan to go from here.   Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

And leader that she is, she modeled for them her own reflection:

Okay...when we began this venture, I felt unsure of myself and a little self-conscious that I just wasn't "getting it." One thing I wasn't sure about was what exactly was expected of me. As I became more involved I came to the conclusion that the expectation was going to be set by one person...myself. I could get guidance and encouragement from my team members and the PLP community at large, but ideally, the motivation to move forward and become a more effective educator came from within. I knew that I alway wanted to engage in PBL, but never knew how to fully embrace it. Through our meetings both with my PLP Year 1 team and the larger community webinars I felt like I could wrap my head around this idea.  

So...my head was in the right place, finally. My students are just completing their projects. My room was a disaster (we were using packaging materials), there was a constant buzz of excited and on-task conversations, and the creative juices were flowing. There is NO way that I could have "taught" them everything that they discovered (technology, and science) and that made me glow. ....  

This project has begun to infiltrate other activities that happen throughout the school day. I worked to devise a project with another teacher in my classroom and have collaborated with the gifted support teacher on a project. I am truly excited about this.  My hope would be to work with the PLP group on other projects.... I know that in order to do this, we are going to need teacher and administrative buy in. Luckily, I have plenty of artifacts created by kids to demonstrate learning, problem solving, critical thinking skills, and collaboration. Still have a hill to climb...sure, but I've taken a couple of steps!

With Amy's powerful reflection on her PLP journey, I decided to "follow" the discussion; sure enough, the next day Melissa Wilson responded. She shared in part her challenges and her beliefs in the power of PBL:

This has been a very challenging project. At the fifth grade level there are many obstacles to overcome just to find the time to proceed with a problem based assignment. ...  

I believe that there is a real need for problem based learning. ... The challenges created by this type of project parallel the types of challenges the students will face in real life....  

Next year I plan to look at ways that I can create projects such as "The Pringle Project" that will fit in the curriculum. In designing these assignments the plan is to be able to deliver instruction covering the curriculum and then allow the students to use what they have learned in creative real world problem solving. With support from my colleagues I hope that this will help my students to learn and prepare them for the future.

And then Barb Ream chimed in a day later attributing their success and learning to their coach; Amy, their team leader; and their collaboration:

I know that the point of this whole project was to think differently about education by experiencing it firsthand. I am an old fashioned learner who is used to having everything laid out for me. ..  

I felt like I was floundering - a fish out of water. I felt like it must just be me, however after talking to the rest of my group I realized it wasn't just me. We all floundered together and somehow we managed to figure it out in the end.  

I feel the reason we were able to pull it together was for a number of reasons. The first was we had a great coach. Peter (@peterskillen) really guided us through the process and made us think outside the box. Our fearless leader, Amy, was invaluable. Her insight, leadership, creativity, and motivation pulled us through. We would have been lost forever without her. Lastly, my team members. It was such a great experience getting to know members of my school community better. We met through skype and in person. We had great collaboration sessions and worked very well together.  

I think this project taught me many things. The first is that it is ok to be messy learners. .... I learned that if you give students an interesting project, they will come up with some amazing solutions to problems.  

My plan for the future is to continue to create more Problem Based Projects. I actually enjoyed how all of the students came up with different solutions to the same problem. I also plan on sharing this with more colleagues in hopes of having them do something similar.

Deep reflections with common themes--  
Initially overwhelmed with uncertainty and challenges yet persevering-- Floundering and figuring it out together--  
Appreciations for collaboration, the risk taking that enables, and hopes to continue that--  
Recognition of the power of a collegial team working together and of PBL in learning--  
Evidence of profound, collegial professional learning-- absorbing, doing, interacting and reflecting--

Although this team is winding down their formal time together in year 1 PLP, these reflections portend a gearing up--  
for future collaborations, collegial learning,
for more in depth journeys into transforming their teaching practices to promote 21st century skills within their students.

Wayfinding continued --

The wayfinding continues

Four years in

Looking back

As I look forward

Realizing more fully the tensions, the dualities, the uncertainties, the dissonance, the nuances that accompany the privilege of leading an online community remain constant—

Following year 1, these words described my first experience as a community leader for Powerful Learning Practice:

“On the side, in the middle, questioning, nudging, modeling, holding back sitting on my hands”


“Where I once might have suggested or pushed in a conversation, now others begin to take that lead. As an almost out of body experience, I hear my voice slowly morphing from that of leader as trust builds and the voices of the community grow and mature.” --Powerful Learning Practice

These tensions, this dissonance—only compel my own stretching, my moving out of my comfort zone as I find my way as a community leader. At this point, it's messy, it’s exhilarating, it’s formidable and it’s stupefying – 21st century learning at its best!!! Learning that brings new meaning to being open to new ideas, to flexibility, to being nimble— challenging and demanding.


As I find my way, seeking tone that is most welcoming, and yet again true, I find myself on the side in private emails and comments to walls on the NING encouraging those who continue to find this environment daunting.


… asking questions of clarification, hoping to push folk deeper in thinking or in considering an alternate perspective. Composing these questions—again with attention to tone –does not come easily-- wanting just the right words, just the right phrase, in my own voice—

Most challenging – sensing the right time to be quiet at the computer, just sitting on my hands, letting go -- allowing members of the community the opportunity for their own personal messy learning. I often feel like I’m on a roller coaster as passioned conversations take off and then suddenly few voices are raised-- I’m confident with my choice to step back and then I’m questioning the appropriateness—

Year1: http://possibilitiesabound.blogspot.com/2008/12/wayfinding-in-online-community-of.html

Those words, those phrases, those thoughts-- they continue today. 

Two years in

One year ago—passioned, savoring my journey as a PLP community leader— Feeling exhilarated, bungling, practiced, ineffectual, poised, uncertain And finally thinking I was on the cusp of moving beyond the tensions, the dualities I found inherent in the role of community leader—

One year later—perhaps a little wiser Just a touch more widely read—

Arrogant in suggesting a year ago that the “perhaps less need for me to make those difficult choices” as the community evolved-- of what, and when and how to nudge, to cajole and to be silent—

Finding that wayfinding, always is fraught with tensions and dualities – jumping in, sitting on my hands, nudging, holding back, encouraging—

Finding that wayfinding continues to invoke inexplicable, disparate feelings – joy, insecurity, fervor, doubt, excitement, indecision, zeal, awe —

Learning, forever learning-- reveling in the messiness, the tensions, and the day to day need for nuanced silence or responses—

Year 2 http://possibilitiesabound.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-year-laterwayfinding-continued.html

Those words, those phrases, those feelings, those thoughts-- they continue today.

And 6 months later:

‘Any serious learning will take you through a dark night of your identity’.
–Etienne Wenger via Jenny Mackness

..my wayfinding has been fruitful, though often fraught with frustration over my perceived inadequacies as I seek to become more competent in supporting sociability and participation in a community. Always asking how can I better help to support and build a sense of community and social relationships and trust, how can I better encourage different levels of participation, and how can I better add value to the community on the side out of the middle, always as a co-learner --for that is how I presently view this role.

Much learned, and so much to yet to learn, from this place in which I now find myself—

Helping build a sense of community
Taking the recommendation of Cothrel & Williams (1999) to heart --that community building is the key to success and developing a sense of community for its members is essential to achieve a high level of participation..

Helping to build social relationships and trust
With the building of relationships, collegiality and trust, members begin to feel a sense of community and with that arises sharing and learning from each other. Nichani & Hung (2002) point out that:
“trust is the glue that binds the members of a community to act in sharing and adapting manner. Without trust, members would hoard their knowledge and experience and would not go through the trouble of sharing with or learning from others”

In my desire to build trust, I’ve used member’s names, met virtually with teams, responded with affirmations and positive statements, attempted to be sure that every member received a response in a timely manner, pointed to responses that evidenced competence, and co created content with digital stories as we became acquainted with each other for I’ve learned that in communities that are perceived as friendly, honest, reliable and competent, members are more willing to participate. (Sharratt & Usoro, 2003) Although my sense is that I’ve been somewhat successful, I believe there is a need for me to model more often and more fully competence through transparency and sharing, making myself more vulnerable to others in order to develop that kind of trust.

Knowing and understanding the normal three levels of participation in community (a small core leadership group of active participants, about 10-15% of the whole community; a small active group (15-20%) that attend regularly participate in community forums occasionally; and large proportions of members are peripheral and rarely participate) (Wenger & his colleagues, 2002) and confidently encouraging the participation of those on the periphery are two very different things. ... it has been argued that with diverse members in terms of knowledge and expertise, allowing novices to the practice to acquire expertise through legitimate peripheral participation is important, as early criticism can lead to inactive community members. (Lave & Wenger, 1998)

On another level, nurturing the growth of others to become leaders and then knowing when to step back and sit on my hands as they emerge to lead others has been a dimension that has been somewhat effective for me and an area I’ll continue to tweak and adjust with the dynamics of a particular community as guides.

Helping to add value
To encourage participation, potential members have to be convinced that it is worth participating in the CoP. (Sharratt & Usoro, 2003). …With my previously stated commitment to model and demonstrate more fully transparency in learning and sharing through blogging, tweeting and more widespread reading, I hope to feel more confident that I do add more value to the community and that that confidence may shine through in the sharing and be a factor in persuading others to also add value to our collective learning.

Cothrel, J. & Williams, R.L. (1999) On-line communities: helping them form and grow. Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol.3, No.1, pp 54-60.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity: Cambridge University Press.

End of year2: http://possibilitiesabound.blogspot.com/2010/05/reflecting.html

 I find growth in that reflection-- feelings and thoughts not changed, yet there is emerging a researched foundation on which to grow my practice.

And now--

A bit more confident--

Nevertheless continuing to sense the tensions, the nuances, the extreme care needed for the emergence and growth of a real community--

Realizing even more fully (did I think that was possible?) how leading a community is an art-- 

In the building of relationships, in the right and powerful questions, in the appreciative inquiry, in the capacity building, in the value adding--

And yet learning more and eagerly anticipating the next opportunity to grow and learn more, to focus on what I've come to know--

I know now that it is when everyone is sharing and everyone is deciding where and what they will read, do, or reflect upon-- that is when the real action and learning takes place. I want to model myself out of a job and make things easy for natural leaders to emerge.

I want to focus on keeping the community together. I need to recognize more fully the community’s need for balance; need for change and a need for stability. Too much newness, and there is a danger of the community losing its sense of identity; too much stability can lead to a loss of intensity and vitality. I'm thinking obtaining more feedback from all members can be helpful in guiding the community. I need to be more open, willing to consider new thinking, to help the community continue to evolve and thrive (Stuckey & Smith, 2004). I need to focus more on nurturing new leadership (Lai et al., 2006). I need to reach out to core members to lead an activity; create occasions that by their organic nature leave opportunities for leaders to emerge. As well, I should be engaging in ongoing efforts to build community especially focusing on social interactions, deepening and extending collegial relationships. As important, if not more, should be my continuous nurturing of and creating conditions in which trust develops -- the trust that comes to underlie collegial relationships where risk taking and stretching are the norm (Rasberry & Mahajan, 2008).

I've come to know that wayfinding as a community leader:

is always fraught with tensions and dualities – jumping in, sitting on my hands, nudging, holding back, encouraging —

will evoke inexplicable, disparate feelings – joy, insecurity, fervor, doubt, excitement, indecision, zeal, awe —

is learning, forever learning-- reveling in the messiness, the tensions, and the day to day need for nuanced silence and responses —

Image: 'London Loop or Beeches Way'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42439038@N00/6772899171 

From Silence to Jumping In--

Cross Posted

Had we been together face to face, you would have heard a pin drop. But we weren’t. The setting– a Blackboard Collaborate room- and yet the stunned silence, think lack of chat– of more than 50 excited year 2 PLPeeps was deafening. These passionate educators had returned to Powerful Learning Practice for a year long journey into PBL. Their local teams had collaborated on action research projects the previous year and they were pumped about working together again. Sheryl had just pushed them totally out of their comfort zone when she announced that they would be sharing their passions, and self selecting their teams around those passions to collaborate on their PBL units. Gone the now comfortable face to face collaboration to learn and create. This collaboration, often across long distances (Texas, Saskatchewan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania), would necessitate leveraging the affordances of collaborative tools minus the cues of body language and eyes that often tell so much.

Deep breaths. Some questions. Uncertainty. More quiet. And then they jumped in.

In their new private team spaces in the PLP community hub, they chose team leaders. They introduced themselves and shared Twitter handles. They created team blogs on which they will transparently share their journey. Given a simple activity to get to know each other, to co create content together, each team approached it in a different way bringing their unique talents and gifts to the task. (The Diamonds of Inquiry task: Given a graphic, as a team select 9 words that best describe inquiry in the classroom. Put the words on the image, prioritizing from most to least importance.) Two teams took this activity to an additional level as it became part of the foundation for their moving forward.

Each member of the Arts and Crafts team listed their choices in their private space on the PLP Community Hub; one their members manually prioritized their selections by number of times each word was mentioned. Another member used Picnik to add the words to the image. Subsequently in a webinar, Sister Geralyn, team leader, posted their completed image on the white board stimulating their first deep and meaningful conversation around their project.

The team with the Instructional or Discipline Focus began the task with a shared Google drawing created by one of its members. The image below illustrates their “diamond building” in progress.

In their team space days later, Sheamus Burns posted an idea:

“I thought we could rate the words we came up with on a scale of importance. Our project will have particular outcomes and the words we chose have to do with the nature of those outcomes. The words that we rank the highest can become categories in which we start determining what our intended outcomes for the project might be. I imagine we could have a set of shared intended outcomes and then our own personal intended outcomes.”

A link followed to a Google form he created to collect everyone’s input.

Undaunted by time zones and geographical distance, year 2 PLPeeps rise to the challenge. Their passions fuel their journey; the technology enables it; the collaboration exponentially enhances it. Their taking a simple activity and leveraging it as a foundation for their journey is telling. With their diverse talents and perspectives, they are on their way to extraordinary PBL units.

Stay tuned. They are just getting started! And I get to tag along, to marvel, to learn, to celebrate — what could be better?

Spaghetti sauce and Connected Coaching

The homemade spaghetti sauce last week was rich, flavorful-- just downright extraordinary.

I attribute most of that to the quality of the ingredients-- something about organic farm fresh tomatoes, new onions, fresh organo, real garlic, and a touch of hot sauce to add a bit of a zing. Yet I've used those same ingredients before and the sauce never had the unique flavor of this batch. There must be something to the love, to the passion that becomes part of the process. No longer a strict recipe follower when I'm putting together a dish I've made before, there is the possibility of an extra large clove of garlic, maybe dried oregano-- always evolving, responding to conditions at hand.

While I was washing the dishes and the pot in which the sauce simmered to take on all its goodness, similarities to our Powerful Learning Practice Connected Coaching pilot struck me. That experience was downright extraordinary too. The ingredients were topnotch. Our 6 coaches, all accomplished educators-- Brenda Sherry, Marsha Ratzel, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, John Pearce, Mark Carbone, and Chad Evans-- brought their own gits and talents to deep discussions around coaching and entered communities with enthusiasm and passion. Our unique model was well flavored by dashes of Tschannen-Morans' Evocative Coaching, Costa/Garmston's Cognitive Coaching, Knight's Instructional Coaching and Dana/Yendel-Hoppey's Coaching Inquiry Oriented Communities. The zing emanated from Dean Shareski's exceptional vision and expertise for leveraging images and video, moving beyond text, in online spaces, and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's brilliant insights around developing community.

The coaching process, unlike the sauce, lacked any prescriptive recipe and was not one we'd tried before; we let it simmer a bit, added a bit more of Tschannen-Moran and Knight, turned down the heat for a while, then back to a simmer, not unlike our description of the model as one of wayfinding with looping back, checking pathmarkers (building trust, questioning, and facilitating design thinking). I'm guessing the inquiry based appreciative elements (think more than dashes of Tshannen-Morans) increased the likelihood of such an exemplary experience. And unlike the sauce, our coaching was a collaborative process. The joy, the rush that comes from engagement in collegial conversations around difficult topics can not be overstated.

In focus sessions, we attempted to distinguish the specific ingredients or parts of the process that led to such a remarkable experience; we were unable. We were in total agreement that the ingredients and the process intertwined into a model for coaching in online spaces that should be replicated --- again.

Like the spaghetti sauce, the grand aftertaste leads to a longing for more.
Additional opportunities for connected coaches are simmering; I can't wait. They will have Dean, Sheryl, Marsha, Brenda, Zoe, John, Chad and Mark to thank for their creativity and imagination, for their passion and perseverance in concocting Connected Coaching in 2011.

And I am anticipating too the next batch of farm fresh tomatoes and the potential to replicate that unique sauce once again.

Photo Credit

We may never pass this way again--

Not always the biggest of music lovers, Seals & Crofts touch my soul in so many ways.

This melody and these lyrics. have been playing and replaying in my head following a conversation with one of my favorite co learners, Marsha in the Powerful Learning Practice e course Teaching Online where I lamented my lack of participation and what that might mean for my learning and that of others.

As I've been humming to myself all day,

Like Columbus in the olden days, we must gather all our courage.
Sail our ships out on the open sea. Cast away our fears
And all the years will come and go, and take us up, always up.
We may never pass this way again.

It's struck me even more that in our times, this has such a universal call--

To our politicians--
To those who treasure our planet --
To those of us who seek a transformation in education--
To those of us who envision the potential of learning in community--
To those of us learning--

At this moment, we are in unique places--
We can't afford to let any opportunity pass us by--

We may never pass this way again

Of course, this is nothing new--
But there is an urgency in every area--
We are on so many precipices--

Like Columbus in the olden days, we must gather all our courage.
Sail our ships out on the open sea. Cast away our fears
And all the years will come and go, and take us up, always up.
We may never pass this way again.

Animals/Habitats team is on their way!

I just posted this in the group room of the Animals/Habitats team of the PLP ConnectU walled garden community.



The members of this team are really on their way to planning an exciting PBL experience for their students.

In their second Elluminate team meeting, every member of the team attended; every member's voice was heard. Under the extraordinary leadership of Jane, the team leader, this team has developed driving and supporting questions, selected VELs that will be addressed in the unit, looked at possibilities for assessment, thought through a WOW beginning activity, created a project timeline, and begun to blog about their journey and is sharing all of this transparently.

I am anxiously waiting to hear about the initial walkarounds they and their students will be taking as they explore animals/environments in their local areas and asking questions of them as they respond to Jane's latest Ning posting around Scaffolding the Personal Learning - Helping the Learner to Learn how to Learn!! Really exciting!!!

Coaching across time zones--

It was Tuesday-- 4 PM in Melbourne, Australia
and 2 AM in Chardon, OH.

Yet with the affordances of technology, time and space became totally irrelevant (although my brain rebelled a bit at that hour) as the PLP ConnectU Animals and Habitats team from Melbourne met in Elluminate and I joined in as their connected coach.

Committed, passioned educators-- keen to become more accomplished in developing PBL experiences for their students-- Jane, Lisa, and Tim (Ben's Internet was down) connected, collaborated and set out immediate next steps as they continued discussions begun in their team room in the PLP Ning online community.

Jane Brayshaw, the team's leader had summarized the discussions from Ning for the meeting and she and Lisa had developed a list of learning standards from the VELs that their soon to be unit might well address.

From the conversations came agreement on a driving question appropriate for the PBL unit they are designing for their students-- "How do we provide for the health of animals in our local communities?"

Their discussion around assessment -- as, of, and for -- was refreshing

As a coach, I answered questions they had for me and asked questions in chat of them as they thought through their process. My goal --they would recognize and call on their individual and collective strengths to carry on (they did and very likely could have done it well without me).

Similar to my recent role as community leader for PLP and as expert learner in a constructivist classroom, the complex dance of coaching- of nudging and suggesting and then stepping back, sitting on my hands - continued. Sometimes that dance is far more complex and difficult than others - this was not one of those times. That dance is an art it seems to me -- one I've been practicing in an ongoing quest to develop expertise. With this team, the dance is exhilarating and exciting.

The team is on their way; their focus is on their students' learning; a grand inquiry PBL unit into animals in their local communities is the making.

Connected Coaching-- our path

Cross Posted

“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.” --John Schaar

So it is with Connected Coaching. Our grand destination, so to speak, a transformation of professional learning, increasing confidence and self-efficacy of educators worldwide. Our path-- coaching in online spaces through an appreciative inquiry lens.

From the outset, Dean and I have viewed coaching in online spaces as a wayfinding process-- a process lacking linearity, and often requiring the need to loopback, to detour, to revisit. As we developed the model, we identified pathmarkers we believed could guide the way of coaches -- a process clearly characterized by lack of prescription. From exploring the model with Marsha, Brenda, John, Mark, Zoe and Chad -- the 6 bright, passionate, accomplished educators who joined our pilot-- to coaching in communities, I've come to understand and appreciate more fully both the great potential of and complex nuances inherent in such a model. Realizing, recognizing, inferring online when to step back, when to revisit, finding the right moment to interject the right question requires countless decisions by those coaching. Through our own collaborative appreciative inquiry into coaching, our own wayfinding, our pilot team of coaches (Dean and I included) have been engaged in an exciting ongoing development of expertise. Our challenges continue to be leveraging the uniqueness of online spaces-- lacking eye contact, visual body language cues, unable to adopt many face to face strategies for active listening-- we experiment with remixing current face to face protocols, with images, with audio, and with video to build trust, to develop rapport, to speak into the hearts of the team members we serve.

As important to our model has been the appreciative inquiry approach that underlies all our actions as connected coaches. We see our coaching with our community members as mediating their thinking-- helping them realize and clarify for themselves their own potential--not through telling but through questions and affirmations that help those we coach discover and uncover their own strengths, helping members to realize the potential of those strengths to effect change-- much as Zander notes here:



We have embraced what I view as a refreshing and powerful shift in paradigms-- from the current deficit, "fix it" which seems to permeate all we see and do to one of appreciation for the unique strengths of each person. I join others who believe that from this approach momentum for change builds and can flourish. Even now at this stage of our pilot, we see evidence of excitement and camaraderie with a number of teams we are coaching and sense momentum for change building as the positive principle of appreciate inquiry suggests--

“Momentum for change requires large amounts of positive affect and social bonding – things like hope, excitement, inspiration, caring, camaraderie, sense of urgent purpose, and sheer joy in creating something meaningful together. What we have found is that the more positive the question we ask in our work the more long lasting and successful the change effort. It does not help, we have found, to begin our inquiries from the standpoint of the world as a problem to be solved. We are more effective the longer we can retain the spirit of inquiry of the everlasting beginner. The major thing we do that makes the difference is to craft and seed, in better and more catalytic ways, the unconditional positive question.” --Positive Principle, AI

Have we changed as we've forged paths of connected coaching?

I-- usually but not always an optimist, I've become totally convinced that an appreciative inquiry approach is far more powerful and has greater potential to build momentum for change than others. I've reached deep inside as I've responded to discussions in our online space to find that my lifelong passion for learning about learning has been exceeded now by my passion for learning about coaching.

And our team-- as we've grown to know each other personally and professionally through our work, has become a community of practice. The conversations around coaching practice have grown deeper. We've had some difficult discussions and grown from them. Given other learning opportunities, many of us have chosen to join in because "if some of you are there, I'm in". We've committed to a path of continually developing our expertise. And our lives are the richer for our collaborations together.

Our path may alter a bit; that there will be loopbacks and revisits as we reflect upon and refine our practice is a given. This path to connected coaching holds more than great promise and will benefit from repeated traversing. We are not finished--

Photo Credit