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WRONG QUESTIONS
"How can 'intellectual property' be 'protected'? The question contains the seed
of its own confusion; it's the wrong verb about the wrong noun.” astutely
observed Harlan Cleveland in the May/June 1989 issue of Change magazine.
I claim, less deftly, that “When and where
did you begin your presentation?” is the wrong adverbs, wrong verb, wrong
pronouns, and wrong noun.
Wrong adverbs: “When” and “where”
The structure and content that were offered
from 3:30pm to 5pm on June 2 were an extension of a conversation that had no
precise boundary in time or place. While some of us were in room 314 of
Sullivan Hall, St. John’s University, Queens, New York, USA for a couple of
hours that afternoon, other contributors were located on other continents, and
still others made their contributions more locally but at different times.
Wrong verb: “did ..begin”
The involvement of the participants with
each other to learn together and share information neither began nor ended that
afternoon.
Wrong pronouns: “you” and “your”
[meaning me/mine]
While I was the one who had a formal session
proposal accepted for the eLit 2004 conference, the experience offered to
participants (those with us face-to-face on the St. John’s University campus,
those connected synchronously via the Internet, and those who provided
information, guidance, pedagogical design, and technical support all contributed
to the value of the experience.
Wrong noun: “presentation”
Several of us offered brief prepared
presentations, but the composite EVENT was much more like the performance of a
well-prepared jazz ensemble – with some members of the audience “sitting in” and
enriching the experience for us all. Each member of the “teaching ensemble” has
worked hard to master his/her own field and skills. Some of our contributions
overlap but most are complementary and mutually supportive. A few unrehearsed
new insights emerged as we responded to each others’ contributions or questions.
THE INTERNET-BASED SYNCHRONOUS “GROUPWARE”
WORKED FLAWLESSLY! Several members of our ensemble participated fully and
actively from other continents.
We have also been developing a growing set of linked Web pages that offer much
more information than we could even mention in our “presentation.” We
repeatedly gave the Web address so that new participants could find the entryway
to that richer set of resources, hoping that many of them would benefit from
what they find there and further enrich it with their own offerings.
NEW PARADIGM?
Our old questions don’t apply well any more
because we’re now groping and lurching ahead into a REAL new educational
paradigm. This in contrast with many irritating “emperor’s new paradigms” that
pundits have tried to foist upon us in higher education during the past decade -
including “anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime education.”
The new paradigm is more like “lots of
people teaching and learning many topics for a variety of purposes with most of
them together in almost-traditional classrooms interacting with others (and each
other) in other places at other times.” Not catchy, not easy to adapt to,
requiring lots of work, but with lots of new benefits.
Perhaps the two most radical changes are:
1. Stretching or piercing the boundaries of
traditional courses; and, even more radical,
2. Building a “course” around the
synergistically combined skills of an interdependent team of
leader/presenter/teachers – a “teaching ensemble.”
I’ve only met one person who can BY HIMSELF
enable a group of learners to take full advantage of the rich resources and
tools now available for teaching and learning. Higher education has not
prepared any of us well for this kind of ensemble work, nor do traditional
logistic structures, especially the academic schedule, make it easy.
Some other important changes:
- Hybrids/Blends
Selecting new combinations from the rapidly growing variety of available
media, tools, information resources, and feasible pedagogical approaches;
- Interaction/Engagement
Using new tools, especially those with audio capabilities, to support more
interaction and engagement among learner, teachers and other important
colleagues;
- Translucent Technology
Becoming comfortable in acknowledging the limits of both the technology that
is not yet as reliable as we would like, and our own skills in using it.
RIGHT QUESTIONS
If I had to offer just one question to
replace “When/where did you begin your presentation?” it might be:
“What are the purpose, structure, and
resources you are providing to help us learn?” – with “you” being plural! The
role of information technology could be included in the answers to all three
parts.
However, I don’t think one question is
really enough. I hope the following provide beginnings for some of the right
questions, and that you might offer amendments or improvements. These questions
are intended to support (or at least reflect) the new paradigm described above:
- “How can a teaching ensemble
- several people who have complementary skills and knowledge - work together
to offer a rich array of educational resources, experiences, and thoughtful
guidance to a different groups of individuals who have different learning
needs, learning styles, goals, and schedules?
- “How can this process
provide options that suit many learners who want to spend time with each other
both to socialize and to test their growing understanding and mastery of new
ideas?
- “How can the same process
also serve those who need very little from their fellow learners, but who seek
insights, perspective, and guidance from the teachers?
- “How can a teaching ensemble
acquire the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills that enable the group to
direct the learning and exploration of others with confidence and success?
- “How can a teaching ensemble
comfortably and effectively manage a teaching/learning environment that
includes both working with groups in almost-traditional classrooms as well as
interacting with each other and the students when most of them cannot meet in
one place at one time?
- “And more?”
ANSWERS?
So, how should I answer “When/where did you
begin your presentation?” I hope the discussion above will help those who ask
to understand why I need to answer a different question – a set of questions.
Here is the beginning of the answers – of explanation and justification.
Like many of you, I’ve learned over the last
few years how to bring together and organize a set of resources beginning with a
“home page” that can serve as a kind of artist’s palette available during a
presentation, as well as providing access to related information both before and
after the face-to-face event. Recently, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to
work with many different people to offer a variety of online professional
development events and workshop series. I’m learning to work in and as a
teaching ensemble – to teach together, explore together, learn together. [It’s
difficult!]
Many of us are now offering combinations of
Web-based resources, synchronous interaction online and face-to-face,
traditional instructional materials and classrooms, etc. The learning we’re
providing often begins before the first official meeting (we make Web resources
available beforehand), and extends after the last official synchronous session –
especially for those who were unable to fit the meeting into their schedules and
must participate only by “viewing” some kind of recording. [NOTE: No one I
work with believes or claims that having access to the recording is exactly
equivalent to participating in the live event. But we also recognize that such
recordings can be immensely useful to some learners.]
When some of us are able to meet together in
one place, we often use the rapidly evolving Internet tools to communicate live
by text, image, and voice with some of those who are elsewhere. And we often
extend those meetings with asynchronous interaction via text, image, and most
recently voice.
I don’t want to become one of the
over-zealots myself, so I rush to add that we usually identify a small set of
readings and Web sites as the core of our teaching/learning resources and we
think carefully about requiring or recommending a schedule and set of activities
that most of the learners involved will accept. But we are greatly expanding
upon the practice of many teachers from previous times to link what they do
face-to-face with a variety of resources available in different media under
different conditions.
We are especially enjoying the new
technology and telecommunications options that permit us to bring guest experts
into our physical meeting spaces as well as into our asynchronous interactions
(e.g., highly structured synchronous 2-way and multi-way audio over the
Internet; the ability to record someone over the phone and easily make the
result available on the Web).
I’ll end by reaffirming one of the oldest
observations about education and about human nature. We learn best – most
deeply - by teaching. A really new paradigm may enable us to share that most
wonderful opportunity more widely. We’re not only depending on more people
helping with the teaching; by encouraging them to do so we’re providing the
best of all ways for them to learn. |
