Sliced Bread

image photogamer on flickr

All students reflect as part of our college Reflection, Organisation And Reading programs. ROAR not only involves using a learning log (diary) to plan, record homework and organise assessments, it also encourages students to consciously record how they best learn. With fine tuning and more realistic goals, I think ROAR, a 4 year old program, will improve further in 2009.

My question however is, how do staff reflect on their profession? I assume they do, I’m just not sure how. Maybe we could introduce a staff learning log and model this reflective practice?                                                           

Jeff Cobb’s thought provoking question What have I learned at work? on Mission to Learn keeps resonating. I especially like these questions

Does what I am doing right now (i.e., having a conversation, participating in a meeting, completing a routine task, etc.) increase my knowledge or skill level in any significant way? How?

What might turn this activity into more of a learning experience? What do I need to do to make that happen? What could my employer do?

What could I add into my activities for today that would provide for a learning experience?

What could I take out of my activities that does not contribute to learning and would not really be missed?

An interesting set of questions which I have answered sporadically since April. Some answers alarmed me. Talk about “stuck on the wheel” and in the massive “same old same old rut.” I needed to change, hence the toe dipping web2.0 experiment before me.

I see future positives, but still question the change rate of the massive edubureaucracy I sometimes feel stuck in. It is responsive, but at a glacial pace. DET NSW really needs a dose of Usain’s speed, to gain  momentum for the hurdles ahead. 

In“Leading A Digital School” , Mal Lee, said,

Only when the vast majority of Australia’s teachers are using the appropriate digital tools as a normal part of their everyday teaching, and are provided all the requisite development and support from the school and system leaders can Australian education begin to assist enhanced national productivity

The key words, in red, need to have bipartisan, enequivical political support across all tiers of government if Australia as a nation is to be fair dinkum about advancing 21st century learning in schools.

In amongst the questionable tangents of the blogeratti there is a growing alignment of dedicated learning professionals striving to  deblinker administrators, policy makers and governments. Those that do not listen, change and innovate do so at their systems, and learners, peril and decline. 

I’ll leave the last word for Jeff as he says it so well;

I’d go so far as to suggest that:

1. Individuals who become conscious of their learning at work and take charge of their learning at work will be by far the most successful in today’s economy.
2. The primary focus of learning professionals should be helping individuals become conscious of their learning and take charge of it.

…if you undertake the exercise above and discover that you really are not learning much on the job, it may be time to look for a better job. The second is that, if you are counting on your employer to understand the new dynamics of workplace learning and help you out, you may be waiting quite a while.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS