WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANDRAGOGY & PEDAGOGY?

I find this table (below) very interesting, particularly the "permanence of learning" row. I know what I am striving for... and it does seem to reinforce my previous postings. Is pedagogy a blst from the past and should it stay there?

From http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/andragogy/index.htm

	Andragogy	Pedagogy
Demands of learning	Learner must balance life responsibilities with the demands of learning.	Learner can devote more time to the demands of learning because responsibilities are minimal.
Role of instructor	Learners are autonomous and self directed. Teachers guide the learners to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts.	Learners rely on the instructor to direct the learning. Fact based lecturing is often the mode of knowledge transmission.
Life experiences	Learners have a tremendous amount of life experiences. They need to connect the learning to their knowledge base. They must recognize the value of the learning.	Learners are building a knowledge base and must be shown how their life experiences connect with the present learning.
Purpose for learning	Learners are goal oriented and know for what purpose they are learning new information	Learners often see no reason for taking a particular course. They just know they have to learn the information.
Permanence of learning	Learning is self-initiated and tends to last a long time.	Learning is compulsory and tends to disappear shortly after instruction.

30+ WAYS TO USE WORDLE IN THE CLASSROOM

Thanks to Tom Barrett for this link sharing a multitude of interesting ways that wordle can be used in the classroom.

Mel's idea was a brilliant one too. Parent feedback to a survey was entered into Wordle and the display was really informative and showed direct links ot the school vision for learnning. What a clever cookie!

I wonder how others are using it...

XTRANORMAL - A GREAT DIGITAL STORY TELLING TOOL

Wow Wow Wee!!! Thanks to Twitter I've linked to this great tool. It is still in its beta site and because of this free at this stage.

Watch the video below and see why I'm excited.

Make your own mini-movie using avatars in four easy steps and all for free.

XtraNormal - great for creative writing, sequencing, structure and just having fun. Have students create their own show complete with camera angles and attitude. Story board first is a recommendation.

Don't let the kids have all the fun - go on in and make one to show them too. You'll have fun!

Visit xtranormal.com
I'm off to add it to the Digital Story Telling Page on our RELLco wiki Shows how helpful a tweet can be.

ADDING VIDEO TO BLOGGER ARTICLES:

Locate the video you want to add from the www video site it is stored on e.g. YouTube, Teacher Tube etc.

You should see a box referring to Embed: with html text in it

Copy all the html, the embed code offered within the Embed: box

1. Login to blogger with your ID.


2. Click New Posting.


3. Choose Edit Html tab (up by the Compose tab)


4. Move the cursor to where you want the code to appear and paste the embed code.
   
   
5. If you want a line break between this and the next line of text add where you want the break to appear
   


6. Click Publish Post button


7. Done. Please see the results

View your blog. Don't forget to refresh your page if it was opened before publishing.

TWITTERING SATURDAY

A wet ANZAC day in the Bay spent watching out for Marty at ANZAC Cove, Turkey via the TV coverage. No sign so far. However while watching I have enjoyed twittering around, catching up with my facebook, emails etc. Have enjoyed the time talking with people and catching up on their news etc. This brings me to some musings about Twitter...

A while ago I blogged about this social networking tool, querying its worth in my overflowing life. Then at a couple of conferences last year I found it invaluable. To sit in a room and listen to a speaker with no interaction is hard for me now and it doesn't have anything to do with getting old! It is about being able to interact with my thinking. Where people would have whispered and talked, disturbing others in the past, I can now twitter. This allows me to have my questions asked - and answered, hear what others are twittering in the same space, expose myself to new links and thinkings etc and come back to them all later when more in depth follow up is possible.

I found this video on YouTube and am still smiling. I guess it is about us as users. It is about us using the tool to meet our individual needs. Thank goodness I don't have an addictive personality... but then perhaps I wonder, have I??

Enjoy:



If you want to find out more about twitter:



If you want to join: http://twitter.com

If you want to meet me there: http://twitter.com/lwatchorn

IS THERE STILL A PLACE FOR PEDAGOGY?

The thought just wont go away! Last June I blogged about the place of pedagogy as opposed to andragogy (Knowles…)within a 21st century learning environment. The article focused around the pondering: Is it a case of only one (pedagogy as it is seen to apply specifically to children) or andragogy within the classroom?
I am still wondering....

Should we be examining a learning theory in light of the learning rather than the age of the people involved? My current leaning is more and more towards the principles of andragogy rather than pedagogy in a child centred classroom.

Two Definitions of Pedagogy From A Google Search:

o "Pedagogy , or paedagogy is the art or science of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction."
From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy

o "An educational approach characterized by teacher-centredness. The teacher is viewed as an authority figure and students are not generally involved in decisions/actions in regard to learning. Related concepts include: directed learning."
From: www.nald.ca/adultlearningcourse/glossary.htm:


I understand the word pedagogy comes from the ancient Greek paidagogos, the slave who took little boys to and from school as part of paideia. The word "paidia" (παιδιά) refers to children, which I guess is why people make the distinction between pedagogy (teaching children) and andragogy (teaching adults).


Two Definitions of Androgogy:

o "Andragogy is the process of engaging adult learners in the structure of the learning experience."
From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andragogy

o "an educational approach characterized by learner-centredness (ie, the student's needs and wants are central to the process of teaching), self ..."
www.nald.ca/adultlearningcourse/glossary.htm


Aha! Perhaps the later definition is the key.


I am at the Art of Facilitation Course run by Joan Dalton and David Anderson. A poster displayed on the wall has caused me to reflect on my thinking and how it may have progressed since my June 08 article. I am feeling more and more that I lean towards pedagogy either needing to be revamped or trashed altogether. Wow! Now, this statement is a risk, a dramatic concept for me to publicly declare! As I do this, I wonder about the ramifications. Hmmm, I'll risk it.

The poster refers to the assertion that adults need:
- to be involved in planning and evaluating their instruction
- to use experience as the basis for learning activities
- to learn what has immediate relevance to their jobs/personal lives
- problem-centred learning rather than content-oriented learning.

Isn't this what we do and want for our classrooms? Why should the adults have all the fun?

Have a look at this link. Which on the list does not apply in a 21st C Classroom?

What am I missing?? I'd love some feedback and to have my thinking challenged.

Has the time come for pedagogy to be discarded and replaced with another term which encompasses all learners, recognising their cognitive ability rather than age?

What is informing our current practice and assisting us as we travel towards our vision for learning?

Pedagogy?

......Should it be?

SLANZA 2009

I spent yesterday with a wonderful group of people involved in school libraries, all keen to find out about this "new Web2 phenomenon". And did we have fun!! All created either a wiki or a blog and most did both! Hosted at Otumoetai College in their library and suite (for the hands on) we dived right on in. If you want to find out more, check out the SLANZA wiki which was set up last year for a similar foray. It is always so nice to work with Linda and thank you for organising it all. I was just able to turn up and have fun which I sure did!

I'm in Hamilton now and loving this weather!!

INSPIRATION IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL

Here I am at Owhata School and loving it! I always feel so inspired when talking to Trish. The learning focus she has is wonderful!! I love listening to the enthusiasm and passion, Trish's reflections and ponderings as she shares her progress with her Junior class. I just can't get enough!!!! Trish is going to become a blogger too so others will get to feel inspired along with me which is great news. I'll post Trish's URL up here when we get going.... so watch this space!

WHO WANTS TO BE MARY?

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

Interesting isn't it how the technologies we use have the power to change us as users. Reminds me of the first ATM machines that were put inside the banks, alongside the tellers, available only as much as the human versions were. It took a while for the thinking to alter and the new ways of doing things to occur.

Similarly I wonder about the tools as I consider options for sharing e-portfolios. Google Docs has such potential and again I ponder how these tools may alter what we do now. My thinking then meandered on to consultation over the school curriculum ( I really must learn to sleep at night) and I came across Dr Cheryl Doig's work in this area. She talks about our schools perception around engaging with our communities. Check out Cheryl's voice thread on the subject

I remember years ago a high school my children went to engaged us as parents in a community consultation meeting. Not much consultation and very little opportuntiy for engagement. Made me think - not about what was presented but how they could even consider this "community consultation and engagement". It was simply a Show and Tell. How many schools still see this as consultation, I wonder. What does that form of consultation tell us about what the school values?

What is the role of the school in reporting to parents .... ?

- informing (one way conversation, school decides),

- consulting aka "selling" (two way relationship, school decides),

- involving - (discuss, school decides),

- collaborating - (school and community decide together),

- empowering - (trust based relationships, joint discussions and decisionmakers)

PODCASTING TOOL:

Just discovered a nice new podcasting site - one which hosts your podcasts and prepares them for embedding into other web 2.0 applications.


I love it - it seems so simple, so clear in its processes. So much easier than some I have worked with (podcasts that is!:-)

Check it out: Podbean.com

"Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a flame." - Socrates

LEADING STUDENTS TO AUTHORSHIP:

Thank you Mark for the invitation to blend in at the Nga Tii Roa cluster’s TO day. (Yeah I can hear the "Lorraine - blend???" comments. :-) I have long wanted to participate in one of Gail Loane’s workshops, ever since the 1990s when I heard Julie share her student’s writing following such a course. Today I found out why.

It is interesting to reflect on the successful strategies promoted to support authorship. I can see why I felt such a buzz. It links so much to what I believe, to what I do in my work.

21^st C Learning – Rich, Real, Relevant

We can’t give children rich lives, but we can give the, the lens to appreciate the richness that is already there.

~ Lucy Caulkins

Value the real, getting kids to see what is there, learning to look closely, to describe, share, to write what they see, feel and do and not what they think their teachers want them to write. To empower students. Their writings, their views, their reflection of their lives, are valuable.

“If nothing happens for the writer, nothing happens for the reader”

~ Gail Loane

e.g. Do sentence starters help make things happen for the writer? What do these contrived starters say about our beliefs as teachers? Is it perhaps that we believe students have little or nothing to write about unless we prompt them with a narrow sentence starter? If we start the story, who owns it? We saw examples of thin narrative. We want to engage in rich experiences, rich writing, rich authorship, rich narrative.

How many of us will begin our school year asking students to engage in a recount? How could this be made so much more interesting? Gail shared with us a poem by J.K. Baxter which began: “The town was usual enough: it had….” It was here we began. Rather than the usual recount we looked at what response this poem engendered for us. Did it trigger a memory, a visualisation? Any unfamiliar words? Emotional engagement? How were the words broken up? What effect did this have? Why did Baxter do it this way? What are the clues that tell us this was a small town… or being hot….

What if we replaced the word, “town”? By deconstructing Baxter’s poem we unpack the keys to this successful piece of writing. Once done it allows us to make our own reconstruction….

Inspired by James Kay Baxter’s poem & Gail Loane’s passionate facilitation –

The ditch was usual enough; it had

A dip, sheltering trees, the soft earth, pine needles

Covering the hollow at the end of our

Street. Seldom visited. My sisters, neighbours and I

Dug down, hidden from adult

Eyes with matches and stolen cigarettes

Dad’s pipe, sucked sharply, breathing

Life into the curl of charred tobacco

Scorched resin, soft earth, our secret place

A Sunday Afternoon.

~ Lorraine Watchorn

Just bought the book "Love That Dog" by Sharon Creech from Fishpond. Love It!!! It tells the story of a Jack who doesn't care too much for poetry, his teacher, Jacks learning reflections and his dog.

VOICETHREAD & SOLO

At Ulearn'08 on a beautiful Christchurch day. First Breakout with Marnie Thomas looking the use of SOLO with a Yr 2 class. Now a time to play, along with Rachel from Kapiti Coast, a handson explore with Voice Thread

CHANGING TO LEARN?

How prepared are we in schools to learn to change and change to learn?

This video reminds me that as we point the finger there are always three pointing back at us. So how am I letting go and what am I grabbing hold off? I remember a few years back, three to be precise, I consciously handed over the last links of the "old ways" concern and grabbed hold of a 100% utmost faith in our students. This has become my navigation tool. I know I have a lifetime of attitudes to re-examine but through it I will hold firm to the belief in our children.

How many of your school would have buy in to these changes?

How many of us have our children write a report on how we are teaching or facilitating learning for them? If we don't do this, how do we know if what we are doing in our classes or schools is transferrable in the lives of our students or what makes learning good for them?

For those who have gone beyond paying lipservice to the change at a primary school level (aged 5-12 years), what has really changed for you, for your students?

And just where do teachers go to connect learning environments for themselves, for their primary aged students?

WAIMARINO

Have just facilitated a workshop on ICT Infused Inquiry with Gail (National Library) at the Waimarino cluster conference. Thoroughly enjoyed it and think those who attended did too. Had thought I would return to Rotorua afterwards but realised that would be crazy so have joined Allanah's workshop on podcasting. As often happens I am off on a tangent and exploring ways of recording Skype conversations for editing and playback so we can revisit some of the great learning conversations we are having in class. Searching the net I have come across these:

Pretty May is absolutely free download tool which records both incoming and outgoing conversations as .wav or .mp3 files. The maximum recording time is 30 minutes.

Pamela 2.0 Professional: Downloadable - $24.95 Download

You can use Zamzar to convert your photostory to a version that can be uploaded into podomatic. Zamzar uses 4 easy steps.

1. Select the file or URL
2. Choose the format to convert to
3. Enter your Email
4. Click convert. You will receive an email with the link that you can go to to download the converted file

Freeplaymusic.com There is an amazing resource of music here and all royalty free.

IS THERE STILL A PLACE FOR PEDAGOGY?

I've been pondering the place of pedagogy as opposed to andragogy within 21st century learning environments. Is it a case of either/or both within the classroom?

The trigger for this was in watching a group of teachers observe a classroom setting. The children were away on the task to hand, engaged, interdependent on their fellow team members to uncover new ideas. The majority of the observers were unable to resist and they inched their way forward until they too became involved. The interactions within the groups now changed. The children, instead of looking and talking with one another, now focused their attention, often for the reassurance that their answers were correct, on the teacher.

My thoughts? How much faith do we really have in our children's ability to learn?

Pedagogy is described as the art or science of being a teacher. From the Greek "to lead a child," pedagogy relates to the science of teaching children. Androgogy, the science of teaching adults.

Pedagogy is generally teacher-centred, Androgogy learner-centred.

Pedagogy has the teacher deciding who should learn what, when and how.
Andragogy has the learner in charge of their learning.

Historically I can see that there would have been clear distinctions. After all adults knew it all, and students were subservient within these understandings. Yet, I wonder now if those distinctions are no longer clear, that perhaps the two are battling or merging within today's 21st century world, with a match winner in Andragogy.

Popularized by Knowles, Andragogy assumes that adults, unlike children,
- enjoy learning which has relevance to real-life tasks
- are self directed, can self-evaluate
- provide a rich resource for one another (because of their experiences)
- prefer learning to be organized around life/work situations rather than around subject matter
- prefer problem-based learning which is applicable to their lives.
- have internal motivators for learning: self value, recognition, better quality of life etc

Following an Andragogical approach, a teacher becomes the facilitator of learning, providing materials and resources, assisting to keep discussions in the right direction, staying out of the way to let learning happen

Pedagogy on the other hand includes a wide variety of theorists e.g. Bloom, Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Steiner, Montessori and extends to a wide range of practices. However, from what I have read pedagogy seems to fall very much within the traditional approach to classroom practice.

The student's learning success is dependent upon the Teacher...
- telling them what they have to learn in order to advance to the next level
- directing, controlling and assuming responsibility for what is taught and how it is learned
· evaluating the learning.

"How does a connected, constructivist learning environment where students often have as much if not more knowledge than the "teacher" about the process, tools or matter of learning, fall into a "pedagogical" framework?" I wonder...

I a rich,real and relevant learning environment would androgogical practices provide better success?

I suspect a framework of andragogy is far more relevant. Perhaps the "age" for androgogy has descended. Perhaps it may simply be a definition of when someone becomes an adult learner - the age of maturation so to speak.

Androgogy can be used with children. Perhaps too pedagogical approaches can also work with adults. After all this is the framework which has supported us to become teachers.

My concern is whether this still works for today's students and in today's world and if indeed it ever really did work for the large number of students all over the world who have not gone on to become teachers....

I guess it comes down to the faith we have in ourselves to "make a difference" and in our own children's ability to learn and do the same.

READING BLOGS

I wish that I made reading other's blogs more of a priority. I learn so much from others...

I have made a resolve that when I do drop by another's blog that I let them know. Recently I found out from a colleague that they regularly visited a wiki I had created and, because I had bumped into them and we were talking on the subject, they told me how helpful the resource had been to them and those around them, that they had used it for this and that...

Well, How good was that?! I was stoked. Yet, do you know that I was thinking that the time taken had been wasted. I was considering pulling the plug on it?

A strange feeling came over me. I felt like someone had come into my home, ignoring me while they did a quick flick around, their eyes glinting as they took out all that could have been purposeful and then left without even saying hello. As I considered this strange feeling, I have resolved to say hello as often as I can to those whose blogs I visit, to acknowledge how they have made a difference. And on that note I am off to add a comment to Konrad Glogowski

BLOGGING IS TAKING OFF LIKE WILDFIRE:

...through our cluster. It has been great to see the enthusiasm and connectedness these tools are creating in our classrooms - and beyond them.

The question is "Why?" "How Are These Blogs Deepening Our Learning Experiences to Truly Make A Difference?

While learning is often a social interaction, could it be that sometimes the social can overtake the learning? Many blogs like facebook and bebo are just that. How are our classroom blogs different?

In his article "The Blog of Proximal Development" Konrad Glogowski talks of just this.

• "It’s not enough to know how to grow a blog, to pick a topic and keep contributing to one’s blog. Our students must also be aware of the class communities in which they learn. They have to have opportunities to think and respond to other writers. They need opportunities to engage in and sustain conversations about their own work and the work of their peers. Blogging is not about choosing a topic and writing responses for the rest of the term. It is about meaningful, thoughtful engagement with ideas."

While I realise this is more geared towards students older than those we work with, I think many of us are considering these same ideas. For this reason I will continue to quote Konrad...

• "I find that for so many of my students blogging often becomes a race to publish, to write entries and receive comments. (Most of them measure the success of their blog by the number of comments they receive, and the content of the comment is often not as important as the mere fact that it is there). They rarely look critically at their own writing, preferring instead to judge their own work by the traffic that it attracts to their blog."
  
• "In order to engage in truly reflective thought about their work, students must also have opportunities to analyze who they are as bloggers and writers. They must have opportunities to look critically at their own work and see how they fit into the class blogosphere."

I do think we need to really explore ways that we can facilitate our students into a deeper awareness of the impact in both submitting and commenting in a blog. I am very aware of the benefits that I have gained personally from making my own thoughts explicit and in receiving responses to exposing these. Both actions without a doubt have helped to take my thinking into new fields.

I wonder if our students are feeling the same..... ?

THE GREAT DEBATE

We have a debate coming up and will be searching for mulitmedia links and readings to support both sides of the argument:

“21st Century Learners Thrive on Traditional Teaching Styles”

Other Events Coming Up -

• CLUSTER TEACHER ONLY DAY: Engaging the Learner
  9th June With Eric Frangenheim 9am - 4pm Lynmore School
  Note: We are inviting registrations from beyond the cluster.
  
• Ross Todd Seminar in the July Holidays in Auckland
  
• RELLCO Cluster Conference: July 18th
  Invitation to those beyond our cluster too.

Let's know if you want any further information.