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Hi Juliana, you made some great points about the significance of preparation and information collecting for facilitators in preparing for a class, as emphasized in St. Clair's (2015) work. Clearly defined course objectives are essential to ensure learners' understanding of the topic. The facilitators' teaching style and the type of course influence the instructional methods employed, as discussed by St. Clair (2015).

Barkley et al. (2014) propose Collaborative Learning Techniques (CoLTs) as effective tools for improving knowledge retention, understanding, evaluation, and application in real-life contexts. The readings urge the student to consider incorporating these practices in their final assignments, and onboarding session for new hires. The acknowledgment of the social nature of learning and the advantages of collaboration and knowledge sharing are discussed. Group discussions and learning cells are identified as valuable strategies to influence the different perspectives and learning styles of learners.

I also appreciated on your reflection of the importance of inclusivity in teaching and catering to different learning styles. By applying the concepts and principles learned from the readings, we need to aim to create learning environments that are both inclusive and effective.

Barkley, B.F, Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 39-57

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 74-110.

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This week’s readings helped me further understand the amount of planning and information gathering facilitators need to do to prepare for a class. St. Clair (2015) notes that course objectives should be well defined and specific as possible, to ensure that learners are able to walk away with a clear understanding of the topic. St. Clair (2015) also points out that when doing course facilitations, facilitators often come with different priorities; some facilitators might be more reading heavy with the course packed full of readings while others might be more audio filled with podcasts, videos, and storey-telling. The facilitator’s methods are dependent on their teaching style but also due to the course being taught. Barkley et al (2014) note in their research that by using different Collaborative Learning Techniques (CoLTs) in courses can help someone walk away from a course remembering, understanding, and evaluating the knowledge and how it can be applied to day-to-day life. Barkley et al’s (2014) reading helps me consider what learning techniques I can add for my final assignment where I am facilitating an onboarding session for new hires. It has also made me realize that I can use some of these techniques in my current workplace. Looking back at previous course facilitations I have helped create, I have not considered using certain techniques to help shape knowledge learning; from what I have gathered in the readings in this course and in ADED 2F90 that people are social creatures. Interacting with and sharing experiences with others is part of the learning process. Using group discussions or learning cells where students are paired with one another to test each other’s knowledge can be beneficial as people can learn from others and help explain things in another way (Barkley et al, 2014 p. 53). I will refer to Barkley et al’s reading for future facilitation creations. I think this will help me consider different avenues of how people will learn but also help me to remember to be inclusive as everyone learns differently.

Barkley, B.F, Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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One of the key elements of designing for learning from this week's readings that I have not considered before is from St. Clair’s chapter 4. St. Clair (2015, p.84), expresses the advocation for negotiation between learners and instructors when talking about the objectives that should be presented and how or if they should be assessed. In my teaching experience objectives have been something that has been set out for me as the instructor, to guide course content. While my delivery of the content does change based on my assessment of the students, the content and assessments required do not. For example, if I have a group of students who are more visual with their learning, I will introduce more videos and demonstrations to engage them with the content. As I read further into this chapter, I began to understand the purpose of assessing the learners before creating the objectives, but I am still unclear on how this could be implemented within formal education especially if multiple instructors are covering the same course and students will be moving on in the program together as St. Clair (2015, p. 87) mentions.  The examples of pharmacy students in this chapter really resonated with me being that I teach pharmacy assistants and I think perhaps the legislation and competency-driven nature of the program is what holds me so strictly to the objectives.

In reflecting on my final project Wiggins and McTighe’s, “backward design approach to selecting the courses learning tasks,” (Barkley et al., 2014, p. 47) is one that really stood out to me. I think that by first determining the goals of the course, then the evidence, and lastly, the tasks that will ensure delivery to the students I will be able to create a clear curriculum.

Barkley, B.F, Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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One of the key elements of this week's readings on learning objectives that I found particularly interesting was brought up in the St. Clair (2015) article, is the factor to emphasize the value of giving students freedom to design their own curriculum. I would like to include this idea into my future education plans, but I might work along with the students to define, write down, and link objectives, assessments and evaluation. In this manner, the student is given additional opportunities to improve their academic performance, and I believe the student's safety is guaranteed.
Gulali A

Reference

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Read Ch. 4, Knowing Where You Are Going, pp. 77-94

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(Ali McKee) For this post, I thought I would discuss the Barkley, B.F, et al. (2014) chapter on designing the learning task, as it relates to one of my previous experiences in education. I had the opportunity to participate in course development for several months at the post-secondary level and I’m finding that many of the concepts I’m reading in this chapter are familiar. The courses I was involved in developing were in the massage therapy program, and so we were bound to the provincial competencies that a massage therapy program must meet to become accredited. We focused on designing course objectives and learning outcomes related to those competencies, and even designed courses right down to the weekly course topics/lectures and assessments we would be using.

Now that I am teaching in the program, I find I can relate to Fink’s (2013) description of 'content-coverage' course design focusing mainly on the organization of information in lecture form and how it pays little attention to how that information will be learned (pp. 40-42). They go on to discuss how this type of learning is superficial in nature, it can be quickly forgotten, and it is difficult to keep learners engaged with this fast-paced content coverage. He suggests a more learning-centred approach by incorporating collaborative activities into the lectures.

This is something I have always struggled with as an instructor, as I feel I am very content driven, and never know where to start with adding in activities. I'm always unsure of how long an activity might take, and whether I have delivered enough information to have a successful in-class activity. I do strive to be more mindful of this drawback in my teaching and hope I can improve upon it as I get more experience in the classroom. Are there any areas in formal or informal teaching that you feel your learners start to lose interest? Or perhaps the style of content delivery gets a little bit repetitive or ineffective? Did anything from this week’s readings surprise you, or connect you to your own practices? I’m also curious if anyone intentionally incorporates Bloom’s Taxonomy, or something similar in their teaching? Feel free to comment on just one aspect of this post. I look forward to reading responses!

Barkley, B.F, Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Read Chapter 3, pp. 39-57: Designing the Learning Task, pp. 39-57

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St. Clair (2015) emphasizes the importance of understanding the needs and characteristics of adult learners and the objectives of designing a program. St. Clair's statement made me reflect on my final assignment of facilitating and designing a practical, relevant, and engaging workshop for adult learners to participate in and achieve their goals. Thus, for my final assignment, I will ensure that any assessment I use will measure the same knowledge and skills outlined in the learning objectives. Therefore, participants will be confident in developing the skills and knowledge needed to meet their goals of what is expected. Again, as I reflect on my final assignment, it is essential to understand what adult learners already know and what they are interested in learning to build on their existing knowledge and experiences because then the learners are more likely to engage with the material and participate in the activity by feeling comfortable. The goal is to create an engaging and practical learning experience that meets the needs of all participants.

Reference

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Read Ch. 4, Knowing Where You Are Going, pp. 77-94

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One of the main aspects of this weeks readings on learning objectives that surprised me was mentioned in the St. Clair (2015) article. The author stated that when considering learning objectives, educators often make the mistake of trying too much, and that objectives can help mitigate this (St. Clair, 2015). This seems like an obvious statement, but personally, I have fallen into this “trap” several times, not reflecting on how or why this was occurring or how to fix it. I taught a course once on “animal behavior”, which in itself is a very broad topic. I was overly ambitious in what I wanted to cover and all the skills I wanted students to learn. I realized at the end that by trying to cram too much into the course students were being put into a “just get through it mode” where I wasn’t getting the deep learning, reflection, or enthusiasm with the content that I think I would of received if I had cut the course in half and really focused on a few specific topics. I therefore believe I should probably have this line by St Claire (2015) printed in front of me while I design my next course to keep referring back to.

St. Clair, R. (2015). Creating courses for adults: Design for learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.