Transcript A Transformational Twist on Learner

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A Transformational Twist on Learner-Centered Teaching:
Experience and Existential Phenomenology
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Phenomenology in Education Research Team
Karen Franklin, Tiffany Dellard, Brenda Murphy,
Kristina Plaas, Anne Skutnik, Brian Sohn,
Michele Williams, Kathy Greenberg, Neil Greenberg,
Howard Pollio, and Sandra Thomas
Learn More….
Posters
 Listening to Students
 Monsters Under the Bed
 It’s a Lot Different Than I Thought it was Going to Be
 Applying Insights from Merleau-Ponty and
van Manen to Pedagogy in Higher Education
Presentation
 Transformational Twist
Purposes of Session
1. Overview of our teaching/learning project
2. Small group exploration of classroom episodes
3. Large group dialogue
4. Principles of a Phenomenological approach
to learner-centered pedagogy
5. Application in participants’ courses
Pollio’s Seminar
Course Content
-- Phenomenology of Perception
Course Activities
Descriptions Of Experiences
Demonstrations
Personal Stories
Alternative Perspectives
Music
Mini-lectures
Insights
Dialogue
Research Findings
Interpreting Artwork
Exercises
Clarification
Elaboration
Interviews
Spontaneous Humor
Participants
-- Faculty & Graduate Students
-- Many academic fields of study
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An Extensive Case Study
Data from Two Sections of a Graduate Seminar
1. Transcripts of planning sessions
2. Post session reflections by students, instructor &
research/teaching assistant
3. Excerpts from transcripts of class sessions
4. Focus group interviews at the conclusion of the
course
5. Individual student interviews at the conclusion of
the course.
Student Quotes
I feel I am in it. I am creating it and it is creating me.
I really didn’t feel like a student. I felt like a learner.
I could literally feel my brain functioning. It was
alive.
Student Quotes
 I think there’s a challenge to be more engaged with
everything…, like little things throughout your day even,
and just kind of like seeing those things in your life.
 It’s given me a different way to look at the world…. I’m
relating differently to my students because of it…. I think it
made me more critically aware of really listening to what
they were saying…and when I did…that’s made a huge
difference.
Student Quotes
• Research – I am more confused now that ever. I
always felt that research could be manipulated
depending on what statistical test you ran and at
what point the result became significant. You can
find so many studies that contradict each other. How
do we know what to believe or what is true – This
class today was exhausting mentally!
• I didn’t feel comfortable today because I couldn’t
finish reading assignments for this class.
Agenda
Reflect with you about
1. Case study episodes
2. Principles of a phenomenological approach
3. Meaning of the transformational twist
4. Examples this approach in other courses
5. Self-Reflection
Small Group Activity: 10 minutes
Directions
1. Read the episode aloud with volunteers playing the part
of instructor and students 1, 2, etc.
2. Describe what stands out to each of you as qualities of a
learner-centered approach.
3. Record group reflections on poster paper.
4. Prepare to explain your ideas to the large group in
relation to various dimensions of a learner-centered
approach.
APA Learner-Centered Principles
• Cognitive and metacognitive factors
• Developmental influence on learning
• Emotional/affective and social factors
• Diversity and individual differences in learning
• Motivational factors
• Assessment of learning and performance.
Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: A Framework for School Reform
and Redesign. By Learner-centered Principles Work Group of the APA Board
of Educational Affairs, Washington, DC: APA, Copyright 1997
Five Dimensions of Learning
1. Balance of Power
2. Function of Content
3. Role of the Teacher
4. Responsibility for Learning
5. Evaluation Purposes & Processes
Weimer,(2002). Learner-Centered Teaching.
Blumberg, (2009). Developing Learner-Centered Teaching: A Practical Guide
for Faculty
Merleau-Ponty’s View
All my knowledge of the world, even my
scientific knowledge, is gained from my own
particular point of view, or from some
experience of the world without which the
symbols of science would be meaningless .
Merleau-Ponty, 2002, ix
The Student’s Dilemma
The student has to appropriate … a specialized discourse, and
--he has to do this as though he were easily and comfortably one
with his audience, as though he were a member of the academy
[historian, anthropologist, economist];
--he has to invent the university by assembling and mimicking its
language while finding some compromise between idiosyncrasy,
a personal history, … , and the requirements of convention, the
history of a discipline ….
--he must learn to speak our language… or … carry off the bluff,
since speaking and writing will most certainly be required long
before the skill is "learned."
--And this, understandably, causes problems.
(Bartholome, 2005, pp. 134-135).
A Phenomenological Approach
A phenomenological approach to education …
asserts the primacy of individual experiences,
thinking, knowing and being. Freedom, personal
vision, self-discovery and conscious awareness
are its characteristic qualities.
Franklin, 2013, p. 34
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The Transformational Twist
PRINCIPLES OF A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH
SAFETY Developing a comfortable atmosphere that
enables an honest, spontaneous sharing of thoughts, which
builds a sense of community where instructor and students
focus on learning rather than performing.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Joining with students initially in
exploring relevant first person perceptions of the instructor
and other class participants launches the world of the
course content.
GUIDANCE Facilitating the process of learning leads to
deeper understanding of expertise.
OPENNESS Encouraging students to freely explore course
content through class dialogue leads to more effective
learning and application beyond the classroom.