Fielding/Nair has identified 20 different learning modalities in their work with schools all around the world.
20 Learning Modalities
- Independent Study-We have good lecture spaces, but we don’t have good spaces for independent work.
- Peer to Peer Tutoring
- Team Collaboration
- 1:1 Learning
- Lecture Based Learning
- Project-Based Learning
- Learning w/ Mobile Technology
- Distance Learning
- Internet Based Research
- Student Presentations
- Performance Based Learning
- Round-Table Discussions
- Interdisciplinary Learning
- Naturalist Learning
- Social Emotional Learning
- Art-Based Learning
- Storytelling
- Design Based Learning
- Team Learning/Teaching
- Play Based Learning
After listing and explaining the modalities, Fielding asked the audience to pick our top-5 most important
modalities and stand up when one of them was read. For each of the modalities above, someone in the audience stood up, but the most popular seemed to be Team Collaboration and Project Based Learning. This made sense to me, given the EdCamp audience.
Part 2: Key Design Patterns
Fielding referenced metaphors for learning in the 21st Century that Dr. David Thornburg shared in Campfires in Cyberspace: Primordial Metaphors for Learning in the 21st Century.
Thornburg notes that if you go back far enough in time
you’ll find that many learned around the campfire. Some didn’t listen well, but
at the watering hole the next day, their friend mentions something about the
campfire discussion. For some, the learning didn't happen till they got back to the cave.
In first 10 years, boys don’t listen as well.
Cave space… A lot of the best learning happens on their own,
in the shower or in the car, or walking around the lake. A space to create and
reflect, absorbing knowledge and synthesizing.
Watering Hole spaces
Learning from Life…Cleaning the school, serving the food. Authentic
learning opportunities.
He had us look at a picture of a classroom, where all three
types of spaces were evident, for relatively low cost.
In our district, Mark Wallace, who teaches at Highlands Elementary has incorporated much of this low cost design thinking into his classroom.
Part 3: The Effect of Climate on Design
How does climate effect design? “There is no bad weather,
just bad clothing!” We as teachers/designers can add elements to allow outside
connections to take place.
In traditional curriculum mapping, educators look at what
you are doing when, not where. This is where design comes in to play.
Organizing where you put things in an asthetic way is important.
Is there a specific color that works best? No, the whole
pallet needs to be included. The idea that red will insight violence is a myth.
Using the right shades can have an impact. Variety is important.
Everything being the same with the same chairs, lined up in
rows as a factory model that is “inhuman” and not respectful of students
rights!
The Common Ground Curriculum is a step in the right direction.
One of my thoughts during the discussion is that the buy-in
for the pedagogical shift MUST happen prior to the change in design just like
it has to happen prior to an increase in student access to technology. The shift from teacher-centered to
student-centered learning is crucial, or staff will move back to their old
“tried-and-true” ways.
Fielding then shared some of the work Fielding-Nair is doing
in the Twin Cities area at Venture Academy and the High School for Recording
Arts.
Literacy-Using local and international stories
Learning to Know, Learning to Do
Games/Free Time
Fielding shared the design work they have been doing at AnneFrank Inspire Academy in San Antonio, which looks like an amazing learning space.
The goal is:150 or less students where everyone knows your name.
A question came from the audience about design and safety.
Jane Jacobs who wrote, “The Death and Life of the Great American Cities.” Urban
renewal made cities unsafe, especially in public housing areas, as buildings
with porches and great visibility were replaced with concrete/bunker-like
high-rises with no space for “eyes on the street.”
Having open spaces where faculty can see, and small learning
communities where people have relationships with one another, that safety is
improved.
Video cameras are cheap and can be a good thing, as those
being recorded are going to be deterred.
I appreciated Randy involving the audience in several peer-to-peer interactions and incorporating some great yoga breaks to help us center and receive his message. Great techniques for all of us to emulate in our professional learning interactions.
You can view a video of Fielding's talk below, thanks to EdCampMN Co-Organizer, Carl Anderson.
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