USING METAPHORS TO DESIGN PROGRAMMES AND QUALIFICATIONS

DR ELLY GOVERSGOVERS EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANCY AND RESEARCH

Intentions:

To show that People’s talk about programme design,

teaching and learning can be understood in terms of metaphors for a programme; and,

These metaphors express particular values and beliefs in our society.

To start designing a programme using a metaphor that reflects your values and beliefs as educator(s).

Guided Tour

Guided Adventure

Production Process

Consumable Product

Mission

Programme = Consumable product‘It is that outcome of the satisfied learner, that they’re getting

what they really paid for; that, if they don’t get the service, it’s not because we haven’t delivered.’

‘We try to deliver the content to ensure that the students get the full amount of learning within the time given’

‘When we decide on the courses that are being selected for a new programme, or for changes to a programme, what is important is that students want to do it.’

‘Flexible delivery is ‘a learner-centred approach to education that covers all learning modes, and provides increased choice to the learner (time, place, access, learning method, mode, tools, pace, institution and content).’ (QMS)

Consumable Product

Programme:

Consumable Product

Purpose: That the customer is satisfied

Student: Customer and consumer

Teacher: Delivers the product and provides instructions for consumption

Institution: Manufactures and sells the product

Learning: Noun: ContentVerb: Receiving/Consuming the product – passive

Structure:

What students learn:

Qualification:

Diversity/Flexibility:

Quality improvement:

More satisfied customers

Programme:

Consumable Product

Purpose: That the customer is satisfied

Student: Customer and consumer

Teacher: Delivers the product and provides instructions for consumption

Institution: Manufactures and sells the product

Learning: Noun: ContentVerb: Consuming the product – passive

Structure: Customer choice; Collection of courses; Pre-determined content

What students learn:

Content that the customer wants to purchase

Qualification: Reward for purchasing a certain number of courses

Diversity/Flexibility:

Choice; Something for everyone

Quality improvement:

More satisfied customers

Programme = Production process‘Because of that applied focus we would be looking at producing work-ready graduates out of the certificates and diplomas.’

‘(...) we try and install in them the same sort of ethics and boundaries that they will be expected when they get out to work, so therefore we can’t be too diverse.’

‘They need to prove to you that they can actually do the work (...) They need to prove this because I need to sign off whether they have actually mastered the learning outcomes.’

‘Industry need to be able to know what they are getting’

‘flexibility to me says that I can adjust it, as long as the end result is they have the understanding they need to master that task in industry’

Production Process

Programme:

Production Process

Purpose: To produce graduates for the job market; that the customer (= employer) is satisfied

Student: Product-in-the-making; Graduate is work-ready product

Teacher: Operates the production process

Institution: Design the process to produce graduates

Employer: Customer

Learning: Being moulded into a graduate - reactive

Knowledge :

Structure:

Qualification:

Diversity:

Flexibility:

Quality improvement:

More satisfied customers (= employers)

Programme:

Production Process

Purpose: To produce graduates for the job market; that the customer (= employer) is satisfied

Student: Product-in-the-making; Graduate is work-ready product

Teacher: Operates the production process

Institution: Design the process to produce graduates

Employer: Customer

Learning: Being moulded into a graduate - reactive

Knowledge : What the customer wants

Structure: Series of operating procedures, no choice

Qualification: Certificate to indicate quality of product

Diversity: Limited; student to fit ‘entry mould’

Flexibility: For teachers to use different tools if needed

Quality improvement:

More satisfied customers (= employers)

Programme = Guided Adventure

‘It is a system of giving the opportunity to a student to work out what the goals are they are getting at, and then using what I come with, (...) cultural capital I suppose, to get there.’

‘Literally I let them explore. (...) I have had many students lost, to the expense of some of the other subjects, which is a good and a bad thing. (...) We do try and keep an eye on them. (...) sometimes they cannot stop. I monitor it in class, and ask how the project is getting on, but a lot of them are secretive too.’

‘Whatever qualifications the students may achieve at the end of this course I don’t even care. What I do care about is their growth personally.’

Guided Adventure

Programme:

Guided Adventure

Purpose: Personal growth of students

Student: Adventurer

Teacher: Acts as Guide and Travel companion

Institution: Facilitator of guides and travel companions

Learning: Taking on the adventure and making sense of the experiences

Knowledge :

Structure:

Qualification:

Diversity:

Flexibility:

Quality improvement:

More and more significant life transformations

Programme:

Guided Adventure

Purpose: Personal growth of students

Student: Adventurer

Teacher: Acts as Guide and Travel companion

Institution: Facilitator of guides and travel companions

Learning: Taking on the adventure and making sense of the experiences

Knowledge : The personal growth resulting from experiences

Structure: Holistic; set out by students with help from teacher

Qualification: Has no meaning

Diversity: Inherent to the structure

Flexibility: Students take responsibility for own learning

Quality improvement:

More and more significant life transformations

Guided Adventure

Active studentStudent controlResponsibility to

student

Production ProcessReactive student

Institutional control

Responsibility to employers

Consumable Product

Passive studentInstitutional

controlResponsibility to

student

Programme = Guided Tour‘Our responsibility is to try and do our bit for the customers. I believe that if they have a great experience that will lead to more customers.’ ‘My job is not to stop people from learning, my job is to encourage them, and if students want to race ahead they can, because I give them all the materials that I have available.(...) And the slow ones stay with me.’

‘If someone does not give the students some clear stepping stones, if they don’t know where the other side of the river is, they will just keep walking until suddenly they feel firm ground again.’

‘The programme should be structured in a way that enables the students to have a number of different kinds of activities and different ways of learning, to cater for the different styles. That can be the choice of electives, or other kinds of assessment tools, or use of different technology tools engaging the students in the most effective ways.’

Guided Tour

Programme:

Guided Tour

Purpose: That the customer (= student) reaches the destination of the tour and has had a good experience

Student: Customer - Tour participant

Teacher: Tour guide; Assists with activities, organises resources, monitors progress

Institution: Tour operator

Learning: Participating in activities during the tour - active

Knowledge :

Structure:

Qualification:

Diversity:

Flexibility:

Quality improvement:

More customers (= students) with a good experience

Programme:

Guided Tour

Purpose: That the customer (= student) reaches the destination of the tour and has had a good experience

Student: Customer - Tour participant

Teacher: Tour guide; Assists with activities, organises resources, monitors progress

Institution: Tour operator

Learning: Participating in activities during the tour - active

Knowledge : Experience gained from doing activities

Structure: Series of aligned activities; choice available, provided this leads to the destination; attainable steps

Qualification: Reward for reaching the destination

Diversity: Variety and choice in activities; specialised guides

Flexibility: Choice in activities

Quality improvement:

More customers (= students) with a good experience

Guided TourActive studentInstitutional

controlResponsibility to

student

Guided Adventure

Active studentStudent controlResponsibility to

student

Production Process

Reactive studentInstitutional

controlResponsibility to

employers

Consumable Product

Passive studentInstitutional

controlResponsibility to

student

Programme = Mission

‘The most important stuff for myself is sharing with these students the beauty of this culture. (...) it is bringing the two people together. Even in this modern day and age we’re still, as far as cultures go, relative strangers; understanding how people think, why things are done, it’s small things.’ ‘The core (of the programme) should be things like walking the talk, it’s about sustainability in terms of environmental practice. Perhaps it’s about (...) (the institution) having a primary focus on its strengths in the region’

Mission

Programme:

Mission

Purpose: To make the world a better place

Student: Citizen

Teacher: Inspires students to make the world a better place

Guided Tour

Active student

Institutional

controlResponsib

le to student

Guided Adventur

eActive

studentStudent control

Responsible to

studentProducti

on ProcessReactive student

Institutional

controlResponsib

le to industry

Consumable

ProductPassive student

Institutional

controlResponsib

le to student

Mission

Design your own metaphorIn groups of 4-5: Develop a metaphor that reflects your values

and beliefs regarding education What is the associated language – what is

teaching, learning, student, teacher, a qualification, the institution, what do students learn,.....?

(Re-)design a programme of your choice to reflect this metaphor (e.g. A university preparation programme, a vocational education programme, a generic foundation education programme)

Draw/write your findings on a flip chart and present to the entire group.

Reference

Govers, E. (2010). Program design practice in a New Zealand polytechnic: Caught in a language trap? In M. Devlin, J. Nagy & A. Lichtenberg (Eds.), Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education, 33. Melbourne Australia, 6-9 July, 2010.