Learning Organizations &

Learning CollegesBHC Faculty PTDOctober 1, 2010

Progressive Education (John Dewey) Humanist Psychology (Carl Rogers) Constructivism

While all important and useful theories, we may decide that this really isn’t what we need to focus on.

O’Banion’s Orientation

Does O’Banion’s vision of a learning college, really fit under

the more general theory of a learning organization?

The Theory of a Learning College

Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together.

- Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline

Learning Organization

The five disciplines represent approaches for developing three core learning capabilities:

fostering aspiration

developing reflective conversation

and understanding complexity

Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline

1. Personal mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.

2. Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.

3. Building shared vision a practice of unearthing shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance.

4. Team learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into genuine thinking together.

5. Systems thinking - The Fifth Discipline that integrates the other 4. (The process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole.)

The Five Disciplines of the Learning Organization

Nothing will change, no matter how fascinated you are by a new idea, unless you create some kind of a learning process. A learning process is a process that occurs over time whereby people’s beliefs, ways of seeing the world, and ultimately their skills and capabilities change.

- Peter Senge

Senge on Schools as Learning Organizations

changes the dynamics of student-faculty interaction to optimize students’ learning

focuses on what is learned rather than on what is taught

utilizes technology to create opportunities for student learning

utilizes student peer interaction (collaborative learning).

Learner-Centered Education

LCE typically creates more active learning venues for students beyond the standard lecture and discussion method.

The larger goal of learner-centered education is to improve learning and increase student success.

Learning-Centered Education

The learning college creates substantive change in individual learners.

The learning college engages learners as full partners in the learning process, with learners assuming primary responsibility for their own choices.

The learning college creates and offers as many options for learning as possible.

The learning college assists learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities.

The learning college defines the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners.

The learning college and its learning facilitators succeed only when improved and expanded learning can be documented for its learners.

The 6 Principles as a Framework

At its best, formal schooling is every society’s attempt to provide a powerful environment that can create substantive change in individuals. But formal schooling is no longer at its best. In the learning college, this first principle must form the framework for all other activities. The learners and the learning facilitators in the learning college must be aware of the awesome power that can be released when learning works well. Learning in the learning college will not be business as usual. Powerful processes will be at work; substantive change will be expected. Learners will be exploring and experimenting with new and expanded versions of what they can become. (Page 49)

The learning college creates substantive change in individual learners

Objective Explore ways that we can individualize instruction, make it more meaningful to each student, and

encourage students to become more engaged and take responsibility for their own learning.

Reading/Video Resources◦ Learner-Centered Classrooms, Problem-Based Learning, and the Construction of Understanding and

Meaning by Students http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/science/sc3learn.htm ◦ Creating Learning Centered Classrooms. What Does Learning Theory Have To Say?

http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/theory.htm ◦ 7 things you should know about… Personal Learning Environments◦ Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open and Social Learning

Suggested Topics of Discussion◦ an exploration of how learning can be individualized◦ differentiated and/or personalized learning◦ how can we make students more responsible for their own learning◦ How we change the learning climate on our campus◦ Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks

O’banion writes, “There will be many options for learners to engage the learning college, including self-guided print and video modules, group-based activities—face-to-face or through the Internet—classes and laboratories “on-campus,” and individual consultations with a variety of specialists.”

October - The learning college engages learners as full partners in the learning process, with learners assuming primary responsibility for their own choices.

Objective Become aware of what active learning is and learn from peers how they are using active learning methods

in their own classes.

Reading/Video Resources◦ Active Learning http://www.cat.ilstu.edu/additional/tips/newActive.php◦ What Makes Lectures ‘Unmissable’? Insights into Teaching Excellence and Active Learning◦ What is Meant by "Active Learning?'◦ The Promise of Open Educational Resources

Examples of Open Content and Open Educational Resources (OER)◦ Flat World Knowledge - http://www.flatworldknowledge.com◦ Connexions - http://cnx.org ◦ Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources◦ The Community College Open Textbook Collaborative - http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org ◦ Merlot - http://www.merlot.org ◦ MIT Open Courseware Initiative - http://ocw.mit.edu

Suggested Topics of Discussion◦ Presentations by faculty members on how they are using active learning methods in their own

classrooms.◦ Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Content, and Learning Object Repositories

O’Banion writes, “When faculty are no longer role-bound to provide all of these learning options directly themselves, the learning college will be free to secure learning materials from whatever sources are available.”

November - The learning college creates and offers as many options for learning as possible.

Objective How to develop, locate, or join on-ground and online professional learning

communities for students, faculty and staff.

Reading/Video Resources◦ Seven Habits of Highly Connected People - http://www.downes.ca/post/44261 ◦ New Learning Environments for the 21st Century: Exploring the Edge◦ Communities of Practice: A Brief Introduction◦ ERIC Review: Learning Communities at the Community College.

Suggested Topics of Discussion◦ Building professional communities of practice (Wenger)◦ Creating campus environments that promote student interaction, engagement

and collaboration. ◦ Ideas for campus events that create a more scholarly feel for students and the

community could also be solicited here. ◦ A unit on how to effectively use networking technologies to join online learning

communities can also be introduced.

February - The learning college assists learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities.

Objective Explore some of the roles within a learning-centered college.

Reading/Video Resources◦ Learning-Centered Leadership: A Conceptual Foundation

http://www.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/Documents/pdf/LSI/VALED_Conceptual.pdf

◦ Figure 3.2 on page 58 in O’Banion’s “A Learning College for the 21st Century.”

Suggested Topics of Discussion◦ Learning-centered leadership behaviors for formal and informal

leaders.◦ A discussion on potential learning-centered roles and behaviors of

faculty and staff. O’Banion’s list of roles in figure 3-2 might be used as a starting point. Expand on this list and identify who within the organization might be able to fulfill some of them.

◦ Roles within Senge’s learning organization

March - The learning college defines the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners.

Objective To explore assessment methods that shift the focus from instruction to

learning and focus on authentic, real world tasks.

Reading/Video Resources◦ Work with assessment coordinator

Suggested Topics of Discussion◦ Learning-centered assessment techniques◦ portfolios◦ authentic assessment methods.◦ Formative vs. summative assessment

April - The learning college and its learning facilitators succeed only when improved and expanded learning can be documented for its learners

This doesn’t have to be a buzzword or meaningless activity that we engage in once a month.

We can set out to collaboratively improve the learning environment on our campus.

Bottom Line

Learning Organizations &

Learning CollegesBHC Faculty PTDOctober 1, 2010