Key Focus: EDUC 1300 - A STRATEGIC STARTING POINT
Q2: How does EDUC 1300, Learning Framework, provide the foundation for Learning to Learn: Developing Learning Power? What experiences will help students develop
ways to think, feel, and act that build their intelligence?
A2: The Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual, a publication of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provides the following course description for EDUC 1300:
"A study of the: research and theory in the psychology of learning, cognition, and motivation;
factors that impact learning, and application of learning strategies. Theoretical models of
strategic learning, cognition, and motivation serve as the conceptual basis for the introduction
of college-level student academic strategies. Students use assessment instruments (e.g., learning inventories) to help them identify their own strengths and weaknesses as strategic learners.
Students are ultimately expected to integrate and apply the learning skills discussed across their
own academic programs and become effective and efficient learners. Students developing these
skills should be able to continually draw from the theoretical models they have learned."
All RLC students who are "first-time-in-college with less than 12 semester credit hours" are required to enroll in EDUC 1300. This requirement and the nature of EDUC 1300 make this course a strategic starting point for students to develop more learning power. An examination of the EDUC 1300 Goals and Student Learning Outcomes reveals the commonalities in language and purpose shared by the course and our QEP.
EDUC 1300 provides numerous meaningful experiences to help students think, feel, and act smarter.
Students will:
1. Complete the ELLI in the first few weeks of the semester.
2. Interpret their learning power using the ELLI spider-diagram. Prompts to guide this interpretation include, "What do you think about your profile?" " How well does the ELLI describe your learning as you know it?"
3. Explore materials and resources to develop an enduring understanding of the "big ideas" of learning power, such as, learning is learnable, learning is a consequence of thinking, beliefs shape the way you think, feel, and act, etc.
4. Consider ways to improve their learning power (revealed by the ELLI) using prompts such as, "How could you think, feel, or act differently to strengthen your learning power?
6. Complete the ELLI in the last few weeks of the semester and interpret and reflect upon the changes they observe.
7. Collect evidence of their learning and make their thinking visible using an ePortfolio.
The "
My Learning Power" portfolio content template will guide their work as new "folio" thinkers.
Key Focus: LEARNING ePORTFOLIOS
Q3: Why are EDUC 1300 students expected to create and use an ePortfolio? How do ePortfolios foster thinking and learning?
A3: "Portfolios require students to think differently about learning. Many are used to thinking of college as a set of unrelated experiences and assignments that they have to complete, usually in order to meet someone else's expectations. In portfolios we ask them to reflect, to make connections, to take ownership, and to be articulate about their own learning and development."
"The intrinsic merit of learning portfolios is that they involve students in the power of reflection, the critically challenging act of thinking about their learning, and constructing (and communicating) a sense of the learning experience as a coherent, unified, developmental process. Such thinking and sharing are the linchpins of lifelong, active learning. These processes help students discover, understand, and communicate what, how, when, and why they learn."
The Idea Center. Idea Paper # 44. 2008
"Folio thinking is a
reflective practice that situates and guides the effective use of
learning portfolios... folio thinking aims to encourage students to
integrate discrete learning experiences, enhance their
self-understanding, promote taking responsibility for their own
learning, and support them in developing an intellectual identity.
Central to folio thinking and ePortfolios is the process of reflecting
on the growth of one's knowledge and capabilities over time with an
emphasis on metacognition by intentionally providing structured time and
space for learners to consider and document the process of their
learning and not just the product (assignments, tests, and so on)... ePortfolios
are much different from other assessment tools because they enable
students to authentically represent their own learning in a way that
makes sense to them and encourages them, ultimately, to take
responsibility for their own learning."
Students have a unique opportunity to integrate their multiple learning experiences as they progress through the tier-structured core curriculum. Integrative learning can begin to take shape at the onset of the college learning journey, in EDUC 1300, rather than culminating in a single experience in GOVT 2306. To do so requires that students move BEYOND work on "paper" to work that is organized, searchable, and transportable. Electronic portfolios provide the technology to do just that --- and more.
ePortfolios are especially valuable for community college students because they will be "transporting" their learning to other colleges or universities. They may need evidence of their learning to gain access to a course or program or to document that a lab experience was on- ground rather than online. Students can provide a link to an ePortfolio in an application for advanced academic work, scholarships, or employment.
Key Focus: NEXT SEMESTERQ4: What are the expectations for faculty teaching EDUC 1300, HIST 1301, ENGL 1302, and GOVT 2306 during the first semester they implement Learning to Learn: Developing Learning Power strategies?
A4: The expectations for faculty teaching EDUC 1300 are quite different from the expectations for HIST 1301, ENGL 1302, and GOVT 2306 faculty. You can see from Q2 above that there are specific expectations for EDUC 1300 students. Most of these have been incorporated in EDUC 1300 since the course became a pre-core requirement in Fall 2010. But now, faculty have access to Learning Power resources (Thinking Routines, ELLI, etc) that were not available, then. Revisions to the course content, Self-Regulation Project, the ePortfolio content template (My Learning Power), and reflection experiences afford greater coherence for learners.
HIST 1301, ENGL 1302, and GOVT 2306 faculty are expected to
- utilize 2 - 3 Thinking Routines each semester
- reinforce Learning Power ideas and language that are suitable for the course
- dialogue with the Discipline Coach at regular intervals the first semester Learning Power strategies are implemented ( ~ 6 meetings to share insights and capture, refine, and adapt resources)
- disseminate a Learning Power Student Essay Prompt to students near the end of each semester
HIST 1301, ENGL 1302, and GOVT 2306 faculty are NOT
expected to assess Learning Power essays. An
Assessment Team will score a sample of essays written by
those students who have completed the sequence of
Learning Power courses.
Key Focus: FEELING, THINKING, and ACTING
Q5: How do the Learning to Learn: Developing
Learning Power "pieces" fit together to develop
students who are Changing & Learning?
A5: Like all dimensions of Learning Power, Changing and Learning depends on feeling, thinking, and acting smarter.
"What's going on there?" How does the structure provide coherence for your learning and your teaching?
How does the structure serve as a summary of Modules 1 - 4?
“ As you begin your own journey to make thinking visible, take inspiration from … [other teachers who] … once encountered these tools as new and foreign practices that needed to be tried out, reflected upon, and then retried. Allow yourself to make mistakes and to learn from your students. Find colleagues with whom you can share and discuss your efforts and ongoing learning. Each time you make students' thinking visible, use it as a natural springboard for your next teaching move that will ensure you are building arcs of learning and not just individual episodes of activity. In this way, working step-by-step, with your focus the broader goal of promoting deeper learning and understanding for your students, you will find yourself well on the way to making thinking a valued, visible, and actively promoted part of your classroom.”
Ritchhart, Ron, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison. Making
Thinking Visible: How to
Promote Engagement, Understanding,
and Independence for All Learners. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. 273.
