August 14, 2019 • 37 mins
How does the adult brain learn and why understanding these nuances helps us teach and learn more effectively. Featuring an interview with Dr. Allison Friederichs, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at University of Denver's College of Professional Studies (formerly University College). Dr. Friederichs not only provides clarification around the complexities specific to adult learning but also shares a number of easy, actionable tips to enhance the learning experience.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Allison (00:02):
So if we care, that learning is actually taking
place and we really kind of haveto understand that the adult
brain is different and thattapping into that prior
experience is really is reallythe key.
Cindy Cragg (00:13):
That is Dr Allison Friederichs, our guest for the
first episode of the ElevatEDpodcast.
I thought it only made sense tokick the podcast off by getting
some clarification around howthe adult brain learns and why
it is important for botheducators and adult learners to
understand these nuances.
I tracked down Dr Friederichs,which was surprisingly difficult
(00:33):
to do given the proximity of heroffice to mind.
Welcome to elevate Ed.
This is a space forconversations around elevating
teaching practices and appliedlearning for nontraditional
students from the mile high cityof Denver, Colorado.
This podcast is brought to youby the University of Denver's
(00:55):
college for Professional andContinuing Education, University
College where adult learnershave been pursuing career
focused credentials since 1938.
Cindy (01:10):
I am thrilled to be launching the first episode of
the elevated podcast with DrAllison Friederichs.
Dr Alison Fredericks is theAssociate Dean for Academic
(01:33):
Affairs and Associate Teachingprofessor here at University
College.
She's been teachingcommunication courses for 17
years and also is activelyengaged in research and
regularly speaks on topicsrelated to how the adult brain
(01:56):
learns and the implications ofthat knowledge on teaching and
training.
And that is what we are talkingabout today.
So with that, can you just giveus some context and a bit of an
overview about how is the adultbrain different than any other
brain when it comes to learninglately?
Dr. Allison (02:17):
So some of our listeners may be familiar with
Malcolm Knowles.
He's widely considered thefather of Andragogy, which is
the field of teaching adults.
Essentially.
There are six principles ofAndragogy, but Andragogy as a
theory can be summed up, I liketo say in five essential words
and that is adults learndifferently than children.
(02:39):
And the reason is because of theadult brain is different than a
child's brain, of course.
And, therefore, it learnsdifferently.
And that's not to say that thebrain is structured differently.
That's not necessarily the case,but the main differentiator is
that adults have a wealth ofexperience to draw on when
(03:03):
they're learning that childrendon't have.
That wealth of experience orwhat we call prior experience or
prior knowledge, sometimes thatis the key for learning to take
place for adults and for anyonewho is teaching or training
adults tapping into that priorexperience is the key to
(03:24):
ensuring that learning isactually taking place.
Whenever I do teach or train onthis topic, one of the first
things that I usually ask myaudience is how many of you in
here actually care that yourstudents learn something?
Usually everyone raises theirhand, right?
And I get a wave of gentlelaughter.
(03:46):
Because, of course, most peopleare like, well, of course I care
.
That's why I'm doing this! So ifwe care that learning is
actually taking place and wereally kind of have to
understand that the adult brainis different and that tapping
into that prior experience isreally, is really the key.
There are some otherdistinguishers about adult
(04:07):
learning that one could stillconnect to the brain.
So for example, Knowles'stenants, if you will, has six
principles which include thingslike adults really need to
understand the reason for theirlearning something.
Whereas, again, children don'tnecessarily need to understand
why they're learning something.
They just know, this is what Ido.
(04:29):
I go to school and I learnedthings from people who know more
than me.
But adults question that.
Adults ask, but why do I need toknow this?
Cindy Cragg (04:36):
So is it accurate to say that all that context and
those experiences almost muddiesor complicates our learning
process?
Dr. Allison (04:48):
That's a great question.
Does it muddy?
I don't think that it muddiesour ability to learn that is if
I'm in the learning position, ifI'm the student, it actually
helps me learn if the persondoing the teaching or training
can effectively tap into thatprior experience.
That's the key.
(05:09):
And that's really the magicbullet, if you will.
When that happens then realmagic occurs.
So it can muddy the waters whenthe connection to prior
experience isn't being made.
So, for example, if you'reteaching and you introduce a new
(05:31):
concept related to marketing.
What's something related to thecourses that you teach?
Cindy Cragg (05:32):
How about "optimization."
Dr. Allison (05:40):
Okay.
There you go.
That's a great example cause Ihave no idea really what that
is.
At least not in the context ofmarketing.
So, my mind immediately goes towhat I do know about
optimization based on all of myprior experience and prior
learning.
Now, that may or may not haveanything to do with the way you
(06:04):
are using the term optimization.
And so it's incumbent upon youthat person trying to teach me
what this term means in yourcontext to figure out what do I
already know about this term?
And then how can you connectyour new knowledge to my
existing knowledge.
If you can't do that, thenthat's where things get muddied.
(06:24):
And, they can be even moremuddied by the fact that
sometimes our prior experiencesare so incredibly unique.
So you may have one student forexample, who you, who hears the
term optimization and has hadsuch a strange experience with
that term.
Like maybe they worked for acompany that used the term in
(06:45):
this really pejorative way,right?
And so their mind immediatelyjust goes to this negative,
horrible experience and it'shard to get them out of that
mindset and to think about that.
And yet we must, in order forlearning to take place, right?
So as you say this, I'm thinkingthat the role of the teacher
(07:07):
educator instructor just gotexponentially more complicated.
So we've just kind of ratchetedup what we are as educators
responsible for doing, trying tosuss out, you know, if we have
30 people in a room virtual orin real life and we're trying to
teach this thing and we are alsofeeling like it's incumbent on
(07:31):
us to suss out from eachindividual person how we can
make that connection.
Help us, help us understand howto do that.
Absolutely.
Yes.
I think it is common for peopleto initially experienced a sense
of trepidation around, Whoa,you're telling me that I have to
figure out what every single oneof my students thinks when I say
(07:53):
the word optimization before Ieven explained what it means.
Right, and that is in a way whatI'm saying.
However, I definitely can offersome tips for ways to do that
with a group of students andmake it more effective.
Okay.
Make it more likely that youwill hit upon your learners
prior experiences and connectyour new knowledge to their
(08:15):
knowledge.
Before I do that, let mebacktrack just a little bit to
share.
I don't think that I'm offeringany new information.
When I say that at least forpeople who typically teach or
train adults or what weuniversity college refer to as
post-traditional learners.
And I prefer the term posttraditional because they're no
(08:35):
longer non traditional.
In fact, yes, adult learners arethe majority learner in the
United States now.
So for me that's pretty, that'snot non traditional.
Right.
So post traditional, anyone whoteaches and trains
post-traditional learners prettymuch knows by now that standing
in front of a group of studentsand whether it word it's online
(08:55):
and recording a 20, 30, 40minute lecture and just talking
at them is not successful.
I don't think that I'mnecessarily blowing the doors
off.
And when I say that, no, I thinkit is safe to say that anyone
listening as at least had thethought that maybe that way of
teaching is not considered themost effective.
(09:16):
You always heard it from someonebesides even if they are not
able to yet embrace it.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
One, uh, piece of information Ican offer just if there are any
folks who are still hanging ontothat idea.
We do know from lots of researchthat lecturing actually forces a
person's brain to stay at lowerlevels of cognitive development.
(09:37):
It essentially flatlines thebrain.
So we know from looking at brainbased research that lecturing to
students does not engage themand if they're not engaged,
they're not learning.
So that's a great thing toremember that if they look like
they're checking out, it'sbecause their brain actually is
(09:58):
checking out.
Those non-verbals are tellingyou the whole everything you
need to know.
So what, what do we do aboutthis?
How can we then connect with ourlearners prior experience as
well?
There are lots of ways and I'mgoing to start with the simplest
one and it is very simply to askthem.
(10:25):
We know that there are ways toengage synchronously online or
you can do this asynchronouslyas well.
Simply ask them, when I say theterm optimization, to use our
earlier example, what comes upfor you?
What's the first thing you thinkabout?
Tell me what that term means toyou or tell me a story that it
calls to mind for you.
And then you just listen forwhat they offer and then make
(10:47):
those connections.
So if a student, let's sayDamien says, well, when I hear
optimization, you know, I thinkof, making something the best it
can be, then you are able tograb onto what Damien has just
said and say, absolutely you'reexactly correct and let's build
(11:08):
on that to, you know, make thisdefinition more robust in this
particular context.
And now let's add to it.
And adding to existing conceptsand experience is a wonderful
way then to have the studentlearn.
(11:28):
It's much easier to add tosomething they already think
than to tell a student.
Like, let's say someone says toyou, well for me, optimization
is a bad thing.
Why would we ever want tooptimize anything?
Cause it, I don't know, createsmore work for people.
Right.
And you might say, well no,that's not true.
And here's why.
(11:49):
You're actually not helping thestudent in that moment.
Because telling a student, no,the way you're thinking is
wrong, doesn't make them stopthinking yet.
They still think it, but nowyou've just shuts down the
learning.
I would think to a certaindegree it can because now you've
just essentially said you'rewrong.
Stop being wrong.
(12:10):
Be right like me.
And you know, it doesn'tnecessarily feel good.
And the other interesting thingto think about is if you think
about the way that our brain isactually structured, any time we
learn something new, it createsa new neuronal pathway.
Well, of course our brain hasbillions and billions of these
(12:32):
neuronal pathways and in fact,our capacity to grow more
neuronal pathways as far asscience can tell is limitless.
Very encouraging, right?
I often find when I teach andtrain older adults that this is
encouraging for them as wellbecause it's absolutely a myth
that our brain cannot continueto grow more neurons as we get
(12:54):
older.
That's a total myth.
As long as we continue to engageour brain and knowledge and
activity, our brain stays what'scalled plastic and seeds still
has plasticity and can grow moreneurons.
So the way it works though is ifyou're talking about an existing
neuronal pathway that a studentalready has, right?
And this, this concept of whatoptimization is, is an existing
(13:16):
neuronal pathway for you to say,no, don't take that pathway
actually only makes the pathwaystronger.
If you think about a literalpath that you're taking, like
you hike when you're hiking andyou're on a path, what happens
if, if someone says don't godown that path, go down the
other path, but you still haveto go back down the wrong path
to get to the other one, right?
(13:36):
So you're actually just makinganother groove in an already
existing path.
Okay?
The best thing you can do is tryto find out where they are and
build on that.
Or you can even reroute, but youcan't eradicate an existing
notion.
And this you've written aboutthe brain being like cubbies,
(13:57):
like in kindergarten and thissort of fits along.
We ended this, this notion thatyou're best served by adding to
what is already in a cubby.
I'm sure most people remember,we all had some version of
cubbies.
If you think about it though,our brain has hundreds of
(14:31):
thousands and billions ofcubbies.
And inside each of those cubbiesis some experience or some piece
of knowledge that we have had inour lives.
And so anytime we experience anew stimulus, our brain seeks
all it searches.
If you are scans of thosecubbies and it says, how is this
(14:54):
thing that's now coming in?
How is this stimulus like what Ialready know?
That is like something that's inone of these cubbies.
Now if it finds a connection, ifit says, Oh Yep, this reminds me
of this thing in cubby number478 right?
And I'm making that connection.
(15:14):
Who, who am I as the instructorto say, no, the connection you
just made is wrong.
Too late.
Already made it right.
So, so that connection is made,but it's a wonderful thing that
that's what our brain does.
Now, if it doesn't find aconnection, then what happens is
that it will process thatstimulus with a low signal and
(15:37):
likely not be able to make aconnection at all.
So that's when you really getstudents who may react with the
look of befuddlement and say, Ihave no idea.
I've never heard this term atall.
So I can't connect it toanything.
So that leads me to a secondtip.
One is that you can certainlyjust ask your students directly.
(15:57):
So what does this make you thinkof?
Um, the other is that you canopen the floor to all of the
students, you know?
So if Damien says to you, well,I don't know, I'm, I'm really
unfamiliar with this term, itdoesn't really make me think of
anything.
Then, you know, you can say,okay, so Louise, how about you?
What does it make you think of?
And Louise may have a connectionor a way of explaining it that
(16:18):
you wouldn't have even thoughtof as the teacher.
Louise might say, well, for meor minds me of this time when I
was, you know, in my job justlast week and I did this, and
then Damien, he goes, Oh, I'vedone that.
Right?
And so all of a sudden nowyou're sort of crowdsourcing.
Cindy Cragg (16:32):
This ability to connect the new information to
something that is in yourstudents already.
And I love that.
And of course, again, thatengages your students even more
because now they're engaged inthis learning, this learning and
the community of learning, whichI think is such a great concept
and can be so powerful.
(16:55):
You also mentioned in thearticle that you wrote for
UPCEA's Unbound, you mentionedthe University of Oregon's
Robert Sylvester and hisresearch on how our brains pull
seemingly disjointed or randominformation together in a
unified way.
And he likens it to a jazzquartet, which I thought was
(17:17):
very interesting as you brieflyunpacked that a little bit in
your article.
And so going from this cubbyidea to then all of a sudden
things coming together fromindividual places and in this
disjointed way to make thisbeautiful sound, so to speak.
Dr. Allison (17:38):
How does that happen?
How does that happen?
A wonderful question.
Yeah.
And actually I'll say that howthat happens in a really kind of
leads me into another tip orstrategy that I have for our
listeners in terms of how tomake that connection to prior
experience.
Well, and let me back up and saya little bit more about the jazz
analogy, which I love.
Oh, and we need to talk aboutanalogies to that.
(17:59):
Okay.
That's a neck.
That's another tip we need toget to all.
Alright.
But the jazz analogy is greatbecause, um, you know, there are
a lot of people who hear jazzand think, oh, it's beautiful.
And there are a lot of peoplewho hear jazz and think that
sounds like a bunch of noise.
Right?
And it feels really discordant.
And whether or not you like itis not really the point of the
analogy, but the, but the pointis that there are these
(18:21):
discordance sounds right fromthe trumpet, from the snare drum
that don't necessarily relate toone another organically or
logically.
And yet they come together toproduce a congruent sound, which
is the jazz song.
And that is exactly how ourbrain functions.
(18:42):
And what I mean by that is that,um, our brain produces a more
congruent image when it ispresented with different types
of stimuli.
And that is the second tip is touse lots of different kinds of
stimuli.
When you're teaching.
It's called creating an enrichedenvironment.
And an enriched environment justmeans exactly that.
(19:04):
It means I'm using lots ofdifferent kinds of stimuli.
So yes, asking questions,engaging my students as one.
I might also ask them to.
Um, uh, here's a great example.
I often ask students to createmind maps.
So once we've covered a fewconcepts and I want to see how
are you linking these conceptstogether in your own mind?
(19:25):
I'll ask them to create a mindmap so they can visually
demonstrate how they're, youknow, conceiving of the
connection of all of theseconcepts together.
And they'll all be differentbecause that's how the brain
works because I'm going to linkit to different experiences.
Sure.
And someone else.
So you can use a multitudes of,of stimuli.
You can use music, poetry,sounds, colors, analogies is a
(19:50):
great one.
Stories, parables, metaphors,engaging students in different
ways in you yourself usingdifferent stimuli, visual as
well as auditory and kinestheticwhenever possible.
You know, we don't tend to useit as much with adult learners,
but adults love to play withthings just as much as students
or kids are using all of thosedifferent ways creates an
(20:12):
enriched environment.
And again, the way that thebrain works is that if I'm able
to engage with different typesof stimulate different modes,
then I'm more likely to build amore robust understanding of
that particular concept.
So if you just explain it to me,I might get it.
But if you then tell me a storyof how that concept has actually
(20:33):
been utilized, oh, now I have aneven more robust understanding.
And then if you can show me apicture or have me talk to
someone who has also utilized it, right?
So any and all of those things,right?
Um, rhymes are fantastic songs,right?
And think about how many songs,you still remember absolutely
many, many that's, and that, andthe reason they're still there
(20:56):
is that those things havelasting memory effects, right?
Um, because typically you notonly heard the song, but you
yourself sang it, you heardother people sing it.
Maybe you saw it written, maybeyou saw the sheet music, right?
So you engaged in that song in amultitude of different kinds of
stimuli, which is why you stillremember it.
(21:16):
So the more that we can createan enriched environment, the
more likely we are then tocreate a robust understanding of
a concept.
And so you're more likely to tapinto a student's prior
experience by using thosemultiple stimuli.
So if you think about it, if I,um, you know, show a picture of
a concept or I just talk aboutthe concept, but then I can tell
(21:38):
a story about it, I'm, I'm muchmore likely to tap into the
learner's prior experience bydoing both of those things.
And if I only did one and if Ican sing a song about it and
then even I'll remember it 20years from now.
Absolutely.
I, so I, it is not unusual as amatter of fact for me to engage
my students in creating songs orjingles in rhymes around
(22:03):
concepts that they're strugglingwith.
And I very often hear, um, fromthem, you know, much like that's
the one thing they remember.
They've never forgotten it.
Yeah, it is.
I, I that for me and I'll, andI'll say I'm around enriched
environments, the probably themost common question I get is,
okay, I can see how I can createan enriched environment when I'm
(22:24):
teaching on campus or trainingin person.
But how do you do that online?
And it's a totally validquestion because certainly it's
more, it's more challenging,right?
Of course it is.
You can't, um, well you feel somuch more disconnected the
students from the instructor,instructor from the students.
Exactly.
And you just have to get alittle bit more creative.
(22:46):
So for example, if I will, youknow, if I'm teaching on campus
and I want to bring in somethings in my classroom to have
them engage, um, you know,kinesthetically with something
or, uh, even with smell, forexample, that can be very
powerful.
But instead of the onus being onyou as the instructor to bring
(23:08):
those things to the student, youcould still, if you're teaching
online, ask your students to goget those things.
So, you know, for example, ifI'm just gonna choose a strange
random thing, um, let's say Iwas teaching environmental
studies and I wanted to bring indifferent kinds of leaves and
plants and I dunno, Tree Bark,you can tell that's not what I
teach.
I would bring those things in.
If I were teaching on campus, Iwould do it myself.
(23:30):
But there's no reason I couldn'tjust go ask my students to go do
those things on their own anduse their smartphone to record
it.
Sure.
Right.
And so, Hey, I found this plantand this tree and I'm smelling
it, I'm touching it, I'm feelingit.
And then they recorded andposted onto our class discussion
board.
Okay.
They can still record videos andtell stories rather than just
(23:51):
typing.
Um, they can still draw my mapand then take a picture of it.
Or they can do a video walkthrough their mind that do a
video tour.
Yeah.
Or even use technology toolssuch as, you know, pick, do
chart.
Sure.
To create an as a geographic.
Yeah.
There are lots of different waysthat we can engage our students
in, um, going out and doingthings other than, you know,
(24:12):
sitting passively and eitherwatching a video and not that
there's anything wrong withvideos but you know, just the
video or just your lecture ortext, um, or a discussion board,
you know, typically isn't goingto create as much of an enriched
environment if you ask them toget up out of their seat and go
do something.
Um, and then, you know, recordit posted, that kind of thing.
(24:33):
So really being creative so wecan absolutely still do those
things online.
And it makes me think of alsothe reporting back and, and kind
of teaching what you've learnedto somebody else, which I think
would also fall into thecategory of creating an enriched
environment.
Absolutely.
Having students teach conceptsversus having the instructor
(24:54):
teach them is a really powerfulway to cement a learning.
Um, the reason for that is ifthe instructor asks the student
to teach a concept versus justlearn the concept, then what
you're doing is you're creatingsomething called longterm
potentiation, which is basicallya process that happens in the
brain, um, that the cementslearning by engaging with a
(25:19):
concept more deeply and morewith more complexity than if you
just learned it.
Now, if you ask students to dothat, um, within one class,
that's great.
And that cements learning.
If you ask them to do thisacross classes and across an
entire program so that each timethey engage with a concept, it
(25:40):
gets more complex every time.
That's an even stronger way tocreate true longterm
potentiation.
And then you are ensuring thatthey'll likely know that concept
for a long time, if not forever.
So the more you can get astudent to engage with the
concept, again in those variedin different ways, you're
increasing not only thelikelihood that they learn it to
(26:01):
begin with via the universityenvironment, but also the
likelihood that they're in thatthe brain is creating that LTP,
that longterm potentiation,which will cement the learning.
And give it a permanent cubby.
I love that idea.
I'm not really sure in terms ofcurriculum development how
challenging that would be to tryand make that execute on that.
Right.
But you know, it's fun challengeto think about it is I, you
(26:25):
know, I suspect that most, um,well I certainly know at
university college that, um, areacademic directors yourself
being one.
Um, you might not be thinking ofit in those terms, but I do know
that we actually do that.
Right?
So we, when we're doing ourcourse development and our
development, we think a lotabout making sure that students
(26:46):
are being exposed to the samevernacular and the same
terminology and the same rightthroughout their program and
applying those skills andconcepts in more complex manners
as they proceed through theprogram.
Absolutely.
We just have, you know, we don'ttypically talk about it in terms
of creating longtermpotentiation and it's also
sometimes referred to ascreating a spiraled curriculum
(27:08):
as a, but just because we don'tuse those terms doesn't mean
it's not happening.
So you can rest easy.
Cindy Cragg (27:22):
Well you have definitely sprinkled some
takeaways, uh, threw out thetime that you've been giving us
tips and things to think about.
Are there, are there two orthree things that come to mind
that maybe are practices thatyou either regularly use or you
find yourself commonlyrecommending to other people
(27:44):
that are sort of your, your goto of like, okay, if you can
implement these things or tryand embrace these concepts, this
will really improve theimpactfulness of the teaching
and learning experience?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think that the first one thatI'll share and I, it's the one I
mentioned earlier that I wantedto come back to and it because
(28:05):
it's so easy to do is to useanalogies.
And when I say analogies, I'musing that term really loosely
to say use metaphors, similes,stories, parables, things like
that.
Dr. Allison (28:19):
Analogies are wonderful tools for connecting
to prior experience because theyallow the student to make the
connection in their own way, notin the way that I think they
should make them.
And I'll give you an example.
When I teach conflict, which isby the way, not at all fun to
do, but very fun to teach.
It's really fun to talk aboutconflict for some reason.
(28:40):
Um, but when I teach conflicts,rather than giving my students a
textbook definition of conflict,which I could do, you know,
conflict is an express strugglebetween two interdependent
parties based on scarceresources.
Some for sounds like you've saidthat before.
Yes.
And not very exciting, right?
So instead I ask my students,and when I say use analogies, I
either we can use them asinstructors and we can ask our
(29:02):
students to create them.
So, um, I say to my students, Iwant you to finish this metaphor
or this simile.
And I write on the board, oragain, I do this online is very
easy to just use a PowerPointslide.
Conflict is dot, dot, dot orconflict is like dot, dot, dot.
And I asked them to justcomplete that with their own
simile or metaphor and, youknow, resist the temptation to
(29:25):
just give me an adjective.
Like conflict is hard, but Ireally want a simile or
metaphor.
And so, um, I've gotten somereally wonderful examples over
the years from my students.
Two of my favorite, so I'llshare really quickly.
One is, um, which I've neverforgotten.
That conflict is like two baldmen fighting over a comb.
(29:47):
And then the second one is thatI've always remembered, conflict
is like a rap battle where I'mup against Eminem.
And so what I love about thoseis that right away I have an
immediate sense of what thesetwo students think about
conflict and how they approachconflict.
Right.
The first person, um, it's liketwo bald men fighting over a
(30:10):
comb.
That person obviously seesconflict as really pointless.
Yeah.
No one is ever going to win.
Yeah.
Right.
And I know that just from that,um, for in this case it was a
similarly, um, that theycreated.
And then again with the ratbattle being up against Emenim,
I know that this person findsconflict overwhelming, something
that is win lose and thatthey're likely to lose.
(30:34):
So I immediately glean so muchabout how they view the concept
of conflict.
Just from asking them to createthose analogies.
That's incredible.
It can be really powerful for usto use them and for them to use
them.
And when we tell stories, um,and share examples, those also
count.
Those are very helpful forconnecting to prior experiences.
Cindy Cragg (30:56):
So when they share those do you pull them all
together into one PowerPointpresentation that you send out
or pull all the slides togetherso that everybody can see
everybody's analogy or simile ormetaphor?
Dr. Allison (31:13):
That's a great question.
When we do it on campus, I justwrite them all on the
whiteboard.
I actually ask them to do isfirst share their similar
metaphor but not tell me whythey wrote it.
Just share it.
And then as a group we start tomake sense of them a little bit.
So what does this one tell you?
What does that one tell you?
You know, cause I would thinkthat would be really powerful
for everybody else to see theinterpretation of their peers.
(31:37):
Exactly.
And not everyone has the sameinterpretation even.
And that's okay too.
Yeah.
When I do it online, I just doit as a Wiki page.
Okay.
So add your own to this Wikipage and then we do, um, either
a, an, uh, written chatdiscussion or we use a tool here
at university college calledFlipgrid, which allows students
to engage in an asynchronousdiscussion, but it's video, it's
(31:59):
really tool.
And so then we just do that todiscuss that, what they've
shared on the wiki pages and youprobably get some really fun
responses.
Great Way to create a connectionand bonding within the students
in the class is, and it getsthem excited for what's to come.
Now they're engaged in learning.
Cause this usually happenspretty early in the class.
So now they're engaged in likethinking, oh this class is going
(32:20):
to be fun.
Yeah.
Right.
So yeah.
So analogies are definitely atip that I will highly
recommend.
Another, um, a, again, I, I'vesaid this, but I want to repeat
it because it's a Gotu is justto ask questions, ask lots and
lots of questions of yourstudents.
Where are you, what do you knowabout this?
What connections are you making?
(32:41):
Um, you know, and sometimes it'sokay to say what's missing,
what, you know, how am I notconnected?
That can also be very telling.
Um, we can do pre-assessments bythe way.
It doesn't always have to justbe in the moment.
So, hey, we're getting, youknow, here's what this class is
about.
What do you know about it?
Or here's what this unit isabout.
What do you know about it?
So now you know ahead of timegoing in that you can, um, try
(33:03):
to meet your learners where theyare.
And that's really what this isabout is meeting your learners
where they are instead ofnecessarily trying to just get
them to come to you.
So just, I'm a big fan of, ofasking questions.
Well, and I think a lot of timesI'm particularly for those, the
teach more online.
Well, I, maybe this is true in,in both online and on campus,
(33:25):
but you know, uh, particularlyfor people who teach more
online, I think in thediscussion threads there's a lot
of making sure that you'rebringing the information that
you want everybody to learn tothe table and that it might be
easy to lose sight of that, thatidea of drawing out from your
(33:46):
students what they're thinkingand how they're feeling about
what they're learning.
Absolutely.
That's a fantastic point and Ithink it's probably one of the
hardest things for, um,instructors, teachers, trainers
to let go of is this notion of,well, but wait a minute.
I've got, you know, these 20concepts that I have to cover
(34:06):
this yes, module, this term,this week, whatever the case may
be.
And if I don't do that, youknow, I've failed as an
instructor.
But the truth is that, you know,simply throwing out all of these
terms and concepts doesn't makelearning take place.
If the connection isn't beingmade, then they're not learning
the concepts that you're soardently trying to get them.
(34:27):
Sure.
Get in front of them.
And so would you rather make astronger impact with 10 of the
concepts or throw 20 of them outthere and have it be the
equivalent of throwing yogurt atthe wall?
And so that's, that's the thingthat I try really hard to get
(34:48):
across to to to people is that,um, for me it's about quality,
not quantity because quantityisn't effective when it comes to
learning.
Right?
Right.
And think about this, when youcrammed four exams in college,
how much of that, do you stillremember?
Yeah, absolutely.
No, no, not right if you'reletting your brain the second
(35:09):
you walked out of thatclassroom.
Right.
And that's exactly what we stillsometimes do when we teach.
It's the equivalent of, youknow, teacher cramming and it
isn't effective.
Reverse cramming, reversecramming, something like that.
So, uh, yeah.
And so actually it's funny, Ilove this question cause I think
it relates to my third tip and Ihope this one isn't to a
(35:30):
nebulous, but my third tip isjust try something new.
Just take a baby step.
You know, if, if you've beenteaching online and you're a
little hesitant to, you know,move outside of just doing a
discussion board and avideotaped lecture, just try one
thing, ask your students to, youknow, go out and, um, for
example, engage in aconversation with a colleague
(35:55):
about a concept and then, andthen talk about that
conversation on the discussionthread, um, posted video on the
discussion thread.
Ask them to do a mind map,whatever it is, just take one
baby step and try something new.
And I think that, you know,people will be really pleased
with the results when they trythese ways to make sure that
(36:16):
that connection to priorexperiences really, really be
made.
Great suggestions, great tips,great insights and input.
So if we care, that learning is actually taking
place and we really kind of haveto understand that the adult
brain is different and thattapping into that prior
experience is really is reallythe key.
Cindy Cragg (00:13):
That is Dr Allison Friederichs, our guest for the
first episode of the ElevatEDpodcast.
I thought it only made sense tokick the podcast off by getting
some clarification around howthe adult brain learns and why
it is important for botheducators and adult learners to
understand these nuances.
I tracked down Dr Friederichs,which was surprisingly difficult
(00:33):
to do given the proximity of heroffice to mind.
Welcome to elevate Ed.
This is a space forconversations around elevating
teaching practices and appliedlearning for nontraditional
students from the mile high cityof Denver, Colorado.
This podcast is brought to youby the University of Denver's
(00:55):
college for Professional andContinuing Education, University
College where adult learnershave been pursuing career
focused credentials since 1938.
Cindy (01:10):
I am thrilled to be launching the first episode of
the elevated podcast with DrAllison Friederichs.
Dr Alison Fredericks is theAssociate Dean for Academic
(01:33):
Affairs and Associate Teachingprofessor here at University
College.
She's been teachingcommunication courses for 17
years and also is activelyengaged in research and
regularly speaks on topicsrelated to how the adult brain
(01:56):
learns and the implications ofthat knowledge on teaching and
training.
And that is what we are talkingabout today.
So with that, can you just giveus some context and a bit of an
overview about how is the adultbrain different than any other
brain when it comes to learninglately?
Dr. Allison (02:17):
So some of our listeners may be familiar with
Malcolm Knowles.
He's widely considered thefather of Andragogy, which is
the field of teaching adults.
Essentially.
There are six principles ofAndragogy, but Andragogy as a
theory can be summed up, I liketo say in five essential words
and that is adults learndifferently than children.
(02:39):
And the reason is because of theadult brain is different than a
child's brain, of course.
And, therefore, it learnsdifferently.
And that's not to say that thebrain is structured differently.
That's not necessarily the case,but the main differentiator is
that adults have a wealth ofexperience to draw on when
(03:03):
they're learning that childrendon't have.
That wealth of experience orwhat we call prior experience or
prior knowledge, sometimes thatis the key for learning to take
place for adults and for anyonewho is teaching or training
adults tapping into that priorexperience is the key to
(03:24):
ensuring that learning isactually taking place.
Whenever I do teach or train onthis topic, one of the first
things that I usually ask myaudience is how many of you in
here actually care that yourstudents learn something?
Usually everyone raises theirhand, right?
And I get a wave of gentlelaughter.
(03:46):
Because, of course, most peopleare like, well, of course I care
.
That's why I'm doing this! So ifwe care that learning is
actually taking place and wereally kind of have to
understand that the adult brainis different and that tapping
into that prior experience isreally, is really the key.
There are some otherdistinguishers about adult
(04:07):
learning that one could stillconnect to the brain.
So for example, Knowles'stenants, if you will, has six
principles which include thingslike adults really need to
understand the reason for theirlearning something.
Whereas, again, children don'tnecessarily need to understand
why they're learning something.
They just know, this is what Ido.
(04:29):
I go to school and I learnedthings from people who know more
than me.
But adults question that.
Adults ask, but why do I need toknow this?
Cindy Cragg (04:36):
So is it accurate to say that all that context and
those experiences almost muddiesor complicates our learning
process?
Dr. Allison (04:48):
That's a great question.
Does it muddy?
I don't think that it muddiesour ability to learn that is if
I'm in the learning position, ifI'm the student, it actually
helps me learn if the persondoing the teaching or training
can effectively tap into thatprior experience.
That's the key.
(05:09):
And that's really the magicbullet, if you will.
When that happens then realmagic occurs.
So it can muddy the waters whenthe connection to prior
experience isn't being made.
So, for example, if you'reteaching and you introduce a new
(05:31):
concept related to marketing.
What's something related to thecourses that you teach?
Cindy Cragg (05:32):
How about "optimization."
Dr. Allison (05:40):
Okay.
There you go.
That's a great example cause Ihave no idea really what that
is.
At least not in the context ofmarketing.
So, my mind immediately goes towhat I do know about
optimization based on all of myprior experience and prior
learning.
Now, that may or may not haveanything to do with the way you
(06:04):
are using the term optimization.
And so it's incumbent upon youthat person trying to teach me
what this term means in yourcontext to figure out what do I
already know about this term?
And then how can you connectyour new knowledge to my
existing knowledge.
If you can't do that, thenthat's where things get muddied.
(06:24):
And, they can be even moremuddied by the fact that
sometimes our prior experiencesare so incredibly unique.
So you may have one student forexample, who you, who hears the
term optimization and has hadsuch a strange experience with
that term.
Like maybe they worked for acompany that used the term in
(06:45):
this really pejorative way,right?
And so their mind immediatelyjust goes to this negative,
horrible experience and it'shard to get them out of that
mindset and to think about that.
And yet we must, in order forlearning to take place, right?
So as you say this, I'm thinkingthat the role of the teacher
(07:07):
educator instructor just gotexponentially more complicated.
So we've just kind of ratchetedup what we are as educators
responsible for doing, trying tosuss out, you know, if we have
30 people in a room virtual orin real life and we're trying to
teach this thing and we are alsofeeling like it's incumbent on
(07:31):
us to suss out from eachindividual person how we can
make that connection.
Help us, help us understand howto do that.
Absolutely.
Yes.
I think it is common for peopleto initially experienced a sense
of trepidation around, Whoa,you're telling me that I have to
figure out what every single oneof my students thinks when I say
(07:53):
the word optimization before Ieven explained what it means.
Right, and that is in a way whatI'm saying.
However, I definitely can offersome tips for ways to do that
with a group of students andmake it more effective.
Okay.
Make it more likely that youwill hit upon your learners
prior experiences and connectyour new knowledge to their
(08:15):
knowledge.
Before I do that, let mebacktrack just a little bit to
share.
I don't think that I'm offeringany new information.
When I say that at least forpeople who typically teach or
train adults or what weuniversity college refer to as
post-traditional learners.
And I prefer the term posttraditional because they're no
(08:35):
longer non traditional.
In fact, yes, adult learners arethe majority learner in the
United States now.
So for me that's pretty, that'snot non traditional.
Right.
So post traditional, anyone whoteaches and trains
post-traditional learners prettymuch knows by now that standing
in front of a group of studentsand whether it word it's online
(08:55):
and recording a 20, 30, 40minute lecture and just talking
at them is not successful.
I don't think that I'mnecessarily blowing the doors
off.
And when I say that, no, I thinkit is safe to say that anyone
listening as at least had thethought that maybe that way of
teaching is not considered themost effective.
(09:16):
You always heard it from someonebesides even if they are not
able to yet embrace it.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
One, uh, piece of information Ican offer just if there are any
folks who are still hanging ontothat idea.
We do know from lots of researchthat lecturing actually forces a
person's brain to stay at lowerlevels of cognitive development.
(09:37):
It essentially flatlines thebrain.
So we know from looking at brainbased research that lecturing to
students does not engage themand if they're not engaged,
they're not learning.
So that's a great thing toremember that if they look like
they're checking out, it'sbecause their brain actually is
(09:58):
checking out.
Those non-verbals are tellingyou the whole everything you
need to know.
So what, what do we do aboutthis?
How can we then connect with ourlearners prior experience as
well?
There are lots of ways and I'mgoing to start with the simplest
one and it is very simply to askthem.
(10:25):
We know that there are ways toengage synchronously online or
you can do this asynchronouslyas well.
Simply ask them, when I say theterm optimization, to use our
earlier example, what comes upfor you?
What's the first thing you thinkabout?
Tell me what that term means toyou or tell me a story that it
calls to mind for you.
And then you just listen forwhat they offer and then make
(10:47):
those connections.
So if a student, let's sayDamien says, well, when I hear
optimization, you know, I thinkof, making something the best it
can be, then you are able tograb onto what Damien has just
said and say, absolutely you'reexactly correct and let's build
(11:08):
on that to, you know, make thisdefinition more robust in this
particular context.
And now let's add to it.
And adding to existing conceptsand experience is a wonderful
way then to have the studentlearn.
(11:28):
It's much easier to add tosomething they already think
than to tell a student.
Like, let's say someone says toyou, well for me, optimization
is a bad thing.
Why would we ever want tooptimize anything?
Cause it, I don't know, createsmore work for people.
Right.
And you might say, well no,that's not true.
And here's why.
(11:49):
You're actually not helping thestudent in that moment.
Because telling a student, no,the way you're thinking is
wrong, doesn't make them stopthinking yet.
They still think it, but nowyou've just shuts down the
learning.
I would think to a certaindegree it can because now you've
just essentially said you'rewrong.
Stop being wrong.
(12:10):
Be right like me.
And you know, it doesn'tnecessarily feel good.
And the other interesting thingto think about is if you think
about the way that our brain isactually structured, any time we
learn something new, it createsa new neuronal pathway.
Well, of course our brain hasbillions and billions of these
(12:32):
neuronal pathways and in fact,our capacity to grow more
neuronal pathways as far asscience can tell is limitless.
Very encouraging, right?
I often find when I teach andtrain older adults that this is
encouraging for them as wellbecause it's absolutely a myth
that our brain cannot continueto grow more neurons as we get
(12:54):
older.
That's a total myth.
As long as we continue to engageour brain and knowledge and
activity, our brain stays what'scalled plastic and seeds still
has plasticity and can grow moreneurons.
So the way it works though is ifyou're talking about an existing
neuronal pathway that a studentalready has, right?
And this, this concept of whatoptimization is, is an existing
(13:16):
neuronal pathway for you to say,no, don't take that pathway
actually only makes the pathwaystronger.
If you think about a literalpath that you're taking, like
you hike when you're hiking andyou're on a path, what happens
if, if someone says don't godown that path, go down the
other path, but you still haveto go back down the wrong path
to get to the other one, right?
(13:36):
So you're actually just makinganother groove in an already
existing path.
Okay?
The best thing you can do is tryto find out where they are and
build on that.
Or you can even reroute, but youcan't eradicate an existing
notion.
And this you've written aboutthe brain being like cubbies,
(13:57):
like in kindergarten and thissort of fits along.
We ended this, this notion thatyou're best served by adding to
what is already in a cubby.
I'm sure most people remember,we all had some version of
cubbies.
If you think about it though,our brain has hundreds of
(14:31):
thousands and billions ofcubbies.
And inside each of those cubbiesis some experience or some piece
of knowledge that we have had inour lives.
And so anytime we experience anew stimulus, our brain seeks
all it searches.
If you are scans of thosecubbies and it says, how is this
(14:54):
thing that's now coming in?
How is this stimulus like what Ialready know?
That is like something that's inone of these cubbies.
Now if it finds a connection, ifit says, Oh Yep, this reminds me
of this thing in cubby number478 right?
And I'm making that connection.
(15:14):
Who, who am I as the instructorto say, no, the connection you
just made is wrong.
Too late.
Already made it right.
So, so that connection is made,but it's a wonderful thing that
that's what our brain does.
Now, if it doesn't find aconnection, then what happens is
that it will process thatstimulus with a low signal and
(15:37):
likely not be able to make aconnection at all.
So that's when you really getstudents who may react with the
look of befuddlement and say, Ihave no idea.
I've never heard this term atall.
So I can't connect it toanything.
So that leads me to a secondtip.
One is that you can certainlyjust ask your students directly.
(15:57):
So what does this make you thinkof?
Um, the other is that you canopen the floor to all of the
students, you know?
So if Damien says to you, well,I don't know, I'm, I'm really
unfamiliar with this term, itdoesn't really make me think of
anything.
Then, you know, you can say,okay, so Louise, how about you?
What does it make you think of?
And Louise may have a connectionor a way of explaining it that
(16:18):
you wouldn't have even thoughtof as the teacher.
Louise might say, well, for meor minds me of this time when I
was, you know, in my job justlast week and I did this, and
then Damien, he goes, Oh, I'vedone that.
Right?
And so all of a sudden nowyou're sort of crowdsourcing.
Cindy Cragg (16:32):
This ability to connect the new information to
something that is in yourstudents already.
And I love that.
And of course, again, thatengages your students even more
because now they're engaged inthis learning, this learning and
the community of learning, whichI think is such a great concept
and can be so powerful.
(16:55):
You also mentioned in thearticle that you wrote for
UPCEA's Unbound, you mentionedthe University of Oregon's
Robert Sylvester and hisresearch on how our brains pull
seemingly disjointed or randominformation together in a
unified way.
And he likens it to a jazzquartet, which I thought was
(17:17):
very interesting as you brieflyunpacked that a little bit in
your article.
And so going from this cubbyidea to then all of a sudden
things coming together fromindividual places and in this
disjointed way to make thisbeautiful sound, so to speak.
Dr. Allison (17:38):
How does that happen?
How does that happen?
A wonderful question.
Yeah.
And actually I'll say that howthat happens in a really kind of
leads me into another tip orstrategy that I have for our
listeners in terms of how tomake that connection to prior
experience.
Well, and let me back up and saya little bit more about the jazz
analogy, which I love.
Oh, and we need to talk aboutanalogies to that.
(17:59):
Okay.
That's a neck.
That's another tip we need toget to all.
Alright.
But the jazz analogy is greatbecause, um, you know, there are
a lot of people who hear jazzand think, oh, it's beautiful.
And there are a lot of peoplewho hear jazz and think that
sounds like a bunch of noise.
Right?
And it feels really discordant.
And whether or not you like itis not really the point of the
analogy, but the, but the pointis that there are these
(18:21):
discordance sounds right fromthe trumpet, from the snare drum
that don't necessarily relate toone another organically or
logically.
And yet they come together toproduce a congruent sound, which
is the jazz song.
And that is exactly how ourbrain functions.
(18:42):
And what I mean by that is that,um, our brain produces a more
congruent image when it ispresented with different types
of stimuli.
And that is the second tip is touse lots of different kinds of
stimuli.
When you're teaching.
It's called creating an enrichedenvironment.
And an enriched environment justmeans exactly that.
(19:04):
It means I'm using lots ofdifferent kinds of stimuli.
So yes, asking questions,engaging my students as one.
I might also ask them to.
Um, uh, here's a great example.
I often ask students to createmind maps.
So once we've covered a fewconcepts and I want to see how
are you linking these conceptstogether in your own mind?
(19:25):
I'll ask them to create a mindmap so they can visually
demonstrate how they're, youknow, conceiving of the
connection of all of theseconcepts together.
And they'll all be differentbecause that's how the brain
works because I'm going to linkit to different experiences.
Sure.
And someone else.
So you can use a multitudes of,of stimuli.
You can use music, poetry,sounds, colors, analogies is a
(19:50):
great one.
Stories, parables, metaphors,engaging students in different
ways in you yourself usingdifferent stimuli, visual as
well as auditory and kinestheticwhenever possible.
You know, we don't tend to useit as much with adult learners,
but adults love to play withthings just as much as students
or kids are using all of thosedifferent ways creates an
(20:12):
enriched environment.
And again, the way that thebrain works is that if I'm able
to engage with different typesof stimulate different modes,
then I'm more likely to build amore robust understanding of
that particular concept.
So if you just explain it to me,I might get it.
But if you then tell me a storyof how that concept has actually
(20:33):
been utilized, oh, now I have aneven more robust understanding.
And then if you can show me apicture or have me talk to
someone who has also utilized it, right?
So any and all of those things,right?
Um, rhymes are fantastic songs,right?
And think about how many songs,you still remember absolutely
many, many that's, and that, andthe reason they're still there
(20:56):
is that those things havelasting memory effects, right?
Um, because typically you notonly heard the song, but you
yourself sang it, you heardother people sing it.
Maybe you saw it written, maybeyou saw the sheet music, right?
So you engaged in that song in amultitude of different kinds of
stimuli, which is why you stillremember it.
(21:16):
So the more that we can createan enriched environment, the
more likely we are then tocreate a robust understanding of
a concept.
And so you're more likely to tapinto a student's prior
experience by using thosemultiple stimuli.
So if you think about it, if I,um, you know, show a picture of
a concept or I just talk aboutthe concept, but then I can tell
(21:38):
a story about it, I'm, I'm muchmore likely to tap into the
learner's prior experience bydoing both of those things.
And if I only did one and if Ican sing a song about it and
then even I'll remember it 20years from now.
Absolutely.
I, so I, it is not unusual as amatter of fact for me to engage
my students in creating songs orjingles in rhymes around
(22:03):
concepts that they're strugglingwith.
And I very often hear, um, fromthem, you know, much like that's
the one thing they remember.
They've never forgotten it.
Yeah, it is.
I, I that for me and I'll, andI'll say I'm around enriched
environments, the probably themost common question I get is,
okay, I can see how I can createan enriched environment when I'm
(22:24):
teaching on campus or trainingin person.
But how do you do that online?
And it's a totally validquestion because certainly it's
more, it's more challenging,right?
Of course it is.
You can't, um, well you feel somuch more disconnected the
students from the instructor,instructor from the students.
Exactly.
And you just have to get alittle bit more creative.
(22:46):
So for example, if I will, youknow, if I'm teaching on campus
and I want to bring in somethings in my classroom to have
them engage, um, you know,kinesthetically with something
or, uh, even with smell, forexample, that can be very
powerful.
But instead of the onus being onyou as the instructor to bring
(23:08):
those things to the student, youcould still, if you're teaching
online, ask your students to goget those things.
So, you know, for example, ifI'm just gonna choose a strange
random thing, um, let's say Iwas teaching environmental
studies and I wanted to bring indifferent kinds of leaves and
plants and I dunno, Tree Bark,you can tell that's not what I
teach.
I would bring those things in.
If I were teaching on campus, Iwould do it myself.
(23:30):
But there's no reason I couldn'tjust go ask my students to go do
those things on their own anduse their smartphone to record
it.
Sure.
Right.
And so, Hey, I found this plantand this tree and I'm smelling
it, I'm touching it, I'm feelingit.
And then they recorded andposted onto our class discussion
board.
Okay.
They can still record videos andtell stories rather than just
(23:51):
typing.
Um, they can still draw my mapand then take a picture of it.
Or they can do a video walkthrough their mind that do a
video tour.
Yeah.
Or even use technology toolssuch as, you know, pick, do
chart.
Sure.
To create an as a geographic.
Yeah.
There are lots of different waysthat we can engage our students
in, um, going out and doingthings other than, you know,
(24:12):
sitting passively and eitherwatching a video and not that
there's anything wrong withvideos but you know, just the
video or just your lecture ortext, um, or a discussion board,
you know, typically isn't goingto create as much of an enriched
environment if you ask them toget up out of their seat and go
do something.
Um, and then, you know, recordit posted, that kind of thing.
(24:33):
So really being creative so wecan absolutely still do those
things online.
And it makes me think of alsothe reporting back and, and kind
of teaching what you've learnedto somebody else, which I think
would also fall into thecategory of creating an enriched
environment.
Absolutely.
Having students teach conceptsversus having the instructor
(24:54):
teach them is a really powerfulway to cement a learning.
Um, the reason for that is ifthe instructor asks the student
to teach a concept versus justlearn the concept, then what
you're doing is you're creatingsomething called longterm
potentiation, which is basicallya process that happens in the
brain, um, that the cementslearning by engaging with a
(25:19):
concept more deeply and morewith more complexity than if you
just learned it.
Now, if you ask students to dothat, um, within one class,
that's great.
And that cements learning.
If you ask them to do thisacross classes and across an
entire program so that each timethey engage with a concept, it
(25:40):
gets more complex every time.
That's an even stronger way tocreate true longterm
potentiation.
And then you are ensuring thatthey'll likely know that concept
for a long time, if not forever.
So the more you can get astudent to engage with the
concept, again in those variedin different ways, you're
increasing not only thelikelihood that they learn it to
(26:01):
begin with via the universityenvironment, but also the
likelihood that they're in thatthe brain is creating that LTP,
that longterm potentiation,which will cement the learning.
And give it a permanent cubby.
I love that idea.
I'm not really sure in terms ofcurriculum development how
challenging that would be to tryand make that execute on that.
Right.
But you know, it's fun challengeto think about it is I, you
(26:25):
know, I suspect that most, um,well I certainly know at
university college that, um, areacademic directors yourself
being one.
Um, you might not be thinking ofit in those terms, but I do know
that we actually do that.
Right?
So we, when we're doing ourcourse development and our
development, we think a lotabout making sure that students
(26:46):
are being exposed to the samevernacular and the same
terminology and the same rightthroughout their program and
applying those skills andconcepts in more complex manners
as they proceed through theprogram.
Absolutely.
We just have, you know, we don'ttypically talk about it in terms
of creating longtermpotentiation and it's also
sometimes referred to ascreating a spiraled curriculum
(27:08):
as a, but just because we don'tuse those terms doesn't mean
it's not happening.
So you can rest easy.
Cindy Cragg (27:22):
Well you have definitely sprinkled some
takeaways, uh, threw out thetime that you've been giving us
tips and things to think about.
Are there, are there two orthree things that come to mind
that maybe are practices thatyou either regularly use or you
find yourself commonlyrecommending to other people
(27:44):
that are sort of your, your goto of like, okay, if you can
implement these things or tryand embrace these concepts, this
will really improve theimpactfulness of the teaching
and learning experience?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think that the first one thatI'll share and I, it's the one I
mentioned earlier that I wantedto come back to and it because
(28:05):
it's so easy to do is to useanalogies.
And when I say analogies, I'musing that term really loosely
to say use metaphors, similes,stories, parables, things like
that.
Dr. Allison (28:19):
Analogies are wonderful tools for connecting
to prior experience because theyallow the student to make the
connection in their own way, notin the way that I think they
should make them.
And I'll give you an example.
When I teach conflict, which isby the way, not at all fun to
do, but very fun to teach.
It's really fun to talk aboutconflict for some reason.
(28:40):
Um, but when I teach conflicts,rather than giving my students a
textbook definition of conflict,which I could do, you know,
conflict is an express strugglebetween two interdependent
parties based on scarceresources.
Some for sounds like you've saidthat before.
Yes.
And not very exciting, right?
So instead I ask my students,and when I say use analogies, I
either we can use them asinstructors and we can ask our
(29:02):
students to create them.
So, um, I say to my students, Iwant you to finish this metaphor
or this simile.
And I write on the board, oragain, I do this online is very
easy to just use a PowerPointslide.
Conflict is dot, dot, dot orconflict is like dot, dot, dot.
And I asked them to justcomplete that with their own
simile or metaphor and, youknow, resist the temptation to
(29:25):
just give me an adjective.
Like conflict is hard, but Ireally want a simile or
metaphor.
And so, um, I've gotten somereally wonderful examples over
the years from my students.
Two of my favorite, so I'llshare really quickly.
One is, um, which I've neverforgotten.
That conflict is like two baldmen fighting over a comb.
(29:47):
And then the second one is thatI've always remembered, conflict
is like a rap battle where I'mup against Eminem.
And so what I love about thoseis that right away I have an
immediate sense of what thesetwo students think about
conflict and how they approachconflict.
Right.
The first person, um, it's liketwo bald men fighting over a
(30:10):
comb.
That person obviously seesconflict as really pointless.
Yeah.
No one is ever going to win.
Yeah.
Right.
And I know that just from that,um, for in this case it was a
similarly, um, that theycreated.
And then again with the ratbattle being up against Emenim,
I know that this person findsconflict overwhelming, something
that is win lose and thatthey're likely to lose.
(30:34):
So I immediately glean so muchabout how they view the concept
of conflict.
Just from asking them to createthose analogies.
That's incredible.
It can be really powerful for usto use them and for them to use
them.
And when we tell stories, um,and share examples, those also
count.
Those are very helpful forconnecting to prior experiences.
Cindy Cragg (30:56):
So when they share those do you pull them all
together into one PowerPointpresentation that you send out
or pull all the slides togetherso that everybody can see
everybody's analogy or simile ormetaphor?
Dr. Allison (31:13):
That's a great question.
When we do it on campus, I justwrite them all on the
whiteboard.
I actually ask them to do isfirst share their similar
metaphor but not tell me whythey wrote it.
Just share it.
And then as a group we start tomake sense of them a little bit.
So what does this one tell you?
What does that one tell you?
You know, cause I would thinkthat would be really powerful
for everybody else to see theinterpretation of their peers.
(31:37):
Exactly.
And not everyone has the sameinterpretation even.
And that's okay too.
Yeah.
When I do it online, I just doit as a Wiki page.
Okay.
So add your own to this Wikipage and then we do, um, either
a, an, uh, written chatdiscussion or we use a tool here
at university college calledFlipgrid, which allows students
to engage in an asynchronousdiscussion, but it's video, it's
(31:59):
really tool.
And so then we just do that todiscuss that, what they've
shared on the wiki pages and youprobably get some really fun
responses.
Great Way to create a connectionand bonding within the students
in the class is, and it getsthem excited for what's to come.
Now they're engaged in learning.
Cause this usually happenspretty early in the class.
So now they're engaged in likethinking, oh this class is going
(32:20):
to be fun.
Yeah.
Right.
So yeah.
So analogies are definitely atip that I will highly
recommend.
Another, um, a, again, I, I'vesaid this, but I want to repeat
it because it's a Gotu is justto ask questions, ask lots and
lots of questions of yourstudents.
Where are you, what do you knowabout this?
What connections are you making?
(32:41):
Um, you know, and sometimes it'sokay to say what's missing,
what, you know, how am I notconnected?
That can also be very telling.
Um, we can do pre-assessments bythe way.
It doesn't always have to justbe in the moment.
So, hey, we're getting, youknow, here's what this class is
about.
What do you know about it?
Or here's what this unit isabout.
What do you know about it?
So now you know ahead of timegoing in that you can, um, try
(33:03):
to meet your learners where theyare.
And that's really what this isabout is meeting your learners
where they are instead ofnecessarily trying to just get
them to come to you.
So just, I'm a big fan of, ofasking questions.
Well, and I think a lot of timesI'm particularly for those, the
teach more online.
Well, I, maybe this is true in,in both online and on campus,
(33:25):
but you know, uh, particularlyfor people who teach more
online, I think in thediscussion threads there's a lot
of making sure that you'rebringing the information that
you want everybody to learn tothe table and that it might be
easy to lose sight of that, thatidea of drawing out from your
(33:46):
students what they're thinkingand how they're feeling about
what they're learning.
Absolutely.
That's a fantastic point and Ithink it's probably one of the
hardest things for, um,instructors, teachers, trainers
to let go of is this notion of,well, but wait a minute.
I've got, you know, these 20concepts that I have to cover
(34:06):
this yes, module, this term,this week, whatever the case may
be.
And if I don't do that, youknow, I've failed as an
instructor.
But the truth is that, you know,simply throwing out all of these
terms and concepts doesn't makelearning take place.
If the connection isn't beingmade, then they're not learning
the concepts that you're soardently trying to get them.
(34:27):
Sure.
Get in front of them.
And so would you rather make astronger impact with 10 of the
concepts or throw 20 of them outthere and have it be the
equivalent of throwing yogurt atthe wall?
And so that's, that's the thingthat I try really hard to get
(34:48):
across to to to people is that,um, for me it's about quality,
not quantity because quantityisn't effective when it comes to
learning.
Right?
Right.
And think about this, when youcrammed four exams in college,
how much of that, do you stillremember?
Yeah, absolutely.
No, no, not right if you'reletting your brain the second
(35:09):
you walked out of thatclassroom.
Right.
And that's exactly what we stillsometimes do when we teach.
It's the equivalent of, youknow, teacher cramming and it
isn't effective.
Reverse cramming, reversecramming, something like that.
So, uh, yeah.
And so actually it's funny, Ilove this question cause I think
it relates to my third tip and Ihope this one isn't to a
(35:30):
nebulous, but my third tip isjust try something new.
Just take a baby step.
You know, if, if you've beenteaching online and you're a
little hesitant to, you know,move outside of just doing a
discussion board and avideotaped lecture, just try one
thing, ask your students to, youknow, go out and, um, for
example, engage in aconversation with a colleague
(35:55):
about a concept and then, andthen talk about that
conversation on the discussionthread, um, posted video on the
discussion thread.
Ask them to do a mind map,whatever it is, just take one
baby step and try something new.
And I think that, you know,people will be really pleased
with the results when they trythese ways to make sure that
(36:16):
that connection to priorexperiences really, really be
made.
Great suggestions, great tips,great insights and input.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.