The last principle of the previous section referred to the Learning Facilitator, a new approach to the traditional role of the educator. While teaching has been widely centered on telling, a one-way communication through lectures and master classes, the “sage on the stage” model has been increasingly questioned as an appropriate pedagogical approach, and we are witnessing a transition toward the “guide on the side.” Perhaps a better role needed from the 21st-century educator is to facilitate learning. But what does learning facilitation look like?
When we talk about “learning facilitation,” the first conceptual shift is that the focus is on the learning, and not on the teaching.1 It concerns what happens to the student, rather than what the instructor has to transmit. The student is not the fortuitous—and passive—recipient of the flow of information and knowledge emerging from an expert’s mind. The student is in fact the client, the guest to be served, the one who has to find a benefit in the experience.
As we discussed before, the global access to instant information has also transformed the value added by the instructor. Information and materials are no longer the privilege of the expert, due to up-to-date information all students have at their fingertips.2 Instructional videos on YouTube teach any discipline we can dream of, and we can select the preferred style of the instructor. Google Scholar will list top-ranked latest research on any topic, and free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from Ivy League schools are available to anyone.
If delivery of content is no longer the value added, what can a learning facilitator do to contribute value, relevance, and excitement to the learning experience?
There are three roles for a learning facilitator: (a) Designer, (b) Instructor, and (c) Coach or Mentor.
The Designer role involves identifying the learning outcomes, and selecting the pedagogical approaches and techniques to best meet those outcomes. As we have seen in the previous section, the learning principles provide a guide for designing powerful learning interventions. When designing a class, the facilitator can consider how to ensure it is relevant to the students; that their tacit knowledge is brought into the room and social learning is promoted; that activities are selected to uncover paradigms and to help shift mental models; that students are seen as holistic learners; that the classroom is a safe and appreciative environment; that reflection is promoted; that contents are linked to develop self-awareness; and, finally, that a systems perspective pervades the contents.3
The Instructor role is the most familiar one, and it refers to selecting materials, sharing information, and training students by providing exercises and techniques they will find valuable in promoting their learning. However, this role needs to be revisited too, as the perception of value added is shifting.
What is the unique expertise that we have as educators, which would be most valuable for the students? What can we share and present that could not be found as easily on the Internet, and that might be more complete or updated, better illustrated, or more practical? Late American educator Donald Finkel4 from the progressive Evergreen State College shares in his book Teaching with your mouth shut that lectures don’t promote learning because they are focused on sharing conclusions, and that they leave the audience in a passive mindset. If the lecturer is charismatic, the participants may give their full attention—but, ironically, may be left feeling such admiration for someone perceived as really superior, and they might be dazzled by the presentation rather than by the content. Many educators observe that contents learned via reading or lectures tend to fade rapidly. Information provided orally is hard to remember, and therefore students take notes, paying more attention to capture what is being said than to reflecting and making meaning out of it. Exams are meant to ensure that students “learned” what was told to them, but as Finkel observes, “how many could pass those same exams without any sub sequent preparation, five years later?” What is the point of testing memory on something that will be forgotten soon after?
When teachers present a topic to the class, the reflection is made by the speaker, and not by the audience. According to educator John Dewey, the best learning is inquiry-based and experiential. If we would learn by simply being told, Finkel reflects, parents would have a much easier time as they tell their children all the time what they need to do or how to be. In addition, our current student population has very short attention spans. How to use the expertise and knowledge of the instructor, then? Finkel suggests that we carefully design experiences for the students, where they can discuss, examine, analyze, share, and collectively produce insights. This pedagogic technique is inquiry-based5 and is the essence of methodologies such as Action Research or Action Learning. More recently, this approach is known as Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Issue-Centric learning. The common characteristic is that instead of organizing a class around a content that has to be taught, it is organized around problems that have to be solved. Problems that qualify for this type of pedagogy are complex, and are not technical problems solvable with one answer. They require analysis, critical reflection, imagination, research, systems thinking, and collaboration, plus specific information or mastery of contents, which then are sought by the students in a just-in-time way—by going on Google or asking some expert. For example, one problem might be how to design our city for the future. To tackle this problem, students in a business school would have to find information about climate change in their region, urban planning, politics, governmental regulations, economics, health impacts, diversity and inclusion, among other disciplines that may be systemically relevant. Because students are engaged in solving the problem, they will naturally search for information that will help them in their journey. The learning facilitator then, much as a corporate team coach, will periodically intervene with a “just-in-time” concept or tool that can help the students to overcome obstacles hindering their progress. The goal is not to rob the learning from the learners, but to instead offer timely input when needed. This is, after all, how we have successfully learned throughout our life; trying to solve a problem we encountered, we pondered, planned, and took effective actions, which became more easily assimilated in our memory.
A Story
PBL was first developed at McMaster University Medical School in Canada in the 1960s, and has since been extensively used in higher education.6 It does not require a transformation of the whole institution and its curriculum (although it could be an interesting option). Finkel used the PBL approach when he developed a course called Political Ecology, where students learned economics and biology as they wrestled with the problem of reconciling economic prosperity and environmental projection. In another PBL course, called Health: Individual and Community, students master contents of biology, psychology, anthropology, and sociology as they attempt to discover new ways to conceive health care.
The learning principles are also a useful guide when wearing the Instructor hat. As a checklist, the following questions can help ensure we are creating the best learning environment:
Is what I am about to tell really relevant to the students—from their perspective?
Have I checked the extent of their tacit knowledge—what they already may know or think about this topic?
Am I presenting my content in a concise way and in a form that challenges their mental models?
Have I found some moments to embed reflection into my lecturette?
Is my input providing a systemic perspective of the topic?
Is what I am about to tell them not something that would be more beneficial to their learning were they to find it out by themselves?
Am I helping connect with feelings and meaning-making?
Have I planned some ways to reinforce the learnings of today’s session?
While the traditional instructor role is reduced in this new approach, another role is greatly expanded:
c. The Coaching and Mentoring role. The learning facilitator can make a valuable contribution to the students’ learning by offering brief individual or collective coaching, and mentoring support. This can take the shape of asking thought-provoking questions, challenging their perspectives, having an inquiry attitude that fosters clear elaboration of their thinking; providing detailed feedback on their writing or their participation; or inviting them to identify—and then answer—their own questions.
A Story
Inspired by Finkel, I changed the way I guided reflection on readings. Instead of providing some questions the students had to answer (What did you find intriguing? What did you like? What was new for you? How did this relate to your life or experience?)—I invited the students to identify one question the reading generated for them, and to write a short essay about it. This created a situation where they didn’t know the answer, and had to process and develop their own insights. I must say that the instruction was not easy for the students to understand, given that they are trained to respond to questions testing their understanding, rather than thinking of their own questions—and answering them! However, the results were far richer and more profound than when they just answered my question. This simple change helped ensure maximum relevance of their learning for each student. It also helped them to gain access to, and build on, their tacit knowledge, combining it with self-directed learning as they sought for answers.
The learning principles can also be a helpful guide to educators wearing the coaching or mentoring hat, like in the following checklist:
Am I planning to ask challenging questions, to take them out of their comfort zone? (This might force them to confront unfamiliar realities and unanticipated possibilities, and thereby help the students confront their assumptions and reflex thinking.)
When providing feedback, am I enhancing their self-awareness using an appreciative tone?
Am I introducing some triggers for reflection when I am mentoring students, instead of simply telling them my point of view—and, thus, in a sense, rob them of their own learning?
These are examples of questions that can prompt new insights from the students, and the selection of the most fitting approaches will be an important judgment made by the learning facilitator.
A frequently raised concern when discussing the new learning facilitation role is that students may have some knowledge, but the fact that they enroll in a program means that they have more to learn. This is not only a reality but also their expectation. How do learning facilitators “facilitate” learning when the students simply don’t know what they don’t know?
To address this question, we can find the following chart helpful.
Q1 “I know what I don’t know”: Make space for their questions. Make it relevant. |
Q2 “I know what I know”: Have her teach, share or present. Create social learning opportunities. |
Q4 “I don’t know what I don’t know”: Introduce concepts, make Just-in-time interventions, help them link the new with their world. Make it relevant. |
Q3 “I don’t know what I know”: Ask them, give them prompts to reflect. Help them find their tacit knowledge. |
Quadrant 1 describes participants who realize they don’t know much about a topic, are curious about it, or unsure of their understanding. The learning facilitator can explore what questions the participants have about a theme, to promote ownership of the learning, and to make the experience relevant, based on the stated interests of the students in the room.
Quadrant 2 describes participants who have knowledge about a topic, and are aware of it. They know what they know, although it may not always be obvious for the instructor. After asking what questions they have about a topic, and before jumping to answer them, the learning facilitator can first seek what knowledge is in the room, and then create opportunities for students to share what they know. This can include having them teach or present it, in a dialogue, in small groups, or with Learning Partners. They become valuable moments of Social Learning in action.
Quadrant 3 describes Tacit Knowledge: when participants are not conscious of what they know. After asking what questions they have about a topic, or when introducing it, the learning facilitator can pause before sharing his expertise, and ask everyone to take a moment and write down some possible thoughts about that topic or question. The silent time will allow everyone to seek any available knowledge they may have, therefore helping the participants connect with their tacit knowledge.
Finally, Quadrant 4 describes the most traditional situation, when the participants don’t know what they don’t know. This may be the most frequent assumption of instructors, and it is worthwhile to take a moment and confirm this is the case. Once it is clear that the participants do not know about a topic, the learning facilitator can wear his “instructor hat” and present the new contents. This role is most powerful when the instructor introduces contents following a clue—for example, it may be important information for a given project the participants are working on, or for a discussion that is underway. In other words, when it is “just-in-time” information that illuminates a possible way to go, as opposed to “just-in-case” information that the student might have a need for at an unspecified time in the future.
For many instructors, it may sound strange to think of reserving the “teaching” to the occurrence of a “just-in-time” opportunity, as opposed to a well-planned session. But it may become more understandable if we consider a new way of designing the whole learning experience. Experienced facilitators of learning are able to anticipate “just-in-time” opportunities and be prepared. And if that opportunity doesn’t occur, they can let their preparation go and go with the flow.