Of concepts maps and popples

I thought I knew what a 'Concept Map' is, in fact I thought I'd made several.  Turns out I was wrong.....   
I'd assumed that Concept Map was simply another name for a Mind Map...  which it isn't.  This quickly became apparent when I looked at Bubblus and Popplet and their functionality was quite different from what I was expecting.  

Mind map - 2014 business plan

While both mind maps and concept maps are graphical means of organising and representing knowledge, mind maps are usually an exploration of a single topic, issue or problem.   They use colour, visual imagery and metaphors to explore associations and relationships to the central concept, placing emphasis on both creativity and logic.

Concept maps are logical, showing the relationship between diverse topics.  The connector lines are often labeled to define the relationship between the two topics connected, and cross links can be used to explain complex relationships.
 

Following is my concept map of Learning Theories created on Popplet.
While many concept maps are strictly heirarchical, with the key concept at the top of the page, I've chosen to employ a more circular design.

 

 Affordances of Popplet that I liked:

• The individual 'popples' or frames are very easy to resize.
• The frame colour can be changed, which allows a simple visual grouping.
• Pictures, photos or drawings can be inserted into the frame.
• The frames are easy to position and move.  So I could make the behavioural section very liner, the cognitive section a little more branched and the constructivist section much more freeform, according to how I view the theories.
• Popplets can be shared online, allowing collaboration. (5 free)
• Can post links or videos.
• Has ipad version as well as pc version.

Limitations of Popplet:

• The link connectors cannot be labelled.  This meant I included much more text in the frames.
• Text size is limited to three options so attributing images isn't easy.
• Connector lines are limited to straight lines which would make it difficult to show multiple complex relationships between frames at opposite sides of the concept.

If I were starting again, I think I'd use Microsoft Visio for its ability to label connector lines and to bend and layer connector lines, since that's such an integral element of concept maps.
 

Which learning theory? It all depends...

In considering the various learning theories and their practical application; at present I'm inclined to regard them as a partially overlapping continuum, which differ in their point of focus, rather than completely differentiated entities.  

For example,when looking at the higher levels of the revised Bloom's behavioural taxonomy, the behaviours of analysis and creating seem to me to be inherently and intrinsically dependent on the internal information processing which underpins cognitive theory.  Cognitive theory employs scaffolding or modelling by More Knowledgeable Others to shape the learner's behaviour in the Zone of Proximal Development.  
Constructivism builds on this, with the locus of control shifting from the educator towards the learner, as the learner progressively takes responsibility for selecting the information sources, experiences and social interactions through which they construct knowledge.  Consequently, the role of the educator becomes more that of the 'guide on the side' - supporting the learner in developing learning skills, literacy skills and life skills - rather than that of 'sage on the stage' conveying content knowledge.  In their role as guide, they may still structure or scaffold the learning experience.


Constructivism

I currently take the view that constructivism is a natural learning style for many if not most adults, and is the basis of much workplace learning -  irrespective of the pedagogy employed for formal learning/training activities.   The workplace provides authentic sociocultural influences, and learning within the workplace tends to be contextualised, generally involves procedural knowledge and relies on collaborative teamwork to resolve real life problems. (Candy and Crebert, 1991, cited in Choy, 

However, I need to reconcile this with my belief that there is some knowledge which exists external to the learner - an objective reality.  At present, my interpretation is that while objective reality is present, it takes on meaning to an individual only after the individual has constructed their personal perspective of it.  This could be purely personal by thinking about it (cognitive) or in social interaction with others.

The 'hidden curriculum' in workplaces exemplifies constructivist learning.  Information that doesn't appear in any manual or protocol, which isn't explicitly stated during any induction program, but which is very quickly acquired informally through employee observation and interaction.  

An example of constructivism, drawn from within audiological practice, is how individuals react to tinnitus. Most commonly, tinnitus is a neurophysiologically generated perception of sound in the absence of an external sound source.   Frequently described as 'ringing in the ears', it has a prevalence of 27% in those aged 65 to 84 years.  Clients who attend our clinics include those who find their tinnitus distressing, who are seeking a diagnosis and medical treatment or cure for it.  However, some aboriginal tribes of Northern Australia believe tinnitus to be the sound of the voices of the spirits, an auspicious sign.  While the physiological process remains the same, in these communities tinnitus isn't perceived as a health problem.


21st Century Capabilities

Dede (2007) recommends that in the 21st century educators focus on 'understandings', which entwine both content knowledge and skill, and 'performances'of how the understandings are actualised in practise.   He notes that expert decision making and complex communication skills will be the basis for future prosperity, with the location of work depending on whether personal delivery is necessary to maintain the quality of service.  Or as our CEO applied it to our business context at a recent management meeting, "healthcare#BOOM".  

A key contrast between the connectivist 21st century skills and cognitive theory of learning is the emphasis placed on the learning capabilities which the learner brings to the task.  Learning capabilities themselves become the target of learning, empowering the learner to perform in environments where information increases exponentially and becomes redundant within years rather than across generations (Blaschke, 2012).  

Dede (2007) expounds that the degree and contextual importance of current capabilities will continue to change, in addition to the development of new kinds of capabilities.    That could also be viewed as a parallel to how 21st century capabilities and learning theories transition over the learning cycle.  The underlying principles and generic attributes remain relevant across schooling, vocational training and workplace learning, but the degree and relative importance of initial capabilities change as new kinds of capabilities are developed:

• Individual and collective expression, experience and interpretation.
• Distributed cognition and action, metacognitive strategies for making meaning out of complexity.
• Erosion of routine tasks in favour of expert decision making and complex communication capabilities.
• Problem finding as a prelude to problem solving. 

What does this mean for my workplace?

Within the workplace the value of employee learning is assessed by the management team in terms of performance against business objectives.  At Neurosensory these objectives will generally have both a quality of service and revenue component.  Performance against the revenue objective can be tracked empirically and immediately, whereas quality assurance measures tend to be more labour intensive (eg. file audits) or less precise (client satisfaction measures).  

This is the fourth level of Kirkpatrick's Heirachy of Evaluation (1996).  

1. Reaction  -  by partcipants and trainer to the program, presentation, instructional methods and outcomes.
2. Learning - assessing for change of skill, knowledge or attitude by assessment task or workplace project.
3. Behaviour - changes in job performance as knowledge and skills are transferred to the workplace.
4. Results - organisational benefit, such as increased productivity or profitabilitiy, improved morale etc. 

In the past the linkage between behavioural change and the expectation of organisational benefit has not always been made explicit to staff.   This is now being communicated more directly, as part of a broader initiative to improve internal company communication.  This is a change in workplace culture and pre-training and post-training electronic surveys have been used to assess individual staff reactions and dispositions.  Based on my experience in this course, I'll be introducing learning blogs as a tool for future projects.
Implicit in accepting the importance of 21st century capabilities for our staff is the need to: 

• Up skill workers still operating with 20th century capabilities.
• Provide a workplace with sophisticated ICT applications which support rich, interactive and complex communication.
• Develop a culture which values communication, collaboration, creativity, civic responsibility and professionalism.

Are we there yet?  No.   
Am I there yet?  No.
Am I going to start consciously looking for ways to incorporate elements of this into my work?  Absolutely yes.
Do I find this easy?  No.
Will I stick with it?  Yes, I believe it's important and our clients and our staff deserve it.

Professionals in the 21st Century - more than masters of skills?

The levels of mastery contained in the Core Skills for Work Framework, published by the Australian Government, were 'informed' by the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition.   Learners progress through the five stages of novice, advanced beginner, capable performer, proficient performer and expert performer.  The expert performer combines analysis with informed intuition, recognising that 'it all depends'. 

Within the medical field a similar variation to the Dreyfus model has been proposed, in which masters are reflective in addition to being highly intuitive (Pena, 2010).  It premises that metacognitive self-monitoring skills and judgement are required to recognise when to apply effortful analytic functioning rather than routine non-analytical expertise. It regards an ability to define problems, to identify the right questions to ask, as being an equally important skill as problem solving.  In clinical practice the majority of problems are likely to be 'ill-defined', requiring an integration of problem-defining or framing and problem-solving, to arrive at an acceptable outcome for the client.

If I regard the clients who present to our clinics as cases of ill-defined problems, then it behoves me to ensure our clinicians have both problem defining and problem solving skills.  This is consistent with the call of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to "imbue habits of enquiry and improvement to achieve lifelong learning and excellence" into medical education (Irby, 2011).  A co-author of the report, Irby also calls for training programs to "explicitly cultivate the formation of professional identity".

The Development of Professional Identity

Development of professional identity requires immersion in a community of practice, engagement with members of the profession and a deep commitment to the values, dispositions and aspirations of the profession which leads to them becoming habits of the mind and heart (Irby, 2011).  

One approach to maintaining professional identity is to remediate or remove individuals who do not practice in accordance with the levels of care and compassion expected of the profession. I prefer the alternative, pro-active approach of employing mentoring, appreciative enquiry and self-reflection to intentionally develop a sense of professionalism.

Of interest is the work of Neil Hamilton (2011) who applied Robert Kegan's stages of mental complexity to the development of ethical professional identity in early career lawyers.  Among his subjects, social learning was the most cited influence, followed by law school experience and self-reflection.

Audiology would do well to follow the lead of nursing, a profession which has placed emphasis on the value of reflective thinking on-action and in-action, combined with critical reflection, to develop professional behaviour aligned with personal beliefs and values.   (Somerville and Keeling, 2004).  



Resources I found interesting

21st Century Skills List
11 Education experts define 21st Century Learning 

 Addresses by Sir Ken Robinson

References

Blaschke, L.M. (2012).  Heutagogy and lifelong learning: a review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning.  The International Review of Reasearch in Open and Distance Learning.  Research Articles, Vol 13:1, 56-71.  Retrieved from  http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1076, 6 April 2014.

Choy, S.C. (2009).  Aligning workplace pedagogies with learners: what do they need to know?  In: 12th Annual Conference of Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association, 15-17 April 2009, Crowne Plaza, Coogee Beach, New South Wales.

Dede, C. (2007).  Transforming education for the 21st century:  New pedagogies that help all students attain sophisticated learning outcomes.   Retrieved from http://www.thenetwork.typepad.com/files/dede_21stc-skills_semi-final.pdf .

Dreyfus, S. E. and Dreyfus, H. L. (1980).  A five-stage model of the mental activities involved in directed skill acquisition.  University of California, Berkley.  Retrieved from www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA084551  12 February 2014.

Hamilton, N. (2011).  Ethical professional (trans)formation: early career lawyers make sense of professionalism.  University of St Thomas Law Journal.  8:2, Available at:http://it.stthomas.edu/ustlj/vol8/iss2/3.

Hase, S., Kenyon, C. (2001).  From Andragogy to heutagogy.  Retrieved from http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec00/hase2.htm.

Irby, D. (2011).  Educating physicians for the future: Carnegie's calls for reform.  Medical Teacher, 33, 547-550.  DOI:10.3109/0142159X.2011.578173. 

Jonassen, D.H.  Objectivism versus constructivism: do we need a new philosophical paradigm. Educational Research, Design and Technology,  39:3, 5-14. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://edit451.pbworks.com/f/objectivism_vs_constructivism.pdf&embedded=true, 6 April 2014. 

Kirkpatrick, D. (1996).  Great ideads revisited.  Journal of the American Society for Training and Development, Jan, 54-49.

Pena, A.  (2010). The Dreyfus model of clinical problem-solving skills acquisition: a critical perspective.  Medical Education Online.  15 4846-DOI:10.3402/meo.v150.4846.

Somerville, D., Keeling, J. (2004). A practical approach to promote reflective practice within nursing.  Nursing Times, 100:12, 42-45.