Planned, or unplanned, we learn all the time
Madhulika S Naidu
Teaching as a profession provides various opportunities to empower ourselves to be a better facilitator, counsellor, or even listener. Teaching demands that the person should have various attributes like the ability to listen to various perspectives, expertise in pedagogy, felicity in relaying subject matter, facilitate complicated conversations and create an inclusive environment in the classroom. Teacher development is thus a very important aspect of professional development in the field of teaching and learning.
Learning is loosely defined as a constructive, dynamic organization of complex understandings. Learning results from multiple sources and engages the whole person not just the mind and contributes to the individual’s development. It is prompted by feedback and occurs in reference to new experiences registered by the body, mind, emotion, and awareness. The impact of learning is related to its significance on the contexts of experience. Learning from experiences, especially, adds a unique meaning, creating diversity among adult learners. Adult learners start with an initial base of knowledge and experience and build on it. They interact with the broader intellectual or community life through considerable engagement, work, reading, discussions, and conversations. All learners work from this point to build a more meaningful understanding of the subject matter or concept and improve their ability to ask questions and find answers. Adult learners, like teachers and teacher educators, should immerse themselves in informal learning opportunities.
There are three types of informal learning: self-directed learning, incidental learning, and tacit learning. The differences among the three have been attributed to intentionality and awareness at the time of the experience. Self-directed learning has been characterized as being intentional and conscious and hence is the most visible and studied. You visit an exhibition, a fair, a museum, or an art gallery; the form of learning is self-directed. Incidental learning may be an accidental by-product of another activity and is usually unintentional but creates awareness after the incident, i.e., it occurs unplanned and is emergent. The third form of informal learning, tacit learning, is neither intentional nor conscious although there is a possibility of awareness in retrospection. Tacit learning happens naturally whether you have planned it or not; it is the form of learning that is inherent to our existence. This article takes the reader through the various forms of informal learning at their disposal and the varied ways in which they can enhance their professional development opportunities.
- Self-directed and initiated learning
Self-directed and initiated learning rarely occurs in singularity in splendid isolation from the world in which the learner lives; it is intimately related to that world and affected by it. It has been discussed widely that self-direction in learning is a natural part of adult life. However, it is imperative to acknowledge that even though the initial process can be self-directed, the latter half of the learning is usually associated with people who are knowledgeable about the process and involves retrospection and self-reflection.
This form of learning can include “the spontaneous, unstructured learning that goes on daily in the home and neighborhood, behind the school and on the playing field, in the workplace, marketplace, library and museum, and through the various mass media. Such learning has also been called “everyday learning” because it takes place in very private and non-organized contexts of life. In the form of self-initiated and directed learning, informal learning is embedded in our mundane activities, and we fail to characterize it or give it the importance it deserves. This form of learning is something teachers should engage in with great fervor and find opportunities to learn from! Self-directed and initiated learning experiences, interaction in such learning environments and the plethora of stepping stones it provides for professional development should be an integral part of every teacher’s tool kit! A few avenues for self-directed and initiated learning are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Attend conferences and workshops
Conferences on teaching and learning provide a fantastic avenue for teachers to improve their purview of what is new in the field, what kind of technology is enhancing the quality of learning experiences. How is pedagogy being used in different disciplines to help students learn better? Attending such events helps teachers identify contexts for improvement. On the one hand, conferences and workshops are very good networking events and teachers get to exchange best practices. On the other, such venues provide for the fertile intermingling of innovations in pedagogy, curriculum interpretation, and instructional methodologies.
Read practice-based articles!
Practice-based articles provide know-how about strategies being used on the ground. Teachers will be in touch with what is working, what is not, what is desirable and what has been tested enough so you do not have to reinvent the wheel again! Best practices in classroom management, classroom etiquette, learning outcomes, experiential learning, assessment vs evaluation and so much more become readily available in a format that is extremely hands-on, reimagined, realigned, and written in a tone and context that is of immediate use to teachers.
Visit informal learning venues to upgrade
Museums, art shows, installations, learning festivals, and such platforms for informal learning provide a ripe environment to observe and imbibe tacit learning as it happens at the venue naturally. This form of informal learning allows the practice of self-directed learning. It enables teachers to incorporate field visits, museum trips and then engage students in self-directed exercises. Teachers will implement self-directed learning as practice only when they have a first-hand experience of the same.
The following paragraphs will expand more on another form of informal learning that happens by chance, without a plan or a set structure in place.
- Incidental learning
Incidental learning happens by chance, hence the term! It is not planned and neither can you predict the nature and scope of learning; it just happens! This form of learning is quite self-reflective in nature. If initiated, learning is self-directed, then incidental learning is self-reflective. It requires immersion in environments that are of interest and to be understood. Incidental learning is a very potent exercise in understanding how our mundane activities are sources of learning. Learning is an ongoing process, whether we structure an experience or a process or not; learning is inevitable, it happens naturally!
Observe natural environments to excel
Lose your inhibitions in nature, a potent exercise is to stand against the wind and observe what happens to your body, emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Likewise, put your feet in a pond for a few minutes, sit with a flower, observe trees and ants. Observation is key to a child’s curiosity, allow yourself to delve into this faculty within yourself. Such a quality of observation allows for a natural disposition to teach science and use method of science effectively. It enables the teacher to embrace embodied learning, learning is not limited to the mind is what observation using the body and natural elements will help you understand.
Immerse in local culture to reinvent yourself
An understanding of local culture is imperative to create appropriate context for pedagogy and facilitation approaches. Local culture dictates the kind of lived experiences your students carry and the mark of the sounds, smells, and sights of their lived experience. If a teacher can understand local culture, it is easy for him/her to place themselves in the students’ shoes and empathize with them.
Adapt and adopt technology in the classroom
Technology and applications of technology in education are here to stay. Apart from smart boards, online lesson content and educational apps, there are several other platforms that provide an opportunity to reconfigure yourself with the younger generation. For example, H5p.com. H5P is a free and open-source content collaboration framework based on JavaScript. H5P is an abbreviation for HTML5 Package and aims to make it easy for everyone to create, share, and reuse interactive HTML5 content. H5P empowers everyone to create rich and interactive web experiences. Use H5p to redesign videos and video clips, presentations to include questions, pause when required and ask questions. You could use games in the classroom using this platform to drive a point across or to make an impact!
Create rubrics to evaluate and assess student learning
Rubrics can be used as a guide describing expectations in student assignments and as a scoring tool for instructors. A rubric defines how to evaluate a student’s performance based on several criteria rather than a single numerical score. Rubrics have become an especially helpful tool in a diverse teaching and learning environment by providing a wide range of benefits from providing consistent feedback to students to decreasing overall grading time.
- Tacit learning
Tacit learning is happening constantly without conscious reflection! It is something we can only understand retrospectively, after an event, or occurrence, or the context for learning. Tacit learning is a continuous process, it is not in our awareness most of the time and is of value because it helps us connect the dots. The ability to connect dots effectively is an awareness of tacit learning. Learning to hold learning, this is the ultimate suggestion for all teachers. When we do not understand a topic, or context, or a subject, it is important not to reach a conclusion. Learning to hold information till it emerges as an experience is a faculty of tacit learning. If teachers learn to hold, students will follow suit; otherwise, we tend to throw away the baby with the bath water!!
Learning is an ongoing process; teachers and teacher educators are required to innovate, and in the process, reinvent themselves to empower their students and thereby find social agency in their professional endeavours.
The author is a consultant in the space of curriculum, instruction, pedagogy, andragogy, and educational research. She works with nascent and experienced educational organizations to either build the curricular and pedagogy portfolio of the organization from scratch or support an organization in the process of overhauling their existing curricular process and structure. Madhulika S Naidu also works in the domains of critical perspectives, phenomenology, semiotics, constructivism, cultural colonialism, ethnographic, and vernacular learning in her research and practice. She can be reached at anandastudio.in@gmail.com.
