My team for this MALAT course presented last week on our experience with using Ted-Ed as a student. If you have not had the chance to view or read our recent blog, you can see it here. Due to presenting this past weekend, my personal inquiry project was momentarily placed on the back burner. However, by doing this is give me a chance to reflect on my inquiry experience so far.
It was interesting that even though we (Team Ted-Ed) all had the same learning event, our inquiries all ended up being very different. We all naturally chose to focus on different aspects of Ted-Ed, as they ended up being the driving force behind our individual inquiry. Our personal contexts, experiences, and personalities allowed us to have the same experience analyze it with different lenses. This had me thinking about my own students and how little choice they sometimes have as students.
As much as I would love to give my student free rein to learn the material the way they want too, letting go of the control is scary. Allowing students to pick and choose for themselves is scary. Inquiry like we are experiencing in this course is one option to allow students to have more choice. Having had experience with inquiry before as a teacher, I was interested to see how it would go as a student. My students are younger and have less educational experience and skills than I do. Considering how it is going for me, I am wondering how and what to scaffold if I did want to introduce more inquiry or options into my courses. Thinking how it is going for me now, my biggest hurdle is motivation. As Garrison (1997) discusses, motivation is key to self-directed learning, and is impacted by multiple factors, such as expectancy and valence. Even though it is a topic I am interested in, and one I chose for myself, I am still finding the motivation is my biggest hurdle.
As other learners going through an inquiry, what has been your biggest challenge so far?
Reference
Garrison, D. (1997). Self-directed learning: Toward a comprehensive model. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(1), 18-33. doi:10.1177/074171369704800103
Hi Amanda – I really appreciate your contemplations around what would it mean to give your students “free rein” to learn the material in a way they want to. You shared this would be scary to let go of the control. In this context, if you did let go of the control, what would be the worst that could happen? When I think about my own biggest learning challenge through my inquiry so far, it has to do more with the unknown. Am I going in the right direction? And what does that even mean…right direction?! With so much flexibility and options, it sometimes feels paralyzing in even organizing my own learning and managing my time. I think it has made me realize how dependent as a learner I have become on “structure” to comfort and guide me…even as an adult. In your experience teaching younger students, I wonder if they might be more resilient learners and perhaps struggle at first without less control, but then begin to adapt and soar? Thank you for the thought provoking question 😉