EDDG meeting – Confidence and Well-being 10/12/08
There was a very interesting and lively debate around the issues raised at the FERRN Seminar in Glasgow last week. I’ve highlighted some of the areas that may be worth investigating further, either through further workshops and learning and teaching days, or small scale research within the college.
FERRN Winter seminar
The confident and resilient learner
Work of Carol Craig and Emily Cutts:
Lack of evidence that a focus on boosting self-esteem is meaningful. Research in USA shows practice by teachers and parents to raise self-esteem in young people has encouraged too much self-absorption and contributed an increase in depression.
Teachers tend to : praise individuals too much (inappropriate) , restrict competition, giving everyone praise and recognition, don’t give negative feedback, give grades that are aspirational, restricting opportunities to fail. This can result in students who become over focussed on themselves.
High self-esteem can be a problem !
A focus on confidence , resilience (psychological immune system) and mind-sets is more appropriate and ‘successful’. Important to use negative experiences. Bad feelings have a purpose – galvanise us to do things differently.
Research in Glasgow and Napier– mindsets (fixed and growth)
Small interventions (4 ten minute sessions on mindsets, and altering feedback sheets) can improve academic performance and possibly retention. This is something we could develop and introduce.
Links to goal setting, motivation, giving feedback, tutorial work , induction, personal planning .
Further information on confidence, well-being and mind-sets is available from www.centreforconfidence.co.uk
Handout research : Emma Clays and Kyle Smith (Perth college)
This research examined the outcomes of using formatted and unformatted texts with students studying Higher English. The students who had been given unformatted text did better in tests. This related to content and structure, with students writing in sentences and paragraphs rather than bullet points.
If you would like to find out more about this research and possibly be involved in a small-scale research with your own students then email or phone me.
Karen Lawson
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Confidence and well-being
I thought I'd get an entry going on the "Confidence and Well-being" session. I couldn't make it, so I'm interested to know some more about this. Maybe we could use this space to exchange our thoughts on it.
I feel that when I explain to people who don't work in FE what I do (when I say I teach English or Communication they often have some fantastical idea of me holding court around a small group of bookish, eager and able students) that I use the phrase "confidence-building" a lot. And yes, when I think about it, I spend a lot of time encouraging and supporting students who often have low self-esteem. Of course, my degree or, to be honest, my PGCE, didn't provide me with any in-depth training in this. Like a lot of what we do in FE, it seems to be something what we pick up along the way.
So, yes, confidence and well-being are, without doubt, important (would we argue otherwise?). What I'd like to know more about is how, on a very practical level, we can work on these skills with students in a more structured, conscious and, of course, meaningful way.
What would a confidence and well-being programme of study look like? Would there even be a programme of study? What kind of activities would it involve? Would it be integrated across all points of delivery (this seems, at a gut level, to make sense)? Or would it be a stand-alone programme? What CPD do we need to take this forward if we want to?
These questions may all have been dealt with at the meeting, but the blog might be a good place to archive folk's ideas by replying to my entry by clicking on "comment" below.
Here's the link that Karen provided: http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTM4
I feel that when I explain to people who don't work in FE what I do (when I say I teach English or Communication they often have some fantastical idea of me holding court around a small group of bookish, eager and able students) that I use the phrase "confidence-building" a lot. And yes, when I think about it, I spend a lot of time encouraging and supporting students who often have low self-esteem. Of course, my degree or, to be honest, my PGCE, didn't provide me with any in-depth training in this. Like a lot of what we do in FE, it seems to be something what we pick up along the way.
So, yes, confidence and well-being are, without doubt, important (would we argue otherwise?). What I'd like to know more about is how, on a very practical level, we can work on these skills with students in a more structured, conscious and, of course, meaningful way.
What would a confidence and well-being programme of study look like? Would there even be a programme of study? What kind of activities would it involve? Would it be integrated across all points of delivery (this seems, at a gut level, to make sense)? Or would it be a stand-alone programme? What CPD do we need to take this forward if we want to?
These questions may all have been dealt with at the meeting, but the blog might be a good place to archive folk's ideas by replying to my entry by clicking on "comment" below.
Here's the link that Karen provided: http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTM4
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Retention and achievement - meeting 5th November 2008
EDDG Meeting 5/11/08 - Review
Alma gave us an overview of FERRN and gave examples of the different types of research currently happening in FE. If anyone is interested in being involved in some small scale research, or want to know more about FERRN they can contact Alma.
The focus of this discussion was on the research collated by Paul Martinez “Improving student retention and achievement”: http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/lsda_report.pdf
There was a great deal of discussion around the different reasons that students left courses or didn’t achieve awards. We discussed the issues around how we measure success and the difficulties inherent in the business culture of education. See previous EDDG meeting review for further information on this issue.
Some of the key issues relating to retention and motivation were:
Recruitment: were students on the right courses , and were their individual learning needs being identified early enough ?
Induction: this can be too much about giving information rather than focussing on building positive relationships with and between students.
Group dynamics: is enough attention given to building a positive group environment where students feel valued, not just by the lecturer, but by each other. The role of blogs and wikis could be really useful here as they help students reflect and engage in shared problem solving.
Time-tabling and rooming: these organisational issues, at times, seem to dominate the learning and teaching and course delivery. Without a doubt these are difficult to organise but can there be ‘creative time-tabling ‘ . perhaps APs and Heads could share the different ways they do this.
Students (not all) seem to have a preference for project style learning which presents an opportunity and a challenge for learning and teaching. This is an area that we could take forward in learning and teaching days.
Reflecting on how we teach and ensuring that it engages students, acknowledging their life experience, abilities and their desire to be active participants in their own learning.
Ideas to take forward include:
Learning and Teaching days : ask all teaching staff what they would like to learn more about . Ensure that the workshops on these days are as interactive as possible .
Ask teaching staff to volunteer to run workshops . Everyone agreed that previously these had been the most successful, and this helps with developing a culture of sharing good practice.
Organise workshops on using wikis
Share Induction resources and programmes .
The next meeting of EDDG is on the 10th December @ 12.15 – 1.15 pm , in room 810 . There will be tea and coffee, and maybe even mince pies !
The discussion will be focussed around mind sets and developing confidence, and we will be hearing from those who attended the FERRN seminars on confidence building on the 5th December. If you haven’t had a chance to look at the research around these areas try this link:
http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTU4
If you want to discuss any issues relating to learning and teaching or have ideas for workshops / sharing of good practice please contact me .
Karen Lawson
Teacher Fellow
4682/3821
klawson@stevnson.ac.uk
Alma gave us an overview of FERRN and gave examples of the different types of research currently happening in FE. If anyone is interested in being involved in some small scale research, or want to know more about FERRN they can contact Alma.
The focus of this discussion was on the research collated by Paul Martinez “Improving student retention and achievement”: http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/lsda_report.pdf
There was a great deal of discussion around the different reasons that students left courses or didn’t achieve awards. We discussed the issues around how we measure success and the difficulties inherent in the business culture of education. See previous EDDG meeting review for further information on this issue.
Some of the key issues relating to retention and motivation were:
Recruitment: were students on the right courses , and were their individual learning needs being identified early enough ?
Induction: this can be too much about giving information rather than focussing on building positive relationships with and between students.
Group dynamics: is enough attention given to building a positive group environment where students feel valued, not just by the lecturer, but by each other. The role of blogs and wikis could be really useful here as they help students reflect and engage in shared problem solving.
Time-tabling and rooming: these organisational issues, at times, seem to dominate the learning and teaching and course delivery. Without a doubt these are difficult to organise but can there be ‘creative time-tabling ‘ . perhaps APs and Heads could share the different ways they do this.
Students (not all) seem to have a preference for project style learning which presents an opportunity and a challenge for learning and teaching. This is an area that we could take forward in learning and teaching days.
Reflecting on how we teach and ensuring that it engages students, acknowledging their life experience, abilities and their desire to be active participants in their own learning.
Ideas to take forward include:
Learning and Teaching days : ask all teaching staff what they would like to learn more about . Ensure that the workshops on these days are as interactive as possible .
Ask teaching staff to volunteer to run workshops . Everyone agreed that previously these had been the most successful, and this helps with developing a culture of sharing good practice.
Organise workshops on using wikis
Share Induction resources and programmes .
The next meeting of EDDG is on the 10th December @ 12.15 – 1.15 pm , in room 810 . There will be tea and coffee, and maybe even mince pies !
The discussion will be focussed around mind sets and developing confidence, and we will be hearing from those who attended the FERRN seminars on confidence building on the 5th December. If you haven’t had a chance to look at the research around these areas try this link:
http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTU4
If you want to discuss any issues relating to learning and teaching or have ideas for workshops / sharing of good practice please contact me .
Karen Lawson
Teacher Fellow
4682/3821
klawson@stevnson.ac.uk
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Next meeting : just a reminder
Hi all, hope you all have done your homework :)
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 5th November @ 12.15 in 810, and there will be coffee, tea & biscuits, but feel free to bring your lunch. If you can't make the meeting why don't you share your thoughts here . karen
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 5th November @ 12.15 in 810, and there will be coffee, tea & biscuits, but feel free to bring your lunch. If you can't make the meeting why don't you share your thoughts here . karen
Friday, October 10, 2008
Topic for next EDDG meeting
I know all of you be thinking about reading material for the October break , so with that in mind can I suggest we read "Improving Student Retention and Achievement" by Paul Martinez: http://mail.stevenson.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/lsda_report.pdf This seems highly relevant given the problems we have around student retention from November onwards. It’s a good summary of research and I think will stimulate a good discussion around ideas for improving retention.
I’m not sure if anyone has had a chance to follow the links on Mindset, confidence and wellbeing : http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTU4. I think this is an area that we could explore at a future meeting, especially as Carol Craig is speaking at a FERRN event on December 5th at Cardonald College. It may be worth some of us going to this and feeding back to the group.
The next EDDG meeting is November 5th @ 12.15- 1.15 in room 810 (bring your lunch) . I hope to see you there, but meanwhile any thoughts and suggestion let me know.
Karen
I’m not sure if anyone has had a chance to follow the links on Mindset, confidence and wellbeing : http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/projects.php?p=cGlkPTU4. I think this is an area that we could explore at a future meeting, especially as Carol Craig is speaking at a FERRN event on December 5th at Cardonald College. It may be worth some of us going to this and feeding back to the group.
The next EDDG meeting is November 5th @ 12.15- 1.15 in room 810 (bring your lunch) . I hope to see you there, but meanwhile any thoughts and suggestion let me know.
Karen
First meeting of EDDG - 19 Sep 2008
Thanks to all who attended the first discussion group, and to those who contributed by e-mail. There was a great deal of lively debate and some very thought provoking issues raised. Hopefully we can organise to take some of these issues further through our staff teams, faculty meetings, learning and teaching workshops, and Quality days.
Our first discussion was based on Frank Coffield’s article ‘Just Supposing Teaching and Learning Became the First Priority’.
The 3 key questions nominated for discussion at the meeting were:
· is teaching and learning a first priority within this College?;
· do you or you colleagues have a definition or theory of learning that you use to influence your teaching;
· How relevant to your work are the 10 principles of effective teaching and learning identified by Frank Coffield in “Just suppose teaching and learning became the first priority…”
It’s not my intention to summarise the entire discussion but list some of the issues and action points.
Overwhelmingly teaching and learning or ‘learning and teaching’ was considered as a priority by individual lecturers/ tutors but was often felt not to be a priority within the college. It was accepted that this wasn’t necessarily through deliberate design by the college management but the outcome of a business model of education. This tension had been explored in a lecture given by Mark Murphy from Stirling University a few years ago, and Karen agreed to see if there was a record of this.
Our first discussion was based on Frank Coffield’s article ‘Just Supposing Teaching and Learning Became the First Priority’.
The 3 key questions nominated for discussion at the meeting were:
· is teaching and learning a first priority within this College?;
· do you or you colleagues have a definition or theory of learning that you use to influence your teaching;
· How relevant to your work are the 10 principles of effective teaching and learning identified by Frank Coffield in “Just suppose teaching and learning became the first priority…”
It’s not my intention to summarise the entire discussion but list some of the issues and action points.
Overwhelmingly teaching and learning or ‘learning and teaching’ was considered as a priority by individual lecturers/ tutors but was often felt not to be a priority within the college. It was accepted that this wasn’t necessarily through deliberate design by the college management but the outcome of a business model of education. This tension had been explored in a lecture given by Mark Murphy from Stirling University a few years ago, and Karen agreed to see if there was a record of this.
It was suggested that if Associate Principals did a small amount of teaching this would help in keeping learning and teaching as the focus of college activity. The AP present at the meeting was in agreement with this suggestion.
Discussions focussed on:
Why retention was so poor after the first 9 weeks. We need to consider whether there are issues around appropriate selection for courses, and finding out why students leave. It’s also important to ascertain the benefits students have gained from their time at college.
How to help students develop reflective learning as well as being self-directed in their learning. It was agreed to that a workshop could focus on this. Karen to organise this.
The importance of students feeling valued by lecturers (and others). It was suggested that we look at Paul Martinez research focussing students’ experience in further education. There are several interesting articles written by Paul Martinez but the following may be a good starting point : http://www.ulster.ac.uk/star/resources/lsda_report.pdf
Alan McLean’s work on students and motivation. Could look at his work or invite him to a meeting/workshop. Andree do you have info on this?
How do we get feedback from students ? Some issues around objective and subjective criticism which would be good to explore in further detail. This will be developed in a workshop. Karen to organise.
How do we give feedback? Discussion around ‘assessment is for learning’. Karen to organise a workshop, possibly in conjunction with SFEU (Scotland’s Colleges).
Research: Alma gave about a paper about FERN and will discuss the role of FERN at the next meeting.
Discussed some of the 10 principles of effective teaching but agreed that this would be good to discuss in team meetings, faculties or on a learning and teaching development day.
There was general agreement that teams did discuss different teaching strategies, but perhaps we didn’t all have a clearly defined theory of learning which we quoted on a daily basis! This could be developed in teams.
Next Meeting: Wednesday 5th November in room 810 @12.15. Please bring your lunch including coffee/tea etc. I’ll bring the chocolates!
Karen Lawson
Bibliography
COFFIELD, F. (2008). Just suppose teaching and learning became the first priority. London, Learning and Skills Network. https://www.lsneducation.org.uk/user/login.aspx?code=080052&P=080052PD&action=pdfdl&src=WEBG
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