OST -- classroom or learning space?

J. Richardson judir at accesswave.ca
Tue Jul 9 18:52:09 PDT 2002


Hello Michael and all...

Wow, I was away for the day and I see several of people have already
answered this email! <grin>  what a treat.  My grown sons and their
girlfriends accompanied me in attending a marvelous zoo.  Animals from many
parts of the world in a country setting where we could walk with many of
them.  I shall speak to your questions on OST in the classroom and answer
the others later.  I will outline what happened in these classes and I'm not
sure how long it will turn out as I'm playing with this as we go.

Michael, part of my using OST in the classroom at a local college speaks to
your question on intention.  As I have explored transformational teaching
over the 12 years I was with a local College, I found many kindred spirits
in the literature.  I have never aspired to be a "talking-head", and spend
many hours lecturing away.  I have always searched far and wide for
participatory techniques and student-centered or discovery learning -- even
resisting the "teachable moment" knowing that students would discover it
themselves.  It is part of my endeavoring to create learning spaces, even
out of traditional classroom spaces.

I found a course on my list of subjects to teach that had always been taught
by lecture -- Business Law.  So, I spoke to students at the beginning of the
semester about doing things differently.  During their first 80 minute class
I facilitated an OST on "Success in your chosen field of study".  Many
topics were generated, forms of behavior discussed, sharing of resources
offered, and books of proceedings handed to each student.  They enjoyed the
process and I sat in my office thinking -- well, why not the whole semester?
Wondering how I'd fit student outcomes in, evaluation, etc.  I was also very
aware that although I had a need to create this space, most students in this
class came up through a very traditional model -- the banking system of
schooling where the teacher makes deposits of knowledge and students then
feed it back on a test.  I made it very clear in the beginning that if this
process did not work, we would make changes -- attempting to meet the needs
of the whole.

So, the next class we went through resources needed for the semester, I
offered handouts, textbooks were distributed.  Homework was to read the
first chapter.  The textbook being used for this course was extremely thick,
so to focus the reading students completed a multiple-choice quiz while they
read.  I also asked every student to find 3 things that interested them in
their reading and jot down a quick question about them.

Next class I facilitated in OST.  The theme was the particular chapter we
were exploring.  The sponsor was the established curriculum.  The givens
were our time limit, the resources in the room, meeting outcomes, a
guarantee to attempt to bring in any resources requested. (A few times
students requested a guest speaker on a topic, and if I could find one --
they came in.)

Students would often use one of their three questions posted as an agenda
item.  There were also often items such as "pub crawl on Friday", "can I get
a ride to the Mall", "who makes the food in the cafeteria"!!  The next
challenge for me as to come up with a way to make sure the objectives were
met as that was part of my job as a classroom manager.  So as students were
making their way through a 45 minute session -- complete with butterflies
and bumblebees -- I wrote the objectives on the board at one end.  I then
wrote the agenda items that were being discussed on the other end.  I would
take a chair and sit facing the board making notes on how I could assist in
making the connections.  This was both exciting and challenging -- I had to
be very prepared in the material we were covering to serve students in
making these connections.  And, yes, there were times when I took a few
minutes to explain a concept -- not in any way like a traditional lecture
though.

In addition to passing reports in, we used the last 30 minutes for students
to give reports on their discussions.  Although this is not traditional OST
process, it served to satisfy the requirements of all outcomes being
discussed and explained.  Occasionally one or two outcomes were missed.
Well, the next class, working on the same chapter, we used case law.  Once
again, not traditional OST, however, at the end of the chapter there were 7
or 8 case examples given.  This time students would post the agenda from the
list of cases or ones that they made up (around chapter contents most of the
time!).  They then chose which case they wanted to work on, moved to
break-out spaces -- sometimes in the library, cafeteria, outside, etc.  At
the end of class we had spirited discussions as they were the judges
deciding on their cases.  One given for the case law was that applicable law
discussed in the chapter be applied.

So far as to evaluation, I have collected the quizzes filled out while doing
their initial reading, and the case law.  As more evaluation was required,
students also completed a test at the end of each chapter -- rather than
lengthy exams.  And at the beginning of the semester, I offered 4 examples
of evaluation, asked students for suggestions and they voted with sticky
dots on this system of evaluation.

I asked students to fill out a learning narrative at the end of the
semester.  Those students who had planned on attending the class just for
the tests found themselves at a disadvantage.  The bulk of material on tests
was what had been discussed in class -- and we never knew where that might
lead!  In comparison to other years, the marks were higher.  Those students
whose attendance was sporadic did not pass.  Some students were very
disappointed that I was not at the front of the class telling them exactly
what was important from the chapter and having them feed it back to me on a
test or exam.  Some even saw this as a lack of commitment on my part -- they
did all the work!

It was an interesting challenge taking on both facilitating and then moving
back into teaching -- and as I was also facilitating OST in organizations on
a part-time basis, I found this a challenge.  It was my responsibility to
see that an established curriculum using an established textbook was
delivered.  I can honestly say that each and every outcome was discussed --
some in more depth than others.  Each student left with a book of
proceedings on topics of law applicable to their area.  As this was a
business law course for paralegals, marketing and accounting students -- an
awareness of the law and how it is applied was the ultimate outcome.

Oh -- and the law of mobility -- yeah, some left and didn't come back.  And
I can see ways to coast through this with minimal effort and get an okay
mark at the end.  That was upsetting to some students who worked very hard.
I also saw that happen in many traditional classroom settings.

For the most part students were impressed at how much they learned, how much
they generated on their own, how they could ask for a guest speaker and I'd
do my best to deliver, how informal and fun learning can be.

Hope this is of interest!

Cheers

Judi

Judith Richardson
Pono Consultants International
Facilitating the Flow of Inspired Collaboration
www.ponoconsultants.com
902-435-0308

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