Philippa Mallinson Mindlab reflections

Group collaborative reflection In our quick group collaboration we landed on a few ideas. We thought that task design is central to the success of the collaboration. It is not enough to say 'go collaborate' (particularly if the group is new to the concept, and used to individualised learning.). We think that the teacher needs to think about what they'd like the outcome to be. Is it to explore a concept initially? Is it to interrogate a problem or idea in depth? Is it to build trust social bonds in the class? In each circumstance the design should look a little different. Group size is also something to consider. We found that we ended up forming smaller groups within our group of 5. Perhaps 3 is the optimum, in terms of involving all in production. I think that if the goal is add depth to the learning, the task design will need to include think time for the group - possibly even taking time as individuals to make sense of the idea, skill etc before working

So if I think back to week 1 of Mindlab, a central question was 'what is the purpose of education'. Gert Biesta talks about the purposes of education and the three things education prepares a learner for. So while we are still concerned with the how, the why becomes very important. What am I preparing my students for? How will what I do within the confines of my classroom enable them to get there? Clearly, education is far more than the content of the curriculum. So the big question then becomes how do we prepare students to be connected able citizens of the world? How do we prepare students for a rapidly changing world? This is a massive question which is not going to be easily answerable in a pithy blog post. I suspect that I will continue to wrestle with this over the 32 weeks of this programme. I am thinking at the moment about 'how can I encourage community in my classes'. This goes for my face to face classes and my online class. I would really l

So what do I consider a good leader to be like? Leading and Following - Dance. In class video. A good leader is strong, they know their purpose and indicates to the group 'where' they are going. However, they are also adaptable. They know how to listen to the group and at times follow the feeling of the group. They do not exist separately from the group and must have the trust and faith of the group They make the group feel secure and listened to. A good leader also knows their own humanity, and is able to own their decisions: the good and the bad.

During the evening we were asked to brainstorm in a small group about two questions. - What is knowledge? - What is the purpose of education? We made a 3d model before and after a session on epistemology (empiricism and rationalism) and where we get our ideas about education from. We were then challenged to create a digital artefact to share with the Google Community. I suggested that we make a stop-motion using technology on our iPhones and then voice over the clips using Screencastify. In terms of leading and following, I felt that I had a lot to contribute when we were recording our stop-motion. As a group, we were good at listening to each other, including a variety of ideas and adapting the plan accordingly. I wonder if I could have sat back a little more with the creative side of things, to see what others had to contribute, as I took charge of the filming pretty quickly.