One of the most constructivist parts of the ADL program for me was Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE). While exploring my voice and claiming ownership of my innovation ideas, I considered ways learners develop the skills needed for lifelong learning. While considering how to impact my learners, I found myself changed through so many new experiences.
This transformative course is packed full of informational content. Throughout the course, we lived a New Culture of Learning while considering the power of the collective and our ubiquitously connected learners. Our learning facilitator was an incredibly impactful component of the CSLE course. Dr. Grogan has perfected class discussion and engagement into an art form. After our first class call, I blogged about being inspired to start a Learning Revolution. She set the pace for the class call conversations by keeping class members on task with a class discussion timeline that would allow us to be successful. Dr. Grogan inspired me to be a skilled learning facilitator. Many evenings, class calls would continue with a small group of engaged members. Dr. Grogan made it safe to be vulnerable in our learning journey. She celebrated our victories with us and helped to collaborate on professional opportunities before us beyond just class content.
To revolutionize learning, one must be in touch with their Learning Philosophy. I found myself in a quandary while considering what I was while studying undergraduate psychology. I evaluated my role as an advisor and what am I to my advisees. Through research on each learning philosophy, I desperately searched to identify which learning theory would fit my evolving ideas. Here, I was looking for a way to define my beliefs about learning, and in turn, I was studying the history of beliefs about learning. Through personal reflection and consideration, I described Humanism and Constructivism as the closest to my learning philosophy alignment.
One of the most impactful parts of the challenge to CSLE was finding ways to shift learners from collecting the dots to connecting the dots. Cultivating learning through a CSLE could make advising information relevant to skills needed to navigate life. As my CSLE experience unfolded, I knew it was time to embrace change and propose new ways to reach learners.
I was learning about, creating, and evaluating something similar to lesson planning. Unlike many K-12 educators in my cohort, I was living COVA + CSLE by figuring out how to do things I had never done before. I knew nothing about Aligning Outcomes Assessments and Activities or making 3-Column Tables and UbD Templates. Never in my life had I considered how advising opportunities could promote learning.
I want to utilize the COVA approach to create a significant learning environment like the one Dr. Grogan created for us. I want to create a place that empowers my learners with choice, ownership, voice, and authentic learning opportunities while giving them safe guidance as they make meaning out of their learning experience, career goals, and personal interests. Thanks to the CSLE I experienced, I was able to
- Evaluate Situational Factors
- Formulate Significant Learning Goals
- Learn about outcomes, activities, and assessments
The power of the Collective, outlined in the The New Culture of Learning, is evident in my experience. The cohort members from this course are those with whom I share some of the strongest learning bonds. This course and our facilitator illuminated the opportunity we had before us. A powerful example of the impact of our learning community was during the California wildfires. Dr. Grogan lost internet connection, so our class just started a Zoom session and carried on with the hour-long class meeting. Talk about extreme ownership of the learning opportunity we were undergoing. All at once, we recognized and embraced that we were truly living in a significant learning environment. Through a CSLE, we were now applying our learning in real time with our innovative ideas. Through synchronous meetings, asynchronous chats, and various collaborations, we all shared our thoughts and ideas. The collective openly shared project work for feed-forward and commentary. We were living COVA + CSLE. The trusted relationships we formed in our learning community, and collective solidified my belief that an innovation to advising could extend and fortify the advisor-advisee relationship.
Incorporating aspects of community and peer relationships can also help learners create meaning while processing their college opportunities and experiences. My humanistic/constructivist idea about learning has only become stronger. The more I have learned about myself and the difference that advisors can make in the lives of our learners and each other, the more I am convinced that my innovation ideas can humanize relationships.
References
Dwayne Harapnuik. (2015, May 9). Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (1st ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
The Advisor That Cares 