The Knot - Part 2
This is a two-part article based on a wonderful conversation with Dr. Christine Looser.
Dr. Christine Looser is a behavioral scientist at Minerva University. She spends her professional life teaching & studying active learning, social connections, perception, and business.
Christine moved from heading the Business College at Minerva University to working with other educational institutions to transform their learning programs
Minerva University was founded to reinvent the university experience and nurture critical thinking for a complex world. Minerva Project now partners with other universities to help them innovate.
Read Part 1 here.
There are certain parts to a really great learning experience:
Purpose of the experience
Design of the learning
Content & information
Tools that support the learning & content
Let’s dive into each one and explore how Minerva is creating this experience at scale.
Active Learning & Motivation
Christine anchors her pedagogy in Self Determination Theory and Active Learning.
Self Determination Theory posits that motivation is a function of Autonomy, Competence, and Connectedness
Active Learning is learning through experience, through doing.
At our core, humans need to make our own decisions. We need to feel capable and effective in our decision-making. We need to feel like we belong.
Designing with SDT and Active Learning: Imagine an educator who wants learners to practice the skill of research writing. The teacher provides reasoning, resources, and structure to an assignment (like deadline, requirements, etc). Students choose their own topic to research, work in groups to receive feedback from their peers, and put together a presentation for the whole class.
In this, we find autonomous decision-making when students can make their own choices, competence as the educator provides resources and structure, and connectedness to small and larger groups. Motivation. Learning by doing.
Christine points out that all of this is hard. Participants find Active Learning to be intellectually and emotionally uncomfortable. There’s a high degree of subjectivity from participants- they believe they learned less than they actually did.
She nods to the importance of transparency here. Connecting activities back to the purpose of learning, or sharing the reason why something is happening, helps participants understand that discomfort is an important part of the learning process.
In a community, we leverage social connections to decrease the discomfort. When there’s a broader purpose that’s bigger than the self, like a shared responsibility for other people’s learning, people contribute and engage more authentically.
(See my article on authentic participation here)
When we design learning experiences with Active Learning and SDT at the center, we’re creating a new purpose for learning.
Tugging at the Threads
Minerva University has found an edge. They’re pioneering developments in active learning at scale, specifically rethinking the design of learning outcomes and tools. Untangling.
A Clear Purpose & Content: Minerva focuses on four core competencies throughout a student’s academic journey. Competencies are broken down into Habits of Mind and Foundational Concepts.
From there, each course educates toward the competencies through Habits of Mind and Foundational Concepts, with an emphasis on SDT and Active Learning.
When we have a purpose (competencies) that is grounded in content (Habits of Mind & Foundational Concepts), a shared language emerges.
Shared language & ideas create sticky actions and culture. A shared language eases the ability to collaborate as it breaks down individual perceptions, giving the entire community an awareness of each other and the larger world.
Competencies become multi-dimensional, Christine describes, where there is a fluid representation of how they show up in new ways. Each context in which competency is taught becomes another dimension. Students root their new knowledge in their existing understanding, cementing relevance.
Supportive Tools: The tools in which this learning happens are vital. As discussed in Part 1, the tools for which this kind of learning happens must cater to the purpose.
Minerva classes are virtual and synchronous. Their LMS is designed for engagement, to foster this culture of active learning.
Their LMS platform is designed to measure the amount that the Professor is speaking, compared with students. It collects engagement data on students, allows students to participate freely and Professors are able to see, in real-time, the participation happening.
When tools are built specifically to meet the needs of educators toward the learning purpose, there is untangling. It takes the responsibility of tracking metrics by hand off of the educator, gifting time back.
Pulling on Threads = Clear Purpose + Supportive Tools + Engaging Design (Active Learning + Self Determination Theory)