Overlooked Fragments of Knowledge and Understanding
In the realm of engaged learning, one concept stands out: making learning visible. This concept revolves around identifying and highlighting “thin slices” of student learning. These slices represent the subtle, often overlooked fragments of knowledge and understanding that students acquire along the way. By bringing these moments to the forefront, educators can bridge the gap between novice and expert, fostering a deeper connection and understanding of their students’ educational journey.
The Value of Thin Slices in Learning
Thin slices of learning are those brief, insightful moments that occur during the learning process. They are easy to miss if not actively sought out, yet they hold immense value in understanding how students progress from beginners to proficient learners. Recognizing these moments allows educators to meet students in the “intermediate space” – a crucial phase in their development of expertise.
Embracing Formative Assessment
Formative assessment plays a critical role in making learning visible. By keeping the stakes low, students are encouraged to participate, take risks, and embrace the learning process, even when their ideas are not yet fully formed. This approach allows for growth, where a half-formed thought today can evolve into a well-articulated argument tomorrow.
Clarity and Purpose in Learning Goals
Educators must be clear about what they want their students to learn. Identifying and articulating these goals is the first step in making learning visible. From there, educators can devise strategies and activities that illuminate the learning process, tailoring their approach to address areas where students commonly struggle.
Leveraging Technology
Technology offers unprecedented opportunities to capture and analyze student thinking in real-time. By exploring technological tools, educators can gain insights into student perspectives and misconceptions that might otherwise remain hidden. This real-time capture of student thought processes allows for a more dynamic and responsive educational experience.
Fostering a Safe Environment for Risk-Taking
For students to openly share their challenges and misconceptions, they must feel safe to expose their incomplete or incorrect understanding. Encouraging this openness involves setting up an environment where effort is acknowledged, and the focus is on growth rather than perfection. Light grading or effort-based evaluation can significantly contribute to this environment, encouraging students to engage deeply without fear of penalty.
Agile Teaching: Responding to Student Needs
Agile teaching is about using insights gained from formative assessments to inform and adjust teaching strategies. This flexible approach allows educators to refine their teaching methods in real-time, ensuring that instructional activities are genuinely effective and responsive to student needs.
The Power of Open-Ended Prompts
Open-ended prompts challenge students to think deeply and express their understanding in nuanced ways. Such prompts are invaluable for uncovering aspects of student learning that might remain concealed within more structured assessment formats. However, when time or resources are limited, even structured prompts like multiple-choice questions can provide valuable insights into student thinking patterns.
Diversifying Media
Exploring different media and formats can reveal varied aspects of student learning. Moving beyond traditional text-based responses allows students to express their understanding in diverse ways, offering educators a broader view of their learning process.
Technologies and Strategies for Large Classes
In larger classes, individualized attention becomes challenging. However, through the use of technologies that aggregate and analyze student responses, educators can still make learning visible on a grand scale. Sharing these aggregated insights with students not only makes learning visible to the educator but also to the students themselves, fostering a culture of self-reflection and peer learning.
References
Bruff, D. (2019). Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching. West Virginia University Press.
