How do we want to learn? -
From the EDU-INNOVATION-Team in the Netherlands
Rick,
Sofia, Bart, Amber, Noah, Julia and Paulien, all 17 years old, form the
EDU-INNOVATION- Team at Ashram College in Alpen aan den Rijn in the
Netherlands. You might recognize Sofia, Bart, Amber, Paulien and Noah from the
eduScrum-Keynote we saw at the Scrum Day 2016 in Stuttgart.
The students asked their classmates and themselves the question: How do we actually want to learn?From
the answers, their own experiences and with a little bit of coaching by Willy
Wijnands from eduScrum they developed an emergent book. This is a short
impression of it:
„Do you remember? Sitting in always the same lessons,
having to listen for hours and almost falling asleep? There has to be a
different kind of lesson! There are so many ways to change education.
At the moment, the teacher determines the What (which is ok) but also how
we are supposed to learn. This has to be different.
What if we switched the roles and
students would be in charge of preparing and giving classes?
We want to decide how we
would like to learn!
The seven of us,
Rick, Sofia, Bart, Amber, Noah, Julia and Paulien wrote down together how students want to learn. We would
actually like to learn in a different manner. That the teacher gives us a nice
and interesting assignment that has something to do with the subject and that we can choose how to work on that assignment. We want a different kind of lesson.
A more innovative and creative type of class.
We think that
this is the best base for students to imagine and also build even more
creative, innovative and better and more beautiful products. At the end of the
day we hope that we can contribute to a lot of creative, fancy and innovative
classes for both, students and teachers.
To give more body to our concern, we did
a survey among about 250 of Willys students.
We
asked ourselves and the others the question: How do we want to learn, and what
do we need to learn differently?“
Some of the
answers are collected right here:
HOW DO YOU WANT TO LEARN AND WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THAT?
•
I prefer to learn in groups.
•
Flexibility in my planning and
what concerns homework.
•
Only short blocks of teaching,
not all of the theory at a time.
•
More practical examples.
•
It is good to have a goal to
achieve and points that you have to finish on your journey, so that you can plan for yourself with the group you
are sitting in.
•
To
work freely with the support and incentive of somebody
to keep you busy in a good manner.
•
Explanation at a point when you
really need it.
•
I want to choose by myself what
I want to learn instead of having to do things I already know. That bores me.
•
Time
to work on my own during class.
•
To
be allowed to use the internet during the lessons to
look up some things.
•
Learning by doing a practical
assignment that does make sense to me.
•
I would like to get good
assignments instead of being bored with always the same tasks.
•
To
work together in a group, so that I can ask my group
questions if I don't understand things.
•
To
actually work with a book so that I can really write
things down.
•
10-15 mins of teaching, the
rest of the time we want to work quietly and on our own, the teacher has to
take care of that.
Three of the answers sum up what the
students think:
„Is is not so hard to make better education. We want to see the
benefit of our work, we want to know why we
have to learn certain things. The How we
want to determine by ourselves. What we
have to do we want to hear from the teacher and maybe talk with him or her if
something is not clear.
Students want to know why they have to learn something. Of the
teacher they expect to make clear
what there is to learn.
When both is transparent we want to
decide how to do it.
Give
us a clear assignment and let us try in our own way within the borders of your
demands. Be there for us if we need explanation. Give us more room and
freedom!“
