In this follow-on from the Part 1 blog, I want to pick up on the value proposition idea from the viewpoint of the project/course facilitator. If that’s you, what are the potential benefits of being involved with collaboratively worked and collaboratively assessed projects tackling wicked problems? I’m going to share what I think are three of the most important positive power and value outcomes.
You may well have other outcomes you think, or know from experience, are important and that I haven’t covered here. I’d love to know what you think, so don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts about what I could add to my list.
You get to USE and GROW knowledge from your other work experiences. It may have come from contexts quite different from those of the projects you are now helping to facilitate. There’s real satisfaction that comes from being able to take things learned in one context and share with learners how they can be useful in multiple other contexts. At the same time, the different ways in which learners react to what you’ve shared with them could spark ideas you might not have thought about otherwise. Those ideas then feed back into how you are using your knowledge to help learners solving problems on their projects, so it’s a self-reinforcing cycle of creativity and possibility. They also feed into your professional links to your own industry outside education, and to other industries you may be involved with through the range of projects you are facilitating. Lots of winners in this picture – classic positive leadership and management outcome.
It’s not about you giving knowledge – it’s about you sharing and co-creating knowledge. Giving knowledge is a simple, one-way transmission, and doesn’t necessarily involve a lot of interaction. It’s about direction and control more than it’s about collaboration. You may not get many clues as to how that knowledge has been received and understood – or acted on – until it comes time to assess a piece of work. Even if it’s not too late to rescue the effects of a poor performance in terms of where the learner needs to get to overall, that’s still putting extra pressure on that everybody could do without. Co-creating the knowledge with the learners, empowering and supporting them to help drive the process, is about more than simply delivering something that ticks a box on somebody’s checklist. It’s about collaboration being the tool that makes a positive learning experience that both facilitators and learners can draw on well into the future to inform their thinking and practices. Who you each become because of collaboration is more than you would likely become without collaboration.
You are helping grow the next generation of practical problem solvers. Collaboratively worked and assessed projects dealing with wicked problems are an effective way for learners to grow around the idea that projects aren’t just about learning the hard (technical) disciplines that go into solutions. They are also about practicing the soft (interpersonal) skills that are the difference between operating in a group or a team; and delivering effective problem or opportunity solutions. Acting as a coach and a mentor, you guide learners’ holistic development as problem solvers, decision-makers, and positive contributors to society. You know that your role is about more than “ticking the boxes”, and that not every worthwhile outcome is specified in the Learning Outcomes or Graduate Profile. Your enthusiasm, willingness to “go the extra mile”, “caring by example” – these are the things that mean you multiply your effectiveness through others (as all great leaders do). In my experience, there are few things more powerfully motivating than knowing the future will be in safe hands that you’ve had a role in training not in what to think, but in how to think
In my next blog I’m going to address the elephant in this particular room – the reasons why some people aren’t in favour of collaborative projects, or at least not as a major component of assessment within a particular course or qualification. They are all ones that I’ve had to address in my own practice, so I’m well used to making sure that these particular barriers have as little impact as possible on positive and wicked learning being able to take place.
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Rob Nelson Education 