Sharing is the new teaching

Mr. Diaz, a professor at TechSun University, has been teaching programming and other disciplines on a computer science program for over 10 years.

For the last couple years Mr. Diaz has seen a decrease in numbers of students attending his programming classes. The absence of students in his classes is not a big deal for him, since these students remain enrolled and doing tests, but it is something that does annoy him.

Mr. Diaz plans his classes beforehand, preparing insightful slides. He looks for the latest information in the programming world to show students. Sometimes, he asks students to work in teams, programming to create software for requirements created by him. He even created a webpage on his website where students could ask him questions about programming, extending the classroom.

Despite all this, Mr. Diaz has noticed a decrease in questions on his website and, conversely, an increase in the quality of software developed by students. Most notably, these students, who are not attending classes, are obtaining the best grades on tests. So weird!

Mr. Diaz thinks students maybe are taking extra classes from someone else, or they are cheating on tests, or they are studying hard by themselves (what???).

Mr. Diaz realised that he never asked his students what would make them comfortable in the classroom so he decides to talk directly with some students to figure out what is going on.

An investigation on learning

The first clue comes from a student that used to ask lots of questions on Mr. Diaz’s website. She says to Mr. Diaz that she found some websites with many tips on programming. She also says she is chatting with other students and professionals on some online forums and channels where she got lots of tips, suggestions and answers to her doubts and questions, in a faster and better way than Mr. Diaz’s website.

Another student says he is learning how to code software using experimentation and exploration approaches that he learned from videos on the internet. He tries to code something and when he gets an error, he copies the error message and google it, looking for what that meant and what to do to put it right. Besides that, he and his classmates code together, sharing what they learn while coding.

Mr. Diaz is amazed, relieved and stuck. He now realises that his students are very clever and what they are doing is not as he’d previously thought. However, he doesn’t know what to do to solve a question that now is bothering him, “What can I do to get my students involved in my programming classes?”

Changes on 21st century learning

Well, this is a fictional story but it’s based on real stories from the book; New Culture of Learning. However, it can be a reality pushing changes in education systems. Today, the internet provides a huge and growing range of information at low cost and easy access. It’s enabling people to learn by themselves, by the pace they want, and in a close relationship with reality and day-by-day practice. As stated in the book How Creative Workers Learn, there is no more a dependence of learning on the existence and availability of knowledge carriers. Also, there is no need for space and time for learning to happen. Although there are changes happening, these are insufficient to unleash the learning potential in the dynamic of 21st century. For that, a new system based on principles and a learning flow, these associated with practices and supported by tools, can offer a better learning experience.

So, what can Mr. Diaz do by facing this scenario?

First of all, he shouldn’t stop anything which his students are doing. Second, he can facilitate their learning in order to improve what they are doing.

The big change for him is to recognise the facts. He is not the protagonist of their learning anymore. Also, he should recognise they learn more and better from their network and by sharing among themselves.

Not being a protagonist of their learning does not mean that they don’t need Mr Diaz. Of course they need him. Mr. Diaz can help them to learn in the real world, for example using real requirements for software from real organisations in partnership with the University. Besides that, he can add connections to network students, bringing in people with ideas and experience to help them. He can also curate good content or give them good references of content — it can save them time and effort in finding good information. However, It should neither pushed by Mr. Diaz nor expected by students. Mr. Diaz should delegate to them the autonomy and accountability to learn what they need and how they want, letting them be the protagonists of their learning.

By learning from their network and by sharing means they are using their network to learn from each other. What a student knows can easily be shared with others almost instantly on the internet. Mr. Diaz can use tools and practices to show them there are no unimportant experiences or ideas too outrageous, and most importantly, there is no individual knowledge considered more important than another.

It will let students feel more comfortable to share and learn, at their own pace — in harmony with their brain.

Mr. Diaz can also help them visualize what they are learning. This way he can take them to fill their own gaps of learning by seeing what others have already learned and them, what knowledge they can offer to each other.

What about tests? Well… How can he measure how much a student learned from others? He won’t. How can he measure how good a student is at programming? Well, he can. But, if he decides to evaluate each student individually on this process of learning, how can he nurture collaboration and most importantly, sharing without harming the trust among them? It’s a team effort! Well, let’s take another post to discuss it.

The students can teach!

The process and product of learning are no longer prescribed by experts like Mr. Diaz, instead they are facilitated. Thus, the students can discover better ways to learn and what the best outcome is for what they want to achieve. Again, as well put in the book How Creative Workers Learn, learning emerges from the connection of stories, ideas and practices, and equal discussion through a problematised situation from the real world. Now, Mr. Diaz’s students can share even more and better. By sharing, they teach each other. Sharing is the new teaching!