DAY 2 – Case 1, 300610

KNOWLEDGE MAPPING IN THE CASE GROUPS (10:15-11:45)

The session started by CL welcoming the new group members and asking them to introduce themselves with a describing animal and interests:

1) Nikitas Kastis: camel/innovation in learning systems

2) Tanja Harju: platypus/integration and wellbeing of people and communities with immigrant backgrounds in Finnish society

3) Paula Savola: bird/Olari school student

4) Kaisa Vähähyyppä: hedgehog/ informal learning, ICT

5) Krista Petäjäjärvi: (new observer). Observer viewpoint: creative working group. Would like to give creative methods/tools and suggestions.

CL suggests observer to participate the group discussion if she wishes: “I don’t want to say what we need to do, we should all come up with ideas”.

Guinea pig: “We should also go through different stages during the process in the groups, what Markku was talking about yesterday”.

CL: “Yesterday we kind of covered level zero and one. We can go step by step each day.”Any questions?”, “ Anyone have an idea how we can make the work more explicit?”

Hedgehog: ”We could think about our competencies as skills and list them.”

Sloth: “I don’t want to be the CO. I felt very uncomfortable yesterday. The real owner is WSOYPro Ltd.”

Discussion who is the CO. Group concluded that the group will be following the given objectives as much as possible without the CO in place.

Chameleon: “We will meet the CO at the case visit”

Guinea pig: “Can we do a recap of yesterday?”

Case Recorder (CR) goes through the 3 main points the group chose yesterday.

Sloth: “What did we mean by blended learning?”

CL: “Informal, formal and non-formal learning and how we blend them together”, “ I was impressed by the expression of passion based learning and will take it home”

Hedgehog:”How can we combine all learning and education? Working life doesn’t meet the education before leaving the school. There should be some cooperation before that. I would like to talk about ICT: how it gives better results and how it can motivate students better. It combines all the learning environment and has all the elements of lifelong learning”

Twitterbird: “Have you got any concrete examples?”

Hedgehog: “Social media. How we can use them in practice in our work and later on.”

Twitterbird: “So you can make a platform online, a complete action?”

CL: “Informal things are something I do at home. Non-formal things…”

Sloth: “I think they are the same things.”

Chameleon:”Driving a car is informal, member of a club non-formal.”

Sloth: “Is it necessary to have so many?”

Observer: “You shouldn’t get stuck. You could e.g. build a tree with the skills.”

Sloth: “Forget the trees.”

CL: “Let’s get going and write down one skill per postage.”

Group spend about 5 min writing down their skills and then started thinking how to collate them. CR suggested that a big sheet of paper was taped on the wall, drawn a tree and then postages stamped on it. This way the postages would stay on the paper and the whole thing would be easy to move if needed. Hedgehog started to draw a picture of a tree.

Guinea pig: “Should someone think about on which bit of the tree we put certain skills.”

CL:”Should everyone start putting their skills were they like.”

Putting down skills on the tree.

Guinea pig:” If Jenni could write down the skills so we have record of the skills and strengths.”

Observer: “You should at the same time start organizing them.”

Sloth: ”Im a practicing teacher, curriculum development, teacher trainer, planning of teach material, politics, economics, stomach ulcer…

Observer: “Maybe you could put all the teaching in one branch.”

CL: “I understand what Sloth is saying.”

Twitterbird: “Spirit to do something, network building, social media for the case, we can make a video and put it online and ask people what we could do or how to solve the problem.”

CL: “Before we move the postages would anyone else want to put their own?”

Camel: ”Making good friends and networking, thinking concepts, peer review.”

Bear: “How organizations can use ICT, marshall arts, teacher training, setting up learning objectives and curriculum design, how to use social media, innovative ways of teaching, finding innovative ways of teaching mathematics. Now maths is taught out of the context. How to create effective and innovative team.”

CL: “Maybe we just go through it all and then start organizing them.”

Lion: “Thai cooking, organizing international conferences, project management, networking.”

Platypus: “Human center, individualism, growth always happens in the interaction, communities learning is share, project design, communitarism, thinking people basic skills and needs.”

Hedgehog: “Graphic design, art pedagogy, design thinking, project management, teaching, leisure, sport club development, photograph, painting.”

CR: “Early Years, children and young people, lifelong learning, thinking and reasoning, emotion and cognition.”

Guinea pig: “Being a student, strength, biggest strengths systematic thinking, cynicism and realism, organizing.”

Bird: “New experiences, recent experience of school life, important to listen to younger students, art.”

CL: “A good listener, prefer to listen than talk, team worker and team player, competitive, organising, leader, pushing people forward, makes me happy to see people pushing, networking with many organizations, humor, making jokes, cooking.”

CL: “What do we think? How would we like to organize?”

PARTS OF THE SKILLS TREE

Roots – skills, personal skills, characteristics

trunk –

Branches - professional characteristics

Birds and flower - something we would like to share, but not necessary

Observer: “Maybe you could mark the most important one for you and at the same time organize them how you planned.”

CL: “I think we should not organize them as they are the way we have conceptualized them.”

Guinea pig:” I agree.”

Observer: “I’m challenging you because it would help you to conceptualize it all.”

Hedgehog: “We could next put birds as what we can do with these skills. Where we can fly with these skills.”

CL: “Maybe we can keep of the bird idea for a later and move on to the next task now.”

ACSI CASE FORCES IN OPERATION II (11:45-12:45)

Guinea pig: “We should take Markku’s steps. Identify the needs and potentials, what we are going to do this week and what is the main goal and how. What are we going to do and how.”

CL: “Yes you are right. It is difficult because the real owner is not here.”

CR: “But we have the objectives that the case owner has given. Maybe use Tarja’s idea of birds to help us all understand the aims and objectives. Can I just check the relationship with the schools and WSOYPro Ltd - publisher, schools - may buy their products, right? Ok.”

Bear: “We could think it more in a conceptual level, take away the Finnish context and elementary level. Need for teacher connection is everywhere. The case can be fulfilled applicable everywhere. New schooling.”

CL: “If we could come up with ideas on school of life and life as a schooling and combine all our ideas.”

Camel: “Would like to move to more rationalized discussion of evolution of this all. I was not here yesterday, but will get bored if this continues in such an abstract level. We need more rationalized structure. What are the experiences in life and skills.”

CL: “I don’t think this is in conflict with what we do.”

Sloth: “We should be a bit more concrete yes.”

Bear: “Passion to learn is missing, for schools system and teaching it is missing, getting bores with exams marking, we could try methodology, we have an artifact. So that we are not just sketching, we have learnt something. We need clear tasks.”

Sloth: “Can we use the life line to put down what things person should learn. What should a person learn in what stage and what a student should learn in each stage.”

CR: “Could we perhaps use the life line to develop material for the case owner?”

Bird: “But it is difficult to put the skills in one part of the line because a person may need one skill throughout life.”

Sloth gives a concrete example on a life line.

Observer: “You are getting good ideas now. You could divide in smaller groups to develop it further.”

CL: “For the exhibition we should come up with something related to school of life. Life itself can be our schooling process. Then we have fulfilled the aim. It is a metaphor.”

Bear: “We had the homework: items we should put on the line. My suggestion is that we put our suggestions on the wall or they will be lost.”

Camel: “This is a very vague metaphor. Learning is very much contextualized and dependent on experiences and groups. I suggest that in parallel we work on different things. We should end up defining it on personal basis. Maybe plan and conduct personal projects relating to this and follow it up for a year.”

CL: “Maybe start putting the lifeline there.”

Lion: “Should we make a video online that Twitter bird suggested?”

Platypus: “We could plan the questions and interview during the case visit.”

Chameleon: ”We could try to get through teachers some parents’ to interview as well.”

CR: “I can try to arrange parents from my nursery. We have planned to find a godfather company etc. children know their parents go to work for the day, but maybe not what happens at work or what kind of place it is.”

Some group members are writing and putting ideas on the time line, others thinking forward interviewing parents.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:

-how would the parents like their children to be taught with what kind of materials.

-do they see any possibilities combining working life and school

OBSERVER

“I saw good energy and things happening and you had already started with the case and had nice things going on. But I saw a problem of sitting and talking. For me innovation happens in a creative group. When we sit down it is hard to get energy level up. It closes down the energy level. Coming from the creative groups I saw you in action only twice. Then things were happening. I would be a bit allergic sitting down. Try to get up and find new ways of working. How can we crab this in a new way. Sitting down is what we always do. You could think: as a creative group member what kind of energy do I bring in this group? How can I give my maximum effort? What is stopping and hindering me? You are all very polite. Getting group together more. Who are we? After that you can bring yourself in more dangerous way, out of comfort zone. Be more out there. Use more smaller groups. Be alert to how you respond to other group members’ ideas; saying no or not saying anything is dangerous. No-one else can be in the group on behalf of you. This is what I need and want now. Use the young people because it is always a new angle. You need a structure at the beginning of what kind of things we need, what we need to crap so that we can move on and start acting. At the end of the group session you could have a moment to share how you feel now. Also I saw your goal is to present something on Monday. That may also hinder you. The goal needs to be forgotten sometimes so you can think over comfort limits. It is a long week so you have time to think. Apologies for the feedback, it is my role to provocate and shake you up.”

Bear: “When new people come in the dynamics change. We would have liked to have the same observer for the whole week. New people coming in and leaving the group all the time are a risk for the group dynamics. Another risk was that we were changed from one room to another. Large group size is affecting the group as well. The effective group I have worked previously have included seven people. The ACSI should develop so that we are not given any surprises for the group dynamics.”

Observer: “Make the core so strong that you are not affected by any disruptions.”

Storm: “I like that the observer changes. Too steady group can block the work and creativeness as well. Change is good in a way.”

Hedgehog: “I think it is important that someone disturbs the politeness. We should move away from this room and sophisticated way of working, e.g. into smaller tables. I appreciate that somebody comes in and recommends us a new way for working.”

Observer: “Please come and use me and the other drama instructor if you wish. We can come and give you new tools for working.”

ACSI CASE TASK FORCES IN OPERATION CONTINUES (13:45-14:20)

Planning the use of 35 min working:

13:45-14:05 Deciding on case visit workshop groups and questions

14:05-14:20 15 min for 3 main issues of the day

Getting in groups and thinking about questions for the visits.

Platypus: “Our timeline could be integrated with the skills tree. The ideas could be taken from there and think about connections.”

CL: “That is a good idea. The timeline has quite a lot about childhood, but not so much for the elderly.”

Platypus: “Maybe we could take our ideas with us and ask students’ and teachers their opinion.”

FLOW of ideas…

Time is running, only a few minutes left. Group members decide on which case visit workshops they want to attend. About 3 group members per workshop. Small groups get together and plan questions for the students and teachers for 5 min.

CR asks everyone to write down 3 main issues of the day and collect them on a flip chart. The group agrees on 3 main issues.

3 ISSUES OF THE DAY:

1) skills tree

2) lifeline/map of accomplishment

3) team work “acsi”on