Moments of movement: Active Learning and practice development
Introduction
Active Learning (Dewing, 2008, p. 273) is an approach for in-depth learning that draws on, creatively synthesizes and integrates numerous learning methods. It is based in and from personal work experience of practitioners. Being open to, engaging with and learning from personal experience are central activities in emancipatory and transformational practice development (PD) work and the purposes of PD; key to which is transforming workplace cultures and individuals. This paper contributes to this debate by focusing on the contribution of Active Learning and its possible outcomes. It will outline the fundamental principles and key aspects of Active Learning and then expand this further. Finally, some of the implications of Active Learning for facilitators of PD will be considered.
Practice development is a continuum encompassing a wide range of activities (Garbett and McCormack, 2002, McCormack et al., 1999, Page and Hammer, 2002, McSherry and Warr, 2006). A recent definition from the members of an International Practice Development Collaborative suggests PD
is a continuous process of developing person-centred cultures, enabled by facilitators. Learning brings about transformations of individual and team practices, sustained by embedding PD processes and outcomes in corporate strategy (McCormack et al., 2008, p. 9).
Thus learning is necessary for bringing about multiple types of transformations and also embedding learning in corporate strategy is ultimately necessary for the sustainability of PD within organisations. Most organisations would claim they are committed to developing learning in their organisation. Yet it is still common within UK health care organisations for this broad group of activities to be referred to as training (Clarke and Wilson, 2008, p. 108). Further, whilst not unusual to find teams committed to developing person-centred workplaces, learning is still something that takes place away from the workplace and ‘taught’ mainly through traditional training or study days. Such learning events may be determined without much consultation with practitioners and continue to rely on formal traditional teaching methods. Yet, it is generally expected that learning will be transferred into practice. More over, in PD projects or programmes, those directly involved in learning are expected to influence others through the outcomes of their learning (Dewing and Wright, 2003, Dewing et al., 2007). As the recent realist synthesis of evidence relating to PD identifies (McCormack et al., 2006) there are still several areas in which PD is not maximizing the contribution learning can make; (for example relying on subject teaching or the teaching of technical aspects of PD devoid of context and culture). Consequently, there can be a failure to maximize opportunities for learning within whole teams, slowing down the transitions and transformation of individuals, teams and the culture.
Section snippets
The principles of Active Learning
The education literature’s use of the term ‘Active Learning’ has relied more on intuitive understanding than on common definition. It can be argued that all learning is inherently active, for example, listening to formal presentations in the classroom. Chickering and Gamson (1987) however, suggest that Active Learning must be more than this. To be active, must mean engaging in such higher-order thinking as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. This seems to have led to the general definition of
Facilitating Active Learning
Strategically, PD facilitators generally desire practitioners to un-learn taken for granted knowledge and routines; discover and embody new ways of knowing; connect more fully with or rediscover existing knowledge (Angelo, 1993); enhance their skills; expand their potential for problematising and finding or creating solutions to practice puzzles or problems (Walsh et al., 2005, Walsh et al., 2006). Facilitators then aspire for those same practitioners to retain the learning, and apply it to new
Concluding comments
The intention here has been to outline the principles of Active Learning in the context of PD and to explore some of the implications for facilitating Active Learning. In essence, Active Learning is concerned with providing holistic learning opportunities rather than with teaching knowledge. It is based on engaging with the senses, multiple intelligences, self-reflection and dialogue with others; action in the workplace; is grounded in feeling and personal experience and needs a context. In
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