Notes in the Margin - noticing the learning that matters

The rise of AI in education is a growing concern because students are using it to bypass critical thinking and genuine effort. If an end product can simply be generated by AI, its educational value is lost. The solution lies in shifting the focus from the final product to the process— focusing more on the learning journey and all of the mistakes, reflections and growth that happens along the way. If we shift our thinking to value the 'how' over the 'what,' we can create deeper, more authentic learning experiences.

Process over Product

I’m a firm believe in ‘process over product’ when it comes to assessment design. To combat plagiarism and avoid AI produced artefacts or ‘too easy’ copying and pasting, I try to design assessment that champion ‘notes in the margin’ rather than a shiny product at the end.

A quick anecdote

This week, I witnessed a student on the verge of giving up—frustrated by a lack of skill and a soured partnership. The assessment felt overwhelming, and the temptation to use AI for quick solutions was strong. Their belief that the final product mattered more than the learning journey was holding them back.

I reminded them that the real focus of the task is the thinking and problem-solving along the way. Through planning, drafting, making mistakes, and reflecting, students log their learning in a journal with prompts like: “What was hard?”, “What didn’t work at first?”, “What did I fix?”, and “What feedback did I receive?”. These notes capture the true essence of learning.

For this student, that shift in perspective was transformative. Their productive struggle and decision to take a new direction became a key part of their growth. While students may still submit a polished final product, the real value lies in the ‘notes in the margin’—the evidence of their process. If we can help students see that the journey matters more than the destination, we can equip them with the skills they need to become lifelong learners.

Notes in the margin

When I refer to notes in the margin I’m referring to the messy and sometimes incomplete jottings that happen during the thinking process. It might be annotation or quick notes or even question marks to show that a concept is not yet clear. Notes in the margin are personal and don’t need to be polished for presentation. They are a vital part of revealing the personal learning journey - so that even if information is sourced from ‘you know where’ - the notes reveal an element of processing and engaging with the text that is a record of engagement. Margin notes can include reflections, annotations, insights, or sketches that capture personal thinking

Drawing, sketching, scribbling, questioning, wondering, noticing, asking, clarifying - this are the verbs that matter.

The role of notes in the margin

As a counter to generative AI , personal and reflective notes in the margin are the shiny human thing.

I have noticed with interest that my best ideas are the ones that I have scribbled into the margins of printed drafts. Similarly, this blog is born out of a scrawly page of notes that I started this morning while I was cooking the family breakfast. Notes in the margin can provide a depth of understanding that a published text on its own may not fully show.

Similarly I recently printed a page of typed unit planning notes that I might have thought were finished had I not provided myself time for the valuable ‘jotting and scribbling’ stage where I could clarify sequences, question my timing and extend some of my thinking.

Practical strategies

A fantastic literacy activity is using comment codes to annotate texts where you can come up with your own acronyms to record the process of reading. ‘LUL - look up later’, "‘II” - interesting insight, ‘DTS’ - don’t think so, ‘NP - needs proof’ - you can come up with your own to match the voice in your head - but the act of making notes (rather than taking notes) is an important key to showing understanding through personal processing.

For teachers the most opportune moments to offer guidance to students is in formative feedback - steering a learner into the right direction before a high stakes outcome. This might be as comments in Google Docs or writing in additional comments in the margins of a student’s work as it is being drafted.

Some practical tips:

• Use digital tools like annotation apps.

• Incorporate peer review of notes.

• Create a bingo board of reflective prompts

• Keep a daily learning log

• Include ‘today’s focus’ in learning reflections

• Record, log and celebrate failures

• Summarise content with quick bullet lists

• Encourage a personal vernacular of comment codes

• Model ‘scribble-thinking’ with note-taking

• Draw diagrams

• Model questioning and active reading

• Peer-review - use margin notes as discussion prompts for collaborative clarifying activities

Notes in the margin help students to:

Clarify understanding

Record reflections

Ask questions

Justify thinking

Show resilience

Provide evidence of decision-making

Record a range of feedback

Create refined outcomes

Personalise learning

Strengthen metacognition

Take, Shake, Make Away

Using notes in the margin and focusing on reflective note making as a key part of assessment design can counteract plagiarism and AI misuse by emphasising originality and personal voice.

How might you incorporate a learning journal, process log or process over product component to assessment design?

And for your final notes (I will be using this activity to foster discussion about assessments this week;)

What is your big take away from this text?

What could you shake up as a result of reading this text?

What gaps might you make up as a result?

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Thanks for reading the results of this morning scribbled notes.

Please leave a comment to share how you have shifted your assessment practice to process over product.

Further reading:

Shift the emphasis from assessing product to assessing process (from Melbourne University)

AI Impacts Student’ Critical Thinking (Teacher Toolkit)

AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking (longer read)

Learning is not supposed to be tidy.

8 AI Thinking Prompts for Senior Leaders

I’m a bit concerned about how swiftly AI tools are being adopted mindlessly. Reflecting on my consultancy work with teachers, some people have unfortunately ignored my recommendations of cautious and critical adaptation and, keen to be early adopters and save time, are now a bit trapped by convenience.

One teacher recently said to me, ‘AI is so good - I don’t have to think anymore’. And although her sentiment was more about time-saving and she wanted to highlight the ease of better planning with AI - the comment made me feel really uncomfortable. My intention had been to introduce AI to help her to think more and it had accidentally achieved the opposite.

In another recent story - I attended a workshop where the presenter happily told attendees that Chat GPT had written most of the content. “I got this from Chat GPT’ and ‘just ask Chat GPT if you are not sure or want more’ - so the original authors and thought leaders of the content presented were notably and concerningly absent.

While AI tools can transform teaching and learning through automating the boring/admin bits, personalising content, enhancing accessibility and more - the too-speedy appropriation of content without proper scrutiny is problematic. In my conversations with school leaders who are sharing ‘great AI tools’ with staff, it’s evident that the convenience of AI apps is the most alluring aspect. The shiny new educational AI apps (of which there are many) and the desire and enthusiasm for quick fixes highlights that deeper exploration of ethical, practical, and long-term implications of AI is needed. And it is needed now before we are all mindlessly caught up in convenience.

My hope is that all educators retain an academic and rigorous critique of all things shiny and new. We must stop and ask critical questions: Are we using AI responsibly? Are we equipping our teams with the knowledge to evaluate these tools effectively? Are we fostering a culture that values transparency and accountability in this AI-driven era? Are we acknowledging our sources?

This blog post offers a series of thinking prompts for school leaders to help schools consider how, where, and why AI might be put to better use—not just for efficiency but for meaningful educational impact.

1.Identify Opportunities for AI in Education

• Assess where AI can be most effective in supporting teaching and learning (e.g., automated grading, personalising learning, improving accessibility, providing examples of specific pedagogies).

• Focus on areas where AI can handle repetitive tasks while leaving critical decisions to educators.

Thinking Prompt: Have opportunities for AI been identified? Have pros and cons of use cases been explored?

• No: Conduct further needs analysis.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not sure: Find out more about responsible uses of AI and ask yourself - where is it important to maintain a human touch on a task?

2. Develop a ‘How we will use AI’ Strategy

• Create and share a clear pathway that aligns AI integration with school goals (e.g., improving student outcomes, reducing teacher workload).

• Ensure the strategy is collaborative and includes input from all stakeholders (teachers, administrators, parents).

Thinking Prompt: Is there a clear strategy in place? Have we considered a future-proofing strategy?

• No: Create or refine the strategy collaboratively.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not Sure: Consider a ‘black hat’ meeting where you explore negative aspects of using AI in schools (and businesses). What are the ethical implications? What are the losses if a teacher outsources a specific task? Where would this need to be transparent?

3. Build a Culture of AI Critique

• Encourage teachers and staff to explore AI tools through hands-on learning.

• Integrate discussions about AI into professional development sessions and staff meetings.

• Provide access to training resources (e.g., online courses, workshops).

• Create a culture of review and critique rather than ‘blindly apply’

• Showcase ‘bad prompts’ and bias and discuss outcomes

• Provide time to collaboratively explore a range of tools and discuss how they could be used effectively, ethically and critically to augment teaching and learning

Thinking Prompt: Are we supporting staff members to be critical and informed about AI?

• No: Foster more opportunities for exploration.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not Sure: Check - are teachers using apps because they are easy? What evidence is there of augmented and improved practice? How is the learner’s experience enhanced?

4. Appoint an AI Literacy Advocate

• Designate a teacher or administrator as an “AI Champion” to guide the school’s efforts.

• This person should lead training sessions, address concerns, and advocate for responsible use of AI.

• This person should be given time to be informed, test, collect use cases, collate data and be the ‘pulse’ for disseminating new information

Thinking Prompt: Is there an advocate leading AI literacy efforts?

• No: Identify and appoint an advocate.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not Sure: How are staff currently getting information? How are they choosing tools? Is there a shared understanding of what appropriate tools use looks like? How might teachers benefit from having an informed ally in critiquing tools?

5. Regulate Data Literacy and Security

What measures are in place for the safe sharing of data (including student writing)?

• Find out about what happens to data that is used by LLMs

• Create a flow chart or regulatory document to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive information

• Find out about AI policy and recommended sharing protocols

• Ensure data privacy and compliance within departments.

  Thinking Prompt: Do we have regulations for data security?

  No - Improve security and compliance measures.

  Yes - Proceed.

  Not Sure - What happens when teachers upload student work for grading support? Where does that data go? Has consent been given for intellectual property sharing? Consider some use cases and brainstorm what might happen if there was a breach of sensitive information.

6. Discuss Ethical Implications of AI

• Educate staff and students on the pros and cons of using AI in education.

• Address issues like data privacy, algorithmic bias, and academic integrity.

Thinking Prompt: Are ethical considerations of AI understood by all of the people using it? Have the environmental impacts of AI been explored?

• No: Provide additional training and discussions.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not Sure: There are pros and cons to every argument. Some say that the environmental cost of AI is too great and consequently avoid it altogether. Others are advocates for time-saving and convenience and are happy to turn a blind eye. How can you be informed and use AI purposefully and not wastefully? Have you considered the environmental impact of convenience?

7. Showcase Real-Life Examples of Success

• Share case studies or examples of how other schools successfully use AI to solve problems (e.g., improving student engagement).

• Gather data to measure engagement and improvements.

• Explore best-use examples and aim for augmentation rather than replacement.

Thinking Prompt: Are teachers using tested examples to inform their planning?

• No: Gather more relevant examples.

• Yes: Proceed.

• Not Sure: Conduct a survey to find out how teachers are using AI and encourage data gathering to measure growth. Use the appointed AI literacy advocate to hunt and gather global case studies to share. Consider how AI tools have been marketed and which pedagogies sit within the language model training.

8. Promote Academic Rigour

• Find out where information comes from.

• Don’t settle for ‘found it on Chat GPT’

• Encourage transparency and critical literacy of AI

• Encourage citations of content and explore ‘further reading’ as the next step.

Thinking Prompt: Are your staff maintaining appropriate research methodologies? Are they respecting the mana of the original author?

• Yes: Proceed

• No: Discuss the consequences of using content from the internet. Does it matter who originally wrote it? Does it matter when? Does it matter where?

• Not Sure: We use and teach the CRAAP test and Rauru Whakarere frameworks for research in schools, is it important that we model it? Or not? This is up for discussion.

Upholding academic rigour in the age of AI requires critical literacy, transparency, collaboration, leadership and a deep respect for original sources. I hope these thinking prompts help you to lead these crucial conversations within your school to ensure that AI empowers rather than undermines education.

And a quick recommended reading:

https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/ive-got-bad-news-if-you-use-chatgpt-or-any-other-ai-as-your-main-search-tool

I hope that these thinking prompts were helpful for you.

Thanks for reading!

Shining a Light on the Science of Learning

The ‘Science of Learning’ is a term that is currently being used as a ‘new’ anchor for curriculum design. It is a bit of new branding on pedagogy that makes it seem more palatable than ‘pedagogy’. The Science of Learning is, in fact, a synthesis of pedagogical theory and (a bit like a hearty stew) it is always good to know what is actually in it so that we can appreciate the ingredients we are being served a bit more.

Here are some of the key ingredients I’ve spotted that are worthwhile to know about.

1. Constructivism

Key Idea: Learning is an active, constructive process where learners build knowledge by connecting new information to their existing understanding.

Unpacking: Aligns with Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (social interactions build knowledge). Drives the emphasis on student-centred, inquiry-based learning and encourages discussing learning to form deeper connections with new knowledge. Key players are Bruner, Piaget and Vygotsky.

What it looks like: We shouldn’t tell students what to think or what to write down. Instead, we can engineer social interactions and activities where they figure things out and make notes for themselves. It could be summarised by the difference between taking notes and making notes.

2. Cognitive Load Theory

Key Idea: Human working memory has limited capacity, and learning is more effective when the way that learning is delivered reduces extraneous cognitive load.

Unpacking: It is important to use strategies like chunking and worked examples to break content down. This also supports Dual Coding by encouraging simplification of visual and verbal information and the importance of presenting one thing in several different ways. Cognitive Load Theory makes sense when we think about how we remember phone numbers or shopping lists in categories or chunks.

What it looks like: If you fill someone’s brain with a lot of new information then their ‘brain bucket’ is too full - and it even starts leaking. It is hard to process new information if the bucket is full - so information needs to be chunked and iterated so that it can be gradually filled and the knowledge is more likely to be retained. It might look like providing a hand out before the workshop, going over it briefly in the workshop and then extending thinking beyond the workshop rather than skipping to the ‘how to apply’ in the first workshop which might overload the brain.

Chunking - maybe because if you ate the whole block at once you would feel sick! Chunking learning is similar.

3. Distributed Practice

Key Idea: Spacing learning over time (rather than massing it in one session) improves retention and retrieval. Like a well-constructed brick wall, we build on previous layers by overlapping bricks and we can build big walls one layer at a time. Another easy way to imagine this is teaching like a spiral that loops back on itself to go forward a little and then loop back to reinforce prior learning. Bruner even calls this a spiral curriculum. (I wrote a blog expanding this to a crochet analogy).

Unpacking: Distributed Practice links to Cognitive Load Theory by avoiding overload through spaced intervals and incremental knowledge and skill acquisition and it encourages revisiting prior content by applying it to new contexts.

What it looks like: One workshop might cover ‘A’. The second workshop might cover ‘B’. A better solution is to build slowly so that ‘A’ is not forgotten. So workshop 1 covers ‘A’ and workshop 2 covers and workshop 3 covers ‘ABC’. So retention and iteration and cognitive load are all catered to.

4. Schema Theory

Key Idea: Knowledge is stored in mental frameworks that are individual and different for all of us based on prior experience (schemas). Learning involves organising new information into these structures or creating new structures into which we can insert new learning effectively.

Unpacking: Well-designed schemas can limit cognitive load. Ways of presenting new information matters and might be different for every learner depending on their prior knowledge and understanding or existing schemas.

What it looks like: This might look like finding a drawing or metaphor to anchor new learning to. Like a seahorse, they fare better when they can hook their tail into something known to keep them from floating away….

5. Dual Coding

Key Idea: Combining verbal and visual representations improves understanding and memory.

Unpacking: Some learners need diagrammatic summaries or visual versions of content in order to be able to process the information most effectively. Others need information verbally and aurally - presenting information in multiple ways means that more learners can access the ‘hook’. This supports the idea that 'lecturing’ is not effective unless it is partnered with additionally and differently coded content.

What it looks like: Have you ever played Pictionary? Words go with pictures like peas and carrots. Don’t deliver with just words and don’t deliver with just pictures. Consider both to increase your chances of a ‘true hook’.

6. Visible Learning

Key Idea: Focuses on high-impact, evidence-based practices that maximise student learning, such as feedback, metacognition (thinking about thinking), and direct instruction. Visible learning is like ‘chemistry in the classroom’ where you are watching for changes in states and supports evidence-based interventions with regular data gathering. Teachers do things because they have measurable effect on learner achivement.

Here is a great infographic from the Visible Learning website.

Unpacking: Teaching strategies need to be explicit and reflective. Learners should be able to talk about what they are learning and how they are learning it so that learning methodology and outcomes are all visible. The key player to find out more about Visible Learning from is John Hattie.

What it looks like: Success and the steps needed to reach success are clearly outlined so that students or participants can see what they are doing and know where they are at on a clear scale, rubric or success descriptor framework.

7. High-Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)

Key Idea: Deliberate and reflective practices (e.g., questioning, feedback, explicit teaching) have been shown to be highly effective in improving student outcomes.

Unpacking: Draws from Cognitive Load Theory (e.g., worked examples) and Distributed Practice. Encourages Constructivist engagement via collaborative and inquiry-based methods.

What it looks like: Designing activities to be data-driven. Similar to visible learning, HITS are measurable and the impact is data-informed. HITS is all about measuring the impact in ways that are proven to be effective.

8. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Key Idea: Designing flexible learning environments to accommodate diverse learner needs from the outset means that no student is left behind. Learning is designed to cater to all rather than the normal few.

Unpacking: Applies principles of Dual Coding in ways students access, process and show their understanding of learning.

What is looks like: Predicting needs and learning interventions before they happen - providing clear text, enlarged text, alt text, dual coding, iconographic summaries in more with the needs to diverse learners in mind. Remember, not accommodating known learning needs is akin to hosting a workshop on the third floor and not providing a ramp or elevator to wheelchair users. Once you know better - you do better, right?

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It seems like a lot, doesn’t it? Yes, great learning has a lot of lenses applied to it for sure!

Of course there are more - but 8 quick-fire theories seemed like a digestible chunk for now.

What should we do with the science of learning?

Well, like a good stew - a balance of ingredients will make it rich and tasty. The science of learning calls for a mix of explicit instruction and constructivist methodology to enrich teaching and learning experiences. It is never one theory - and it always needs to be a special blend crafted for the people in front of you.

And, of couse, if you need support - I can help you with all of the above and more!

Lastly, just in case you fancy some more reading - here’s a small recommended list:

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning by Agarwal & Bain

The Case for Constructivist Classrooms by Brooks & Brooks

Visible Learning: The Sequel: A Synthesis of Over 2,100 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement, Hattie.

How People Learn by Bransford, Brown, & Cocking.

Working Memory and Learning by Gathercole & Alloway

Cognitive Load Theory in Action by Ayres, Kalyuga, & Sweller.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink.

Principles of Instruction by Barak Rosenshine.

CAST Framework for UDL.

Finding your position on AI in education

OpenAI has recently produced a course called ‘Chat GPT Foundations for Educators’ which is designed to be a silver bullet to teach educators how to use AI. The course is the product of a partnership with Common Sense Media which is (usually) a reliable source of ‘common sense’ reviews. What they seem to be missing is how teachers can use AI effectively and purposefully. They are not really encouraging teachers to be co-designers, critical evaluators and engineers of content.

It basically falls short of practical (and not contradictory) use case scenarios and has omitted a lot of big picture questioning about the ‘why’ behind the use of AI. The current debate appears to be an assumption that teachers should choose between AI or the highway. But maybe this yes/no binary thinking is the real problem.

AI shouldn’t be an ‘all in’ or ‘all out’ or Yes/No debate. It is much more complicated than that.

If there were a fork in the road that was ‘AI or the highway’, choosing the highway (non AI) is (still) just fine. If you haven’t read about the OpenAI foundation course you can find a useful critique of it here: How does OpenAI Imagine K-12 Education by Erik Salvaggio.

Here are some of the key points of critique:

• it assumes that teachers are passive producers of content

• it posits that productivity is more important than effective pedagogy

• it does not teach critical AI literacy

• it does not target pedagogy

• it is not a best practice example of UDL in action (no closed captioning)

• it assumes that administrative tasks can all be automated

• it does not seem to value the agency of teacher-owned creative processes in course design

• it overstates the predictive capabilities of AI

  and my addition:

• it assumes that teachers need to be ‘all or nothing’ consumers

OpenAI seems to champion itself as a heroic solution to all of the problems that teachers have. It does not really dig into any additional problems that using AI blindly also produce.

If you stand with AI - then you obviously must use it for everything and save so much time and create so many more resources and power up your productivity to the point that even writing your own meeting agenda can be outsourced. But - quantity does not beat quality. And producing does not equate to creating.

When I was at Elam School of Fine Arts, my professor said to me (when I was churning out bad art at a rate of knots): ‘There’s enough sh*t in the world. Why contribute to it?” And I think this is golden advice that can be applied to finding your own position on AI in education.

An easy ‘out’ is to stand on the opposite road with those who say No. You might stand in solidarity with teachers who see AI as a flash in the pan that is best avoided. These teachers might be summed up as the ‘pen and paper warriors’ who want to make sure that text books are used instead of laptops. If you avoid technology, then you also do avoid a lot of the ‘bad’ things - but you also run the risk of stealing learning opportunities away from students who also need to learn critical AI literacy. Teachers have a duty to empower students to understand, question, and navigate AI responsibly. This isn't just about using the tools to enhance their own productivity but helping students to critique and control their own uses to be critical creators of the future.

If you want to start using AI in the classroom it is ok to do so cautiously. In fact, it is best to use any tool with your pedagogue hat on and ask all of the questions like ‘where is the science’, ‘how does this enhance learner experience’, ‘how does this increase critical thinking’, ‘how might this offer more agency’, ‘how might this remove barriers to learning’ etc. And if it doesn’t align to your lens of what education should be and needs to be in the future, then don’t use it. Or more simply put, if you are adding to the sh*t in the world, don’t.

AI, when used purposefully, has the power to enhance, augment and improve learning - but you have to become an active architect of learning and do so.

So what next? Thinking and Linking:

1. Prioritise Critical Literacy: Read up on AI’s limitations, biases, and ethical implications. Foster a culture of inquiry rather than blind adoption. Read widely or at least dip your toes in: 12 Best Blogs on AI

2. Focus on Inclusivity: Accessibility should be a baseline, not an afterthought. All training materials must meet diverse needs to ensure equitable learning and expand rather than restrict learning accessibility. Use AI to expand not restrict.

3. Balance Efficiency with Depth: Productivity should not come at the expense of the thoughtful, creative processes integral to teaching. AI should enhance, not overshadow, pedagogical engagement.

4. Collaborate and Innovate: Join a community of practice to join in the critical conversation (this AI Forum is really worthwhile. It has fortnightly recorded webinars and emailed transcripts for an easy win for those of us who might be time poor). Even if you don’t join a community of practice, you might share innovations, successes, and challenges with AI in education with your colleagues in-house.

5. Critique your Use: Think about process over product, learner agency and the experience for the learners above all. How is augmenting and enhancing learner experience? How is it supporting more critical thinking? Ask ethical questions: How does this tool support diverse learners in my classroom? What biases might the AI outputs carry, and how can I address them? Are the benefits worth the potential trade-offs in creativity or critical thinking? My work-in-progress rubric is below.

6. Become an engineer not a consumer: There are SO MANY new AI tools on the market right now with Chat GPT being just one drop in a vast ocean. Popular educational solutions like MagicSchool.AI can create educational consumables in seconds, but the outputs might not be of true benefit to students’ experience. Consider how you might engineer your own more purposeful solutions rather than accepting ready-made products that might push passivity or feed another tech company’s coffers.

7. Explore Innovation: For some interesting use cases for how to innovate with AI in the classroom check out Harvards’s AI Pedagogy Project (this was also mentioned in the first blog link).

8. Put Pedagogy over Product: AI tools are only as effective as the intentionality behind their use. Targeting strategies like flipped classrooms, differentiation, UDL or gamified learning means that you can apply AI to pedagogical frameworks purposefully.
   

I created this rubric (work in progress) based on the ITL Microsoft Partners in learning rubrics. There are more categories in the rubric - but this is the first page as an example.

AI might not be a silver bullet or a magic solution, but neither is it a storm to be feared.

It’s not really an “AI or the highway” scenario, forcing a binary choice of ‘this or that.’ AI is simply a tool, and like any tool, its value lies entirely in how we use it. By asking critical questions, exploring practical use cases, and fostering collaboration, we can move beyond the ‘yes or no’ debate. Instead, we can become thoughtful, critical users who forge our own purposeful path forward—together.

I added this as a provocation - does the SAMR rubric work when considering AI? SAMR rubric by Puentedura adapted for AI use.

Thoughts? Questions? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

What is 'make the pie' learning?

Have you ever been to a workshop or presentation and been given a handout while they present a slide show but you’ve spent the time daydreaming about all the things you’d rather be doing? Or have you ever been asked to write something down that was dictated to you only to promptly forget what you had written?

This kind of learning is like being served a pie. The analogy of a ‘pie’ is helpful because pies come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors—sweet and savory—and we can all imagine being handed a pie. In this learning approach, the pie is served to a passive recipient. The recipient of the pie has no active role in making or even cutting the pie. They might eat it, but they don’t gain any understanding of how it was made. Even if it’s delicious, it’s entirely forgettable—it’s not their pie.

Let’s think about what ‘make the pie’ learning might feel like. Traditional learning experiences are more about serving the pie – and handing out the answers – rather than letting learners dig in and make the pie themselves.

In a well-designed learning environment, no two ‘pies’ should be the same and everyone should have their own pie that they have proudly designed and made for themselves.

My ‘make the pie’ philosophy, is encouraging a hands-on and interactive approach to learning. My ‘make the pie’ philosophy is all about getting people to mix, blend and bake the ingredients themselves. In a well-designed learning experience, people should feel like they have been elbow-deep in the recipe of acquiring new skills, feel confident to combine their own ‘ingredients’ of ideas and leave with an experiential understanding of how things come together.

“She really makes us think for ourselves. I am getting more confident at problem-solving and I like how she doesn’t tell us the answers.”

What’s in the Batter?

I’m not making up this whole pie thing. It’s just my way of explaining pedagogy (teaching-science geekery) to people who don’t love jargon as much as me. The ‘make the pie’ philosophy is a way to re-imagine a workshop session as a pie-making extravaganza. Instead of handing everyone a finished pie (complete with crust and all), participants might get a basket of ingredients – flour, butter, fruit, maybe a pinch of sugar. Then it’s their job to mix, knead, and taste-test as they go. This is active learning that fosters trial and error, fast-failing and iteration, collaboration and communication and a lot more too… And the making of the pie is backed up with a solid lineup of learning theories:

• Constructionist Theory: Inspired by Seymour Papert, this approach invites learners to build their own understanding. Just as they’d experiment with different amounts of sugar or spices, they’re encouraged to “construct” knowledge by trying things out and learning from what doesn’t go as planned just as they also learn from what does go as planned. Applying this theory also builds resilience and critical thinking skills.

• Constructivist Theory: Constructivism embraces the idea that learning is a social recipe – we all bring different ingredients, and when we mix with others and talk about what we are doing and why we are doing it, we can create something unique. This means collaboration, discussion, and the freedom to add a little ‘seasoning’ of one’s own ideas on the table is encouraged. This also fosters creativity, community, agency and a sense of ownership of the learning AND encourages people to bring prior knowledge and experience as a valued foundation to any new learning. Key players in constructivist theory are Bruner and Vygotsky.

• Experiential Learning: If you can imagine each step of designing a recipe as a hands-on experience then this is experiential learning. In my ‘make the pie’ learning experiences, learners are constantly doing, making, and problem-solving with me as an expert guide on the side. This isn’t about a teacher telling students what to think or do but about them figuring it out and arriving at a new understanding with expert guidance.

Why Mixing Matters More Than Memorising

In a lot of learning experiences, we’re too focused on presenting the perfect pie – giving answers and ticking boxes – that we skip the mixing stage altogether. But here’s the secret: it’s in the mixing, kneading, and experimenting where the real learning magic happens. Research shows that active learning is what makes concepts stick. When people have a chance to build their understanding, they’re far more likely to remember it. When they make the pie, they’ll talk about what they made AND want to make more pies too.

Letting learners “make the pie” empowers them to feel like they own the final product because, in a very real way, they do. They’ve rolled up their sleeves and tried out the skills in a controlled, playful setting, so they’re prepared to replicate it in real life.

What Does a ‘Make the Pie’ Workshop Look Like?

When you come to one of my sessions, you’re not sitting and waiting for the ‘perfect recipe’ to appear on a slide. You’re gathering ingredients, mixing things up, and working with a team to see how it all comes together. You might start with a challenge and work out how to fix it – just like you would in a real world situation. You’ll leave not only with new knowledge but with the know-how to apply it.

1. Choose Your Ingredients: Participants can select the skills or concepts they want to explore with different options that are differentiated and designed to meet different skill levels.

2. Mix It Up: Everyone has the chance to try new approaches, exchange ideas, and learn by doing in their own time and way – like everyone adding sprinkles and tweaks to a given recipe.

3. Bake Together: There will also be opportunities for collective problem-solving and sparking and capturing ideas.

4. Eat and Reflect Together: While the catering is usually up to you, great learning experiences require some critical reflection. We’ll talk about what was most valuable, most effective, most engaging and most impactful so that we can champion these ingredients again in the next workshop.

Making the Pie means that learning is a process of experimenting, ‘tasting’, mixing up solutions and seeing what works. The ‘Make the Pie’ philosophy promotes a ‘can-do’ mindset – because participants were not handed the answers. The answers were made by them.

Ready to Start Mixing?

So next time you’re looking at a workshop or training session and you see a slide deck and a handout with readymade answers, rethink it and try a ‘make the pie’ recipe for success that’s interactive, memorable, and customised.

Because the best learning isn’t served – it’s stirred, seasoned, and baked with everyone’s minds doing the mixing. Like the sound of this kind of pie? You know where to find me.

Don the black hat! A thinking strategy for doing things better

New Zealand is currently faced with a worrying economic downturn. There are additional threats on the horizon such as the rapid developments of AI, impacts of Globalisation, looming international conflict expansion and environmental disasters due to climate change just to name a few. We turn our faces to the light and try to look for moments of brightness in the news and, particularly in the education sector and public sectors, it feels very dark indeed. Where is the light?

In these situations, it is useful to put on a black hat after Edward De Bono.

What is Black Hat Thinking?

Black hat thinking is a a way to adopt a deliberately pessimistic and cautious approach to problem-solving and decision-making with all of the ‘worstest’ superlative outcomes that we can think of. It means that we get to focus on identifying potential risks, problems, and consider of the possible negative outcomes. It is one of the six thinking styles in Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats model.

Why is it useful?
Black hat thinking encourages a kind of healthy skepticism. A lot of technology has been touted as ‘the next best thing’ for example and then it has quickly turned into a bubble that has popped more quickly than we might have predicted. Some examples of these are the dot.com bubble or the open plan classroom bubble - some may say, too, the AI bubble but this has not yet popped. (More on this later). This type of thinking is useful for carefully predicting and examining any potential flaws and weaknesses which ends up being a very useful prediction and forecasting tool.

Logical Analysis
While it might often be perceived as negative and ‘red penning’ any new and exciting prospects, black hat thinking is not about being pessimistic for its own sake. Another way of understanding it is as a useful way to critically analyse new systems/approaches/tools as a risk assessment process to ensure that any potential risks or threats are identified so that some safeguards can be put in place. Black hat thinking means that teams can anticipate and prepate for possible challenges.

Reverse brainstorming

My favourite way to facilitate Black Hat Thinking is with a reverse brainstorm. This means we look at how to do the opposite of whatever goal it is that we are striving to achieve. “How can we ensure that all of our managers fail?” or “How can we make sure that students never learn to read?” or “How can I become the worst leader of all time?” are some fun examples to play with. In one particularly memorable example in a secondary school context we reverse brainstormed “How can we make sure our students are unprepared for the future?” and there were some shocking truths suddenly up for discussion when some teachers recognised that their current pedagogy was setting kids up to fail…

The next step of a reverse brainstorm is to be as creative as possible and come up with ‘all the ways’ to make the opposite happen. Go wild. Have fun. Then review.

The final step of the reverse brainstorm is to flip the brainstorm and negate all of the negative suggestions and rephrase them as positives. If one answer for a ‘how can we become the worst leader’ brainstorm was ‘be late for all meetings’ then the solution is ‘be punctual’. The black hat thinking and using the reverse brainstorm as a facilitation method means that all of the negatives have been predicted and the opposite risk managing opportunity can be identified to inform meaningful strategic planning.

Foreseeing the rocks

If you hate the idea of a reverse brainstorm, another useful metaphor is a boat on its way to ‘some magical island outcome’. This method is great for visual thinkers. Draw a boat and draw a bunch of rocks and waves and kraken and pirates and whatever else you think might get in the way of a journey and then set about naming the hazards. What are all of the things in the way? Once this is done, you can start to strategise what your marine chart/road map might need in order to steer around those obstacles.

Both of these strategic planning experiences require the black hat to be donned - and like a black wizard’s hat, the outcomes of black hat thinking can be magical.

Black hat thinking is thinking about the weather, the rocks and the crew’s capabilities to better avoid disasters.

Making some magic

If you know where you don’t want to go, then you can forge a better path to your rightful destination. Similarly, knowing all of the bad things that ‘might’ happen, means that you can plan to avoid and manage risks accordingly.

Recently I have been working on an ‘AI in the Classroom’ rubric and black hat thinking has really helped me to consider best use case scenarios - only because I’ve spent time thinking of worst use case scenarios and then sought to fix them through reverse engineering.

The black hat brainstorm highlighted worst use of AI as ‘mindless prompting’ and ‘worksheet pumping’, ‘biased without balance’, ‘industrial model on steroids’, ‘data misusing’ and ‘environmentally disastrous’ (to name a few) which can then inform more critical analysis of how to mitigate these risks with educated, mindful, purposeful and policy-protected best uses to help me to design my self-assessment rubric. (This is coming soon).

So what kind of black hat will you wear?

Of course, you don’t need a real hat - but imagining your own black hat strategy to make better decisions in your workplace or classroom is a great thinking strategy to adopt if you want to know better to do better.

Radar Charts & Teacher Power: Visualising Educator Impact

The Kitchen Conundrum

Right now we have a circuit out in our kitchen. It is super annoying and I am waiting for the sparky to come and figure out why this particular circuit keeps shorting. I’ve had to run an extension cord to the kitchen so that I can run one appliance at a time - and the process of plugging one thing in at the sacrifice of another ‘job’ has been enlightening (as well as frustrating!) - as I juggle plugging in appliances one at a time, I'm struck by a thought - isn't this eerily similar to how we manage our energy as educators?

The Goldfish Dilemma and Teacher Circuitry

Our goldfish live in a big tank on the kitchen bench and they need both an air stone and a large filter/pump for the tank to be optimally operational. There is a sense of pressure - if I don’t prioritise it then our fishies might suffer. If I unplug it to make coffee with the coffee machine, for example, I need to remember to plug it back in again. Similarly, the dishwasher might sacrifice the health of the fish and the washing machine might sacrifice the use of, say, the oven or the dishwasher… and suddenly I am needing to carefully prioritise where the energy needs to flow. With only one additional power bank to draw from - I need to plan how I am spending energy. If I focus on keeping one thing alive (with two plugs for the fish), the other jobs might be stalled or forgotten. And there is the epiphany. As educators, we are expected to run all things at once like a multi-circuit kitchen and we are expected to have enough power in our tank for all things to be functioning optimally at all time. If we need to priorities one thing - then it is often at the expense of others.

The Subtraction Solution

An Edutopia article flashed across my feed this morning about adopting a ‘subtraction mindset’. That is, that we need to take things away in order to be able to properly focus on the things that we deem important. Like my kitchen currently not operating particularly efficiently at all because it is one circuit down, we need to put power into the things that matter - and perhaps feel justified to drop some of the rest.

Mapping the Energy Flow

As a visual thinker and lover of all things diagrammatic, I turned to radar charts to map my thinking.

Radar charts (also called spidergrams) are a useful way to turn any likert scale into a visual feast. Below is an empty radar chart that you can assign title categories to. They are easy enough to make from a spreadsheet and they show relationships between categories as well as where the energy flow might be in deficit.

In teaching, these segments might correspond to ‘current projects’ or ‘current foci’. Like my kitchen, these might be prioritised to musts and mays - except I wonder what other categories we might assign to an empty chart like this if we had to choose ‘just’ 8 key categories to channel energy into?

Prioritising Plug Ins

Imagine having to choose just eight educational things to plug into at one time? Some education categories that I have been trying to actively put energy into this year are:

1. Visual Thinking

2. UDL

3. Literacy strategies

4. Learner Agency

5. New course design

6. Thinking Routines

7. AI developments

8. Gamification

And whoops, I’ve already managed to go over eight categories without even considering current NCEA changes, Hauora, Mana Ōrite, localised curriculum, ANZHC, numeracy, structured literacy, leadership initiatives etc. The list goes on…

Your Eight Category Challenge

Here’s a challenge for you - what would your top eight priorities be? Why not write them down and sketch a radar chart to explore where the energy is currently channeled and where more might be needed. You might give each category a grade out of 7 (to correspond to the segments on the one above) and colour in the segments for a visual representation of your current energy streams.

Like my kitchen drama, I have actually never noticed just how many appliances I have running at once. On a normal day with everything running smoothly there might be an air fryer, a blender, a toaster, a kettle, a coffee machine, a computer, a phone charger, a washing machine, a dish washer, a fridge…. even when some things are not the 'active-job-at-hand - there are so many things running in the background drawing power that are needed just to keep things ticking along.

The diagram below is a radar chart with some data added (although this one has a scale to 10 in each category). The categories are blank for illustration purposes but you can see that some things are running with more power than others, and others are just running at a trickle.

My wondering is, what if our energy is finite? What if we only have, say, a power bank reserve of 30? Where would it make sense to plug in more? And where would it necessitate taking some plugs out?

In the above radar chart the orange focus is tracking well - as is the red - but the grey, the blue, the purple, the blue (and that other colour which is evading red and orange but it somewhere between) are dwindling. Like my fish, could they be suffering if they are not plugged in at full power?

Educators everywhere are being stretched too thin - and it shows when we start to visualise the energy and where it is going. With only eight ‘things’ to put our energy into within these radar chart examples, we can start visualising where we need to next plug in our attention. How does eight things even feel? Is it already too much?

If we only have one source of energy, how can we realistically and logistically be expected to run all things at full power all the time? Maybe the key is unplugging in order to channel energy efficiently to places where it truly counts.

Some things need to be taken off the radar. The challenge for you is to figure out which ones.

Thanks for reading my kitchen thoughts while I wait for my oven to finish baking my daughter’s cookies so that I can run the washing machine. ..

Here’s the TLDR version:

My kitchen circuitry is on the fritz.

Our goldfish’s power needs made me think about how in the classroom we often have to prioritise one thing and it is often at the expense of others.

We educators are a bit like my kitchen with too many things - and we are shorting out.

We need to focus on doing what matters most better - and adopt a subtraction mindset.

Radar charts are a nifty visual tool to track energy and think about priorities.

We need to rethink our approach to education so that we can keep all circuits running smoothly.

Take away - What would your eight priority categories be? How can you prioritise your teacher energy? Power up challenge initiated.

Goldfish Brain Retention Card Deck Freebie

Dive into Exam Prep with my free 'Goldfish Brain' Card Deck!

As the exam season approaches, students and teachers alike can often find themselves in a whirlwind of relentless and repetitive review/revise/repeat lessons. It can feel overwhelming and stressful, not to mention boring and a bit like a chore. Sink or swim it feels like - so how bout more ‘swim’?

When I was faced with a similar hurdle a while ago I created the Goldfish Brain Card Deck to print, shuffle and liven up my revision sessions. This deck is designed to inject some fun and creativity into any revision routine - you bring the content and then the activities can be universally applied to flex your thinking muscles.

Whether you’re a student trying to figure out a less boring way to revise and study (or even ‘how’ to study) or a teacher looking for more interesting ways to revisit key concepts - this card deck is going to be a useful resource. The activities are all goldfish themed active ways of revisiting content with fresh eyes that can be applied to any subject. I’ve taken some of the bore/chore parts of designing a revision program off your plate and made it seem a bit more fun and splashy.

This revision/retention card deck contains around 30 fun visual thinking strategies and graphic organiser prompts to think outside the box (and around the corner) in order to dive back into your important content with fresh eyes. You don’t need to be a digital whizz either as all of the activities are good ole pen and papery. Have fun! Make a splash!

And if you like my thinking and want more ‘easy things’ to implement to make learning more engaging, you know what to do.

From Cult to Culture - Fostering a Culture of Active Learning

Have you ever been so bored in a meeting or workshop that you stop listening? Thinking about what’s for lunch or even what laundry you have to do at home is likely to be a lot more interesting…

Corporate training often fails to engage employees, leading to low retention and wasted resources. Imagine sitting through yet another tedious, lecture-based session, knowing full well that most of it will be forgotten by tomorrow. This outdated approach can leave a lot of companies struggling to see a return on investment (ROI).

If you are just going to talk at them, you might as well have an empty theatre. Image of an empty lecture hall.

A huge problem with current learning design practices is that the models for learning are largely still informed by the industrial age. The learner is a passive recipient of knowledge as if arriving as an empty cup that needs to be filled with wisdom from the presenter. The problem with this model is that ‘being talked at’ is not engaging nor is it memorable. Passive learning experiences make it difficult for learners to retain knowledge that has only heard or seen.

The other side of this problem is that presenters are also anchored to their chosen presentation platform. They diligently prepare presentations that fill the workshop allocation with talking time deigned to optimally fill the minds of attendees. When this happens, they are stuck presenting and not free to talk with and work alongside individual learners. Oftentimes they are so ‘tied to talking’ or ‘imprisoned by presenting’ that attendees do not get to talk to them one on one at any stage of the training process. Their knowledge is therefore not able to be shared in ways that might genuinely add value.

So what’s the fix?

Here’s a quick case study (before I worked my magic):

The company required employees to attend a three day face to face workshop.The presenter was flown in and accommodation and travel was part of the L&D spend. Attendees were given a large printed book (100+ pages) with ‘fill in the gaps’ activities as well as some dictation notes pages within it. All information was presented in person by Powerpoint with the presenter talking for most of the three days. There was a timed test at the end of day three in order for employees to tick the compliance requirements for their line managers.

What is wrong with this picture? To be honest, it is such a typical model that you would be excused for believing that this is just what learning looks like. It is so common it is normal.

But actually it is awful. In this model there is no evidence of any considerations for neurodiverse learners, no cognitive load theory, no active/experiential learning, no constructivist or constructionist pedagogy… there are so many lenses missing. And while it might get a compliance tick on the day, it definitely does not get an engagement, inclusion or retention tick.

“When we practice something, we are involved in the deliberate repetition of a process with the intention of reaching a specific goal. The words deliberate and intention are key here because they define the difference between actively practicing something and passively learning it.””

— Thomas Sterner - The Practcing Mind

Now imagine what a great learning experience might feel like.

A different experience of training would be one that feels immersive, engaging and memorable. You would have time to engage with content, think about thing deeply in your own time, talk to the facilitator, practice applying the information, see your own growth and leave feeling energised. Magic happens when we take the cult (do what I say and just sit there and listen to me) and turn it into an active learning culture. Employees leave feeling energised and equipped with the knowledge they can immediately apply - and learners look forward to the next time that they get to explore learning as an enjoyable and productive experience.

The case study - after my magic
The company provided a one day face to face workshop - and the presenter was flown in and out in the same day (big savings!). Attendees were given a flipped learning experience online ahead of time that was an online game to introduce key concepts. The workshop was redesigned as a series of ‘mini missions’ where attendees could work together to figure out how to apply information to real scenarios. The presenter turned into a facilitator and had time to work closely alongside small groups to answer questions and clarify understanding as well as get to know individual learning needs and gaps. The powerpoint was replaced with a link library for participants to co-construct a FAQ page for future reference and attendees also had a shared whiteboard to record key ideas and reflections about their learning. The timed test was replaced with a ‘mission tick list’ where evidence was found within the missions that were completed on the day. A follow up post-session reflection form was shared online so that participants could reflect on and share their learning as well as provide evidence of engagement for double ticking compliance requirements.

From cult to culture

Sage on the stage industrial models of learning do not inspire participants to think about or apply key knowledge. We shouldn’t have to sit through boring days of training thinking about laundry or lunch.

That dream scenario is definitely within reach.

I never realised how full my back pocket is until I start tinkering with ‘all the things’ that I know work in learning experience design. Here’s a checklist I put together recently as a self-checking tool to apply to my learning design work:

CHECKLIST FOR GREAT LEARNING

• Clear learning outcomes linked to company profile for attendees

• Checked alignment with curriculum levels/differentiated options

• Alignment and linking to Sustainable Development Goals

• Agency: Opportunities for choice and voice throughout

• Make the pie: Opportunities to ‘discover the recipe’ rather than be ‘fed the pie’.

• Incorporation of hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences

• Opportunities for collaboration, paired and individual learning experiences

• Consideration for various learning styles and preferences.

• Clear Literacy layers - reading comprehension, vocabulary and critical thinking

• Clear opportunities for recording learning

• Follow up mission aligned to learning outcomes

• Digital and analogue learning opportunities

• Scaffolded activities and choices for differentiated learning

• Provision for alternative assessments or pathways for learners with varying abilities.

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Incorporation of multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression.

• Use of flexible instructional materials and methods to accommodate diverse learners

• Formative assessment opportunities for learning conversations

• Opportunities for reflection and goal setting

• Consideration and support for trainer /facilitator capabilities

If learners regurgitate the answers you tell them - it is a cult with no ownership of the knowledge and no evidence of critical thinking or retention. But if you give them opportunities to engage with and experience the learning - it is a culture.

So why work with me? I’m an education geek with 20 plus years of ‘make the pie’ pedagogy and on the ground teaching and learning experience in my back pocket. I believe that learning should be fun no matter what. I’m on a mission to change what learning feels like. Get in touch, if you’d like to harness some of my (non-culty) magic.

AI and Policy: A FLOW Guide

If you want to keep up with AI, you can’t. At least that’s what it feels like. That is the truth I’ve been struggling to come to grips with as I navigate the ethics of AI use in classrooms and workplaces and observe the exponential growth of AI tools for teachers and workers. There are new developments every second. And then there are considerations so far beyond the basics of intellectual property and data sharing… so let’s get stuck in. Read on to learn about some key considerations for policy writing as well as A FLOW model for testing and reflecting once it is written.

I recently presented a workshop on AI tools in the classroom grounded with a whakatauki as well as a metaphor. I used the ocean as a metaphor because, even if we feel well-informed at the moment, it is more than likely that we’re just paddling in the breakers because the flow on effects of our use of AI is vast and deep - like an ocean. It is a wicked problem.

My choice of whakatauki is also fitting - Kia mate ururoa, kei mate wheke - to fight like a shark rather than give in like an octopus. My challenge to all users of AI is to consider the why before diving right on in. Resist the status quo and resist doing something just because it is easier. Consider the repercussions and thrash about before you make a decision. Thrash to push for better learning experiences. Thrash for better pedagogy and androgogy. Thrash to strive for a better learning experience for all learners - and don’t accept the models that are just because they are. Just because it might be fast, doesn’t mean it is good.

So many AI tools packaged for educational purposes sadly perpetuate 20th Century knowledge models and do not ‘push the envelope’. My hope is that, with more knowledge of how AI models are programmed and more knowledge of biases and preferences as well as the ‘why of AI’, that those who work in education and training will work harder to make AI do something more responsible. ethical and transformative. Potentially writing useful policy is the first step in designing clear guidelines.

What should you include in an AI policy?

AI is evolving so rapidly that it is important for schools and workplaces to ride the wave. We need to be informed about which AI tools are fit for purpose and need to be able to approve specific tools, outcomes and systems. For this, we need to have clear objectives about when the use of AI is appropriate and be able to give recommendations for how and why information can be appropriately shared.

At this stage, it is useful to consider some user stories of when and how AI might be used and also to explore scenarios with a ‘black hat’ in order to consider the long term implications.

Set boundaries and design systems:

What boundaries need to be put in place about data sharing? (No names, no confidential information, no data shared without permission)

What are the expectations of the institution or organisation? (AI can be used for ideation assistance or proof-reading but not for any published content)

Who are the people who might oversee governance of AI? (And how might it be monitored?)

Consider the legal implications:

What disclosure regulations need to be in place for data sharing?

How can you safeguard against discrimination and bias?

What are the internal processes for data breaches?

Who is liable for data breaches or authenticity queries?

What industry-specific regulations can you draw on?

What are the terms of the AI tool/s that is/are being used?

How is intellectual property safe-guarded?

What are your internal systems for governance and monitoring?

What happens if there is a breach?

Managing Risk:

What permissions and guidelines need to be established to indicate which tools are approved and how they are used?

What risk assessments need to be undertaken against specific scenarios?

What are the regulations against outputs? Must they be reviewed by humans before publication?

How will issues or incidents be documented and reviewed?

Ethics:

AI does not come without an environmental footprint - how might you mitigate your use of AI against your Sustainable Development Goals?

How can you monitor your increased environmental impact?

How might you offset your carbon footprint?

How might you make users more aware of both technical and environmental considerations?

How might you ensure the privacy of information shared?

Training:

A lot of organisations are presenting AI tools as if they are a quick win without unpacking legal, ethical and environmental considerations. How might you ensure that staff are informed and able to make informed decisions about whether their use of AI is appropriate, necessary or effective?

A FLOW model:

The following acronym could be useful for beginning your deep dive into AI.

A - Anticipate - explore some user stories or scenarios to predict different uses of AI without guidance. Use these scenarios to design policy and training to meet the needs of your participants.

F - Facilitate - facilitate a training session on the responsible and ethical uses of AI and design a workplace scenario for a test/launch activity.

L - Launch - provide a tool and some prompts and a desired output that relates to your context for employees to explore.

O - Observe - look for anomalies in the uses of AI and adapt policy accordingly. Allow questioning and exploration alongside staff as they navigate ‘the deep’.

W - Weigh - consider how effective parameters and policy are and consider the success of input vs output in terms of how the tools were used and what the outcomes were.

Repeat with a new cycle to iteratively design a flexing policy that is capable of riding the AI wave.

So what do you think? Writing AI policy and using AI is about so much more than time saving. We need to consider legal implication of data sharing and collection, governance and guidelines about purpose vs product, environmental implications, intellectual property considerations, disclosure regulations, risk assessments, best practice evolutions and more.

Some additional thinking prompts:

How can we recognise and address bias in LLM training?

How can we push for more inclusive data sets for training?

What are our processes for consent?

What might our incident protocols be if the use of AI leads to negative outcomes?

Who should be involved in feedback loops about the use of AI?

How can AI be used to ensure equitable outcomes?

I recently read that creating an AI generated image uses the same amount of energy as charging a cell phone. This made me second-guess my use of AI as the carbon footprint aspect had not been front and centre for me - and knowing this has changed my usage as I want to be a more conscious consumer and my values align strongly with sustainability and the SDGs.

The key takeaway is that we need to be critical and aware of our use of AI so that we can actively contribute to a culture of proactive accountability and sustainability.

What do you think? Did I leave anything out?

References: Create your AI Policy, Clayden Law, e-book, 2024.

AI and the Importance of Integrity and Efficacy (with a recommended list)

The range of AI tools that are now available for teachers is growing exponentially. Even for someone who has been actively following, experimenting with and leading AI professional learning and development workshops for teachers, the rate at which it is growing is a mind-boggling phenomenon which is hard to keep up with.

There are a few red flags at the moment and some key considerations need to be at the forefront. Similar to using the SAMR model to be more purposeful and innovative with digital tools, all that is new and shiny is not necessarily useful or necessary. There are also ethical considerations and pedagogical considerations to keep in mind. And it might just be a good time to stand back and take some time to absorb, test and refine so that we can use AI with more pedagogical purpose.

Google’s short course on AI language models encourages some good habits. It reminds us to verify the accuracy of any AI generated content and to honour full disclosure of AI generated content. All outputs should be personalised, verified and edited to meet the purpose of the task. It is also important to know the school’s policies on AI use and consider the implications on the end user if the origins of any content are revealed as being AI generated. Obviously (I hope) there are privacy considerations as well as security concerns around what is used as an input and to what end. The ethical considerations of ‘adding to the confetti’ of knowledge that is the pull source of AI generated content needs to be at the front of our minds. Interestingly, in order to submit articles for a leading educational website I learned that all authors must disclose if AI was used in any part of the writing process from ideation through to drafting and editing. Perhaps this will become the new industry standard?

An additional consideration is the environmental impact which is less talked about. The large machines that we are creating such demand for do not operate without land, water, energy or human costs. And how convenient is it for us to gloss over the potential environmental cost? So if we are using AI - the best questions to ask are, why?

Use AI thoughtfully

We need to consider if we are using AI for good. Do we have the necessary knowledge to judge whether the output is correct, useful or revelatory? Can we judge whether or not a particular output might have negative unintended consequences? Are there biases that are being accidentally reinforced? Are we leaning into an average that will quickly become the status quo? Some recent work with AI generated summaries for Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum content highlighted some alarming biases.

As future-focused teachers and leaders, we are tasked with designing learning experiences that are engaging, universally designed and creative. We still want our learners to be critical thinkers, problem-solvers and collaborators, don’t we? So if we use AI to design worksheets and ‘cloze’ activities or lesson plans that don’t have additional pedagogical considerations, how can we ensure that we are utilising AI to make our practice better? Easier, maybe. Faster, sure. But better? Making better learning experiences requires a bit more critical and creative thinking when it comes to prompt engineering as well as awareness of what good pedagogy looks like in use as a prompt.

PARTS Prompt Engineering

When inputting a prompt to generative AI we can use Google's PARTS acronym : Persona, Aim, Recipients, Theme and Structure.

P: As a future-focused secondary teacher of Social Studies I want to

A: design an activity that encourages critical problem solving about the ethics and resource use of AI as a research tool for

R: year 10 Social Studies Students - some with dyslexia, some with autism

T: so that they can practice critical literacy skills with experiential learning in groups of three

S: with a Bingo Board choices board of simple single-sentence creative prompts with points allocated to indicate levels of difficulty

(Just a quick example).

When we actively apply a pedagogical lens (constructivism/experiential learning/UDL/differentiation/learner agency/gamification) to the prompt engineering, it can be so much more useful.

As teachers feeling lost in the rapid expansion of AI teaching assistants, it is so important not to fall for the ‘easy worksheet’ outputs that are so swiftly generated. There are so many other considerations that are being overlooked.

Just like we needed to use a SAMR model to evaluate the usefulness of digital tools, using AI in schools does not equate to educational value. We need to carefully consider how AI applications can enhance learning, promote critical thinking, and foster creativity among out students while also keeping ethical considerations, transparency and security in mind.

We teachers and leaders of the 21st century have to extend our knowledge of responsible use of AI to ask questions about ethics, pedagogy, usefulness and need.

Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should. If we are employing AI to create worksheets (as many teachers are currently excited to do) we are taking a step backwards towards rote learning and regurgitative lessons that will not support our students to be future-ready.

• Why not use AI to teach about AI?

• Learn about prompt engineering and how to integrate purposeful pedagogy into prompts

• Automate the administrative tasks to have more hands on time in the classroom.

• Teach AI Literacy as a part of Digital Fluency.

• Deliberately design human-centred and student-centred tasks that can’t be completed by AI.

• Use scenario planning to future-proof teaching and learning

• Allow time to play and explore to test limitations and possibilities of new tools

Integrating AI in education demands us to be conscientious creators who are not afraid of critical evaluation and creative application. We need to leverage AI thoughtfully and purposefully. Using it as it is or how it is packaged for us (worksheet generators!) is not the way forward. If we are critical thinkers and discerning users who demand better and insist on applying purposeful pedagogy, we can empower our students to thrive in this rapidly evolving digital landscape. We can retain integrity and efficacy as educators and we can make learning better.

And because you are wondering, which AI tools are on my current top 5 play list (these ones were in my most recent AI for educators workshop):

Perplexity. ai - a great research tool to use with students. It provides citations, footnotes and links as well as follow up questions to promote deeper research and inquiry practices.

Brisk - a fantastic Chrome plugin. I like the ‘inspect writing’ tool to offer a replay of cut and paste and real time editing of student work to scan for plagiarism or to play back my own writer's process so they can see the lifecycle of how I might write a poem or short story.

Diffit - a useful differentiation tool that is straightforward to add scaffolds for your learners.

Magic Padlet - a lesson/unit creation tool that is surprisingly quick for an overview you can edit. This is found within padlet and you can have three live padlets with the free version.

Almanack - this is a bit like MagicSchools but it has a few more gamified options including a jeopardy three level question designer that appeals to my love of gamification. I fed it a glossary and it created a leveled jeopardy game for me within seconds. It still needed editing but it was a fun way to explore ‘levels’ of jargon associated with a unit. My next step is to get students to design their own three level jeopardy game using class terminology - as an output tool it was ‘ok’ - but as a prompt for students to do better it was a winner.

Thank you for reading! If you want to book me for a session to explore prompt engineering, pedagogy, ethics and play with AI, I’m only an email or phone call away!

And as a last wondering - Beyond Chat GPT - which AI tools are on your (current and likely to change any time) tick list?

And more reading from the OECD. Useful food for thought.

Visual Learning and Metaphor in the Classroom

This term I’ve been playing with visual learning and metaphor as a way to anchor students’ understanding about a new Achievement Standard in English (1.2 - Demonstrate understanding of specific aspects of studied texts). After exploring and explaining a ‘boat and anchor’ metaphor in class with quick sketches on the whiteboard, I took the time to draw it up as a published whiteboard on Canva so that students could ‘connect the dots’ and revise the key requirements of the task more easily.

Breaking things down into pictures is a way to reduce cognitive load and is also a way for students to connect with their learning beyond written instructions. Using images to support learning is a way to offer both scaffolding as well as differentiated learning opportunities. Using pictures to support words (or visuals to work alongside verbals) aligns with Dual Coding Theory which you can read more about here. The main principle is that retention and memory is enhanced by offering pictures as well as words. Applying a UDL lens, pictographic representations are also useful supports for students with dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism and can make learning more ‘universally’ engaging.

Application of metaphor

The boat metaphor I used in this instance was a way to discuss the importance of tying an observation about aspects of a text to the author’s purpose, to the theme and to draw attention to the fact that the ‘treasure’ of this learning is exploring a personal response. This was a useful mataphor because it helped students to understand that naming a technique and giving an example of it is like pushing a boat out onto the water - it will float away if it is not anchored to anything. The examples need to be linked together (like a chain), the boat needs to be anchored to the author’s purpose (why is it there in the first place) - but also that the ‘real treasure’ is our own responses and thinking about the ideas or themes in the text.

I used the metaphor of a boat and anchor ‘chain’ as a way to explain that examples need to be linked together for their writing to be convincing. If students zoom into the chain, they can see that it is also likened to a venn diagram in order to show diagrammatically that the connection between aspects and how they work together is where the magic happens. By recreating the anchor metaphor in Canva, I was also able to add explainer post its at each section of the image for students to zoom in and out to - depending on how much support they needed. In this way the visual whiteboard works as a differentiated learning tool too.

VIsual learning is away to present complex information in a more memorable way. My interest has been in whether or not this way of presenting learning is ‘actually helpful’ or if it is a waste of time. As it turns out, verbal feedback from the students indicates that it ‘is really helpful’ and I have noticed that they are able to talk about ‘anchoring’ their ideas to the author’s purpose. It also has served as a way for students to know that the ‘treasure’ is the most important part and that they need to explore different ways of connecting to a text in order to have a justified personal response. From a numbers standpoint, when I look at ‘click through’ analytics or observe how many students are ‘in the board’ each lesson (and out of class time), this has been a quick indication that presenting learning visually is something that the students are keen to engage with.

Targeting asynchronous delivery

I ended up extending the whiteboard canvas in Canva to summarise the other key documents that are already loaded to the Learning Management System. Where information was new, I added a ‘NEW’ sticker and drew their attention to it in class and on the class stream (live feed) to ensure that students who had been away would not miss the notification. I also screenshot the board and reposted it to the stream to indicate ‘where’ on the map there might be updates to check out. The benefit of the visual map as a way to present learning is that the students can ‘explore’ all of the resources in one place and have a better understanding of how they fit together through the process of exploration (active learning) and they also don’t need a tab open for every document.

Addressing Challenges with Google Classroom

Google Classroom can be a frustrating conduit for learning..There is limited functionality as far as how resources can be presented to students. The list view has limited iconographic or colour-coding functionality and I am constantly guiding students how to find things even when there are clear titles because the headings alone are what distinguishes one resources from another. Students seem to waste so much time clicking in and out and around to find documents. By presenting hyperlinks to the key resources within the Canva whiteboard, I am able to streamline the ‘purpose’ of each doc with explainer notes. Similarly, students can ‘see’ what they are about to click on before they click into it.

A major benefit of visual learning is how complex information can be presented in a more memorable way. Finding a metaphor and using visual aid is a useful way to present multiple steps or share pieces of a bigger project. Using a whiteboard is also an engaging way for students to zoom in and review/pick a path and explore class materials as well as supporting information or explanatory notes without needing multiple tabs open to organise their exploration.

Visual learning and using visual aids can also make it easier for students to process and remember information. Additionally, the use of metaphor can also improve memory retention so that students can visually re-trace connections by remembering parts of an image. Further, presenting material visually and/or with metaphor is a more inclusive way to present information because it can so easily include iconographic supports.

Trials and Tweaks

If I were to use this particular canvas again, I might make it more linear rather than ‘scattered’ or I might potentially number sections or use more arrows to indicate flow and progressions. In this instance and as an initial experiment, this map was built alongside students and added to incrementally to build on synchronous and collaborative learning in class. As a tool, the students were already familiar with the boat/anchor metaphor so the board served them like a revision tool. If it were a stand-alone tool that I needed students to explore on their own, I might need to scaffold the pathways a bit more clearly.

Canva whiteboards are a fun way to present a lot of information in a visual way. An important note is that this visual learning/mapping tool is presented ‘as well as’ the list view within Google Classroom rather than ‘instead of’. It is also an optional way to explore materials and is not a ‘must’ for students who prefer more traditional delivery methodology.

Miro is another great whiteboard tool with a few more embed functions that Canva hasn’t got yet (although it needs a paid account). As a note, my Canva account is an education account and the hyperlinking of docs is a workaround to try to get some of the functionality of the Miro ‘embed PDF’ option that I like. (Just as an FYI). I have found that you can embed video and powerpoints/slideshows relatively easily within Canva too.

And that’s my picture.

What do you think? How might you use more visual learning tools or metaphors in the classroom?

Further reading:

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

Visual Thinking - podcast by Temple Grandin

Differetiation, does, in fact, work

Quick read on Mnemonics and why they work

Best Practice and Burnout

I have recently returned to the classroom after working as a consultant and advisor for the last three years. Working in the private sector and working for the Ministry of Education more recently has offered me some fantastic opportunities to refine my understanding of what ‘best practice’ looks like. The ‘ideal state’ of optimal curriculum linking, deliberate use of data, systematic planning, agentic learning experiences, literacy/numeracy rich task design, critical thinking and 21st Century ‘make the pie’ pedagogy is my goal and this has been my active lens for advising teachers with ways to be better practitioners. Of course the ideal state is the goal - but there is a big but… let me explain.

Smilingly teaching on the outside, but on the inside, teachers are overloaded and suffering from incentivitis.

Being in the classroom is a humbling reality check. No change is a quick change and there are no ‘quick fixes’ for embedded teacher, learner (and leader) habits.

On the ground and knowing the ideal state lends itself to a bit of a panicked scramble. Where are the systems? What is the pedagogy? Where is the agency? Why is this not aligned to the curriculum? Where is the literacy? Where is the digital fluency? Where is the culture of collaboration? (So many questions!) When you know what best practice looks like (in the classroom and beyond the classroom, in management systems, in school-wide systems, in leadership styles etc), it can feel like a veritable swamp. We come home exhausted trying to fix so many things. So this is where a reality check needs to come into play.

Because best practice can be a perfectionist pedagogist’s undoing.

For me (on a personal level), I can see so many things that need to change - yet I need to remember that all change needs time and consistency to be effective. Also, I am one human. Further, I am one human who also has a family life and a ‘parent hat’ to put on as well as ‘partner hat’ and a ‘friend hat’ etc. To dedicate ALL of my time to the pursuit of excellence in all areas is commendable - but realistically not possible. I have to admit my human fallibility.

The first step is to take stock of the things we can change. We can add some systems to our classrooms. We can schedule student interviews. We can target specific data with our planning. We can reflect on our lesson sequences and look for ways to tweak them to be better for next time. We can give our students more opportunities to be critical thinkers and agentic learners. We can give them more opportunities to create with technology. Most importantly, We CAN strive for best practice - but we need to do it incrementally.

One thing that I have found particularly useful is using padlet as a kanban for next steps. Breaking down my big picture ideas into smaller chunks is a sanity saver. I still have my ideal state in mind and I can add small tasks to my kanban that will allow me to make incremental steps towards the end goal. (Check out my previous blog post about ‘The Kaizen Classroom’).

An example: For scaffolding the skills the students need for making good learning decisions daily is: Create a visual map of the lesson, print as a poster, get button magnets for showing where we are up to, design reflection activities for decision-making, create opportunities for decision-making, design survey for student voice, track engagement using Schoolytics (a handy plugin you can use with Google Classroom), trial, reflect, tweak.

An example of my ‘making good decision’ classroom road map. It is a useful way to chunk a lesson into clear sections and students have a ‘pick a path’ opportunity to explore different activities to anchor or apply their learning.

The burnout phenomenon among teachers is very real indeed. Teachers have ‘incentivitis’ and are constantly shifting and adapting to meet the requirements of new incentives. PLD funding is limited, effective PLD is hard to find (I can help with this) and time to implement actionable steps post-PLD is rarer still. It is no wonder that New Zealand’s education system is in a state of crisis.

So what is the solution?

Best practice needn’t be a pie in the sky that is unachievable. The truth is that if you are making small steps towards ‘better’ practice then this is something that should be noticed and rewarded. The solution is that we need to maintain a best practice vision and keep stepping towards it.

• Keep a diary of ‘small steps’ that you can take in order to inch closer to the best practice model that you have in mind.

• Determine what best practice actually looks like for you - what is most important?

• Notice what key actions you have tried and keep a record of the steps

• Use a Kanban to track your progress (‘Doing’ cards can be shifted to the ‘Done’ pile)

• Share the load with others - collaboration is a great way to reduce your workload

• Share failures as well as successes - what not to do is sometimes just as useful to know as what to do OR you might be able to troubleshoot better strategies together

• Don’t give up on what best practice can be

• Connect with others with a similarly optimistic vision for education (There are so many naysayers and fixed mindset people who cloud the vision for change. Avoid them.)

If you know what best practice looks like and then look around and feel like it ‘too far a star’ then look for a ‘near star’ marker to head to first. If you feel overwhelmed, swamped and depressed about the status quo, you need to remember that striving for better is possible - but also that it will take time.

Assess where you are at. Make a mark. Point to your far star and start marching there one step at a time. Don’t give up.

• If you have a ‘far star’ in mind as a teacher or as a leader, let’s connect to formulate an achievable action plan together.

The Pineapple Leader - and why leadership theory needs something more juicy

I recently bought a colleague some merino pineapple socks as an end of year gift. They were hot pink with bright yellow pineapples on them. When reflecting on what to write on the accompanying card, I wanted to say things like, ‘keep doing what you are doing’ (we have been involved in a big change initiative together) and ‘don’t be afraid to stand out’ even if your ideas are not popular’. Then it occurred to me - actually the pineapple says this all by itself.

Maybe we need a leadership model shake up? So here’s my fruity solution - be a pineapple leader.

A pineapple leader is a useful metaphor for reframing effective leadership because it combines the leadership models of servant leadership, pedagogical leadership, social and emotional/empathy driven leadership. A pineapple leader is authentic, adaptive, strong, sweet and charismatic.

Using metaphor to reframe and reimagine solutions is one of my favourite things to do. Metaphor can be such a powerful reframing device because it ignites innovative and divergent thinking, forces new thinking about old ideas and connects seemingly unrelated concepts to birth fresh ideas. So thinking about pineapples (not socks) and leadership has allowed me to come up with a new and fresh model for leadership.

What is a pineapple leader? Let’s explore.

• A pineapple is a fusion of many things

  Did you know that a pineapple fruit is a fusion of over 200 individual flowers? A good leader needs to be a fusion/melting pot for a collective voice. A great pineapple leader should listen well, take many ideas and be able to assimilate them into a clear vision and a clear and strategic plan.

• A pineapple is sweet

  A great leader needs to leave a good taste in one’s mouth (as it were). Hard conversations need to be mana-enhancing and strengths focused so that the direction is ‘how might we do better at?’ rather than focusing on the negative (sour) aspects of ‘look at how bad we are at…’ A pineapple leader is an optimist who multiplies others’ strengths.

• A pineapple has a natural crown

  A pineapple leader knows that they are a leader and they do not need a shiny crown to display to the world to show it. Their crown is a part of their anatomy - it is just there, worn with pride but not affected because it occurs naturally. A pineapple does not draw attention to their points of difference or feel a need to ‘pull authority’. A pineapple leader embraces the pineapple crown as something that is part of who they are, and a part of what they do every day. They show up every day and they are the same person every day - leading humbly without actively seeking recognition.

• A pineapple has a strong centre

  The core of a pineapple is not necessarily they yummy part when you are preparing pineapples to be eaten - but it is still a very important part of the fruit’s anatomy. For a pineapple leader, it is important that the core is strong and that the values are always aligned to the mission and vision. The core holds the pineapple up. Strong leaders need a strong core to hold true to a shared purpose.

• Pineapples have tough skin

  Resilience is a trait that all leaders need. Have you ever known someone to take a critique of a system or process and take it personally? A visionary pineapple leader recognises that they are part of a system and that their role is as a guide on the side who can take critique graciously and see it as an opportunity to improve the working/learning environment.

• Pineapples can be served in different ways

  If you try to purchase pineapple at the supermarket you can find it whole, cut into chunks, sliced into rings and even crushed in a can. A great pineapple leader can differentiate and repackage solutions to meet the needs of the end user. They are empathetic and tune in to different modes of communication. Rings for whole team communication and segments for regular one-on-ones to keep relationships and individual connections both positive and strong. A pineapple leader’s team feels heard and seen and knows that they will be worked with in a way that works for them. (UDL)

• A pineapple’s crown creates more pineapples

  A pineapple leader can share ideas and plant them for others to grow into. Just like a pineapples’ crown can be planted to eventually grow into a new plant, the thoughts and innovations of a pineapple leader should be seeking to grow more leaders long term. The pineapple leader will never need to lead alone if they grow capability in their team.

• Pineapples take time to ripen

  I learned recently that a pineapple plant may take 18-24 months to ripen. Great projects also take time and a pineapple leader can see into the future and provide steps that carry a project through the first six months and beyond with a clever cyclical and strategic plan for meaningful change. A pineapple leader knows that good things take time and that change can be created as a strong collective by building other leaders around them. Change making can be a slow burn - but the results can be so sweet. A pineapple leader know this.

• Pineapples aid digestion

  Digestion is ultimately just a good human system of converting something into energy, identifying waste and eliminating it. ‘Good digestion’ means that a pineapple leader can design good systems. They can identify the energy areas, cull the muda/waste and support a team to be able to do their work feeling supported to function as well as they can. A pineapple leader can reduce stress in this way by removing distractions and constantly seeking ways to create continuous flow.

• Pineapples are versatile

  I once stumbled upon a Kenny Rogers cookbook sponsored by Dole Pineapple and we laughed at ‘all of the ways’ that pineapple could be used. Savoury, sweet, barbecued, fried, raw… you name it, it can be done with a pineapple. A pineapple leader is flexible and agile - adaptive and approachable. And although some people can’t stand pineapple on pizza - pineapple can be served in so many other ways that the pizza naysayers won’t miss out on pineapple in some form or other. A pineapple leader knows that not all people like pineapple, and they can adapt their delivery to provide leadership nutrition in a personalised and differentiated way to suit different palettes and preferences. A pineapple leader does not do one-size-fits-all.

  So there you go. A pineapple is an enlightening metaphor for reframing good leadership. What do you think?

  The traits of a pineapple leader summarised again for you are:

• is a good listener

• is an optimist

• is ‘naturally crowned’ and humble

• has strong values

• demonstrates resilience

• is empathetic

• uses thought leadership to sow seeds for others

• is strategy-oriented

• designs effective systems to reduce load for others

• is overall agile and versatile

  Ready to embark on your journey to becoming a pineapple leader? How might you become more of a pineapple leader in your industry?

Stock image of a pineapple wearing cool sunglasses looking cool, calm, collected and pretty sweet overall.

Notes on Engineering Flow

I’m exploring what flow looks like and how it can be engineered as a therapeutic tool and ‘bucket filler’ for wellbeing as well as a mode for enhancing engagement. Here are some notes on how the state of flow can be engineered for optimal learning experiences.

These days life is so busy. We are constantly tuned in, listening, viewing, filtering and processing information at a tremendous rate. As a consequence stillness and the ability to tune in to oneself in is being lost in the mess of life. Screens, billboards, traffic, office noise, classroom noise, schedules, lists, expectations (especially at this time of year just before Christmas) make it even more important to make space for a more mindful approach to learning and working.

Flow is a state coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He describes "flow" as a state of optimal experience where individuals are fully immersed in an activity, feeling a sense of energised focus, enjoyment, and fulfillment. In order to engineer a state of flow in a learning arena, we have to anticipate things that might break the flow and we need to design an activity that is neither too difficult nor too easy. (This tunes into Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development too). On the surface, designing this kind of learning experience seems easy enough - but there are layers to it that need to carefully considered in order to engineer an optimum experience.

We need to differentiate. What might be hard for one might be too easy for another so in the anticipation phase of learning design we therefore need to predict how to extend more advanced participants and enable those who might be struggling.

We need to anticipate breaks to the flow. What might go wrong? How might learning be interrupted? How can we minimise disruption and ensure that learning stays in a state of flow?

The benefits of flow in learning design are immense. Here are a few positive outcomes of engineering flow from a triangulated filter - from a learning design perspective, from an art therapy perspective and from a mindfulness/improving wellbeing perspective.

Benefits of engineering learning design to optimise flow are:

1. Increased engagement

2. Optimised productivity

3. Improved sense of wellbeing

4. Sense of timelessness (it’s always so rewarding when people want to keep going when time is up)

5. Sense of connection (if designing a collaborative flow experience)

6. Focus and awareness of the importance of process over product (agile methodology in action)

7. Increased awareness of learning as an experience/journey and not an end point

8. Increased mastery of skills

So how did all this come into play in my Flow State workshop? I used an ‘predict/anticipate, launch, explore, discuss’ model for experiential learning and here are some notes:

1. Prediction/Anticipation

   What might the learners need to succeed?

   I knew that the students would find it hard to focus for a long period of time so I set a timer and displayed it visually. I also prepared the resources ahead of time so that learning could be entered easily in the ‘launch’ phase. In this instance, I pre-drew the circles for the [personal mandala] activity because I knew that using compasses and identifying the centre of a circle might cause confusion and put the activity into the ‘too hard basket’ before we began. I also pre-marked the centres of the circles with a cross to indicate quarters and I checked that the students understood the concept of symmetry. Jargon check, learning outcomes check, barriers check, UDL check.

   What might strugglers need to be scaffolded?

   In my resource kete I also had images of variations of the finished product so that participants could see what kinds of patterns might be used. I actually held these back today as the students didn’t need it. (Also, I’ve found that often when you offer an exemplar students will emulate the exemplar rather than designing and exploring their own process).

   What materials might they require to support them?

   The anticipation phase is also important - what actions do we expect participants to be able to perform? What do they need in terms of environment and materials? Another aspect of the anticipation phase for the flow experience activity was providing a range of media. I provided different types of coloured pencils, pencils, felt tips and ink pens for exploration. Pencil sharpeners and ways to sharpen without leaving the table were also provided (getting up to sharpen a pencil can be a really dumb way to break flow needlessly).

   How might learners be extended?

   I had planned to add a sensory and psychology of colour/colour theory reflection exercise. This could be adopted as a take home worksheet or I might yet adapt it to flow state workshop 2.

2. Launch

   In the launch phase I gave a brief overview of the history of mandalas, what they are for, the magic macro/micro aspects of them with examples from the real world and how they can be used to tune in to the process of drawing. Once all of the students knew what to do I could let them go for it. The launch phase needs to be ‘what are we going to do, how are we going to do it and how will we know when we are done’ (in a nutshell).

3. Explore

   In the explore phase it’s important not to interrupt them. There needs to be no rules and full freedom to explore. Just drawing (or making or designing or brainstorming whatever the workshop needs). Just exploring. For this phase, I also provided a soundtrack of rainforest meditation low-key soundscape so that there were no rhythmic or lyrical distractions and all of the materials were shareable and within reach. Get. Stuck. In. Gloriously.

4. Summarise/Discuss

   At the end (indicated by a visual timer), we returned to conversation about how the activity went. What did we discover? What did we learn? How easy/hard was it to focus? What decisions did you make? How are those interesting or different to what you might have expected? (Etc.)

   The work of the facilitator is to explore questions to follow up with in the explore phase too… the product or the outcome is not the focus - the reflection on the process is.

The results of true flow in action are always different. Do the students have an increased sense of wellbeing? Yes. Have they explored discovery learning as a process? Yes. Have they had an opportunity to learn on their own in a parallel play environment? Yes. Is it energising? Yes. Is it fun? Yes.

In the artistry of learning design, engineering experiences to maximise flow states can be transformative for participants and the benefits of recognising the flow state and knowing how to get there again can be exponentially advantageous.

Ready to boost wellbeing and make learning more impactful by maximising flow in your organisation? Let's make it happen! Book me for a fun and impactful workshop.

• Flow-State Playground Workshop (for businesses)

  Transform your leadership style through a playful and interactive experience in a Flow-State Playground Workshop. Leaders from all backgrounds will explore the principles of flow through expertly engineered activities designed to enhance decision-making, foster innovation, and strengthen team dynamics. Participants will leave equipped to inspire and guide their teams to peak performance, all while having fun exploring a variety of playful activities. Contact me for session timing and pricing. studio@katrinawardcreative.com

• Flowcraft Playdate - (for teachers and parents)

  Explore the pedagogy of engineering flow state learning experiences to optimise engagement, improve communication and target wellbeing. Two hour workshop or Full day workshop. Contact me for pricing. studio@katrinawardcreative.com
  

Quest setting to drive engagement

Setting a quest is like planning for a good road trip. You need a crew, you need someone with a map and you need to know where the pit stops are going to be along the way. You need a destination , you need a compass and you need ‘a mission’ so that you can co-design how to get there.

I’ve been experimenting with quests in my learning design in 2023. I’ve helped to design vast landscapes with rabbitholes for online learning modules and created icon summaries of journeys to give learners clear ‘where are we going’ and ‘when are we stopping’ briefs. As a way to design a week’s worth of self-directed learning, I’ve also played with road maps and quests so that learners can track their path and mark off their pit stops in a ‘pick a path’ version of pull learning using Google Classroom as the supporting LMS.

Setting quests can revolutionise a learning experience. Under the guise of a story, learners can ‘choose their own adventure’ and consequently have more buy in - which leads to more engagement. Pairing a learning quest with clear learning outcomes and checklists (or progress bars), also means that learners can track their own progress as well as easily share it with you. As a result, you can identify learners who might be stuck, off track or on a different personal mission entirely.

The benefits of setting quests are:

• increased motivation and participation

• a sense of collaborative and shared purpose

• a way to self-direct and monitor achievement

• a fun way to pitch a learning mission

• a way to use metaphor as a gamification strategy

• an easy way to differentiate and jigsaw activities

• visible learning pathways

In a school classroom context you can set a learning quest by figuring out what the learning outcomes are for the week and then aligning the outcomes to a landscape or iconographic journey metaphor. You can then hyperlink activities (like a choices board) or give clear titles that correlate to another supporting resource or LMS. Within the map design, you can signal ‘treachery’ and ‘skill level’ so that learners can choose to enter into a ‘hard learning zone’ as they progress throughout the week. As a part of the design, you can also offer rest stops (brain breaks), teacher check-ins, whole class or individual work sprints and even ‘rabbit hole’ deliberate detours. From a student perspective, they receive a mission and a timeframe and they then can explore the map and embark on their own learning journey to achieve at their own pace - even potentially reordering activities to suit themselves.

In a workshop (as well as in a classroom) context, learning quests can be a fun way to differentiate by skill level. If you are tired or your brain is at capacity, we recommend you rest here at this resting spot - but if you are an expert adventurer ready for something more challenging, then let’s keep going to explore this peak and see what’s on the other side…

From a facilitation standpoint, the quest makes differentiation and agentic (choice, pace and voice in learning) learning easier to implement. Tied to journeying metaphors, setting quests can give you a framework to leave people at different spots along the way - and it can provide a way to consciously go back to pick them all up later. Even when traveling on different paths, learners can all still arrive at the final destination to debrief.

In a recent workshop, I provided a metaphorical road with pictures as a map or quest for the day. Each icon on the side of the road was a reminder for me to ‘cover’ a key element - and like a tour guide pointing at things as we pass them by, it served extremely well as a visual checklist. Participants liked how they could ‘see’ where their learning was going, as well as where breaks etc were going to be. (Every person ever wants to know when morning tea and lunch times will be…).

Another case study from 2023 was experimenting with a Social Studies class (year 10) and gently scaffolding them into doing week-long quests. In the beginning a single lesson quest felt new and was a different style of learning than what they were used to (they were used to more teacher-directed and synchronous learning). It was so rewarding when I eventually could provide the class with a mission on a Monday and then see them working on different tasks throughout the week to complete the quest. The ‘whole class quiz’ was clearly marked on the map so that they knew we would join together for one session - but the rest of the time they worked independently while I tracked their progress in real time (hanging out and working with them around the room) as well utilising on an online tracking system where the students coloured in a cell of a spreadsheet when each task was completed. Students knew what they had to do for the week and just arrived and continued where they had left off.

New technologies are only going to make it easier to create meaningful learning quests. Some tools that I’ve had a lot of fun playing with this year are: Padlet (I love the gifs personally and the ‘shelf’ layout with clear headings makes it easy for learners to navigate), Canva (for map design and journey metaphor making), Miro (or any other expansive whiteboard tool), and Jamboard (for scratch off interactivity and asynchronous brainstorming). But the process of delivering a learning quest doesn’t have to be digital - I’ve just enjoyed playing with how different tools can be used together to enhance engagement and self-directed learning.

Quest setting isn’t new - here is a useful article with some other tool recommendations as well as a reiteration of the usefulness of the ‘side quest’ for fast finishers or more able learners. Quests can also be leveled up by adding an edularp element and here are some more ideas.

This is an example of one of the first quests I set. This image was supported with hyperlinked resources that ended in a game design formative assessment. Note the ‘time out to read the news’ pit stop - feeding into awareness of current affairs for the weekly quiz.

Quests don’t need to be fancy infographics. Successful workshop quests can easily be run with a handy whiteboard marker and a drawing of a learning pit or road map on the board. Add some symbols for key learning and places to ‘check off’ before coming out the other side and ‘hey presto!’ you have a simple learning quest to play with.

Quest setting is an invitation to reimagine education as an adventure. Workshops and learning experiences can be so much more than passive sessions and when teacher-centric facilitation is omitted, learners end up with more one-on-one support. A quest-setting approach gives participants an opportunity to become active protagonists in their own learning odyssey. Why not let learners choose their own adventure?

P.S. If you're looking for support to design a quest, someone to deliver an immersive story-based learning experience, or to help you to reimagine your existing content as a captivating quest, I’m just an email away.

Hold please, caller. What real learning looks like.

Noisy classroom. Kids out of seats. Animated conversations. Kids drawing on whiteboards. Kids exploding out into the hall. So loud! Enough!

But wait.

Take a closer look: students are discussing measurement, others are tinkering with motors to prototype a powered hat design, someone is researching portable solar panels, someone else is designing in Tinkercad and there are drawings and diagrams and things being tweaked and thought about everywhere you look.

I always look forward to this bit. This is the bit when you see that learners have 'earned their stripes as learners’ and that they know how to learn. They are finding things out, they are tinkering, they are thinking, they are wondering out loud and they are problem-solving.

The launching pad for this was a ‘think tank’ unit exploring the history of Aotearoa’s taonga, early trade and enterprise, the history of New Zealand inventors and entrepreneurs, critical analysis of Shark Tank pitches and exploration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Now it is the students’ turn to come up with something useful, something that services a need, something that targets a sustainable development goal, and something that they can pitch to (albeit pretend) ‘sharks’. They have two weeks to work through the empathising, defining, ideating, designing, prototyping and testing phases.

Design Thinking is a process that opens up so much potential for students. When explored thoroughly, the empathy stage opens up problems to solve that were there all along. The ‘goldilocks’ card sheds real light on problems (see my emptahy deck). We can walk in someone else’s shoes and really think and feel what they are thinking and feeling - and as a consequence, we can design new and improved solutions to actually make the world better.

Maybe it is this part that is the most rewarding - the idea that we can make the world better. The actual asking of ‘how can we make the world better?’ and the actual belief that ‘we can make the world better.’ But actually, this part IS so rewarding. I can stand back and watch, observe the noise and the ‘real and beautiful chaos of learning’ and see that they are all immersed in their learning. The noise is the good kind.

“It is such a loud class today,” said one student. “I know,” I replied. “Because look, everyone is into it.”

So, when at first glance it looks like ‘all noise and boisterousness’ and something that needs to be controlled, stopped or silenced - look closer. Hold please, caller. Don’t step in and stop it. Embrace it. It is what learning looks like.

The Kaizen Classroom - Teach, Tweak, Repeat.

One small tweak here, one small tweak there - imagine the difference that you might make over the course of a day, a week, a term… a year?

While designing some ‘stacking starter’ activities this year, I have been thinking about how the first five minutes of a class are the ‘golden moment’ to set the tone of the class, invite them into the learning and engage with the content. If you think about our students as users and apply some UX (user experience design), we need to be mindful that they have been tuned in to different teachers and different environments in a fairly relentless cycle before they get to us. So what can we do to make it welcoming, engaging, and exciting? I have been thinking about this a lot - and beyond the first five minutes and the great power of an effective starter - the answer can be found in Kaizen.

Kaizen is the Japanese art of continuous improvement. James Clear talks about a version of it through a different lens when he writes about habit stacking (stacking a new habit onto another once the previous one is ingrained) in Atomic Habits and I think that habit stacking AND constant tweaking to seek continuous improvement has enormous potential in the classroom.

This term my focus has been on the ‘first five’ of classroom culture. Embracing the ‘DO NOW’, I have been playing with this space as a place to explore literacy (word games), ignite problem-solving and critical thinking (puzzles or problems to figure out as they come in), retention strategies (list five key words from last lesson), Agency (choose from the choice board) and journaling opportunities. I have used it as a space for agency with ‘This or That’ frames and as a place to specifically target 21st Century Skills and learning dispositions that sit ‘beside’ current learning objectives. So what does Kaizen have to do with it?

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, finding effective ways to enhance teaching methods and empower students is a perpetual goal. And as a perpetual goal, we need to be agile and constantly shifting in order to meet it effectively. Kaizen - the Japanese term that translates to "continuous improvement," is a way to think about what we are doing as a process and not a product. It is a useful way to think about how we can constantly tweak the dynamics of our learning environments. Teach. Tweak. Repeat. It even has a fun ring to it.

At the heart, Kaizen is the belief that small, incremental changes can lead to significant improvements over time. Similar to habit stacking (This is adding a new habit to an existing habit - like listening to a podcast while driving to work since driving to work is an existing habit and listening to a podcast is the new desired habit we ‘stack’ onto it), tiny wins can result in large victories over time. In the context of education, this means continually seeking ways to refine the way we deliver, present, and reflect on the ‘glorious messiness’ of teaching and learning.

The Kaizen Classroom - Key Steps:

1. Embrace a Growth Mindset:

   • If you try something once and fail that does not mean that it will never work. A growth mindset helps us to think about what the students were carrying with them into the lesson, what we (we are not devoid of our own baggage) were carrying into the lesson, and realising that a single attempt is not a finite attempt nor is it the end product. As teachers, we need to have a growth mindset and model as well as encourage the belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work and, in this case, reflective iteration.

2. Continuous Self-Reflection:

   • I have a ‘plus-minus interesting’ reflection log that I have been keeping in my planning book. I jokingly refer to it as ‘Tragedy/Comedy’ sometimes (Have you seen that Will Ferrel film Stranger than Fiction? It is one of my favourite films). I regularly reflect on what worked and didn’t work and look for ways to shift and change my delivery. Was it too hard? Was it too easy? Were the instructions unclear? Was my technology choice fit for purpose? I am never afraid to ask the students what they need more of or less of and to really tune in to what they tell me. Regular reflection on teaching methods and outcomes allows us to figure out small things we might change when we try again. (Notice - we - not me). We can identify areas to refine and improve, and be open to growing - even if it still doesn’t work in round two.

3. Small, Gradual Changes:

   • It takes a long time to turn a large ship. If we think about how students have experienced school, how they have experienced the world and what their expectations are for what learning should ‘look like’ - we would be unwise to give them too much to chew on for fear they might choke. Having said that, they can eat larger and larger pieces gradually. In a year 10 class (over a term) we have gone from the students ‘doing nothing’ when coming in to jumping straight in, knowing what they are learning and where they are up to, following a weekly quest (a map I make for them each week) and working collaboratively to find out about questions as they come up. This is a big win - but it wouldn’t be there without nine weeks of incremental baby steps. Over these nine weeks I have gradually released their expectation of me as ‘sage on stage’ and taught them the skills they need to navigate ‘trickier’ and ‘unchartered’ learning experiences. If we avoid drastic overhauls and instead focus on small, manageable adjustments, we can make meaningful change happen. Incremental changes applied carefully can lead to lasting improvements.

4. Student-Centric Approach:

   • An exit ticket that requires a bit of bravery to administer is, ‘What do you want less of?’ Asking students how learning has been/is going for them is vital for successful iteration. Is this map working for you? Do you think these instructions could be clearer? Would you prefer to be quizzed at the beginning or end of the week? Students are the end users of our learning design and we can tailor our teaching strategies to meet the diverse needs and learning styles of all students - even if it is just one baby step at a time. Kaizen helps us to deliver tiny improvements for every student.

5. Data-Driven Decision-Making:

   • Iterations can also target success criteria. Recently, a student told me that he couldn’t prepare for the Current Affairs Quiz each week because he didn’t have time to read the news. A tiny tweak to my planning now includes ‘news time’ to read the headlines as a starter activity (that golden first five). To top it off, this tiny tweak has prompted me to think about how I can offer a ‘media smorgasbord’ to gently push students to consider different sources of news. I am looking forward to sharing Future Crunch with them (an optimist’s news feed) and slipping in some lateral research skills. My next ‘This or That’ for them may now be ‘read the headlines’ but with the choices of two different global news websites or obviously biased sources. We can utilise data (like a student underperforming in a current affairs quiz) to inform the next incremental tweak to our teaching practice. Tiny weeny eeny meeny adjustments every day can lead to improved outcomes over time. Just because we plan something one way doesn’t mean it can’t be tweaked in the process of delivery in order to be more responsive.

6. Culture of Collaboration:

   • For Kaizen to have the most Bang for Buck, we should all be talking about what we are trying, what we are tweaking and what we are failing at. I love sharing ideas in the classroom and love the stories of things that haven’t worked as much just as much as I love hearing about techniques that have worked. Teach, tweak, repeat - imagine if we all shared our wins and losses with each other and how much faster our strength as a collective might grow. Effective communication and a culture of collaboration amongst staff can amplify the impact of Kaizen in the classroom to become a genuine culture of learning and innovation beyond single cell iterations.

Most measuring sticks are divided by little steps. We can learn from them too. Inch by inch…

Here are some ways that Kaizen can be used in teaching:

1. Lesson Planning: We can add tiny updates to incorporate new ideas, technologies, and teaching methods. What if we tried ‘one new thing’ each week?

2. Feedback Loops: How are we getting student voice regularly? We might tweak how we get feedback so that we can be more responsive to students’ experiences.

3. Professional Development: Kaizen also applies to professional development. Though perhaps not daily, - monthly, termly or annual reviews of practice can promote a culture of continuous improvement. Need someone? (Hello! Pick me!)

4. Classroom Environment: Make a tweak to the classroom environment or staff room each week. It could be a new quote for the wall, a new display or a new way of sharing learning outcomes. Small wins add up.

5. Target the first five: Like my examples above, maybe the first five minutes is a worthy space to focus your energy.

I have touched on the benefits of a Kaizen Classroom - and in a nutshell - the Kaizen Classroom is the belief that small wins can lead to big victories over time. Whether it is improved engagement, streamlined ‘openers’, less time wasted in transitions, more engagement and buy-in with assessments or better relationships - Kaizen is being responsive, adaptive and reflective in the pursuit of doing things better.

The journey of education is just as important as the destination. If it doesn’t work the first time, tweak it. Try again. Tweak it. Try again. Twerk it. Work it. Repeat. (Deliberate typo for fun). If we apply Kaizen principles to teaching, we are never settling for ‘this is how it is because it has always been like this’. No. We can do better. We can not only transform our classrooms one baby step at a time but we can also shape a brighter, bolder, braver future. What little thing might you do differently?

The Teaching Tree - Dive into the Archive

I have been happily blogging on my Wordpress ‘Teaching Tree’ Blog for years and, even though Squarespace says that I can import all of my content across to this website, I am yet to figure it out.

In the interim, this is a ‘satisficing’ measure - this blog can be window to all of the blogging and writing I have been doing over on my theteachingtree.blog

On my blog, you can find teaching tips and tricks, reflections on what works or why we need to try harder to make things work, general musings on pedagogy, poetry, an education manifesto and more.

This content is in the magic portal on its way over to this website but the time-space-time-life-reality continuum may cause some delays.