use learningstyles&communitiesofpracticeinclassroom.winona

Charissa Eaton

Oswald Shanalingigwa

Jay Palmer

Apply learning styles to increase student

learning

Utilize engaged pedagogy (service learning)

as a classroom strategy to support student

skill development and critical thinking.

Use “community of practice” as a

framework for classroom culture.

Previous definitions of intelligence were

limited to aspects that focused on success in

school

These definitions were empirically based

Gardner (1983) took a different direction in

examining a broader scope to define

intelligence including abilities related to the

arts

He is explicit that his work does not follow

the line of preexisting psychometric

instruments

Linguistic

Logical-Mathematical

Spatial

Bodily Kinesthetic

Musical

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Naturalist (Gardner, 1999)

Sensitivity to the sounds, rhythms, and

meanings of words; sensitivity to the

different functions of language

Learning

Think: in words

Love: reading, writing, telling stories, playing

word games

Need: books, writing tools, discussion, debate,

stories

Teaching Preparation

How can I use written or spoken word?

Sensitivity to, and capacity to discern,

logical or numerical patterns; ability to

reason well.

Learning

Think: in reasoning

Love: experimenting, questioning, figuring out

logical puzzles, calculating

Need: materials to experiment and manipulate


How can I bring in numbers, classifications, or

critical thinking skills?

The ability to perceive the visual-spatial

world accurately and to perform

transformations on these perceptions.

Learning

Think in images and pictures

Love: designing, drawing, visualizing, doodling

Need: art, videos, power points, puzzles,

illustrations


How can I use visual aides, visualization, color, or

art?

Abilities to control one’s body movements

and handle objects skillfully.

Learning

Think: through somatic sensations

Love: building, touching, gesturing

Need: role play, movement, tactile experiences,

hands on learning


How can I involve the whole body or hands on

experiences?

The capacity to perceive, discriminate,

transform, and express musical forms.

Learning

Think: via rhythms and melodies

Love: singing, humming, tapping feet/hands,

listening

Need: music playing, connecting content to song


How can I bring in music or sounds, or set key

points in a rhythmic or melody framework?

Capacities to discern and respond appropriately to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of other people.

Learning Think: by bouncing ideas off of other people

Love: leading, organizing, relating, mediating, partying

Need: friends, group games, community events, social gatherings

Teaching Preparation How can I engage students in peer sharing,

cooperative learning, or large-group simulation?

Access to one’s own feelings and the ability to

discriminate among them and draw upon them to

guide behavior; knowledge of one’s own

strengths, weaknesses, desires, and

intelligences.

Learning

Think: in relation to their needs, feelings, and goals

Love: setting goals, dreaming, planning, reflecting

Need: time alone, self-paced projects, choices


How can I evoke personal feelings or memories or give

students choices?

Expertise in recognition and classification of the numerous species (flora and fauna) of an individual’s environment including natural phenomena.

Learning

Think: through nature and natural forms

Love: working with animals, gardening, investigating nature, caring for the planet

Need: access to nature, opportunities for interacting with animals and nature


How can I incorporate living things, natural phenomena, or ecological awareness?

Armstrong (2000) developed the inventory

based on Gardner’s work

It is not a test…rather an inventory designed

to help learners connect to information

Not evaluated for reliability and validity

High

Interpersonal

219 out of 846 responses* (26%)

Bodily-Kinesthetic


Low

Logical-Mathematical


Naturalistic


* This is based on number of responses versus number of students as some students reported more than one high

category.

1. Identify as a professional social worker and conduct myself accordingly.

2. Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.

3. Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.

4. Engage diversity and difference in practice.

5. Advance human rights and social and economic justice.

6. Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.

7. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.

8. Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.

9. Respond to the ever changing organizational, community, and societal contexts by using knowledge and skill to respond proactively.

10. Conduct the engagement process with clients.

11. Conduct assessments of clients.

12. Conduct interventions with clients.

13. Conduct evaluations of client progress.

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Lower Upper

PreQ1 - PostQ1 -1.13208 1.09610 .10646 -1.34317 -.92098 -10.634 105 .000

PreQ2 - PostQ2 -.79048 1.00666 .09824 -.98529 -.59566 -8.046 104 .000

PreQ3 - PostQ3 -.61682 1.05191 .10169 -.81844 -.41521 -6.066 106 .000

PreQ4 - PostQ4 -.68224 .99620 .09631 -.87318 -.49131 -7.084 106 .000

PreQ5 - PostQ5 -.79439 1.03467 .10002 -.99270 -.59608 -7.942 106 .000

PreQ6 - PostQ6 -1.16822 1.18549 .11461 -1.39544 -.94101 -10.193 106 .000

PreQ7 - PostQ7 -.78505 1.09051 .10542 -.99406 -.57603 -7.447 106 .000

PreQ8 - PostQ8 -1.22642 1.04456 .10146 -1.42758 -1.02525 -12.088 105 .000

PreQ9 - PostQ9 -1.12264 1.08411 .10530 -1.33143 -.91386 -10.662 105 .000

PreQ10 - PostQ10 -1.07619 4.20781 .41064 -1.89051 -.26188 -2.621 104 .010

PreQ11 - PostQ11 -1.52381 1.30159 .12702 -1.77570 -1.27192 -11.996 104 .000

PreQ12 - PostQ12 -1.50962 1.32192 .12963 -1.76670 -1.25253 -11.646 103 .000

PreQ13 - PostQ13 -1.43269 1.23669 .12127 -1.67320 -1.19219 -11.814 103 .000

“Professional SW and conduct myself accordingly: I take this very seriously. I do feel that the ORC visits allowed me to improve professionalism. Conduct assessments: I definitely feel that I have improved due to the ORC visits. I experienced 3 different visits in which I had to have a conversation (assess) with workers. This required me to be flexible and open-minded when asking particular question, e.g. open vs. closed-ended. “

“Diversity-just being able to work with a group of people who are not the same as me. Engagement- I feel a lot more comfortable talking to clients I do not know. “

“Throughout this past semester at ORC I feel my evaluation and assessment skills have really progressed. Through talking with our ORC clients I have really felt like I have grown in these areas. ORC provided great life like interviewing situations that I feel will translate into a social work career. “

“Engagements and Assessment- I think that I am still developing skills to be interactive and engage with the client population, out of my own fear of, or more feeling unprepared to effectively help others. I think initially visiting the ORC was a huge step out of my comfort zone, however with practically being forced to go to the ORC definitely helped guide me in the right direction.”

“Applying social work ethical practices. I feel as if I have a lot to learn about ethical practices. Critical thinking, I feel as if I have to practice those social work skills more in setting like ORC. It is a good start for me!”

“I am a little worried about all the ethical obligations social workers must incorporate in the field. Luckily, I feel that I will learn as I go and as long as I keep an open mind that I’ll be fine. ”

In an exhaustive review of the social work

literature on using service learning, Lemieux

and Allen (2007) found that that there was a

poor conceptualization of service learning

within the discipline.

Service learning is not:

Volunteer work

Internships (parctica)

We use Bringle and Hatcher’s (1996)

definition of service learning:

We view service learning as credit bearing

educational experience in which students

participate in an organized service activity, that

meets identified community needs and reflect on

the service activity in such a way as to gain

further understanding of the course content a

broader appreciation of the discipline and an

enhanced sense of service responsibility (p. 222).

Service learning places equal emphasis on

three outcomes:

Student learning

Service to the community

The development of mutually respectful

relationships between students and the

communities in which they are engaged

(Lemieux and Allen, 2007)

Service learning has the potential to address

several faculty concerns:

Lack of interest in macro social work courses

such as policy, community and organizational

practice, and research.

Students tolerate rather than integrate content

into practice.

Access to diverse populations.

(Sather, Weitz,& Carlson, 2007)

Benefits student learning Critical thinking

Problem solving

Academic learning

Personal and moral development

leadership

Social responsibility

cultural understanding

commitment to service

satisfaction with college

Increased feeling of competence

(Lemieux and Allen, 2007)

Social Work Practice with Individuals:

Community education project

Social Work Practice with Communities:

Various projects

Social Work Research:

Various community projects

Social Work Policy Analysis:

Election judge project

Multicultural Issues:

Refugee resettlement project

Multicultural Issues (SOCW 355) and

Community Organizing (SOCW 415) classes

represent an intentional and strategic

partnership between WSU and Community

Partners. Through collaborative initiatives,

the two classes provide opportunities for

students to bridge their own learning and

living experiences.

The classes promote students participation in

forms of active learning that extend beyond

the traditional classroom.

The course introduces students to a life-long learning process in the development of cultural competent social work practice

Multicultural Issues class has been devoted to engaged-learning strategy in which all of the class objectives are learned by working on projects with Catholic Charities Refuges Resettlement Program

Students put classroom skills and knowledge into practice while serving refugees and the community.

The educational skill is to combine civic involvement with academic coursework in a way that benefits both the students and refugee/community

Student are well informed about the course and partnership with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program.

(a) A speaker from Catholic Charities attends and participates in our first and second class

(b) Students participate into two events organized by Catholic Charities for raising awareness

(c) Students participates in two literacy classes with refugees

(d) Students participate in other activities e.g assisting refugees to attend appointments, applying for jobs, finding resources and during the citizen day etc.

Students are challenged to create, complete

and present a creative service learning

project. A service learning project should

reflect significant on-site community

involvement intentionally linked to the

course content.

The service is for the purpose of community

engagement, learning and experience is

mutually beneficial to community partners

and students.

“We as a group brain stormed different ideas and then

finally came up with the idea of a garage sale. The idea of

a garage sale was perfect because it not only included the

community but gave us an opportunity to educate the

school and community about Catholic Charities Refugee

Resettlement Program.”

“Educating the community and the school as a whole

was one of the most important things that Catholic

Charities wanted us to do. This whole experience was

challenging, moving and inspirational. I knew that we could

hold this garage sale and educate people at the same time, but

this was a huge success because we did raise over $800.”

Providing Services:

“My group was in charge of the garage sale held at

RCTC on Friday, April 23. Overall, I think this was a

great project. We were successful in creating

awareness in our community, raising money for the

program, and donating the leftover merchandise to

the Salvation Army.”

Welcome Baskets: “By being assigned this project not

only did I learn things regarding a population that I

really didn’t know that much about, I was also able to

give to others through this project. I feel that giving to

others our time and resources makes us grow as a

person. I chose to do the welcome baskets because I

liked the idea of welcoming others into our community

especially those who have already suffered harshly, the

idea of bringing a little comfort to others was appealing

to me. I can only imagine what things would be like if

all members of society practiced random acts of

kindness on a regular basis.”

“THE GARAGE SALE”! “I had a great opportunity to grow and

work together to make this even huge. We had advertised and

collected donations from anyone who would listen to this story of

need. I have to say, this education was equally as important to

those who attended the event as it was for us. We had learned

already that there was a need and we committed ourselves to work

as hard as we could to help this need. However, more importantly,

we were able to educate and open people’s eyes to a community of

refugees. Most people have a hard time understanding that

immigrants are not all illegal. I myself was able to advocate for a

change in thinking and better understanding. To me, that was the

greatest gift.”

This class is organized in a way that engaged-learning provides an

arena where students work in a professional capacity with

community organizations, their peers and the instructor of the

course.

Through the course, students in groups of five to seven are

challenged to identify a community need and a community partner

to address the need

The students are actively involved with a community partner and

the community involved with students.

Through community –engaged learning (experiential learning)

students are able to integrate hands-on practice and thoughtful

reflections. Through active engagement with local communities,

we try to build an increasingly inclusive and supportive community

at WSU

Student benefit by getting experience and academic credits, while

the community benefits in form of services, materials and money.

Neighborhood Watch: The neighborhood of First Avenue North-East in Rochester, Minnesota -partnership with Rochester Police & NE community

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is a comprehensive program that creates awareness for the purpose of connecting Service members and their families with community support

Helping families and individuals in need – partnership with the Salvation Army

Domestic violence. Women’s shelter – partnership with the Transition House

Environmental : Reuse to Reduce & Hammond Community Clean-Up Projects

Homelessness – partnership with Salvation Army

“Communities of practice are groups of

people who share a concern or a passion for

something they do and learn how to do it

better as they interact regularly.”

(Wenger, 1998, p.4)

Domain: Content to be learned

Course content or course objectives

Community: People involved

Students, instructor, and service learning

partners

Practice: Specific activities

Classroom exercises, discussion, course

assignments, community projects

The community needs the flexibility to evolve in it’s interests

Willingness to re-negotiate course objectives, assignments, schedule etc.

Opportunities for open dialog within and with outside perspectives

Interaction among class members

Interaction with community partners

Focus on the value of the community –

Create opportunities for students to explicitly discuss the value and productivity of class and projects

(Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002)

Consist of both public and private community

spaces.

Public spaces are where all group members can

interact.

Private spaces are where small groups of people

interact


Combine familiarity and excitement –

Students should receive the expected learning as

part of the course and have opportunities to

shape their learning experience together.


Explain what a community of practice is and the

benefits of using it in the classroom (sell it

upfront).

Ask students what they want to learn and hold

them accountable for learning it.

Model the behaviors you want them to use.

Provide class time for reflection, analysis.

Be willing to lead and be willing to follow.

Learning from multiple points of view “Using a community of practice model offers a variety of

people to learn from, instead of just the instructor. Students are able to use each other’s experiences and knowledge to strengthen our own knowledge base.”

Learning from modeling “Communities of practice allow us to watch the

different styles and techniques of our peers and learn from those observations.”

Keeping students engaged “In a community of practice model, all students have

something to offer the learning environment, which makes for a more active and engaged classroom setting.”

In groups based on your strongest MI

Choose a learning objective (either from a

current course or create one)

Create an engaged learning activity for the

learning objective utilizing your group’s MI

How can you incorporate “Community of

Practice” into this engaged learning activity?

The groups will report on their activity.

Write down two things that you learned from

this session that you will take back with you

to your classrooms?

Armstrong’s learning styles to help us adopt

our teaching to student learning preferences.

CoP to create a classroom/learning culture

where students are engaged in the content.

Service learning projects to make the course

content tangible and come alive.

Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. (2nd

ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Bringle, R.G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing service learning in higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 67, 221-

239.

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligence. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Lemieux, C., M., and Allen, P., D. (2007). Service learning in social work education: The state of knowledge, pedagogical practicalities and practice conundrums. Journal of Social Work Education, 43(2), 309-325.

Sather, P., Weitz, B., Carlson, P. (2007). Engaging students in macro issues through community based learning: The policy, practice and research sequence. Journal of Teaching in Social Work. 27(3/4), 62-79.

Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge.Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.