Importance: 40%
The Big Idea: Learning is best achieve within a feedback loop. Actually trying things and then receiving feedback that helps the learner improve for the next attempt is far more effective than other methods of evaluating student progress like grades.
Conversation with Blu
Blu and I talked about his very negative experience in school, yet how he loves learning. This seems like a little bit of an oxymoron until you dig into it more. When “traditional” forms of learning like reading or listening to audio books were brought up, he explained how he does not like reading because of his dyslexia and auditory learning does not feel like he can engage his own brain (instead it feels like being force fed an idea or learning content).
Instead, the way he learns, and actually enjoys learning, is through hands on experience and experimentation. If he can try it himself and learn what works and what doesn’t he is far more motivated to learn it, rather than being tested on it or expected to rote memorize it. Not only is he more motivated by this style of learning but it is also the kind of learning that drives skill acquisition as well as exploratory thinking. He talked about the sense of accomplishment he has when looking back at his improvements in an area that are tangible.
A key point he made about the difference between this kind of experiential learning and the learning he received in a classroom was that learning on his own was Failure Based Learning. The feedback loop of being allowed to fail and learning from that failure was what actually empowered him to keep trying until he succeeded. While learning in a classroom is mostly Success Based Learning and left him feeling defeated when unable to perform a task or learn something the way he was expected.
The main example he gave of experiencing this feedback loop was while playing video games. This is an arena that he feels free to explore and fail within as many times as he needs to until he finally gets it. This learning process has become something he enjoys for the process itself.
General Applications of the Feedback Loop
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Natural learning loops in the environment around us.
- Learning should be built into the environment around us. Like the Pedagogy of Space. The feedback loop is more effecting the more natural it is.
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How could Digital Gardening be used as a way to help teach with an intentional feedback loop? One possibility could be to start students with an empty garden and then have a full one when they finish a class or session. Each week or class period then they would be tasked with tending their garden.