We have written Choice, Ownership, and Voice Through Authentic Learning Opportunities, which we will be referring to in the eBook, to help you to create significant learning environments (CSLE) that will enable you to give your learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic (COVA) learning opportunities. The eBook is for you and in order to serve you more effectively, we are seeking your input. We need to know what is working, what we need to improve or change, and what we may need to take away or add. Our goal is to take your input and revise the eBook by the fall of 2019 when we plan to release a revised version of the eBook that can help you even more.
I read many books so before I commit to reading a book I like to examine a book’s table of contents, introductory chapters, and some sort of summary of the book. Therefore, to help you decide whether you wish to download the full copy of the eBook we are offering you a PDF that includes the Cover, Table of Contents and first 3 chapters of the book so that you can get a sense of whether or not this book will be useful to you. The first chapter provides a context of how the COVA eBook came about; chapter two provides a context for building on the positive and operational definitions; and the third chapter provides a summary of the remainder of the book and points to the key ideas of how to make CSLE+COVA work for you, which is detailed in the remainder of the book. Download the eBook Preview
To download a copy of the full eBook we are simply asking you to provide your name and email address so that we can point you to the location where you can provide your input, to inform you on the progress of the COVA eBook revisions, and to point you to ongoing developments in the COVA approach. We respect your privacy and are excited to have you review our ideas and work so we will not share or sell your name or email address to anyone. You can also unsubscribe from the COVA eBook list at any time.
-Dr. Harapnuik
While the acronym COVA is somewhat authentic, the elements of the COVA approach to learning which include choice, ownership, and voice through authentic activities or assignments are based on well-established and widely accepted active learning principles. Similarly, the elements of Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE) are not new and neither is the idea of looking at learning from a holistic or broader learning environment perspective. So, when the COVA approach is combined with CSLE, you get a significant learning environment which takes into account all the key elements essential to effective active learning. Additionally, the learner has the opportunity to choose and take ownership of their own authentic learning experiences. All the variables are in place to help your learner make the meaningful connections which are so fundamental to learning. When you factor in a genuine digital learning portfolio, which we prefer to call an ePortfolio, you also give your learner the opportunity to find their voice, reflect on their experiences, express their insights, connect, and collaborate with a broader learning community. Research has shown that the assembly of existing or well-established ideas into new combinations is the foundation of most innovative work and knowledge advancement (Wuchty, Jones, & Uzzi, 2007; Duhigg, 2016).
COVA (Operational Definitions)
Choice – Learners are given the freedom to choose (C) how they wish to organize, structure and present their learning experiences and evidence of learning. Choice also extends to the authentic project or learning experience. Choice promotes personalized learning (Bolliger & Sheperd, 2010) which includes adapting or developing learning goals and choosing learning tools that support the learning process (Buchem, Tur, & Hölterhof, 2014). It is crucial to acknowledge that the learner’s choice is guided by the context of the learning opportunity and by the instructor who aids the learner in making effective choices.
It is extremely important that this learning process is understood as guided discovery and not confused with pure discovery learning (Bruner, 1961, 1960). The research over the past 40 years confirms guided discovery provides the appropriate freedom to engage in authentic learning opportunities while at the same time providing the necessary guidance, modeling, and direction to lessen the cognitive overload (Mayer, 2004). In addition to instructor guidance, the creation of a significant learning environment will also provide guidance and structure to help direct the learner. The academic literature is rich with examples of choice which can often be referred to as learner agency, autonomy, empowerment, self-efficacy. Choice has a very long history as we can see from Dewey’s (1916) perspective from Democracy and Education:
The essence of the demand for freedom is the need of conditions which will enable an individual to make his own special contribution to a group interest, and to partake of its activities in such ways that social guidance shall be a matter of his own mental attitude and not a mere authoritative dictation of his acts. (p.352)
Learner’s Mindset Discussions (LMD) Power of Choice Ep 14. In this episode, we discuss how giving learners authentic choice can lead to them taking ownership of their learning. We also explore the challenges in giving learners choice like the fear of loosing control. If we don’t give our learners the opportunity to learn how to choose we are limiting their critical and analytical thinking skills.
Ownership – Learners are given control and ownership (O) over the entire learning process including the selection of projects, the ePortfolio process, and all their learning tools. Once again we must reiterate that this ownership process is within the context of instructor guidance. The same benefits of guided discovery discussed above apply to this context as well. Constructivists, like Jonassen (1999), argue that ownership of the problem is key to learning because it increases learner engagement and motivation to seek out solutions. Ownership of learning is also directly tied to agency when learners make choices and “impose those choices on the world” (Buchem et al., 2014, p. 20; Buchem, Attwell, & Torres, 2011). Clark (2001) points to a learner’s own personal agency and ownership of belief systems as one major factor contributing to the willingness and persistence in sharing their learning. These belief systems must be understood prior to sharing their belief systems. Clark (2001) also claimed that media is not solely responsible for learner motivation.
Learner’s Mindset Discussions (LMD) Ownership of Learning Ep 06. We discuss the benefits and challenges in taking ownership of the learning.
Voice – Learners are given the opportunity to use their own voice (V) to structure their work and ideas and share those insights and knowledge with their colleagues within their organizations. The opportunity to share this new knowledge publicly with people other than the instructors helps the learner to deepen their understanding, demonstrate flexibility of knowledge, find their unique voice, establish a sense of purpose, and develop a greater sense of personal significance (Bass, 2014).
Learner’s Mindset Discussions (LMD) Helping Learner’s Find and Develop Their Voice EP 09. In this episode, we discuss the importance of learner’s voice and how we need to help our learners develop their voice. Rather than allow the learner’s voice to be continually quenched by our content and standards-based system the authors argue that we need to create a learning environment that helps to nurture learner’s voice. We know from research that in order for learning to be truly transformative learner’s must use their voice and reflect on their learning experiences.
Authentic learning – Learners are given the opportunity to select and engage in authentic (A) learning opportunities that enable them to make a genuine difference in their own learning environments. The selection and engagement in real-world problems that are relevant to the learner furthers their ability to make meaningful connections (Donovan et al., 2000) and provide them with career preparedness not available in more traditional didactic forms of education (Windham, 2007). Research confirms that authenticity is only developed through engagement with these sorts of real-world tasks and that this type of authentic learning can deepen knowledge creation and ultimately help the learner transfer this knowledge beyond the classroom (Driscoll, 2005; Nikitina, 2011). It is also important to recognize that authenticity is not an independent or isolated feature of the learning environment but it is the result of the continual interaction between the learner, the real-world activity, and the learning environment (Barab, Squire, & Dueber, 2000). This is also why we stress that in the COVA model choice, ownership, and voice are realized through authentic learning and without this dynamic and interactive authenticity, there would be no genuine choice, ownership, and voice.
Learner’s Mindset Discussions (LMD) Authentic Learning Opportunities Ep 13. In this episode, we discuss how authentic learning opportunities can enhance learning. We also explore the challenges in using authentic learning opportunities and how mitigate those challenges. Authentic learning opportunities provide the context for and facilitate the realization of learner’s choice, ownership and voice.
References
Barab, S. A., Squire, K. D., & Dueber, W. (2000). A co-evolutionary model for supporting the emergence of authenticity. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(2), 37-62.
Bass, R. (2014). Social pedagogies in ePortfolio practices: Principles for design and impact. Retrieved from http://c2l.mcnrc.org/pedagogy/ped-analysis/
Bolliger, D. U., & Sheperd, C. E. (2010). Student perceptions of ePortfolio integration in Online courses. Distance Education, 31(3), 295-314.
Bruner, J. S. (1960). The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31(1), 21–32.
Buchem, I., Attwell, G., & Torres, R. (2011). Understanding personal learning environments: Literature review and synthesis through the activity theory lens. Proceedings of the PLE Conference, 1-33. Retrieved from http://journal.webscience.org/658/
Buchem, I., Tur, G., & Hölterhof, T. (2014). Learner control in personal learning environments: cross-cultural study. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 15(2), 14-53. Retrieved from http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume-15-number-2-june-2014.html
Clark, R. (2001). Learning from media: Arguments, analysis, and evidence. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to philosophy of education. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Donovan, S. M., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J. W. (2000). How People Learn: Bridging research and practice. Washington D. C.: National Academy Press.
Driscoll, M. P. (2005) Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Toronto, ON: Pearson.
Duhigg, C. (2016). Smarter faster better: The secrets of being productive. New York, NY: Random House.
Jonassen, D. H. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C. M. Reigeluth, Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (pp. 215-240). New York, NY: Routledge.
Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? American Psychologist, 59(1), 14–19. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.14
Nikitina, L. (2011). Creating an authentic learning environment in the foreign language classroom. International Journal of Instruction, (4)1, 33-36. Retrieved from http://www.e-iji.net/dosyalar/iji_2011_1_3.pdf
Windham, C. (2007). Why today’s students value authentic learning. Educause Learning ELI Paper 9. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3017.pdf
Wuchty, S., Jones, B. F., & Uzzi, B. (2007). The increasing dominance of teams in production of knowledge. Science, 316(5827), 1036–1039.
