Learning journey so far....

We are using this space to share with you our reflections of the one on one telephonic conversations we had with each one of you.

As you know for many us it is the first experience of being in an online course, including us :) The online module started with a very high participation rate and by the time we reached week 2 we saw a dip in the participation. This got us wondering as facilitators if we are on the right track, if the course is engaging enough or what should we be doing differently to ensure participation in the course.

The idea of having one on one conversations was also to put in practice some of the ideas that we have been discussing in the learner module. Some of these are:

1. Understanding the expectations of the learners from the course and to what extent they are being met
2. Understanding the learning experience from the learner’s point of view - what is working and what are the challenges?
3. Making course correction based on suggestions from the learners to improve the learning experience

The conversations were a great reflection space for us as well. We got to know you better as learners.

The things YOU liked and did

1. This is a learning opportunity for us

Most of you said that, this is a new experience for you where the idea of the learning space is different. The online module gives you a chance to experiment with different forms such as discussion forums and group online chats.

2. A space for reflection

It was felt that the course activities, especially the reflection worksheets, give an opportunity to think about the work that we do. Some of you said, that in the everyday schedule there is no time to pause and think about our work or even about our students in so much depth.

3. Learning from others

For the the online chat and discussion forum, some of you said that it gives us a chance to know what others are thinking about the same topic. It helps in taking your thoughts further by building on others' ideas. At the same time, some of you wanted to be more responsive in discussion forums and read carefully your peers' responses.

4. Seeking support

We think that it was important that a lot you showed making an extra effort in understanding the course activities before starting to do them. A lot of you spoke to your colleagues, institution heads, and family members as well. This aligns with the course's aim to share conversations to improve practice.

Feedback for US the facilitators

1. Support to manage time

Most of the participants are not able to take out enough time for the course. The activities per se do not require more than 6 hours of your time, but to take out that time given the other work commitments is making it difficult. Keeping this in mind, we will make an effort to reduce the number of worksheets that are given for each week.

2. Provide more explanation

Something that came up again and again in different conversations was the need to have more clarity in the concepts and the instructions for the reflection activities. Given this, we will make an effort to provide more detailed guidelines for the reflection activities and also provide some samples for the different activities being proposed.

3. Link between ideas not clear / Go back with more questions than answers

There was some feedback on how some of the activities seem disconnected or how ideas are not closed before new ideas are introduced. We understand, the need to have some conclusions in place before we move ahead with concepts or the need to see the bigger picture. We will attempt to provide closure to concepts and ideas to the best of our abilities through the weekly summary PPTs and the blog posts.

Suggestions and strategies for you

1. Self-directed learning

We would like to emphasise that the idea of this course is not to provide ready-made answers, the idea of the course is to get on the path of self - learning, where we are seeking answers on our own. The course is a space to trigger some reflection on our practice and help us become aware of our practice which can help us define our agenda for change. Thus, if sometimes as learners you feel that things are not getting clear, or what was the point of doing some activity, we would request you to be a little patient with us and wait for the future activities to unfold as that might have some of the answers to your questions. This does not mean, that you do not voice your discomfort or your suggestions. We would love to hear your feedback on the activities on the ponder point.

2. Better time management

A lot of you said that the activities are such which require a lot of thinking and cannot be done in a rush. We appreciate this fact. One suggestion which we have is that, whenever you get access to new content, you watch the navigation videos and glance through the different steps so as to get an idea about the week. Then the rest of the time, keep making your notes about the activities and at the end of week, review and consolidate your notes and put them together in the presentation format. This will provide you with enough time to think through things, rather than doing it at one go.

Also make it a point to logging in every day to the LMS so that you are updated on the new content that is going up or anything else that is being added to make things easier for you.

3. Smart goals and smaller achievements

In order to keep up with the pace of the course, we also suggest that you create SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely).  Some of us have an urge to give our bestest shot at the activities and want to ensure that we have thought about things completely before we respond.  This thought is very encouraging for us to see as facilitators.  However, as a word of caution, we also want to highlight that it is equally important to assess the situation, the task in hand and allocate time that is necessary to complete the same.  It would be helpful to appreciate smaller achievements and scale new heights.

Good luck with the rest of the modules.

Best,

MasterCoach Team

Masters Training - Collage Photos

Hi Masters,

Our master Coach Training Sample Collage Photos....Good to See it

Trigger Yourself

While scrolling some videos, I found this one...

Really beautiful video..


http://blog.petflow.com/a-video-everyone-needs-to-see/

Man with a Bag - Trigger video

Reflection Question 1: Why is the woman staring at the man?

Observation: The woman in the video was staring at the man with the beard and a bag because she thought that he might be a terrorist.

Reflection Question 2: Describe the men in the video.

Observation: The man with the beard and a bag was quite calm and cool.

Reflection Question 3: What do you think will happen next?

Observation: I thought that the man with the bag has nothing to do with all this as his expression was quite calm and cool and did not reflect any agitation. 

Thanks & regards,

Luna Dhar 

Man with a Bag - Trigger video

Man with a Bag - Trigger video

Reflection Question 1:

The women in the video was suspecting a man with beard who was walking with bag by looking at his attire and judging based on the appearence.

Reflection Question 2: 

The man with bag looked calm and innocent, but the way video presented was creating curiosity on whats going to happen next ?

Reflection Question 3: 

I was assuming that the women will try to avoid avoid or scream with fear.

Facilitator Biases

This week we focussed on facilitator biases. The idea was to think about how we come to form opinions about our learners. As humans we are constantly making judgments based on
a) Patterns we come to observe over a period of time
b) Personal experiences including the conversations we have with other people
c) Habits and practices we have been told to perform and follow

The online chat and handouts specifically focused on helping us articulate the biases we posses as facilitators and how it comes out in our action in the classrooms.

To take an example of the categories we found in the worksheets - we had used categories like Messy, Dumb, Lazy, Disinterested etc.  What does that tell us about how we come to give a name to these categories?

We also had an example where we think that old trainers are not willing to adopt new teaching methods.  One way we make this opinion is these trainers ask us questions which we perceive as resistance.  Can we question that - and wonder if they are asking us question in order to understand the method better?

This shift could help us look at things in a different way - that is open and provides space for further enquiry and not get closed.

When we make judgements we are restricting our thinking process and reinforcing the ideas we have about things.  If one pays close attention, in the process, we are focusing only on what we are doing as facilitators and it is largely coming from the focus on self - "The student is not liking my teaching", "he is a older trainer, so I should not push him to adopt" - this way we affect the next step we would take if we had focused on the student instead of our own self - "Why does he look disinterested?",  Why is she questioning this more than the others?"

While it is quite natural for us to reach a conclusion about things that are happening in front of us, it could be a good practice to be aware that these are judgements, take one step back and question why we are thinking like that.

A cycle of practice one could try to follow is -

1. Becoming aware of what our biases and assumptions are and articulating those for ourselves - "He just doesn't want to learn."
2. Observing the manifestation of these biases and assumptions in our actions in the classroom - "I will not pay any attention to him; he is disinterested and I can do little about it."
3. Examining and verifying whether the assumptions that we have made are true or not - this would mean getting to know your learners in the true sense - knowing their expectations, knowing their existing level of knowledge, the context that they come from - "Is he really disinterested or there is something that is bothering him?"
4. Addressing your biases and trying to relook at them from a neutral standpoint - "Talking to the student one-on-one and understanding the reason behind his behaviour"

As a next step, it would be useful for you to go back to the handout and try to think about your past experiences and draw a connection to the current biases you have. 

It is important to note that it is quite natural for us to make opinions and it cannot change just through this activity.  However we could use this course to become aware of this and identify ways and means to address it and enhance our classroom interactions.  

Hi
Every one

  The video which was posted was every interesting. The concept of the story
  was good
  I have learned to judge the people not by the way they look.

 And the questions asked was.

1.Why is the woman staring at the man?
   The man with the bag walks just parrel to that of a women with a kid.
   And with a suspicious bag and a long beard .And she thinks that  he might
   be a terrorist. 

 2. Describe the man in the video?
    There are two men in the video. the man who appear first looks like a professional
    and at the end he was a smuggler.and caught by the police.  
    The other man with a bag and a long beard. looks different and when he sees the women
    he suddenly turns his face. and also no smile on his face. looks like a man planning for some
    attack.