Abstract
A conversational framework for learning design (in adverse times)
Highlights
We present a summary of a series of exchanges which took place in 20202021 between us – a novice postgraduate researcher (PgR) involved in some undergraduate teaching and an experienced higher education teacher and facilitator of learning (FoL)
Despite the difference in our knowledge of academia, we both faced the same questions when forced to facilitate learning at a distance, which is the starting point of this short piece. This is followed by a reflective account of some of the outcomes of the conversation between us
One of our conclusions was that communicating with each other, even at a distance, enabled us to seek reassurance and develop solutions to our respective questions. Another key realisation was that the first stage in responding to adverse situations in a learning and teaching context should not be technological, even at a distance, but a ‘conversational mindset’, which provides a framework for communication and collaboration
Summary
We present a summary of a series of exchanges which took place in 20202021 between us – a novice postgraduate researcher (PgR) involved in some undergraduate teaching and an experienced higher education teacher and facilitator of learning (FoL). I could not figure out how I would support learners at a distance, how I would check their progress and how I would know myself that I was learning, how I could enthuse others when I was struggling with my own motivation This reflective comment made by the PgR enabled the FoL to verbalise what had been, until now, just an intuition: that isolation and the resulting feeling of solitude were real challenges for learners and tutors alike, when studying or working at a distance. Redefining one’s objectives and sense of purpose was problematic, as documented in a reflective account recently published by one of us (Tomczak, 2021)
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