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OVER THE SHOULDER LEARNING Learning can be defined as the process of gaining new knowledge or skills. Learning helps us to gain new abilities. Over the shoulder learning is an informal method of learning. According to Twidale “Over the Shoulder Learning is the informal, spontaneous workplace help-giving interaction that is often used by people to learn from their colleagues how to use part of a computer application.” There are different ways to learn computer related topics such as: Attending a formal course, from a manual, watching a video, with a tutorial supplied with the software…etc. However all of them have some disadvantages like economical cost, time etc. Therefore, many people ask a colleague who is knowledgeable. Our challenge’s main purpose is how we can make those learning interactions more useful and successful. For instance what kind of interfaces design facilitates that kind of learning? My task was to look at learning theories and suggest some criteria and recommendations for more successful over the shoulder learning episodes. We discovered that social learning theories and adult learning theories can make a lot of suggestion for a successful over the shoulder learning episode. I especially focused on Vygotsky’s ideas like zone of proximal development and Bruner’s theories. Bruner's constructivist theory is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. Bandura (1977) states: Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action (p.22). Social interaction is a critical component of many learning theories. One of the main principle of situated learning is Learning requires social interaction and collaboration. Vygotsky (1978) argues: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (p57). Vygotsky claims "instruction is most efficient when students engage in activities within a supportive learning environment and when they receive appropriate guidance that is mediated by tools" (Vygotsky 1978). Zone of Proximal Development is very important in Vygotsky’s ideas. Vygotsky describes it as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). The Zone of Proximal Development bridges that gap between what is known and what can be known. Vygotsky claimed that learning occurred in this zone. Because Vygotsky asserts that learning change occurs within the zone of proximal development, instruction would be designed to reach a developmental level that is just above the learner’s current developmental level. Vygotsky claims that learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the view point of the child's overall development (Vygotsky, 1978). It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process (Vygotsky, 1978). The zone of proximal development can be seen to exist when people work on a problem where at least one of them alone could not work on it effectively (Newman, Griffin, & Cole, 1989 as in Hausfather,1996). Individuals participating in collaboration with others must share the same focus in order to access the zone of proximal development (Hausfather,1996). Joint attention and shared problem solving is needed to create a process of cognitive, social, and emotional interchange. Also it is essential that the partners be on different developmental levels and the higher level partner be aware of the lower's level. If this does not happen, the interaction is less successful (Hausfather, 1996). The zone of proximal development needs to involve intersubjectivity between participants, where individuals share a purpose and a focus (Rogoff, 1990 as in Hausfather,1996). Scaffolding - where the tutor continually adjusts the level of his or her help in response to the learner's level of performance - is a useful strategy to access the zone of proximal development. “Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills necessary for independent problem solving in the future” (funderstanding). Some most common definitions for scaffolding are:
We realized that everybody’s understanding from Scaffolding is different. Followings are the some responses to our class activity: Response 1: Well, I think I could learn some concepts regarding Human Development through this course readings. In addition, by drawing the map of human development theories, I can depict and picture the relationships and structure of them. In the process of challenge project, I can get some supports from mentor who is expert on a certain topic. Response 2: Scaffolding is distinct from generalized help. Probably, the second definition is the closest, based in what we’ve seen in this course. The first definition does not account for cases where a single session is enough for the student to master the skill. The third definition does not account for cases where the scaffolding takes a form other than directly doing part of the work. The fourth definition is too general. Response 3: Scaffolding seems to take many appearances or forms in various ages. Parents help children learn basic skills in life such as washing hands. Not only are parents helping the children but they are demonstrating the action. In training, workers (new employees) learn from demonstrations from experienced workers. Even elderly people have to learn new things such as computer skills which may require a demonstration by an expert or an experienced person. Response 4: It think that scaffolding can be to provide learners with useful information that they can use it for the further study. For example, it can be scaffolding that the instructor provide learners with useful article, websites, and so on in order them to write down their paper successfully. Response 5: Trying to set up EON course evaluation, couldn’t get it to work. Somebody came from office next door, said “Click here,” “Click there” and it worked. Key idea is mediated learning with a human mediator. Response 6: It should help the student learn not just complete the task. For example, when I teach Physics, I ask the student questions to help them think correctly rather than just demonstrate the solution. The ultimate goal is for performance without the scaffolding. So part of the scaffolding should help the student to grow and learn. Response 7: I think third definition is more fit in my understanding of scaffolding. Response 8: I would consider my definition of scaffolding to be closely defined as the second phrase-a temporary supportive “structure” but I may stray beyond the rest of the description by saying the task would or would not be successfully completed without the scaffold. The scaffold is their to either streamline the process or assist in learning. Response 9: I would say that thru this course I’ve built an understand of scaffolding as a support. First, I was concerned about this support reaching a dangerous extremity: a cane. Something that would be always there and would serve as the exact opposite of what scaffolding was included to. So now I think this scaffolding should be understood as a support, but with a ban fine-frame, maden to avoid the “cane” situation. Response 10: To be honest, I have never really understood what exactly scaffolding is. I tend to think that it is primarily #2 but #3 and #4 to a letter degree, and #1 to the last degree. I don’t necessarily see how the course reading relate. Response 11: I think the first definition is more reflective of my understanding of scaffolding. It does not have to be an adult and child interaction though. The best metaphor I can think of is when an individual is lifting weights. In particular bench pressing and some one is their spotter the weight lifter is encourage to lift as much as possible on their own but the spotter is their to help them get beyond what they could do alone. Response 12: I think scaffolding is a way to help the learners achieve the learning goals. The most effective scaffolding activities there inquiry-based or problem solving. Another important factor in scaffolding is to get student attention and motivate them in the subject matter. Response 13: Scaffolding is helping someone achieve something they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It is helpful when the task is motivating, that is when the student feels like they want to continue learning because what they were able to do with the help was very gratifying. Thus, scaffolding is helping someone do something that will motivate them to do it more autonomously in the future. Adults Leaning How adults learn? Is adults learning different than children. Adult learners have distinguishing characteristics that differentiate them from child learners. Adults are motivated to learn, are self-directed, responsible, and use prior experiences as a template for learning (Hiemstra, 1993). Since knowledge is constructed from prior experiences and adults have rich life experiences, adults can be expected to learn more effectively through experiential techniques - such as discussion or problem-solving, which use prior experience in the construction of meaning (Pratt, 1993). Rogers identified two types of adult learning: cognitive (meaningless) and experiential (significant). According to Cross, adults should be challenged to move to advanced stages of personal development (http://tip.psychology.org/cross.html). Knowles identified the following characteristics of adult learners:
One-to-one teaching Learning over the shoulder is a one-to-one individual teaching method. Bloom (1974) acknowledges that every learner can reach the criterion level of achievement, but learners require different time period in order to learn that he called mastery learning. Atkinson and Glaser (in Bloom’s article) argued that learners differ in their learning rates and individualizing the learning rate would enable most learners to reach the criterion of mastery learning. They stated that learners differ by a ratio of approximately 5/1 in their learning rates. That means that the slowest learners take about five times as much time to attain the criterion, as do the fastest learners. 90 percent or more learners can reach the set criterion, if learners who need additional time and help are provided with extra time and help. Carroll (in Bloom’s article) claimed that learners differ in the amount of time they need to learn. If the learner is given the amount of time he or she needs and if he or she is motivated to the learning task, he or she will reach the criterion level of achievement. Carroll further stated that the quality of instruction and the student’s ability to understand the instruction would make the time that was needed minimal. To make over the shoulder learning more efficient help-giving person should know about help-requesting person’s knowledge level. Help-giving person should give a quality help to minimize the time they (help-giving and help-requesting person) share. But it is also important that help-giving person’s adjustments in terms of fast or slow learners. If help requesting person could not learn, they should be given additional time. Tutoring is an effective way to teach. It can be said that over the shoulder learning is a kind of tutoring. There are three important steps in tutoring. Diagnosis: Finding out the problem. Actual Work: practicing the skills found to be deficient. Posotive reinforcement. Gage and Berliner suggest followings:
Assessment Assessment seems to be very important in Over the Shoulder Learning. Most common understanding from the definition of the assessment is to measure and evaluate learners’ performance. This assessment focuses on the past, on what is already learned, not on the future that will come. However, in order for over the shoulder learning to work efficiently, we need to have assessments methods that focus on the immediate future learning for help-giving person to assess help-requesting person. Vygotsky (1978) states “leaning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the viewpoint of a child’s overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process.” (p. 89) For over the shoulder learning, new assessment techniques/models should be developed to diagnose the learning that is yet to come to direct learner to what he/she needs. Conclusion Learning theories clearly can help over the shoulder learning. There are still a lot to discover about over the shoulder learning. For example, are they any cultural differences, are the any differences between genders. This challenge was very useful for me. This challenge helped me understand learning theories more deeply. References Hiemstra, R. (1993, Spring). Three underdeveloped models for adult learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 57, 37-46. Pratt, D. D. (1993, Spring). Andragogy after twenty-five years. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 57, 15-23. Hausfather, Samuel J., (1996) Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Contest for learning. Action in Teacher Education. (18) 1-10. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman. Funderstanding: http://www.funderstanding.com/vygotsky.cfm Knowles,M. (1984). The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (3rd Ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing. Benjamin S. Bloom (1974). Time and Learning. American psychologist, 29, 682-688.
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