Before talking about recent changes in the nature of education as a student, I want to mention the Abbott and Costello “13 times 7 is 28” YouTube video in Supportive Material. I enjoyed the video because my math skills are decent, and I wondered how the numbers 13 and 7 could be manipulated to become 28. This was a great example of new learning, where I got a new understanding of how people that say they are bad at math might handle multiplication. This video shows what happens when learners do not know or utilize the math concept ten-based system of ones and tens columns, and they get creative in multiplication. https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2/supporting-material/13-times-7-is-28

The following is about my experience as a continuing education student with recent changes in the nature of education, and the dimensions of didactic pedagogy learned this week. I enjoy being a learner in Mark Sanders' continuing education workshops because he is genuine, engaging, and is starting to move into more of an authentic pedagogy and transformative pedagogy.

Mark Sanders is a speaker in continuing education workshops for licensed clinical professionals in the counseling field. He uses the architectonic dimension of didactic pedagogy by holding his workshops in fixed-seating auditoriums with a stage for him alone, or in a room with rectangular tables with a few chairs on one side, facing front where he stands. He does walk up and down aisles at smaller workshops, but if he sits to be at the same level as learners, he is at the front of the classroom with everyone looking at him, not each other. The discursive dimension is incorporated through paper handouts that are the same for every participant, and include a copy of each slide in his presentation, along with resource lists and references. The intersubjective dimension is seen in the use of scheduled, timed break-out sessions where learners need to turn to the person sitting next to them, which is uncomfortable in auditorium and face-front classroom chairs. Learners are expected to not talk with each other at any times other than break-out sessions. The socio-cultural dimension is incorporated through giving his message to all counselors as if they all have the same therapy approach, and materials are all only in English. He uses the proprietary dimension of didactic pedagogy by being in control of the session at all times, including timed break-out sessions, him being the sage on the stage, and us being learners. The epistemological dimension and pedagogical dimension are evident in his use of a topic, list of objectives, and a slide show with matching handout that covers the topic for the session.

The moral dimension is usually not representative of didactic pedagogy, however. This is where he moves into authentic and transformative pedagogy. He always uses storytelling. It is an emotional hook of his actual life stories where at every conference he mentions that his son died at age 8, or someone he loves is ill or struggling with a situation. The learners are all licensed counselors that tend to have strong empathy. After that mention, and a serious pause, he tells a story. The story has a final sentence that is what I would call a slogan. One story about a first-time visit to his family’s homeland talked about the elders welcoming him back home. The slogan was “We think of you often, and we love you more than you know.” He pauses dramatically, and then discusses how that sentence applies to the specific webinar topic.

He uses didactic pedagogy with a flip chart onto which he writes a list or makes a drawing, one bit at a time. He lectures and expects the audience to listen. He asks questions that have a correct answer that he wants to use as his next teaching point. He expects all learners to turn to the person to the right of them and participate in an activity in dyads, often with strangers. Learners discover that when he asks for feedback on how that activity went, that he asks for volunteers raise their hands if they want to share their experience of the activity, then calls on learners rather than open forum. He is in control of the number of people he calls upon whose hands are raised. So, although those activities are often aimed at discussion of something from personal experience, from authentic pedagogy learning in the past, he uses a format starting with didactic, incorporates discussion based on authentic pedagogy, and ends with a transformative pedagogy by asking how the experience or topic discussed changed you as a person because you learned something about yourself.

Mark Sanders’ website http://www.onthemarkconsulting25.com/workshops-seminars

Mark Sanders at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls talking briefly about anger using a personal story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmliYfzS5u8