How to promote a good learning dialogue
Ingemar Svensson is project manager at the Swedish Agency for Flexible Learning. He holds an M.A. in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Lund, Sweden, and began his professional career as a journalist and author. A wide range of novels, short stories, and newspaper report collections were the output of this period. He then became a teacher at the Asa Folk High School in Katrineholm, Sweden. Today, Ingemar focuses on adult education: As a project manager at the Swedish National Council of Adult Education, he is responsible for the national teacher/leader development programme for folk high school teachers and study circle leaders in the field of flexible learning. He also writes for the national e-journal “Nät och bildning”.
OEB: Mr. Svensson, could you tell us more about the kind of training the “Swedish Agency for Flexible Learning” offers? What are the target groups you address?
Ingemar Svensson: My agency offers development courses for teachers in the formal adult education area, for folk high school teachers, and study circle leaders – which means small and close informal learning groups - in the non-formal adult education area. In the non-formal area, which my presentation is about, we train experienced folk high school teachers and study circle leaders in how to use computer-supported collaborative learning forms in order to make courses and study circles more available for adult learners. We offer one basic course with forty hours, mostly taught via distance learning, a more advanced course with 180 hours, also mostly using distance learning and our online learning community called the Flexible Learning Plaza.
OEB: The core idea of your organisation is flexible learning. Based on this concept, what abilities should teachers adopt in your classes?
Ingemar Svensson: Teachers who use flexible learning should understand how to design, or alternatively how to blend, the distance and face-to-face parts of the course for the specific needs of each study group. They are more process leaders rather than teachers in the conventional sense, being strongly present in the course room, whether it is virtual or physical, but not necessarily active or visible all the time. They are democratic leaders with a strongly developed respect for the participants’ experiences and values and who have a good understanding of how to support and promote a good learning dialogue, both in the Net forum and face to face, in order to reach the course goals.
OEB: What components does your curriculum include to engender that?
Ingemar Svensson: First of all, our curriculum it is more of a recommendation, since our basic course is organised as a study circle. The final plan for each course is developed in an opening planning discussion with the participants. Our aim in general is to keep the main focus on how to bring the strong collaborative qualities of the traditional study circle to the Net. Thus, we use examples of good practice, especially to discuss the methodological differences between face-to-face and Net-based study circles. We discuss what kind of digital resources they can find and use. Each participant is asked to plan the flexible course and study circle he or she would like to start, and this plan is discussed by the participants. Finally, we let the participants visit the Flexible Learning Plaza and urge them to join the Plaza after finishing the basic course.
OEB: Could you explain what the Flexible Learning Plaza is and how it works?
Ingemar Svensson: It is an Online Learning Community of practice, a participant-run forum where teachers and leaders who have passed the basic course meet and discuss their concrete pedagogical problems and also find moral support and social contact. There are no rules about how often participants must take part, and levels of activity vary. Some take part passively, mostly reading; others are active commentators or initiate deeper discussions. Some of these discussions are, with the agreement of those involved, moved to a sub-forum and even structured into a report for the “Plaza knowledge bank”. There is some economic compensation available for this last activity. The Flexible Learning Plaza also offers shorter methodology courses, a PDF library with relevant literature and a “wiki-plaza” where participants jointly and continuously further develop central concepts, etc. The Plaza is moderated, and the moderator is a discrete facilitator, highly present but visible only when needed.
OEB: Where do you see the main challenges for successfully implementing flexible learning courses?
Ingemar Svensson: Our courses are very popular; we receive very positive evaluations and we continuously upgrade the courses to meet new needs requested by the participants. The problem is that our participants, when trying to implement the knowledge acquired through the courses in their organisations, are often met with suspicion by their colleagues. You should remember that the folk high schools, and especially the study associations, are small, local organisations, often very traditional and unwilling to try innovative Net-based pedagogy and methodology. Hence, what is needed is to convince people that e-learning really works!
OEB: Mr. Svensson, thank you very much indeed for your time!
Session: SCH12, Thursday, November 29, 12:00 - 13:30
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