#LG’s Learning System
This doc compiles the work on LG’s learning system from Retreat #2 It has 4 sections:
- Learning System Decisions
- In development - areas agreed to but still in process
- Not in consensus -important ideas still in discussion
- Questions about LGs learning system
##Learning system decisions Summary:
- Join our community of people with experience/skill differentials
- Work with them on relevant/real world goals in your stretch zone
- Achieve the goals by playing by our amazing rules
(What do we mean by our amazing rules?)
Our system integrates Cognitive Apprenticeship, goal setting and challenge based learning.
Learners join LG to work with people who have both more and less experience than they do. They work together to meet goals they set on real world and relevant challenges.
Self organizing learning
The retreat showed us that people come in with different methods of learning (reflected in the preferences of LG designers):
- focus on skills (with a skills map)
- focus on hours practiced
- focus on challenges / portfolio
- stretch constantly and you will succeed
- goal-setting for trust/awareness-building
The LG system is set up to be broad so that learners can experiment with learning styles and create the mix of styles that works for them. All of the above styles can fit into the system LG is setting up. Our system focuses and measures progress towards goal and stretching. Learners can track other elements for themselves (perhaps with optional systems set up by LG, eg a skills map tracker).
Goal Setting
Learners set “relevant stretch goals” (RSG) each week.
Goals are both individual and team goals.
Feedback systems reflect to learners if their goals are stretches.
**How is progress measured?**
The Learners Guild’s system tracks progress by measuring:
- Relative contribution delta (RCD/Time)
- Relevant stretch goals over time (RSG/Time)
Learners can also measure their own progress through other methods, though these are not officially tracked by LG’s system. These can include:
- Skills acquired/ Terrain covered on the skills map
- Difficulty of the challenges (levels)
- Hours practiced
Periodic Retrospectives
Learners meet regularly to reflect on their work (probably once a week) to analyze how far they have progressed on their goals. It includes data analysis, self reflection and feedback.
##In development
This is section collects ideas that had strong backing but have not reached completion or decision yet.
Note: Home Group and Team Lead ideas were more developed than I have written about them here. They’re not in the general notes and I think they evolved through conversations from several people’s ideas. Please comment or add info.
Home Group
A homegroup: slice of 12-15 people from the same cohort, with some people leaving and some being picked up
Longer form of support (once a week? every two weeks? does it last all year? phase-specific?)
Could also have Cross-phase homegroup (mandatory/not?)
Retrospective system and meetings
Many good ideas developed. The docs are collected in this file on the retrospectives.
Team Leads
Learners from advanced cohorts 10 weeks ahead spend a week as Team Leads with cohorts below them. Their role is to facilitate and guide teams on their projects.
##Not in consensus
This section covers thoughts that we did not reach consensus on, but that are important to record.
What is our philosophical approach / principle to tracking learning progress? What are we orienting towards?
- Omoju: challenges/portfolio, get likes on repo
- Simon: challenges
- Jeffrey: work across skill differential on real shit for long time
- Will: work across skill differential towards challenges based in real world
- Adam: set individual and team goals w/ research-backed methods for deliberate practice
- Tanner: people learn by watching amazing practitioners and teams set goals, break them down, track them, and achieve them
Learning vs understanding Learning and proving understanding are two different steps. Learning can be done through any of the methods. Proving understanding is best done through real world challenges. Reality is the assessment.
##Questions about the Learning System
How frequent are group meetings?
Offering Subsystem:
- How are the learning contracts created?
- What stats are we tracking? (partial decision)
- What is the map and how is it built? (no decision)
- When/how do shared agreements happen? and across who? home group based?
How can the relative contribution metric not be tyrannical?
What are drill weeks and how do they happen?
What are themes? Do we have them? How do they work?
What is the high-level input? Is it just 2 hours per week from a facilitator? What are the black belts doing?
How do learning practitioners get a pulse check on how individual learners are progressing in their skills? How do we know how much they’ve learned? How do they know?
Retrospective form: self, other, team and project. (and LOS)
How do shared agreements happen if the team lead has different time? What data do we need for LG? can we keep them seperate from retrospective? When I set a goal, a predict how strechy that will be for me
How do I know what the world of possibilities is? How do I know what I don’t know?
Is there a map? How does the map get created? Are there milestones?