James Jensen
Educator / Learner
Showcase
Introduction
"One quality of leaders and high achievers, in every area, seems to be a commitment to adult learning."
Brian Tracy
The Michigan State University Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program taught me more than I could collectively quantify in one of two assignments or essays. The knowledge that I acquired via intellectually stimulating course material, authentic application to professional work, and a thought-provoking processes of inquiry left me understanding and appreciating what it means to be a learner in the 21st century. The program materials I engaged with pushed me to think critically about the type of learner I was, but also the type of education I wanted to facilitate for others. By focusing my studies on P-12 School and Postsecondary Leadership and also receiving a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Postsecondary Education, I have become particularly fascinated with how adults grow and develop as learners across formal and informal educational experiences.
Through a deep study of concepts related to learning theory, program & lesson design, and the development of authentic experiences for learner, I gained valuable skills and experience that aligned with my career goals and professional experiences. This page of my portfolio provides a specific roadmap for how my thinking and understanding of learning theory has been developed during my time in Michigan State's MAED program. The artifacts spotlighted below focus specifically on how my thinking around adult learning and professional development has evolved over the course of my educational journey.
Click on the buttons below to access attached documents related to each artifact.
The Learning Society: How Adults Learn
To better understand what it means to live and work in a learning society that is becoming increasingly characterized by self-directed learning, I analyzed the unique journey of Noah Adams and his journey to teach himself the piano. Adams' experiences highlight what we understand to be self-directed learning in its truest form. From a careful, meticulous study of the motivations and methodologies behind this example of self-directed learning, I authored a case study analysis centered around self-directed learning. In this analysis, I provide an empirical breakdown of concepts related to self-directed learning and how the takeaways from Noah Adams experience are evident across several other examples of adult learning projects. From studying these individuals and their journeys through their unique adult learning projects, we can see what happens in the learning society outside from formal educational institutions and how we learn what we want to learn.
Structured vs. Unstructured Learning
The nature of what we learn is always changing but the contexts for which we learn also shift dramatically throughout our lifetimes. In this critical analysis of Philip Cusicks, A Passion for Learning, I dig into the educational experiences of seven significant learners throughout American history. Through a careful analysis of these learners experience with both traditional and non-traditional learning, I am able to find critical commonalities between them. These commonalities emphasize a key idea within learning theory: the value of both structured and unstructured learning experiences. In order to better understand the adult learner, how they acquire information, and how they interact with the world around them, we must understand the structured vs. unstructured learning. In my analysis of these learning experiences, I come to several key generalizations about structured and unstructured learning that inform my own adult learning philosophy today.
A Professional Study of Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande is a critically important figure in the world of adult learning theory. In this professional study of Gawande and his pillars of successful performance, I make assumptions and claims about how his professional work and dedication to lifelong learning are the embodiment of the learning society. By carefully framing the experiences of Gawande with that of other scholars and working professionals in his field, I am able to make clear and concise connections between the pillars of successful performance and the implications these pillars have on professional development, teaching, and learning adults. This analysis of Gawande and his professional work lay the framework for what I believe to be effective training theory for adult learners.
Describing & Assessing Instructional Design
I worked closely with an administrator in the field of my professional work to analyze, assess, and redesign a training and professional development program we have been using for several years. By studying the program participants and their adult learner profiles, I was able to successfully design and implement new programming materials centered around experiential learning. This "learning by doing" approach to professional development was backed by both participant interviews and literature in the field of adult teaching and learning. The design plan for this new program emphasizes my ability to assess and critique professional development and training exercises while making necessary adjustments to materials and facilitation to ensure the success of all adult learners.
The Role of Technology in Adult Learning
I use this essay to argue for the potential challenges that stem from online-based professional development and training programming. There is a natural connection between teaching, learning, and technological advancement. While advancements in technology allow for us to participate in a more globalized world, defined by new and exciting opportunities for learning and interaction, this essay looks at these advancements unintended consequences. Making an argument for more traditional, work-based training and professional development, I ground my findings and analysis of technology-based programming in contemporary literature and data findings. My work here is critically important in understanding where our ideas about adult learning, and the adult learner, are headed.
Literacy Learner Project
This literacy learner project takes a different, but important approach to adult learning and development. After spending four weeks working closely with a developing literacy student, I made recommendations for future teachers and parents about how we can sustain the literacy growth in this student beyond my program. When writing these recommendations and learning plans, there was a unique challenge in writing for both the adolescent and adult learner. While these lesson plans were for a child learning to read, the training and programming I was designing was also for the program facilitator (teacher, parent, guardian). This form of training and development design for adult learners and program facilitators highlights my distinctive ability to plan for different demographics and context at once.
Chicago Public Schools Student Safety Plan
With student safety being of the utmost important to parents, teachers, and administrators within Chicago Public Schools, the programming related to safety must be effective and well-designed. After collecting data amongst educational professionals in Chicago and finding that a majority of them found student safety programming to be ineffective, I proposed a revised student safety training program plan to be used at the district-wide level. This student safety plan looks at the efficiency and effectiveness for how we train educational professionals on topics such as Title XI servicing, mandated reporting, school evacuations, and a plethora of other topics related to student safety. My student safety plan uses adult learning theory to call specific attention to experiential, work-based learning activities that break away from traditional program facilitation which has been known to lack engagement and concept retention. All program planning is backed by literature behind adult learning theory and adult learner profiles, as well as through data collection among educational professionals in the field.
Culturally Responsive School Leadership Discipline Practices
In my professional experience, a culturally responsive school environment is one of the most important aspects related to a schools success in the eyes of parents and students. Cultural responsiveness is an important factor in many school-wide functions such as lesson planning, curriculum design, and student voice programs, but one that is often ignored is disciplinary practices. It is incredibly important that we, as professionals in urban education, allow for ourselves and our colleagues the chance to build a capacity for culturally responsive pedagogy and disciplinary practice. After spending time collecting data around the disciplinary practices of teachers within the school I am currently employed at, I found that in order to build a capacity for culturally responsive discipline, we needed to design programming around it. I used this plan to analyze, design, and eventually facilitate an engaging professional development and training plan for adult learners centered around culturally responsive discipline,
Image Credits:
A Passion for Learning: The Education of Seven Eminent Americans (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Learning-Education-Eminent-Americans/dp/0807745669
Chicago Public Schools Homepage (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cps.edu/Pages/home.aspx/
Effective Strategies for Teaching Reading (n.d.). Retrieved from https://soyouthinkyoucanteachesl.com/2014/08/06/effective-strategies-for-teaching-reading/
Making Professional Development More Personal (n.d.). Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2018/04/17/making-professional-development-more-personal/
Teaching, Learning & Technology old (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/teaching-learning-technology/teaching-learning-technologyold
Sayre Language Academy School Homepage (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sayre.cps.edu/