THE

LITTLE BLUE BOOK OF DIALOGUE EDUCATION

THE ESSENTIALS
JANE VELLA 2012

To My friends and colleagues at the Faculty of Medicine of the Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile who are using Dialogue Education every day in clinics, classrooms and communities.

INTRODUCTION Over-explanation separates us from astonishment Eugene Ionesco My purpose in writing this small book is to offer a comprehensive summary of the system to introduce Dialogue Education to newcomers. It also offers a synthesis of essentials to those who are already generously using this system to design events that teach their students effectively. Readers will find more detailed studies of Dialogue Education in my other Jossey Bass/Wiley texts. I have seen that designs that lead to dialogue are A accessible, B beautiful and C communicable. A design for learning is accessible to the particular learners in a particular context when it uses their language, their metaphors, and the kinds of learning tasks that are appropriate for them. When a learning design is accessible it moves along with an energetic pace because all are engaged and working to learn. Accessible does not mean easy or imply a reductionist treatment of content. To make an accessible design, which enhances learning, is hard work. A learning design is beautiful when it is clear and simple, well-sequenced and significant to the particular learners in a particular context. When small groups are working energetically to complete a tough and meaningful learning task, the beauty of the design informs their dialogue. When there is laughter and excitement and palpable joy in the construction of new knowledge, the beauty of the design is at work both for the group and for the individuals in the group. A learning design is communicable when the new knowledge or skills or attitudes can be readily shared: husbands sharing with their wives, mothers with their children, friends with friends. Significant knowledge, skills and attitudes are too important to be kept secret or personal: they spill over into the community. Sharing offers a new approach to contextualization: knowledge is offered in new shapes and forms appropriate to new learners.

A Comprehensive Synthesis: Four Essentials

Preparation Principle-driven decision-making Process Proof in Practice: evaluation indicators. Preparation: Design tools:

The Learning Needs and Resources Assessment

Filters for Appropriate Contextualization: A checklist: language, behaviors, materials, timing Principled-Driven Decision-making: Applying the Principles and Practices Respect Lavish Affirmation Engagement Ideas/Feelings/Actions Accountability The Eight Design Steps

Relevance Sequence and Reinforcement Process:

Role Clarity

Learning Tasks : Strong Verbs (Bloom). Products

Materials: Classroom, Online Proof of Learning: Evaluation (Berardinelli Theory of Impact)

Indicators of Learning: Behaviors Indicators of Transfer: Behaviors in a New Context Indicators of Impact: Behaviors manifesting a New Consciousness

Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One Chapter Two Four Essentials Dialogue Education: History of this system Preparation

Chapter Three Principle Driven Decision Making Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Epilogue Resources for Further Study Process Proof in Practice: Evaluation Dialogue Education Online

Chapter One DIALOGUE EDUCATION The means is dialogue, the end is learning, the purpose is peace. History In 1963, I was a young professor at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. I had read Paulo Freires Pedagogy of the Oppressed and was struggling with the concepts and practices he taught. How was this to be done in a new, national university that maintained a hierarchical, anachronistic system of teaching and learning which had been inherited from the former British colonial government? One afternoon, my friend and colleague Professor Janacki Tserrell, called me. Have you heard? she asked in an excited voice, Paulo Freire is here in Dar es Salaam. He is talking this afternoon at the Institute of Adult Education! Do you want to come with me? Oh yes! We went and I met Paulo and fell in love. When I asked him if all who met him admitted they were in love with him, he smiled, Yes, usually. His words about teaching and learning moved me by their passion and frightened me by their complexity. My question persisted: How could this deeply-felt, loving philosophy of education become a simple, accessible system? Thats what I see Dialogue Education is: a simple, accessible system of design and action that intentionally uses dialogue as a means to learning.

Development In the fifty years since that Dar es Salaam meeting, I have had the joy and privilege to develop with a great deal of help from my friends this open system we call Dialogue Education. I like to call this system an ongoing research agenda. It will always be a developing system, fueled by the experience of teachers and designers and learners alike in many different contexts. We do not yet know all that it takes to help human beings learn in diverse contexts. However, we are learning: how to listen, how to teach, how to learn. Since this is a developing system I am passionate and insistent in my call for documentation. The development of a learning system that uses dialogue as a means to learning is a science. Todays technology allows us to capture the indicators of learning, transfer and impact in myriad ways so we can determine scientifically what works best for whom. What will Dialogue Education look like in the year 2063? Each design, each class, each workshop, each open question well documented is moving us there. A simple, accessible system Simple A simple system is often the most complex: a leaf, our body, a human zygote. Dialogue Education looks disarmingly simple; the complexity is manifest in the practice of it. The simplicity is in the articulation between diverse parts: preparation, the principles and practices, the process and the related proof in practice: evaluation indicators. Because of this innate articulation, when you master one part, you find you are mastering them all.

A simple system cannot often be described: its simplicity is in its operation. You do a learning needs and resources survey (LNRA) with prospective students. You discover their themes, interests, language, hopes and fears. You design using The Eight Design Steps and the design is informed by what you learned in the survey. You make decisions all along the way driven by the simple principles and practices: respect, engagement, immediacy, relevance, clear roles etc. and design a process made up of learning tasks. Within that process, you see and document indicators of learning, transfer and impact: proof in practice. It looks so simple; try it and taste the complexity. Accessible Inclusion is a vital principle of Dialogue Education: everyone is in! How can we make the system accessible to all? Language, timing, LNRAs, a consistent tone of respect, multiform windows these are a few aspects of Dialogue Education that assure accessibility. Language is the language of the learners, not of the teachers. Translate your complex, esoteric professional talk into the language of learners. Tell stories that are relevant, humorous and full of sound new knowledge. Move the current research into language that learners can immediately comprehend and construct into meaning that fits their context. Timing of classes, online events, workshops and institutes fit the needs of learners, not only teachers. By avoiding too much WHAT for your WHEN, you can be faithful to this respectful aspect of Dialogue Education. Discovering learners needs, hopes, themes, interests, contexts through an early learning needs and resources assessment is an essential way to assure accessibility. The dialogue does begin long before the course. A consistent tone of respect makes accessibility a visible aspect of Dialogue Education. Learners know when they are being respected through the attitude

and speech of the professor, the tone words, colors, beauty of the web site (www.globallearningpartners.com) , the personal attention they get. Multiform windows of access are essential. Again, todays technology affords our creative imagination virtually infinite possibilities for learners access to resources, and for teachers access to learners: the World Wide Web, libraries online, e-mail surveys, webinars, postcards, Google documents for feedback on designs There is no end to this list of windows of access. Dialogue Education has arrived at a rich and fertile time. Its future is promising.

CHAPTER TWO PREPARATION The dialogue begins long before the class does. At this moment in the developing system of Dialogue Education, preparation involves three elements: i. the use of an LNRA: learning needs and resources assessment ii. DESIGN: the eight design steps and iii. FILTERS: a check list for consideration of the context. 1. LNRA: learning needs and resources assessment Purpose. The purpose of the learning needs and resources

assessment is in its title. We need to know what learners perceive they need to learn and what resources they bring to the event. The LNRA informs the design; its purpose is not to form the design. My friend Gail von Hahmann calls it the early dialogue. Means. The LNRA can take many forms. Consider the guideline: Ask, observe, study. Ask: A simple e-mail survey, with a clear return date indicated, can ask three or four open questions that elicit the learners perception of their learning needs and the resources they bring. I attach to the e-mail a draft design of the course : WHO/WHY/WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/WHAT FOR ( not the HOW ) so that they see my perception of the learning event. Questions can be something like these: I. Describe your present work/study situation II. Read over the draft design, note the content ( WHAT ) and the achievement based objectives ( WHAT FOR ). Name which of these will be most useful to you and why.

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III. Describe your previous study/research/work with this topic (title of the course/workshop} Name one book you have read that deals with this topic. IV. What else do you want to tell me about your taking this course or doing this workshop? Such an e-mail survey is safe for the learner, and easy for the teacher to read. How do you see the responses might inform the design that will be used for the event? When a preliminary e mail is not possible, using these four questions as an opening learning task, and documenting and sharing the personal responses can be useful. I would urge that we never omit some form of asking in your LNRA. Begin the early dialogue! Observe. The learning needs and resources assessment never ends. The more I know about learners, the better their learning. As we teach, we can observe the interactions of learners, their personal responses and mode of work, their confusion or difficulty with the content, and these observations can tell us more about their learning needs and resources. Observation before the event is invaluable: go to their soccer practice, go to the workers assembly line, sit in the reception room at the doctors office. Watch, listen, learn! A party or gathering prior to the beginning of a course or workshop can reveal a great deal. Watch, listen, learn! Consider: where can you observe the participants at work or at play? Study. When learners have preparatory reading to do prior to a course or workshop, invite a single page paper on the reading. Name the date before the course or workshop that such a paper must be received. As you read these papers, you will discover a great deal about the learners resources and learning needs. What other ways of study can you consider for the kinds of teaching you do? Such research will enhance the process of teaching and learning.

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The LNRA begins the dialogue long before the course starts. It also begins a new role for most teachers as learners. As we unravel the data that comes in from learners, we discover our new role as co-learner a learner with the learners. I have never failed to be in awe at what I learn in this part of the preparation of a Dialogue Education event. 2. The Eight Design Steps These eight design steps provide a framework for teaching that has been shown to assure effective learning. Teachers, know your WHO: participants; your WHY: the situation that calls for this learning event; your SO THAT: the behaviors you expect to deal with that situation as a result of your teaching; your WHEN: the time frame you have with the learners; WHERE: the of the learning event; your WHAT: the content (skills, knowledge, attitudes: psychomotor/cognitive/affective) you need to teach effectively; your WHAT FOR: achievement based objectives: what the learners will have done with the content or achieved in the process of learning and your HOW: the learning tasks and materials you will design. That seems a great deal of work, learning all that, knowing all that, designing all that. It is. It is an essential part of the work of preparation for Dialogue Education. I think of these as eight questions that must have informed responses before I start to teach. Who: participants, teacher(s) the number; anything about them that you need to remember from their Learning Needs and Resources Assessment. We did say the LNRA informs the design! Dont forget to include yourself as the teacher. Why: the situation that calls for this learning event from the diverse perspectives that are involved. I often use the phrase the WHO needs

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That usually serves to describe the situation from the perspective of the participants. How about the funders? The managers of the participants? The parents of the students? You, yourself, as teacher? Remember the great question from Tom Hutchinson: Who needs what as defined by whom? So that: evaluation indicators: behaviors that will address that situation named in the WHY. When: time frame : the hours you have with the learners. In online courses, this is synchronous time. I have also recently named the early dialogue time spent talking to participants via an e-mail or telephone survey, time spent designing with these Eight Design Steps, Where: the site: aesthetics, arrangements, technical resources, lighting. What: the content cognitive/affective/psychomotor: ideas-attitudes-skills that you need to teach to address that WHY: situation What for: achievement based objectives: what learners will have achieved with the content in the process of learning it. How: learning tasks: the process and materials. A learning task is an open question put to a small group with all the resources they need to respond. A learning task is a task for the learner, so you use verbs that are tough, active and productive. An example of the use of the Eight Design Steps I was invited to do the commencement address of the Graduation Ceremonies of Goddard College in Vermont, in January 2011. Here as an example of the eight

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design steps - is the actual design I used. Each participant had these as the program for the evening.

DISCOVERING DIALOGUE AT GODDARD

A Celebration and Conversation to open the Graduation Weekend and the Winter Residency Session of the Education Program at Goddard College

THE EIGHT DESIGN STEPS FOR THIS EVENINGS PROGRAM

This is how we design at Global Learning Partners for dialogue in education.
1. WHO: PARTICIPANTS Seventy adults; Goddard MA, graduates, their families and friends, and graduate students who are starting their winter residency; graduate students who are continuing with this winter residency; Seattle ECE dual language Early Childhood Education group; faculty and staff of Goddard; Peter Perkins of Global Learning Partners, Inc.; Jane Vella, leader. 2. WHY: THE SITUATION This is a celebration and conversation to open the EDU graduation weekend and the winter residency session. 2011 is a time of re-visioning at Goddard and the EDU Program Director has invited me to lead this session. Participants need to celebrate and share the potential of dialogue at Goddard 3. SO THAT: EVALUATION INDICATORS they use this printed program to remind them of what they heard and to share the experience with friends and family and colleagues. They hear themselves using the language of dialogue. They utilize the principles and practices in work and study. They visit the web site: www.globallearningpartners.com and enroll in courses. Notice: evaluation indicators are always behaviors.

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4. WHEN: TIME FRAME The early dialogue: conversations with the Program Director of this Graduate Program: her hopes for this evening event; e- mail survey with a small sample of the graduates: their hopes for this evening event. Conversation with the Vice President for Academic Affairs, my friend, Mairanne Reiff: what the college hopes Using the Eight Design Steps to design the two hour celebration. Preparing materials to be available to all participants. Two hours: 7 9 p.m. Friday night January 21st to start the celebratory graduation weekend, and to open the Winter Residency ( a ten day intensive workshop/course/teaching-learning session ) 5. WHERE: SITE A comfortable room with 14+ clusters of chairs for six; participants will sit in these clusters so they can easily have this conversation together. 6. WHAT: CONTENT A story from Jane first day of teaching She means shut up! A Poem: Denise Leventovs Avowal A story: Marwa of Tanzania 1965 Inclusion: whos in, whos out? Dialogue: A question: What has dialogue at Goddard taught you? A Selection : Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education A Poem Denise Levertovs New Years 1981 7. WHAT FOR: ACHIEVEMENT BASE OBJECTIVES This is a unique form of setting objectives used by Global Learning Partners, Inc. . By the end of this two hour conversation /celebration all will have: Heard Janes story of her first day of teaching in 1953 Heard and read the poem Avowal by Denise Levertov and reflected - with a new Goddard friend - on freefall Heard the story of Marwa and reflected on the dialogue principle of inclusion: Whos in? Whos out? Named in conversation what dialogue has taught them Selected one principle/practice of the sample offered and shared i. why this one was useful to their learning

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ii.

why it seems vital to what Goddard is doing in 2011.

Asked questions about dialogue and shared ways they see Goddard is now served by dialogue, and how it can be served in future Heard another poem by Denise Levertov For the New Year 1981 8. HOW: Learning Tasks Learning Task # 1 INTRODUCTION I am very glad to be here at Goddard this evening, among some of my dearest friends: Marianne, Peter, and the graduate, Susan, and new friends, Barbara, Michael, Sue and Gus, and all of you. We are opening a celebration: of both Graduation and the Winter Session of the Education Program. Ive been invited because I love what Goddard is doing and I love dialogue in education. Tonight we are going to do dialogue, not listen to a keynote talk about it. I hope you find it as exciting as I do. I started my practice teaching at a Catholic Parochial School in Harlem, NY in 1953. Third grade. Thirty boys and girls. I was full of theory from my Teachers College, and very good intentions. I finished my lesson plan for the day at about 11 a.m. and the noise in the room got louder and louder. I put the children to work at something saying, Now, boys and girls, dont you think you could work better if you were quiet? After a few minutes of rising crescendo, little Louis stood up, put his hands on his hips and loudly explained, She means shut up! I learned a great deal from Louis that year, as you can imagine. In pairs, name and describe the Louis in your life. Well hear a sample. Learning Task # 2 A POEM Listen to this poem by the American poet Denise Levertov THE AVOWAL As swimmers dare to lie face to the sky and water bears them

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as hawks rest upon air and air sustains them; so would I learn to attain freefall, and float into Creator Spirit's deep embrace knowing no effort earns that all-surrounding grace. Read over that poem silently, and write down a few thoughts on what it means to you. Share with a person in your group whose name you do not yet know what freefall in that poem can signify to you in your life today. Well hear a sample of your sharing. Learning Task # 3 A STORY FROM TANZANIA Listen to this story of my friend Marwa, who taught me in 1965 that I had come to Tanzania to learn as much as to teach. My colleague and I were on holiday in northern Tanzania in 1965, staying at a mission north of Lake Victoria on the rim of a fabulous escarpment. Young and vigorous, we decided to climb down the escarpment in an all day hike. After a three hour descent, at the base we discovered we were lost. We had walked far from the path of our descent. We sat down under a shade tree to eat our light lunch, chatting and laughing at our plight. There wasnt a soul in sight. Only Tanzanian veld or bush. Suddenly, along the path came this tall, handsome Tanzanian fellow, walking along, carrying a long walking stick. By his dress we could tell he was an Mkuria one of the people of that region. He greeted us graciously ( wondering , I am sure, what these two women were doing sitting under a tree at noonday) and introduced himself as Marwa. That told us he was the first born son of his father. We chatted for a while in Swahili, and then we confessed that we were lost. He said he would show us the way back up the escarpment, and turned from the direction he had been heading to walk us to the lost path. After a few

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minutes, I said, Marwa, show us the way. We are ok. Well find the path if you show us. We dont want to take you out of your way. Oh no, Marwa answered. Among the Bakuria people if a stranger asks you the way you do not show them. You take them there. Wow! I blurted out, That is what Jesus teaches! Well, said Marwa, I dont know who this Jesus is, but he must be a Bakuria. Again, with someone new, tell what you would say to Marwa were you to meet him today. Well hear a sample of your conversation. Learning Task # 4 A QUESTION: WHAT HAS DIALOGUE TAUGHT YOU?

Listen to my response to this question. I have been moving into dialogue for almost eighty years, Dialogue has taught me to read differently arguing, arm-wrestling with any author. I dont think so! is now a valid response to whatever I read or hear. John Keats, beloved poet, calls it negative capability: which I understand as the felt power to decide for oneself what is, what is right, what is good, what is beautiful. Dialogue has taught me to honor that same capability in the Other: and to respect his perspective, knowing I have not stood in his shoes or lived with his folks, or drunk his particular tea. As Sue Fleming says on the web site of Goddards Education group: Authentic relationship between faculty and student is at the heart of our experience together. Dialogue has taught me or is trying to teach me how to listen. Dialogue has taught me, then, to stand certain of myself and unsure at the same time. Dialogue has taught me to pray for doubt, so that my day always surprises me with new learning from unexpected sources. Consider a moment of dialogue in your life that was fruitful and tell in your small group what you learned from it. Well hear a sample. Learning Task # 5 SIX SELECTED PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF DIALOGUE IN EDUCATION

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Read and mark these descriptions of these selected principles and practices. Each select one principle/practice that you have seen work for you in your own learning - at Goddard or in your life. Describe in your small group how that principle/practice worked for you and what you learned. Well hear a sample of your conversation. OPEN QUESTIONS RESPECT ENGAGEMENT SAFETY RELEVANCE & IMMEDIACY IDEAS/FEELINGS/ACTIONS RESPECT We show respect in many different ways. When learners feel respected, they show respect for others. IDEAS, FEELINGS. ACTIONS Learning involves cognitive, affective and kinesthetic elements: ideas, feelings and actions. When all three are working together, learning is at its best.

ENGAGEMENT Learning is an active process. Learners must be engaged: with their mind, emotions and muscles.

RELEVANCE AND IMMEDIACY The content being taught must be designed to be relevant to the context and life of learners. When this happens, there is a sense of the immediate usefulness of the learning. SAFETY When learners feel safe they are able to accept and work through the challenge that is involved in learning.

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OPEN QUESTIONS Open questions invite dialogue. These questions do not have set answers but stir up thinking and reflection and relevance to ones context. A closed question: What is the capital of Vermont? invites a set response: Montpelier. An open question: Look at this map. Why do you think they chose Montpelier as capital of Vermont? moves towards thoughtful learning. Learning Task # 6 YOUR IDEAS AND QUESTIONS Reflect upon what weve done and considered about Dialogue in Education at Goddard in these two hours. Write down your ideas and questions. Well hear them. I will respond to all. Learning Task # 7 Another Poem Listen to and read this poem: For the New Year 1981 Tell one another what is your grain of a grain of hope Well hear a sample. For the New Year, 1981 By Denise Levertov

I have a small grain of hope one small crystal that gleams clear colors out of transparency. I need more. I break off a fragment to send you. Please take this grain of a grain of hope so that mine won't shrink. Please share your fragment so that yours will grow. Only so, by division, will hope increase, like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower unless you distribute the clustered roots, unlikely source

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clumsy and earth-covered of grace. Thank you! ************ There you saw the eight design steps create a framework for learning. There was no time for me to talk that was not within that framework. In Chapter Four we will examine The Process in more detail, and discover the essentials about learning tasks. Filters: language/behaviors/materials/timing etc. A check list is a useful instrument for the designer of Dialogue Education. We cannot omit setting up these filters as we design: Look at the language of your design. Is it the language of the learners? ___ Look at the behaviors invited in the learning tasks. Are these appropriate for these learners? __ Look at the materials as a whole, and the individual units. Are these appropriate for this context and these learners? Are they beautiful? ___ Look at the timing of the program as a whole, and of the learning tasks. Is it appropriate for this context and for these learners? ___ When the design has been examined by this check list ( your check list will have those items you have added that are relevant to your work, ) there is a better chance that engagement and learning will occur for all.

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CHAPTER THREE PRINCIPLE-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING A principle is the beginning of an action. There are endless decisions to be made as we design for effective learning. These decisions can be informed by the principles and practices of Dialogue Education. Respect: Every decision within a design must manifest respect for the learners, and the self - respect the teacher has. Re spect is a word that comes from two Latin roots: re: again spectare: look at. LOOK AGAIN! Having done a Learning Needs and Resources Assessment of some sort, you have some idea of the context of these learners. Look again! What do they expect of the course or the event? What do you expect of them? Having used the checklist of filters, you have shown respect for their context(s) in terms of language, behaviors, materials and timing. How else can you show respect for them, and gain respect from them. Every decision must manifest that respect. Lavish affirmation is a subset of respect. Whenever I introduced this as an important practice, there was inevitably someone who said: I cannot do that! I would reply: Thats fine for now, John. However, when you see and feel what lavish respect does thoughout this course to enhance your learning, you can decide how you will do it with your students. Engagement: Learning Tasks enable designers to constantly decide with engagement in mind. When learners are engaged, they are learning. The quality of that learning demands another layer of decision-making: what are the ways this group of learners finds most appropriate for their most effective learning? What invites engagement?

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Engagement can be cognitive: inviting learners to develop a concept to fit their context, or their prior learning. Engagement can be psychomotor: inviting learners to do something physical with the concepts or skills they are learning. Engagement can be affective: the poems in the design example from Goddard College in Chapter Two moved learners to work affectively. I heard a brilliant lecture online recently from a professor at a first class university. I wondered about her design decisions and when she considered the engagement of the graduate students whom she was teaching. I wanted her to decide not only the content of her lecture but also the process (see Chapter Four) and ways to engage those graduate students in contextualizing and constructing the important content she offered for their own lives. When the principle of engagement informs our decisions, learning can be enhanced. Safety. James Zull, a biologist, has written two compelling books : The first The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning (2002) and From Brain to Mind: Using Neuroscience to Guide Change in Education (2011). Dr. Zull corroborates all of the principles and practices of Dialogue Education in his studies. The most important, in his biologists opinion, seems to be safety. Fear, he concludes, is never an enhancement to learning. Never! So every decision you make as a designer of Dialogue Education has safety as one of your most important guides. Dr. Zull suggests, even the word challenge is not safe. Invite learners, command them to do a learning task, be clear about expectations, parameters, resources. Clarity and safety are a learning pair. Ambiguity, on the other hand, can be paired with fear. Again decisions about safety relate to cognitive content: how much, how deep; how framed; to affective issues: emotional safety, avoiding bullying, Size and nature of small group formation; and psychomotor safety: physical limits, timing that does not add stress.

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Safe is not easy. Learning is not easy: it demands discipline, order, sacrifice, mental, physical and emotional strength. To make learning, which is never easy, possible and effective, we use the guide of safety in making design decisions. Ideas/Feelings/Actions or cognitive, affective, psychomotor aspects of every learning design is a useful guide when making design decisions. How can this learning task have all three aspects? Which is the lead one; which are the follow up aspects? We know that learning that is cognitive, affective and psychomotor is most effective. Skills need encouragement and a theoretical grounding; ideas need physical practice and a sense of their place in the whole; new attitudes need sound theory and lots of behavioral practice. Decisions must consider Ideas/feelings/actions all three! Relevance. Connecting new content to learners is vital. First we have to know the learners through the LNRA or some other means. Then, we have to make hard decisions about the content (WHAT) in terms of those learners (WHO). Notice that the Eight design steps do not begin with the content (WHAT) but rather with the learners (WHO). We know that when our teaching is irrelevant, it is lost. Recently, I spent time at my local library, anxious to learn a simple skill that would bring audiobooks to my Ipod or Ipad as library books. The young woman who taught us was not guided in her decisions by relevance. I left the two-hour class more confused than when I had entered, knowing only that I was a stupid old lady. Making the connection between the group of learners and the specific content you have to teach takes time and effort. This connection is essential if effective learning is to take place. Open Questions This is both a principle and a practice. Every decision to ask a question might do well to ask: How can I make this an open question? An open question does not have a single, correct response. Open questions invite

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dialogue. A learning task is an open question put to a small group with all the resources they need to respond. I propose that skill in designing and using open questions is a determining skill in the use of Dialogue Education. Someday (soon!) we shall be able to watch what happens in the brain when one is asked a closed question, and what happens when one is asked an open question. Design decisions are mightily informed by recognizing and using open questions. Sequence and Reinforcement Here is another set of principles that can help in making effective design decisions. The sequence of learning tasks: from simple to more complex, from easy to more difficult, from small to large can be a guide to the ordering of content and process. When sequence is out of order, the discomfort of learners is manifest. Sequence is often subtle and demands careful scrutiny: which comes first? Which issue is more relevant? Which element is easier to deal with? There is a sequence in group work: from pairs to large group, from large group to pairs to single work. Reinforcement is a form of sequence: iteration: saying the same thing in a different way; repetition: doing the same task in a more difficult setting; sequenced modalities: from reading to audio - visual ( including lectures) to online to independent research A variety of group work formations can afford reinforcement of a skill or concept or attitude being learned. Sequence and reinforcement are the ordering guides to effective decision making in the design of Dialogue Education. Learners as Subjects or decision-makers is a principle that can inform both design decisions and those spontaneous decisions that constantly arise in an event. Do not do for learners what they can do for themselves. That is an important axiom corollary to this principle. Dont tell what you can ask; do not ask if you know the answer, tell in dialogue. Thats another axiom that supports this principle.

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Learning is an autonomous action. We learn as Subjects: decision-makers, making meaning for our idiosyncratic context of offered content. Such active, personal learning is the result of teachers recognition that the learner is Subject or decision-maker. Role clarity is a serious principle and the responsibility of every teacher and designer. This principle can inform our decisions not only relating to design, but to all of our actions in the classroom or workshop. When there is ambiguity about role: Who decides? Who speaks? Who acts? Who sets time? there is confusion and even fear. This principle, when honored, means learners feel safe in the hands of a clear, sure teacher who selects content, presents it, sets learning tasks, keeps time, moves group work to productive documentation and sums up well. This clarity of role means learners can get on with the hard work of learning. Accountability is a permeating principle: we are accountable to the learners we teach; we are accountable to the broader society; we are accountable to teach the content and teach it well. Every design decision is informed by this principle: how does this learning task enhance their learning? How does this material move towards enhanced learning? How does this video or reading or Power Point presentation not only support my teaching, but, more importantly, their learning? In the example I offered in Chapter Three from Goddard College in Vermont, you saw that I shared the complete program with all participants: graduates, faculty, the President of the College, parents and families and friends of the graduates, students entering the Winter Residency program, staff of the College. I did that so that they could assess my accountability, and see how their involvement was a manifestation of their accountability to all the participants. The joyful laughter throughout the two hours was an effective indicator of their sense of my accountability. What do you see here about how these principles and practices work together? I have seen that using one principle or practice well leads you to using

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all of them well. What other principles and practices inform your decision-making so as to enhance learning?

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CHAPTER FOUR PROCESS A learning task is an open question put to a small group with all the resources they need to respond. The heart of the system called dialogue education is the learning task. There is a natural sequence in the focus of parts of a learning task: first we anchor the task in the context of the learners. I call this inductive work: moving from the particular to the general. Then, we add sound, well-researched, cogent input: the content named in the WHAT of the eight design steps. This can be done in an infinite variety of ways: lectures, Power Point presentations, readings, videos, research projects, experiments, cd recordings. Illustrated demonstrations. In todays technological environment the lecture can be a Skype dialogue with a master of the content: the Power Point presentation can be interactive, colorful, with three dimensional visuals, the readings can be of the latest book downloaded onto a screen from the Internet. First class process, first class content! We move to some learning task that involves the active engagement of all learners with that content. I call this implementation: something with the content in the time frame of the lesson. This doing can be in a small group or as an individual. Products developed by this implementation are parts of the documentation of indicators of learning. (Cf. Chapter Five ) Finally we invite learners to take the new content home, take it away! I call this integration. The learning task invites projection, working the creative imagination, asking learners to describe how they will be using the new cognitive, affective and psychomotor content in their unique context. This fourfold sequence can be within a learning task, or within a set of four learning tasks. I have seen the advantage of including all four elements: Inductive work, input, implementation and integration. In a

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Strong Verbs (Bloom). Choosing appropriate verbs in the setting of learning tasks is an essential skill in this system. We often refer teachers to Blooms taxonomy (cf. Appendix A) .The basic idea is that individuals and small groups are moved by the verb to a specific task that will show a product which is, in fact, documentation of learning. Here is an example of the four types: Title: Naming Critical Issues: Learning from Them Name the two people in your life who have influenced your character. Tell one thing one of them did to move you to action or reflection. (an inductive learning task) Watch and listen to this Power Point presentation on the issues facing the Continental Congress according to historian Joseph Ellis. In your table group, decide which issue was the most critical, and tell why you chose that one (an input learning task). Well hear from each table. Each participant has a copy of the six slides in the Power Point presentation to examine, to make notes on, to take home as a mnemonic. In pairs, examine the front page of todays New York Times on your computers. Select one issue you see as most critical for you and your family. Tell why you chose that issue. Well hear a sample. ( an implementation learning task ) Individually, design a personal plan for following that critical issue: a diary, media study, a book you will read etc. At your table, share your personal plan for following your one chosen critical issue. Notice that each of these learning tasks has a product: a list, a set of reasons that can be documented. How do they know they know? They just did it. Materials: The design of learning tasks can be used in classrooms or online. In a face to face situation, the learning task can demand individual work, paired collaboration and larger group work, at tables or in the whole room.

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Online, learners can post their individual responses to learning tasks and have a dialogue about these through the particular platform the course is using.. The learning task is not an exercise of the skill or concept just heard. It is an intentional series of individual and small group work engaging learners in the task of learning a concept, a skill or an attitude. The learning task is a task for the learner. The verbs indicate what learners do, not what the teacher does. I recommend my book Taking Learning to Task (Jossey Bass, 2004) for an in-depth study of the learning task as a useful process.

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CHAPTER FIVE Proof of Learning: Evaluation Evaluation indicators are always behaviors. We design for learning: cognitive learning of concepts, physical learning of skills and affective learning of attitudes. The Berardinelli Theory of Impact ( cf. How Do They Know They Know: Jossey Bass 2000) is the source of the evaluation process used in Dialogue Education. We name behavioral indicators of learning, that is, the mastery of the skill or concept or attitude that was taught. These indicators are manifest within the time frame of the learning event. We invite learners to name projected behavioral indicators of transfer, that is, the use of the skills, concepts and attitudes learned in a new setting or context. We anticipate and look for behaviors that manifest a new consciousness. These behaviors are the source of new, healthier systems. I have long been aware that my teaching was a long way from the quality of impact I wanted to achieve. I want a world without armaments. I want a justice system that works with equitable service to all. I want an economic system that enables all persons to have their basic needs met. These are new systems. New systems arise out of a new consciousness. The old systems inequitable, dominating, racist arose and were supported by an incomplete consciousness. So, behavioral indicators of Impact are not the new system, but the new actions that will build and undergird new systems: cooperation, communication, inclusive language, service, dialogue. Education does not build new systems but develops a new consciousness from which new systems, are created. 1

1. I read in Walter Brueggemanns THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION: Moses did not

want to change the political-social systems of Egypt. His hope was to change the

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consciousness that created and undergirded those domination systems. I realized that impact was not systems change but a viable, possible change in consciousness.

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CHAPTER SIX DIALOGUE EDUCATION ONLINE Can dialogue be virtual? Yes!

When we designed our first online course, Dr. Marian Darlington Hope and I realized that the defining feature of Dialogue Education online was indeed, the learning task. We also realized that platforms current at the time were not designed for dialogue. The current online course offered by Global Learning Partners, Inc. (2012) teaches experienced dialogue educators how to use what they know about Dialogue Education on an online platform. This is an ongoing research agenda. All that I can say definitively at this time is that fidelity to the principles and practices is proving to work in virtual, online relationships and that learning tasks offer useful structure, quality control and reliable documentation for online courses.

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EPILOGUE You have just read the essential four OF Dialogue Education: preparation principle-driven decision-making process proof in practice: indicators of learning, transfer and a renewed consciousness

I would be very grateful to all who read this who write me at jane@globalearning.com to tell me if and how it was helpful in your search for ways to help people learn towards peace.

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APPENDIX A

Bloom's Taxonomy of Verbs

.

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

www.teachnology.com

Count, Define, Describe, Draw, Find, Identify, Label, List, Match, Name, Quote, Recall, Recite, Sequence, Tell, Write Conclude, Demonstrate, Discuss, Explain, Generalize, Identify, Illustrate, Interpret, Paraphrase, Predict, Report, Restate, Review, Summarize, Tell Apply, Change, Choose, Compute, Dramatize, Interview, Prepare, Produce, Role-play, Select, Show, Transfer, Use Analyze, Characterize, Classify, Compare, Contrast, Debate, Deduce, Diagram, Differentiate, Discriminate, Distinguish, Examine, Outline, Relate, Research, Separate, Compose, Construct, Create, Design, Develop, Integrate, Invent, Make, Organize, Perform, Plan, Produce, Propose, Rewrite Appraise, Argue, Assess, Choose, Conclude, Critic, Decide, Evaluate, Judge, Justify, Predict, Prioritize, Prove, Rank, Rate, Select,

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RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY Vella, Jane Learning to Listen Learning to Teach 1994, 2002 San Francisco Jossey Bass/ Wiley ------On Teaching and Learning 2008 San Francisco Jossey Bass/ Wiley ------ Training Through Dialogue 1995 San Francisco Jossey Bass/ Wiley -------Taking Learning to Task 2001 San Francisco Jossey Bass/Wiley ------ Dialogue Education at Work San Francisco 2003 Jossey Bass/Wiley ----- How Do They Know They Know San Francisco 1997 Jossey Bass/Wiley Zull, James E. From Brain to Mind: Using Neuroscience to Guide Change in Education Stylus Sterling, VA 2011 ========= The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning Stylus Sterling, VA 2002

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