Non Formal Education Online Conference

Work in progress, expect frequent changes. Help and feedback is welcome. See discussion page.

Discussion on Non Formal Education

You are welcome to join in this discussion

Proposal

I am proposing an e-conference on non formal education (NFE), to share ideas on the topic, and perhaps eventually collaborate to develop a course and a specialty on WikiEd. My own interest is in Functional Literacy and adult informal learning, and others may be interested in NFE of children where the orthodox F2F education system cannot provide for their needs (eg because of poverty).--Philbartle 20:02, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

• What more than this is needed?
• Frequency: Weekly
• Session Length: Forty Five Minutes
• initially we could keep one (jyoti)
• Sessions: Seven (Too many?)
• Topics: As below

~*~*~*~*~* I think seven sessions is too many. Some of these topics can be united. It would help to describe a session in the proposal: what software (e.g. Illuminate), what length, what do people need to prepare (e.g. videos, interactives). MariaDroujkova ~*~*~*~*~*

• Very good, Maria. Thank you. Please will you draw up the number of sessions we need, with their topics, and add the new schedule here? --Philbartle 11:19, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Proposed Sessions

• One

Self introductions. Involvement in NFE. Vision or desire for future situations. Coming to an agreement of the meaning of Non Formal Education. Comparison with Formal and Informal. Does it only mean education outside the recognised educational system (eg schools and governmental correspondence studies)? What about unorthodox methods?

• Two

A bit more on the definition of NFE. The overall need for NFE. Subjects and topics with the highest needs. Students with the highest needs. Why non formal instead of formal?

• Three

Functional Literacy. Why did the Education System fail? Can NFE succeed? Why? Choosing relevant vocabularies. Fish prices instead of Shakespeare.

• Four

Relevant methods. Adults as students. Children as students. Choosing relevant methods. The problem with teaching adults by using models for teaching children. Can unorthodox methods lead to durable solutions?

• Five

Workrooms instead of classrooms. Project based learning; reliance on doing.

(Examples: making a poster, making a pamphlet, making street signs, making room signs, making shop signs). Field trips.

• Six

Function instead of perfection. Making standards fit student needs. The need for tolerance and respect.

• Seven

Where do we go from here? Suggestions for taking this somewhere.

~*~*~*~*~*

A proposal version with fewer sessions

One: Who are we? What do we want? Self introductions. Involvement in NFE. Vision or desire for future situations. Beginning to brainstorm the meaning of Non Formal Education. Comparison with Formal and Informal. Does it only mean education outside the recognised educational system (eg schools and governmental correspondence studies)? What about unorthodox methods? The overall need for NFE. Subjects and topics with the highest needs. Students with the highest needs. Areas where NFE is most appropriate and needed.

Two: Functional Literacy as an example of a prominent NFE area Why did the Education System fail? Can NFE succeed? Why? Choosing relevant vocabularies. Fish prices vs Shakespeare vs chat talk.

Three: Frameworks and methodologies Relevant methods. Adults as students. Children as students. Choosing relevant methods. The problem with teaching adults by using models for teaching children. Can unorthodox methods lead to durable solutions? Workrooms instead of classrooms; project-based learning; reliance on doing; communities of practice; unschooling; function instead of perfection; apprenticeships; student-centered learning environments, need for tolerance and respect.

Four: Plans and dreams Attempting an agreement on the meaning of NFE, based on the earlier sessions. Where do we go from here? Planning collaborative projects for the next few months.

MariaDroujkova

~*~*~*~*~*

Non Formal Education (NFE) - Today

Involvement in NFE.
Vision or desire for future situations.
(: Wondering if participants should spend some time agreeing on definition of NFE -- maybe provide a starting point that participants can discuss. --Alison Snieckus 01:28, 20 February 2009 (UTC)) (: we could also identify the target groups, who find non-formal education more appropriate. --jyoti 10:40, 05 March 2009 (EST))

Need for NFE

Subjects or skills with the highest needs.

• Reading
• Literacy
• Writing
• Arithmetic
• Numeracy
• Civics
  • World Citizenship
• Technology
• Computers
  • Hardware
  • Software
• Engineering
  • Water supplies
  • Construction
  • Maintenance
• Internet
• Professional Development
• Technology in Education

(: Another way to think about this would be what skills (instead of subjects) are in demand: literacy, numeracy, world citizenship (is there a better term??), technical (computer hardware and software, mechanic, construction). Is learning design the underlying skill in both professional development and technology in education?? --Alison Snieckus 01:28, 20 February 2009 (UTC))

Almost by definition, practical subjects are most needed. Also practical topics: Within reading, for example, Shakespeare is less practical than bus fares. Within arithmetic, two shillings plus two shillings is more practical than solving a quadradic equation

(: Not sure I agree with the arithmetic example. A fundamental understanding of numbers has become quite essential. I suggest calculating cost of shipping when it's 15% of total is more practical than factoring a quadratic equation. --Alison Snieckus 01:28, 20 February 2009 (UTC))

(: In my country(Botswana) the concept of customising Non Formal Education is a bit tricky in the sense that there is free basic ten year education. As a result non formal education mainly targets elderly people or adults who dropped out of school and are about 30 years or old. Use of new technologies does not seem to be appropriate in our context. I therefore suggest that when you scrutinize the subject you have to be cognisant of disparities that arise in developed versus non developed countries.--Tjenavi 10:44, 20 March 2009 (UTC)Tjenavi)

(: I would add parenting skills and communication skills (basic to conflict resolution) here. Please define what is meant by Professional Development. --Victoria Spagnolo 11:05, 13 April 2009 (UTC))

Why non formal instead of formal?

• It is a question of what works.
• More relevant and meaningful workshops
• Free
• Online - easy access and less expenses involved
• Suitable for 21ce life style - learning experience and process more important than paper showing accreditation that is available in formal learning
• Less limiting and more open to creativity if done online (see 6 week online workshop on digital ID in 21st century)

Functional Literacy

Why did the Education System fail?

Can NFE succeed? Why?

Choosing relevant vocabularies. Fish prices instead of Shakespeare.

(: we could provide evidences or case-studies where NFE has been successful. we can justify that it has worked. jyoti 10:50 p.m (EST))

• Do you mean during the conference, or for the course we would hope to be made as a result of the conference?--Philbartle 04:24, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Relevant Methods

Adults as Students

The problem with using models for teaching children.

Can unorthodox methods lead to durable solutions?

Adults have more life experience, and this can be important in deciding upon teaching methods, to take advantage of that experience.

Youth

Do methods of teaching youth who could not access the formal education system, or who failed when they did, need to be modified for NFE?

Classes in formal educational institutions spend a lot of time on discipline. Adults may not require so much time. Also there is an important factor of respect, which tends to be diminished when the emphasis is on discipline.

When is it appropriate to trust youth learners to direct their own learning (i.e., make choices about what they will learn and when)?

What are the trade-offs, if any, to tailoring the learning methods and environment to individual learning styles and needs.

Field Trips

While this discussion is on line, methods of NFE can be f2f, and can include field trips with functional purposes. For example, before choosing a project (as below), the students, as participants, may go on a field trip to determine some need in the community (such as the lack of information about fish prices) which they would be able to solve if they could write and read.

Work Rooms Instead of Class Rooms

This notion is based on the idea that of all the ways we learn, reading, listening, watching, one of the most effective in terms of retention and comprehension, is doing. Instead of sitting in a classroom watching a tutor, the students become members of a production team. They decide on a project, such as making a pamphlet with fish prices or making signs to put up. They are expected to choose something relevant and functional in their lives. The class becomes first a decision making meeting, then a work room for producing the product. The tutor becomes a coach, and inserts information, such as how to make and use a letter, at appropriate times.

Project based learning; reliance on doing. Change class for decision making meeting, and production workshop

Examples: making a poster, making a pamphlet, making street signs, making room signs, making shop signs, making a robot, determining stream health through collection and identification of macroinvertebrates, installing and using Linux operating system.

Field trips (see above).

Function Instead of Perfection

Making standards fit student needs.

The need for tolerance and respect.

• Perfect spelling is not always needed in order to communicate.

• Ensuring that tolerance and respect is bidirectional -- learner to educator AND educator to learner. This is a key issue in working with youth.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Suggestions for taking this somewhere.

Other work in Non Formal Education

• Compiling a book on the topic via Wikieducator --Nellie Deutsch 07:41, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Good idea--Philbartle 07:51, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

• something ongoing like Active Learning Blog Carnival --Vtaylor 14:03, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

• self study "course" with suggested activities, along with WE pages where "participants" can add links to their blogs or their WE pages --Vtaylor 14:03, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Resources, supplementary materials and activities

These can be created, collected and used during the conference preparation, as well as serving as a resource for people who miss the actual conference. --Vtaylor 14:13, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

• in addition to live (synchronous sessions), provide session descriptions, links to readings on the session topic - so participants can come to sessions prepared
• archive live sessions for review and for people who could not attend the live sessions
• weekly summaries as the conference progresses as enews and/or RSS
• links - blogs of participants where they will be writing about their participation
• activities - suggested discussion questions to encourage further research and example sharing

There may be people who can not attend the live sessions, but can be included into the cohort of participants working through the topics during the conference schedule. Lurkers are learners too.

Talk

• Has anybody had experienc running a discusion on line. I do not feel ready to do it yet.--Philbartle 07:07, 23 March 2009 (UTC) Phil, can you explain what you mean by running a discussion online. I have a lot of experience conducting discussions in a live online or virtual classroom like WiZiQ, Elluminate, Interwise and Hotconference. I only teach via asynchronous or synchronous discussions both online and face-to-face.--Nellie Deutsch 21:30, 28 March 2009 (UTC)
• Jyoti, I am looking for your input here.--Philbartle 03:21, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
• Hi Phil. I think a session of 45 minutes to one hour is sufficient. In my experience anything longer tends to result in you losing people.
• (Marshapg) I think this is an interesting endeavour and wouldn't mind collaborating with you on this.
• Sure. How do I contact you?--Philbartle 18:32, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
• --Vtaylor 12:30, 17 February 2009 (UTC) This is a great opportunity for collaborative writing. Everyone can add their ideas and suggestions directly into the appropriate sections. Links to other projects or WikiEducator pages would be wonderful. Getting some cross WE collaborating going would be a nice demonstration of the power of the WE community around Non Formal Education that is a common thread throughout teaching and learning discussions.
• I am very interested in participating in this conference. I work mostly with youth ages 12-18 in non school settings in the USA. IMO, many youth are not served in current formal education settings. I feel that many of these youth would benefit from self-directed/student-centric learning. I'm interested to see how my ideas might be similar to your concept of non formal education. -- Alison Snieckus 14:23, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
• I checked out Dimdim as a possible vehicle for an online aural conference. I used dimdim with lots of issues so I currently use WiZiQ. I have had incredible success with WiZiQ that is free with umlimited # of participants and a great support system. I can set up public sessions for the conference. Let me know if you are interested. --Nellie Deutsch 07:55, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
  • I am interested. I tried to get on Wiziq but failed.--Philbartle 08:12, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
  • Phil, do you skype? My skype user is nelliedeutschmuller. I can help you with wiziq via skype.--Nellie Deutsch 08:26, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
• I like the revision report at the top of this page--Philbartle 08:12, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
  • Do you mean the "work in progress" header. If so, I prefer it at the top, also. --Alison Snieckus 01:28, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
  • Yes, I do, Now it is gone, and I do not know why or how to bring it back.--Philbartle 10:59, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
• Discussions and online conference on informal education.

• Dr. Phil, I noticed this just today. Will have my inputs in a day or two. Jyoti Bawane 1.37, 25 February 2009 (EST)