Laura K Spencer, Ed.D.

Category: Teaching and Learning

  • Jidoka: Applying the “Human Touch”

    When I met my boyfriend, he was driving a 1991 Toyota Corolla. It was quite the jalopy. The upholstery had seen better days. There were dents and rust.  But it ran. It always ran. Not only did my much newer Ford have more service appointments than that Corolla, but the Corolla also got better gas mileage. It was like the Energizer Bunny… it just kept going.

    I never appreciated that Corolla. Until today. When I learned about lean manufacturing, Toyota, and the power of Jidoka.

    Jidoka (or autonomation) is a Japanese manufacturing term that means applying the “human touch” to immediately address manufacturing problems at the moment they are detected. Employees are empowered to stop production line and solve problems without having to get permission from supervisors. But it’s not just about stopping production and fixing the immediate issue. It’s also about figuring out why the issue came to be in the first place, and working with teammates to prevent it from happening again.

    There are four elements to Jidoka:

    1. Detect the abnormality.
    2. Stop.
    3. Fix or correct the immediate condition.
    4. Investigate the root cause and install a countermeasure.

    The purpose, therefore, is that it makes possible the rapid or immediate address, identification and correction of mistakes that occur in a process.

    Take for example this simple autonomation on the factory floor:

    The problem of the containers tipping sideways could be fixed by the employee turning them upright every time, which fixes the immediate issue. But instead, the countermeasure of the rope reduces the odds of that same issue continuing to cause issues down the path. Toyota mastered this approach, and as a result, their cars are some of the most dependable (and lasting!) cars on the road.

    Do you see the education analogy?

    We can’t depend on formal assessments to detect “abnormalities” in student learning. We also can’t assume a packaged curriculum will address all student needs. Or think a personalized, adaptive computer program will fill in all the deficit areas.

    We are the “human touch” students needs. The Jidoka.

    When we let the tipped container of knowledge continue down the line, we have failed the child.

    We are the ones that need to pull the cord and stop production if a child isn’t learning.

    We are the ones who need to find a different method, a different resource, a different context to ensure that student’s needs are met.

    We are the ones who need to reflect on our practice to determine why the learning isn’t happening.

    And we are the ones who need to provide countermeasures to support each child’s growth.

    We are the “human touch” students needs. The Jidoka.

    Jidoka Source:
    Autonomation on Wikipedia

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  • Use the [Internal] Force, Luke!

    When people feel like they can experience success in a situation, they have more reason to put forth the effort to do so. If they feel like a situation is hopeless, or out of their control, why bother? This is the concept behind Attribution Theory. In other words, if I work hard (internal) at this, will I succeed? Or should I not bother because I know my boss never likes anything I do (external)?

    This is why Carol Dweck is so popular in education circles. Dweck states that “individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.”

    Basically, people with a growth mindset use an internal locus of control to explain their successes and failures. Therefore, they are more motivated to put forth the effort needed to learn.

    Use the Internal Force, Luke

    In my post “I Believe in 28 out of 36 of You” I discussed Bandura and his research which shows how beliefs impact action. And that people with self-efficacy set their sights higher, try harder, persevere longer, and show more resilience in the face of failure. Sounds pretty internal, right? Not much to attribute to external forces there.

    So when we talk about students and goals, how we frame the conversation has a profound impact not only on our perceived ability in their success, but also their own perceived ability in their success, which ultimately creates the conditions to internally and externally impact their success.

    If we say 28 out of 36 students will pass, we can easily attribute the eight failures to external causes such as poverty or already being academically deficient when they walked in the door. But when our goal is for all students to increase their score by 20 points, external factors don’t carry the same weight. The goal requires an intentional, unrelenting focus on internal causes … on effort and belief and efficacy … for every student to feel and achieve success.

  • Reflect On Our Practice

    “We are generating more information and knowledge than ever today, but knowledge is only good if you can reflect on it.”

    Thomas L. Friedman, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations

    I had the pleasure of being interviewed the other day by an educator pursuing an advanced degree in educational technology.

    It was a pleasure because her interview questions made me reflect on my current practices, my past practices, and my reasons for each.

    All great interviews should involve both parties walking away feeling like they have both contributed and learned something – whether it be for a job, or a research paper, or a podcast.

    I share with you abbreviated forms of her questions so that you, too, can reflect on the work you do. And hey, if you want to share an answer, that’d be fabulous.

    1. As part of my master’s program, I was asked to develop a professional development (PD) course around Universal Design for Learning.  This PD was designed for the learning to happen over several weeks.  However, in my current school district, PD days are booked at the beginning of the year, and there are many competing initiatives all promoted at the district level so that it becomes close to impossible to do any PD that extends beyond an hour because there is a need to provide PD for the wide range of initiatives.  Do you have similar issues in your district?  If so, how do you work to provide some long term, meaningful PD?

    2. Currently, our district provides PD as a one size fits all approach.  I believe part of this strategy is for accountability. How do you help move the district to more differentiated learning for staff?  How do you get administrative buy in?

    3. At one time, our 1:1 program encouraged parents to think of the Chromebook as a family tool.  Parents were encouraged to get their own email accounts and to log into their student’s device in order to look for jobs, pay bills and to work towards increasing their employable skills by becoming more proficient with technology.  However, concerns have prompted the tech department to lock down all devices so that they now may only be used with a district email address, thus taking the tech away from the parents. Can public schools close the digital access and equity divide for both students and families, or are 1:1 programs actually contributing to the divide?

    4. As part of our master’s program, we have been encouraged to become familiar with UDL, OER, Copyright, Creative Commons and Internet Use Agreements.  How would you prioritize the importance of these in your daily work and why?  When looking for new members for your educational technology team, which of these would you consider to be most important for an applicant to have expertise with?

    5. If you could suggest areas of focus for people entering the field of educational technology to have, what would you suggest?  Why?

  • Belonging to the Tribe

    Belonging to the Tribe

    I wasn’t the most athletic kid growing up. Haha. Who am I fooling? I’m still not athletic. I tripped trying to run to first base because my legs were moving faster than my body. I fell playing kickball because my foot landed on top of the ball instead of kicking the ball. I sometimes run into walls. So you can probably imagine that I wasn’t the first one picked to be on a team. And even if I was (eventually) picked, I certainly wasn’t in the starting lineup!

    So it really resonated with me when Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, explained to my colleagues and I* why the employees at WD-40 consider themselves a tribe and not a team.

    A team, Ridge explained, comes together for a purpose… usually a competitive one. There are top players, and benchwarmers, and people who didn’t get picked to be on the team at all. They practice together to meet their goal of beating the opponent. But when the game is over, they separate. They lead their own lives, independent of each other.

    A tribe, however, is different. Tribes depend on the people within their unit for survival. Every member of the tribe has an important role based on their skills and talents. There are no benchwarmers in a tribe.

    Tribes have other elements as well. They have values; they’re future-focused; they are warriors, when needed; and they place importance on celebrations. All of which are elements that contribute to a positive workplace culture.

    And because the tribe is dependent on each other, the responsibility of the tribal leader is to be a learner and a teacher. Not only is the leader learning and gaining wisdom that will nurture and sustain the tribe, but s/he also must pass the wisdom down so that the tribe’s success continues without the leader.

    The tribe is a much more intentional, and meaningful, connection than a team. People belong to a tribe. They have purpose within the tribe. They are protected by the tribe.

    Seth Godin, in his book Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, writes: “Caring is the key emotion at the center of the tribe. Tribe members care what happens, to their goals and to one another.”

    Isn’t that, ultimately, at the core of what we want our classrooms and schools to be for our students?

    Find-your-tribe-quote

    *Before meeting Garry, I would have used the phrase “team” to describe my colleagues. But they are my tribe. As Seth Godin describes it: “Tribes are about faith—about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration…” Grateful to have found my tribe!

    Learn more about the WD-40 tribe on their website.

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  • PSA: How to check your FB App Sharing Permissions

    PSA: How to check your FB App Sharing Permissions

    This may seem out of the norm for my usual posts, but as a former EdTech/IT Director, I think it’s important that you know how to limit what information you share with apps you have connected to your Facebook.

    This Cambridge Analytica data fiasco should be a wake up call for all of us. Understand that this was not a BREACH. Data wasn’t hacked by a nefarious group. It was freely given by the “What Cat Are You?” type of quizzes you take on FB; by the agreements you hurriedly say yes to when registering on a new website; and on the security permissions you don’t often check on Facebook. We are all complicit in this situation.

    But here’s how to start reducing that data share:

    There are more Facebook settings that you will want to dig into as well,but this is a good starting place.

    (And if you haven’t received the Cambridge message from FB yet, or already closed it, you can access your app settings under the FB Setting ms section.)

    Featured photo used with attribution permission from: blogtrepreneur.com/tech
  • Do Not Read This Blog Post!

    Do Not Read This Blog Post!

    I was at a local event the other day that was filled with young children and their parents. The children were getting faces painted, collecting Easter eggs, and taking photos with the Easter bunny. As you can imagine, it was a bit… chaotic. Parents chasing children, shouting phrases like:

    “Don’t run off ahead of me!”

    “Stop bugging your sister.”

    “Don’t eat any more candy!”

    You get the idea. And it made me think, how many times a day do you think a child is told NOT to do something? What if I told you not to watch this video? Would you do it?

    I’m going to go ahead and assume you watched.  As you saw, Brown uses the power of negative suggestion to get children to open a box. How? Simple. By telling them NOT to open the box. The more they tried not to open the box, the more difficult it was to resist.

    Brown shares that curiosity gets the better of us, and we wonder what will happen if we do the thing we’re trying not to do.

    Makes me wonder, then, are students getting in trouble in school simply because we continuously tell them not to do something… are we, unwittingly, using the power of negative suggestion to convince students to act out counter to our desires? Are we fueling their curiosity with our constant messages of:

    “Don’t run in the halls,”

    “Don’t use swear words,”

    “No talking,”

    and “Don’t access inappropriate content on the internet”?

    The negative rules are everywhere. They are not only said by adults on campus, but they are published on classroom posters, listed on Internet Acceptable Use Policies, and sent home in First Day of School packets.

    So how about I try a little negative suggestion for you:

    DON’T USE POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS WITH STUDENTS!

    Did it work? Have you torn down the posters? Rewritten the Internet Acceptable Use Policy? What are you waiting for?

    *****

    By the way: Derren Brown is an English mentalist. I wasn’t sure what a mentalist was, so I looked it up. And honestly, I’m still not sure, but it seems to involve an ability to  subliminally manipulate people through psychological suggestion. If you liked his video, check out his YouTube channel – I should warn you though… he uses negative suggestion with adults that are a bit darker than the video I shared here.