Drawing and artwork can aid in memory, non-linguistic processing. Through drawing and artwork, learners can create their own visuals to aid in their learning. Artwork can also be used as the focus of collaborative learning. Tate suggests having learners collaborate on a mural or graffiti that shows their understanding of the content.
Application: Towards the end of the 12- week “Working Out Loud” (WOL) Circle process, participants are asked to create a vision of where they want their WOL practice to take them. The suggested method is writing a letter to your future self. Participants write a letter that describes what they are doing differently, their successes and failures, what led to their successes and failures, and how those successes and failures feel. The purpose of the letter is to help participants connect their WOL practice to their work and lives in a meaningful way.
When I deliver WOL workshops, sometimes as short as 75 minutes, there is not enough time for the letter to your future self activity. Instead, I ask participants to create a destination postcard. Participants pick a date some months or years ahead (12 to 36 months is a good range) and imagine that their WOL efforts had gone the way they hoped.
Participants then create a destination postcard that describes what that future looks like. They can create a drawing, a bulleted list, a poem, a short story, whatever helps them describe their future. I give them the following prompts to get them started.
I’ve talked with many participants that have their destination postcard hanging in their office to remind them of where they want to go and why WOL is part of getting there.
Assessment: Free Discussion (Barkley & Major, 2016, pp. 271-276)
Free discussion is my go-to assessment for almost every WOL activity. It creates space for individual reflection and for finding shared meaning. After each activity, I give participants about a minute of silence to reflect on their experience. Then I ask someone to share. If no one wants to share, I’ll share some of the reflections I’ve heard in previous workshops, which often prompts others to share.
References
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Tate, M. L. (2012). “Sit and Get” won’t grow dendrites: 20 professional learning strategies that engage the adult brain. (2nd Ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.