Program Design

Group Member	Role	Commented on
Kristi Burkhart	Co-leader, Program	Group 2 Narrative Learning
Allison Hillis	Rationale, Table 2	Group 1 Experiential Learning
Mallory McDonald	Introduction, Part of Rationale	Group 4 Behaviorist Learning
Danielle Riddell	Co-leader, Reflection	Group 1 Experiential Learning
Shannon Staller	Table 3, Post Program Design	Group 4 Behaviorist Learning

Program Design: Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood

Kristi Burkhart, Allison Hillis, Mallory McDonald, Danielle Riddell, Shannon Staller

Ball State University

Introduction

      Self-directed learning is not automatic for many learners, yet it is a powerful way for adults to effectively learn. In order to support learners in becoming self-directed, instructors must promote autonomy, motivation, and reflection throughout the learning process. This program design was created for early childhood educators who still require support with self-directed learning. The purpose of this program is to foster the self-directed qualities of autonomy, motivation, and reflection while providing learners with scaffolded opportunities to improve their skills in developmentally appropriate practice.

Rationale

      Self-directed learning is a skill that is continuously developed. To support self-directed learning, learners can create individualized learning plans independently or through the prompting of a support person (teacher or coach). This is a practice that learners should engage in as they explore new topics to guide their focus on their topic of interest. A study done by Li, Tancredi, Co, and West (2010), shows an increase in self-directed learning confidence of those who developed individuals learning plans. Individual learning plans also give learners an opportunity to reflect on their goals and focus questions as they move through learning activities. With reflection, learners are able to identify if they are learning. Reflection should be done regularly in self-directed learning to move through the learning process and make connections with material. Reflection can be done independently or with others. Combined with the utilization and sharing of individualized learning plans, instructors have the opportunity to support learners in reflection. Learners can gain a sense of satisfaction with their learning as they reflect on the learning process (de Bruijn & Leeman, 2011).

      Motivation and autonomy are intertwined characteristics in self-directed learners. Both are strengthened when learners make choices about what and how they will be learning (Garrison, 1997). Allowing adult learners to choose their readings, set deadlines for themselves, and create their own guiding questions enhances their intrinsic motivation and their ownership of the program. The learner in this case is the explorer and the instructor is simply a guide and a resource, fostering autonomy. Feedback is also a valuable tool for promoting motivation. Whether feedback is provided by the instructor or other students, learners can gain a broader awareness of their own competence and take next steps according to the feedback (de Bruijn & Leeman, 2011). Individualized learning plans, reflection, motivation, and autonomy are core pieces of this program design as learners are supported in being self-directed.

      Child Care Solutions, a local child care resource and referral agency, serves early childhood educators in an eleven county area in Indiana. They provide professional development opportunities and coaching services to help educators continue their education, maintain annual training hours, and make meaningful selections for their individual professional needs. Child Care Solutions offers many professional development topics and areas of study to meet the needs and offer choices to the educators. Educators have the autonomy to choose formats that are right for their learning needs – online or face-to-face, one time sessions, multi-session workshops, all day sessions, credentialing courses, distance courses, or book clubs. While learners are expected to take responsibility to maintain their needed professional development hours, Child Care Solutions coaches offer support to learners in the form of developing professional development plans. With the professional development plans, learners reflect on their current knowledge, skills, and needs to determine goals. Within the goals, coaches guide learners to developing plans for selecting and attending professional development opportunities that will help them achieve their goals.

      As part of their professional development offerings, Child Care Solutions staff recognizes that there are teachers who are not able to attend face to face sessions for a variety of reasons. Teachers have also expressed a desire to have options of professional development that they can complete on their own. Child Care Solutions has developed several short term, distance education packets to support teachers in their own learning. These packets have several topics including biting, challenging behaviors, and developmentally appropriate practices that learners can select. To complete the packet and earn the training hours, learners must complete the following activities.

Activity one: read enclosed article(s) on the topic.

Activity two: respond to questions of various styles regarding the reading.

Activity three: choose two learning in practice activities to further explore the topic. Activity options include writing lesson plans to foster children’s learning, keeping observations of children’s challenging behaviors to review and try to identify any triggers, listing items they could include in their classroom that are appropriate for children to bite, making a display to explain developmentally appropriate practices and activities to families.

Activity four: submit completed packet back to Child Care Solutions for review.

      Another more self-directed learning program that Child Care Solutions does is a book club. Learners are expected to read a book selected by a Child Care Solutions trainer. Within the book club, the instructor reported a lot of reflection happening within the participant group. Learners engaged with others as they worked through the material and how each individual applied what they were learning to practice.

Activity one: read the pre-selected book according to timeline presented.

Activity two: meet regularly to discuss what was read with a small group of peers. Within the meetings, there are guiding questions brought to the group by the instructor.

Activity three: learners take control of the meeting by sharing their reflections of the reading. As learners share their individual connections with the material, they also discuss implementation ideas that they will put into practice. At times, they share about concerns or barriers to the potential implementation. As individuals share about any barriers, other learners brainstorm and share ideas to overcome those barriers.

      The second program reviewed was the Independent Quest Project for the Play and Creativity in Early Childhood course through Ball State University. The IQ Project was designed to facilitate learners’ development through self-directed learning with facilitator’s guidance. This project focused on a broad content area, play and creativity in early childhood, in which will learners identify a more specific topic to study, become a “class expert,” and finally teach the class the content learned. Students are given an outline of activities they will complete to show their learning and knowledge gained on their selected topic. Demonstrations of learning include a midway reflection on the process, a final, brief paper, and PowerPoint presentation. In order to acquire the information along the way, learners are expected to find and read scholarly articles on their topic. Within the work submitted to the instructor, there is room for reflection with the instructor and the instructor acts as a guide rather than imparter of knowledge. The program reflects autonomy of the learners in selecting their topic, as there is no off limit topics and learners can explore what they are interested in with in the content area (Woods, 2017).

Activity one: learner identifies a topic for their study.

Activity two: learner drafts 4-5 questions to guide their study.

Activity three: learner submits proposal for their selected topic of study to the instructor.

Activity four: find 5 articles and one book on selected topic for study.

Activity five: write a reflective, narrative on process to date.

Activity six: create a 12+ slide PowerPoint.

Activity seven: write a 3-page-paper.

      The two programs reviewed have different designs, both serve to guide self-directed learners towards their goal of growth and development. They provide examples to our program design of activities and ways that instructors can be facilitators to learners rather than knowledge imparters. Both programs also display strategies from our literature reviews. We see autonomy of learners selecting and exploring their desired topics. The integration of learning plans, whether intentional or organic, was evident in both programs. Within the programs, learner motivation is evident through creation of learning goals and completion of activities. Both programs also displayed a reflective piece with learners revisiting goals and sharing knowledge growth.

Program

      We have combined ideas from each of these programs along the knowledge that self-directed learning is a process of learning to create our program plan. Becoming a self-directed learner in adult can require the support of a professor or instructor. We have designed our program based on the adult learner who is still requiring support in achieving complete self-directed learning. This 90 day course will support in aiding the learner in becoming independent in self-directed learning by providing the guidance and support of an instructor. The program is designed for Early Childhood Educators who want to increase their knowledge in developmentally appropriate practice. The learners will be given a list of sub-categories to focus their learning efforts. The program will be designed as an online course that will have some learner-led dates due dates. This will provide a timeline to keep the learner on task and motivated while building self-directed learning skills.

      This training will be housed in a statewide early childhood educators training system. This system will require each activity to be completed and approved before the learner can move to the next activity. Only after all components of the course of completed will a participant receive credit for the course. This will ensure the learner is completing quality programming while providing opportunity for self-directed learning.

Activity one:

      When learners begin this course they will download the course outline and instructions for submitting work. The first activity will be to read and understand the outline of the course, choose the topic they would like to research, and create a timeline of due dates. All learners taking the course work will be provided contact information for the instructor when beginning the course. The students will have the ability to contact the instructor for further information at any point during the coursework. This provides the self-directed learner with support in becoming a self-directed learner.

      All coursework will be due 90 days after beginning the course; however, it is important that a self-directed learner take responsibility for their learning. In efforts to allow the learner to take responsibility for their learning and to continue to support and motivate the learner, this course will ask that the learner submit a timeline of due dates leading to the final completion of course date. The learner will be able to create the timeline to fit within their personal schedules. The timeline of the learner will help in keeping on task and motivated to learn. Each activity within this course will also ask for reflection on the activity.

      The goal of this activity is to increase autonomy while providing motivation to stay on task for those learners who are not fully independent self-directed learners. Most adults are capable of self-directed learning; however, not all adults are independent self-directed learners. By setting their own timelines of due dates the learner is taking on the responsibility for their learning. Choosing their timeline and topic of study will begin the process of creating an individualized learning plan for each student within the program (Li, Tancredi, Co, & West, 2010).

Activity two:

      To continue to support our adult learners in becoming self-directed learners, the second activity will help to guide their learning. Each learner will create a list of four to five guiding questions. Adult learners have specific goals in learning. These questions will allow the learner to find those specific items they would like to know more about as well as guide their research. The questions will be directly related to their sub-category they chose in activity one. The list of questions will be submitted through the online course, and will be approved by the instructor. This will allow the instructor to guide the learner by providing suggestions or narrowing their focus if needed. This will help to ensure they are able to stay on task and have continued motivation in learning. The learners will also be asked to reflect on the reasons that they chose this topic and how they developed their guiding questions. This reflection will support the adult learner in finding relevance within their learning.

      The goal of this activity is to allow learners to lead their own learning. This activity will provide the learner with autonomy in learning by allow them to choose their own topic, guiding questions, and reading materials. This will also help the self-directed learner to direct their focus on the topic of choice. Activities one and two combine together as the learner creates an individual plan for their learning. In self-directed learning reflection is an important piece to keeping the learner on task and understanding the learning process. The reflection opportunity of this activity will allow for the learner to ensure they are getting the most from their self-directed learning and provide the instructor with insight to where the learner is in progress to becoming an independent self-directed learner along with the supports the learner may still need (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 108).

Activity three:

      The learners are asked to complete a progress report of their current findings and progress of learning. The learners will share the resources they have found, brief answers they have found to their guiding questions, and adjust guiding questions if needed. The learners will also reflect on their progress completed so far. At this point, learners will be asked to share their current findings with others in the course.

      The goal of this activity is to continue to provide motivation for learning and aid the learner in beginning to evaluate their learning. The learner will evaluate the current progress of their work. Learners will be asked to share their work and reflection with others in the program. This will provide the learners with the opportunity to self-reflect, evaluate their own work, and connect prior knowledge and assumptions with current research while still having the support of feedback from others. The feedback from others in the group will provide motivation for the learners to continue their quest for knowledge on the topic (Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007, pp. 23-26).

Activity four:

      Learners will complete a final report of findings. The learners will created a presentation of their findings along with a brief summary of findings. This will aid the learner in bringing all of their research and self-directed learning together. The learners will share these findings with other members of the course. The learners will then have the opportunity to explore others findings and continue the self-directed learning process.

      The goal of this activity is to allow students to compile their learning and research. This will support learners in completing the process of learning and allow them to compare the new knowledge with their current knowledge on the topic and evaluate their learning. The students will then share their knowledge gained through the process of self-directed learning with others in the program. This will allow learners to continue the self-directed learning process by exploring others findings (Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007, pp. 23-26).

Reflection

      Working through our program design project involved pre-planning and organization to support the group through the process. Early on in our group work, we established a shared Google Drive to share course documents, project ideas, and collaborative work. Once we decided on a topic for our program design, we took ideas from courses taken in the past and from programs offered that group members had experience with and noted components that tied in with self-directed learning. From that, we outlined a project with the components we found most supportive of self-directed learning based on our literature reviews and our research of programs. Utilizing Google Docs to collaborate on the project, conference calls, and email communication were key to share ideas and create a unified group project. We also outlined a more detailed project plan to assist in breaking down the tasks of the project into manageable parts as well as outlining persons responsible and due dates to keep us on track throughout the creation of the project.

Table 2. Summary of the literature review

	The main themes/ideas in literature	Application of the main ideas in practice
Idea 1	Individualized Learning Plans	- Utilize the strategy of writing individualized learning plans support with specific, measurable learning goals helps self-directed learners reach those goals.
Idea 2	Reflection	- Give low-pressure reflection assignments such as “write a paragraph about a time you were proud of yourself” to get learners to start thinking about themselves in a reflective manner - Have students write down or talk with each other about their learning progress or what they are learning from a task
Idea 3	Motivation	·         - Have learners come up with the objectives. If this is not  an option, get learners involved in breaking down the importance of each objective - Offering choices for tasks also builds motivation - Give meaningful feedback regularly - The self-directed learner must be ready to learn and have continued motivation for learning. This motivation may be meeting goals set for themselves
Idea 4	Autonomy	- Emancipatory learning and Social Action - Offer choices for tasks and readings so learners have some control - Ask guiding questions to lead learners to figuring out the answers/exploring ideas themselves - Instructors should be a facilitator or guide, not the expert of content

Table 3. Summary of Program Design

Rationales	Purpose/objectives of the design	Learning environment	Activities	Methods/tools/strategies
Allowing learners to individualize  learning plans can improve autonomy in self-directed learning	To increase autonomy and allow learner to take responsibility for their learning	Statewide online early childhood educators training system	Read and understand class outline, choose topic to research, create timeline of due dates	Choosing timelines and topic of study
Allowing learners to create guiding questions will allow them to lead their own learning	To direct the focus on topic of study	Guided research	Learner will create four or five guided questions	Choose questions directly related to topic of study
Allowing learners to reflect will provide motivation to learn and aid in evaluating own learning	To increase self- reflections and motivations for learning	Complete progress report on findings with other groups	Learner will share resources, answers to guided questions, adjust questions	Connecting prior knowledge and assumptions with current research with feedback from others in groups
Allowing learners to create final report will aid in bringing all research and self-directed learning skills together	To allow learners to continue the self-directed learning process	Share findings with other groups in course	Learner will share knowledge gained through self-directed learning	Exploring other findings and continue self-directed learning process

References

de Bruijn, E., & Leeman, Y. (2011). Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education: Challenges to vocational educators. Teaching and Teacher Education(27), 694-702.

Garrison, D. R. (1997). Self-directed learning: Toward a comprehensive model. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(1), 18-33.

Li, S.-T. T., Tancredi, D. J., Co, J. P., & West, D. C. (2010). Factors Associated with Successful Self-Directed Learning Using Individualized Learning Plans During Pediatric Residency. Academic Pediatrics, 10(2), 124-130. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2009.12.007

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Pilling-Cormick, J., & Garrison, D. R. (2007). Self-Directed and Self-Regulated Learning: Conceptual Links. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, 33(2), 13-33.

Woods, Lisa, Ball State University. Play and Creativity in Early Childhood. Fall 2017

Appendix A

Course Activity Guide