We know about formative feedback, metacognition, activating prior knowledge, and much else. Researchers mostly agree on the basics. There is still much to learn, of course, but it's fair to say that we know how to help people learn skills.

Like any area of expertise, learning about learning takes study. There is no reason to think that experts in, say, computer science, know much about how people learn computer science. Computer science experts have studied algorithms, programming, operating systems, networks, etc. Most have not studied human long-term memory, attention, schema abstraction, and so on.

Why? First, most university faculty are not trained in learning. Second, there's little motivation to learn about learning. Faculty are rewarded for publishing research, not maximizing student outcomes.

This is not a criticism of faculty, by the way. It's just the way US higher ed works. Some faculty are great teachers. They help students despite the system, rather than because of it.

A third problem is that there's a lack of tools that make it easy and cheap to implement good practices. That's what Skilling is for.

How does Skilling help course authors not trained in learning? By offering them pedagogical patterns, that is, ways of helping students that we know work. Skilling has tools that help authors implement those patterns.

The authoring tools help people make great course content. For example, to add a metacognitive pause to a lesson, authors type "pause" and a question they want students to think about.

Don't know metacognition is? That's OK. If you're a professor, you've probably never been trained in learning. It's unreasonable to think that you would somehow just know about metacognition. Skilling has pedagogical patterns that can help.

Once authors have made a course website, they give it to instructors. Instructors can help students learn skills, even when they (the instructors) don't know much about learning. The website will have chewy learning research goodness baked in.

Further, Skilling gives instructors tools to make their jobs easier. For example, Skilling has a rockin' feedback system. Skilling also makes it easy to reach out to students who are falling behind.

Maybe change how tenure and promotion works. No problem!

Adela

Ah, well...

Exactly.

With Skilling, you can focus on one course at a time. Working together, a discipline expert and an instructional designer can make a great course. Don't have an instructional designer? One motivated professor could do a good job, using known pedagogical patterns.

Making a high-quality course is hard work. However, it can be done by one or two people, in a few months, with limited funds.

Changing university culture? Maybe Sisyphus would give it a try.

Sisyphus
day 7: Exhausted by BOTAGAINSTHUMANITY

Hey, no, thanks, but I'm fine.

Good luck with that!

You'll need it.

Kieran is from Brisbane, Australia, where he learned programming in 1978. He studied at the University of Queensland, where he was also a systems programmer. Kieran completed his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1987. He joined Oakland University in 1991. His research focused on formation of beliefs and attitudes about information systems.

In 2006, Kieran gave up disciplinary research, to study teaching and learning. It became clear to him that he could be doing a much better job in the classroom. Kieran decided to flip his web programming courses, and wrote CoreDogs to help. CoreDogs used schemas, characters, embedded exercises, and other elements motivated by learning research.

CoreDogs was replaced by CyberCourse (Cyco) in 2013. Cyco had the first complete version of the formative feedback system, which Kieran thinks was the key to its success. Cyco was the first system designed for other people to use.

Skilling is the third generation. It has a better feedback system, a timeline for students, more research-inspired authoring tags, and much else. It also better matches institutional needs, for privacy, security, accessibility, and customization.

Skilling aligns with the cognitive tradition in learning research, exemplified by scholars like Sweller, Kirschner, van Merriënboer, and others. Skilling also borrows ideas from classroom teachers like Craig Barton, who use research findings to great effect.

Finally, Skilling reflects Kieran's interests in productivity, and continuous improvement. A small team, or even one person, can make a high-quality course that will last for years.

Jeremy holds a BA from Indiana University, and a photogrammetrist certification from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). He has extensive experience in stereo (3D) data collection from precision aerial photography, with an emphasis on analytical aerial triangulation.

Jeremy has been the primary assessor for an introductory programming course, and a business information system course. Both were supported by CyberCourse. Jeremy also reviews content, and interfaces. More than one student has said, "Jeremy is awesome!"