#PKMChat 2016-02-03 Agile Learners

Agile Learners

Agile Learners, “Agile learning is a relatively recent buzzword that can take several mearnings” says http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Agile_learning For me (@BrunoWinck) it was perfectly clear. Agile Software as been around for 20 years and it was the same concept applied to Independent Learners to become high performers: Quick iterations, testing assumptions etc. I did a bit of research and there are several defintions revolving around a set of core characteristics. Since I envision #PKMChat as being a tribe of Agile Learners I suggest we come out with our own definition drawn from combination of them. This is the topic if this chat. Collaboratively design a definition and description of what we expect an Agile Learner to be.

From Agile Devlopment

Agile Development practice encourages

• Iteration and Incremental as opposed to sequential and perfect from first trial
• Short cycles
• Experiments
• Early and continuous Feedback
• Team with mixed competencies

Today Agile Development combines with Lean Practices and Design Thinking. Here are some common practices.

• Seek feedback early, possibly before ideating
• Uncover assumptions
• Test assumptions asap, possbly by designing specific experiences (MVP, Survey, Pretotypes)
• Fail early and forward
• Track your experiences, validated assumptions
• favor experiments to learn and explore new techniques
• Include a collecting feedback and learning from lessons in each iterations

From Growth Mindset

From Heidi Grant Halvorson, “How We Reach Our Goals”. via @JohnStepper WOL Chapter 8. I placed in bold what is new: Ask for Help. We see here the need for a social component of learning emerging. It could be placed in parallel with the diverse teams of Agile.

• Give yourself permission to make mistakes
• Ask for help when you run into trouble.
• Focus on your own progress instead of comparing yourself to others
• Think in terms of progress, not perfection
• Examine your beliefs and, when necessary, challenge them

From CCL

I noticed already CCL.org when they shared a paper on How successful leaders continue to develop on the job. I was not surprised to see them in my research page on “Agile Learner”.

“What does it take to be an agile learner?” In a new CCL white paper, Learning About Learning Agility, Adam Mitchinson and Robert Morris, Ph.D., of the Teachers College, Columbia University, describe five facets of learning agility:

• Innovating: Agile learners are not afraid to challenge the status quo.
• Performing: Agile learners remain calm in the face of difficulty.
• Reflecting: Agile learners take time to reflect on their experiences.
• Risking: Agile learners purposefully put themselves in challenging situations.
• Defending: Agile learners are simply open to learning and resist the temptation to become defensive in the face of adversity.

The five facets are more abstract than before. They are written as values instead of attitudes so it’s less easy to place them in parallel. Still we can see two new aspects I placed in bold. “Resist the temptation to become defensive” .. Failing forward is helping, reaching out for help as well but this point implies a certain level of resilience. Fits well with the fact that Agile Learners are not afraid to learn on the job, on tough jobs and very stretched self-imposed assignments. Without such resilience it is simply not possible. “not afraid to challenge the status quo” is implicit in Growth Mindset or Agile Development. If you are not ready to challenge why would you care being more agile. Yet we can see that beside values, motivation, willpower and dealing with feelings, emotions, frustrations, fears is part of the picture. Clearly agile learners are self-motivated, organized to face difficulties, reflective.

WOL

A short recall of the 5 elements of WOL by @JohnStepper

• Building a social network
• Making you and your work visible
• Leading with generosity
• Getting better
• Being purposeful

We can imagine that having a social network, and in particular a PLN will help us connect, get feedback, and seek help. Having our work observable is the first step before asking for help. Leading with generosity will help us face adversity, setbacks and the temptation to be defensive. What I mean is that we have been around values, attitudes, skills during one year of PKMChat and it could be interesting to explore what we consider as the profile of an agile learner. Not a superman; not a hero but a good agile learner like we all wish to become. Here are a few more resources, all available via the #PKMChat Diigo Group This document gives a detailled list of qualities of “Agile Learners” and propose a FRED model. It’s much anterior to everything else, very detailled. http://www.theconsultingedge.com/pics/Fred.pdf Stephen explores 3 definitions of Agile Learning and draw some common traits http://stephenjgill.typepad.com/performance_improvement_b/2013/04/agile-learner-agile-leader.html This one is older http://www.industryweek.com/leadership/break-leadership-barriers-embracing-agile-learners ATD by Pat Galagan Recent, explore the question of how to encourage emergence of Agile Learners https://www.td.org/Publications/Magazines/TD/TD-Archive/2015/07/The-Quest-for-the-Agile-Learner Connie wrote a short post on the topic. She poooints me to using “learn agility” as a keyword leading to more references

The Agile Learner

Some good links and pointers here http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Agile_learning PKMChat being about Personal Knowledge Management encompass Knowledge lifecycle in general. Our first chat was about learning, acquiring Knowledge. Our second is about sharing it. Week after weeks we will switch from one end of the lifecycle to another while exploring all the channels that could be used: social, formal, writing, videos. Feel free to suggest topics by tweeting to @pkmchat.

TBC