Creating the Conditions for Learning
When Elena pulled back the curtain for participants at the end of her three‐day workshop, she revealed that much of the magic was in creating effective and inspiring “conditions for learning.” In effect, this whole book is about creating the conditions for learning—for transformative learning. But what are “the conditions” in which learning happens?
Learning happens when:
Learners understand the purpose for the learning they're involved in, and the purpose is clear, relevant, and meaningful. It's easy to see the benefits that will come from the learning.
The social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs of learners are met. This includes feeling that you can share your thoughts, that the teacher or facilitator has your best interests at heart, that you are being appropriately challenged, and that other learners will support and encourage you as you learn.
The design for the learning experience is carefully, thoughtfully constructed and based on learner needs.
Every last detail of the learning experience is anticipated and planned.
Facilitators skillfully execute the learning plan and adapt, responding to learners when necessary.
Facilitators are reflective, see themselves as learners, have a high degree of emotional intelligence and self‐awareness, and can motivate people and inspire them to take risks and to stretch outside of their comfort zones.
These are the conditions for learning. We've taken these, and everything we know about designing and facilitating professional development, and categorized them into seven habits. To help you remember them, we've also come up with an acronym: PARTY. This stands for: Purpose, Audience, Routines, Technique, and You. We hope that Figure 0.1 will help you remember the core ideas and habits in this book.
The Seven Habits
Habits are behaviors that you enact so often that you internalize them and they become routine. For example, you probably brush your teeth every day without having to think about how to angle the toothbrush—you just do it. Once a behavior is a habit, it doesn't take as much cognitive, physical, or emotional energy as when you started.
Figure 0.1 How to Create Transformative PD: PARTY!
Many of the strategies we'll describe in this book might sound like they'd take a lot of time and energy—and they do at first. But if you practice them over and over, you'll eventually find yourself doing them with much less intentional labor than you needed at first. Once you reach a stage of mastery or what's also called unconscious competence (Broadwell, 1969), the habit will be ingrained—and possibly almost effortless.
But let's back up, because a habit emerges from a belief: You brush your teeth because you believe that dental hygiene is important and brushing will prolong the health of your teeth. Beneath every habit in this book are beliefs that uphold it. We will make those beliefs explicit to increase your investment in mastering the habits. Table 0.2 summarizes the habits and content of this book. You'll also see how the habit contributes to a condition for learning.
Table 0.2 The Seven Habits
| Habit & Chapter | Condition for Learning | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Determine Purpose (1) | Purpose | Transformative PD emerges from purpose. We identify and create purpose, and then we communicate it to learners and build their buy‐in. |
| Engage Emotions (2) | Audience | Human beings have emotions, and we engage our own emotions and those of others to create the conditions for learning. We respond to challenging emotions and create psychological safety for individuals and groups. |
| Navigate Power (3) | Audience | Power is always present, and when we're in hierarchical organizations, we must learn how to use it. We make choices about what kind of power we work from, how we use it, and how we respond to power struggles. |
| Anchor in Adult Learning Principles (4) | We act on the research about what adults need in order to learn. We can provide choice, honor agency, access prior learning, and make the learning relevant. | |
| Design Intentionally (5) | Routines | We honor the backgrounds of participants, consider the why behind design, and are deliberate in determining outcomes, selecting activities, developing learning structures, and sequencing learning. |
| Attend to Details (6) | Attending to details makes learners feel welcome, affirmed, valued, and psychologically safe. | |
| Facilitate Adaptively (7) | Technique | Developing self‐awareness, emotional intelligence, cultural humility, and clear communication enables you to respond appropriately to whatever happens in a PD session. |
You
You might notice that Purpose, Audience, Routines, and Technique each get their own chapter, but none of the habits explicitly addresses you, or the Y in the acronym PARTY. That's because who you are—your behaviors, beliefs, and ways of being—are addressed in every habit. Think of the Y as reminding us of you, of the importance of your presence and of what you bring to every aspect of transformative PD.
A Learning Organization: A Contextual Condition for PD
For PD to be transformative, it helps if an organization is committed to being a learning organization. In a learning organization, everyone is committed to their learning, everyone is expected to learn, and everyone learns. This value shows up in goals and priorities, in evaluations, and in the adult culture. Table 0.3 offers a description of a learning organization. As you read each indicator, note whether there's evidence in your organization of