Fostering “Light Bulb Moments” Through Structurally Balanced Assignments

 by Megan Seibel & Curt Friedel -- 

As educators, it is thrilling to witness a student’s AHA!, the proverbial “light bulb” moment. We see it when ideas are generated, connected, developed, executed, and shared. Some are on point, some seem tangential, but all are valuable.

 

The way in which our course content is designed and delivered has a direct impact on our students’ engagement and learning.

 

In developing assignments, establishing expectations for success in those assignments, and creating opportunities for input, feedback and growth, it is important to consider how we engage in these activities. Many of us may not stop to think about our own preferences in how these are structured when we develop them, and whether or not that is in alignment with our students’ needs and preferences.

 

Adaption-Innovation Continuum of Creative Style 

As human beings, we are each hardwired in the WAY in which we prefer to generate ideas, utilize structure to implement those ideas, and respond to rules and group norms. According to Adaption-Innovation Theory, an individual’s cognitive preferences fall on a continuum of being more adaptive or more innovative in their style of solving problems. More adaptive individuals tend to prefer more structure and generate new ideas within paradigms with keen attention to details. More innovative individuals may overlook or disrupt structures, generating ideas outside the paradigm with focus on broader notions. It takes a wide diversity of style to solve complex problems, which means that there is no ideal style or one that is better than another. Leveraging our cognitive differences is powerful in communicating effectively to manage change!


Problem solving style is in no way correlated with intelligence, experience, knowledge, or achievement. The WAY in which we operationalize our cognitive problem solving style is completely different than how WELL we will resolve a challenge before us.

 

When it comes to assignments, the structure related to how it is described, what the product needs to look like, and how it will be graded may also be more adaptive or innovative in nature. Think of two very different examples:

  1. Watch a video (that the instructor has chosen) related to the topic discussed in this unit (also assigned). Compare and contrast the video and the reading. In your response, use at least 3 (but no more than 5) points to illustrate: a) how it similar and, b) how it is different. Your total response should be between 750-1000 words. [Of course, there would then be a very specific rubric with points assigned for whether or not they met the requirement for number of illustrated points, theses statements, length (word count), grammar, citations, etc.]
  2. Watch a video of your choice related to a topic discussed in this unit. Write a free response paper describing what you have learned.

Although this is an arbitrary example, and there may be more or less description added to either version of it, you can quickly see the differences. You may also be able to imagine how different students will respond to such an assignment! We know that all structures are enabling to some and limiting to others.

 

More adaptive individuals see the value of structure and may thrive on those parameters. The more information and detail they have to know what to expect and how to proceed is empowering and offers a starting place with benchmarks for success. In example #1, more adaptive students may hit the ground running. More innovative, on the other hand, may feel stressed by the expectations, and potentially constrained in feeling obligated to meet them.

 

More innovative individuals may be stimulated by opportunities that seem a bit more ambiguous and open-ended. The ability to have more flexible guidelines can be empowering. Although they may have some questions about the assignment, a description like example #2 may give more innovative students a chance to explore ideas freely, where it may feel stressful and handicapping to a more adaptive student. 


Chances are, you as an instructor found yourself responding more preferably to one of these examples over the other. As educators, it is our responsibility to challenge ourselves to look objectively at our course assignments, presentation style, and expectations for success. If they are noticeably more adaptive or innovative in design, it will be worth adjusting some of them to balance out over the duration of a course. When students have a “cognitive style gap” with an assignment (or even with other students in group work), they may be limited compared to students that may be inadvertently enabled by the same assignments – simply because of the way they are structured.


Further reading on addressing cognitive style in the classroom is available online:


 When we are trying to perpetuate learning, measure knowledge gain, and give students an opportunity to express themselves, the structure of an assignment is critical to consider.


Balancing how empowered or constrained someone feels in the WAY ideas are generated and implemented will provide better insight into how MUCH they are learning!

 


References:

Friedel, C. & Seibel, M. (2013). The Paradox of structure: What is the appropriate amount of structure for course assignments with regard to students’ problem-solving styles? Proceedings of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference.

Robinson, D. F., Sherwood, A. L., & DePaolo, C. A. (2010). Using adaption-innovation theory to enhance problem-based learning experiences. Allied Academies International Internet Conference, 12.


Image Credits:

Coartney, J. (June 9, 2022). KAI Tendencies. [Graphic created for this blog post.]

Fahmy, A. (August 30, 2019). Sunlight. [Image of lightbulb]. https://unsplash.com/photos/_gEKtyIbRSM

Kilicay-Ergin, N. H., & Jablokow, K. W. (2012). Problem-solving variability in cognitive architectures. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C (Applications and Reviews), 42(6), 1231–1242. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMCC.2012.2201469. [Adaption-Innovation Continuum. Used with permission.]

Menashri, E. (August 31, 2021). Level [Modified from original]. https://unsplash.com/photos/zfVIh4cX_4c

Seibel, M. (n.d.). Cognitive style wordle with embedded lightbulb. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Integrating Employability Skills in a Traditional Ag Classroom through Learning Badges

Image
by Dr. Mallory White -- To weave workforce readiness skills into a traditional agriculture classroom can be a little challenging. My first-year animal science class tackled four of the twelve AWT4CL employability learning/digital badges. This blog discusses how we did it, challenges and possible lessons for the instructor and the student, and overall perception of the digital badges.  How We Did It   First, I set aside one lab period to discuss the project and complete many of the in-class activities. This required me to combine two traditionally separate, short labs into one to free up a week, but I was determined to make room for important employability content . The activities from each digital badge created by the badge authors are short and effective, but I wanted the students to do more in order to earn a badge. As an instructor, it can be difficult to come up with new, creative activities in the limited time we have. As I was rushing to come up with additional activ...
Read more

Agriculture Peer Group Formation at the Virginia Community College System

Image
by Adam O'Neal -- Based on input from a cohort of agriculture faculty from around Virginia, an Agriculture and Food Systems Peer Group has been constituted by the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to serve the needs of agriculture program faculty around the Commonwealth of Virginia. Peer groups have existed for other disciplines for some time, but none for this area of study until now. From the shared experiences of the Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL) cohort members and other agriculture faculty, we understand that collaboration at professional levels has proven challenging. This peer group promises potential benefits to agriculture faculty in unraveling professional challenges and related classroom and teaching concerns. Agriculture is the largest private industry in Virginia, with over 43,000 farms contributing to $82.3B a year in economic impact (Virginia Farm Bureau, n.d.). Though a number of Virginia Community College System ( V...
Read more

Fresh Year, Fresh Perspective

Image
by Megan Seibel -- I don’t know about you, but there is something about starting a new year that brings mixed emotions – anticipation, excitement, and even a bit of stress over all the things that were supposed to get accomplished last year and, well, just didn’t.  It is also interesting that each new year seems to be long anticipated, yet happens abruptly. And the changes that go with it sometimes require thought and attention. Take writing the date for example. After 365 days of writing 2023, it became a motor memory. It takes thoughtfulness to write 2024, with the trust that it will quickly become automatic.  So it goes with habits and intentions. New Year’s resolutions, so to speak. Looking back over the past year, perhaps some things warrant reflection so that adjustments can be made to improve, begin, or even stop certain behaviors. Here are a few tips and thoughts, similar to the PDSA (plan-do-study-act) model , to consider as we go into this new calendar year, and seco...
Read more