Addressing The 'Knowing/doing' Gap In Classrooms

Authors:

Keywords: simulation, knowing/doing gap, Cynefin domains, facilitation skills

Abstract: In 1996 - in a monograph titled ‘The end of teaching as we know it’ - David Boud asked How can we assist people to learn what we don't know (Boud, 1996). The question remains relevant since teaching has not transformed quite as he anticipated, and an answer to his question remains hard to pin down. This session uses three key concepts to explore how to help others learn even when it is about ‘what we don’t know’. The first concept is that of the ‘knowing/doing gap’ (Partin 2020, Knight et al 2013) - encountered when academics with expert theoretical knowledge are teaching students who are expecting to be ‘able to do’ theories rather than knowing about them. The other concepts are the Cynefin Domains of Knowledge (Snowden & Rancati 2017) and John Heron’s (1999, 2001) analysis of power modes and facilitator dimensions. These concepts are combined with simulation/games in a practical demonstration of learning environments designed specifically to bridge the gap between knowing and doing. The session provides guidelines for addressing the gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ in participants’ own contexts.