Embedding Learning Journeys in the curriculum

At the University of Technology Sydney, more than 30 tutors and nearly 3000 students were involved in six Learning Journeys pilot projects between 2015 and 2016.  

Embedding Learning Journeys within the curriculum is the most effective way of enabling students to understand themselves as learners and to take responsibility for their own learning trajectories.   

Learning Journeys fit very naturally into the Masters of Data Science and Innovation (MDSI) program, correlating with the overall pedagogical approach that shapes its curriculum intention. 

The Course Director, Associate Professor Theresa Anderson, said using Learning Journeys was a “no brainer”. The wider intention of MDSI focuses on setting students on a path that allows them to continue to learn. The course structure enables students to develop the agency they need to be able to recognise their strengths, identify their blind spots and target a strategy for shaping their ‘learning journey’. 

Theresa said while, “learning journey wouldn’t have been the term I would have used before, this is effectively what it is. It’s their learning journey in the first instance through the curriculum.”  

The first time Learning Journeys was implemented within the MDSI program, it was introduced to students in conjunction with an assessment during first semester. It was also implemented again half way through the course, and then towards the end of the program.  

Integrating Learning Journeys in this way meant students were able to use the project to track how their learning was linked to the graduate attributes. At UTS, graduate attributes guarantee students understand, and demonstrate, a range of professional, personal and intellectual attributes.   

Using Learning Journeys at the halfway point of their degree, MDSI students had the opportunity to use the Learning Power Dimensions as a tool to guide their self-report against each graduate attribute, reflecting on what they had achieved up to that point and building on their core responsibilities around their individual skill set as data scientists. When Learning Journeys was implemented during the final capstone subject students were able to take a wider view of who they are as learners, working through their organisational understanding and their approach to leadership in the field. 

“Thinking about what you want to do, what you’re strong at doing, and what you need to still accomplish, requires reflection and thought.”  Theresa Anderson

Graduate attributes provide guidance on the level of student achievement throughout a course. This means that ensuring a recognisable link between Learning Power Dimensions and graduate attributes is crucial to the success of Learning Journeys.  

Theresa said Learning Journeys also gave her insight into the different ways MDSI students approach learning. Understanding the differences in her learning community meant she was better equipped at crafting meaningful learning experiences for students. 

The following year Learning Journeys was introduced to MDSI students as a part of their orientation session activities instead of implanted within their first assignment. This was in part due to an organisational transition, as well as recognition that students were desperate “to do”. Theresa said this less formal method of implementation into the program made it harder for some students to see how Learning Journeys fit within the curriculum.  

“The full time students are looking to get into the industry so there is still dissidence between how this work is going to help them get some place; who is going to appreciate this?” 

Other schools undertaking pilots at the University also identified embedding Learning Journeys within the curriculum as essential to communicating the project’s value to students’ future growth. 

At the end of their pilot, Science subject coordinators concluded a “pre and post” Learning Journeys Profile in a single semester would be of most benefit to students. This program decision was also in recognition that science students prefer tangible and measurable outcomes. 

“I think it’s about making sure it’s more visible and referenced at different points, making it linked more explicitly to assessment.” 

While student evaluation and measuring the success of the Learning Journeys pilot is essential, it was also important to communicate the key message to students that Learning Journeys is not about assessment or grading. Instead, it is about understanding, and then developing, the individual’s learning mind set at a point in time.  

Professor Pam Ryan embedded this key concept into the practices of Masters of Teaching students who also participated in one of the Learning Journeys pilots at UTS.  The small cohort of 12 students completed a Learning Power Profile at both the beginning and end of the course in order to understand they were teaching learners, and to identify the dispositions they were looking to build in those students.  

“The Learning dispositions approach was a way to focus the students on what learning is, what constitutes learning … and then it gave us an instrument to look at how they had developed.” 

The Masters of Teaching students’ first assessment task was a reflection on their Learning Power Profile, something Professor Ryan identified as the one of the most powerful parts of Learning Journeys. Students used the Learning Power Dimensions as a guidepost throughout the course, referring back to them in order to track the development in their learning. 

During the final reflection of the year, some students chose a Learning Journeys approach to communicate how they had developed in their practice, especially around belonging, collaboration and creativity. Pam said having a shared language around what constitutes learning made communicating learning development easier. 

Being able to effectively communicate to others how you learn is key to strengthening your Learning Power. This reflective capacity of Learning Journeys was another powerful aspect experienced by the MDSI students. Reflective writing gave students the opportunity to decide on strategies for change, which were subsequently supported during coaching conversations with other members of their learning community. 

Strengthening learning relationships through linkages to a learning community is essential in a student’s ability to be successful in finding more about themselves as learners, and creating strategies for change.   

“That’s what I loved with Learning Journeys is that you could have, through this trust relationship and the coaching conversation, an opportunity to get someone to help you, to just shed light on what you’re doing.” Theresa Anderson 

MDSI students participated in coaching triads where they could share and discuss their Learning Journeys Profiles with their peers. Theresa said this empowered students to re-examine and understand themselves. The coaching conversations also meant students could build on their collaboration and belonging as they discovered commonalities within their learning community. 

Using Learning Journeys as a conversation tool has been beneficial, and providing more time to help students appreciate what Learning Journeys offers, as a lens into their personal inclination, is crucial. Learning Journeys is a powerful tool for students as they move into the workplace, using the platform to narrate their professional persona in a holistic way. 

Learning Journeys is best embedded within the subject disciplinary areas in knowledge generation and included in regular assessments in order to help students become better learners and to ensure communication of the value of the project.