Taking my best shot... An Archer's Perspective
You see, as a student of online education, and as an experienced distance learner myself, I suppose I've developed various habits over the years. Habits which, at least in my mind, allow me to keep control of my learning and stay on track. I've heard so many people, students and teachers alike, say that they have really struggled with balancing their learning and their personal lives.
I always remember attending the inaugural lecture for my cohort of students at a prominent Scottish University. We were studying to complete our teaching qualification via distance learning and an analogy used by the Head of our programme really resonated with me. She spoke about archery. (At the time archery was very trendy owing to a series of films which had been released where the main character was an archer. Incidentally I was a member of a local archery club at the time, so this analogy made sense.)
She said that when an archery approaches a competition, they've first undergone a lot of training to make sure they're ready to perform. They refine their technique, knowledge, skill and mental resilience. They ensure that their bow, arrows and all the other equipment are in top condition.
The same is true in learning. You have to ask yourself if you're ready to perform at this level. Get advice and prepare as best you can.
Then, when they finally step up to the shooting range on competition day, they look at the space and make sure it is safe to take a clear shot. Although in a competition there are officials who are responsible for checking things like that, you have to be sharp too. If someone or something was to run on to the shooting range, you could injure them. Moreover, they would distract you from taking that winning shot. In situations like that, lower your bow and clear the obstacle. It takes just a few minutes.
With your learning, are there people or other obstacles in the way? We all make decisions when we start a learning program about whether or not we are in a position to give this course our best effort/best shot. Moreover we want to be able at the end of the day to say that you passed or failed on your own terms. No "if only" excuses. Do we need to wait and take the shot when the obstacles are gone?
But it is also true that things go wrong. Unexpected things happen, it's part of life. And part of learning is learning to be resilient. You have to be alert in such situations and take action when necessary. Yes it would be lovely if we could plan for every eventuality, but that's almost impossible to achieve. So, before you take your shot, if something gets in your way that causes you have to put down the bow and arrow to make sure others are safe, then of course that's what you do.
So now its time to take the first shot.
So you step up to the archery range and you have your first look at the target. You see where the target is in relation to yourself.
How often do you embark on a course of learning without having a goal/target in mind? The interesting thing is is that when an archer takes aim at the target they close one eye. Have you ever tried that trick when you were a child where you rolled up an old newspaper or cardboard tube beside your hand and when you look through the tube with both eyes open it looks you can see through your hand. If you haven't done it, here's an article written by Gray (2016) that explains how it work.
Archers will generally close their non dominant eye. Some even wear an eye patch. This is because the archer has to make sure that the problem of perspective doesn't interfere with their aim. I have to admit that I find this particular issue a challenge because as a mathematician I based my interest in the subject on objectivity and logic. Yet, I also appreciate that mathematics is uniquely objective in that sense and other disciplines such as English language are more subjective.
But here I'm more thinking about the assessment process. How important is it that we are clear in our instructions. We may set the target, but is our student seeing the target from the same perspective that we are? Is a conversation necessary to enable our learners to see things from our perspective? Or do we, as educators, need to widen our world view and see things from the learners perspective? Passing an assessment is often likened to hitting the target. But where we set the target is important. How often do we teach students how to perform tasks without actually explaining the goal/purpose? Ever wondered why students ask, "what's the point of doing this?" How often do we close such conversations down with flippant answers such as, "you need to do this to pass the exam"? Such conversations are important and help our students see the task from a perspective which enables them to produce consistent results.
Now before I'm lynched by the educational community who might argue that the students are being prepared to pass a closed book exam, and I can't show then the exam paper... can I say that I'm a maths teacher at heart. I spent many years preparing students for exams. So I understand that exam performance is how we are measured in such circumstances. But I have to ask, should we not be preparing those students for life beyond the exam? Those students who might aspire to be our next generation of managers, scientists, engineers, nurses, joiners... They're all in for a shock when they discover that maths is a central element of their skill set and not the completely useless entity that it gets the reputation of being after children leave school.
I personally always start my own learning by looking at the assessment, figuring out what I need to achieve and when I need to have it done by. It allows me to plan. It allows me to see the big picture. This strategy allows me to see how my learning is moving me progressively and incrementally towards this goal. Moreover, it's reflective of real life. Yes, I understand that a certain amount of information recall is important but, how realistic are closed book exams? So I suppose the question I'm asking is, do we need to rethink our approaches to assessment?
Now in archery the first three arrow are called "sighters". These shots are intended to allow the archer to refine their aim, but the points aren't counted towards their score. But they only get three. So the process might go something like:
- my first shot might land on the blue ring to the lower right of the centre circle - I'm disappointed, but I know that I can adjust and make corrections so next time will be better.
- my second shot I adjust by aiming a little further up and to the left. But I feel my arm wobble. Panicking a little.
So I've still got one final practice shot to go, but the thought "I can't do this", runs through my mind for a nanosecond. But its enough to throw me off. What do I do? Actually I stop, lower my bow and breathe for a second. You see lots of people when they start to learn archery forget to breathe. They have a good grip on the bow, good technique, but when they pull back the bow string, the simplest thing like remembering to breathe just goes out the window.
You see everyone has a wobble and its completely fine to just stop, take a break for a second and restart when you're ready. All those teachers who are out there who have been on the steepest learning curve ever over the past year, you've learned the skills, you've learned so many software and ICT skills. But on those days where you have a wobble, your students are impossible to engage and your boss is on your back, just take five and breathe. Then try again. We're back on track...
- I shoot my second arrow and its better. Red circle this time, a little closer, but this time on the top left of the centre. I over compensated for my previous mistake and went too far in the other direction.
- Looking back at my previous two practice shots, I adjust again. This time I hit gold!!
Formative assessment and feedback is so important in the learning process. But what's so unique to the archer's perspective is that they have to look at the target themselves and decide how to compensate so they get closer to the centre of the target. We might provide lots of written feedback to our students, but do we spend enough time teaching assessment literacy. How can we be sure that the student understands our feedback? Or did they even understand the question/task in the first place? Do we teach the students how to break down a question? Do we teach them how to structure an answer? Do we teach them how to proof read? Do we teach them how to understand the feedback we've given, or do we assume that everyone understands exactly what was meant in our writing? Jisc (2015) provides an interesting article on Assessment literacy which defines what assessment literacy is and how different FE and HE institutions have addressed this emerging issue in various ways.
I wanted to share these thoughts with you because I've found this analogy helpful at various times in my teaching career. But I also find it helpful to remember that Katniss Everdeen found her bow and arrow invaluable helping her to survive against unbelievable odds. I believe as teacher, we're in the process of suriving our own personal and professional challenges at the moment. Maybe it's time we picked up our bow and arrow. For you that's probably metaphorical. For me it's literal, I'm off to practice my aim.
Follow me on twitter @McintoshMclean.
References
Gray, R. (2016) Mind-bending illusion that puts a 'HOLE' in your hand: Trick makes it appear as if you can see through your own body [Online]. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3469414/Mind-bending-illusion-puts-HOLE-hand-Trick-makes-appear-like-body.html (Accessed 11th January 2021).
Jisc (2015) Assessment Literacy [Online]. Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/transforming-assessment-and-feedback/assessment-literacies (Accessed 11th January 2021).
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