Summary of the Dance of Change Presentation
January 3, 2013 | By Avi Luxenburg | Via Collaborate
The foci for OLTD 509 are in the critical Challenge Questions:
Avi feels that the mass of ideas, initiatives, and technologies with which teachers are constantly faced makes it
important for teachers to develop a filter.
Helping with the First
Critical Challenge Question
Although we all develop our own informal filters “on the fly”, which float around in our brain and emerge when we need
them, we can sometimes forget our readings and research and conversations in the “heat of the moment”, and find
ourselves embroiled in something that we do not necessarily believe in. That is why you may want to base your filter on
a set of overarching principles, that stem from your experience, research and readings, values, and conversations. In
addition, you may want to have this formal filter in written or diagram form where you can glance at it and adjust it as
needed.
Three examples of concepts that Avi has in his current list of overarching principles:
If an initiative or a technology is going to get through my filter, it is
preferable that it helps students to find “flow” in their work.
There is great power in Social-based learning. If an initiative or
idea or technology can help students to learn more dynamically
together, then it has more of a chance to get through my filter.
Example: I have tried many forms of
brainstorming. The one with the teacher in
the front of the room with chart paper is just
brutal to me. I like the one where students
have teams with chart paper and present or
post, but the best one I have tried is when I
share a Google Doc with 30 students and they
have 10 minutes to brainstorm… all together
and all on one document.
Everybody is writing at the same time and
they are all engaged. When they are stuck
they simply look at what others are doing for
inspiration. Something that might have
taken two classes can take 30 minutes… and
it is way better.
Almost 50 years of research. Results reproduced over and over and over again. Results do not fit
with the way many organizations and institutions function.
What motivates us is:
 Autonomy
o We want to be in control.
 Mastery
o We want to get better at stuff.
 Purpose
o We want to belong to something greater than us,
o We want what we do to have some meaning and use.
So: if an idea, technology, or initiative can assist in this, then it will more than likely get through my filter.
Helping with the Second
Critical Challenge Question
Although we may think that working as a teacher allows us to “close the door” and
do whatever we wish in our classrooms or our courses, we often find that we are
connected and inseparable. The example that Avi gave in the presentation was his
need to change his pedagogy based on the classroom management “style” of the teacher across the hall from him.
Another example was Avi’s wish to use Engrade as a tool in his classroom, which somehow blossomed into a schoolwide initiative.
Some OLTD Students are naturally finding themselves more involved in the pedagogical and technological culture of
their perspective schools. New ideas and new enthusiasm can have that effect, as you are asked to help others or speak
to the staff...
Avi feels that it is inevitable for you to help inspire and initiate and support change and improvement. You do not need
to be told that supporting change is a complex matter. Peter Senge states that “Most change initiatives fail.” (Senge, P.
M. (1999). The dance of change: The challenges of sustaining momentum in learning organizations. New York:
Currency/Doubleday.) Senge describes the need for systemic thinking and an understanding of team dynamics when
developing and implementing change initiatives.
In the presentation, we looked at some of the dynamics of change; some of the reasons initiatives succeed or fail; and
hopefully provided you some potential tools in adapting and adjusting as needed.
This is by no means an exhaustive account of the concepts that may help with the dynamics of change. This
is a small smattering. A few grains from the beach. These grains, however, are special to Avi, as he has
found them very useful over his more than two decades of experiencing and implementing initiatives, ideas
and innovation.
We Discussed:
Some of the concepts from Alive in the Swamp (...one of the Week 1 readings), where Fullan and Donnelly describe a
triad of sustainable innovation. They hold that Systems Dynamics and understanding change is just as important as the
technology being implemented and the pedagogy used.
Michael Fullan and Katelyn Donnelly, Alive in the Swamp: Assessing Digital Innovations in Education,July 2013
Causal Loops
One aspect of Systems Dynamics we looked at was the Causal Loop Diagram, which Senge uses to gain a full
understanding of various connections and dynamics within a system. We looked at this diagram:
Where the loop on the left describes a balancing action, often when a solution to a problem only deals with a symptom.
One example we used was:
Symptom: Students are not completing their work.
Solution: Make students finish work in homework club.
The work may be done temporarily, but because this solution does not deal with the root cause of the problem, the
problem will continue to resurface (as it does every week at my school).
Unintended consequences: (Based on my observations) less motivation, feelings of resentment....
Finding the Root Cause of a Problem
One method for reducing the problem down to the root issue is to continually ask “Why” until you cannot go any
further.
• Students not completing homework. (Countermeasure: Keep them in for homework club.)
But WHY are they not completing homework?
• Students don’t want to do the work. (Countermeasure: Keep them in for homework club and during lunch
times.)
But WHY do the students not want to do the work?
• Students do not see the value of the work. (Countermeasure: Explain how important this work is to them and
their future.)
But WHY do the students not see the value of the work?
• Students see no connection between the work and their lives. (Countermeasure: ...)
But WHY do the students not see no connection between the work and their lives?
• ....
I think you get the point. The idea is to drill down until you arrive at an answer that your team agrees is the root cause
of the problem... hopefully one over which you have some control.
The Road to Abilene
Although agreement and consensus are powerful tools for change, they can also, if we are not careful, be the Road to
Abilene.
Based on the work of Jerry Harvey, the concept of the Road to Abilene deals with the surprisingly frequent inability of
teams and organizations to deal with agreement rather than conflict.
In the story that Harvey tells, he and
three other people get into a car with no
air-conditioning on a hot day in July, and
take the long trip from Coleman, Texas to
Abilene, Texas for a greasy dinner. It is
only after they return home to Coleman
that they discover that not one person in
the group actually wanted to take the
grueling trip.
Even the person who suggested the
adventure did not want to go. She said
she was just making conversation.
Everybody else, each for their own
personal reason, did not dissent.
The Road to Abilene is often travelled. Avi recalls several staff meetings that end in an affirmative vote for an initiative
or idea which most do not want.
Mental Models
Something that Avi wanted to present but was unable due to his rambling story-telling making the presentation far too
long, was Senge’s concept of Mental Models and The Ladder of Inference. This concept fits very well with the Road to
Abeline.
This link will take you to a document Avi uses with his students to help them understand Mental Models:
http://www.leading2learn.ca/viu/OLTD509/documents/mental_models/mental_models.html
Pedagogy First
In explaining their triad of sustainable innovation, Fullan and Donnelly also remind us that “...study after study has
concluded that the impact of digital technology has been stifled when there is no emphasis on the pedagogy of the
application of technology as used in the classroom.” ( July 2013)
Disruptive Innovation
A concept that cannot be ignored when discussing system dynamics and emerging technologies is
the notion of disruptive innovation. (Taken from the work of Clayton Christensen.)
For a better description than Avi can supply here, watch this video by Christensen:
http://hbr.org/web/tools/2008/12/disruptive-innovation-model-explained
We discussed these examples:
• Digital photography disrupts chemical photography (Early digital cameras suffered from low picture quality and
resolution and long shutter lag. Finding a chemical camera these days requires resilience.)
• LCD disrupts CRT (The first liquid crystal displays (LCD) were monochromatic and had low resolution. They were
used in watches and other handheld devices. Finding a CRT monitor is difficult these days... unless you go into
most schools, that is.)
• Cloud computing disrupting USB Drives?
• Smart phones and tablets disrupting Personal Computers?
And these potential disruptions:
• 3D printing VS mass manufacturing?
• Wearable technology VS Smartphones?
• BYOD VS school computer labs?
• Gesture-based interface VS mouse?
The Whole Package: