SHAPING vs SCAFFOLDING

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The Art of Teaching Online: Joshua Stern – “Scaffolding” Student Learning

The Art of Teaching Online: Joshua Stern – “Scaffolding” Student Learning Program Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOSHUA STERN: To employ scaffolding in you're teaching, what you do is you begin with simplified versions of a task, or whatever it is you're teaching, and you work your way up to the full task. It's like a bridge or a scaffold. Think of the scaffold on a building-- it's like that-- or bridge. It supports the learner and allows the learner to move forward, to progress.

It comes out of social learning theory and it was described by Lev Vygotsky. So you've probably heard of Vygotsky, maybe in your foundations courses. His idea is that by employing support and instruction and concrete goal setting, can instructors help bring their students to higher levels of understanding?

It's like a building. You don't just start with an entire building built, you start with the first floor and, with the scaffolding around it, the building grows. You build it up from the bottom. It's that same idea with learning.

OK, this approach-- scaffolding-- works best with individual workers and the key to it is trust. So you need to build a-- and this is a good idea no matter what in your online classes and it makes your online teaching that much more enjoyabl-- but to build trust. And to create a safe and supportive environment for your students where you're able to really interact with them. And they can take feedback from you and use it, OK?

You can really have substantial learning gains happen using scaffolding, but a commitment is required by the student and by you as the instructor. So let me give you an example. I build upon what students already know, slowly leading them to what they don't yet know, OK? So you find out where they're at, meet them there, and then start bringing them forward or up. Students benefit from this personal attention and guidance-- but, of course, it takes time-- by you, the instructor.

Baby steps-- you build baby steps. That's the scaffolding to help them keep from getting overwhelmed, OK? I only intervene with the skills that are beyond the student's current capability. So if there is something that I know they already know, that's their business now. I'm focusing on what they don't yet know and not all the way over here, but just outside of what they know, OK?

And so I allow students to complete the tasks as much as possible unassisted. So I'm not in there doing it for them, but I'm trying to give them a task that's a little bit harder than what they're able to do and have them do it the best they can. And I expect students to make errors. And I have in my mind time built in to give

The Art of Teaching Online: Joshua Stern – “Scaffolding” Student Learning

feedback and prompting and specific, concrete instruction on how to move them forward. But it is intended for students to make mistakes and learn that way.

I try to stand back, as much as possible, and watch students grow in their ability. Rather than pushing them forward, I allow them to figure it out but make sure that the task is only a little bit harder than what they already know how to do. So in time, students grow in their ability incrementally and they also increasingly take responsibility for themselves and their learning experience.

And they move forward until they master the task. And as they do that, as that progression is happening, I slowly fade out. I fade out of the process. What that means is I gradually remove the scaffolding. It allows the students to work independently and have success.

OK, and a concrete example that I do in my teaching is when I'm teaching educational foundations course, theory is complex in its nature and not all students do well with it. For some, it's brand new and they really struggle. And so to introduce a really complex theory right out of nowhere is like trying to create a building in one go. You need to lead students toward the most complex version through scaffolding.

And so let's say I'm teaching two theories that overlap, have some differences, and ultimately I want them to be able to compare and contrast them and fully understand them, OK? Do I start with that task? Not necessarily. Some students can handle that, some can't. And so, based on feedback that I've received in previous times I've taught the course, I understand that this is an area that students struggle with. And what I've decided to do is build some scaffolding in so that most of them have the best chance of success possible.

And so I start by teaching the basic concepts of each theory and I teach them separately, OK? And what I'm looking for is to see if students can differentiate the two theories. Are they able to understand what one theory is and what the other theory is? Maybe they understand that, right? But they're not able to differentiate between them in application, OK? So that's where I want to get them to.

So I customize my teaching and what I do is I explain the differences in the theories with lots of examples, OK? That would be the next step. And then, once the class is able to understand the differences, then maybe I move on to more complex subjects like how the theories overlap, exceptions to the rules in the theories, counter theories that impacted them throughout history, et cetera. There's lots of different things that you would move on.

But so what I start out is the basic level of the theories, then the comparison and contrasting of the theories, the theories in application, These are all pieces of the scaffolding. And, as I move in those steps, students work their way up the scaffolding and they tend to have more success. Takes a little more time-- some

The Art of Teaching Online: Joshua Stern – “Scaffolding” Student Learning

students can buzz right through it really quickly, other students are going to really need it.

And so I highly recommend building this in. Now, I'm not saying to do this for everything that you teach in your class, but do it for the things that seem complex or that you see students are struggling with. Teach a class a couple of times and you will know where the trouble spots are.