So, this week marks the end of my 8 week Visible Thinking in the Museum Online (VTMO) course.
17 participants from 8 different countries (& 2 continents) came with me on a deep dive into learning how to create engaging and lively discussions about art and museum objects using my method ‘Visible Thinking in the Museum’ (a combination of VT elements and museum education practices).
23 thinking routines and 8 modules later – covering basic & advanced facilitation skills, questioning skills, slow looking, thinking routine selection, how to use information, teaching with objects and more – we are at the end of the final module.
Encouraging reflections have been a big part of this online course.
- Reflecting allows participants the chance to step back from the course and to analyse what they have learned up to a certain point and to assess how far they have come (from their original goals or from the start of the course).
- It helps us to learn more about ourselves and how we learn. It also helps the course provider (i.e. me!) to learn about their learning experiences too. When we ask people to reflect on their learning process, they strengthen their own capacity to learn.
- Reflection can be carried out alone or in groups. For individual reflections, writing is often used, although 1-2-1 conversations also work well. Reflection can also take the form of a group discussion too. It is important to be honest with yourself as you carry out the reflection and aim for dispassionate analysis of your experiences.