There are varying and sometimes conflicting, or at least ambiguous definitions for 'tacit knowledge' so for the purpose of this entry I am going to use it to refer to not just to learning/knowledge which is difficult to to transmit, but rather learning which can be described as 'know-how' rather than 'know-what', 'know-why' or 'know-who'.
There is a an extra layer of subtly to this type of learning in that it goes beyond simple 'know-how' i.e. 'how to make beans on toast', 'Tacit knowledge' is non-formal in nature and it is learning that is more easily 'caught' rather than 'taught'.
For example riding a bike is something that is difficult to express and pass on to someone else. One would find it difficult to describe the sum of the learning and knowledge involved in successfully riding a bike. Instead it is best learned by watching others, then experimenting through trial and error.
This is a type of learning I have become very familiar with through my involvement in Musical Futures, where music teachers will often play lots and explain little, giving students a practical musical experience upon which they can later hang terminology and formal knowledge.
So I return to the DTPF! mantra (Do the project first, see my earlier post). Our students have just been briefed on their film making challenge, and in preparation for this we have collaborated as a faculty and created a model for the students.
In doing so we went through the same process as the one upon which our students are now embarking. There were many reasons for doing this, firstly the students would have a model with which they could compare their work and use to critique. It also demonstrates a commitment from ourselves as a body and that the product is achievable. Also by follwing same process as the students, it gave us an opportunity to look at the mechanics and logistics of how that would work, especially important when 180 students will be working on the project at the same time. We have also as a staff body picked up some important technical knowledge on how to use some of the facilities at our schools and their implicit limitations (for example the size of our green room, or how to use our cameras most effectively).
We have been able to do document and share this process with the students so that they can see how we got from the stage script, to a screenplay and storyboard and then to a film. In doing so the most revelatory aspect has been surfacing some of the 'tacit learning' that we would hope our students catch, but perhaps had not anticipated or considered.
What I think we have done with this DTPF! is to foreground some of the 'tacit learning' that our students will pick up along the way and in doing so, we are now able to factor these into our planning and success criteria. In this instance the 'tacit learning' is the body of 'know-how' required to make a film, specifically fleshed out within our context and our facilities. Much of the process might seem disparate when taken as a discreet quantum or packet of knowledge but become crucial only when you consider the whole and the connections therein.
For example:
'Know-how' to take steps to avoid continuity issues.
This is something that must be planned and accounted for at almost every stage in the process of film-making and so it is difficult to describe other than by showing students how. We are now able to do this by using our model, i.e. storyboards which plan for continuity between shots (body position for example), filming of our filming which shows us discussing continuity and the positioning of bodies between filming shots, and editing clips together which maximise continuity by capturing the best in and out points for body positioning.
Or a more routine example:
'Know-how ' to catalogue your filming both orally on film and by filing.
When you mention it, it might seem obvious, but as I have mentioned in a previous post, we have tried filming in previous years with limited success. This 'know-how' had been foregrounded in the mistakes we made. Whilst this packet of knowledge alone may have implicit value in terms of being organised, it is only when you connect it to the later stage of editing footage back together it becomes crucial to the point of making your job nigh on impossible unless it is done. In the past students might and in fact did learn this through trial, error and much frustration. Whilst I am firm believer in allowing students to make mistakes and learn from them, in my experience when students perceive that their genuine and significant efforts have been rendered futile by mistakes that could have been avoided, this can be very demotivating, and understandably so. I guess my point in this instance is that the tacit learning here is not just in the 'know-how' of cataloguing your filming but in the holistic value of doing so when taken in the context of the project as a whole.
As a slightly related aside, one of the biggest issues I still have in teaching an enquiry based curriculum is the unintended learning outcomes that are a natural result of students partly or fully determining their own learning. How do you plan for, validate, measure and reward this unintended but equally important learning? Answers on a postcard please!
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