Taking learning to the next platform

“Our new Master of Applied Positive Psychology is designed to promote reflection and critical analysis – which are absolutely the core business of tertiary education,” says Dianne Vella-Brodrick, director of the latest course offered by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

To stimulate this higher order thinking, Dr Vella-Brodrick uses a range of innovative learning methods in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) including debates, case studies, role plays, surveys and peer-to-peer activities, some of which are undertaken in class and some online.

To support the online component of the course, Dr Vella-Brodrick uses Values Exchange (VX) software. The MAPP is one the first courses in Australia to use the software, which complements commonly-used existing learning management systems like Blackboard.

The software has a social media-type interface so students can easily see what their classmates are posting and commenting on. However, says Dr Vella-Brodrick, its real power is in helping individuals and groups explore the values underpinning their decisions, and encouraging open mindedness and critical thinking.

VX does this by allowing users to propose scenarios and seek responses from other users. The software probes deeply into the values underpinning each user’s decision, and then presents these as graphs and charts. A graph may show, for example, that 80 per cent of the class was motivated by a strong sense of autonomy whereas 20 per cent were more motivated by a sense of collegiality.

“What these scenarios do is encourage much deeper thinking than we normally use in decision-making.  Students are prompted to assimilate a number of varied perspectives into their personal viewpoint,” explains Dr Vella-Brodrick. “This process often transforms people’s thinking – it’s not very often that we really sit back and examine why we think the way we do. On top of that, seeing how other people have responded to the same scenario provides a diverse perspective that often encourages people to think differently.”

 “This is what learning is all about,” she says. “We have a diverse student group in this course, with students coming from education, law, business and health science backgrounds. It’s a very colourful pot of perspectives, which contributes to intellectually stimulating discussions.”

For student Sandra Surace, a teacher at St Catherine’s Primary School in Moorabbin, the software helps her feel more connected to her peers.

“I am not a Facebook user so this is entirely new for me but I am really liking it,” Mrs Surace says. “I feel as if we are in class each time I log on and can ‘listen’ to others thoughts and share mine.”

This kind of collaborative, peer-to-peer learning environment and the critical thinking the VX encourages lends itself to the discipline of positive psychology, says Dr Vella-Brodrick.

“Positive psychology is all about helping people to flourish. But what does that mean in reality?” she asks. “To find the answer we need to think deeply and critically about things we don’t normally examine and discuss much – things like our values, relationships and how we approach life.”

Dr Vella-Brodrick says there are some concepts in positive psychology that require deep reflection. 

“For example, some of the literature emphasises the importance of living in the moment, and some emphasises the importance of setting goals and being future-oriented. We need to consider whether these two concepts are mutually exclusive, or if we can do both – and if we do, what the outcomes would be,” she says.

According to Dr Vella-Brodrick, it is difficult to foresee all the plausible outcomes if this contemplation occurs independently. However, as a group the level of detail generated is substantially increased. 

“Another important example is the notion of happiness. How do we define it and pursue it?” says Dr Vella-Brodrick. “Do we place too much emphasis on career and material success, at the expense of building and maintaining significant personal relationships? What does the research say about this and what messages are evident from our practices and broader society?  Are these perspectives consistent and if not, why not? These are big questions, that warrant deep and informed contemplation,” she says.

VX supports the examination of such big questions by encouraging interactive tasks, peer-to-peer learning, debates and deep reflection. The biographies, reflections and comments students leave on the site become learning materials, and are available to the whole class to process and integrate class activities and assignments.  This information supplements traditional academic sources.

The MAPP is in only its first semester, but already Dr Vella-Brodrick can see exciting new directions for the course, supported by the software.

“As positive psychology grows as a discipline and more programs like ours are developed, we could potentially discuss issues with students from around the world, and collect large amounts of data on a broad range of scenarios,” she says. 

“I’m also keen to use VX to connect our undergraduate Breadth positive psychology students with our MAPP students – there is so much the two groups can learn from one another.  There is also the potential for the Masters students to mentor and inspire the undergraduate students.  The VX would be the ideal platform for this.”  

www.education.unimelb.edu.au