Scaffolding

Just a quick word on 'scaffolding'...

Having worked in the building industry for quite a number of years I have had chance to spend many hours on scaffolding. I have also had countless business dealings with a company that hired, sold and assembled scaffolding. In past times I have personally have had to place 'trust' in every single piece of the scaffolding system to hold weight and get me to where I needed to go. There were occasions when the scaffolding was undesirable and I didn't feel safe or comfortable using it and the outcome was that it slowed the work down. These were the times when the scaffolding design was inappropriate for task.

In the building industry scaffolding is mostly used for construction, repairs and maintenance and for transportation of workers and materials. If the scaffold is designed and assembled correctly the sky is the limit! You can just about go anywhere. I have been in meetings where builders and scaffold companies have been in liaison with each other and it's interesting to hear their talk: "This is where we need to get to, this is how much weight we need it to hold, this is how long we need to use it for and these are the contractors that will be using it". Other comments have been "We will need to construct around the balconies, anchor from the walls and possibly the roof, set up counter lever platforms from the parapets on the upper levels and gain access through the southern end of Douglas Street".

Scaffolding is made from various materials and assembled in various forms but in the end all scaffolding carries out a similar role or purpose - it is a mechanism to 'get you where you need to go'.          

I can visualise a direct link here to our learners. The learning journey is just that, 'a journey' and in order for our learners 'to get where they need to go' requires the use of scaffolding. It's impossible to jump from ground floor to tenth without the structure to take you there. It's a step by step process and I remember climbing the steps all too well with legs burning and heart pumping, particularly when carrying something heavy.

Vygotsky defined scaffolding instruction as being the “role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level” (Raymond, 2000, p. 176)

As e learning managers we have a vast array of scaffolding structures to use. We have recently been using PMI charts and Debono's hats - both forms of scaffolding provided by our lecturers to 'get us to where we need to be', to establish a 'higher order of thinking', taking us from level 1 in thought processing to level 2 or 3 which in turn expands our knowledge and comprehension. A collaborative learning wiki project minus the aid of appropriate scaffolding will be less effective and could result in a complete waste of time. 

Thus when using the many ICT's (information and communication technologies) that are available to us as learning managers we must not only consider the most appropriate ICT for purpose but also the most appropriate scaffolding for the journey. To achieve this we need to assess the level that our learners are currently on and then determine the level that 'we need to get to'. One valuable point to consider is that if the scaffolding is not task appropriate it will only slow the learning down.        

In conclusion, the physical scaffold takes you there step by step in person, the mental scaffold takes you there step by step in the mind and the design of scaffold directly affects the process and the effectiveness of the journey.