I spent the day yesterday at St. Paul’s Education Conference here in São Paulo yesterday and attended Ben Mardell‘s  session Making Learning Visible: Children and Adults as Individual and Group Learners

Over the past few decades, much attention has been devoted to developing learning communities in schools. Yet the attainment of knowledge and understanding is still primarily viewed as an individual process. In and outside the classroom, thinking and learning are generally considered individual rather than social and communicative acts. This course is for educators who want to explore the power of the group as a learning environment. Participants will learn about documentation as a central component of learning groups, enabling group members to see how and what they are learning. Group learning practices and examples of learning groups from early childhood, elementary and high school classrooms from new book Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in All Schools will be explored. Participants will take part in an activity that helps them consider such questions as (1) What is the relationship between individual and group learning?; (2)How can teachers support the creation of learning groups?; and (3) How might the process of observing and documenting children’s learning shape that learning?

I did not tweet the session very much, since I am trying to improve my sketchnoting (visual note taking) skills. I am pleased (not necessarily with the artistic rendition, handwriting skills, etc.), but with the process of note taking. When I look at my image:

• I am able to recall details that were discussed
• I am able to quickly see the main points I got out of the session
• I am able to re- follow the flow of points made