Decoding the Disciplines - Revision history

Joan Middendorf: Edited the Evolution of Decoding section under History; added paragraph about Disciplines

2025-06-17T10:22:20Z

Edited the Evolution of Decoding section under History; added paragraph about Disciplines

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:22, 17 June 2025
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	=== The Evolution of Decoding ===		=== The Evolution of Decoding ===
	Excerpted from Middendorf, J. (2025). [[The Theory Bottleneck and Decoding the Disciplines\|The Theory Bottleneck and ''Decoding the Disciplines'']]. ''Didaktikzentrum, pp. 5-6.''		Excerpted from Middendorf, J. (2025). [[The Theory Bottleneck and Decoding the Disciplines\|The Theory Bottleneck and ''Decoding the Disciplines'']]. ''Didaktikzentrum, pp. 5-6.''<blockquote>''Decoding the Disciplines'' did not spring from whole cloth but evolved over several years from a framework to a model to a theory. It was born in 1996, when the Vice Chancellor of Indiana University Bloomington invited [Joan] to form a team for an eight-day leadership institute facilitated by Pat Hutchings (Hutchings, Sciame-Giesecke, & Bender; 1996<ref>Hutchings, P., Sciame-Giesecke, S., & Bender, E., (1996). IU Summer Leadership Institute.</ref>). Teams from all eight Indiana University campuses were tasked with creating new programs to enhance teaching. One of the professors I invited to join the Bloomington team was David Pace. The Bloomington team’s idea was to bring together instructors of large gateway courses and place them in conversation with the literature on teaching and learning in a two-week, cross-disciplinary summer seminar, entitled “The Freshman Learning Project” (FLP). Upon the FLP’s inception, we immediately encountered a problem: With thousands of teaching methods to choose from, but no organizing theory, it was as though we had available to us both everything and nothing.

	''Decoding the Disciplines'' did not spring from whole cloth but evolved over several years from a framework to a model to a theory. It was born in 1996, when the Vice Chancellor of Indiana University Bloomington invited [Joan] to form a team for an eight-day leadership institute facilitated by Pat Hutchings (Hutchings, Sciame-Giesecke, & Bender; 1996<ref>Hutchings, P., Sciame-Giesecke, S., & Bender, E., (1996). IU Summer Leadership Institute.</ref>). Teams from all eight Indiana University campuses were tasked with creating new programs to enhance teaching. One of the professors I invited to join the Bloomington team was David Pace. The Bloomington team’s idea was to bring together instructors of large gateway courses and place them in conversation with the literature on teaching and learning in a two-week, cross-disciplinary summer seminar, entitled “The Freshman Learning Project” (FLP). Upon the FLP’s inception, we immediately encountered a problem: With thousands of teaching methods to choose from, but no organizing theory, it was as though we had available to us both everything and nothing.

	After learning of the bottleneck idea (Anderson, 1996)<ref>Anderson, J. A. (1996, October). ''Merging Teaching Effectiveness, Learning Outcomes, and Curricular Change with the Diverse Student Needs of the 21st Century'' [Keynote Presentation]. Professional and Organizational Development Network Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.</ref>, we worked it into the second FLP seminar. Bottlenecks did not offer a solution to our too-many-methods problem; nevertheless, it gave us the first step of our framework and afforded each instructor autonomy in choosing a focus for their efforts. Those familiar with David Pace and me know that each of us is inherently disinclined to abandon learners or instructors stuck in the bottleneck. Together with the FLP participants, we began experimenting with ways to get ''through'' the bottlenecks.		After learning of the bottleneck idea (Anderson, 1996)<ref>Anderson, J. A. (1996, October). ''Merging Teaching Effectiveness, Learning Outcomes, and Curricular Change with the Diverse Student Needs of the 21st Century'' [Keynote Presentation]. Professional and Organizational Development Network Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.</ref>, we worked it into the second FLP seminar. Bottlenecks did not offer a solution to our too-many-methods problem; nevertheless, it gave us the first step of our framework and afforded each instructor autonomy in choosing a focus for their efforts. Those familiar with David Pace and me know that each of us is inherently disinclined to abandon learners or instructors stuck in the bottleneck. Together with the FLP participants, we began experimenting with ways to get ''through'' the bottlenecks.
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	With their ongoing support, we led the seminar for eleven consecutive years, which allowed for continual refinement of the ''Decoding'' framework. In collaboration with instructors and other partners over the early years of the summer FLP seminar, we refined activities into a model and eventually a theory. In 2004 we presented at the first ISSOTL conference and published our model (Middendorf & Pace, 2004<ref name=":0" />), editing the volume that featured the ways instructors from various field applied ''Decoding'', evidence that the sharing Step (Step 7), which we deliberately designed to encourage analysis and inquiry in SoTL, worked. With ''Decoding the Disciplines,'' we had found an elegant structure to guide our work, a framework that filled a gap in theory, and a model for lesson design.		With their ongoing support, we led the seminar for eleven consecutive years, which allowed for continual refinement of the ''Decoding'' framework. In collaboration with instructors and other partners over the early years of the summer FLP seminar, we refined activities into a model and eventually a theory. In 2004 we presented at the first ISSOTL conference and published our model (Middendorf & Pace, 2004<ref name=":0" />), editing the volume that featured the ways instructors from various field applied ''Decoding'', evidence that the sharing Step (Step 7), which we deliberately designed to encourage analysis and inquiry in SoTL, worked. With ''Decoding the Disciplines,'' we had found an elegant structure to guide our work, a framework that filled a gap in theory, and a model for lesson design.

	Further, ''Decoding'' has been enriched and transformed by ''Disrupting the Disciplines'' (Lindstrom, Easton, Yeo, & Attas, 2022)<ref>Lindstrom, G., Easton, L., Yeo, M., & Attas, R. (2022). The disrupting interview: a framework to approach decolonization. ''International Journal for Academic Development'', 1-13, [https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560 10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560].</ref>, with its focus on the heretofore hidden or avoided bottlenecks of colonialism, racism, identity, implicit bias, and related antiracist pedagogies.		Further, ''Decoding'' has been enriched and transformed by ''Disrupting the Disciplines'' (Lindstrom, Easton, Yeo, & Attas, 2022)<ref>Lindstrom, G., Easton, L., Yeo, M., & Attas, R. (2022). The disrupting interview: a framework to approach decolonization. ''International Journal for Academic Development'', 1-13, [https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560 10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560].</ref>, with its focus on the heretofore hidden or avoided bottlenecks of colonialism, racism, identity, implicit bias, and related antiracist pedagogies."</blockquote>'''Taking the Disciplines Seriously'''

			With the formation the History Learning Project, with Arlene Diaz and Leah Shopkow of IU's history department, we continued our classroom experiments with Decoding and were able to better articulate our understanding of the disciplines: <blockquote>We would define disciplines, then, as epistemic communities, communities of knowing, that produce knowledge through certain tacitly agreed-upon rules governing mental moves. We expect our students to be able to make the moves of the disciplines in our classrooms and to understand the rules…. However, they tend to organize their courses around specific contents rather than around the mental moves they want students to make…. These moves are usually unarticulated within a discipline and may even be so completely internalized by practitioners that they are not aware of them. Not surprisingly, instructors do not teach these moves explicitly, and students, who have experienced many years of schooling in which they were not instructed in disciplinary modes of thought, may not even realize that particular kinds of thinking are called for in a discipline.” - Excerpted from Middendorf & Shopkow, Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks, p. 2).</blockquote>

	==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==		==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==

Joan Middendorf: Added Evolution of Decoding

2025-06-17T09:53:01Z

Added Evolution of Decoding

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:53, 17 June 2025
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	<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the [[Mental action\|mental actions]] they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]		<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the [[Mental action\|mental actions]] they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]
	==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==		==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
	The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.		The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref name=":0">Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.
	===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where does the student experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===		===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where does the student experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===
	Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.		Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.
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	==History==		==History==
	Decoding the Disciplines has been pioneered by [[Joan Middendorf]] and [[David Pace]] at Indiana University. David Pace has summarized intentions and goals of this early phase of Decoding the Disciplines as follows:<ref>Pace, D. (2021). [[Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New Directions for the Paradigm\|Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New directions for the paradigm]]. ''Teaching and Learning Inquiry'', ''9''(2).<br /></ref><blockquote>The Decoding the Disciplines approach emerged from a desire to develop new responses to common blocks to learning in college courses. As directors of the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project from 1998 to 2010, Joan Middendorf and David Pace perceived a mismatch between what was being taught to students in many classes and what was actually required for success in these courses. The very expertise of college instructors had made many essential procedures of the disciplines so automatic that these had become invisible and, thus, were not being taught. Students, trying to respond to the demands of their courses, were often unintentionally given conceptual maps of the field that lacked instructions for surmounting crucial challenges. It was as if their instructors had provided their students with the kind of itinerary produced by Google Maps, but had inadvertently omitted many lines of the instructions. Students who were already familiar with the territory found their way with little difficulty. A few students with usual skills at pathfinding turned the limited set of clues at their disposal into a strategy for reaching the destination. But others, who were not pre-educated in the field or endowed with a special predisposition for the discipline, became hopelessly lost.</blockquote>		Decoding the Disciplines has been pioneered by [[Joan Middendorf]] and [[David Pace]] at Indiana University. David Pace has summarized intentions and goals of this early phase of Decoding the Disciplines as follows:<ref>Pace, D. (2021). [[Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New Directions for the Paradigm\|Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New directions for the paradigm]]. ''Teaching and Learning Inquiry'', ''9''(2).<br /></ref><blockquote>The Decoding the Disciplines approach emerged from a desire to develop new responses to common blocks to learning in college courses. As directors of the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project from 1998 to 2010, Joan Middendorf and David Pace perceived a mismatch between what was being taught to students in many classes and what was actually required for success in these courses. The very expertise of college instructors had made many essential procedures of the disciplines so automatic that these had become invisible and, thus, were not being taught. Students, trying to respond to the demands of their courses, were often unintentionally given conceptual maps of the field that lacked instructions for surmounting crucial challenges. It was as if their instructors had provided their students with the kind of itinerary produced by Google Maps, but had inadvertently omitted many lines of the instructions. Students who were already familiar with the territory found their way with little difficulty. A few students with usual skills at pathfinding turned the limited set of clues at their disposal into a strategy for reaching the destination. But others, who were not pre-educated in the field or endowed with a special predisposition for the discipline, became hopelessly lost.</blockquote>

			=== The Evolution of Decoding ===
			Excerpted from Middendorf, J. (2025). [[The Theory Bottleneck and Decoding the Disciplines\|The Theory Bottleneck and ''Decoding the Disciplines'']]. ''Didaktikzentrum, pp. 5-6.''

			''Decoding the Disciplines'' did not spring from whole cloth but evolved over several years from a framework to a model to a theory. It was born in 1996, when the Vice Chancellor of Indiana University Bloomington invited [Joan] to form a team for an eight-day leadership institute facilitated by Pat Hutchings (Hutchings, Sciame-Giesecke, & Bender; 1996<ref>Hutchings, P., Sciame-Giesecke, S., & Bender, E., (1996). IU Summer Leadership Institute.</ref>). Teams from all eight Indiana University campuses were tasked with creating new programs to enhance teaching. One of the professors I invited to join the Bloomington team was David Pace. The Bloomington team’s idea was to bring together instructors of large gateway courses and place them in conversation with the literature on teaching and learning in a two-week, cross-disciplinary summer seminar, entitled “The Freshman Learning Project” (FLP). Upon the FLP’s inception, we immediately encountered a problem: With thousands of teaching methods to choose from, but no organizing theory, it was as though we had available to us both everything and nothing.

			After learning of the bottleneck idea (Anderson, 1996)<ref>Anderson, J. A. (1996, October). ''Merging Teaching Effectiveness, Learning Outcomes, and Curricular Change with the Diverse Student Needs of the 21st Century'' [Keynote Presentation]. Professional and Organizational Development Network Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.</ref>, we worked it into the second FLP seminar. Bottlenecks did not offer a solution to our too-many-methods problem; nevertheless, it gave us the first step of our framework and afforded each instructor autonomy in choosing a focus for their efforts. Those familiar with David Pace and me know that each of us is inherently disinclined to abandon learners or instructors stuck in the bottleneck. Together with the FLP participants, we began experimenting with ways to get ''through'' the bottlenecks.

			Some of the experiments turned out better than others. For example, we challenged one of the deans, an administrator and project funder, to re-experience novice learning. After a one hour knitting lesson, he demanded that we “NEVER DO THAT TO ANOTHER PROFESSOR AGAIN!” In our next experiment, we interviewed a religious studies professor and dean, inviting him to pick something that his students struggled with in class. It turned out that his students were not reading in the ways he wanted. His course used different kinds of texts, requiring four kinds of reading: skimming for popular fiction; close readings for translated Biblical texts; analyses for research articles; and positionality for author identity. He realized he had never explained the differences in reading approaches. This experiment resulted in our first ''Decoding'' interview. These two administrators became key boosters of the FLP and funders of the change we were bringing to campus (Middendorf, 2001)<ref>Middendorf, J. (2001). Getting administrative support for your project. ''To Improve the Academy'', ''19''(1), 346-359. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/tia.17063888.0019.023</ref>.

			With their ongoing support, we led the seminar for eleven consecutive years, which allowed for continual refinement of the ''Decoding'' framework. In collaboration with instructors and other partners over the early years of the summer FLP seminar, we refined activities into a model and eventually a theory. In 2004 we presented at the first ISSOTL conference and published our model (Middendorf & Pace, 2004<ref name=":0" />), editing the volume that featured the ways instructors from various field applied ''Decoding'', evidence that the sharing Step (Step 7), which we deliberately designed to encourage analysis and inquiry in SoTL, worked. With ''Decoding the Disciplines,'' we had found an elegant structure to guide our work, a framework that filled a gap in theory, and a model for lesson design.

			Further, ''Decoding'' has been enriched and transformed by ''Disrupting the Disciplines'' (Lindstrom, Easton, Yeo, & Attas, 2022)<ref>Lindstrom, G., Easton, L., Yeo, M., & Attas, R. (2022). The disrupting interview: a framework to approach decolonization. ''International Journal for Academic Development'', 1-13, [https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560 10.1080/1360144X.2022.2103560].</ref>, with its focus on the heretofore hidden or avoided bottlenecks of colonialism, racism, identity, implicit bias, and related antiracist pedagogies.

	==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==		==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==

Riegler: +link to mental action

2025-05-01T10:14:28Z

+link to mental action

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:14, 1 May 2025
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	<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]		<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the [[Mental action\|mental actions]] they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]
	==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==		==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
	The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.		The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.

Joan Middendorf: tweaked the title for this page--focus in on the difficult that the student or learner encounters.

2025-04-25T17:58:22Z

tweaked the title for this page--focus in on the difficult that the student or learner encounters.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:58, 25 April 2025
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	==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==		==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
	The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.		The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.
	===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where ~~do I~~ experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===		===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where does the student experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===
	Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.		Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.

Joan Middendorf: Revised this overview

2025-04-25T17:56:51Z

Revised this overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:56, 25 April 2025
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	A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may		A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may

			*Introduce the mental move through analogies, metaphors, or narratives.
	*perform the (mental) steps in front of your students using a subject-specific example.		*perform the (mental) steps in front of your students using a subject-specific example.
	*explicitly highlight critical operations.		*explicitly highlight critical operations.
	*use metaphors or analogies for the (mental) steps.

	===[[Step 4: Give Students Practice and Feedback\|Question 4: How can I give my students practice and feedback?]]===		===[[Step 4: Give Students Practice and Feedback\|Question 4: How can I give my students practice and feedback?]]===

Joan Middendorf: Added link

2025-04-24T16:12:30Z

Added link

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:12, 24 April 2025
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	This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.		This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.

	There are a number of ~~other~~ ways to “''Decode''” the mental move of the specialist besides the interview, “flash” techniques which include analogies and game mechanics, the bottleneck writing tour, concept/mind mapping or flow charting, 3-d modeling with playdough or other simple materials, and rubric building, to name a few. All of the various ''Decoding'' techniques involve conversation with an interlocutor, preferably one from a different discipline		There are a number of [[Question 2: Uncovering the tacit mental moves\|alternative ways to “''Decode''”]] the mental move of the specialist besides the interview, “flash” techniques which include analogies and game mechanics, the bottleneck writing tour, concept/mind mapping or flow charting, 3-d modeling with playdough or other simple materials, and rubric building, to name a few. All of the various ''Decoding'' techniques involve conversation with an interlocutor, preferably one from a different discipline
	===[[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations\|Question 3: How can I show students what they have to do?]]===		===[[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations\|Question 3: How can I show students what they have to do?]]===
	A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may		A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may

Riegler: saving work

2025-04-24T15:57:26Z

saving work

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:57, 24 April 2025
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	Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.		Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.

	===[[~~Step~~ 2 ~~- Decoding Interview~~\|Question 2: What does the specialist do to get past the bottleneck?]]===		===[[Question 2: Uncovering the tacit mental moves\|Question 2: What does the specialist do to get past the bottleneck?]]===
	This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.		This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.

Joan Middendorf: Added alternative Decoding techniques to Step 2 Decoding

2025-04-24T15:45:12Z

Added alternative Decoding techniques to Step 2 Decoding

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:45, 24 April 2025
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	Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.		Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.

	===[[Step 2 - Decoding Interview\|Question 2: What ~~do students have to be able to~~ do to get past the bottleneck?]]===		===[[Step 2 - Decoding Interview\|Question 2: What does the specialist do to get past the bottleneck?]]===
	This ~~questions~~ leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.		This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit.

			There are a number of other ways to “''Decode''” the mental move of the specialist besides the interview, “flash” techniques which include analogies and game mechanics, the bottleneck writing tour, concept/mind mapping or flow charting, 3-d modeling with playdough or other simple materials, and rubric building, to name a few. All of the various ''Decoding'' techniques involve conversation with an interlocutor, preferably one from a different discipline
	===[[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations\|Question 3: How can I show students what they have to do?]]===		===[[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations\|Question 3: How can I show students what they have to do?]]===
	A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may		A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may

Riegler: +links to references

2025-03-27T16:20:25Z

+links to references

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:20, 27 March 2025
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	<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]		<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]
	==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==		==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
	The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm - Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.		The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking\|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.
	===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where do I experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===		===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning\|Question 1: Where do I experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===
	Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.		Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.
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	===[[Step 7 - Share What Has Been Learned Through the Decoding Process\|Question 7: How can I share this process with others?]]===		===[[Step 7 - Share What Has Been Learned Through the Decoding Process\|Question 7: How can I share this process with others?]]===
	Instructors may share their findings informally with colleagues or more formally through publications or presentations as a form of [[wikipedia:Scholarship_of_teaching_and_learning\|Scholarship of Teaching and Learning]]. As of ~~2023~~ instructors and researchers have published more than ~~500~~ articles on Decoding.<ref>http://decodingthedisciplines.org/bibliography/</ref>		Instructors may share their findings informally with colleagues or more formally through publications or presentations as a form of [[wikipedia:Scholarship_of_teaching_and_learning\|Scholarship of Teaching and Learning]]. As of 2024 instructors and researchers have published more than 150 articles on Decoding.<ref>[http://decodingthedisciplines.org/bibliography/ Bibliography of Decoding Work]</ref>

	==History==		==History==
	Decoding the Disciplines has been pioneered by [[Joan Middendorf]] and [[David Pace]] at Indiana University. David Pace has summarized intentions and goals of this early phase of Decoding the Disciplines as follows:<ref>Pace, D. (2021). Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New directions for the paradigm. ''Teaching and Learning Inquiry'', ''9''(2).<br /></ref><blockquote>The Decoding the Disciplines approach emerged from a desire to develop new responses to common blocks to learning in college courses. As directors of the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project from 1998 to 2010, Joan Middendorf and David Pace perceived a mismatch between what was being taught to students in many classes and what was actually required for success in these courses. The very expertise of college instructors had made many essential procedures of the disciplines so automatic that these had become invisible and, thus, were not being taught. Students, trying to respond to the demands of their courses, were often unintentionally given conceptual maps of the field that lacked instructions for surmounting crucial challenges. It was as if their instructors had provided their students with the kind of itinerary produced by Google Maps, but had inadvertently omitted many lines of the instructions. Students who were already familiar with the territory found their way with little difficulty. A few students with usual skills at pathfinding turned the limited set of clues at their disposal into a strategy for reaching the destination. But others, who were not pre-educated in the field or endowed with a special predisposition for the discipline, became hopelessly lost.</blockquote>		Decoding the Disciplines has been pioneered by [[Joan Middendorf]] and [[David Pace]] at Indiana University. David Pace has summarized intentions and goals of this early phase of Decoding the Disciplines as follows:<ref>Pace, D. (2021). [[Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New Directions for the Paradigm\|Beyond Decoding the Disciplines 1.0: New directions for the paradigm]]. ''Teaching and Learning Inquiry'', ''9''(2).<br /></ref><blockquote>The Decoding the Disciplines approach emerged from a desire to develop new responses to common blocks to learning in college courses. As directors of the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project from 1998 to 2010, Joan Middendorf and David Pace perceived a mismatch between what was being taught to students in many classes and what was actually required for success in these courses. The very expertise of college instructors had made many essential procedures of the disciplines so automatic that these had become invisible and, thus, were not being taught. Students, trying to respond to the demands of their courses, were often unintentionally given conceptual maps of the field that lacked instructions for surmounting crucial challenges. It was as if their instructors had provided their students with the kind of itinerary produced by Google Maps, but had inadvertently omitted many lines of the instructions. Students who were already familiar with the territory found their way with little difficulty. A few students with usual skills at pathfinding turned the limited set of clues at their disposal into a strategy for reaching the destination. But others, who were not pre-educated in the field or endowed with a special predisposition for the discipline, became hopelessly lost.</blockquote>

	==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==		==Decoding the Disciplines as a framework==

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← Older revision		Revision as of 00:02, 12 March 2025
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	<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb]]		<span style="color: #000000">'''Decoding the Disciplines''' is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of [[Bottleneck\|bottlenecks]] to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the [[wikipedia:Tacit_knowledge\|tacit knowledge]] of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.</span>[[File:DecodingWheel.png\|thumb\|The [[Decoding Wheel]] is a visualization of the seven steps of Decoding the Disciplines]]
	==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==		==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
	The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm - Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.		The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref>Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm - Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.