Applying Lean in Learning and Teaching

Colston.Sanger@port.ac.uk

Transforming the Public Sector: Lean in Services and Higher EducationUniversity of Portsmouth25-27 January 2012

Agenda

1. Why Lean in learning and teaching?2. What I do: some examples3. Contributions, questions

1. Why Lean in learning and teaching?

Because Lean is about learning

The two core principles of Lean• Respect for people

– Engagement, meaningful contact is all – Without engagement, there is no learning– In my experience, students are crying out for an HE experience that

engages with them as sensible, sensitive, idealistic, thoughtful beings

• Continual improvement– Necessarily involves learning, shifts in thinking that enable us to see

things differently

Apart from anything else, Lean is about learning.

So what if we could apply Lean to learning and teaching in HE? … What if we could teach Lean in a Lean way?

How would our practice change?.

2. What I do: some examples

Learning Lean in a Lean way

Low-fidelity business simulation as an earlyexperience in common and organising theme on an international MBA core unit

Managing Projects

• An MBA elective elsewhere– A very popular final year u/g

unit at Portsmouth

• Managing Projects– Not Project Management– … as a team sport

• Working on live projects– Requires engagement

• Calibrating the process of learning– Frequent opportunities for

group reflection and hence learning

Intended learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

• Describe … • Identify similarities, differences,

connections …

Intellectual skills• Evaluate…• Analyse …• Exercise appropriate

judgement …

Practical subject-specific skills• Develop …• Demonstrate …

Transferable skills• Manage own learning …• Communicate effectively …• Work with others …• Recognise and support

followership, and be proactive in leadership

Working on live projects that matter

Calibrating the process of learning -I • Learning agreement

• Check-in

• Weekly project progress reviews

• End of unit project retrospective

Calibrating the process of learning -II • Learning agreement

• Check-in

• Weekly project progress reviews

• End of unit project retrospective

Calibrating the process of learning -III • Learning agreement

• Check-in

• Weekly project progress reviews

• End of unit project retrospective

Using Lean tools – what does successlook like?

Using Lean tools – an A3

Team Olympia

Using Lean tools – simple process mapping

End of unit project retrospective

It seemed to work …

Being asked what we had learnt about managing projects at the

start of every class was something I learnt a lot from. It

helped me reflect on experiences I had with several formal and

informal groups … this semester.

But the main lesson, both for the human and managerial side, has been that a

very high percentage of a project success comes from the team

coordination and cohesion. Personally speaking, I believe team members'

motivation to achieve the goal came from trust, perceived equality in hierarchical terms, and pleasing work environment.

Sometimes this atmosphere comes naturally, some other times it needs to be

created …

In this unit we were taught to find many of the answers ourselves, which I have personally learned

much more from... I learned to be less dependent on teacher advice and more dependent on my own,

which has given me more confidence. I think this was a

really good learning experience. Sometimes teachers answer far too many questions easily when

they really need to let the student search for their own answers.

Regarding my own learning on the Managing Projects course, I have to say that I

have really enjoyed the classes, and the outcome

has been greater than I would have expected...

The summary

Lean is about learning

• Respect for people– Without engagement, there is no learning

• Continual improvement– Necessarily involves learning, shifts in thinking that enable us to see

things differently

3. Contributions, questions