04 Jul There Will Always be a Bottleneck
Bringing industrial processes such as lean thinking, six sigma, and the theory of constraints to health problem-solving, Terry Young et al share this viewpoint:
“An interesting strategic perspective is that there will always be a bottleneck; the decision is where you want it. The idea of designing a system with the bottleneck placed where it can best be managed or responded to is powerful”. — T. Young
Similarly, for Joan Middendorf and David Pace’s Decoding the Disciplines, strategically identifying and applying bottleneck resolution to curriculum design offers opportunities for unpacking the expertise of discipline literacy. Middendorf and Pace identify seven bottlenecks which provide a general framework within which to systematically increase learning across a course:
Identify Bottlenecks. Where in a course are significant numbers of students having difficulty mastering basic material?
Define the processes that students need to master to get past the bottlenecks. What would experts in the field or advanced students do to get past the bottleneck?
Model these processes. How can these steps be made clearly visible to students?
Create opportunities to practice these processes and to get feedback on them. How can each of the steps identified be captured in specific assignments or exercises?
Motivate students to move through these processes. What emotional obstacles interfere with this learning and how can they be minimized?
Assess student mastery of these processes. How can we know the extent to which these interventions have been successful?
Share what has been learned. What has been discovered in this process and how can they be most effectively shared with others?
More
Young et al, Using Industrial Processes to Improve Patient Care
Identifying bottlenecks to learning in History courses
The History Learning Project: A Department “Decodes” Its Students.