Fix, build, diagnose or guide? Evaluating the metaphors for Learning Advisors

Abstract

Researchers have used metaphors to shed light on learning advising, yet these metaphors are rarely evaluated for how well they illuminate. Our contribution is to evaluate these pedagogical metaphors. We first explain our understanding of metaphor based on Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) work, then we describe the philosophical method we used to evaluate which metaphors are bright and illuminating for learning advising and which are dull and obscuring. In the second half of the article we present our philosophical evaluation. Our conclusion is that the brightest metaphors for illuminating the practice of Learning Advisors were the doctor-mentor, builder-mentor, architect, coach and guide, and the dullest metaphors, so dull they should be rejected entirely, were the fixer and counsellor.

“Please bring a plate”: A metaphor for learning advisor practice based on Pacific values

“…Learning Advisors often use metaphor (implicitly or explicitly) to understand their practice and help them judge what to do … Yet Learning Advisors seldom evaluate whether their metaphors clarify or obscure their practice. (Golding et al, 2015, p. 1) Having defined the problem in the quote above, Golding et al (2015) proceed to evaluate the coherence of a range of metaphors with the pedagogy of one-on-one learning advising (for example, the learning advisor as a fixer, doctor, or guide). The authors' pedagogical approach "Please bring a plate" 2 ATLAANZ Journal, 2019, Vol.…”

“…Other principles include providing central, not peripheral support for academic learning, and enabling students to be active in their own academic development by encouraging reciprocal relationships. Golding et al (2015) conclude that the most useful metaphors emphasise co-creation, where power is shared between the learning advisor and student. This paper does not disagree with the conclusions reached in that paper; rather it highlights a silence: the absence of metaphors that might resonate more with people from non-Western cultures.…”

“…The reason for highlighting the monocultural nature of the metaphors presented by Golding et al (2015) is that culturally responsive pedagogy requires learning advisors to take account of students' cultural backgrounds and worldviews (MaUa-Hodges, 2018). This includes awareness of one's own worldviews and a conscious effort to understand the worldviews of others.…”

“…This paper is the outcome of my personal search for a more in-depth understanding of Pacific cultures and their values, in order to improve the cultural responsiveness of my practice. I have done this by taking up the suggestion of Golding et al (2015) to create and evaluate my own personal practice metaphor. A metaphor is a linguistic device to aid the understanding of complex concepts.…”

“…Metaphors have the power to shape thinking about a concept, and guide people to focus on particular features, presumably the most important ones (Golding et al, 2015). The trade-off is, as Lakoff andJohnson (2003 [1980]) caution, that metaphors "highlight some features of reality and hide others.…”