This reflection will focus on your
teaching and learning context. The two areas we would like you to reflect on, are:
- What are your initial ideas about your learners’ and your own needs? How could you address these needs using technology?
- What don’t you know about your learners as yet, that you would need to know to design your intervention / prototype? What do you intend to do, to establish what your learners needs are?
Good luck!
And if you need some inspiration, have a look at this video :)
My learners and I share some needs. One is that the technology that is supposedly available should actually be available. I know that students connect much more easily with complex ideas when they are presented visually and so I make use of lots of visual resources in my lectures. This semester I scheduled 2 documentaries and a set of visual stories, and wasn’t able to show any of them because the audio in the classroom was dead. Last Wednesday I planned to use polleverywhere.com. But there was no internet in the classroom so we couldn’t. Having to shift yet again to plan B made me decidedly grumpy. So a critical learning need that my students and I share is that the university should provide adequate resources for using technologies for learning and teaching.
ReplyDeleteI began my course this year by setting a short in class test (basically on definitions) that aimed to establish what students already knew. I ended up with 125 bits of paper to read (time consuming) and established that the class could basically be divided into 2 groups. Next year I will do something similar using the eteaching site to set an mcq. It will be compulsory. Those who fail will have to do it again until they pass. I don’t have to mark any of it, I can look at the results, monitor patterns in the results and respond to the patterns in my teaching. I want to use the technology to do several things. Firstly to establish at the beginning of the course what it is my students already know, so that I can adjust my teaching accordingly. Secondly I hope to use the technology to work smarter, not harder - the technology offers an opportunity to gather data about students’ prior knowledge while minimising my work. Thirdly, students arrive in an intro to gender studies course with a vast body of received knowledge that needs to be unpacked. Those who fail the mcq test will know right from the start that there is work to be done, and they will have the opportunity to take some responsibility for their own learning by doing the work and redoing the mcq test. Those who pass will know that they have gotten a good start to the course. Technology provides possibilities for flexibility rather than a one size fits all approach! And for getting feedback - at the end of the first quarter this year I used google docs to find out how students were experiencing the course, I will make more use of that in future. Doing the wiki gave me ideas about how to use facebook in my teaching for next year. The more familiar I become with the technologies the more I realise how they present amazing opportunities for me to learn (about my students and about the technologies) and to use that learning to become a better teacher, one who teaches smart, not hard. The more I learn about the technologies the more creative I can be in adopting and adapting it to the specificities of my students learning. While I am not best pleased when the equipment fails (as it SO often does) it is the future and it is something that will things will improve over time.
Hi Lindsay. You remain remakably optimistic considering your technological frustrations. Aside from the basic need to have ICTs work I am hearing you say that one of the most valuable ways you can use technology in your class is to establish learners prior knowledge and get feedback on your teaching. Am interested in your ideas about how and why you think facebook could be useful? Would it be to achieve either of these two challenegs you mention or for another prupose? Cheers Cheyrl
Deleteis this where the self reflection should go?
ReplyDeletei uploaded 546 words and they have gone.
ReplyDeleteYour words are here Lindsay - do you want to write me a formal email so that I can take up the matter of the frustrations you are experiencing with technology
ReplyDeleteI'm going to do a google docs survey of my students experiences and lets see what they think!
ReplyDeleteGood idea re the survey Lindsay- it will then be possible to present the frustrations from the students' perspective. You can then relay these comments to ICS, elearning team, the Students Support Centre and to Senior Management
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ReplyDeleteI don't see my reflection either....
ReplyDeleteWill try posting my reflection again!
ReplyDeleteMy reflection has now vanished twice!!!!! Hope it stays on this time!
ReplyDeleteGone again. New approach. Link to my blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://iwschroeder.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-context.html
Mine has also vanished.....AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteHi. I really hope I get this right. To answer the questions posted to us by the facilitators of this course, I found that there are many main needs I have in common with my students. The main need for them is to understand the work without falling asleep in class and for me to keep them focused for them to understand. With my big classes it is almost impossible for me to keep tract of who is applying attention and who is not. I end up frustrated when I read the tests, assignments and exams scripts as it displays a definite lack of understanding. I have tried to show videos in class to keep them focused but this has just provide them with more sleeping time, texting time or even eating time. I really feel that technology can help me with is problem. If I were to apply a hands on technological approach I am almost certain this will increase their focusing time. An example of where technology can help me will be if I took my class to the computer lab (there are not many available on campus without prior booking), have them do an exercise relating to a specific topic and then do an online assessment immediately after that. This would improve attendance to class and definitely improve their attention spans. We could then comment and do discussion of that assignment/ assessment in a face book group as this is the most widely used social tool in South Africa today. This is just an idea. I am more open to other ideas.
ReplyDeleteI feel that in my big classes there is a lot about my leathers that I do not have the time to find out. Like more about them, how they study, what are their weaknesses and strengths in the academic world, what motivates them and what de-motivates them, who they go to when they have a problem etc. In order for me to establish their needs thoroughly I would send out a questionnaire with these questions on and have them complete it. I am hoping from this I will be able to establish what their needs are.
Hi Khalida
DeleteI understand the challenges of big classes - to manage, to inspire and to keep their attention! Have you thought of what exactly they will do with the computers? Will there be a time limit? How will you ensure that all students are engaged? Have you considered something such as peer instruction during class - where peers explain concepts to each other? Facebook or a blog could perhaps then be a good place to develop a discussion further in terms of what has been explained in class? I like the idea of a learner questionnaire - always good to know more about our learner preferences!
Sonja
The issue for me has always been assessing the level of skills (prior knowledge) of my students and how to address this issue while still keeping the student with more prior knowledge interested in my class and also offering students new to the subject material a good understanding of the work covered in the course and to bring everyone to the same level of competence.
ReplyDeleteGenerally the biggest hurdle I face with students new to the subject is their fear of technology and reluctance to attempt new things without guidance. On the flipside, students with prior knowledge tend to show apathy for the work and a general attitude of “I know enough to get by”.
So the question is how then do I address these two totally disjunctive attitudes in my classroom and I think that this is where emerging technologies can assist me. These technologies, if used in a fun way, can help to bridge the divide between the two groups of students in my class. Todays students, no matter the prior knowledge, love to learn new and fun ways to interact with one another using technology, so tools like wiki’s, blogs, social media etc. can be used to draw students in and, in so doing, create an environment where they can learn from one another.
Using these technologies however is dependent on their availability to students. If the manner in which these technologies are accessed is too problematic, be it financially or technically, then I have already lost 50% of my class if not more. So before I can plan any kind of technological intervention I need to know what the technological constraints of my students are and the ready availability of the tools I want to use.
Using these technologies within the constraints of my organisations IT protocols and policies means that even tools that can be used within a classroom environment needs to be tested within the organisation’s IT framework to ensure that I don’t land up with egg on my face in the classroom
So my first order of business to make sure that the emerging technologies that I want to use is readily available and complies with our IT policies. This is an investigative process and would have to be coordinated with our IT department.
Dear Phadlie,
DeleteGreat reflection piece. You indicate that the social media tools you've listed, if used in a fun way can bring about student participation and peer- learning. Don't forget that their use should be pedagogically sound to achieve the above and support meaningful learning. In getting to know your students needs, it would also be of help to involve students on the choice of tools you would like to use for teaching and learning-this brings about a sense of ownership of the learning process.
Dear Phadlie, I fully agree with Eunice on her remarks about getting students themselves involved with the choice of technology (or maybe do your investigation in such a way that they think they have chosen it:) just kidding).
DeleteIt sounds like you have experience of using tech that is not universally available to your students, and therefore the concern and the making sure it will work process with IT. Although I am usually inclined to be a bit more adventurous/ reckless with innovating, I agree that when the stakes are high (such as in HE) then your more thorough approach is the best.
You pinpoint the difference in your students' abilities as a learning problem. The idea of personalised learning comes to the fore. Looking forward to how you will tackle this very important issue.
Good luck and thanks for the refelction!
I teach Human Anatomy to first year science students. The Anatomy courses in general require a lot of rote memorization; mainly because the terms used are derived from Latin! Learning Anatomy actually requires extra efforts to try the gulp the bulk of nomenclature that we present and appreciate the spatial relations of structures in the human body. I always felt that I need a platform other than the classroom to help me to further my interactions with students and respond to their queries outside the work hours.
ReplyDeleteIn the last two years, I started learning about the new directions and concepts in teaching and learning through our UWC Department of Education. Despite my long teaching experience, I must admit that I started perceiving teaching and learning in a different light. Since then, I discovered that my students are very fond of technology and enjoy interacting through such means. I still need to assess how such intervention can improve their performance in tests and exams and would welcome suggestions regarding means of evaluations, but I am positive that the results will favour the use these interventions.
My initial attempt (inspired from attending the teaching and learning retreats) was to create a Facebook group about anatomy education where I can post Youtube videos and photographs related to the anatomical topics that I tackle in my UWC modules. I started collecting such teaching material and intend to get that page functional during the first term of 2013.
This course of emerging technology has provided me with extra ideas about the value of other technologies; I find some of them are more user friendly than the others! My next attempt will be to try to establish a blog which serves as a constant page that student can refer to for extra teaching materials. I have created a blog (http://sahar-allaboutteaching.blogspot.com) but I am still technically challenged and would need some help regarding posting.
I love this course!
Sahar, I can see your enthusiasm shining through - the frustration is not having enough time to explore these exciting possibilities and their affordances for your classroom. There are some you tubes available on how to create a blog on blogger. Look at http://youtu.be/rA4s3wN_vK8 and another one is http://youtu.be/kSs3XXSCuoE
DeleteHow about a wiki - do you think this would be useful for you to see how your students are understanding concepts?
1)My initial assumption is that my first year students do not watch television nor read newspapers with regards to local and international events that influence their daily livelihoods, especially in the field that they might find themselves in one day. I assume that when the course starts they will read what is expected (outcomes of the course) and will try and stay ahead with current developments within agriculture.
ReplyDeleteMy needs are to disseminate information for self-learning on current developments (e.g. worldwide recession and how it impacts agri-businesses) and encourage debate how to effective and efficiently manage these external factors which one has little control over. I could use technology to enhance my reach in teaching and learning by using current information via expert blogs, videos, uploading links to blogs on current reports written by agric-economists and financial analysts. By doing this, technology brings together different views on topics and chances of reaching active and inactive students in class to participate might improve.
2) How involved and experience are they in using the latest technology e.g. twitter, face book, blogs, etc. and what type, kind and accessibility to different technology (resources) do they have. I could easily do a “polleverywhere” to establish the current situation of my students and their use of technology to establish the most effective means of communicating with them and the resources both lecturer and student should have.
Interesting reflection! Have you thought of using the TED talks in your teaching? Students seem to really enjoy them...if you want to get them more involved in current news and developments, let them search for current content and lead a discussion in class (maybe after you modeled such an intervention!)
DeleteMy initial idea and expectation was that students have basic knowledge about most topics either from High School subjects or from earlier University modules. I found that most times, students do not answer the basic questions aimed at testing their base-line knowledge not because they do not want to do so, but because they simply do not remember. Recently, I found that on a Tuesday after a long weekend, students could not remember the content of a related lecture that was given the previous Thursday. Unfortunately, the content of most of our modules is structured in such a way that understanding basic concepts in previous topics makes it easy to build upon. I'm therefore always concerned about teaching more information when rudimentary knowledge appears to be absent.
ReplyDeleteI hope to address these challenges in a number of ways. First, I'll try make my classes more 'alive' by interjecting relevant short video clips, animations, puzzles, etc into my lecture and practical sessions to create room for students to relate course content with these non-conventional modes. Secondly, I'll set up a facebook group and possibly a blog (when my blogging knowledge improves) as avenues for participating students to communicate freely among themselves and with me. I'll post questions on these social media platforms and discuss student responses with all participants. I also plan to incorporate audio recordings into my Lecture notes to provide more opportunities for students to engage with course content. Finally, I'll use the anonymous "polleverywhere" tool, to test student baseline knowledge at the beginning of every lecture series and to test their progressive understanding of course content every week.
One challenge though, is that not all students have access to compatible 'smart' phones or laptops. Also, not all lecture venues are equipped for these technologies. Whatever the case, I may have to group the students so that everyone gets involved.
What a lot of ideas Okobi! Remember for the purpose of this course your only need to pick one :-) My suggestion is to start small (and build on successes) and perhaps with something that doesnt involve too much extra work and pressue on you but gives the students opportunity to input. You raise some very relevant challenges and constraints. Student groups ar a great idea. How do you envisage this working? Also i would be interested to know more about your poll everywhere idea? At what stage pof the lecture would/ could you use this? As a back up I have also heard of lectureres doing a very similar thing with coloured cards. They ask the class multiple choice questions and get them to hold up a colour corresponding to the answer. That way the lecturere can quickly see how much of the class has "got" the concpet correctly. I know thats not an ICT based solution but as we all know "back up" plans are essential. Cheers Cheryl
DeleteReflecting on the needs of students is an interesting exercise, and I have concluded, in a nutshell, that they are wide ranging. As each student is an individual, with strengths and weaknesses in different cognitive and learning abilities, the needs of these students varies. With this in mind, adding the technology to the teaching framework is also an individual challenge, from the technologies available too students in terms of hardware, to the ranging experience and training students have with certain technology platforms that can be employed. In many ways, the challenges from a teaching point of view, when considering the use of technology, seem greater (or maybe I can only see the mountain now, as my perspective certainly has changed!).
ReplyDeleteIt is important to then try find the common ground that represents the most common student needs, and without any objective evidence, this can only be a subjective opinion at this stage. It is also important that the strategies used in teaching need to enable the teacher to be responsive to these needs. So what are these ‘common’ needs? I think the UWC overview of student attributes covers this quite well – where students need to be knowledgeable, inquiry focused, critically literate, skilled in communication and be both autonomous (self-reliant) and collaborative, etc – give an excellent framework from which to focus on specific modules, with consideration of the intended career paths in the future.
Students need to be presented with a clear outline of what is to be covered and how this will be achieved. This of course ties in with specific outcomes of a module, all covered with a good module descriptor. From here, students need to be presented with the course content in a clear and concise manner, without rushing through large volumes of work. However, the student needs to be challenged, and not ‘spoon fed’, and needs to realise that the responsibility of learning is with them. This can be conveyed with novel approaches to teaching and assessments, and this is where the technology becomes most apparent. With conceptual technology based exercises such as reflection, discussions and debates (e.g. facebooks/blogs/wiki’s), student needs in terms of covering and learning the module content (attribute of ‘knowledge) while simultaneously expected to critically discuss the concepts and knowledge presented (critically relevant; communication). These discussion also need to be ‘civil’, and respective of others views (social and cultural awareness can be cultivated here). These approaches can also be designed for both individual and groups work. all this while researching and learning the course content, with less sitting with late night studies alone or sitting (or sleeping) while in lectures. The challenge is to make it interesting, applicable and fun for the student, and too attract the wide diversity of students in the module to engage with these approaches.
It is important to note that much of teaching and learning is new too me, so these thoughts/reflections may leave much to desire from my T/L naive viewpoint. I too am a student with needs I also think teachers need to instil a passion in the content, and be actively engaged with these potential platforms. If the students find passion in the work, the learning becomes easier I believe (subjective again).
I need to know more about my learners in terms of ‘technology literacy’, and possibly what they do have access too, and how we can make available technology work for us. This can be done by asking for similar reflections from students, with a rough framework regarding technology use (almost survey like). Also, the ‘post-it’ type exercise, or the exercise we did at the start of this course, may prove very useful. From here, the best interventions in terms of technology to teach the content and use as assessments can become more apparent. I think I have exceeded 500, so I will stop my ramblings at this point...thank you for this opportunity to learn...
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DeleteBrilliant post Kris! I can see th
Deleteat you have the makings of a great educational blogger :) I really like the connections you make to the institution's vision and strategy and especially the graduate attributes (and especially the softer skills ones that you mention). I believe it is possible through some of the technologies that you are starting to think about to achieve some of these outcomes you envision. And yes, I believe that passion for a subject coupled with good teaching skills, will create motivated and engaged students.
Ascertaining the skills of your students are of course very important, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised to see what they think or can come up with. Good luck.
I provide mentorship training to students and we are engaged in a number of interactive activities such as group discussions, working in pairs and group oral presentations. I think using technology can deepen students’ participation and enhance the training. During our training workshop I think we need more visual and auditory engagement.
ReplyDeleteJust recently I came across a you tube video concerning peer mentorship, which I thought students would be able to identify with. The purpose of the video was to allow students to identify with other mentors and to clarify what their roles as mentors are. The video focused on other peer mentors engaged in a similar programme and showed images of students learning and interacting at a University. It also highlighted the lecturers’ views on peer mentorship programmes. I prefer showing short 5-10 minutes video to mentors as the intention of the video is to augment the training workshop rather than a lecture or formal presentation. I also prefer showing videos made by other students so that mentors are able to identify with it.
As a teaching strategy this video enabled me to show the significance of the role of mentors and to explain what mentors should do and how they should participate in the mentoring. Students gave me feedback about what they learnt from the video and highlighted important points made in the video. The video set a positive tone to the workshop.
I think that it is important to ask key questions to students after the video, e.g.
• What are the important points that were relevant to you?
• What did you find useful in the video?
• What did you find irrelevant?
• What did you not like about the video?
• How could you use the ideas in the video to assist you in your mentoring?
• For homework mentors could write a summary of the video highlighting the main points.
The mentors are also expected to stay in contact with mentees via SMS or MXit after the training. I would like to incorporate the use of cell phone and MXit in my training. I would like to focus on:
• The value of using SMS and MXit
• How to use the SMS or MXit effectively?
• As mentors is it appropriate to use SMS or MXit anytime , anywhere?
• What tone should one use as mentors in SMS and MXit messages?
• If mentees do not respond what does it mean?
• What is the significance of social presence via SMS and MXit?
I would like to explore the nature of SMS contact on the mentoring programme. I would draw from the themes that arose during SMS and MXit contact and highlight the factors that affect their learning. My initial thoughts about SMS and MXit are that this form of communication that would enable mentors to give practical advice, show encouragement that the affective issues are supported and it would ensure that the mentors and mentees feel connected. The messages are instant and mentees would feel more compelled to respond. I intend to have a focus group discussion with mentors to find out what their thoughts are about using SMS and MXit.
Hi Najwa
DeleteI like the idea of a social presence with a tool such as SMS or Mxit. It will most certainly address the need of being in regular contact with mentees. However, I will be interested to see how you will identify the needs / themes evolving from such messages? Will you ask mentors to keep a 'log' of discussions / save the thread? How will you access such information from mentors? And also, will such conversations be viewed as confidential or will mentees give permission for such themes/discussion to be shared?
Sonja
My reflections on my teaching and learning context are foremost influenced by how I was taught. However, I try as much as I possibly can to improve my teaching skills.
ReplyDeleteMy initial ideas about my learner’s needs and how I can address these using technology.
I think that the students that enroll for the course think that it does not require a lot of work. Some of them apply for the course thinking that it is about organizing events and merely speaking. After some time they realize that what they are studying is not what they had in mind. I think the learners need more literary training so that they are able to express their thoughts as well as improve their academic writing. Writing reflectionary articles every Monday morning tends to frustrate them. They are, however encouraged to write a lot so that they can improve on the language and writing skills. I have also identified, in various electronic e-mail correspondences that the students are in need of improving their language skills. Students often write in short message service (SMS) language. This is crucial in a discipline such as public relations and media studies. In order for the students to also comprehend the context of their studies, they need to have a good command of the medium of instruction, namely, English. I think technology can be one of the tools that can be used to assist learners in addressing this need. However, the basics need to addressed first. It is said that one cannot write until they read and writing requires practice. It would be naïve of me to think that all my students are computer literate. I have had the opportunity to lecture the End-User Computing subject at a first year level. Most of the students have not worked on a computer before, a small portion of the class often has intermediary knowledge of how to use the computer while the remaining students have just the basics but are not competent yet. Therefore I wonder, how can I as a lecturer expect students to submit good written articles when they are not competent in Microsoft Word and how to use editing tools such as spellcheck and the Thesaurus. I am still discovering which technologies I can use to address this particular need. Students need a lot of encouragement and that is what I am currently doing.
What don’t I know about my learners yet? What do I intend to do to establish what my learners needs are?
I do not know what influenced them to study this course. I do not know what my student’s expectations are from the course. I intend to ask the students, at the end of every term, to reflect on the work that they did during each term and whether it addressed their learning needs as well as their expectations of the course. This will be for first year students. At the beginning of the second year, I would ask them whether the first year of their studies assisted them in understanding what the course is about. The needs can further be addressed in the student’s second year of study.
Dear Thabisa
DeleteThank you for a thoughtful first reflection. Your knowledge of your students is very valuable, and can just increase by asking them (through your reflection exercises etc) what they like and what they lack.
Writing is a difficult thing to mediate or support through emerging technologies as there should be some basic skills first. And Word (e.g.) is such a powerful tool, so the first step would be to get them to do the basics well.
There are new services being developed (like www.classroomsalon.org) where a class can gather around students' or lecturers' texts/ documents and then comment and annotate and ask questions to the lecturer as well as to one another. This might prove to be a bit advanced for your students though (but have a look at it - you can e-mail the developers and ask them for an account).
Looking forward to how your project will develop and how you plan to solve some of the very important challenges you mention. Good luck.