Summer 2014 update

In the interest of continuing on from what has been achieved so far and developing my understanding of my own position as a pedagogical student, I here address a series of questions posed by Juha, our tutor.

My most memorable learning experiences

If I think back to what were formative learning experiences for me growing up, I would say that they involved those school subjects where I both had an intuitive interest in the subject and the right kind of person teaching it. 

The subjects I enjoyed most as school were English and Modern Studies (which is kind of like media, politics, global events etc.). In both cases I had teachers who were incredibly knowledgeable as well as passionate about the subjects. For whatever reason, I got on well with those teachers and that meant I was able to feed off their enthusiasm and also approach them with side issues relating to the subjects. They always had time for that.

Upon going to university I also found that the best rapport I had with my lecturers was when I found them approachable.

I find that those things are important for me in making a good teacher: knowledge, passion and approachability. 

My formal studies & learning history (classroom and virtual)

My formal education started in Scotland. Having completed my Standard Grades (at age 15/16) I did what was expected and stayed on for the Highers (like the English equivalent A Levels). I completed Highers in Maths, English, French, Computing Science, Marketing and Modern Studies, earning me the right to attend university, studying a joint degree in Philosophy and Film & Media.

In Finland I have completed a Masters degree in Visual Culture at Taik (now Aalto University), making my final work about writing and directing comedy for short fiction films.

Until the OAMK pedagogical studies, I had had no experience of virtual learning environments, aside from using Moodle to set up a course for my own students in my own working life.

My personal teaching history

I started working as a teacher of English as a second language in 2003. It was never my intention to work as a teacher; my education was in film and TV. I did it for the money. After a while I found that I enjoyed it and I was good at it. That continued for a number of years and eventually I switched my teaching profession away from a Folk High-School and started teaching in a Vocational school, teaching the subjects I was genuinely passionate about, in the audiovisual communication department in SATAEDU.

In all, I have been working full-time as a teacher in Finland for approximately 11 years and whilst the subjects have changed, I feel confident in my ability as a teacher, though I hope I will always be improving.

How do people learn the best in vocational settings?

In my opinion, people learn best by doing things, working on projects and having the people and facilities around them to support and encourage them in their learning. There should be space for making mistakes and learning on one’s own should be actively encouraged. It is a well-known phenomenon that the best students learn outside of the classroom as well as inside it.

My preferred learning styles

In terms of learning styles, I prefer to work with other people. I like having clear goals and clear frames in place. There has to be a challenge, too. It always helps to motivate me if I can see the bigger picture of why I am learning something.

 What makes an effective (vocational) teacher?

There are many things which make effective vocational teachers and they don’t have to be the same things for everyone. In a proper vocational school environment, the teaching staff should basically work together to form a whole collective which is able to deal with delivering effective education as a team. This means that someone should be like a student councellor, someone should have good organizational skills, someone should be very technical, someone should have lots of contacts in the professional field, someone should have the ideas, someone should lead the others… Not everyone has to have all of the attributes.

In this respect, I think the qualities of teamwork and important, so that whatever the skills of the teacher, they can be employed appropriately and appreciated by the whole group. 

How the curriculum directs the development of studies (and teaching)?

Curriculum has, of course, a significant effect on studies and teaching. When setting up any kind of course, understanding the content in terms of context is vital. If I am asked to teach something I am unfamiliar with, the first thing I do is ask the person I consider to be most knowledgeable a series of question:

What are the students supposed to get from the course (according to the curriculum)? 
 How has this been taught before? 
What worked best and what could have worked better in the previous approach? 
What are the special challenges that could come up in teaching this? 
How will this be evaluated?
 

Then once I have the answers to those questions, I come up with a rough plan for the course and go back to the same teacher to look at it and see if they think it will work, what changes will be made.

But the first question is always just simply a question of asking what, according to the curriculum, they are supposed to be learning and that influences everything else that follows.

What methods of assessment can I use and in which contexts?

There are, of course, many methods of assessment. The method used is always decided upon in relation to the subject and the students. If I am teaching scriptwriting, there is always a series of theoretical sections followed by short exercises to demonstrate understanding. Then the students have to produce their own script, employing the theory which has been imparted. This is normally an individual process and through rewrites and dialogue with myself, it can be seen how much they are grasping the subject. What’s important for me is that they demonstrate learning by doing the thing, not passing a test which asks abstract questions about scriptwriting.

How do I use technology in my field of pedagogy?

I use technology in my field of pedagogy in various ways. I communicate with colleagues and students alike using the technology of electronic mail as well as the telephone (which is older technology, but technology all the same).

When I am teaching I often use Prezi for making presentations (and make them available to the students to use for future reference) and I have also started using Padlet sometimes. I have been using a SmartBoard for a couple of years and find that a very useful piece of technology. Then there are the tools of the trade, which for me are mostly editing software for video (Adobe Premiere), photo editing (Photoshop and Lightroom) as well as the free scriptwriting software Celtx.

Analysis of my competences in teaching

I would say my competences are in the areas of cooperation, organization and motivation. There are some fields that I am more expert in and some that I could certainly improve in. I have found myself teaching Dreamweaver for web design and that’s something I only know the basics of, so very quickly the students know as much as me. I also feel I am lacking in sound techniques.

Familiarizing myself with the studies and planning ahead

As far as the studies are concerned, I am confident now about what I have done and fairly confident about what still has to be done. The key thing that remains in the teaching practice and that’s really the next goal for me in completing the whole course. I hope that I can do that this coming autumn here in Tampere.

My future as a vocational teacher

My future as a vocational teacher is somewhat up in the air right now. I no longer work in SATAEDU, so I am currently looking for similar employment in the same field but closer to home. I am also open to other kinds of challenges, so it really remains to be seen what will happen in my professional life.