Continuing my recap of the VOC I sessions, here's the latest installment, which can also be found from the VOC I page...
Session 2: 1.10.2013
For the second session of the VOC I course, my own group, Piaget, and two
others, Freire and Vygotsky, contributed to the working session, whilst the
forth group, Dewey, acted as Chair Group.
Team Freire: What is learning through discussion?
In terms of valuing and preparing well for discussion as a tool for
education at vocational level, were provided an interesting and comprehensive
list of tips and checklists for the method.
There were tips about how to help create productive discussion, such as:
- Create a safe environment
- Have clear objectives
- Inform about expectations
- Don’t fear silence
- Organise the room appropriately
- Give positive feedback for participation
- Show enthusiasm for the subject
- Manage the process and the content
- Listen, learn and adapt
Spending five minutes of a class getting the set up right is far better than spending a whole class time with a disjointed environment that can a hindrance to the flow of knowledge or a distraction for anybody.
We also looked at the benefits of discussion as an educational tool. Freire
pointed out that it can help students learn for various reasons:
- It encourages them to engage with the subject
- It forces them to evaluate their own logic and the positions of others
- Students become aware of and formulate problems around the subject
- The students have the opportunity to apply their own principles
- It uses the resources of those in the room
For me, this last point is really relevant. When one considers that every
student has their own areas of knowledge and expertise, we can really benefit
as a group when we come together in this kind of exercise, as long as the
discussion has been set up properly in the first place.
References:
The second reference is significant for me as it provides further tips
about best practice in classroom discussions. One that I find particularly
useful is to do with clarification:
“Some students have great ideas, but they experience difficulty expressing those ideas clearly. (Adults may have this problem as well!) If understanding is elusive, how can a teacher respond productively? One option is to call for clarification. For example,Can you help me out here, William? I'm not sure I've understood you.Frances, I'm going to try to say that back to you, and you tell me whether I've understood you correctly.In these examples, the teacher assumes responsibility for not understanding. Such questions do not penalize students or make them feel stupid; they simply give students another opportunity to help the teacher understand. In addition, such questions give students practice framing their ideas into comprehensible statements.Once the teacher fully grasps what the student is trying to say, that teacher can formulate an appropriate response so that the dialogue can continue on a productive course.”
Team Vygotsky: Virtual teaching
The subject here was very relevant, given the way we are all learning on
this course: virtually! Haha, I made a joke; that we are virtually learning. :)
One of the things that we discussed was the idea of simulation games in
education. In this area, progress is being made all the time and research is
showing how we can use technology to help student to learn in a more active
way, rather than passively learning in the classroom.
Other good points were made about abilities in using technology in
education and, closely connected to that, attitudes. Learners will take a cue
from the educator, so they themselves should be competently aware and
enthusiastic about virtual learning environments.
On the issue of games in education, I am reminded of one very interesting book
I read a few years ago, What Video GamesHave To Teach Us About Learning And Literacy by James Paul Gee. I would thoroughly
recommend this book for anyone interested in video games and education or even
just one of those topics.
References:
http://www.jamespaulgee.com/publications
(lots of interesting articles around the subject of video games and learning)
Team Piaget: What is a curriculum?
Finally, my own group had the opportunity to hold a workshop during the
session and from my perspective, it was really quite exciting and fun. I
thoroughly enjoyed it and I think that comes largely from having prepared well
in our group beforehand, so I knew what I was talking about.
Our jumping off point was to canvass for views on what came into people’s
minds when they hear the word “curriculum”. Words that came up were “plan,
advice, content, direction, map…”, which seems like a good way to start.
We showed the following video as part of our session, looking at new ideas
around curriculum:
What came up during the discussion was that many people had not really given
much thought to the idea of curriculum before, so it was refreshing to present
some ideas about it. In our discussions we asked questions about how much influence
a teacher can have on curriculum, should there be variations between regions
and do you like the idea of variety in the curriculum?
We examined three different ways of thinking about it, as can be seen in
the following image:
All in all, it was a very nice and fruitful discussion and you can find the
whole presentation as well as all the relevant resources in PowerPoint form
here.
References:
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