Have you ever done something funny in front of your class? Something that has made everyone laugh, or something you can giggle at now that the time has healed the wounds? Share your harmless stories here to brighten up everyone's day. I will start..
I was demonstrating how NOT to answer the phone at work (especially if one works at customer service). I was standing in front of a classroom full of teens. I picked up the phone from the table.. I was just going to say something like "hello" on the phone when I somehow managed to drop it on the floor. My new phone was in pieces on the floor (luckily did not get broken) and the whole classroom was laughing (including me!). Not the best way to answer the phone I guess. =)
Tuesday 30 October 2012
Virtual Session 3: Competence Based Qualifications and Vocational Skills Demonstrations; Evaluation/Assessment; Student's Self-evaluation
Today we had the third virtual session. Our group was the chair group, and we were meant to keep eye on the time, as well as make sure that everything was running smoothly. I think the session went pretty well. We managed to have breaks between the presentations. We even had time to fill in a questionnaire based on the learning goals of each presentation. It will be interesting to see what the results are! Did we learn what the presenters wanted us to learn?
Following on from the first virtual session, we are now discussing more during the presentations, which is a really good thing. Only that it feels as if we did not have enough time for discussion. Luckily we can always continue on our blogs...
Overall, the presentations were good, and they were made from the vocational education point of view. I would still love to see even more practical examples though.
In my breakout group all the presenters were great. We had some technical issues, but luckily only small ones this time. I am sure there will be even less problems in the future once we learn to use AC more efficiently.
Today's topics covered competence based qualifications and vocational skills demonstrations, evaluation/assessment and student's self-evaluation. The first two topics were quite familiar to me, at least in theory. I will come back to evaluation later on.
Student's self-evaluation is something I would really like to gather a deeper understanding of. What are the best tools to do it with teens? How could I, as a teacher, help them to understand their learning? Our students evaluate themselves during the on-the-job learning which takes place twice or three times during the studies. There they learn to evaluate not just their professional skills but also their lifelong learning skills. But is that enough? Should we use self-evaluation more in the school as well?
I think one way to help students acknowledge their learning is to explain to them what they have learned so far. When I started a customer service course with a group of first year students, they were not able to define good or bad customer service. As the course went on, they started to understand what was excellent customer service. In the end they got to a point where they were observing the customer service personnel while they were shopping. They came to my classes to share their experiences with the others. At that point I told them how far they had come from knowing very little to being able to observe their environment critically. I hope that helped them to understand their learning, and maybe in the future they can self-evaluate themselves more independently. In the future I may include some kind of self-evaluation exercises in the end of the course.
So far I have taught only two courses. I did not have exams or tests in them. For a novice teacher an exam may have been an easy option, but I did not see the point testing customer service skills in the form of exam. Instead, I gave them scenarios, and they had to find solutions to them. Those were written tasks. I also had a small group task in the end of the course.
In the future I may reduce the number of written tasks and ask them to make a video of a customer service situation instead. I think they would find it fun, and it would really show their skills. Some written tasks could also be delivered in other forms such as cartoons. Not all of the students are such great writers, but they could maybe show their knowledge by drawing. I would not give that option with each task because it is important to practice the writing skills, too. The last task could be some kind of self-evaluation.
So all in all, I think I will continue with my "say no to exams" policy and try to find other ways to assess the students. I think carefully thought exercises can motivate the students more than the traditional exams. Also the process of preparing a video, for example, may teach more to the students than just getting ready for an exam. They would not just learn from each others, but they would also learn important skills such as group working and presentation skills. And wouldn't it be much nicer from my point of view to watch videos than correct exams late into the night? ;)
Following on from the first virtual session, we are now discussing more during the presentations, which is a really good thing. Only that it feels as if we did not have enough time for discussion. Luckily we can always continue on our blogs...
Overall, the presentations were good, and they were made from the vocational education point of view. I would still love to see even more practical examples though.
In my breakout group all the presenters were great. We had some technical issues, but luckily only small ones this time. I am sure there will be even less problems in the future once we learn to use AC more efficiently.
Today's topics covered competence based qualifications and vocational skills demonstrations, evaluation/assessment and student's self-evaluation. The first two topics were quite familiar to me, at least in theory. I will come back to evaluation later on.
Self-evaluation
Student's self-evaluation is something I would really like to gather a deeper understanding of. What are the best tools to do it with teens? How could I, as a teacher, help them to understand their learning? Our students evaluate themselves during the on-the-job learning which takes place twice or three times during the studies. There they learn to evaluate not just their professional skills but also their lifelong learning skills. But is that enough? Should we use self-evaluation more in the school as well?
I think one way to help students acknowledge their learning is to explain to them what they have learned so far. When I started a customer service course with a group of first year students, they were not able to define good or bad customer service. As the course went on, they started to understand what was excellent customer service. In the end they got to a point where they were observing the customer service personnel while they were shopping. They came to my classes to share their experiences with the others. At that point I told them how far they had come from knowing very little to being able to observe their environment critically. I hope that helped them to understand their learning, and maybe in the future they can self-evaluate themselves more independently. In the future I may include some kind of self-evaluation exercises in the end of the course.
What Methods of Assessment/Evaluation Will I Use?
So far I have taught only two courses. I did not have exams or tests in them. For a novice teacher an exam may have been an easy option, but I did not see the point testing customer service skills in the form of exam. Instead, I gave them scenarios, and they had to find solutions to them. Those were written tasks. I also had a small group task in the end of the course.
In the future I may reduce the number of written tasks and ask them to make a video of a customer service situation instead. I think they would find it fun, and it would really show their skills. Some written tasks could also be delivered in other forms such as cartoons. Not all of the students are such great writers, but they could maybe show their knowledge by drawing. I would not give that option with each task because it is important to practice the writing skills, too. The last task could be some kind of self-evaluation.
So all in all, I think I will continue with my "say no to exams" policy and try to find other ways to assess the students. I think carefully thought exercises can motivate the students more than the traditional exams. Also the process of preparing a video, for example, may teach more to the students than just getting ready for an exam. They would not just learn from each others, but they would also learn important skills such as group working and presentation skills. And wouldn't it be much nicer from my point of view to watch videos than correct exams late into the night? ;)
Friday 26 October 2012
Today's Studying View
I'm writing my final thesis while my daughter is playing at "big girls' club". The local church was very kind, and found her a place in the group even though we are only visiting here for a week.
Tuesday 16 October 2012
Getting Excited about the 4th Task
We have already started preparing the 4th task.
We will be the chair group for the third task, and we will send our guidelines for the other group still today. We will try some new procedures... There is not much time between the third and the fourth tasks, so we are working on the last presentation already now.
We are using Popplet for brainstorming and organising our thoughts. I think this is a great way to work at this stage. Everyone can add their ideas on a Popplet, and we can discuss about them in the meetings. The greatest advantage is that we can see all the ideas on one page at once. This way we do not need to read long emails over and over again. Much more practical this way!
We also changed the way we started working on the topic. We first thought about the learning goals (what do we want the others to learn from our presentation). I know, this is how it should be done. But it took us two presentations before we learned it! Thanks to one of our team members to discovering it!
At the moment our Popplet looks like this. Interesting to see what it looks like next week! Or just before our presentation.
We will be the chair group for the third task, and we will send our guidelines for the other group still today. We will try some new procedures... There is not much time between the third and the fourth tasks, so we are working on the last presentation already now.
We are using Popplet for brainstorming and organising our thoughts. I think this is a great way to work at this stage. Everyone can add their ideas on a Popplet, and we can discuss about them in the meetings. The greatest advantage is that we can see all the ideas on one page at once. This way we do not need to read long emails over and over again. Much more practical this way!
We also changed the way we started working on the topic. We first thought about the learning goals (what do we want the others to learn from our presentation). I know, this is how it should be done. But it took us two presentations before we learned it! Thanks to one of our team members to discovering it!
At the moment our Popplet looks like this. Interesting to see what it looks like next week! Or just before our presentation.
Thursday 11 October 2012
Because I'm a Girl!
I have a dream.
I want to be a clown.
Or maybe a firemangirl.
I'm 3.5 years old.
Everything is possible for me!
I can climb up as high as I want to.
And most importantly:
I can dream without facing violence or threat!
Because I'm a girl in Finland.
We want that every girl all over the world can say the same!
Day of the Girl
Because I am a Girl : Girl facts: sources : Plan International
There is still a lot to do before education reaches girls all over the world. My dream is to be working on education for girls in the future. At the moment I am just donating monthly. One day I want to be involved in the actual work!
What about you? What are you doing / would like to do on this matter?
Ps. Do not tell my husband that I have found a really interesting Master's programme in Globalization and Education..
There is still a lot to do before education reaches girls all over the world. My dream is to be working on education for girls in the future. At the moment I am just donating monthly. One day I want to be involved in the actual work!
What about you? What are you doing / would like to do on this matter?
Ps. Do not tell my husband that I have found a really interesting Master's programme in Globalization and Education..
Tuesday 9 October 2012
How Do I Use Technology in My Field of Pedagogy?
My field of pedagogy will be Business. As a teacher I would use technology in teaching for several purposes.
- for searching and accessing information
- for example visiting companies' Web pages, material bank
- for presenting learners' knowledge (what they know and how they learned that)
- for example creating multimedia presentations, blogs, online magazines, chat forums
- for simulating real-world problems
- for example computer based business games, practice enterprises
- for discussing within and outside the studying group
- for example sharing ideas, thoughts, knowledge, collaborative learning as well as contacting other study groups, companies and specialists
- for becoming more international
- cheap and effective way to learn more about business in other cultures
I think technology is already part of everyday teaching. The next step is to find new ways to use it. Although I think that technology should add value to teaching and learning, but it should not be the value itself.
The Second Virtual Session: Project Learning and Progressive Inquiry; Virtual Teaching
The second online session is over! I have to say the presentation itself went much better than last time. This time we had less material, and I was able to cover it in 30 mins. We got also good feedback about our teaching methods, which was obviously nice.
Even though the presentation went well, I would still change something. I would not divide the tasks so much between the group members. It was complicated to teach a topic you had not really discovered yourself. Next time collaborative learning is the key word!
Another group used Popplet for discussion. It was great to test something totally new. I am not sure Popplet is that great for discussion but I am happy they showed it to us. I learned two things from that:
1. Never be to shy to try something new. So what if it does not work?
2. Popplet could be used for brainstorming when starting Project learning or Progressive Inquiry (or even working on our next task).
It was also interesting to learn a bit from Project Learning and Progressive Inquiry. Although I was hoping for more theory concerning those two methods! Both of them seem to be learner-centered methods that support collaborative learning and networking. (Development of Learning Theories,Project-Based Learning.)
I think I will try them one day in teaching, at least Progressive Inquiry which seems to be further developed. I think it will take a few times to run a course with this method before I can really say I know what I am doing. It would also be good to have a mentor when teaching with this method for the first time. Networking with other teachers from different subjects would be a good idea, too. I think we are not co-operating enough with our colleagues when working on a project. Wouldn't it be great to have a project that combines 2-3 different subjects and even business life? I can see Progressive Inquiry being a great method for this kind of collaboration.
One group taught us about virtual teaching and how teaching can be enriched in it. Interesting topic! The use of technology provides many opportunities to enhance a lecture. According to Oliver Knill (2003), one should still remember the following pitfalls when bringing technology into a classroom:
I found an interesting Wiki which provides information of using technology in teaching. According to them, a teacher can use technology in many ways, such as:
Anyhow, all the groups had improved their teaching skills a lot since the last session. It is interesting to see what and how we are taught next time. Hopefully every team is as brave as the team with Popplet was today!
"Development of Learning Theories." Centre for Research on Networked Learning and Knowledge Building. Retrieved on October 9,2012 from http://www.helsinki.fi/science/networkedlearning/eng/delete.html
"Effective Use of Technology in the Classroom." Wiki. UNSW School of Education English Method Site. Retrieved on November 26, 2012. from http://unswict.wikispaces.com/homeKnill, O. 2003. Enriching Teaching with Technology. Harvard University. Read 26.11.2012. http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/technology/w.pdf
"Project-Based Learning." Edutopia. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
Even though the presentation went well, I would still change something. I would not divide the tasks so much between the group members. It was complicated to teach a topic you had not really discovered yourself. Next time collaborative learning is the key word!
Another group used Popplet for discussion. It was great to test something totally new. I am not sure Popplet is that great for discussion but I am happy they showed it to us. I learned two things from that:
1. Never be to shy to try something new. So what if it does not work?
2. Popplet could be used for brainstorming when starting Project learning or Progressive Inquiry (or even working on our next task).
It was also interesting to learn a bit from Project Learning and Progressive Inquiry. Although I was hoping for more theory concerning those two methods! Both of them seem to be learner-centered methods that support collaborative learning and networking. (Development of Learning Theories,Project-Based Learning.)
I think I will try them one day in teaching, at least Progressive Inquiry which seems to be further developed. I think it will take a few times to run a course with this method before I can really say I know what I am doing. It would also be good to have a mentor when teaching with this method for the first time. Networking with other teachers from different subjects would be a good idea, too. I think we are not co-operating enough with our colleagues when working on a project. Wouldn't it be great to have a project that combines 2-3 different subjects and even business life? I can see Progressive Inquiry being a great method for this kind of collaboration.
One group taught us about virtual teaching and how teaching can be enriched in it. Interesting topic! The use of technology provides many opportunities to enhance a lecture. According to Oliver Knill (2003), one should still remember the following pitfalls when bringing technology into a classroom:
- Technology should not be used for the sake of using technology.
- Enrichment which focus on simplistic concepts only offend the intelligent mind.
- Too much technology can be like adding too much salt to a well prepared dish.
- A class or online demonstration should be memorable, fun and still easy to use.
- Avoid monitoring students learning process online.
- Can't replace the direct student-teacher interaction.
- Preparing a class using technology needs lots of time.
- Be aware of changes in technology.
I found an interesting Wiki which provides information of using technology in teaching. According to them, a teacher can use technology in many ways, such as:
This Wiki also gives examples how technology can be used as teaching tools and activities as well as shows how to teach Shakespeare in new ways. (Effective Use of Technology in the Classroom.) It is worth to have a look at!
- design and deliver learning
- enable students to search for information and learn to synthesise and use the information
- engage students in collaboration and open communication
- inspire students to use their imagination to create, innovate and design
- encourage students to reflect, and self and peer assess.
Anyhow, all the groups had improved their teaching skills a lot since the last session. It is interesting to see what and how we are taught next time. Hopefully every team is as brave as the team with Popplet was today!
References:
"Development of Learning Theories." Centre for Research on Networked Learning and Knowledge Building. Retrieved on October 9,2012 from http://www.helsinki.fi/science/networkedlearning/eng/delete.html
"Effective Use of Technology in the Classroom." Wiki. UNSW School of Education English Method Site. Retrieved on November 26, 2012. from http://unswict.wikispaces.com/homeKnill, O. 2003. Enriching Teaching with Technology. Harvard University. Read 26.11.2012. http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/technology/w.pdf
"Project-Based Learning." Edutopia. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
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