This Is Life

The first cold day of the winter

The sun shining for me

The crakling sounds and warmth of a fire

My mind gently escaping into the world of teaching

Hand-knitted wooly socks

Lunch with the children

A Domino game for pudding

A perfect afternoon

A Question for Entrepreneurs and Those Who Act with Entrepreneurial Mindset

Please reply to the question on the right column (right top). I just want to gather a rough idea how you feel about co-operating with schools. Thanks!

An Idea How to Promote Entrepreneurship among the Students

I just came up with an idea how to promote entrepreneurship among the students. I think schools could find a "godmother or godfather" for each group. She or he could be an active or retired entrepreneur, who would like to visit the group every now and then, or even work with them in small projects they have in different subjects.

Do you think the idea could work?

Finland Top 1 in Education

Finland got a great result from a global ranking of education systems. We should not anyway stop working on developing our system. But what is the direction we take in the future? Are there going to be fees in the higher education? Are there any small schools existing in the future? Will staff reductions be part of school's every day life? Or do we actually try to make schools more inspirational and learning friendly?...

Link to BBC's article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

Teaching Entrepreneurship

Yesterday I got home from InnoOmnia, where we had a two day seminar about teaching entrepreneurship. Very interesting topic indeed. I got some new ideas about teaching the subject through playing games. Also dealing with cases from business life is a good way to learn team working, problem solving and creativeness. It would be even better if the outcomes were assessed by real business people. This is something, I could think of using in my teaching. In my customer service course I could provide students with real cases from local enterprises. I already have a quite good network, which I could use for this purpose.

I still feel that the seminar was mainly for teachers, who are teaching entrepreneurship or something related to it. But how about all the other teachers? A mathematic teacher will not ask the students to solve problems related to running a business. But how could he/she provide students with entrepreneurial skills and mindset? This is something we have not really covered in our course yet, even though it is still a very important topic.

Teaching Entrepreneurial skills

The Finnish Qualification requirements for Vocational Education and Training apply key competences of lifelong learning. One of those competences is Initiative and entrepreneurship. The curricula (The Finnish Qualification Requirements in Vocational Education and Training) state:

"The student or candidate works towards completing the objectives set. He/she takes initiative and acts in a customer-oriented way as an employer and/or entrepreneur. He/she plans activities and works to reach the objectives set. He/she acts economically and is result-orientated. He/she sets personal goals in line with the overall objectives."

All these skills can and should be taught in every subject. But what are the best methods? 

I learned one interesting method the other day. Exams could be held as open book exams taken in small groups. The idea is that a group would learn to work together to find the best strategy to find, handle and reflect information in order to achieve the goal. A group that finds the best strategy usually performs the best as well. The groups can also compete against each others during the course.

Schools should also teach that failure is not bad if a positive lesson is learned. In other words, failure should be seen as an opportunity to learn something from it.

Below you can find a list of different methods that could be used when teaching entrepreneurial skills according to Jaana Seikkula-Leino (Ruskovaara, Pihkala, Rytkölä & Seikkula-Leino 2010.):

• co-operative learning
• problem-based learning
• group and peer work
• project work
• team work
• learning by doing
• pedagogical drama
• learning diaries
• school and business co-operation

In my opinion a teacher should also underline the importance of networking. For example groups and teams should be built up so that people with different kind of skills would work together. This would help students to realize that it is good to have people doing different kind of tasks based on their skills in order to work efficiently as a team. Too often students take just the easy option and work with their best friends. In work life this is not the case, and students should step outside their comfort zones.

Teaching creativeness

I found this really interesting blog by Dr. Margaret Haviland.
She states that

"Rather than a final grade, students should be getting regular feedback, constructive criticism, probing (as opposed to leading) questions from their teacher and their peers. This feedback needs to measure specific aspects of the learning as laid out in the unit or topic goals. Rubrics geared towards creativity need to be clear and based on learning objectives... Formative rubrics should be the focus in teaching creativity with summative assessment focused on the overall process as much as the product. Rubric writing with creativity as the learning goal is an area for fruitful professional learning whether it’s an all day in-service, an ongoing project with a colleague, or a workshop led by someone who feels successful. I think peers are often the best teachers.... If we want students to learn to write an analytical essay, we assign an essay, then grade it for form, style, grammar, content, and correct bibliography. If we want students to think and act creatively than the assessments we create for them must measure creativity.Ingenuity, inventiveness, originality are non-linear, iterative, and prone to failure. Failure is great!" (Haviland 2012.)

She also writes that teachers, who are creative can teach creativity well as they show example by sharing their experience with their students. Not every teacher has to be a successful author or businessman, but every teacher should be transparently sharing with their students their own creative efforts whether it’s rethinking an approach to teaching, solving a problem with the class or their engagement with an issue. (Haviland 2012)

So in a nutshell: all teaching and assessing should support creativity, and a teacher should act as a role model.

Finally, I would like to share this video by Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to stay in school, recognize business opportunities, and plan for successful future.

References:

Haviland,Margaret. (2012) "Encouraging Teachers to Teach Creativity." Powerful Learning Practice. Retrieved November 25, 2012 from http://plpnetwork.com/2012/06/05/encouraging-teachers-teach-creativity/

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. (2010) "Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship." Youtube. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEu9boYTqUw

Ruskovaara, E., Pihkala, T., Rytkölä, T. & Seikkula-Leino, J. (2010) "Studying Teachers’ Teaching Methods and Working Approaches in Entrepreneurship Education." Lappeenranta University of Technology. Retrieved November 25, 2012 from http://developmentcentre.lut.fi/files/muut/ESU_2010_Tartto_2.pdf

"The Finnish Qualification Requirements in Vocational Education and Training." Finnish National Board of Education. Retrieved November 24, 2012 from http://www.oph.fi/english/sources_of_information/core_curricula_and_qualification_requirements/vocational_education_and_training

The 4th Virtual Session: Special Needs Students; Co-operation between Schools and Enterprises; Teaching Entrepreneurship

The fourth, and the last one for now, virtual session is over. What a relief! It has been a tough autumn. It is not time to relax just yet, but at least we, as a team, achieved one goal. Well done us - all of us!

Today's topics were interesting. I wish we had have more time for discussion. I still do not know how much time we should use for the actual presentation (delivering knowledge) and how much for discussion. I think we should have at least the basics before we can really discuss, but what is enough?

One group had great discussion questions concerning teaching students with special needs. What a pity that we had time to cover only one of them.

I think this topic is important. How can I as a teacher help my students with their studies? When I think about students aged 16-19, the biggest challenges are probably caused with their age, and the sudden freedom some of them get once they start studying. Or how many of us would have got up for morning lessons at age 18, if our parents had not been there for kicking us out of the bed? Some students may move out from their childhood homes once they start their studies in a new town. Do they have a proper support network there? Do they have an adult, who cares there? (Unfortunately some of them do not have one even when living with their parents.)

Can I be the one as a teacher? At least to some point? I cannot start a school taxi system for the ones who find it difficult to wake up in the morning, but could I be the one who believes in them, no matter what? Isn't that what we all need: someone believing in us?

I will never forget how I made one student's day by telling him that I can see his potential even though he mainly likes drawing cartoons in my lessons. After that he actually wrote a really good answer to a task I had given them. Next time I will do it differently though. I will ask him to deliver the message in a form of cartoon. Maybe not every time, but I will give them alternative ways to show their knowledge for sure.

That would support creativity, too, which takes me to today's other topic: Developing entrepreneurship in vocational education. This is my baby! In my MBA studies I got to know Jeffry Timmons' New Venture Creation. I like his way to define entrepreneurship, and the fact that he believes in educating people to adopt entrepreneurial mindset. If only the teachers would have this mindset first! I will probably write more about entrepreneurship education later on.

Our third topic dealt with co-operation between schools and enterprises. Interesting topic once again. I think the main problem here is the lack of knowledge about all the possibilities. Schools should make it easier for small enterprises to find out information about f.ex. on-the-job learning. I think that would be the most natural way to start the cooperation. Once the entrepreneur becomes more familiar with the vocational qualifications, he/she could then get even more involved (f.ex. in planning curricula).

Teachers should learn to network with the local companies (entrepreneurial skill by the way). Maybe we need some kind of organization such as Business Oulu linking us together with the enterprises? But before that I think teachers should learn to network with their colleagues. I seriously think we are lacking in cooperation between each others when it comes to teaching. Why cannot we have long projects for our students, where different courses and even enterprises are involved in? A start up company could ask students to run a marketing campaign, which they would first plan at school in different subjects. Or a company could ask students to give quotations for laying a wooden floor. Students should make calculations (profitability - once again entrepreneurial skill), write a quotation (Finnish lessons) and the winners would even buy the material and do the actual work (floor installing). This way the students would network with the local companies, too, and find training placements and/or summer jobs a bit easier.

All in all, today's presentations went well. Tutors asked us to think about new ways to teach though. I think it is good to get more interaction in the lessons, but one should not use different teaching tools only for "fun". I mean making f.ex. a video just for making one is not good enough! The video should be justified. And the same with other teaching tools, too. Anyway, AC is not the greatest environment for testing out different tools... So we need to consider really carefully, what tools are not just justified but also working.

Conflict!!! How to deal with it?

According to Tuckman, groups tend to develop through certain stages. These stages are:

1. forming (people indentify with the group)

2. storming (clarifying goal and finding the role for each member of the group)

3. norming (what kind of behavior is expected)

4. performing (working on the task in order to achieve the goal)

5. adjourning (feedback and the future of interpersonal relationship).

Our group is developing through all those stages as well. In the beginning we formed and got to know each others. We were polite to each others and did not want to talk about possible problems until the first task was over. Finding the best ways to work as a group took time.

At the end of the first task our group moved to the next stage "storming". The roles became clearer and we discussed about our rules (norming) again. After discussing the rules, the group payed lots of attention to behavior of all the group members. It sometimes felt that norming took way too much energy, and working itself became harder.

Unfortunately our group was not able to communicate openly enough to solve the problems.  At the norming stage the group had to ask help from outside in order to be able to move to the next stage. 

So what could have been done differently at the storming and norming stages? How the conflict should have been dealt with?

I am not sure I have answers. Emails, for sure, are not the best way to deal with problems. It is much more civilized to discuss than write emails. When you are working online all the time, sending an email sounds like an easy option. But arranging an online meeting would probably be better. Asking and getting help from the tutors while the issues are still "fresh" is important, too. Otherwise the problems just grow bigger and bigger, until solving them becomes hard. 

So how will I help my students with team developing in the future? 

At least I will try to explain them how teams develop, and what kind of issues they may have to deal with. I will also regularly talk with them about their group performance and possible problems they have faced. I will not leave them alone to deal with the problems, but rather help them to find solutions by standing next to them.

Now our group is performing pretty well and getting ready for the last task. We do not know yet if we are going to work as a group ever again. Maybe it is time for adjourning soon. If not just yet, then at least sometime next spring. I hope we will stay in touch, personally and professionally.

Learning New Skills: Editing

I have just edited my first video. 

I interviewed two specialists for our last virtual session. And I even opened a Youtube account. Wow! 

I have to say editing is a never ending process. You could try to make improvements after improvements. I am pretty happy with my first video ever though. Of course it could be even better, and some editing was not that great - but hey - I did it! And it was fun! (But took hours!)

Happy Father's Day

We are celebrating Father's Day in Finland today. I have to say my husband is a great father but also a great husband. He really supports me with my studies even though it must be frustrating having me completing school tasks after tasks every night, and almost talking more to my studying friends than to him. Thanks hon for giving me this opportunity. We love you!

Studying would not be possible without a little help from people around you. One day it may be your mum who looks after the children while you are taking an exam, other day it might be a mother of your daughter's play school friend. Or someone, even a stranger, who just shows interest in what you are trying to do and gives maybe good advices (or just listens). 

Take all the support you can get, but remember to pay back in a way or another. (I babysit my daughter's play school friends, too.) Once these studies are over, I promise, my husband can have a nice hobby for himself!

Have a Great Father's Day!