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.
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