Lost in a fog

I am finding this topic (curriculum and planning) somewhat of a challenge.  I feel that there is insufficient information provided in the session – the continued early finishes don’t help with this.  I feel as though I am not learning enough.  This is an important topic as fully understanding curriculum development and planning is fundamental to creating session which are relevant, interesting, fulfil the needs of the learners as well as meeting organisational requirements.  These sessions should also be an opportunity to gain a more in depth understanding of how curriculums have developed.  Curriculums are such an important element within the education system it would be really useful to be more aware of how policies influence curriculum changes and developments.

Don’t know how anyone else feel but for me it just an’t happening!

My first day teaching at SMU

What a relief…..  I’ve finally started teaching.  I’ve got some volunteer teaching hours on the Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Swansea Met.  The staff members are great; very welcoming and helpful so I think everything will be fine.  The students are cool; they seem hard working, focused and talented.  I’ve just spent the morning with them and two main things occurred to me.  Firstly, I was really impressed with the quality of the student’s work in terms of creativity and the processes and techniques used.  Secondly, I was struck by the nature of the students in terms of both their behaviour and attitude.  In my previous position most of the students I worked with had not achieved well educationally and many had unstable, challenging home lives and difficult relationships.  Due to this at times learning was not a priority for these students.  This is in contrast to the students on the Foundation Diploma course who are already successful learners, the majority of them have passed A Levels, so have a positive view of themselves as being able to achieve on a course of study.  They also appear to have more settled home lives and successful relationships.

These thoughts made me think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954).

“Maslow, whose work is closely related to humanistic psychology saw ‘self-actualization’ as what drives people to learn; that is the need to make full use of one’s talents, become creative and achieve one’s potential is what motivates us. Self-actualization is an ultimate human goal and need, but before that need can be fulfilled a set of other needs must be met” (Armitage et al, 2007: 66).

On the Foundation Learning programme a minority of the students may not even have had their most basic needs met (hunger and thirst), some may not have achieved the next level (physical and psychological well-being) while others may not have achieved the next level (love and belonging).  I think students on the Foundation Diploma course do have a sense of love and belonging and some also have self-esteem.  If you are don’t feel secure then learning may not seem important, even though it may be a way to move up a level or two.  Understanding what motivates, or holds students back, is useful as it can inform your teaching strategies and your approach.

However, there are a number of issues with the Maslow model when it is applied to real-life situations.  For example, as each person is unique so individuals seem to respond to several needs and not just one and this may change over time.

References

Armitage, A., Byant, R., Dunnill, R., Hayes, D., Hudson, A., Kent, J., Lawes, S. & Renwick, M. (2007) Teaching and Training in Post-Compulsory Education, 3^rd Ed, Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Teaching Strategies - Group Presentations

I have been thinking about the group teaching sessions over the last two weeks.  In my opinion the main thing the successful sessions had in common was that they were all student centred in their approach.  As educators we hear the term ‘student centred learning’ a great deal but what does it really mean?  I have been reading about learning theories and teaching strategies for the purpose of my assignment and student centred learning is defined in different ways by different authors.  However, there have been reoccurring themes and ideas; student centred learning involves ‘active learning, choice in learning, and the shift of power in the teacher-student relationship’ (O’Neill and McMahon, 2005: 34).

Student centred learning is based in constructivist philosophies which emphasise the idea that learning is a cognitive process. The idea behind this is learners use schemas to make connections between their new and existing knowledge.  ‘They need to be active in seeking new information and need to be active in participating the teaching method’ (Recce and Walker, 2007: 86)

On a personal level I have found that student centred learning is effective.  I also think that it shows respect to your learners as you believe that they already have skills and knowledge which you can build on and develop with them.  This was particularly important when working in my previous position on the Foundation Learning Programme with learners who had significant barriers to learning.  I found that when I acted more like a facilitator than a teacher. 

“Facilitation literally means ‘easing’.  Its art is in drawing out the wisdom already embedded and lying dormant in the psyche of the learner.  One belief of humanistic education and pragmatic constructivism is that learning is a recovery of or a remembering that which we already know” (Jarvis, 2006: 99).

Most of the students on the programme had very negative images of themselves as learners and as a result had low self-esteem.  When I was able to show them that they did have some knowledge and understanding and could work by themselves their confidence grew.  When they felt more confident their behaviour improved and they were able to engage to a greater extent.  I have described this simply to explain the principle, the reality was this was hard work and took time, but it did work with most students.  Once the students had engaged I used a range of teaching strategies and principles.  There are times when you have to teach in a more traditional manner and there are times when you have to teach in a creative manner.

The art of teaching effectively is knowing when to use a particular teaching style and what theory to use.  This takes a long time to learn and I feel that I am at the start of the journey.

References

Jarvis, P. ed., (2006) The Theory and Practice of Teaching, 2nd edition, New York: Routledge.

O’ Neill, G. & McMahon, T. (2005) Student centred learning: What does it mean for students and lecturers?: Emerging issues in the practice of university learning and teaching, Dublin: AISHE.

Reece, I. and Walker, S. (2007) Teaching, Training and Learning; A Practical Guide, 6th edition, Tyne and Wear: Business Education Publishers Ltd.

Andragogy

I think that the following ideas are relevant as we all teach adults and it is very different from primary and secondary education; which is not always recognised.

The concept of andragogy has been around for almost two centuries but within the field of adult education andragogy is connected to the works of Malcolm Knowles have become inseparably .  It has become popular as a way of describing how adults learn; this differs from assumptions about how children learn on which pedagogy is based. 

“1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being

2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.

3. Readiness to learn: As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.

4. Orientation to learning: As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.

5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal.”

(Knowles, 1984: 12)

I don’t know if I agree with all the above points, for example, point 5.  In the past I have worked with the long term unemployed who were required to go on training in order to keep their benefit who definitely did not have internal motivation to learn.  However, I think that the above points become more pertinent and relevant when an adult chooses to learn.

Tell me about your experiences.  

References

Knowles, M. (1984) Andragogy in Action. Applying modern principles of adult education, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Social Learning Theory

In carrying out research for the assignment I have been drawn to the work of Albert Bandura (1977) who looked into observations during social interaction and how this influences the cognitive processes.  This is based in the idea that ‘… most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action’ (Bandura, 1977: 22).  I like this idea as I feel it pulls together elements and influences from different learning theories. 

I can see the value of Behaviourist theories in terms of rewarding positive behaviours but feel uncomfortable that human beings are seen as animals that can easily be manipulated.  I truly believe in the Humanist theories that students should be seen as a whole and be put at the centre of learning however I do think that at times learners do need some structure and discipline.  I can understand the logical of Cognivist theories in how learners can actively make patterns and their own sense of information however it doesn’t take account of the fact that people have emotions and the impact this has on learning.  Like other theories Bandura’s theory is not perfect but it does take account of the fact that most learning is a social process.

I don’t know if you agree or disagree – tell me what you think.

Reference

Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory, New York: General Learning Press.