To be entrepreurial or not to be entrepreneurial?

I seem to continue to have issues with this unit.  My understanding of this unit was that it was about being entrepreneurial, in other words creative and innovative, within teaching but was not about teaching enterprise.   Obviously, there are links between the two. ‘Both entrepreneurship and learning are behavioural and social processes, so they are not just about ‘knowing’ but also acting, and are not simply individual, but constantly involve interaction with other people as an inescapable part of the learning process’ (Rae, 2008: 40-41).  I have enjoyed listening to the guest speakers but the emphasis from all of them has been, in my opinion, is a traditional view of enterprise as a business activity.  I am struggling to sit and listen because I think the information I am getting doesn’t really help me with knowing what to put into my pitch and then my assignment.

I can see the appeal of Enterprise Projects and Enterprise activities.  Television programmes like Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice have brought a heightened awareness to lots of people about what it means to be ‘entrepreneurial’.  They therefore provide a helpful starting point for students as ‘successful participants go through a process of auditioning, presenting and pitching, honing their skills through criticism and turning themselves into a brand...These programmes are all about self-improvement and risk-taking in a creative and entrepreneurial economy’ (DCMS, 2006 :23).  As educators we also recognise the value of the transferable skills students can develop, such as teamwork, problem solving, initiative, creativity, independence and resilience.  However, it’s just not what the pitch or the assignment is about.

References

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2006) Nurturing Creativity in Young People, London: DCMS.

Rae, D. (2008) Entrepreneurship: from opportunity to action, 2^nd edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

My first observation - yeah

I had my first observed session today - I was really pleased with how it went.  I think I was lucky that I had a really good group of students who engaged well and worked together effectively.  The activities I had planned worked well as the learners were able to learn for themselves instead of me just spoon feeding them the information.  I think that this is the best way to learn.  If I think back to school and university the things that I remember were connected to personal experiences and when I had some input in my own learning.  ‘The key to effective, long-term is based upon experiential learning which has the following features: personal involvement, stimulation of feelings and thinking, self-initiation and self-evaluation….. Active learning by doing is seen as the key, but some form of reflection through evaluation is essential’ (Reece and Walker, 2007: 87).

In my past position I had, what I considered, unfair observations form my manager who had very little positive things to say about my teaching.  I feel I am willing to listen to constructive criticism as I do want to continually improve but I don’t respond well if I think comments are not valid or fair.  As a result I have built up a bit of a barrier in my own mind about observations.  On the positive side it has made me aware of the importance of treating students fairly and giving good quality feedback.  This prompted me to do a bit of research into feedback and I came across the research carried out by John Hattie (2009) who was interested in determining exactly what has the greatest influence on student learning.  ‘Hattie shows that feedback has more impact on learning than any other general factor, but it requires an activity and a product’ (Petty, 2009: 85).  I think this is really important.  I do think about the feedback I give learners, especially as this is an art and design course where continuous dialogue is an intrinsic element of improving students art and design practice, but reading this information has made me consider it in more depth.

References

Petty, G. (2009) Evidence-Based Teaching; A Practical Approach, 2^nd edition, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

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

On 'PAR' ..........sorry about the bad joke

Not that I think anybody needs it, but I wanted to share a teaching model that really works for me when I am planning a session.  This is the PAR model (look on page 171 of Geoff Petty, 2009: Evidence-Based Teaching) where P stands for Present, A stands for Apply and R stands for Review.  This model also suggests that about 35% of the time should be spent on presenting information, about 60% of the time should be spent of applying knowledge in activities and tasks and about 5% of the time should be spent on reviewing the session.  I find it easier to use than Klob’s Learning Cycle (sorry Klob) as the terminology is easier to understand and therefore access.  When you plan a session you have so much to think about (making sure there are a range of teaching strategies, LLUK standards are incorporated, all learning styles are considered and different abilities are taken account of) that it is nice to have something easy to follow.

Hope it helps – let me know.

Entrpreneurial Educators - The Pitch!

Well done everyone.  I don’t know about you but I found last night’s class pretty full on and quite demanding.

Everyone worked hard but I especially enjoyed the pitches from Dawn, Andy and Nia.  I thought they had really thought about how they could improve their current teaching practice.  I was impressed that Dawn had identified how she really improve the learning experience of her learners and how they could apply what they had learnt to make a difference in their real lives.  She had even gone a step further by talking to the prison governor so that her ideas could be applied rather than just being an activity she planned in order to fulfil the needs of an assignment.  Andy, again, had really thought about the needs of his learners and how he could meet these needs in a creative and interesting way.  This showed that he had a great deal of understanding and respect for his subject and his learners.  The pitch was clear, concise and thought provoking but was delivered with a good sense of fun so it was enjoyable to listen to.  Nia showed, in my opinion anyway, that she had understood the brief and delivered exactly what was required.  She gave real life practical examples of how she could improve her current practices and make them more relevant, creative and innovative.