Dear my newbie teacher,
I wish this letter finds you well.
I would like to congratulate you with being a teacher. It is
not just a career to pursuing on; it is a journey of learning and facilitating
learning to others.
I would advise you with some tips before you start
your first day of classes; first is to leverage your knowledge about
how people learn, there are many theories and directions but personally I like
humanistic orientations theories (like Maslow’s), cognitive and constructive
learning theories, here is a few links for more details about it http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm,
http://www.directions.usp.ac.fj/collect/direct/index/assoc/D1175794.dir/doc.pdf.
Second is to have your own personal learning network where a
communities of practice people get together for mutual learning experience ,
here is a good link to read about it http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm.
Third is to start thinking about using the proper technology
as a tool in your classroom, here is a few links for more details about it http://www.mathopenref.com/site/techreasons.html,
http://www.education.com/reference/article/how-does-technology-facilitate-learning/?page=2,
http://ro.uow.edu.au/newtech/,
personally; I prefer simulation and games tools in our IT field.
Fourth is to think about the teaching approaches/strategies
that would be applicable in our IT filed, Such as Direct Instruction (DI) which
usually used with a student who do not have the basic
information about the subject matter ( here is a nice presentation about it http://prezi.com/q8mfs71aucsa/direct-instruction-group-2-pgcthe/?auth_key=914c161de3a7694f3cf2065c666028508fd255cf),
Problem/Project based (PBL) approach that could be used to develop and achieve
the deep understanding and build the critical thinking skills needed in real
life environment through case study and IT lab activities (here is a link about
it http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning),
and Interactive learning approach that could be useful to increase the students
engagement inside the classroom in order to foster deeper understanding of the
course content through group discussion and practice by doing (here is a nice
presentation about it http://prezi.com/_-0ha7agykop/group-c-presentation/). Personally; I would go with a combination of the above
approaches (DI, PBL, and Interactive learning) to align ourselves with a
level-3 teacher who is concern is about what a student does and the product or
the learning outcome of the teaching.
Fifth is to read the course cover sheet carefully
and start to think about easy ways to explore it (personally; I use mind map
software to drill down the course in organized and structured way that link the
learning outcome together to enable students to begin the course with end in
their minds )
I would advise you with some tips at the first day of
classes (Ice Break Session); first is to introduce yourself to your
class, let the students know about your academic and work history, share with
them information that will help them connect with you (interests, hobbies,
family, favorite books and so forth)
Second is to ask your students to introduce themselves, let
them identify their interests and hobbies; know their expectations about the
course.
Third is to break students into smaller groups (it is better
to change the plane of the classroom to create more dynamics within groups) and
get them to discuss any problem that is a general public issue and try to join
each group for small amount of time (this will make students know each other
well plus it create a synergy within groups).
Fourth is to discuss the objectives of the course with the
students (use the simple mind map you have created for course cover sheet),
explain to students what they should be able to do when the course is over (for
example; students will be able to build their own PC from scratch “hardware
& software” and create their own home wireless network)
Fifth is to review the assessment strategy, how will the
assessment strategy (that count mainly in projects, hands-on lab, and case studies)
lead to deeper learning.
Sixth is to let your students reflect (feedback) about
their first class experience and make this as an assignment that would be
reviewed at the beginning of your second class.
Now
you have passed the difficult phase (ice break phase). Let’s move on to the
next phase which is how to facilitate learning throughout the course;
first is to remind yourself that your role is mainly to facilitate learning, one
mistake here is that some teachers might go with students’ memorizing
things as an indication of understanding which is not the proper indication (here
is the link for prezi presentation about that http://prezi.com/xe8fk082wcye/edit/?auth_key=723b8vs&follow=dr47dn3pz5eu)
Second
is to start using technology as an effective tool in the learning process; personally
I prefer mind maps and simulation tools and flipped classroom with Camtasia (here is a link for a web site I have created about
using technology in classroom http://ahmad71173.wix.com/using-technology-in#!initiation),
one mistake here is that some teachers might think technology
will do everything “which is not true”, technology has its own limitation (for
example; you can’t use the simulation tools to replace the hands-on labs
activities, I did try it myself with my students and hands-on lab activities is
really more helpful than simulation tools (the major advantage of using
simulation tool for my students was using it from home online through BbVista
LMS)
Third is to think and act from a level-3 teacher perspective who focus on what a
student does before/during/after teaching. You might need to use
the following guidlines to align yourself with a level-3 teacher:
● Deal with misconception to correct any
misunderstanding before you start teaching new concepts; start each module with the learning objectives (L.O) of it and what type of
assessment & activities will be included in this module (unit) to explore
these L.Os, then you go through Q&A session with your students where you ask them
directly about some previously studied core concepts that will be used to construct a new
knowledge to correct any misconception and to know your students’ levels as some
of them might need more efforts/help to behave in active learning way.
● Apply interactive lecturing to make
sure students get what you want them to learn during
teaching. Clicker, Discussions, Group
activities are good examples in this area.
● Built-in
activities/quizzes/assessments/researches/project s within curriculum that reflects
students’ understanding/applying/analyzing/evaluating/creating after
the teaching
Go
with a problem/project based teaching approach in Computer
Hardware & Network course that relaying on creating a case
study scenarios and projects which emulate a real work
scenarios which give an opportunity to the students to apply their
knowledge, some of these activities are group based where each
group can discuss & collaborate about certain
topic and its application while some other activities are implemented
individually based through simulation software and lab
activities to ensure student’ understanding. You
should periodically give feedback to your students while doing the Lab
exercises where you can pinpoint to the area that both of you need to work it
out together to enhance it.
This is really active
learning model as students do some work in classroom/Lab other than
merely passively listening to teacher; I think also lab activities/hands-on
experience is a good thing in this course whereas students can measure their
understanding (metacognition) and applying the concepts.
● Assessments: you
need ideas (ways) to measure the output of learning process. Let’s
start with the classifications of assessments “Summative & Formative”.
How can you
enhance the formative assessments?
As you know
formative assessments can provide “just-in-time” information on what students know or
can do and I would suggest using the following ideas (ways) to achieve that:
1- Case
Study Quiz; to measure the understanding and applying (problem
solving/critical thinking)
concepts in real life scenarios. (Tip:
the instruction should also use many Case-study scenarios to cover the topics,
which ideally can be done in interactive lecturing model where you can measure
the understanding and applying it)
2- Discussion board; where you
can have verbal, written, and face-to-face discussions about certain topics,
like the discussion board we have it in Moodle & BbVista.
3- Group
Activity; where you can have your class divided to groups and each
group participate in collaborative activity, for example you can assigned
an activity to your class and called it “Get the best Laptop” which depends on
knowing the technical specs of PC parts like the CPU, RAM, Hard-disk,
monitor,.., and budget. It will be very useful activity (Quiz) for them as it
makes them apply what they have studied to select a good laptop amongst variety
of vendors.
4- Simulation
tool; we are lucky as we have plenty of simulation tools in IT field
those could be used to assess & train our students, for example I am using
PC assembly tool where students reassemble the whole PC and it can be used as a
training tool and testing tool as well (like Cisco Packet Tracer & Virtual
PC tool).
5-Researches:
you can use this type to stress the deep understanding for students for the
core concepts.
How can we
enhance the Summative assessments? As you know
summative assessments tell us which students are having problems or developing
misconceptions during
the course or unit (module) and I would suggest using the following
ideas (ways) for this type of assessment:
1- Projects:
Project-based learning is one of the greatest approaches that can be used with
students as it prepare students to working environments through applying long
term projects that simulate the real-life scenarios
2- Presentations: I think that
one can replace the traditional written exams in IT courses in future, it gives
opportunity to the students to stress their deep understanding on core concepts
as they need to present/explain it to audience (also anyone of audience can ask
the student if she/he is not clearly understanding some points)
3- Lab
assessments: this is the favorite type for my students and for me
personally, it really stress the hands-on experience for the students and it measure
applying their current knowledge in solving problem from real-work industrial
scenarios.
Remember that "assessment should be really a reflection to the students’ activities and teacher’s intention"
Remember that "assessment should be really a reflection to the students’ activities and teacher’s intention"
Finally find below the URL for my own learning theory: http://ahmedalsorouge.blogspot.com/2011/10/bb-vista-week-3-task.html
Good Luck,
Ahmed
