Letter to newbie teacher

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"

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