Learning Models

Here are some digital projects implemented in PIDP 3250 Instructional strategies for various learning models.

1- Active Learning  New
I watched the video posted by my colleague Andrew Fawkes about active learning. I wish to talk about the pedagogy from two perspectives as being a long life learner and an adult educator. For the first, during the development of a software, I personally find implementation phase most effective for me to learn, I experiment failure and success of the design done at earlier stage, I construct new knowledge based on my previous experience, reflect, question, discuss, listen, argue, collaborate with my peers, I believe that “doing” is most effective way to learn in my field.Though implementation phase of software development is the most stressful but experiencing it makes a learner a tough programmer that could code any problem no matter how complex it is, similarly active learning makes “a learner from a passive listener and absorber of information to an individual who is out there to get something for himself, the twenty-first century requires such an individual” (UBC, 2015).
Second, from the perspective of an adult educator in computing field, any programming educator need to endeavor learners to engage in critical thinking, solving and analyzing complex computational problems, having good communication skills and teamwork, and significant project experience, these are core characteristics required by ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) for computer science graduates (ACM, 2013). With the rapid advances within my field it is considerably important that students get to be independent learners, continuously educate themselves the new evolving technologies, and thus I pursue active learning pedagogy to promote all these skills.

Reference:

2- Project Based Learning 

My colleague, Justin Curran placed an infographic for Project-based learning on September, 16, 2016. PBL is a natural fit approach with programming and is one of the important strategies in my own teaching toolbox. I would like to reflect on the important issues I went through when approaching this model.

  • This approach is usually designed for students at intermediate and advanced levels to guarantee that they are equipped with the necessary prior learning experiences, but though some students might not be prepared, Its important to introduce PBL at a small-scale and continue in gradual steps until students can incorporate the approach successfully .
  • Many students when addressing an ill-structured case or problem, they invest a significant amount of time and effort without achieving results or an end product as pointed out by Curran. This can lead to severe disappointment and demotivation. The chances of failure can be eliminated if educators point out for students to begin with the end in mind and make sure the solution is feasible .
  • Though the end-product is a significant outcome of PBL,  yet it is very complex to evaluate student learning only by just their end-performance. In attempt to make a fair evaluation, I worked out to provide multiple evaluation points for different stages of the project, evaluation is done to reflect individual learning of each students  as well as group work.It should determine whether student(s) have clearly communicated the problem, background, research methods, resources, and solution.

3- Flipped Classroom

Watching the video  created by Shelly Cantelo published on May 2016, reminded me of an article I read recently introducing a new philosophy that is developing in higher education the “flipped academy”. Like flipped classroom the order of things are changed, many high education institutions are establishing mechanisms such as work placements and internships as a primary step, and some are housed as modern workplace environments with spaces that promote collaboration (Shaw, 2011, December 11).

I believe it’s time for educators to face the future, but the most important point to consider is  that those successful flipping models  worked in some courses might not work the same for other similar ones. Thus each educator need to personalize his or her very own flipped model and keep in mind “there is no one way to flip” (Bergmann & Sam, 2012, October 12).

Reference:

Bergmann, J. &  Sams A. (2012, October 12). Before you flip, consider this. kappanmagazine, 94(2), 25. DOI: 10.1177/003172171209400206

4- Team Based Learning

Done by Michael Silvergieter, 2016, June 16.

The most impressive thing in the video above is that it is based on the educator’s real teaching experience with TBL. After watching, perhaps what jumps into an educator head is what are they key elements that makes this model works. The center of teaching of UBC provided a resource referenced below that gives further explanation to the model, and here are the points I believe to be essential for the success of TBL:

  • TBL works best with large diverse
  • Teams must be selected by instructor, and each student should an asset to the team
  • Teams need to be permanent as team cohesion takes time to build.
  • The initial preparation using Team Readiness Assurance Test has a significant effect on the rest of the stages of TBL
  • The problem selected by educator must be relevant and interesting for students
  • Teams must work on the same problem, this allows them to discuss, see a variety of perspectives when they undergo the problem-solving process
  • Teams must simultaneously report their decisions or results in front of other teams that helps to get a deeper understanding as their peer support or challenge their opinions
  • Educator’s immediate and effective feedback is crucial especially after the  reporting stage

References:

Center for Instruction Support. (n.d.). Introduction to Team-Based Learning. UBC. Retrieved from http://www.teambasedlearning.org/