Profile information
- First name: Arishnil
- Last name: Bali
- Official website address: https://www.usp.ac.fj/index.php?id=22448
- Country: Fiji
FIJI
Looking back at day 1 of ED401, little did I know that this course would sculpt me into a totally different academic professional. It was an honor to be part of team Bruner, where I was constantly motivated by my fellow hardworking members.
This course has further enhanced my understanding and approach towards tertiary teaching. Every week, there was something new to look forward to learn and give my personal opinion in the discussion forum. A lot of teaching and learning resources were provided that helped me while dealing with students. Various teaching strategies gave an extra dimension which aided students to learn more effectively.
It was understood that Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) and Assessment Tasks (ATs) needs to be constructively aligned to achieve a well-structured curriculum for an institution.
Since The University of the South Pacific has students from different Pacific Island Countries, the knowledge attained through ED401 helped me create a better learning environment for everyone. It was essential to provide everyone equal opportunity to learn by implementing many different teaching and learning activities.
My sincere gratitude towards Dr. Shika and team Bruner for their endless support throughout this course. A very remarkable learning journey indeed.
My Teaching Philosophy
To start off with, every human is unique and gifted in their own way. As an academic staff, I have to make sure that I imply a positive image of myself to the students. It is very important to create a good learning atmosphere for the students. Thus, I am not out there as a dictator implying whatever I have to perform as my task, but be a friend-like, whom the students can approach towards without any hesitation.
As an engineering academic staff, I have to keep in mind that the engineering concepts are usually mathematically and practically based. Hence, I strongly encourage group discussion and actually coming up on board to engage in problem solving before I explain and give out the correct answers. Personally, I always say, “it is always okay to be wrong till someone corrects you. Everyone makes mistakes, but it is not necessary to always punish anyone for their mistakes. Mistake is a point from where someone’s learning starts”.
In university level, classes have a mixture of various age group students. It is really important not to let this age factor be a drawback. I have classes where the students are greater than my self-age. Thus, it is vital to let them know that I am not superior to them, but I am there just to learn together. “If one teaches, two learns”.
Furthermore, since the University of the South Pacific has students from many different island countries, I am very mindful about the different academic background they are coming from. In my classes, I try not to deploy the syllabus to the whole class as it is, but rather try to go back to its basics and build up towards the main topic. Also, letting the students from different island countries to mingle around helps build confidence and social networking.
As for my preparation, I always prepare myself to at least not to keep copying from the solutions given, but to know the concept and answer the questions without always referring to the solutions. While doing so, I also encourage the class to provide feedback at every step.
A lot of teaching and learning resources were provided in ED401 course that helped me improve my teaching philosophy. Various teaching strategies and techniques gave an extra dimension that enabled the students to learn more effectively.