Week 5 Philosophy of Teaching
Philosophy of Teaching
Thanks fellow members for your views on Philosophy of Teaching (PoT).
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.
I believe that a teacher is morally obligated to enter the classroom with only the highest of expectations for each and every one of their students. Thus, the teacher maximizes the positive benefits which enhances the student’s performance. With dedication, perseverance, and hard work, their students will rise to the occasion.
My Area of Discipline
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”.
I believe that there are five essential elements that are conducive to learning. These are:
(1) The teacher's role is to act as a guide.
(2) Students must have access to hands-on activities.
(3) Students should be able to have choices and let their curiosity direct their learning.
(4) Students need the opportunity to practice skills in a safe environment.
(5) Technology must be incorporated into the school day.
My Approach towards Matured Students
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”.
Teaching is a process of learning from your students, colleagues, parents, and the community. This is a lifelong process where you learn new strategies, new ideas, and new philosophies. Over time, my educational philosophy may change, and that's okay. That just means that I have grown and learned new things.
Students from different Pacific Island Countries
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.
One of the courses which I teach, EE102, is a first year electronics course. Students from different Pacific Island Countries are in my class, with some of them as adult learners. The course is designed where it has labs to be conducted in groups. Hence, I allows encourage each group to be consisting of students regardless of their cultural background and age. By implementing this idea, the students are networking during lab sessions which helps them get adjusted for the coming years.
Finally, 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.
I recognize that my students are individuals with their own interests, passions and beliefs. Thus, applying various teaching strategies and techniques gives an extra dimension for the students to learn more effectively.
References
Dashew, B., & Lee, R. (2011). Designed learner interactions in blended course delivery. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 15(1), 68.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–6 7.
Week 6 Curriculum Coherence as Rigor
Week 10 - Reliable and Valid Instruments
Week 10 - Reliable and Valid Instruments
Thank you Deepak for starting off with this week’s discussion.
Assessment is simply the act of evaluating, judging or rating something. In educational system, it the process of measuring and documenting what the students have learned. Educational assessment could be in terms of presentations, reports, assignments and exams.
It is important to know what do we assess and evaluate in Higher Education.
Assessment is done based on what is covered in the course. The intended learning outcome should clearly be informed to the students so that they are aware what is expected during the assessment period. The primary goal of assessment is to better understand the learning process of our students so that we may better educate them. Hence, in higher education, the student’s skills and the course’s learning process are assessed and then evaluated to see whether it is aligned with the program.
Not only the students’ performances are assessed, but to ensure curriculum alignment to standardize education for the purpose of improving academic achievement and educational quality. By evaluating, the reliability and validity of the assessment tools and assessment types are known. Evaluation of the course and program aims to examine the impact of implemented curriculum on student (learning) achievement so that the official curriculum can be revised if necessary and to review teaching and learning processes in the classroom. Curriculum evaluation establishes:
· Specific strengths and weaknesses of a curriculum and its implementation;
· Critical information for strategic changes and policy decisions;
· Inputs needed for improved learning and teaching;
· Indicators for monitoring.
In higher education, we evaluate the academic program on the following:
1. The design of the program so that it is capable to facilitate learning.
2. Evaluate on the academic gaps and needless repetitions.
3. Evaluate on the alignment across lessons, courses, subject areas, and grade levels.
Tools we use to measure curriculum performability
The major reason for assessing the effectiveness of a curriculum is to ensure that the goals of the program have been achieved. The effectiveness of a new curriculum should be measured against a standard—which is usually the old curriculum.
Here are few tools to measure curriculum performability:
1. Curriculum Guidelines
Linking the content of courses in a curriculum to national guidelines may be a useful exercise and certainly provides some comparative information about the program.
2. Discussions and Focus Groups
Discussions usually take place shortly after the completion of courses or major sections of the curriculum and provide the significant advantage of immediate feedback. Discussions revolve around the courses and cover organization, content, teaching methods, student assessment, and evaluation methods.
Participants traditionally include the course director, members of the curriculum committee, student representatives, and the associate dean for academic affairs. Such face-to-face interactions between students and faculty are based on the information gathered through the evaluation questionnaires and have the advantage of clarifying the problems identified and enabling the faculty to respond to criticism.
3. Teaching Portfolios
Teaching portfolios are ongoing documents developed by faculty members to gather information on their teaching philosophy, goals and objectives, evaluation techniques, teaching effectiveness, and creativity. An important component is the teacher’s reflection on outcomes.
4. Competency Examinations
Performance based competency tests are valuable means of demonstrating to the public and industries the standards of care to which the profession is committed. This may be the best way to measure the effectiveness of an engineering curriculum, and this has been used as an evaluation tool in engineering education.
5. Board Examinations
Reflecting on the students’ performance through exams in which the content of the curriculum are consistent with the educational goals of the institution is one of the most common ways to measure curriculum performability.
6. Surveys
Questionnaires are widely used curriculum assessment tools because they provide a lot of information rapidly, at a small cost, and with minimal staff involvement.
7. Productivity
Engineering educators tend to be reluctant to use industrial output or income as an assessment tool. However, there are two justifications for using these variables. First, students need to learn to be efficient, and second, students who are more positive and enthusiastic about their training might be more productive.
8. Rubrics
A rubric is an assessment and evaluation tool that clearly indicates achievement criteria across all the components of any kind of student work, from written to oral to visual. It can be used for marking assignments, class participation, or overall grades and then reflecting on the results.
The above techniques mentioned does work well over a period of time. This indicates the reliability and validity of the tools used.
Reliability
According to Nitko and Anthony (1996), reliability refers to the extent to which assessments and evaluations are consistent. Getting positive feedback from industries regarding the engineers produced shows that the engineering program can be reliable. Also, information gathered for the curriculum through surveys are also reliable.
Validity
Validity is defined as the extent to which an assessment and evaluation accurately measures what it is intended to measure and evaluate. By the use of USP’s recently adapted rubric in the form of RSD framework, the assessment and evaluation becomes valid and can be reflected upon. If the intended learning outcome of a course is to be familiarized with the lab equipment, having a lab test to ensure that the assessment is valid.
How the validity and reliability of these instruments be improved over time
To help improve the validity and reliability of the tools mentioned above, we have make sure that the goals and objectives are clearly defined and operationalized. Expectations of students should be written down. Moreover, match the assessment measure to your goals and objectives. Additionally, have the test reviewed by faculty at other schools to obtain feedback from an outside party who is less invested in the instrument. In addition, get the students involved and have the students look over the assessment for troublesome wording or other difficulties. Finally, if possible, compare the measure with other measures, or data that may be available.
Evaluation drives both learning and curriculum development and needs to be given serious attention at the earliest stages of change. Assessment needs to be part of an ongoing evaluation cycle intended to keep the curriculum fresh, educationally sound, and achieving its intended objectives.
Reference
Angelo T. & Cross K. (2010). Classroom Assessment Techniques. A Handbook for College Teachers.
Nikto & Anthony (1996). Educational Assessment of Students. ERIC. 487.
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