A Fallacy in Education

"Information is not knowledge."
"The only source of knowledge is experience."
Albert Einstein

To say today that in large classes, whether they are lecture-style or language-learning oriented, teachers cannot get to each single student is just a fallacy. If we bear in mind that “teaching consists of getting students involved in the active construction of knowledge” (Finnan & Shaw, 2008) [1], it is the instructors' duty to reach every student in class to motivate them to fulfill his/her dream of getting a major.

On the one hand, to enhance our teaching, and consequently our students' learning, we need to keep in mind several things we have been learning through these six weeks. First, by having clearer learning objectives we will know where we want students to stand at the end of the process. Secondly, PBL is a great tool to engage students in their learning and grasping of the subject-matter presented in class. Thirdly, the availability of free Internet resources will shorten the distance between instructors and students by giving them a bit of interpersonal contact. Finally, the fact that learning styles exist and we teachers must cope with this to maximize learning have to be part of our lesson planning.

On the other hand, keeping in mind a good answer for the question posted by Ms, Jeffs, “online discussions” with one's students is a way to provide human contact among participants (Intrapersonal learners). (Our own experience in this course, no matter where we are on this planet, is a good example that this kind of discussions work.) Students have opinions to share, but at times we give them no room to do so. What about this? In my case, I am sure my students will benefit from this experience as we have done by our exchanges on nicenet.org. As Aleyda commented, although she borrowed the idea from Amjad, http://www.mind42.com/ is a great tool to have students keep on developing the subject-matter studied in class by making them continue building a mind map (Logical/mathematical learners). And I want you also to try https://penzu.com/p to work on notes that can be shared with one's students.

To conclude, I am sure these technological variations in our teaching styles can be fruitful, not only for our students' learning, but for our underlying learning objectives. Many “birds” will be killed with just one stone. Don't you agree??

Jonathan

[1] Finnan & Shaw (2008). Teaching Large Classes II – Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students at http://aei.uoregon.edu/de/iraqelt/handouts/engaging_students_handout.pdf

(My personal reflection on Technology and Language Teaching, taken and edited from Building Teaching Skills W2010, University of Oregon, American English Institute)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010