Asynchronous Tools in Online/Hybrid Teaching

#LTTO, Asynchronous Tools, Hybrid and Blended Learning 0 comments

Asynchronous Tools in Online/Hybrid Teaching

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 202

As pointed out by Laureate Education, Inc. (2013), “Asynchronous tools are tools that can be used by different people, at different places, at different times to contribute to a shared discussion, document, or activity.” And these asynchronous tools can indeed be utilized not only for communication but also for collaboration. And as professionals, we are likely to use some asynchronous tools on our jobs; we send e-mail and text messages on a regular basis; we get to watch YouTube, Vimeo, or TeacherTube videos to find appropriate material for our classes, and so on. But one tool that has been there long to signal as a great tool is the use of blogs for educational purposes.

As language teaching professional, I have created numerous blogs to satisfy student learning needs and to plan teacher-led instruction for my current or even future students. Furthermore, after taking a course on how to use case studies as part of one’s instruction in class, I decided to create a blog for one of my course where I wanted my students to be exposed to this learning theory and to really get to use their critical thinking skill beyond the boundaries of our books and classroom; I wanted to leave my students with something that could perfectly be used in their professional practicum as well as in their day-to-day lives: How to use case studies.

Since “blogs can be used by instructors or students as a way to share information and comment on the contributions of others” (Laureate Education, 2013), my initial goal was to create a space that asynchronously linked to class and where students could feel free to drop by any time they wished. This blog, which I christened BIN-10 –the course code for Oral Communication and Pronunciation III-, intends to gap the bridge between what is studied in my language class and the number of credits it has. That is, I really wanted my learners to stick to the number of hours of independent study that is linked to those credits by having this blog and by using a number of Moodle tools present in the university’s LMS.

Blog Address: http://bin-10.blogspot.com/

Case Study URL: http://bin-10.blogspot.com/search/label/Case%203

The sample case I wrote for my students based on course content and objectives, along with their textbook content and scope and sequence is CASE #3: Forgetfulness and Types of Memory, which is aligned with the course unit on memory. On this page, learners will find two different activities for them to perform: One that intends to make students reflect on the kind of personality they have linked to their memory capabilities, and one that has students critically reflect on a situation where a person, in some sort of dilemma or turning point, needs to be given assertive answers to questions surrounding his/her present psychological or physical well-being. Additionally, they are provided with a case study form to fill in and bring to class to further discuss the situation with partners and teacher.

As part of my online/hybrid teaching, these collections of case studies have worked quite nicely with students though they get some trouble with the first one. As soon as they are familiarized with the procedure for analysis, they usually come up with great and practical solutions for the cases provided. And due to the fact that learners must give short speeches where they are confronted with current events, social and educational issues, and even ethical decisions, the rationale behind the use of case studies permeates their work allowing them to design and develop more quality presentations with lots of reflection and critical thinking.

Reference

Laureate Education, I. (2013). Asynchronous Tools. Retrieved from Laureate Faculty Development.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Self-Regulation of Learning

Competency-Based Learning, Mindfulness, Teaching Practices 0 comments

Self-Regulation of Learning

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 201

“Self-Regulation is the ability to monitor and control our own behavior, emotions, or thoughts, altering them in accordance with the demands of the situation” (Cook & Cook, 2014). Self-regulation of one’s learning is an important step all students must take to take control of their own development of their knowledge. As Cook & Cook (2014) state, our pupils must be able to control their “behavior, emotions, and thoughts” to profit from instruction, research, homework, assignments, presentations, projects, and the like. As it can be seen, self-regulation plays an important part in one’s learning letting us take control of it mindfully.

How can I have my learners profit from self-regulation when being in a competency-based setting? Well, self-regulation “includes the abilities to inhibit first responses, to resist interference from irrelevant stimulation, and to persist on relevant tasks even when we don’t enjoy them” (Cook & Cook, 2014). When learners are being transitioned to a competency-based course, they will be challenged by the instructor to take control of their learning, and this will imply that they need to “inhibit first responses” such as “I don’t like this,” “This is not what I want from a course,” or “What’s the point in doing things in this way?” If students were taught with more traditional ways of learning where a grade was more important than learning, resistance to change will be faced. When moving to work independently online or with electronic materials, learners must cope with the “interference from irrelevant stimulation” such as the one coming from their social media. And needless to mention that importance of persisting on “relevant tasks” though they may not like them much or at all. Learning is fun, but there are students who do not find any taste in sampling the milk of being competent.

Being a bit mindful concerning my own learning experiences, especially when dealing with a master’s program on education (which I recently finished), the role of self-regulation was transcendental to achieve success. Comprehending that self-regulation “is the method or procedure that learners use to manage and organize their thoughts and convert them into skills used for learning” (Self-Regulation, n.d.), as a learner I saw myself managing and organizing my thoughts to deal with all the information I was being provided and the amount of projects that needed to be submitted. Mindfully, I tried to convert all those pieces of information into skills I wanted to use to learn the novelties in education and language learning. Was I successful? Sure! But self-regulation of learning has also made me think whether my partners were into regulating their learning processes.

Having been there, where my university students are right now, craving for knowledge and, most importantly, developing competencies they can use at work, what am I to do to help them? Somehow I want to follow Zimmerman’s ideas (1990) regarding self-regulation in learning: use of self-regulated learning strategies, responsiveness to self-oriented feedback about learning effectiveness, and interdependent motivational processes. “Self-regulated students select and use self-regulated learning strategies to achieve desired academic outcomes on the basis of feedback about learning effectiveness and skill” (Zimmerman, 1990). If my students can become self-regulated, they can self-discover and use learning strategies that can help them achieve their academic goals for a course or a whole major. If my students can turn into self-regulated learners, they can then provide themselves –mindfully speaking- self-oriented feedback about how effective they are with their own learning, making them really take control of their construction of of their own knowledge. And if my pupils can really become self-regulated learners, they can guide or lead their interdependent motivational processes to get to really develop competencies that can really help them develop their academic life and eventually their competent professional life.

“Because theories of self-regulated learning seek to explain students’ personal initiative in acquiring knowledge and skill, they all treat students’ motivational processes as interdependent with learning processes” (Zimmerman, 1990). Educators, faculty members, teachers in general must look for ways to incentivate the use of these student strategies to become mindful deep learners who can really achieve their academic goals and who can become really competent professionals. Before an instructor decides to start using a competency-based course program, it is a good idea that s/he thinks of the following: “Self-regulation is a social enterprise that involves a learner and a knowledgeable individual who can guide the learner through the process of acquiring self-regulatory skills” (Bembenutty, White, & Vélez, 2015). If an instructor is not ready yet to venture into Comptency-Based Learning, which requires self-regulation from the learner and the instructor, it is a good idea to become more confident before the launching of a class setting where students will be in control of their learning and development of competences.

References

Bembenutty, H., White, M., & Vélez, M. (2015). Developing Self-Regulation of Learning and Teaching Skills Among Teacher Candidates. New York: Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg.

Cook, J., & Cook, G. (2014, April 30). Self-Regulation. Retrieved from Education.Com: http://www.education.com/reference/article/self-regulation-development-skill/

Self-Regulation. (n.d.). Retrieved from University of Nebraska at Lincoln: http://cehs.unl.edu/secd/self-regulation/

Zimmerman, B. (1990). Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: An Overview. Educational Psychologist, 25(1), 3-17.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency

Competency-Based Learning, Teaching Practices 0 comments

Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 200

“Teachers in competency based classrooms must recognize that students enter at various levels of competency and acquire knowledge at different rates” (Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency, n.d.). No single human being is to learn the very same way in which a peer does; all of us have different ways of learning and of processing information provided in a classroom setting. The way the knowledge is grasped and consequently used in learning tasks varies from individual to individual. Faculty members “must be committed to facilitating learning at all levels by utilizing strategies to support learning of individual students without lowering expectations” (Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency, n.d.).

To make competency-based instruction work within one’s classroom, strategies must be used. “In competency-based settings, teachers are encouraged to minimize direct instruction and focus on facilitating student learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). And the facilitation of student learning is definitely done by means of strategies that need to be carefully envisioned and understood by the instructor. Let’s take the case of the Literary Criticism class where the following competency for literary analysis is meant to be met by learners:

Antecedent – Behavior – Condition Competency Formulation

A = Using the Reader Response way of literary interpretation,

B = Learners will be able to analyze the poem A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body by Andrew Marvell

C = by providing their personal interpretations regarding emotions, feelings and ideas discussed by the poet in an APA-format essay that must include an introduction, three developmental paragraphs, and a conclusion

What strategies can be used to help learners become competent literary analysts within the Reader Response approach connected to Jacques Lacan’s mirror metaphor for literature?

The provision of a “stimulating environment” for learning and the development of competencies is needed. The instructor must be able to create the right conditions to foster deep learning among students. In addition, the teacher has to “establish an environment that encourages exploration and allows student to take risks, make mistakes, and find ways to improve their own learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). Learners are moved from a mere receptive state of information to a real engagement in the construction of their own knowledge and competencies. In my Literary Criticism course at the university, my students are provided with learning tasks that move them beyond the classroom setting with bits of online independent learning and research and project-based learning works whose end product is the production of the essay stated in the competency formulation.

The selection of appropriate learning resources is another strategy to be used in competency-based learning settings. The idea behind the selection of resources aligns with the idea that “teachers must support students as they work to acquire skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes that can be transferred to a higher level of education and/or the workplace” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). After the careful evaluation of resources that can help learners develop their research projects in the Literary Criticism class, they are provided with handouts, diagrams, case studies, worksheets, videos, demonstration, and essays by means of the university’s Moodle platform. The idea is then to provide them with the minimum required to carry out a learning tasks and prompt them into the search of new information on their own; this is a simple way to promote independent and long-lasting learning that can eventually be used in their future or current jobs.

If possible, the personalization of learning is a requisite for competency-based education. This strategy allows the instructor to “provide tasks that are relevant and connected to the students’ lives and the work they will do in the future” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). In my literature class, this means that my learners are provided with small-scale projects that are relevant for literary comprehension and analysis linked to their personal and future professional lives as language instructors. Professors using this strategy must also comprehend that all pupils have “unique skills, backgrounds, and interests” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). The exploitation of learners’ skills, backgrounds, and interests is a priority in literary analyses because it helps them to achieve goals and competencies in their own personal way; learning cannot be homogenized in any sense since every individual construct knowledge differently.

To concluded, any educator transitioning from mere traditional teaching/learning scenarios must keep this idea in their minds all the time: “The Competency-based education (CBE) approach allows students to advance based on their ability to master a skill or competency at their own pace regardless of environment” (Competency-Based Education (CBE), n.d.). CBE allows instructors to create more engaging learning tasks aligned with competences that are required from students when they become part of the labor force in their countries or overseas. And as Educase puts it, “this method is tailored to meet different learning abilities and can lead to more efficient student outcomes” (Competency-Based Education (CBE), n.d.) if used correctly. The results of the teaching/learning process can be more rewarding than simply getting a good mark on a test or term paper.

References

Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency. (n.d.). Retrieved from Laureate Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_84966_1&content_id=_142450_1&mode=reset

Competency-Based Education (CBE). (n.d.). Retrieved from Educase.Com: http://www.educause.edu/library/competency-based-education-cbe

Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Supporting Student Learning in Competency Based Settings. Laureate International Universities.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Experiences in Learning and Assessment

Competency-Based Learning, Teaching Practices 0 comments

Experiences in Learning and Assessment

When competency-based learning was not used

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 199

“Schools need to put more effort into evaluating what makes effective teaching, and ensure that discredited practices are rooted out form classrooms” (Adams, 2014). And the panorama does not seem to change much when one gets to higher education institutions. From my personal experience, as a learner who had to survive 11 years of schooling and some five more years of college studies to get a BA, educational experiences in my learning and assessment were not exactly like the dual education model used in Germany. If sarcasm was read correctly by my reader, life would have been much easier for people in my generation if one had been trained to function in the real world when being taught with competencies.

Based on Adams (2014), “some schools and teachers continue using methods that cause little or no improvement in student progress, and instead rely on anecdotal evidence.” Adams’s account is quite similar to my experiences back in my school and college days. Though at the university I had several types of professors, many of them were just interested in this “anecdotal evidence” rather than having us develop any competence related to what was being studied in class. Deep learning was something that was not exactly encouraged in many of the courses I took being a student, and we learners had to rely a lot on our memory to survive testing weeks. In terms of assessment, most of us were just happy with a grade rather than being able to do something competently with what we had learned in class or by the time a course was over. For instance, at some point of our essay writing training, we were more content with getting a good grade that really understanding how important was to write academically for the sake of our future lives as faculty members or schooling workers.

How might our experiences have differed if we had been taught through competency-based learning and assessment? As far as I remember my years back in the university, I cannot say that several of our professors somehow toyed with the idea of competencies to teach. What needs to be understood here is that I cannot assure that they were aware of what competences were and how these academic constructs could have permeated the course program they had to follow; perhaps, the process they followed was somehow connected with the development of a competency. But in those times, at least at the university I studied at, the end product was what really counted for some of the courses I have in my mind now. If we had been taught to function in the real academic world, like in my very personal case –especially now that I am a university professor-, life –at the beginning- could have been much easier in the workplace. If projects for courses had been carefully planned bearing in mind what was expected from us in academic working settings, professors (and even high school teaching professionals) could have taught us to be functional in that working ambience. Education at the time I was a college students could have been customized in pace; that is one may have worked “as quickly or as slowly as [one] like[s] within the time constraints of the program” (What is Competency-Based Learning?, n.d.). But that did not happen. And most importantly, one would have learned workplace skills, and not wait to start work to develop those needed competencies that we continue to polish at this point of our careers.

At this point of my teaching career at the university level, my experiences, though they were not what I wish I had had, pay off today in my teaching. One of the very first things I said to myself when I was to become a teacher was that I did not want to be like the educators I had faced along my many years of schooling and university studies. Just a few of them left an imprint in my actual teaching that I do not want to overlook because they gave me a solid ground to grow professionally. That is the reason why I have tried and continue to try several different methodologies and teaching/learning approaches to improve student learning and competency development. As an educator I want to facilitate learning and knowledge to be used in course tasks that can produce some good competency development that can be fully functional in the real working world.

References

Adams, R. (2014, October 31). Education study finds in favour of traditional teaching styles. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/31/education-traditional-teaching-versus-progressive

What is Competency-Based Learning? (n.d.). Obtenido de eLearners.Com: http://www.elearners.com/online-education-resources/online-learning/what-is-competency-based-learning/

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Competency-Based Assessment

Competency-Based Learning, Teaching Practices 0 comments

Competency-Based Assessment

Some thoughts

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 198

“In traditional classrooms, teachers use a variety of assessment methods to measure student knowledge of a particular skill or concept. While this knowledge is important, in competency based classrooms, an understanding of content is insufficient” (Assessment Methods, n.d.). Students must demonstrate that they are able to comprehend and use theoretical concepts explained to them on specific tasks such as case studies, essays, journals, observations, oral presentations, portfolios, simulations, tests, and so on. As stated by Laureate Education, “assessment must also measure a student’s ability to demonstrate and apply the knowledge to real world experiences” (Assessment Methods, n.d.).

In a previous post, a competency on literary analysis based on the reader response was provided. Students taking a course such as Literary Criticism, where they have to study different approaches to get a better understanding of literary pieces, are exposed to a great array of approaches used in literature to make sense of literary creations. The ultimate idea behind this course on Literary Criticism dealing with analyses and approaches is to train learners to read literature for their own enjoyment, comprehend it better for further explanations, and become prepared to be using these methods for literary analysis when they become the language instructors in a school or university.

Antecedent – Behavior – Condition Competency Formulation

A = Using the Reader Response way of literary interpretation,

B = Learners will be able to analyze the poem A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body by Andrew Marvell

C = by providing their personal points of view in an APA-format essay that must include an introduction, three developmental paragraphs, and a conclusion

As it can be seen here, the literary competency above is based on the antecedent, behavior, condition method. It is rather self-explanatory, but what really matter here is how this competency is going to be measured to guarantee that learners can prove the mastery of how the Reader Response rationale for literary analysis is used.

As it can also be seen in the formulation of the competency for a Literary Criticism course, an essay is a good way to test student competency development. “Essays allow students to demonstrate knowledge of competencies, communication skills, and analytical skills through writing” (Laureate Education, 2013). According to the formulation of the learning outcome phrased as a competence, learners need to demonstrate mastery in the production of APA-format essays. Essays do imply the planning of writing to meet communication standards to make one’s point clear to a reader, and they also imply the deeper analysis of literary productions based on a very specific literary approach such as the Reader Response or any other that can be studied in a course like this.

A literary competency like the one outlined above does include some degree of challenge in its implementation. To start with, the instructor must be certain that learners are fully acquainted with the writing of essays, its structure, its implications in citing sources, the APA format, etc. This is something that needs to be tested prior having students produce an essay based on a competency-based learning outcome. The writing of an essay is a sub-skill in this competency that the instructor must ensure for its success, and a way of testing learner understanding of APA writing is to have some writing task to verify comprehension. In addition to essay writing, the correct application of the literary approach has to be also tested, practiced, scaffolded, and reviewed as many times as necessary before a student is sent to write a paper. If by any chance the learner fails to understand how a given literary approach is used, the product that is going be produced is far away from the demonstration of the mastery of a given concept. Once again, the monitoring and observation of learners while applying the approach in in-class literary analyses is crucial.

As stated by Laureate Education (2013), we teachers must “measure mastery of skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes students need to display in a content area, profession, field, or workplace.” If all these is not met, we are somehow going back to just the traditional way of summatively assessing students by providing them with a grade that does not necessarily show proof of mastery of a concept. Instructors must “assess student ability to demonstrate a competency rather than just know it” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013).

References

Assessment Methods. (n.d.). Retrieved from Faculty Development: https://lnps.

elearning.laureate.net/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_84966_1&content_id=_142444_1&mode=reset

Laureate Education, I. (2013). Assessment Methods. Retrieved from Laureate

Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/

institution/LPS1/FD/APSK/LPS1.FDEV.APSK.CBLE.EN.ON.V1.MASTER/

readings/LNPS_APSK_CBLE_EN_Unit03_competencyBased

Assessment.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Best Practices for Designing Learning

Competencies. Retrieved from Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/institution/LPS1/FD/

APSK/LPS1.FDEV.APSK.CBLE.EN.ON.V1.MASTER/readings/

LNPS_APSK_CBLE_EN_Unit02_bestPracticesForDesigningLearning

Competencies.pdf

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Challenges in Learning Competency Design

Competency-Based Learning, Teaching Practices 0 comments

(Three Trends That Will Influence Learning and Teaching in 2015, 2014)

Challenges in Learning Competency Design

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 197

Competency-based learning seems to be a great way to embark one’s students into real deep learning, and a nice way to abandon any kind of surface learning practice in teaching and learning. CBL comprises lots of nice ways of having students develop their working competencies prior their setting their feet in a company. But there are certain things we educators must keep in the lookout to avoid standardizing competency evaluation, the use of CBL in licensure programs, and the wrong conceptualization of what CBL entails.

Standardization of competencies must be avoided. “According to Ralph Wolff, president of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, institutions must guard themselves from standardizing the mechanisms in which competencies are demonstrated” (Gibson, 2013). In the case that a faculty member wants to start using competencies to guide his/her planning and teaching, it is indispensable that these practices are carried out only within his/her course. Unless two colleagues agree on working together and assessing learners with the same competency instruments (tasks and rubrics), the use of similar performance demonstrations to verify student understanding should be avoided, especially if learners do not cover the same content and experience the same in the classroom or in an online platform.

Competencies need to be avoided in licensure programs. “A CBL model is an effective approach to both education and practice. However, academic programs that require professional licensure may be slow to embrace competency programs divorced from any observable measures of contact hours” (Gibson, 2013). Basically what Gibson is stating, and which I agree with 100%, is that certain program such as the ones in medical school (medicine, optometry, nursing, ophthalmology, etc.) are not exactly ready “to embrace” the use of competencies to demonstrate content understanding. A surgery is not the same kind of project if compared to a mock up building in architecture or in civil engineering. In terms of monitoring and the amount of time used to grasp the contents for the creation of a project like this will take time, and not same lapse for an engineer or for a doctor.

The correct conceptualization of what CBL entails must be guaranteed for student learning and the right application of this teaching approach. How long does it take an instructor to fully understand the domain of CBL? The answer is not clear, especially if CBL theory is applied to it. “Students,” as well as faculty members learning how to use CBL, “will enter […] at various levels of competency and with diverse learning style preferences” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). Somehow instructors must be quite sure that their understanding how CBL works must be ensure prior its use in a course continuum. The right application of competency-based learning may take some time to sink in, and it would also be a good idea that professors have a chance to discuss their competency-developing projects with other colleagues to guarantee that they are not off-track.

The use of CBL in a higher education institution is a great idea. “By focusing on what you know rather than how much time you spend learning competency-based education puts you in charge of your education as never before” (Competency-Based Education: What It Is, How It’s Different, and Why It Matters to You, 2014). This is what the instructor must always bear in mind and transmit the very same idea to his/her students. CBL allows learners to be in charge of their learning and the demonstration of what they are really learning in a course, not exactly inside the classroom.

References

Competency-Based Education: What It Is, How It’s Different, and Why It Matters to You. (2014, January 24). Retrieved from University of Wisconsin: http://flex.wisconsin.edu/blog/competency-based-education-what-it-is-how-its-different-and-why-it-matters-to-you/

Gibson, C. (2013, August 2). Competency-Based Learning: Four Challenges and Impediments. Retrieved from The Evolllution: http://evolllution.com/opinions/competency-based-learning-challenges-impediments/

Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Best Practices for Designing Learning Competencies. Retrieved from Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/institution/LPS1

Laureate Education, Inc. (n.d.). Journal 2: Challenges in Learning Competency Design. Retrieved from Faculty Development: http://global3.laureate.net/#/home/faculty

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Best Practices for Designing Learning Competencies

Competency-Based Learning, Teaching Practices 0 comments

Best Practices for Designing Learning Competencies

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 196

“Quality learning competencies are important for successful competency based learning experiences. When first transitioning from a traditional model of learning to the competency based model of learning, designing quality competencies can often be a challenging task” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). To decrease the level of anxiety one may experiment with the designing of competencies, it is a good idea to follow some best practices in their development. Two of the suggested best practices by Laureate Education, Inc. experts (2013) are: 1) “Competencies should prepare learners for the next level” and 2) “Competencies should be aligned to learning objectives and assessments.”

“Competencies should prepare learners for the next level” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). Competencies are meant to aid the student to move to the next level of comprehension needed to progress in class, in higher studies, or while being at work. Within the class context of instruction, the development of competencies prepares learners to face the next piece of instruction they must master, which is meant to help them to be better prepared for their current or future working environment. In the long run, what pupils will be demonstrating is what skills they have acquired for themselves and for their performance in class, while getting a higher degree, or while having to use in their workplaces. The instructor then is meant to provide activities such as projects along with formative feedback to help learners develop their competencies.

“Competencies should be aligned to learning objectives and assessments” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). A competency is like the end product of instruction; that is, it is what learners get form one’s class to succeed in the real working world. Courses are designed and developed bearing in mind specific learning objectives in their course outlines. These objectives must be translated into measurable objectives that need to be tested while students demonstrate theory and practice comprehension.

As a literature professor at Universidad Latina in Costa Rica, these two best practices have a powerful impact in my hybrid/blended classes. From a mere constructivist learning stance, whatever is done prior the beginning of a new thematic unit helps build student understanding. Yet, whatever is being practiced with pupils and then demonstrated by them must be aligned with the learning goals stated in the course outline one is following. This is basically what I intend to do in my Literary Criticism class where prior knowledge becomes crucial in the creation on new knowledge in the mind of learners, who will transform these pieces of knowledge into literary analysis skills and competencies to be used in the understanding of poesies, narratives, and dramas.

Let us know pay attention to an example of literary criticism in action. Learners in this class are meant to comprehend that hermeneutics is not the only way to interpret literature. Students are explained that “literal interpretation asserts that a […] text is to be interpreted according to the ‘plain meaning’ conveyed by its grammatical construction and historical context” (Hermeneutics, n.d.). Then, students are confronted with other way of make meaning out of a literary text beyond the hermeneutical domain that simply allows you to come up with only one correct interpretation.

Antecedent – Behavior – Condition Competency Formulation

A = Using the Reader Response way of literary interpretation,

B = Learners will be able to analyze [a piece of poetry, drama or narrative]

C = correctly by providing their personal points of view in an essay

To ensure that a competency like the one stated above, certain steps must be followed. If it can be noticed, it a competency that is specific (Reader Response to literary analysis, clear (use of a Bloom’s taxonomy verbs such as analyze), and measurable (a given product is produced, being in this case an essay, and checked with a rubric). Students will also be able to apply their recently-acquired knowledge on Reader Response to solve a problem they are provided with, the understanding of a piece of literary creation, in which they have to apply their inner emotions, personal feelings, and life experiences, normally used by writers in their literary creation. Finally, a competency like this aims at working with any level of competency or learning preferences.

Referencias

Hermeneutics. (n.d.). Obtenido de Enclyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/topic/hermeneutics-principles-of-biblical-interpretation

Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Best Practices for Designing Learning Competencies. Retrieved from Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/institution/