The newly joined teachers for Summer 2013 are undertaking a training course to facilitate their teaching-learning technique. From the first day we are asked to perform some activities that we might use in the practical scenario to motivate our students to learn and also make prepare for the competitive job market.
On the first day, we were asked to sort out the nature of our students. Some teachers pointed students’ positive qualities; some teachers mentioned the negative qualities. Though our students are from different social, economical, and cultural background, they are aware of their needs i.e. career-conscious. Now how can we engage our students who have poor knowledge or merit? Keeping this matter into consideration, this training aims to set up a compact teaching method for all disciplines, named Participatory Engaging Teaching.
Here we come up with new ideas. The ideas include:
attributes of a Model Teacher
understanding the background of students
way of they learning
class room teaching technique
engaging students in learning
making lesson plan etc
In the second class, we were told about Instructional Design. According to Wikipedia, “Instructional Design (also called Instructional Systems Design (ISD)) is the practice of creating instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing. The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. Ideally the process is informed by pedagogically (process of teaching) and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a field, instructional design is historically and traditionally rooted in cognitive and behavioral psychology, though recently Constructivism (learning theory) has influenced thinking in the field.”
We were also informed about Mind-Mapping which is closely related with Instructional Design. Here follows an image of it:
On 8 June 2013, we attended our third class on “Participatory Engaging Teaching” where at first each group (consisted of 2 members) discussed in pair how to engage learners in learning, and then in the next session each group (consisted 4 members) made a lesson plan for a particular subject.
As a participant of this training program, I do believe if we can implement these activities in the teaching-learning system, our student can show their best performance. But the drawbacks to implement this activity are a very short semester and large class-size.
Some of our colleagues apply this approach to the class. The reaction is mixed. Students are exposed to a new(in our context) learning situation, so it takes time for them to be comfortable. Students have a mind set idea that classes will be conducted in lecture based method. But in some classes, it works like a magic.
My thanks to Yusuf Sir and other successful teachers who apply PET and come out with positive result.
