Wk 1 A8,9 &10

These activities combined had me thinking about my experiences of learning from different perspectives - my own experience as a student after leaving school; my experience of informal learning and my experience in supporting learning. We had to think about what resources we had been given/used to support our learning, which we enjoyed using and gained most benefit from, how own experiences have effected how you support others' learning and how your practices may have changed over time.
1 To what extent have the teaching practices you encountered and your ways of behaving as a learner influenced the ways in which you now support the learning of others?
- My UG degree was my first experience of formal learning after school. The resources/technologies used were - lectures (with powerpoint slides), seminars (with group work, exercises, presentations), set reading (text books), library resources - books, journals, databases, statistical information (Print and CDROM). Seminars may have used video too but I can't quite remember. They did involve quizes, discussion and comparisons with others. The internet was not a source of information at all during my time at University, computers were used as word processors - that's all, for essays and powerpoints. I remember the University introduced an internal email system in my final year (1997) but no one knew how to use it - we weren't the google generation, we couldn't work it out.
In 1998 I remember using the internet for the first time; but this was after finishing my degree and it was used for social things - I do remember using it for booking train tickets and holidays then. In my UG degree most of the control over what we used came from faculty; when it came to assessments it was down to us to do our own information searches using the library. No other physical sources of information were used then.
I enjoyed most the seminars, where we had group activity to help us to establish our understanding of what had been lecturered and we had read about. I least enjoyed the lectures - they were boring, powerpoint presentations regurgitating the text books and you spent the time trying to write everything down rather than really listening. I remember one lecturer I gave up on quickly as it really was taken directly from the text book, she had little personality and no sense of audience - poor thing she had over 300 UGs to lecture to. It must have been hard. But then I remember a marketing lecturer who was actually an advertising consultant; his lectures were great - but then the nature of the beasts who are advertising executives tend to be good at PR, presenting and engaging their audiences. I can't remember specifically what it was, but maybe it was a combination of an interesting subject, with case studies that we related to easily and the personality of the lecturer that did it.

2. Informal learning - eg an example of some learning you've done for yourself, to keep up to date, develop knowledge or skills - not just acquiring information. I chose the example of the learning I did while I was pregnant. I read books, magazines, websites, took part in forums, watched movie clips and listened to audio tracks on the internet and CD rom that came from Pampers babyclub etc. I determined my own objectives - I wanted to know each week what the baby inside me was doing, it was intriguing and very relevant and current. The books were recommended by friends, the magazines were leant to me by friends and the internet searches were initiated by me using Google. I gained most from the internet, having a wealth of information available to me at my fingertips, and free of charge. The forums were particuarly useful, I could read comments by people experiencing and feeling the same things as me, which helped me through the time and helped me find clarity to a lot of the mysteries of child birth and babies. So learning from othe people seems to be a pattern here.

3. Supporting the learning of others.
I haven't done much in this, I am not a teacher but support students. I am responsible for making sure students understand the systems and expectations of themselves and their tutors so I provide web-based guidance on this to the distance learning students, I also provide face to face presentations when they are on campus, supprted with video clips, animated demos, printed support and forum support. I am providing a range of learning support options to suit different people.


Pattern - I like learning in groups where I can learn from others and by helping other people to understand things, I learn more too.

My own experiences have taught me that we have to give students variety and choice and that anything we provide must add value to their learning. A lecture which is a carbon copy of the text book is not enhancing learning, it's just delivering the same information through a different medium. In H808, I really enjoyed the learning design whereby the topic was introduced and you were basically left to search for more information to form an opinion yourself. I really liked this freedom and flexibility which gave me ownership of my learning. If I'm told to read chapter X, I tend to resist that. I want to read what interests me (and of course is relevant to the course) and my job in this professional course.

Here is a comment from Kim on the forum that is a similar view to mine:
A law lecturer from another university says that he doesn't give traditional lectures but tries to organise his "large group sessions" in a way which does require some student involvement (pair work, quizzes etc).
Is the traditional lecture dying - and would it be a bad thing? I remember some marvellous lectures during my first degree - and one series which consisted of the leading mind in his subject reading word for word from his leading book. When I did my masters' degree another "reader" popped up, this time not a leading mind nor a leading book. As I was a more assertive 35 year old, I complained and he was replaced in fairly short order! " (Kim Silver, 13-02-09, 21.46 Week 1 A9-A10)

Paul Kenney said about how relevant technology can be in archaelogy teaching - he said earlier that things like GPS have improved the sector but "
Is anything lost in the learning experience by using e-technology?
Personally I think so, but I also think that it is inevitable, and at the level taught many aspects are really just being introduced so they are very useful, yet I feel that in the case of Archaeology it is best to get out and get grubby. " (Paul Kenney, 12-02-09 11.42 Week 1 A9-A10)

And this comment by Simon really summed up my feelings:

I agree too, there is a tendency to offer online equivalents of traditional teaching modes. However, the difference for me receiving these resources online is the activities and group learning that is associated with them. I can only cite my experience on this and two other MAODE courses, but I feel that a greater sense of communality when using resources online. My recollection of face-to-face lectures was that, other than a brief opportunity to pose questions at the end of the session, the knowledge passed on to me was left for individual digestion, often only externalized in written form (lecture notes or an essay). By contrast, the podcasts and webcasts offered to me online make the most of the social environment they are delivered in, encouraging me to reflect and talk about them. One of the reasons why I think this works better is the asynchronous nature of distance learning. Everyone has longer to digest, respond and reflect on content. (Simon Allan, 12-02-09 10.15, Week 1 A9-A10)


Jonathon Campbell 2 writes: (14-02-09, 10.56)
When I want to try something new I've got to be sure to start somewhere familiar and then take very small steps. They need a lot of support to get away from the only style of education they've known.

I recall though my A level teaching (yr 11-12) was more student centred, perhaps to help prepare us for independent study at University. Secondary education Yr 7-10) was certainly very teacher centred. The introduction of more vocational qualifications at secondary school instead of formal GCSEs for those students that it suits better has to be a good thing in moving away from the formal classroom.