Wednesday 29 February 2012

Introduction and thoughts

Well a little about me!
Walking Izzy???

I am a mother of 3 grown up boys, work part time as a lecturer in the Design school.  Before this I had a Fashion Design business that I designed and created high end clothing.  Now I get the best of both worlds, sharing my skills and love to create, with the students but still having time to play at home, either in the garden, in the sewing room or taking a walk with my little friend, Izzy, a miniature schnauzer.
 

One thing, when we juggle commitments, whether they are for work or home, something you need to be is flexible.  How do we use this in the courses we teach???

I am teaching a certificate class which is made up of students with a wide range of skills. Some use their time well were as others may learn better working away quietly in their own time.  The fast learners like to look further and see what they can explore next.  The learner who is unsure, may just want to reinforce what they had all ready been shown.  We are trying to create students to take charge of their learning so we need to be flexible in how, where and what they learn to reach the outcomes that are needed.  All students learn in different ways so if we are flexible in what and how they learn we would get better results.  If there is any way I can engage them so that they are having fun and exploring in the way that is best for them I will feel that I am helping the students to the best I can. 

In the design school a couple of the lecturers have recorded videos that the student can access in their own time.  These are practical demonstrations that the student can watch as many times as they need, to understand.  This way the students can try and problem solve and when the creative mood is in gear they can keep on learning.  We place work on line so if the student is not at class they can access it, but also the students who do attend may decide to re look at the what they have done.  Our students have a lot of self directed time so we need systems in place, so the students can continue learning at their own pace. 

The reason why I am studying this paper is to help me understand how I can be more flexible in my teaching. Showing the students that there are lots of places to find information that will inspire them and that they can learn that there is no door closed, they just need to know where to go and how to access it. 


1 comment:

  1. Joan this is a wonderful introduction to your professional area, and your philosophy as a teacher. Plus we get a sense of who you are when at home....working hard and having fun. Yes getting the chance to explore is crucial for meaningful learning - yet so often teachers are concerned about cramming in mountains of content that 'has to be got through or the students wont learn'. I am familiar with the videos of skills created by some of your colleagues, they are great.

    What do you so now with the materials that students find or create during their study? Are any examples suitable for using with subsequent classes, and could they be in a different form to enhance share-ability? An excellent social bookmarking site is: delicious which students could use to share information from websites as a class. They just need to use a common tag (label) for resources. Have you heard of it?

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