Assessments as you mentioned, puts most of the focus on grades which becomes the students main concern, and not the actual learning process. I’m happy to know that not all of us have been thorough this traditional system and that you didn’t receive grades which made you more interested in what you learnt!
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I like how you highlight the fact that growing up in a disadvantaged area will create obstacles and challenges in your life that will make you want to immigrate to other developed countries. All those aspects need to be discussed in education. Students need to be aware of the outside world so once they get a chance they can actually make a difference. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing your experience. Too many people criticizing the educational system but we’ve been in the same spot for many years. Once people start thinking of solutions, only then we will start moving forward. Good choice of quotes from Parker Palmers article!
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This statement sums up most of the challenges we face as future educators: “The students should become the center of the learning process. They should know why to learn, how to learn, and how they can make a difference by using what they learn in school.”
From my experience in teaching outside the US, students do NOT want to get involved in the learning process, which after taking this course, I think I understand why. The learning process is too traditional with systemized assessments. They attend classes waiting for them to end. So our role is to ensure they ‘enjoy’ what they learn in order for them to make a difference by using what they learn in school. Its a cycle.
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This statement sums up most of the challenges we face as future educators: “The students should become the center of the learning process. They should know why to learn, how to learn, and how they can make a difference by using what they learn in school.”
From my experience in teaching outside the US, students do NOT want to get involved in the learning process, which after taking this course, I think I understand why. The learning process is too traditional with systemized assessments. They attend classes waiting for them to end. So our role is to ensure they ‘enjoy’ what they learn in order for them to make a difference by using what they learn in school. Its a cycle.
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I really liked your statement about “technology taking over our cognitive abilities”. I understand where that comes from given all the high-tech classrooms we have nowadays. It becomes difficult to assess how technology will have an impact on future education since this is how students communicate. As future professors, we need to include technology in our courses in a way that does not separate us but rather group us together. This is similarly shown in our blogs and class discussions. I will be planning to include technology but only for a portion of the course, and the other portion should be actual interactions and a 2 way teaching and learning process. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for those statistics, they’re definitely interesting to go through! What happened to Engineering though? I expected it at least to be in the quantitative group! Oh, it’s not even on any of those groups:D
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Great ideas here. Out of the six points you summarized, I can definitely relate 3 to myself. Digital learning is a challenge at the beginning (either for the students or the professor), but we need to overcome any of those obstacles in order to speak with our students with their language, and encourage them to get involved in a 2-way teaching and learning process!
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As you mentioned technical aspects can now be taught outside of the classroom. This is why courses related to humanities play a big role in our society. They shape the new generations, and will eventually have a worldwide impact that many people cannot recognize from now. A successful engineer is one who does not overlook any learning opportunity (s)he is given.
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I like the description of a “bidirectional” teaching and learning process. It should not only go both ways, but a number of other ways that will allow both the educator and the student to learn together. This concept needs to be given more attention in many educational systems so that they can modify their teaching strategies in ways that can benefit everyone.
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