Image retrieved from: http://wesharepics.info/imagepgkl-person-standing-alone.asp, August 11, 2016
Since starting my first online course this past month I have become acutely aware of how I fare as a self directed learner. I was definitely nervous at the start and I had been told by a number of people that online courses were hard and not the way to go. I have discovered, however, that I really enjoy the process of online learning and being a self directed learner. The following article about self directed learning is from the University of Waterloo and is short but sweet:
This article gives some great information about the definition of self directed learning and what it takes to be a successful student and teacher. I especially like the section on "the responsibilities in the 4 step process" where the writer clearly identifies the roles of the students and the advising faculty.
Image courtesy of http://www.slideshare.net/chadimohammed/inspiring-students-through-emotional-intelligence
I work in a field where communication, empathy and emotional regulation are paramount. In rehabilitation therapy you may be working in a hospital, rehab facility or an extended care home and no matter what your area you must be able to create rapport and trust with your clients, pick up cues that are non verbal, and be able to read emotions and understand how those emotions might be affecting your client and how their treatment is going to go that day. All of these skills can be categorized as emotional intelligence and in most cases these skills are just as important as being able to carry out the prescribed exercises with the client in a class, gym or one-on-one session.
Although I have just talked about my personal opinion of which profession EI is important in I want to emphasize that it is becoming more and more well known that EI is an asset in any work place and indeed many professions are starting to seek out EI traits in their applicants more often than the "hard skills" required to do the jobs that they are applying for.
In this article from MindTools.com about "Emotional Intelligence" you will get a great idea of what it is and an introduction to Daniel Goleman's 5 characteristics of EI. The main point of the article however, is that EI can be developed and there are some great tips on how to help yourself grow in EI. I think that as instructors we have an opportunity to help our students grow in EIas well and I plan to use the tips listed in the article above to come up with some ways in which to incorporate them in to my classes.
"At the heart of the matter is the understanding by those who create
instruction that education and learning is dispensable. If the load that
I am under is too great for me to manage, then I must begin to
“jettison cargo” emotionally, and here is where education or learning
can find itself “thrown overboard” for the sake of survival." (Para. 5)
In doing research for this post I found that I was interested in many theories and in particular I was drawn to the idea of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. But after careful thought I realized that I wanted to focus more on a theory that resonated with me on a more personal level. After recently being a full time student with a baby, and a husband working two jobs to support us, I definitely understand what it is to feel that the scales that hold your "load" and your "power" may be tipping in an unfavorable way. I was lucky to have a lot of support and strength within myself in order to keep balanced but it took a lot out of me, my husband and the rest of our community to make that happen.
In my career as an instructor I hope to be able to gain the respect and rapport of my students and to create an environment where they feel that their lives are an important factor in their education and that if anyone starts to feel that their is an imbalance and that the "load" is getting to be too high that they will be able to come to me for help before throwing their education overboard.
I've been lucky to be able to connect with my learning partner face to face a couple of weeks ago and also to have a conversation via Facetime last night. We talked about where we each work and how we both had a hard time pinning down a trend in our fields. Lisa mentioned that her work in domestic violence for the RCMP is investigative and in training for it there is no room for discussion about theories it is done a certain way and it is important to follow the specific steps. I found that because my profession (Occupational and Physical Therapist Assistant) is relatively new it was hard to find articles written about it at all let alone articles about trends.
Some trends in adult education that have caught Lisa's eye are the flipped classroom and online learning as they are both very different than the structure of her university classes in the past.
We also discussed our futures as instructors and we differ in that Lisa has a more clear path in front of her at the moment and is already doing some presentations and training in the community whereas I am new to the college environment on a 1 year contract and am hoping that by taking these courses I will broaden my scope and be able to work as an instructor down the line but there is not yet a clear path for me.
Lisa's blog is called Tango Sierra and you can check it out by clicking the link under "Blogs I follow" to the right.
"when used effectively, classroom comedy can improve student performance
by reducing anxiety, boosting participation and increasing students'
motivation to focus on the material." (par. 8)
Image retrieved from http://visual.ly/health-benefits-laughter
The quote above is from this article, http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/learning.aspx written by Zak Stambor for the American Psychological Association in 2006. In the article, called "How laughing leads to learning", Stambor interviews professors and researchers about the merits and pitfalls of using humour in the classroom. I was surprised to find out how much research has been done on the topic and happy to see that the evidence shows that humour has a profound effect on student's experiences of learning and even helps to reduce their stress levels to improve test results and retention of information.
I love to laugh and after reading this article I am convinced that when I start to teach I will need to be creative and come up with funny ways to deliver material and engage with my students. I like the idea of staging elaborate musical acts such as the one that Professor Ron Berk talks about in the article (par. 4) but I think to start I will call on my natural sense of humour and ability to create rapport through empathy and use a more self deprecating or personal form of humour and story telling and see where it takes us.
There are so many ways to bring out laughter and if, like myself, you are not sure if you are funny enough to teach in this way I found another short little article from Humber College Centre for Teaching and Learning that has some great tips on how to "Laugh and Learn".
Adapted from, UCBHCA: Training of Facilitators Manual. Retrieved July 15, 2016, from http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/uk/d/Jh0414e/5.1.html
This article, written by Dorothy D. Billington for the Johns Hopkins School of Education, is interesting because it focuses on both the characteristics of adult learners and the characteristics of an effective learning environment. Through a four year study of sixty men and women between the ages of 37 and 48 who had entered in to doctoral programs Billington creates, "The seven key factors found in learning programs that stimulated adult development" (par. 5 Billington, 1996).
Of the seven factors that Billington lists I gravitate to the first, and the third as environments that I could easily create in my classroom. It is the fifth factor "Optimal pacing is challenging people just beyond their present level of ability. If challenged too far beyond, people give up. If challenged too little, they become bored and learn little" (par. 10, Billington, 1996), that I think I might find most challenging. Since adult learners are not only driven by individual needs but also their experiences, I think that trying to create a course that is challenging enough but not too challenging for every individual student will take a lot of careful planning. I also think that it could be a great opportunity to build in team building exercises at the beginning of a course to help me and the students get to know each other and really find out what everyone's expectations, limitations and strengths are. Or perhaps building in time to have one on one meetings with students before the class is in full swing would be a good way to gather this information and help guide my teaching strategies for the rest of the course.
In 2009 Liz Coleman, then president of Bennington College in Vermont, gave a talk at a TED conference on the need to reform higher education. Her speech was inspiring and heart felt and in it she talked about her personal struggle with the lack of passion within the liberal arts programs in a country that is known to be the home of liberal arts. Coleman's proposal was to change the liberal arts in to a cross disciplinary study with a focus on public service.
Since her TED talk in 2009 Coleman has successfully reformed the liberal arts program at Bennington College and created a program that "puts action and civic engagement at the centre of it's curriculum. The courses focus not on answers but on how to think critically and solve complex, real-world problems." (par. 3, Jacobs, 2014)
I believe that Liz Coleman's idea to educate people on civic action is brilliant and should be the future of higher education around the world. We are faced with unimaginatively large and problematic global issues and in Coleman's words:
If you really want to be effective, you have to stand there and take it in and learn and figure out and bring the resources that you bring to other things. You need to do it with other people — don’t try to do it alone. You can’t settle for drops in the bucket. It won’t do to wrap up your garbage, it won’t do to send the contribution. Those are all fine, but it’s not going to make a huge change. It’s just not. It’s going to take all you’ve got. (par. 21, 2014)
