Introduction, week 1
1. Getting Started
I am way behind in my reading for this course, so writing anything on this blog has not made sense until now. Since I still have some catching up to do, in this entry, I will just comment and reflect on the texts and videos that appeared in the first few weeks of the course.
To begin with, I am not really sure what I have signed up for. This does not worry me too much, per se. Studies of students with advanced reading skills, for example, show that students who read a lot do not worry when a texts does not immediately make sense. Instead, they trust that they will eventually figure it out. In other words, they trust their own ability to make sense out of chaos and they trust that the chaos is illusory. Experience tells them it will probably be ok. So that is where I am. In the chaos, trusting that things will eventually begin to make sense.
But I am apprehensive. Reading the suggested blogposts by Kay Oddone I find myself increasingly questioning the social constructionism theories that support and form this course. The little film that accompanies her post is so simplistic in its description of collaborative work, and so condescending in its tone, that I seriously begin to worry if this course will be a colossal waste of time. And it makes me wonder if problem-based learning (PBL), too, is mostly just a waste of time. I do not buy Oddone's assertion that traditional teaching, based on what is so conveniently named a "transmission model" (the criticism is implied already in the term), is somehow less effective. In my most generous mode, I'd say that there may be room for both, but that traditional teaching still wins out.
I currently do much of my teaching in teacher-training programs. And if I feel that I might be wasting my own time in taking this course, it means I must seriously consider whether problem-based learning will be an equal waste of my students' time. Is this a teaching method (teaching seems to be a bad word in social constructionist theory because it is used so rarely) that I want to exemplify and consequently encourage my students to adopt in their own, future classrooms? I am far from sure that I do. But for now, I have decided that I will continue the course, if only to find an answer to that question.
References:
Oddone, K. (2016) Collaborative Learning and Learning Communities: Learning is Social. linkinglearning.com.au. 15 March. Retrieved from: http://www.linkinglearning.com.au/collaborative-learning-and-learning-communities/
Oddone, K. (2018) Open Networked Learning: Challenges and Opportunities. linkinglearning.com.au. 13 September. Retrieved from: http://www.linkinglearning.com.au/learning-through-connections-in-theory/
I am glad that you found a question that got you involved in the course despite your hesitation! Coming discussions about teaching/learning perspectives will be interesting to follow. The possibility to argue and motivate ones standpoint is a possibility in PBL, how about "traditional teaching"?
ReplyDeleteYes Ulf, and the reading material for topic 1 addresses several of my concerns head-on, which is very comforting. I have a feeling many of my initial thoughts will be revised or at least challenged.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you starting up the blogging! And what an interesting start it is :) I really appreciated the part about “trust that the chaos is illusory” – such an important part to remind students of in the beginning of a struggle, especially dealing with those who lack the advanced reading skills! Can you please share the reference of the study?
ReplyDeleteIf I understood your plan correctly is to go through the reading from topic to topic, however a bit later than it was intended? And in that case this was the reactions to your first reading from introduction and connecting weeks? – I am thus very much looking forward to your coming posts and see how the course turns out for you! From your comment below it seems like Topic 1 already provided you with some contradicting material?
When it comes to the transmission teaching I think for example the framework of ICAP (Chi and Wylie, 2014 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823 - wanted to add a hyperlink but did not work for some reason!) provides some aspects to consider. Have you encountered this concept before? You get me extremely curious to hear what grounds you have for your standpoint of that traditional teaching wins out, and what particular characteristics that you find to be especially beneficial for learning. For me anyway, the word “teaching” is a beautiful one – daunting and challenging but loaded with so much importance and responsibility. So, I think that it is maybe more about what we put into the word “teaching” – and how much boundaries we mentally write into it, rather than “teaching” as such, being the bad word.