Full papers are at here
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| Ms. Abarnah Kirupananda
Informatics Institute of Technology, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka. |
Ms. Prabhashrini Dhanushika
Department of Computational Mathematics, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. |
Dr. Surangika Ranathunga
Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. |
| Use of a scaffold flipped classroom teaching approach to develop post-millennials as effective self-learners
Background for teaching changes: Post millennials are a group that uses internet, social media and email facilities from school going age. It is reported that they have a considerably less attention span, less focus, and have greater expectations, while wanting to be early starters, and importantly challenge teachers when they commence their higher education. A majority of such learners do not prefer traditional methods of learning. Having experienced this first hand, I was keen to explore whether changing to a flipped classroom would create and interest among them to learn and hence to fulfill their learning needs. I have combined the flipped classroom with lesson breaks in a first-year computer programming course with 20 students. It turned out to be a success, where it helped them to research on prescribed topics before a lecture, and to make them actively engage during the class. Even though students did not like it at the beginning, later them seem to enjoy this interaction. Student feedback showed agreement as they viewed the change positively, meeting their learning needs. I have shared these methods with my colleagues and have motivated them also to follow interactive learning techniques to make the learning process more enjoyable. Once I started working on this area, I got interested towards it and started exploring more. Now I am continuing to practice these methods and I am implementing different techniques to give learners a better learning experience.
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Development of a Teaching Philosophy to meet and improve Teaching Practices suited for effecting positive change
Background for teaching changes: Higher Education (HE) teaching to meet today’s needs and to deliver quality learning, need a mind-set change. Every teacher aspires to be an effective teacher, and some may still hold the view that transmission of knowledge can make learners competent. There are many aspects that should be considered during the development and the delivery of courses. As a novice teacher, I found it to be a huge challenge to introduce such changes, while maintaining learner interactions. Having followed a teaching development course, I now could easily implement improvements while relating to documented prior knowledge given in the literature. Therefore, in this paper, I have explored the use of Bloom’s Affective learning taxonomy to design and integrate a course to a holistic teaching philosophy (TP), which would deliver the required teaching quality and also self-satisfaction. Curriculum and course planning should be grounded on a TP. TPs should be flexible and may evolve when new experiences and knowledge are gained. Currently, I am researching on how to improve learning skills among weak students. In this regard, I am engaging with such learners to discover the root of such weaknesses, to address this issue. I strongly believe that we academics should be effective in producing competent learners via the courses we teach, while not confining ourselves in transmitting information. |
Developing Active Explorers from Listeners: Encouraging engineering students to explore by asking Questions during Lectures
Background for teaching changes: Moving students from lower order thinking skills (LOTS) to develop as graduates with higher order learning and inquiry skills is challenging. The use of questioning strategies in class could develop students’ elaborative interrogation skills, during this transformation. However, in the South Asian culture, many students hesitate to ask questions at lectures due to lack of confidence in what they have just learnt, and due to poor English communication skills. As a lecturer, I found this silence very frustrating, and hence wanted to make a change. Therefore I implemented two supporting actions in my Semester 2 engineering course, namely, to allow students to write their questions on a piece of paper and to pass it to the lecturer; and to move around the classroom so that they gain access to ask questions in private. The effectiveness of these interventions were evaluated using direct observations and through a questionnaire. The initial opportunity to forward written queries helped later to have a dialogue with them, when I moved around in class. Motivated by this success, I now have introduced lecture breaks where they could seek direct feedback from me, especially when a new concept is introduced. These results clearly indicate the importance of creating a discursive environment for students to ask questions. I have encouraged my colleagues to try out this intervention providing an opportunity to seek clarifications later. |