ONL had suggested that I attempt this blog by answering the following five questions. I will begin each of these questions with a popular quote, just as I have made the quote by Michelangelo as the title of this blog. He succinctly embodies my sentiments after completing the ONL module. I have learnt many new concepts and approaches that may be helpful in my journey as an educator in Engineering. ONL has not quenched my intellectual thirst on learning, in fact, it has encouraged me to continue to search further and has made me realize that my journey will never end and I am not disappointed.
Let's move forward with the questions:
1. What are the most important things that you have learnt through your engagement in the ONL course? Why?
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.
Carl Rogers
I have learnt many things in the ONL course. The foremost of these is surely meta-cognition. Meta-cognition in brief is thinking about one's own thinking. It calls upon the need to be mindful of one's learning and to be present in the now. These are concepts that I have read about in the literature of self-realization. This has resonated with me deeply and provided me with my very own "WOW!" moment. Carl Rogers has so ably captured that special moment in his words.
2. How will your learning influence your practice?
A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.
W.B. Yeats
I think of teaching as the process of mainly transferring information to students. Therefore, teaching as I have defined is dead and Yeats agrees. The Education of the future will focus more on how to learn rather than on the information that is required. In my humble opinion, there will be a cultural revolution of some fashion, where all stakeholders (students, parents and institutions) will, first and foremost, embrace learning and view information retention as secondary. Once this becomes part of our cultural heritage, it will be very easy to make learning the cornerstone of an educator's responsibilities. The educator will embark on a shared journey where learning is universally accepted as the endgame. However, when this cultural norm is not in place, the usual negatives, such as the over-emphasis on grades and only learning how to answer past exam questions will continue to prevail.
On my part, even if it is a losing battle in the short term, I will emphasize learning and introduce meta-cognitive approaches in my classes. "It may only take a matchstick to burn down the forest" of ignorance, there is never a guarantee that the spark I light will create that outcome. Nevertheless, it will be the right thing to do.
3. What are your thoughts about using technology to enhance learning/teaching in your own context?
Learning never exhausts the mind.
Leonardo da Vinci
Engineers create Technology. As an engineering educator, technology excites me. Therefore, seeing technology being used or implemented to enhance learning in my own practice will be most natural and very welcomed.
However, we have to be very mindful that every technology is like a tool in the carpenter's toolbox. Each tool has its place and purpose. You cannot use a chisel on a screw (well you may actually, but you will definitely damage the chisel). Therefore, a careful and patient evaluation of the tool is necessary before it can be used effectively. In addition, it may also be prudent to evaluate several tools before applying the one with the best result. If cost is an issue, then the tool with the better value/cost ratio should be employed. By value I am referring to any metric that is able to quantify learning. On a lighter note, the following quotation on the cost of learning will place all anxieties of over spending to rest.
If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance.
Howard Gardner
4. What are you going to do as a result of your involvement in ONL? Why?
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi
ONL has offered me a completely new perspective towards learning. Gandhi's advice is very apt as I have often noticed the reverse of what he is expounding. Students at my institution are viewing learning as short-term, often, only doing what is barely minimal to pass the exams. Once the exam is over, they will want to forget everything that they have learned in that semester, so as to make space in their brains or mind for new stuff in the following semester. Is this not "learning as if we will die tomorrow?"
I will attempt in my classes to show the students how the material that is covered will be useful to them in the future. Even if my message is contrary to all that they have perceived in other modules, it is imperative to impress on them that we should "learn as if we will live forever." Every morsel of knowledge will make us a better person and it is not important to be "efficient" where students will pick and choose what they deem to be important - often based on analyzing past exams.
5. What suggestions do you have (activities and/or in general) for development of eLearning in your own teaching or context?
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Voltaire
I will devote myself to creating this "sustained thinking" that Voltaire so eloquently states. I will move away from emphasizing information retention. I will rather emphasize meta-cognitive methods and encourage my students to think about their thinking. I believe that this is especially important in my role as an engineering educator.
Engineering is the application of the sciences, such as physics, chemistry and biology. Mathematics serves as the binding language between the sciences and their application (engineering). A serious review of the engineering curriculum must soon be attempted. Solving engineering problems can take many different approaches, but whatever approach is taken, the underlying fundamental physical quantities, such as Energy, Forces and Momentum are in fact universal. Indeed, approaches such as "Bond Graphs" have emphasized that Energy in a system is exactly the same irrespective of whatever disciplines we approach the system from. Approaches such as these attempt to unify the various engineering disciplines. However, these approaches are extremely rare.
Concluding remarks
When I first enrolled into ONL, I was overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity of learning models
and literature. With the PBL discussions and deliberations, it was a
very quick initiation in learning and I do not feel overwhelmed any
longer. I became aware of many learning models and approaches. The one important thing that I have learnt from ONL is that there are many ways to learn and one should adapt and explore these various approaches. Indeed, it may take a lifetime to grasp everything there is to know about learning. My lifetime awaits with excitement. Therefore, I am still learning.
Hi Subra! I really enjoy reading your reflection and your use of quotes to communicate your sentiments. Indeed learning to think and thinking about thinking are the skills that prepare students for life. I was wondering what kinds of strategies might be useful within an engineering context. Here's a couple:
ReplyDelete- after action reviews after projects where students reflect on prototypes and team work
- group concept mapping of difficult concepts (on Miro) that can perhaps be shared with the rest of the class?
- journalling for extra credit. Although this may be the most difficult to implement it may be the one that instills habits and practices of reflection into students - something key to metacognition. Let me know what you think!
Verily, thank you for the kind comments. I agree with all the strategies that you have outlined - they work superbly in small classes (I think about maximally 20 students). Engineering classes are usually very big. The class I teach has an annual cohort size of about 400. Monitoring the progress of each and every student for such a big class itself is impossible, let alone monitoring their journals and reflections.
DeleteThe bigger problem I believe is the learning culture - most students view learning as a short term goal - the system emphasizes exams and assessment goals, which by themselves are short term. I propose an overhaul of the entire education system, let us do away with exams and ranking - let us emphasize learning for learning sake. I know this is too idealistic and not going to gain much traction - but continuing the way we have, is just going to produce students who are trained to be exam smart.
Hi Subra, thank you for your interesting reflection, it is so nicely structured and the quotes are really on point :) One thing that caught my attention in your post was the following sentence:
ReplyDelete"The Education of the future will focus more on how to learn rather than on the information that is required."
I fully agree, but I do not know if I can accurately say that this is not already happening. I have a background in computer science and I did my bachelor's in Albania, master's in Sweden, and I am currently pursuing a PhD in Sweden. Jumping from bachelors to masters, especially in another education system, quite different from the one that I was used to, had its perks, and starting a PhD was an even more bold step. One of my biggest fears was whether the knowledge that I had acquired in my prior education was enough, or whether there were gaps. And the honest truth, is that there were gaps in the amount of technical information I had acquired back home. However, my biggest advantage, was what you mentioned in this sentence; I knew how to learn. That was the greatest benefit I have acquired from my bachelors. I knew how to navigate my way through different topics, I knew how and where to search for information, I knew how to master the information that was in front of me. And I believe this is one of the most important skills, not only during university years, but throughout your entire life. I see people who work hard, but are always used to being guided and "spoon-fed" by other people, and I see people who probably do not put the same effort, but whose learning is more efficient, just because they know how to learn. Thanks once again for the interesting blog post that made me reflect on this particular topic.
Best,
Malvina
Hi Malvina, Happy New Year!! and many thanks for reading my blog and your comments are very welcomed.
DeleteI will agree with you that learning occurs in our present educational systems - but I dare speculate that this is only so with the better students. In addition, this learning is not an intended outcome of the system, but only occurs infrequently among students who have taken this step on their own. The present educational systems are more "teaching" centric rather than "learning" centric. Just last night, I was reflecting about this same issue. My institution has a very elite organisation known as the "The Teaching Academy" where excellent teachers are invited to its ranks. I was just wondering if we need excellence in teaching? Good Teaching is necessary of course - but should it be the main focus? Should we not be more focused on learning instead? I was just wondering out loud if they had renamed themselves as the "The Learning Academy" instead, and spent all their effort and deliberations on learning rather than teaching - would not that be a worthier enterprise? I feel that concentrating on Good Teaching makes educators want to be better show-persons where classes will be entertaining and students think that they have had a good teacher. Good Teaching is also easier to evaluate (not necessarily accurately) by using student feedback. The harder metric to measure will be how much learning has occurred in a particular module. Should not that be the goal? I am pretty sure if we all had aligned our goals on learning and not be distracted by teaching we may formulate radicalized curricula and achieve accelerated learning as an intended outcome. We may also conclude that Exams are not necessary and all that anxiety on the part of students (who need to take the exams) and the educators (who need to set the exams) can be channeled into more useful energies towards learning.
In parting, I hope that there will be a sustained thinking towards learning - and Voltaire had so beautifully enunciated that "No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking." We must be able to engineer learning into our educational systems!!