Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - Research Paper Example

Content ……………………………………………………..………………….page Content…………………………………………………………...…………...page 2 Summary…………………………………………………………..………… page 3 Introduction ………………………………………………………….……….page 3 Principles of learning ………………………………………………………...page 4 Concrete to abstract…………………………………………...………………page 4 Expectations affect performance………………………….…………………..page 5 Questioning………………………………………………………….………..page 5 Evidence based learning …………………………………………..………….page 6 Collaborative learning ……………………………………………..…………page 7 Student participation…………………………………………….……………page 7 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………page 8 References…………………………………………………….………………page 9 Summary The interpersonal and interactive nature of small groups makes them a challenging but appropriate way of involving students in the learning process. Learners are engaged in focus groups not only as students but also as co-facilitators of the learning exercise. This enables their intellectual, personal and professional capabilities to grow in tandem with the learning process. Facts from students’ feedback have shown that students benefit a lot and enjoy being involved in the learning being undertaken as opposed to being spoon fed. These benefits can be captured as both cognitive and affective in nature. These findings have shown that the process of building and managing small group in a learning environment is very important. Small groups are a critical way of observing and developing various skills necessary in learners’ life thus giving group work a new status. It’s only within group work that self confidence, team work and interpersonal skills can be nurtured and assessed. The development of communal activities is reported by students to create environments where by they can observe their own learning, adjust the learning to suit different situation thus get more engaged in their subjects. These attributes are part of a deep approach to learning and ensures higher retention levels buy the learners (Hogan 45). Introduction Cognitive research has revealed that even with what is considered to be good instruction, many learners, including academically gifted students have an inferior level of understanding than perceived by most. With commitment, students taking an examination are normally capable of identifying what they have learnt or what they have read; cautious probing, however, often reveals that their understanding is imperfect or distorted, if not altogether mistaken. Principles of learning People have to build their own understanding regardless of how evidently teachers or books tell them things. Mostly, a learner does this by relating new information and ideas to what he or she already believes. Concepts—the basic units of human thought—that do not have numerous links with how a student reasons about the world are not likely to be memorized or useful. Or, if they do remain in theory rather than practical, they will be tucked away in some corner of the brain and may not be available to influence thoughts about any other facet of the world. Concepts are best retained when they are met in a variety of contexts and articulated in a variety of ways, since that ensures that there are more occasions for them to become embedded in a students knowledge system (David and Tina 43). Learning progresses from Concrete to the Abstract Students can learn most readily concerning things that are tangible and are directly available to their senses—, tactile visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. With practice, they grow in their ability to manipulate symbols, reason logically, and comprehend. The mere duplication of tasks by students—whether physical or intellectual—is not likely to lead to enhanced skills or closer insights. Learning is best done when students have opportunities to articulate ideas and get feedback from their equals. But for feedback to be more honest and helpful to learners, it must consist of more than the stipulation of correct answers. Feedback ought to be analytical, to be evocative in good time to enhance improvement of the said concepts. Expectations Affect Performance Learners respond to their own prospects of what they can or cannot learn. When they believe they are able to gain knowledge of something, whether solving technical equations or riding a bicycle, they normally make headway. But when there is lack confidence, learning eludes them. Learners grow in self-confidence as they realize success in learning, and vice versa as in they lose confidence in the face of constant failure. Thus, facilitators need to provide students with demanding but attainable learning activities and help them succeed. Scholars are quick to pick up the potential for success or failure that others expect for them. The positive and/or negative outlook shown by parents, principals, counselors, peers, more generally—by the news media affect students prospects and hence their learning performance. Questioning Proper teaching usually starts with questions and phenomena that are motivating and familiar to students, not with concepts or phenomena outside their scope of knowledge, perception or understanding. Scholars need to get familiar with the things in their environment—including , materials, shapes, devices, organisms and numbers—and to observe them, become puzzled by them, collect them, handle them, argue about them, describe them, ask questions about them, and then make an attempt at finding answers to their queries. learners need to have many and diverse opportunities for sorting, collecting, and cataloging; observing, note taking interviewing,, and sketching; polling, and surveying new information in a group setting so as to facilitate learning. Evidence based learning Scholars should be given problems—at levels suitable to their maturity—that necessitate them to think of and develop concrete evidence relevant to the issues at hand and to offer their own understanding of what the evidence means. This puts a premium on careful scrutiny and thoughtful examination of the concept at hand. Students need encouragement, guidance and practice in collecting, sorting, analyzing and presenting evidence, and in building opinions based on it. However, such undertakings are not to be destructively boring, they should lead to some intellectually rewarding payoff that learners care about (Hogan 55). Effective oral and printed communication is so vital in every facet of life that facilitators of every subject and at every stage should demand a high priority on it for all learners. In addition, teachers should emphasize clear articulation, because the role of facts and the unequivocal replication of evidence cannot be comprehended without some effort to express ones own ideas, procedures and findings rigorously, and to decipher the accounts of other learners in the same realm. Emphasis on evidence learning is a way of encouraging professional ethics among students which actually goes a long way towards bringing out competence and accuracy in their work. In cases where ideologies and concepts are not clearly supported its important that as learning facilitator you use a cautious language to make the student understand that more is expected of them if they are to gain points (Hogan 45). Collaborative learning The collaborative style of knowledge provision should be strongly reinforced by regular group activities both in the classroom and externally. Its important to note that most white collar careers are practiced mostly in groups and less often as isolated environments. In the same way, learners should acquire experience while sharing responsibility for learning with one another. Emphasis on competition among apprentice for high grades distorts what should be the prime reason for studying: to find things out. Competition among learners in the classroom may also result in some of them developing a negative attitude towards science thus losing their confidence in their aptitude to acquire knowledge (Heather 76). Student preparation A study into peer tutoring indicated that they had recognized that there is a need for student preparation on the “knowledge of the subject’. This had previously been overlooked and not considered as important and as a result students have been introduced into entirely new topic and areas of knowledge without prior preparation. Understanding rather than vocabulary should be the main purpose of teaching. If facilitators introduce technical language only as needed to clarify thoughts and promote effectual communication, then scholars will gradually build functional vocabulary that will endure beyond the next examination (Heather 54). Conclusion Curiosity is good in a learning environment; teachers should give confidence to students to raise questions about the substance being studied. Propose to them creative ways for discovering answers, and reward those who come up with correct answers even as you pursue unusual but relevant questions. Their vital tenet is that the learners evidence, logic, and claims will be put to question, and ones research will be subjected to reproduction. In a learning environment, it’s normal practice for facilitators to raise such questions as: What is the evidence? How do we know? What is the argument that interprets the evidence? What are alternative explanations or other ways of solving the equation that could be better? The endeavor should be to get students into the tradition of posing such questions and coming up with answers. This should be done in a way to ensure that better ideas give way to good ideas without the bearers of such ideas feeling either ignored or better than the rest, wherever appropriate. Practice using tools and equipments Many students are fearful of using equipments, instruments and other tools. This fear may result mainly from the lack of chance to practice with them. Many of them have to become well acquainted with tools in safe environments. Girls for instance, suffer from the wrong notion that boys are obviously more adept at using apparatus. Beginning with the earliest grades, all students ought to gradually gain acquaintance with tools and the proper use of them. By the time they do their final exam, all students should have had management experience with ordinary hand tools necessary in their field (Heather 57). Works Cited David, A and Tina, B. The facilitators book of questions: tools for looking together at student. . London: Teachers College Press, 2004. Print. Heather, F. A handbook for teaching and learning in higher education. New York: Lexington Books, 2004. Print. Hogan, Christine. Understanding facilitation: theory and principles. New York: Kogan Page Publishers, 2002. Print. Milbrey, Wallin and Joan E McLaughlin. Talbert.Building. School-based teacher learning communities: professional strategies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. Print. Read More