mylife

Well I read this article as I flew up to Townsville for my cousin's birthday party. It is interesting as it outlines the ways that technology can be used to foster autonomy in the classroom. Though I do admit that I would have been one of the very confused students that were mentioned in the study as I feel that autonomy is something that is generally not fostered in most learning environments. Whether it is somply that there is too much to get through each week, or that students seem to be unable to do it. I have tried leaving the responsibility for learning in my students hands but some of them are unable to accept that it is there responsibily. Two or three of them blaming me for there inability to complete the assigned tasks saying I never told them they had to do it. This is despite the fact that I told them every week for threee weeks but by the fourth week I had given up and by the fifth week I knew they did not care so I found it hard to.

I feel that discovery learning has its place but it is really important to show students what it is you expect them to do. You can not just hand them a piece of papaer and expect them to be able to produce the kind of work that you want them to. You must model or explain. Even if it takes more time than you might have available as this part is the one that will keep the students confidence up both in themselves and in you.

One of the students in the article commented something along the fact that she could have learnt at home by herself instead of doing the course and I think this is an indication that perhaps the person in charge of the course did not make themselves available enough to the students. Or perhaps did not explain or model what they wanted the students to do enough. On the opposing hand perhaps that student just needed a little more assistance to be weaned off the teacher feeding cycle that much of the education system places all of us in. In particular anyone who was at school around the time I was.