ELECTRONIC GROUP SITES

e-SITE AND HOW IT AFFECTS LEARNING

I am a part time faculty member in our local community college, the University of the Visayas. One of the courses I am handling is Educational Technology I. Because of the very nature of the course, I required my students to sign up to an electronic group site that I prepared for them. I got mixed feelings afterwards.

What is the benefit of being a member to a group site? There are I think four, namely:

1. Increased learning by the student to the mastery level - Being the site moderator, I can fully upload files that I think will help my students better understand the course. Learning, therefore, is not limited only to what is in the textbook but rather, additional reading materials are readily available to the students should they wish to read some more. Students can even upload their own readings promoting sharing and cooperation among them.


2. Increased teaching efficiency without additional cost - Because of the nature of the Web, pictures, graphs, tables, presentations and even videos that complement topics discussed inside the classroom can be made freely available to all site members. Long distance teaching and teleconferencing can even be made possible if in case the teacher will not be physically available inside the classroom.


3. Decreased time taken for the students to obtain desired learning objectives - Obviously because the site takes into consideration the multiple intelligence and the learning style of the students, knowledge acquisition among them will be shorter. Students learn at their own pace; thus, making learning more efficient as compared if when the teacher dictates the pace of learning.


4. Reduced educational cost without affecting educational quality - Students may just log inside the site to read rather than photocopy all the notes made by the teacher. Course requirements may just also be uploaded to save money from printing all those encoded projects.

EVALUATION - FORMATIVE OR SUMMATIVE?

WHEN SHOULD A WRITTEN QUIZ BE GIVEN AND WHY?

There are times that when I sit down to observe a class (usually on informal visits), the students have nothing to do but answer a quiz. What is the nature of this quiz? Is this summative or formative?

It should always be that after a lesson the teacher has to evaluate whether the learning objectives were met. The teacher has to assess all three objectives-cognitive, affective and psychomotor. This evaluation must have been formative for its main objective is to determine whether learning took place. Unfortunately, only the cognitive aspect is evaluated!

So how do we consider a thirty-item test which is given neither as a periodic or quarterly exam? Can this be formative too? Mostly teachers give long exams which correspond to topics taken in one unit. Is this summative in nature? Let us remember, however, that before such a test the students have already been evaluated after every daily lesson; although, the latter is obviously formative, isn't it that a unit exam (in the guise of being summative), redundant in nature to a periodic exam or quarterly exam.

I was just wondering because quizzes are really supposed to be formative in nature and never summative. I always find it a waste of time giving long exams as summative evaluation because a periodic or quarterly exam does the same-quantify learning. Teachers may instead opt for an authentic task to evaluate learning rather than give a long quiz that is clearly to the teacher summative in nature and thus, a repition of the periodic or quarter exam.

Worst, if the long exam is just to feign lack of willingness to prepare one good lesson!

CONCEPT MAPPING AS DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

Most of the time I hear that concept maps are used to evaluate learning. Unknown to some teachers, a concept map is indeed a good diagnostic tool for determining prior knowledge of the students to the concepts still to be taken up.

If the pedagogy one adopts is constructivist, it is imperative that the teacher has to build new knowledge on the previous one. The teacher in order to activate prior knowledge will most likely just throw a question about the concept to be discussed. Based on the students right or wrong responses, he will build upon his lesson; however, this may be an invalid way of eliciting prior knowledge.

If the students have language deficiency and thus cannot express himself much orally, a concept map of the topic still to be discussed may be helpful.

CURRICULUM MAPPING

WHEN IS IT BEST DONE

However well a teacher plans his lesson, there will always be a time that a good plan may not be carried out successfully in the classroom. There is a number of reasons why such preparation goes awry. A good teacher, however, does not just stop at a lesson that has gone wrong. He should ask himself questions-what went wrong that such a good intention went bad. A teacher should reflect on what happens to his teaching everyday.

In reflecting what has transpired inside the classroom, it is a good practice to mark the lesson plan for the day with comments on what really transpired, what did not happen, the reasons why it did not happen, what are the good things that have happened and what are the things done or taught which have not been included in the plan. This is curriculum mapping.

Inasmuch as the map will be used for planning the curriculum for the next school year, when is curriculum mapping best done? To my opinion, it is best done weekly. The subject teacher must do the mapping every week for all the subjects he is teaching. Furthermore, a quarterly curriculum mapping by discipline should also be done. Such will give a twofold effect: (1) Teachers are able to share best practices that they may use in their future lessons, and (2) Intensive curriculum map will be done and curriculum re-engineering for the next school year will be a lot easier.

THE HURRIED CHILD

ARE PARENTS CURRICULUM EXPERTS?

Let me get this straight. I am a high school teacher and curriculum engineer. Today is the start of the school year 2008-2009. Except for some glitches, classes were able to start well on time. When I met my counterpart from the elementary department, she blurted out that a parent decided to withdraw her child and transfer him to another school. We cannot argue with the parent because,inapparently, they know best. When I asked what was the reason she would transfer her child, the mother had answered, "The lesson is not very 'intensive'."

Whatever the parent meant by "intensive", definitely she is after the best for her child. But who should determine what is best for the child...or for this matter, the student? Isn't it that we are suppose to follow a learning continuum (as prepared by the congregational education ministry) and the PELC (by the DepEd) in planning and preparing what to teach. The curricular content-skill and concept-should be based on the prescribed minimum requirements set by the government. It is very sad that our parents thought that if we teach algebra in Kindergarten or genetics in Grade III, they are getting their money's worth.

The school, after consultation with the parents, should decide solely on what to teach. We should let our students learn at a pace that suites each one best. Please, let us not "hurry" our children. Sige dali, sige dali dayun wala hinoon kauli.

IN TOUCH WITH ONE'S SPIRITUALITY

"ROOM TO READ"

In one episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show the topic was about getting in touch with our own spirituality-that is the longing for something more in life. One guest then was John Wood. He worked for Microsoft before and was used to life of comfort and abundance. To escape from the rigors of work, he decided to take a vacation in Nepal one day. There he met one government official working for the Nepalese Department of Education.

John was very interested of the plight of the young Nepalese students that he asked the official to show him one of the local grade schools in the place. The school was delapidated and the library had only eight books that to him were not for the young students at all. He promised to help the school and send books; however, to his dismay, the official told him that every foreigner who had visited them promised the same but did not fulfill them. This saddened John.

When he went back home, John resigned from Microsoft and with his connections started soliciting for both financial help and books to be sent to Nepal. The rest is history. His foundation today-Room to Read-has helped a lot of schools from developing countries. He was able to establish several libraries and continued donating books to them. He admitted that today definitely he is earning less, but the satisfaction he has is more than what he had before when he was earning so much from Microsoft.

HIGH COST OF EDUCATION

I have once read a line that goes something like, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." There is no doubt as to the wisdom of this adage. Indeed quality education is expensive. Why should it be?

Quality education, first and foremost, demands quality teaching, and quality teaching in return demands quality teachers. I may be blunt with this but only a few education graduates-elementary or high school-are capable of teaching well. Teachers who have just passed the LET still need to be trained in the art of teaching well. Obviously, trainings for such intent cost some money.

There is also today a "migration" of good teachers abroad in search of that proverbial greener pasture. We cannot blame these teachers. What an ordinary teacher earns today is as much as what a utility worker of any refutable business company takes home for his family. It's sad really. So as for good teachers not to leave school, they should be paid well; thus, the increase in tuition fee.

I just hope that people will also be considerate of the plight of private schools and the reasons why they have to increase the tuition fees.