EDN4501 Images of Context by Shanali Govender https://padlet.com/uct/edn4501_2018 Show the class your teaching context. en-us 2018-05-17 07:06:45 UTC 2026-01-14 20:02:49 UTC hello@padlet.com Day 1 Reflection - July 9, 2018 for Marjorie Sarah Kabuye Batiibwe https://padlet.com/uct/edn4501_2018/wish/269804043 I am a Mathematics Educator at the Department of Science, Technical and Vocational Education (DSTVE), School of Education (SoE), College of Education and External Studies (CEES) at Makerere University in Uganda. I teach both undergraduate and graduate courses. For the undergraduates, I teach Methods of Teaching Mathematics (MTM) for both second and third year students. MTM has different course units and in particular, I teach the third year students an MTM course which is entitled “Assessment, Evaluation, Resources and Materials Development in Mathematics” and coded as MTM 3201. This course prepares pre-service mathematics teachers in the assessment and evaluation of teaching and learning mathematics in senior secondary schools in Uganda.  It gives them experience in the development of materials and resources for use in the teaching and learning of mathematics. For the years I have been teaching at Makerere University, I have noticed that the number of students attending lectures as compared to the total number of students in a particular class keeps reducing gradually. Anecdotal evidence shows that 78.7% of the students reported that they actually knew what was to be taught even when they did not attend lectures. Following the same course outline year after year, these students would obtain the outline(s) from their senior colleagues, along with the given course materials from previous lectures and others got the content from the Internet, especially Google. Surprisingly, at the end of the semester, the students actually pass the examinations! 
Through this PGDip in Education Technology, I have been able to figure out that this was a pedagogical problem. With this kind of teacher-centered and didactic instruction, information flows from the teacher to the student and the students here have to just read only the notes given from the teacher. Although they are able to read the notes and reproduce them in an examination and hence pass, this passing is problematic. Passing examinations does not necessarily mean that learning has taken place. According to Adam Becker, Cummins, Davis, Freeman, Hall Giesinger and Ananthanarayanan (2017), learning is a social construct which includes activities engrossed around placing the learner at the center, stressing interaction, working in groups and developing solutions to real world challenges. Although the students pass examinations, there is no sufficient evidence that learning takes place. According to Bloom’s taxonomy, passing examinations depicts low order thinking skills because students simply recall and reproduce taught material with little or no comprehension. Such a pedagogical challenge has not only led to increased students’ absenteeism from class but has eventually resulted into a lack of interaction between the students and myself and between the students themselves. Further, students fail to connect with real-world problems, issues which also result in lack of motivation and learner disengagement (Sharples et al., 2016). Hence, my role and of face-to-face lectures to enhance interaction in my context is at risk. However, although this challenge is rooted in pedagogy, technology may play an important role in implementing collaborative learning within and beyond the classroom borders.


]]> 2018-07-10 04:15:30 UTC https://padlet.com/uct/edn4501_2018/wish/269804043 EDN4501 - Pablo Learning Design Context https://padlet.com/uct/edn4501_2018/wish/269870828 In my Context, I am designing to address high failure rate in South African Universities by introducing Highschool (Grade 12 learners) learners with skills and attitudes needed to succeed in tertiary study. This will be achieved by designing tasks which prompt the establishment of basic academic and critical thinking skills required to succeed in the tertiary environment. 

You are welcome to go through my own design learning context in which I used the Lowenthal framework:

 

Formality: Formal/ credit

Setting: K- 12 and Higher education

Curriculum fit: Course within credential or degree or could be Module embedded in a course or credential but ultimately would like to deliver the solution as a Stand alone module 

Synchronous/ Asynchronous: [70%  Synchronous/ 30% Asynchronous]

Pacing: Fixed - standard term and Fixed - Accelerated term

% online: [20 % online and 80 % on-site]

Developmental Model: Instructor is designing a course in which web-based or other materials are designed by others are incorporated into his/her own materials

Targeted Learning: Skills and operations

Subject area: Academic Literacy

Media: Multimedia, Primarily audio and video

Teachers and Learners: Instructor Role and Instructor - less engaged/present

Cohort Group: Continuing cohort or established group

Communication: Communication primarily with students

Student collaboration: Ongoing student collaboration on projects and issues that arise

Teacher Preparation: First time teaching online

Student diversity: Heterogenous [Includes learners from different schools, different back grounds]

Class size: [up to 50]

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