Me again! On my 2nd rest stop break on my journey from Alberta back home to BC. The view has been gorgeous with snow capped peaks, blue sky and the sun has been shining my entire drive :)!
Its time for me to share one of my classmates final digital projects for this class. I'll be sharing a link to a classmates finished project at least once a week!
Since I'm on a road trip myself, I thought it fitting to share "Adventures in Adult Educations" Info graph which takes us on a different kind of road trip. A road trip to learn about peer observation of teaching.
What an incredibly Busy week! VCC will be closed for the holidays Dec 26-Jan 2nd but do to my family being in Alberta, this week was my vacation week. Im writing this Blog in my car on my way back to BC. Don't worry, I'm pulled over at a 7-11, in Fernie lol! Thank you 7-11, the only place open with a bathroom over the last 2 hours of driving.
Exciting news! I've found a Blogger app! I'm hoping having my blog at my finger tips will assist me in posting more often. Now if only Moodle had an app :/...maybe it does? Something to research!
I've been thinking a lot about my final project for this course. I came across this awesome info-graph that explains pregnancy using Dr. Seuss style poetry. Those that know me well, know how much I love the grinch and Just about everything Dr. Seuss! So I think I'm going to get really creative with whatever topic I pick and possibly try to do something similar ! I'm pretty excited about it! Check out my source of inspiration below:
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Although School is out for Christmas break, I'm still in full swing with my own schooling. This time around I am taking PIDP 3250-Instructional Strategies. I'm realizing quickly that my Blogging is going to have to be taken up a notch, as in previous courses I had been able to work on posts in the background and then publish them all at one time. This course requires me to make more frequent posts and challenges me to let my personality shine through. Looking back on my previous posts, they are more academic than I thought....maybe I can try adding a little more humor to the upcoming ones.....knock knock?
One of the Assignments in this course is focused on discussion boards. After reviewing a few other students Blogs, I decided that I like the approach All Beautiful Minds and Adventures in Adult Education took with blogging. Their blog posts include material learned in the discussion boards, as well as further reflections on the different discussion board topics.
I really like this because it is an opportunity for me to think deeper and reflect on what I've just learned in the discussion forums. It also allows an opportunity for me to post different resources I find interesting and allows me to find them easily after the course is finished.
For example: Check out this awesome video on Confirmation Bias.
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School is something that you learn- reading and writing.
Education is what you learn from the family,
from the environment, from the community.
-Bunker Roy
Merriam and Bierema (2014) state, "At the heart of adult learning is engaging in, reflecting upon, and making meaning of our experiences...an adult's life experiences generate learning as well as act as resources for learning (p.104). I found this TED talk on building a college in India around experiential learning incredibly fascinating and innovative. I major component of teaching Health Care Aides is to tap into their prior life experiences and to connect it to the curriculum. I find some of the most compassionate and skilled students are those who have had children, traveled the world and had an opportunity to learn outside of an educational institution. These are the students who are easiest to teach, as when you talk about signs and symptoms of infection, for example, they have seen their children with a fever or they have had an infection themselves.
This TED talk is another motivator for me to always remember to acknowledge the adult learner's prior experience and to continue to include connections of clinical practice to possible life experiences. Bunker Roy, also inspires me to utilize the mature students in my classes as leaders and “Elder” figures to the younger students, as life experience and generation is usually different among my Health Care Aide cohort. I would like to motivate my students to continue to pass on their knowledge to others upon graduation, just as some of the African grandmothers in the Barefoot College are passing on their knowledge in their communities.
References
Merriam, S. B. & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Roy, B. (Writer). (2011, July). Learning From a Barefoot Movement [Video file]. Retrieved May, 2016, from https://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy?language=en
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Working memory is found in the neocortex of the brain and is where information is processed. “Working memory can move between sensory memory for more information and long-term memory where information can be retrieved to help form a new memory” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014). “Working memory is limited in capacity, limited in duration and limited in focus. It allows us to remember about four things at a time for about 10-20 seconds unless we do something with it. Unless we process it, apply it to something, talk about it or someone asks about it” (Doolittle, 2013). I really like the examples Dr.Doolittle uses in his TED talk on working memory. He uses the examples of “walking into a room and forgetting what you went in there for and having to walk back out to remember” (Doolittle, 2013). Doolittle provides a few strategies in his TED talk, on how to help process working memory into long-term memory. He recommends, “ repeating it, thinking about it, writing it down, practicing it, reviewing notes, making connections, Imagery, organizing it, and getting support”(Doolittle,2013). Similarly, Foos & Clark (as cited in Merriam & Bierema, 2014) suggest, “Rehearsing information or trying to form a mental image or associating information with prior information…” (p.174).
I really believe in the use of imagery in teaching. I find that students are more engaged when I use storytelling, pictures, cartoons and mapping in my PowerPoint and lecture presentations. I feel this TED talk will improve my instruction as it has peaked my interest in looking up ways to help my students transfer working memory into long-term memory. I hope in my next class to use different association techniques, such as acronyms and mnemonics to assist my students in learning. I would like to also use podcasts, humor, and TED talks to get my students more engaged and interested. If there is time at the end of a class, I could pair students up with each other to go over key points that were taught that day.
References
Doolittle, P. (Writer). (2013). How your "working memory" makes sense of the world [Motion picture on TEDlive]. USA: TEDGlobal.
Merriam, S. B. & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Please note that this blog in its entirety is licensed under creative commons,
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