Module 4 Activity 7: Giving Feedback

In any learning context feedback occurs while there is still time to take action. Effective descriptive feedback focuses on the intended learning, identifies specific strengths, points to areas needing improvement, suggests a route of action individuals can take to close the gap between where they are presently and where they need to be, takes into account the amount of corrective feedback the learner can act on at one time, and models the kind of thinking students will engage in when they self-assess. Feedback is an integral part of the assessment process and is most useful given constructively in a spirit of co-operation and support, aiming at enhancing learning and/or behaviour.

Module 4 Activity 6: Assessing Information Literacy

We are living in an information age and today more than ever, success in the classroom depends on the ability of our learners to evaluate a rapidly expanding pool of specialized information. Information competence involves a complex set of critical thinking skills to find, evaluate, contextualize and communicate information using technology. Individuals who are information competent should be able to think critically in the context of an increasingly extensive amount of information. They should be able to solve real-world problems using a wide range of technologies to find, evaluate, contextualize and communicate information. It is therefore imperative for us as educators to ensure that our learners are equipped with these essential skills.

Module 1 Activity 12: Problem-Solving Skills

This was a very worthwhile activity that looked at problem-solving strategies as a tool for teaching and learning. After the completion of this activity, I can conclude that the students reasoning skills were brought into play. They were involved in selecting relevant information and understood its relationship to the given problem, their confidence was enhanced during the process, they were engaged in sharing ideas and learned from each other, and I was able to observe how they think and how they apply knowledge and skills. The students were able to relate and apply their learning experience to a real life situation.

Module 1 Activity 11: Encouraging learners to ask questions

As educators, we aim at constantly increasing participation of our learners as an obvious goal in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group work. We also focus on using questioning strategies as a way to increase their abilities in improving their critical thinking skills which is obviously very important in problem solving. In short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, class sessions become to some extent a lost opportunity to assess and promote learning.

I am being reminded that we can improve student participation by devoting time and thought to shaping the environment and planning each class session. Consideration has already been given to the value of open questions to encourage learners to think and since we have established that critical thinkers ask questions, a concerted effort needs to be made to create an atmosphere that will encourage our learners to ask questions more frequently. In short, we need to encourage this spirit of inquiry in our learners.

Module 1 Activity 10: Promoting Discussion

This activity focused on what lends itself to meaningful dicussion as a teaching/learning strategy. The issue of learners talking to one another, listening to each other, responding to what others said and showing development of knowledge, understanding or judgement are evidence that meaningful discussion tok place. My role as a facilitator in ths process is to get the attention of the learners, keep them focused on the learning task, explain things they do not know, demonstrate things for them and guide their learning by asking strategic questions. However, my intervention should be very limited and should only be spurred to keep the learners on task.

Module 1 Activity 9: What questions do I ask and why?

It is evident that questioning technique plays a very important role in the teaching/learning process.The type of questions asked should be mainly geared towards stimulating higher level cognitive learning and overall comprehension of a subject matter. I am convinced that the questions asked during a lesson should include limited recalling of information while the majority should be geared towards encouraging critical thinking and provide avenues for reasoning, so that students are engaged in organizing their thoughts in a logical manner which are applicable to real life situations. As educators, our practice should consistently involve convergent and divergent questioning, where the students are required to establish a relationship between facts or ideas in order to construct an answer, and provide for more freedom and independence in giving answers.