FMFI Maritime Foundation, Inc.
Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. MAME SIMarEST
Postgraduate Certificate in Maritime Education and Training (Philippines) Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University Academic year 2007-2008
Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Table of Contents
Contents
Tab 1
List of figures
iii
2
List of tables
iv
3
Introduction
1
4
Chapter 1: Teaching and/or Supporting learning
8
5
Chapter 2: Contributing to the Design and Planning of Learning Activities and/or Programmes of Study
31
Chapter 3: Provision of Feedback and Assessment of Student’s Learning
46
Chapter 4: Contribution to the Development of Effective Learning Environment and Student Support Systems.
61
Chapter 5: Reflection on Personal Practice in Teaching and Learning and work to Improve the Teaching Process.
74
9
Conclusion
85
10
Appendices to Chapter 1
86
Appendix 1.1
86
Appendix 1.2
88
Appendix 1.3
90
Appendices to Chapter 2
92
Appendix 2.1
92
Appendix 2.2
122
Appendix 2.3
131
Appendix 2.4
145
Appendix 2.5
153
Appendix 2.6
154
Appendix 2.7
155
Appendix 2.8
158
Appendix 2.9
159
Appendix 2.10
163
Appendix 2.11
165
6 7
8
11
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
12
13
14
PGCMET Portfolio – Table of Contents
Appendix 2.12
168
Appendix 2.13
170
Appendix 2.14
174
Appendix 2.15
175
Appendix 2.16
177
Appendix 2.17
197
Appendix 2.18
210
Appendix 2.19
214
Appendix 2.20
216
Appendix 2.21
219
Appendix to Chapter 3
223
Appendix 3.1
223
Appendix 3.2
224
Appendices to Chapter 4
233
Appendix 4.1
233
Appendix 4.2
239
Appendix to Teaching Observations
242
Appendix TO.1
242
Appendix TO.2
243
Appendix TO.3
245
Appendix TO.4
248
Appendix TO.5
249
15
Statement of Professional Values and Practice
250
16
My Course Exercises on UNIT 1
251
17
Appendix U1.1
252
Appendix U1.2
256
Appendix U1.3
264
Appendix U1.4
277
Appendix U1.5
290
Appendix U1.6
295
My Course Exercise on UNIT 2 Appendix U2.1
18
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Bibliography
302 302
315
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Conclusion
Conclusion
In re-reading this portfolio I recognized that teaching, learning, and assessment are all essential to the development of reflective practice going towards the development and progress of my teaching practice. Creating this portfolio have improved my writing skills potential, enhanced my confidence to experiment and evaluate new concepts or styles of teaching and learning. This would have not been realized without the PGCMET and our mentors who have showed us their interest in our improvement and commitment in helping us achieve of what we expect and what is expected from us. I want to conclude this portfolio of reflective practice with the following quotations I have read and quoted from the works of Karen Hinett (2002) she quoted from his references which have been inspirational and motivational to me to be a reflective practitioner and I believe would continually guide me in developing further my teaching effectiveness.
‘Reflective practice is important to the development of all professionals because it enables us to learn from experience. Although we all learn from experience, more and more experience does not guarantee more and more learning. 20 years of teaching may not be equate to 20 years of learning about teaching but may be only one year repeated 20 times. There are many times when our normal reactions to events are insufficient themselves to encourage reflection. We should not rely solely on our natural process of reflecting on experience, but actively seek ways to ensure that reflection itself becomes a habit, ensuring our continuing development as a professional teacher in higher education.’ ‘If we are to become more effective teachers, we need to become more reflective teachers. To be reflective we need to articulate our theories of learning, critically examine them and replace those parts which, we suspect or, better still, can show do not work.’ ‘Consciously engaging in reflective practice enables the teacher to learn from and therefore potentially enhance their practice and learning about their practice. Practice here can include teaching, encouraging learning, research, scholarship, course design and management. Indeed, it can include any of the myriad activities of the professional teacher.’ ‘Teaching students to develop self-conscious habits of reflectiveness in order that they might become ultimately intuitive is critical to education and training. While a reflective practice paradigm may have deficiencies, it appears to clearly offer a more sophisticated and comprehensive model for education and professional development that either legal science or skills-based technocracies.’
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – List of Figures
Figures
1
The Kolb Learning Cycle
10
2
Kolb’s learning styles
11
3
Theory and reflective practice in teaching
14
4
The logical structure of approaches to learning
15
5
Concept map illustrating the main ideas put forward by Biggs and the relationships between them in the Curriculum Design Process.
22
A hierarchy of verbs that may be used to form curriculum objectives based on SOLO Taxonomy
24
CES editor wherein malfunction triggers and time limits are set and adjusted as student progresses
54
CES, serving as checklist of intended area to be assessed and summation of assigned or rewarded markings.
54
9
Parallel arrangement with student seating opposite each other
70
10
U shape table arrangement
71
11a
Clustered table arrangement
71
11b
Clustered table arrangement using Hitachi AP 100 multimedia projector
72
12
Parallel table arrangement wherein student face the lecturer
72
13
Other arrangement for group works
73
14
Seminar workshop arrangement
73
6 7 8
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – List of Tables
Tables
1
A table of contrast and comparison of behaviourism and constructivism
9
2
Learning styles based on Kolb and Fry
12
3
Desired and actual level of engagement, approaches to learning and enhancing teaching
14
4
Breaking the Ice
15
5
Learning and Teaching Theory for Engineering Academics
17
6
Differences in teacher- and student- centred teaching and learning instructions
19
Characteristics of Learning-Centred Teaching and Traditional Teacher-Centred Instruction
20
8
A constructively aligned assessment scheme
23
9
Five approaches to course / module design
33
10
Involvement and contribution to design and planning of Learning Activities and/or Programmes of Study
34
11
Ideas on deciding passing mark and grading system
56
12
Example 1, Randomly selected questionnaires and respondent from the enhancement program on Maths and Physics examination
57
Example 2, Randomly selected questionnaires and respondent from the enhancement program on Maths and Physics examination
57
14
Evaluation based on table of examples 1 and 2
58
15
Five principles of the art and science of helping adults learn
80
16
Among the perceptions that emerge from what is understood about how student learn
80
17
General points and ideas for making lectures more effective
81
18
Checklist of questions for use after a lecture has been prepared
82
19
Suggestions offered as means of engaging students with the subject matter being presented
83
Some of the important properties (attitudes and behaviours) of good teaching
84
7
13
20
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
Introduction Personal Background and Teaching Philosophy In the early years of my secondary level education I was exposed to a great deal of technical activities that had aroused my interest in the field of engineering involving machineries. It started when my father and I went to my cousin’s automotive repair shop for repairs. While watching them do all the mechanical repairs, having no knowledge and being young with full of curiosities, a great amount of queries formed in my mind on how an engine work, having all those heavy mechanical and metal components. Driven by curiosity and interest, I thought of volunteering to be a helper at the repair shop during summer vacation and during Saturdays. Fortunately, my cousin being naturally supportive allowed me to work and learn. Little did I know that the learning process achieved from these experiences will form part of my professional career and my understanding of teaching and learning processes. My cousin allowed me to discover things on my own and entertained all the questions I asked without hesitations, one great aspect was that he doesn’t mind it even if he is busy working with other things. Such things that I expect from my students to learn and do much of the work during the learning process. I told myself that if you know, love, and are confident in what you are doing you would not mind the problems caused as you can rectify it. In educational perspective, being prepared and knowledgeable of the course being taught provides you self assurance when teaching. Being an educator with such expectation, I act as a facilitator rather than a teacher, who just present all the information, to students learning process. I know that students learn in variety of methods or ways and I endeavour to accommodate and entertain all these methods. My cousin gave me opportunities to apply the gained knowledge and skills by letting me repair or troubleshoot a problem on my own. If things did not work the way it’s supposed to be, he would demonstrate it and simultaneously explain the reasons why it did not work, how it should be properly done and gave guidance on how to analyze by not only concentrating on the specific area but on other areas that may have direct relationship or influence to the problem. I encourage students to seek and discover their own methods as I believe that it would give them better understanding and retention of the concepts being learned. I give assignments to students to allow them to discover and how to seek for answers. I support them by giving them my own adapted examples in explaining the concepts that were not brought out or things that have escaped their minds. I believe that students must be given the confidence and opportunity to experiment on their newly gained knowledge. My cousin would assess and/or evaluate me by constantly asking questions or letting me diagnose an engine problem. In addition to giving the students the confidence to experiment their newly gained knowledge, I frequently ask questions so as to encourage them to think individually at the same time assess their understanding. Based on my experience and learned teaching methodologies promoting individual thinking and question asking is one way of
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
encouraging discussion and interaction for better understanding of the concepts during the learning process. If there were no customers or repairs to be done my cousin would often approach and ask me if I find working in automotive shops helpful and not boring, check and ensure that I did things in a safe and orderly manner, stress out that the shop may not be an environment to teaching but it has enough tools to facilitate learning, determine if I was able to learn and understand the practical experience I have had in working with different types of machineries, inquire if the experience was able to address some of my curiosities, motivate me that not all clean or office job could promise a career but best if you could combine them both, inform me that he too was learning from the questions I raised making him think and experiment on it. During that time, I also invoke more queries but sometimes he would tell me that there are things he found difficult to explain, invoking his educational background, if not in front of the machine that I might not understand him. And sometimes he would tell me that he would reserve his answer with the assurance that my query as per his experience was more of a common fault encountered on machineries that he would prefer me experiencing and experimenting on it and him to reinforce for better understanding. But with the assurance that if ever we would not be able to encounter it in a certain period of time, thus he would give his best effort to explain it to me. To encourage my students I see to it that I do the initiative of interacting with them and take a sincere interest in my students’ comfort. I try to be sensitive to their needs and be always available and accessible to assist them. I believe that when students feel respected, assured, supported, encouraged, in safe hand, relaxed, secured, cared and comforted they are less reserved in raising questions and clarifications, promote interaction, and could be more open to think critically. But this does not only apply to students but to facilitators or teachers as well. If both seek clarifications for mutual understanding learning can be achieved by both students and facilitators. I believe that a supportive and encouraging learning environment not only means a clean, fully equipped with educational technology, spacious, and comfortable but an environment that is equipped with the relevant aid or tool that will encourage them to think big from small resources. I believe that by assisting the students in learning, it would enable them to identify relevant information, develop skills, add new meaning and interpretations to the experience, encourage them to achieve a deeper or higher level of understanding, willingness to question the usual, encourage critical thinking, be more willing to take risks, explore more learning, actively participate, reflect on their experiences, thus, making meaning of those experiences they will encounter and would help them organize their professional growth and development. From these acquired experience, interest and aptitude in such engineering field that I pursued this desire to take a Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the most prestigious Engineering Institution in the Philippines, Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT). But my stint at MIT falls short as I came to ask myself on what the future will hold. Then a sudden opportunity has been made known to me. Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) is offering a Degree in Marine Engineering; a field of engineering that I believe will bring out more of and address my interest. In addition, PMMA is a government subsidized institution,
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
thus, you receive free education that offers a brighter future. Then it came to me that the more you are determined and focused the more you determine what the future will hold and the possibility of shaping your future. I underwent a regimental way of developing students to become independent and develop in us a sense of learning, sense of discipline, sense of being an Officer and a Gentleman, and a sense of responsibility. All these have been instilled giving me confidence to face and accept the challenges the future I believe have in store for me. I started my first professional career as a wiper, which many have questioned on why I have accepted such position. I asked myself too the same question then but thanks to my parents advice and motivation, confidence is a factor but attitude and behaviour is another thing. Starting low does not mean that you have no confidence on your technical skills but a start to develop and improve the desired attitude and behaviour onboard ship. With such interest, attitude, and perseverance, it has rewarded me a management level position, First Marine Engineer Officer in a Car Ship handling a 17,000 BHP Main Engine in a matter of four years. This I also attributed to the personnel I have sailed with who unselfishly shared their knowledge and experiences. And those skills, abilities, values and beliefs that have been developed in me enabled me to assist others who have the interest and desire to develop their profession in this chosen field. It became inherent to me to teach my personnel. That, as I supervise their works I kept on briefing them and asking them questions such as why that particular part is there? What is its function? What is the principle behind? To which system does it belong? What caused the breakdown or malfunction? Etc. I used some of the methodologies from my above experiences that I believe they have learned and understood. These have been attested by those personnel I have been with that if they can be given the opportunity to choose on who they prefer to sail with, they would choose to be with me to further their learning, understanding, and improvement. This gave a confirmation that I have the skills to impart learning and has given me another field of opportunity that I may consider. Also an attestation that retention, transformation and transfer of learning are fully achieved having to apply the new learning immediately being in the workplace. Experiential learning I believe is the most applicable theory especially for ship’s personnel. To my desire to further develop myself in the teaching profession I applied at PMMA and was considered as an Associate Professor. I handled Main Power Plant, with the objective that students shall be able to safely operate and maintain a marine steam and diesel engine power plant. The course includes engine principles, ideal-gas cycle, reciprocating internal combustion engines, engine types, large-bore (two-stroke engine details, medium speed and high speed (four-stroke) diesel engines, engine systems, diesel engine fuel atomization, main machinery (diesel power plant), operation and the marine diesel engineering maintenance, Rankine cycle, auxiliary, boiler fundamentals, auxiliary boiler construction, auxiliary boiler mountings and steam distribution, auxiliary boiler operation, steam boiler fuel atomizaton, heat exchangers, evaporators and distillers. Another, Machine Shop 3, with the
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
objective that students shall be able to use lathe machines, shaping machines appropriate handtools, measuring equipment and select appropriate cutting tools for normal fabrication of various parts and fittings usually done on board ships, and use electric arc and gas welding equipment for normal welding operations as well as the use and conversion of standards measuring precision instruments and engineering metrology. The course includes the lathe and milling machine and its operation, welded joints in low-carbon steel and common faults in welded joints. Last, Auxiliary Machinery, with the objective that the student will be able to explain the function/operation/basic maintenance of auxiliary machinery such as steering gear, deck machinery, hull equipment, air conditioning and refrigeration plants normally installed on board ships. The course includes the marine refrigeration cycle, principles of refrigeration, refrigerating compressors, refrigerating system components, refrigerating system brines, cold storage spaces, steering gear principles, steering gear hydraulic control systems, steering gear electrical control, hydraulic power-operated rudder systems, hydraulic power rotary pumps, electric steering systems, emergency steering, and deck machinery maintenance. To further improve our knowledge and understanding of the subject-matter being handled we were sent by PMMA to several training institutes that offer courses covering new requirements, updates and trends that we may use and apply to subjects being taught to keep our students abreast of current situations. This gave me the opportunity to know how courses are conducted with professionals as its attendees, I found it quite challenging and thought to myself that it would further hone my skills in teaching which I believe I would achieve by teaching at training institutes. It was then that I decided to transfer to a training institute where I am presently connected, FMFI Maritime Foundation, Inc. formerly FAME Maritime Foundation, Inc. I started as a Training Specialist handling Engineroom simulator course with the objectives of training engineers in the operation of ship’s machinery and auxiliary equipment, enable detailed study of the different processes of the technical installations in a ship, identify and locate faults and demonstrate the impact of faults and deterioration on the plant’s total efficiency, understand fuel economy, train engineers in safe operation both with regards to machinery and the environment leading to professional qualifications and better qualified engineers. And later on, among other duties as Training Director, I handled several courses such as MARPOL Annex 1 which provides training for Masters, Deck Officers and engineers in order to enable them to maintain and operate a ship in accordance to MARPOL 73/78, Prevention of Pollution by Oil; Annex 2 which provides training for Masters, Deck Officers and engineers in order to enable them to maintain and operate a ship in accordance to MARPOL 73/78, Prevention of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances; and Annex 6 which provide training to all seafarers that is a new rule in the prevention of air pollution coming from ships emission; Maritime Law for Ship’s Officer course which provides ship officers an overview of maritime law affecting the merchant shipping and be better oriented on rules governing relationship incidents to merchant shipping considered as a transport activity; Incident Investigation course with the primary objective of preventing incident from happening again, Risk assessment which is nothing more than a careful examination of what, in
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. The aim is to make sure that no one gets hurt or becomes ill. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives, and affect your business too if output is lost, machinery is damaged, insurance costs increase, or you have to go to court. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace; Shorebased Personnel Enhancement Program walks the participants through the essential principles of leadership and management models that can be adopted in different situations and the importance of management and people skills one has to acquire and develop to lead effectively and every topic ends with a concrete action plan for participants to use in consultation with their managers, and outlining methods and a timetable for on-the-job implementation; and Deck and Engine Cadet Graduates Enhancement program is a refresher, based on the Warsash Maritime Academy (WMA) formerly Warsash Maritime Centre report conclusions showing that Mathematics, Physics and English as academic areas are in need of improvement in Filipino cadet graduates. I also performed consultative works for some Maritime Schools; on administration, teachers and student training requirements, etc.; and Masters in Systems and Technology, Inc (MASTECH); local supplier of Kongsberg simulator products wherein I provide training and familiarizaton to Instructors that would be handling Norcontrol engineroom simulators, and perform other duties as to determine further improvements on their simulators. Most of our attendees are mainly active professional seafarers who are required by their companies and principals to undergo such training, required courses to accomplish government required upgrading and/or mandatory courses prior issuance of Certificate of Competencies, and Maritime professionals who are now working on shorebased companies, who wishes to refresh and be updated to keep abreast of current issues and new rules and regulations. In the introduction of career enhancement programs new attendees, new entrants (cadet graduates) enhancing further their intellect prior boarding their first vessel and non-seagoing personnel in enhancing their leadership skills, communication, team working, question techniques, handling conflict, and ergonomics in the workplace, have been accommodated and have attracted attendees of mix nationalities in the offering of the incident investigation course but dominantly Chinese. These attendees have varied backgrounds, experiences, values, and beliefs. But it has provided me valuable ideas and experiences that have assisted me enrich my professional competencies and practice in handling lectures and have added new meanings and interpretations to my teaching and learning experience. Such diversity has encouraged active participation and has stimulated broader understanding of the topics as to the different perspective and views that have been shared, which from the attendees admission that they have been provided with new attitude, new beliefs and new competencies; very challenging but both the learner and deliverer have benefitted through newly acquired learning during the discussion.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
Experiential Learning is most dominant on the abovementioned. I believe that most of the learning and understanding of the individuals I have encountered is more based on the experiences they have had. Although most of my teaching when I started working ashore is more on lecture type based courses but to some extent is related to experiential learning from the experience our attendees encounter inside the classroom through applied teaching methodology such as discussion, sharing of experiences (the students, my own, and from others who have shared it with me), practice works, analyzation, conceptualization, and interaction. On the process of my experiences, I believe there is far better learning environment to apply experiential learning, the workplace, which is the ship, but requires guidance, support, and assistance from the personnel working at the workplace. I intend this to be the area of my future course development to assist and guide the ship’s personnel on teaching, timeframe, and contents which is focused on new entrants and individuals who have the desire and interest to improve in their profession. Although I know there are already courses developed for this purpose but from what I know they are only guidelines of what they should learn onboard. With this, I believe, guided with all the teaching and learning theories and principles that have been learned and experienced, I may be able to introduce new concepts, assist responsible shipboard personnel organize; through a given timeframe, priorities, and teaching theories or methodologies that would promote, encourage, support learning processes. The Postgraduate Certificate in Maritime Education and Training (PGCMET) has opened me to a whole new perspective and goals. It has explained to me the importance of understanding teaching and learning, course development, learning objectives/outcomes, feedback, and an assessment in determining if the learning objectives/outcomes have been achieved. I acknowledge that there is still more to be learned and hope that I would be able to gain more confidence in teaching, be at par with my mentors who as per my observation was able to relate well to the learners, but I don’t see any reason why I cannot to consider that I was given the opportunity to encounter and see teaching done by the very best. I also want to gain more confidence in developing courses that would achieve the expected outcome and result in the transformation and transfer of those learning to the workplace making my student fall on the ground running. I want to undergo further training dedicated on creating assessment on experiential learning that would cover not only the technical competencies required but the human element involve making the ship a safe place to work at and protection of the marine environment. Through all the support, more opportunities to come my way, and self determination, I see myself achieving all this. My goals to all these are for me; to be able to develop and assist others bring out the best in them to reach and achieve their goals and shape them to be a better person of the society; to be considered as one of the finest maritime trainers that have shaped the future of Filipino seafaring; to form a legacy to my student’s learning to continually endeavour to learn and share those learning to others; to establish myself and FMFI Maritime Foundation, Inc. as a well sought after provider of quality shore-based training courses but as well as service provider of highly qualified course developers and onboard trainers; and to be involved and partake a big role in uplifting the Philippine educational system and
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
maritime industry to the empowerment of the 21st Filipino Seafarers. Achieving all this I believe will be the pinnacle of my career. I envision a great deal of challenges ahead to achieve my goals. I will endeavour to continually practice and synthesize good teaching and learning methodologies and frequently evaluate and reflect on each practice on what is effective and what needs to be further improved; seek continual feedback from my peers to help me learn what helps learner to learn, know what is happening in effective teaching sessions, provide solution to problems, come up with new ideas, and to help me focus reflection on specific teaching sessions; build the confidence to sell myself and endorse the works I do that I believe would help others and the maritime industry address their specific needs; continually update myself not only on teaching and learning environment but as well as social settings and political events that are relevant in achieving my goals. Build my network and resources such as joining associations and/or organizations that could assist and be my access in achieving my goals. In return I will endeavour to be an active member by sharing my experiences and knowledge to benefit all. And finally use this portfolio as part of my everyday practice to guide and support me and give an indicator on what I have already achieved.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
1. Teaching and/or Supporting learning
Background on learning theory The purpose of this chapter is to determine the different learning theories and approaches that I believe will support learning of my students, my teaching practice, and personal development. Approaches to learning is not new and there have been evidence in the past that learning approaches do exists but the thorough research to approaches to learning have originated from the works of Marton and Säljö. Students where given two different approaches to learning. First group tried to comprehend and understand the academic work while the Second group tried to remember facts and focused on areas they thought would be asked later. Two differing approach was observed. Students who were tried to concentrate on the facts and anticipated the questions that would be asked demonstrated a surface approach, as Marton and Säljö interpret it, skating along the surface of the text, wherein these students only learned a list of disjointed facts and was not able to comprehend its meaning. While the other students have demonstrated a deep approach, they were able to dive below the surface of the text, by interpreting the meaning of the text and were able to understand and comprehend the facts and details of the academic work. The approaches to learning research studies conducted by Marton and Säljö struck a chord with ongoing researches with that of Entwistle, Ramsden and Biggs. Although the conceptual framework is different but the common focus was the study of learning in an institutional context. (Biggs, 2003) From this works that I believe have encouraged other authors and theorist to relate and interpret existing theories on how they would be applied in education, particularly in the learning and teaching processes. On this Chapter, I would like to point out those theories that support teaching and learning focusing on student activities that have been assisting me in my teaching practice and my belief that would allow continual professional development. Support to Learning and Teaching Phenomenography and Constructivism Phenomenography and constructivism are the two main theories of teaching and learning which focuses on what student do to learn and not what the teacher does. Phenomenography was a term made by Marton. ‘It is based on the idea that the learner’s perspective defines what is learned, not the teacher intends
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
should be learned. Teaching is a matter of changing the learner’s perspective, the way learner sees the world.’ Students learning are dependent on how they learn and why they have to learn it. Constructivism is a philosophy of learning which has a long history in cognitive psychology. Wherein the idea is focused on what the learner has to do to create knowledge. Through experience and reflecting on that experience, we are able to construct our own understanding and interacting with the world making sense or meaning of our experience. Learning is a search for understanding, meaning and models to accommodate new experiences. However, Phenomenography and constructivism have differences. Both emphasize that knowledge is created by student’s learning activities. ‘As we learn, our conception of phenomena change, and we see the world differently. The acquisition of information in itself does not bring about such a change, but the way we structure that information and think with it does’. (Biggs, 2003) Behaviourism vs. Constructivism Behaviourism is a theory of learning which focus on observable and measurable behaviours. Students need stimuli to activate learning and interest. Constructivism (please refer definition as stated above) To have a clear view in understanding the characteristics of behaviourism and constructivism I have made below (Table 1) based on my understanding by contrasting and comparing both theories of learning
Behaviourism Needs stimuli to learn No knowledge Reinforce right answers and discourage wrong answer If no reinforcement, retention of learning fades fast Focused only on observable and measurable behaviours No social interaction
Contrast Constructivism Active seeker of information Has previous knowledge There is no right and wrong answer
There is transmission of knowledge
Teacher-centred approach Passive learner Fixed curriculum Operator Extrinsically motivated August 2008
Learning is stored long-term Focused on individual thinking on the learner and endeavour for meaning Believe in collaborative efforts of group learners as source of learning Knowledge cannot be simply transmitted from one person to another but reconstructed by each person Student-centred approach Active learner Curriculum is determined by the learner Engineer Intrinsically motivated Page 9 of 317 Pages
Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
Compare Behaviourism Constructivism Asking questions to student serve as Asking question to guide and facilitate stimuli to actively participate the students learning Mastery to learning, through Mastery of learning, through continuous or frequent reinforcement repeating, recalling and reflection Learning theory Learning theory Learn from experience Learn from experience Acquires knowledge, stimulated Acquires knowledge, seeking information Experience changes as they progress Experience changes as they progress Table 1: A table on contrasting and comparing behaviourism and constructivism taken from the presentation of Claire Pekcan, Biggs (2003) and my own understanding.
Experiential Learning Learning from experience or learning from doing. This theory of learning from experience can be credited to Kolb (1984), who came up with ideas from others experiential learning models and developed the Kolb Learning cycle (Figure 1) (Fry, et. all, 2004). Experiential learning can be traced back to the works of Confucius around 450 BC “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand”. Concrete Experience CE
Reflective Observation RO
Active Experimentation AE
Abstract Conceptualization AC Figure 1: The Kolb Learning Cycle
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
Under Kolb’s learning cycle, for learning to be successful, learners require the following abilities and/or undertaking. 1. Concrete Experience (CE) – it is in this stage that student fully and freely engage to new experiences 2. Reflective observation (RO) – It is in this stage were the student must put some time to reflect on the newly acquired experience 3. Abstract conceptualization (AC) – it is in stage that students process their previous and new ideas and construct meaning. 4. Active Experimentation (AE) – it is on this stage that students use understanding to solve problems and test implications in new situations.
Figure 2: Kolb’s learning styles taken from http://www.businessballs.com/freepdfmaterials/kolb_learning_styles_diagram_colour.pdf
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
Learning style
Learning Description characteristic
Converger
AC + AE
· · · ·
Diverger
CE + RO
· · · ·
Assimilator
AC + RO
·
Accommodator
CE +AE
· · ·
strong in practical application of ideas can focus on hypo-deductive reasoning on specific problems unemotional has narrow interests strong in imaginative ability good at generating ideas and seeing things from different perspectives interested in people broad cultural interests
strong ability to create theoretical models excels in inductive reasoning · concerned with abstract concepts rather than people
·
greatest strength is doing things more of a risk taker performs well when required to react to immediate circumstances solves problems intuitively
Table 2: Learning styles based on Kolb and Fry. Quoted and taken from http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm
Experiential learning does not only involve learning from doing but reflecting, processing, thinking and furthering understanding. Wolf and Kolb suggested that learners acquire different learning style as they progresses. It was also observed that students have a dominant phase in the cycle where they prefer to learn, thus, students will each have a preferred style of learning, which leads to the particular characteristics as shown in (Figure 2) and described in (Table 2). Although learners have different styles of learning, to make learning more effective learners needs to be encouraged to go through all the elements in the learning cycle. (Fry Et. All, 2004) Learning in a natural setting and constructed setting is different. Although if learners are positively affected then it is to be believed that transfer of learning to their future activities will occur. But we don’t always learn from experience and as Kolb Learning cycle suggests that to learn from our experience effectively then students need to reflect and critically appraise those experiences. Giving the students opportunity to learn form their experience then we are also giving them awareness and consciousness of the relationship between ideas and action. But the challenge is bringing experiential learning in the curriculum so that students are able to transfer their learning into their future life and work when they leave the university.
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As mentioned by Beaty (2004) there are two ways of bringing experiential learning into the course. First, is to provide opportunity for experience and second, is to give students the opportunity to learn from those experiences. Key element of learning effectively is the support provided to students as little learning will occur if teachers will not actively support them in critically underpinning knowledge base in the cycle of action and reflection. Below are some methods that teachers can integrate and promote experiential learning either constructed or on a natural setting in school curriculum. 1. Laboratory experiments – practice of techniques, skills of observation and recording, and demonstration of relevance of theory to outcomes. 2. Simulations – applies knowledge and understanding, previous. experiences to address the problem without the danger of disaster. 3. Case Studies – practice broader understanding and critically analyze relationships of complex ideas or problems. 4. Micro Teaching – intensive practice of skills under observations. 5. Projects – practice research, analysis, recording and writing reports to engage student in depth study. 6. Field trips – practice observations, collect samples, provide opportunities for social learning, cooperation and teambuilding. 7. Placements – experience a working environment, practice role in an organization, and prepare student to undertake the assigned role. 8. Work-based learning projects – creates client relationship ‘The challenge for modern higher education is not simply to train the next generation of academics, it is rather to tie learning from experience inextricably to academic study and vice versa in a strong lifelong process of learning which develops the person and society. That is why attention to supporting experiential learning within course design is crucial.’ Liz Beaty (2004)
Reflection and reflective practice As stated in above experiential learning, learning does not occur through experience alone but learner must be able to reflect on those experiences. Thus, reflection plays a central part in integrating new experiences from previous experiences and transforming those experiences to new ideas for better understanding and development. As teachers we must encourage our student to reflect, this would enable them to analyze and think critically in a less structured way. By doing it to our students we will be inculcating habits to build reflection into learning. And if such habit will be inculcated we can ensure that learning will continue even after the academics and all through out their life. But one must take note that if no reflection informing future action to improve is done then it could be meaningless. (Brown; et. all, 2003) Reflection involves self evaluation and analysis. ‘As a result of reflection, action is taken to enhance personal practice and to demonstrate a response feedback from students and peers’. Thus, reflection becomes an integral part of enhancing quality of teaching and learning.
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Reflective practice is an action that criticizes, reorganize, modify, and/or change our actions to learn and make sure that those changes are in the right path. In education, students will learn better than before. (Biggs, 2003) Practicing reflection whether in-action or on-action will help practitioners to move along from one level to the other in higher order. They will become more self-aware of how they teach and learn and its implications. But to get the full benefit of reflection and become expert in it, practitioners must continuously practice reflecting ‘on’ action and reflection ‘for’ action which will lead eventually to reflection ‘in’ action, becoming expert, learning is enhanced, experience is enriched, and teaching theory is enriched. (Biggs, 2003; Beaty, 2004; Fry and Ketteridge, 2004) This action learning (Table 3) will be my support and challenge in changing further my views, understanding more students on how they learn best, and continual improvement in my teaching by promoting factors or activities (Figure 4) that support deep approach and eliminate factors that support surface approach. (Biggs, 2003) Level 3 teaching theory
Experienc e
Enriched teaching theory
Enhanced teaching
REFLECT
Deep content Handling problematic teaching knowledge incidents Figure 3: Theory and reflective practice in teaching taken from Biggs (2003) Cognitive level of learning activities Desired in objectives Used/in learning reflect apply: far problems hypothesize relate to principle apply: near problems explain argue relate comprehend: main ideas describe enumerate paraphrase comprehend sentence identify, name memorize
reflect apply: far problems hypothesize relate to principle apply: near problems explain argue relate comprehend: main ideas describe enumerate paraphrase comprehend sentence identify, name memorize
Deep
Surface
Teaching challenge
Supply TLAs to support missing activities
Eliminate what supports inappropriate lower verbs
Table 3: Desired and actual level of engagement, approaches to learning and enhancing teaching taken from Biggs (2003)
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Fundamental concept of approach to learning How students learn? As Ramsden (2003) stated is the concept of approach to learning. It is not how many things a learner remembers but how and what they learn. That enable them to relate, construct and understand things around them and how they make sense of something around them. Ramsden (2003) summarized the category he used to describe this approaches to learning though logically structure model (Figure 4). APPROACH TO LEARNING
WHAT
HOW ‘Structural’ aspect: the act of experiencing, Of organising, of structuring
‘Meaning’ aspect: that which is experienced; The significance of the task
HOLISTIC
ATOMISTIC
DEEP
SURFACE
Preserves the structure, focuses on the whole in relation to the parts
Distorts the structure, focuses on the parts, segments the whole
Focuses on what the task is about (e.g. the author’s intention
Focuses on the ‘signs’ (e.g. the word-sentence level of the next)
Figure 4: The logical structure of approaches to learning
Communication Communication is a discipline to engage and participate in the exchange and transfer of information in the learning processes. The ability to communicate clearly and in a language understood by both deliverer and listener has a great impact on teaching and learning processes for better understanding. But people who are closed-minded, evasive and intimidated hinder or serve as a barrier to communication. And one of the various ways or methods to break this communication in a teaching and learning environment is to introduce ice breakers. A very helpful method (Table 4) in breaking the barriers of communication or as they say “breaking the ice” as presented by Claire Pekcan (2008).
Overcome Intimidation
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Be direct
State clearly what you want the other person to understand and do
Be-direct
Re-state opposing positions from your perspective and to your benefit
Be Friendly
Return even the chilliest reception with warmth
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Use Humour
Disarm other’s defences with a laugh
Be self confident
You have nothing to fear but you know what!
Be kind
Your respect and concern for others will open minds
Ask questions
Seek other’s perspective and really listen to their views
Mirror the other person
Sense what is important or what concerns others, and reflect on your own interest and concern
Find common bonds
Rather than focusing on polar positions, start with shared values
Make friends
Friends open each other’s minds more effectively than do foes
Take the initiative
You are the best person to express your
Be truthful
Facts are difficult to evade
Stay focused
It is hard to evade a persistent point
Practice active listening
Seek out what the person perceives and feel
Be sincere
Your interest in two-way communication will induce trust
Avoid closed-mindedness
Confront evasiveness
Table 4: Taken from the presentation of Claire Pekcan of Warsash Maritime Academy.
There are a number of ice breaking activities that you may use depending on the event. But the secret of it is making it simple and within the objectives of the event. Avoid bad ice breakers as it may find you embarrassed or others involve. Make a great start for a great event. Use Ice breakers for diverse learners, building up friendship, new formed team, if there is pause due to unfamiliarity of the topic and prior starting your lecture you must get to know your participants and have them know you better. Deep vs. Surface Learning A deep approach is focused in the intention for students to understand, examine new facts and ideas critically. Students link and relate previous knowledge or concepts to principles or new knowledge that may lead to long-term
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retention of concepts. And students find the subject matter interesting that he/she felt a need to engage appropriately and meaningfully. A surface approach applied to academic leads to repetition of learning for retention but often without understanding its meaning and significance. The students focus on learning or memorizing the material for the sake of passing the examination. And students don’t engage themselves to search for new meanings for understanding, thus, it does not promote long-term retention of those information from the material. (Biggs, 2003; Ramsden, 2003) In order to explicitly illustrate the differences I have quoted and retrieved below (Table 5) from the Engineering Subject Centre website wherein the author, Dr. Warren Houghton, have compiled the factors that encourage Deep and Surface Approaches to Learning from the works of Biggs (1999), Entwistle (1988) and Ramsden (1992). Definition
Characteristics
Encourage by Students’
Deep Learning Examining new facts and ideas critically, and trying them into existing cognitive structures and making numerous links between ideas. Looking for meaning Focussing on the central argument or concepts needed to solve a problem. Interacting actively. Distinguishing between argument and evidence. Making connections between different modules. Relating new and previous knowledge. Linking course content to real life. Having an intrinsic curiosity in the subject. Being determined to do well and mentally engaging when doing academic work. Having the appropriate background knowledge for a sound foundation. Having time to pursue interests, through good time management. Positive experience of education leading to confidence in ability to understand and succeed.
Encourage by Teachers’
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Showing personal interest in the subject.
Surface Learning Accepting new facts and ideas uncritically and attempting to store them as isolated, unconnected, items. Relying in rote learning Focussing on outwards signs and the formulae needed to solve a problem. Receiving information passively. Failing to distinguish principles from examples Treating parts of module and programmes as separate. Not recognizing new material as building on previous work Seeing course content simply as material to be learnt for the exam. Studying a degree for the qualification and not being interested in the subject. Not focussing on academic areas, but emphasizing others (e.g. social, sport) Lacking background knowledge and understanding necessary to understand material. Not enough time / too high workload. Cynical view of education, believing that factual recall is what is required High anxiety Conveying disinterest or even a negative attitude to the material Page 17 of 317 Pages
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Bringing out the structure of the subject. Concentrating on and ensuring plenty of time for key concepts.
Presenting material so that it can be perceived as a series of unrelated facts and ideas. Allowing students to be passive.
Confronting students' misconceptions. Engaging students in active learning. Using assessments that require thought, and requires ideas to be used together.
Assessing for independent facts (short answer questions).
Relating new material to what students already know and understand.
Emphasizing coverage at the expense of depth.
Allowing students to make mistakes without penalty and rewarding effort.
Creating undue anxiety or low expectations of success by discouraging statements or excessive workload.
Being consistent and fair in assessing declared intended learning outcomes, and hence establishing trust.
Having a short assessment cycle.
Rushing to cover too much material.
Table 5: Retrieved from Houghton, Warren (2004) Engineering Subject Centre Guide: Learning and Teaching Theory for Engineering Academics. Loughborough: HEA Engineering Subject Centre.
Teacher vs. Student Centred Learning A Teacher-centred activity is when teachers impart their knowledge through mostly lecturing and tutorials. Students are told on what they should know about the major topics that comprise the subject matter or discipline. Although a dominant mode in most conduct of classes it is assumed a one-way flow of information, somewhat a didactic approach, as students’ contribution is limited to asking questions for clarification or minimal interaction. Assumed that students don’t know anything and teachers presumed that topics are new to them. And instructions are more geared towards average students and the rest is required to progress at the same rate. A student-centred activity is a dynamic process of learning where student create his/her own knowledge, constructivism, and focus on understanding the topics rather than absorbing all the topics presented. Interaction between students and their peers and teachers, two-way flow of information, and students’ are given the opportunity to explore new concepts and critically analyze it from previous concepts to accommodate or make new understanding. Students are assumed to have knowledge, experience and belief which they may use in developing changes and good understanding. ‘Students learn in different ways’. (Pekcan, 2007; Biggs, 2003)
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For better understanding of the characteristics of teacher and student centred teaching and learning instructions I quoted below (Table 6) taken from the presentation made by Claire Pekcan (2007) to the Postgraduate certificate Course for Maritime Education and Training held at AMOSUP Centre, Intramuros, Manila and a research compilation I took (Table 7) from Raffer (2004). Learning Outcomes
Goals and Objectives
Instructional Strategy
Assessment
Teacher’s Role
Student’s Role
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Teacher-centred Discipline – specific verbal information Lower order thinking skills e.g. recall, identity define. Memorization of abstract and isolated facts, figures and formulae Teacher prescribes learning goal and objective based on prior experiences, past practices and state and/or locally mandated standards Instructional Strategy prescribed by teacher Group paced designed for average student. Information organized and presented primarily by teacher e.g. lectures with some supplemental reading assignments. Assessment used to sort students Paper and pencil exams used to assess students acquisition of information Teacher sets performance criteria for students. Students left to find out what the teacher wants Teacher organizes and presents information to groups of students. Teachers act as gatekeeper of knowledge, controlling students’ access to information Teacher directs learning Students expect teachers to teach them what’s required to pass the test Passive recipients of information Reconstructs knowledge and information
Student-centred Interdisciplinary information and knowledge Higher order thinking e.g. problem solving skills. Information processing skills e.g. access, organize, interpret, and communicate information. Student works with teacher to select learning goals and objectives based on authentic problems and students’ prior knowledge, interests and experience. Teacher works with student to determine learning strategy Self-paced, designed to meet the needs of the individual student. Student given direct access to multiple sources of information e.g. books, on-line databases, community members Assessment is an integral part of learning. Performance based, used to assess students’ ability to apply knowledge. Students work with teachers to define performance criteria. Students develop self-assessment and peer assessment skills. Teacher provides multiple means of accessing information Teacher acts as facilitator, helps students access and process information. Teacher facilitates learning. Students take responsibility for learning Active knowledge seekers. Construct knowledge and meaning.
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Learning environment
Students sit in rows. Information presented via lectures, books, and films
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Students work at stations with access to multiple resources. Student work individually at times but also need to collaborate in small groups.
Table 6: Quoted from the presentation of Claire Pekcan to participants of Postgraduate Certificate Course on Maritime Education and Training in November 2007.
How does each model address these questions?
Learning -centred teaching
Traditional, facultycentred teaching
What drives the system? How are educational programs planned?
Student- learning driven Educational objectives determine instructional format, varied modalities.
Instructionally driven Traditional, instructor driven modalities, i.e., lecture, lab, recitation, discussions predominate.
Planned consistency among objectives, teaching/learning transactions and assessments (Fink, 2001).
Arbitrary alignment among objectives, teaching/learning transactions and assessments; possible inconsistencies. Instructor, as content expert, conveys material.
What are the major roles for faculty?
Faculty become designers of learning environments for students (Barr & Tagg, 1996), facilitators of student activelearning, and model expert thought processes. Faculty enable students to learn effectively and efficiently in varied environments.
How is power distributed?
Power is shared with students so that they can be involved in the conditions of learning. This balance of power leads to greater student responsibility (Weimer, 2002).
What guides how students are taught?
Evidence-based research (Matlin, 2002; Sternberg. & Grigorenko, 2002) guide the principles of the teaching/learning transactions and assessments. Adaptation of teaching/learning transactions to accommodate students'
How are students taught?
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Faculty transmit information, may not provide enough assistance for students to master content. Faculty control the content, the learning process, the conditions for learning and the assessments, which leads to dependent, unmotivated students (Weimer, 2002). Instructors teach largely based on how they were taught.
Instruction tends to be one size fits all approach; students must adapt to
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How are students exposed to new material?
How do students spend their time? How do students study?
Why evaluate students?
Can all students succeed?
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learning styles, abilities, varied needs of diverse student population (DeZure, 2000). Students directly involved in the discovery of knowledge, uses inquiry-based methods to understand and use the material (Graesser, Person, & Hu 2002). Prior knowledge is considered to facilitate Learning. Students are actively engaged in their learning process. Engaged students foster deep learning (material integrated, many associations made among concepts, allows for understanding and reflection) (Weimer, 2002). Evaluation promotes learning, improvement, provides feedback, & results in competency decisions about students (Weimer, 2002). Faculty show concern for well being and success of all students. Adaptation of teaching and learning transactions to accommodate for individual differences (Barr and Tagg, 1996). Faculty show concern for well being and success of students.
system to succeed.
Faculty are concerned with coverage of a large amount of material, may be at the expense of student understanding.
Students often are passive receivers of information. Students often learn through memorization, they may not create meaning from the material learned. Evaluation is separate from learning and is used to provide feedback & make grade distinctions among the students. Accepts idea that some students will fail or do not as well as others often because grading falls along a bell shaped curve.
Table 7: Characteristics of Learning-Centred Teaching and Traditional Teacher-Centred Instruction by M. Raffer (2004) retrieved from http://www.usp.edu
Constructive Alignment Constructive alignment as stated by Biggs (2003) is a ‘design for teaching calculated to encourage deep engagement’. For this design to work the curriculum must well define and clear objectives which classify the level of understanding required. From those levels of classifications, mainly the verbs used to describe the action that students need to achieve, that the teacher is able to create or choose the learning activity to realize the objectives and a chance for the students to engage on those verbs. And the assessment should address the objectives to test if the students were able to achieve the objectives or determine to what level the student have been successfully meeting the objectives. Although based on my experience that it would be hard to achieve this in the early stage of practice I believe that constant reflection and practice would enable a teacher to align his curriculum. A teacher must be able to identify all
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appropriate activities that could be used based on the verbs he/she uses with constant or frequent modification to the course design and delivery that the curriculum will most likely achieve the learning outcomes, constructive alignment. For better illustration and understanding of the relationship of the Learning outcomes aligned with assessment and activities. I have retrieved and quoted below concept map (Figure 5) and (Table 8) a constructively aligned assessment scheme by Dr. Warren Houghton (2004) based on the main ideas of Biggs (2003) retrieved from the Engineering Subject Centre Website.
Figure 5: Concept map illustrating the main ideas put forward by Biggs and the relationships between them in the Curriculum Design Process.
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Objectives Grading will be based on you attaining the following criteria:
Grading Criteria Grades will depend on how well you can demonstrate that you have met all objectives: A: Awarded if you have clearly met all the objectives, displaying deep knowledge of the content, creative thinking, applying the concepts effectively to new situations B: Awarded when all objectives have been met well and effectively
•
Demonstrate appreciation and understanding of the delicate balance in the environment.
•
Demonstrate understanding of sustainability and related issues in the environment. Have knowledge of relevant UK and EU environmental legislations.
•
• •
Relate specific pollution control technologies to industries. Appreciate the range of engineering related environmental problems.
C: Awarded when the objectives have been addressed satisfactorily, or where evidence is strong for some objectives, but weaker in others. F: Less than C, or work not submitted
Table 8: A constructively aligned assessment scheme (adapted from Biggs 2003) retrieved from http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/constructive_alignment.asp
SOLO Taxonomy SOLO stands for Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome and Taxonomy. Taxonomy (Classification) is based on the study that as students progress to another stage of learning that they are met with the same stage of complexity. But there are alteration in the quantity of information and quality of learning. ‘Quantitative changes occur first, and then the learning changes qualitatively’. SOLO taxonomy is arranged in a way that each level should be basis of the next level and quoting Biggs (2003) below are the five levels of understanding each of increasing complexity: 1. Prestructural – get students to approach learning but relevant learning showed little evidence. 2. Unistructural – deep approach is most appropriate. ‘Deal with terminology, getting on track but little more’. 3. Multicultural – deep approach is most appropriate. Try to get the students to the underlying meaning of their learning tasks. ‘Teaching is about getting students to learn appropriately, not getting by with short cuts’ and encourage to adopt deep learning approach. 4. Relational – students react differently to their teaching environment that leads them to either surface or deep learning. There must be alignment of curriculum from learning objective, activities, and assessment. Must be consistent. 5. Extended Abstract – ‘The essence of the extended abstract response is that it goes beyond what has been given, whereas the relational response stays with it. The coherent whole is conceptualized at a higher level of
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abstraction and is applied to new and broader domains. An extended response on approaches to learning would be a breakthrough response, giving a perspective that changes what we think about them and their relationship to teaching. The trouble is that today’s extended abstract is tomorrow’s relational. Marton and Säljö’s original study was such a breakthrough; linking approaches to learning to systems theory was another; but now both are conventional wisdom’ The levels of understanding uses verb in hierarchical order of complexity which would give a wide range of levels that can be used to appropriate levels. As shown in (Figure 6) taken from Biggs (2003) is a hierarchy of verbs that may be used.
Compare/Contrast Explain causes Analyze Relate Apply
Theorize Generalize Hypothesize Reflect
Enumerate describe List combine Do algorithms Identify do simple procedure
Misses point
Prestructural
Unistructural
Multistructural
Quantitative phase
Relational
Extended Abstract
Qualitative phase
Figure 6: A hierarchy of verbs that may be used to form curriculum objectives based on SOLO Taxonomy modelled and quoted from Biggs (2003, 48)
The result of its application is that it describes ‘quantitative increase in knowledge as Unistructural or Multistructural and qualitative changes as relational or extended abstract’. It is used to describe levels of understanding in curriculum development, learning outcomes and assessment. But one implication is that higher level of this taxonomy is unlikely achieved through surface learning approach. (Fry Et. All, 2004)
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Bloom’s Taxonomy As with SOLO Taxonomy Bloom’s taxonomy is to assist teacher in classifying the course learning objectives and skills needed to be performed by the students. Bloom’s Taxonomy was proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 wherein he divided the educational objectives in three domains namely: 1. Cognitive – Targets knowledge, understanding and higher order thinking. 2. Psychomotor – Targets changes, development of behaviour and skills. 3. Affective – Targets emotions, feelings and attitude. Although the goal of Bloom’s taxonomy is for educators to focus on the three domains, the revised book for learning teaching and assessing is focused only on the cognitive domain which has six levels of understanding, which follows the same hierarchical order as SOLO taxonomy, wherein each level is a prerequisite to the other. The following are the descriptions of the major categories in the cognitive domain which some was quoted from the presentation of David Gatfield to the participants of PGCMET. 1. Knowledge – recalling, remembering and relating to specifics. Emphasis is on psychological process of remembering that involves knowledge of specifics, terminology, facts, ways and means of dealing with specifics, conventions, trends and sequences, classification and categories, criteria, methodology, the universals and abstraction in a field, principles and generalizations, and theories and structures. Knowledge represents the lowest level of learning outcomes. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Knows common terms Knows specific facts Knows basic concepts Knows principles
Defines, describes, lists, identifies, outlines, reproduces, states.
2. Comprehension – understanding or apprehensions on the meaning of the material, a step higher than simply remembering and can be shown by translation, interpretation, and extrapolation. It represents the lowest level of understanding. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Understands principles, interprets, translates verbal material to mathematical formulae
Converts, defines, distinguishes, estimates, explains, generalises, infers, gives examples
3. Application – ability to use gained knowledge, understanding and abstractions to new concrete situations. Abstractions in the form of general ideas, rules or procedures, generalized methods, technical principles,
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methods, concepts, laws and theories. Represents a higher level of understanding. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Applies concepts and principles to new situations.
Changes, computes, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, prepares, produces, relates, solves.
4. Analysis – ability of breaking down components in a material and communicate the relationship, basis, arrangements and functions of the components for better understanding. Intended to clarify communication, organize communication and manage communication. It involves analyzing elements, relationships, and organizational principles. Represents higher intellectual level. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Recognises assumptions and fallacies, Distinguishes fact from inference, evaluates relevancy of data.
Differentiates, logical, discriminates, identifies, selects, relates, infers, separates, outlines.
5. Synthesis – putting together materials to form a new whole. Combining a material in a structured form not clear before. This involves production of a unique communication, a plan and/or proposed set of operations. Learning objectives stress creative behaviours with emphasis on the formulation of new patterns and structure. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Writes creatively, integrates learning from different areas, plan for solving problems, communicate effectively, propose set of operations
Combines, composes, creates, designs, generates, plans, reconstructs experience, reorganises, summarizes.
6. Evaluation – ability to judge value of material and methods for a given purpose. Judgement could be quantitative and qualitative depending on the criteria given which could be a given satisfactory criteria or student determined criteria. This involves judgments in terms of internal evidence and external criteria. Represents the highest level in the cognitive domain as it involves all the levels of understanding. Instructional Objectives
Specific Learning Objectives
Judges adequacy with which conclusions Appraises, compares, are supported with data, value of a work concludes, describes, relates, interprets, supports. based on internal criteria, logical consistency of written material.
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Relating and Applying Theory to Practice for Personal Development Base on the teaching and learning theories that have been introduced and formative feedbacks that I have collected from the course attendees, peer observation, and tutors. I was able to identify the theories and approaches to teaching and learning that at the moment is applicable on my teaching practice. I tried to relate each theory and approaches to the course I am currently engage in, the Incident Investigation course. I reflected on how I will be able to relate and apply it to the course and how I will be able to manage it given the short period of time of the course. While reflecting I thought to myself that the best thing to do is apply above theories and approaches on the course and try to record it on my mind and reflect at the end of the course on how it went. Before starting the course I usually start by giving courtesy to the participants and the same manner have been returned. But this time I have incorporated icebreaker by asking them to introduce themselves in a minimum of 4 items but one of which is not true of him and let the other attendees identify which is not true. A good effect was observed and felt that such comfort among the participants was achieved as they began to react and interact with each other and all of them were enjoying it. These have been a good start, interaction was already established, an improvement as compared to previous class. It took less time as I expected due to having only seven participants but what if I have more participants? Reflecting on it I thought of recording the time I covered icebreaking and take the average and use it in anticipation of having a maximum no. of participant. Then I proceed asking them questions if they have had experienced conducting investigation onboard. And the usual only a few have experienced it. I asked those few if they could share their experiences and asked others to listen as the experience may have been performed by them but unknowingly that they are already conducting investigation. As advised and from the gained feedback from my peers and mentors, I recorded it, some points in his experience that has direct relationship and relevance on the course and at the same time could assist us as we progress in the course, in a paper posted on the wall (see appendix 1.1). This method has attracted others to share their thoughts from the experience of their co-ship personnel who had conducted investigation. All relevant points have been recorded. Then I explained that before we go further that I would like to discuss the assessment criteria and the need to undergo a pre assessment (computer-based multiple choice question), this would enable me to determine the level of knowledge, experience, and give me a guide on what teaching and learning strategy should I use. A rather low result was obtained in the pre-assessment. The results will be used later and compared with the postassessment to determine how much they learn and how well they understood the course. After the pre assessment I resumed and introduced the course but started by informing them that I’m here to help and to facilitate your learning in this course and encourage them to ask or raise questions for clarification, discussion, or for thorough understanding of the topic, that they may interrupt me anytime
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
and I would accommodate your questions. This is to assure my students that we are help to help, care, support and encourage them. I started by giving them the learning objectives of the course and the learning outcomes (see Appendix 1.2) I wanted them to achieve and the purpose and value of the program in their future lives and experience in the workplace. I asked them of what they expect from the course base on the objectives, outcomes, and value. A good discussion was created to consider the level of discipline of the attendees. This time, I made sure that I limit my lecture to 10-15 minutes (see Appendix U2.1) and after which encouraged discussion. The attendees having been comfortable with each other started interacting and one noticeable observation was that they were not just interacting with me but with other participants relating some item on the lists that had been recorded. Again an improvement as resources, such as the lists, enabled them to recall experiences and assisted in creating discussion. I did not anymore put much focus on the presentation but recorded relevant topics of our discussion and use it as we progress to prove that they have good ideas and understanding and reinforce their ideas on the proper way of doing things. As we proceed in the presentation and go back to the lists of things discussed and it opened up another discussion of comparing and contrasting each other ideas. Through which that I have observed that confidence is rising as they prove that their ideas and understanding are correct and such ability has been possessed. But too much discussion was raised and everybody was interacting that I lost track of the time allotted for the topic. Reflecting on it, I need to be aware of time and be able to manage the situation. This prompted me to cut short the discussion and proceed lecturing. Same approach was done until we finished the first module of the course. Prepared questions (see Appendix 1.3) have been shown as part of the presentation after the module to verify their understanding. Additional approach have been added by showing them a prepared list of learning outcomes of the module and asked them if we were able to cover the modules learning objectives and outcomes. To verify I asked them to each give one or two items that they have understood and I recorded it on a piece of paper posted on the wall to serve as their guide. To my amazement they have provided a full summary of the module. This is good evidence that they have achieved learning. But I thought that if I encourage more interaction that I might not be able to finish the course but those are the items I need to experiment to determine if such approaches would fit the timetable as well as achieving the benefit of learning of the participants. Well anyway I could always go back to traditional lecturing just to finish the course as I have anticipated. A gamble to the desired learning outcome but this experience I believe would give me much information to further hone and improve such approaches. Such as time management, awareness of the disciplines I need to impose to myself and to the attendees. But the unexpected happened that due to the recording and posting of relevant ideas and experience and interaction that the discussions was already covering the whole course itself and that the presentation have just become a reference to determine if understanding is achieved, they became active participants of their own learning. After the course
August 2008
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
a post assessment was administered and passing result was obtained. The Pre and post assessment was compared and evaluated to show how well they understand and what needs to be debriefed for full understanding of the course. In my above experience, the theories and approaches to teaching and learning and formative feedback received from peers and mentors have been successful. The method of recording relevant experiences and information shared by the class has been beneficial in teaching and learning in the class and it showed improvement in the way they learn as compared to previous class as evident on their responses and answers in relating the items to their personal thought and ideas which also have given them confidence as evident to them on their expressed reaction such as “I can see now that I have the ability to analyze”, “I am correct all along”, “I thought so!”, “Things will never be the same again”, “I’m grateful to the company for sending me to this course”, “So far the best management level program I have attended” etc. Introducing a bit of humour and icebreakers in the class makes them comfortable and draws the attention of students of what they are expected to do as evident they became more participative as compared to previous class. Drawing out relevant topics for discussion engages them to be active participants as shown on the way they interact, being assertive, outspoken and expressive of their ideas. Showing them the objectives after the module have given me opportunity to align a formative and summative assessment to my expected learning outcomes to be achieved by the attendees, another way of assessing them to determine if the learning outcome has been achieved. Guiding and providing them complex questions, problem solving exercises and case analysis helped them exercise their minds in engaging in deep learning processes helping them achieve the desired learning outcomes, as an evidence, attendees expressed understanding by giving and relating concrete examples from their personal experience to the course topic, and reflecting that they will do it differently the next time. Asking them and facilitating questions within and after each lecture helped me identify their understanding of the topic and engage them to reflect on their own experience. Drawing out questions directly addressed to quieter participants allows them to contribute their experience and share their thoughts on the topics, determining as well if they have gained knowledge and understanding, and give them a sense of belonging which is evident of their active participation on the succeeding discussions. Giving them a good feedback of their performance in the class has further encouraged them to be more interactive which I believe could ensure long term retention of gained knowledge and understanding as evident to the discussion that they were the one determining what needs to be learned and directing their learning. And asking them feedback at the end of the course helped me identify on how they perceive my teaching, how I have facilitated their learning, and on how I will be able to improve further (see Appendix U1.5). The theories and approaches to learning that I have learned are helping me in facilitating now my class. But there are still a lot of questions that needs further answering, experimenting, exploring, discovering, and reflecting such as; In what way I could and have contribute/d to the design? What does the program
August 2008
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Teaching and/or Supporting Learning
or course want the students to understand and demonstrate? How do they learn? What activities need to be considered or applied to identify students learning and understanding? What skills need to be developed? What are the processes involve? What else could I do? And I can see that there will be more questions to come that needs to be address and defended which some of them may involve further in the designing of courses, management of classes, and other approaches to teaching and learning for utmost learning and understanding of the students. And this that I will focus on my practice by recording, recalling, and reflecting on previous practice on how to further improve and eliminate those that has no relevance. I would expect much learning ahead to consider attendees different learning styles, cultural differences, diversity of experience and disciplines. As teachers, we cannot avoid the responsibility of constantly making decisions and changes in our teaching, curriculum design for utmost learning of our students (Ramsden, 2003). But armed with all the learning and understanding of teaching and learning processes that I am confident and prepared to hurdle all the challenges to achieve my goals.
August 2008
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
2. Contributing to the Design and Planning of Learning Activities and/or Programmes of Study
Background and Theory In reference to Chapter 1 of this portfolio, it has mentioned some theories and fundamental approaches to learning and teaching in which if summed would create a sound curriculum content on what needs to be learned and what needs student do to learn; an alignment of the outcome, information and assessment. But where and how do we start in designing and planning learning activities, in short what are the process involve? As stated in the theories of learning and teaching; is focused on what student has to do to create knowledge and that knowledge is created by student’s learning activities, what students do (Biggs, 2003). But according to Ramsden’s (2003) teaching theories that teachers need to work cooperatively with students making learning possible by helping them to better understand and make meaning of their learning. Under this theories that teachers take part in finding out what causes misunderstanding, intervene to change this understanding, and create a context that would encourage students to engage. Thus, this theory links teaching, learning and subject content to suit student understanding and not students being active learners and as organizers of their own learning alone. Teachers focus on relation between students and subject matter; they are challenged and engaged by seeing themselves as the student; they systematically adapt to suit student understanding; and they see teaching as a research-like, scholarly process. And to organise teaching and learning we must be able to design the subject matter more explicit so as to improve the learning experience of students. And to make learning and teaching explicit is to develop learning outcomes. But outcomes focusing on what students will be able to do at the end of the programme. (D’Andrea, 2004) ‘When designing course or module the teacher (or teaching team) must employ a systematic approach bearing in mind all the course outcome requirements, the contact time available, co-ordination of different subject areas, resource availability and student prior knowledge – this is in addition to incorporating challenges to the students. Outcome requirements or assessment criteria may be subjected to external influence depending on the course or module concerned; possible influences that may need to be considered are the requirements of a certifying professional body or the syllabus of externally set examinations’ Alan Campion (2007)
The designing and planning of learning activities and/or programmes of study are very important if one wishes the learners achieve the desired learning outcome allowing transformation of an individual on the desired behaviour and transfer of learning to their future lives and workplace.
August 2008
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
There a number of approaches to course design and planning of activities. Being now familiar with the theories as stated in Chapter 1 on how students learn, relationship between approaches of learning, and the context of learning. It clearly shows that by using these different theories that one could clarify the nature of good and effective teaching and how they linked to understand the process of teaching and learning. (Ramsden, 2003) Ramsden (2003) have developed the following five issues that needs to be addressed to achieve the goals and structure of designing a course and how to improve teaching practice: (Quoted from Ramsden, 2003 p119-20) 1. Goals and Structure – ‘What do I want my students to learn, and how can I express my goals to them and make these goals clear to my colleagues and myself?’ 2. Teaching Strategies – ‘How should I arrange teaching and learning so that students have the greatest chance of learning what I want them to learn?’ 3. Assessment – ‘How can I found out whether they have learned what I hoped they would learn?’ 4. Evaluation – ‘How can I estimate the effectiveness of my teaching, and use the information I gather to improve it?’ 5. Accountability and educational development – How the answers to 1 – 4 should be applied to measuring and improving the quality of higher education? Assessment, evaluation and accountability in this issue are inseparable in course design base on the idea that monitoring and improving the curriculum effectiveness is a good teaching practice and will be explored later on this portfolio. In addition to Ramsden’s structure of designing a course. D’Andrea (2004) put forward different approaches (Table 9) to course /module design that can be adopted in a particular or different discipline wherein it could be used alone or a combination thereof. Type of Approach Systematic
Intellectual
Problem-based
Creative / experiential
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Description Proceeds from identifiable needs to predictable outcomes. It follows a planning sequence with a feedback loop for changing and improving design each time the course is taught. Examines the subject matter in terms of assumptions held in the discipline with regard to a particular body of information, attitudes and skills. It asks questions such as: should the course be taught a macro- or micro-level of conceptual analysis? Identifies one or more specific problem to be addressed. It is not objective-defined but objective-based through inference. It eventually gets to a systematic approach but not sequentially. It places an emphasis on the process of understanding the problem. Involves teaching / learning by experience generally
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
Training / workshop-based
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
through the dynamics of a group process. Outcomes are defined in the existential moment of learning Outcomes are defined by the skills acquired through the training workshop.
Table 9: Five approaches to course / module design taken and quoted from D’Andrea (2003, p 29)
Involvement and Contribution Among other duties as a Training Director and Facilitator, I am also responsible in meeting FMFI’s objectives such as; to develop and empower our lecturers to continually improve their effectiveness; to ensure quality of training and instruction; continually evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of personnel, services and operation to satisfy clients requirements; and assess, evaluate and update our course programs to keep abreast of new technology and latest trends in the maritime industry. Such huge task and responsibility but through years of experience that I was able to gain confidence of ensuring of meeting the objectives from feedback received from the company through feedback from their participants, feedback taken from the course attendees, results of assessment and evaluation of lecturer and attendees, accreditation from government authorities such as Maritime Training Council (MTC) and Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA); recognition from regulatory bodies such as Professional Regulatory Commission, recognition from International and national bodies such International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT), International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) and Filipino Association for Mariners’ Employment (FAME), and ISO 9001:2000 certified. I have been not been involved yet in a full course development but have contributed to course content for its improvement. Some of the courses we offered that I was involved in the improvement in the Maritime English Course for Ratings and Officers. During my early years of working at FMFI I was tasked to file a grant to IMTT applying for course sponsorship, FREE Maritime English course for seafarer. Shipowners and shipmanagers were asking why some Filipino seafarers has limited progression when sent to technical courses for upgrading? Why is it that it takes them some time to perform, dissect, evaluate, analyze and understand given information? The result of the investigation is a lack on English comprehension. Having the Maritime English Course offered from some time we are confident that the content would satisfy the requirements. Prior sponsorship IMTT used an external verifier, Mr. Collin Stevenson of Warsash Maritime Centre, to verify if the contents do satisfy their requirement. The results were disappointing. The Ratings and Officers course has no difference, learning goals and outcomes are not clear, levels of domain for different disciplines was slightly covered, lacking of learning activities, and assessment does not show clear evidence that attendees have met the stated learning outcomes. The suggestion was to completely reorganize the courses using the findings as guide prior grant consideration. A handful of task is in my shoulder. Having no experience in course framework, design and/or development, I seek and researched for references
August 2008
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
and resources that could assist me. I found information from the internet on how to come-up with a course development but due to poor understanding and pressure due to imposed date that I didn’t bother to study and seek further research until I came across the draft IMO model course on Maritime English. There that I concentrated as the course was already developed and all I need to do is follow the process done in the model course. But the model course covers a certain amount of data and ample amount of time is to be covered. And the intended course if only good for 5-days. I compared the content of our existing Maritime English course and the findings to the model course. From there that I was able to identify what needs to be covered by Ratings and those for Officers. But uncertain I created a draft base from the model course with a 5-day course timeframe and consulted it with one of my board of trustees. There that he assisted me to eliminate some of the tenses and concentrate to most important tense such as present, past and future tenses and noted that we are not making them speak fluently and you cannot expect them to speak and comprehend all this things in 5 days. All we want is to get the common language used onboard so that they could already apply it onboard and gain common understanding. I did not have big difficulties in creating the ratings course but the challenge I believe will be in the officer but unexpectedly I find it harder designing the ratings course as I was probably thinking on my level that too much content was placed. The officer course was based on my experience of what are the adjustments and needed training when I was starting and progressing as an officer e.g. reading comprehension in an intermediate and advance level, technical writing which also is my weakness then. After drafting both and presented to the Board they fill we need further assistance in the development as they found the content to have too much information that most likely the teacher will just have to talk while students just listen. With this that I hired experienced Maritime English Instructor and Instructress, involved further my Board of Trustees, and Maritime Professionals. We convened and brainstormed on what should be the content of the courses with reference to the findings. Individual task was determined and I was involved to provide engine operational procedures, communication, and technical terms used in the Engineroom. The course was organized and reviewed in reference to the findings and experiences of the individuals involve in the course improvement (see appendix 2.1). But the task was mainly done by English Lecturers who are Education graduates who have good understanding of course development. From this experience that I got interested and challenged to further learn course design and development. Below (Table 10) are courses that I had been involved with and contributed in its design and plans of activities. Courses Correcting Charts the Admiralty Way
Involvement and Contributions • Sent the lecturers for training on chart management,
August 2008
Reasons
Reflection
• To gain more knowledge on the proper way of correcting charts as conducted by the expert, new strategies and techniques in using tools
• This has been very helpful to the improvement of the course us it was conducted by an accredited company in the UK by UKHO outsourced by Southfield Agencies.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
and equipment in applying corrections, and how to properly manage and organize corrections, publication and journals in a professional and neat manner.
• Continuously monitoring of updates on Notice to mariners, publishing and journals
• The course offers a weekly update of notice to mariner.
• Convened • The lecturers being active brainstorming with seafarers themselves could Maritime Officers provide most appropriate on their and up to date activities that experiences and could be performed by activities that could attendees in accordance to be incorporated or what they will be doing integrated in the onboard course.
• Frequently seek and Assess students. (quizzes) and feedback form (see appendix 2.2)
August 2008
• To gather further information on how the course have helped them , determine teaching and learning process.
New techniques was learned such as removal of confusion on when to use ball pen and pencil, when to erase how to erase data, etc. Which have not been encountered by the lecturers and was introduced to corrections that are not frequent in the Notice to mariner (NTM). Thus same is taught to our students to benefit in case they experience same. • This allow our students to not only learn the proper way of correcting the chart but they are correcting the current issues of NTM that might be useful in case they are sent on board within the week or the following week, thus, he is updated and knows already those that need corrections and it build’s up awareness that charts needs to be updated weekly or soonest possible. • As per experience the course have been very dynamic and up to date having lecturers who are active seafarers as they contribute their experiences like we now have a new updated NP -294 journal on how to correct chart the latest edition, share their experience on how to do correction based on their experience in a more simpler and faster way. Introduce additional topics that should be covered in the course as per their experiences that most of the officers he sailed with did not know this particular item included in correcting charts. • This has been very effective as we were able to determine and identify weaknesses of officers in terms of correcting charts the admiralty way and determined their views that they were not doing the same and having gone through that course that they feel what they were doing was wrong and somewhat disorganized in correcting chart e.g. some didn’t even know how to identify if the chart is obsolete and if the delivered chart is the updated one, other’s have not seen some publications and journals, etc. as what have been taught but some have made good suggestions in the course to improve it further and in our future plan, to create feedback form for Master’s to fill up to verify performance of our attendees on the
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
• Seek external assistance from companies and others who have the resources for course improvement
• Organized a seminar with the Philippine hydrographical department and FMFI Lecturers for sharing and exchanging expertise on chart correction.
Engine Room Simulator Course
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
• Would enable the lecturers to share notes and exchange ideas on the different approaches of teaching and learning activities in conducting the course
• Personnel on the Philippine hydrographical department are experts on their field and correction is one of their expertises.
•
•
• Planning of activities to meet the objectives set by IMO Model course 2.07 – Engine Room Simulator course. (see appendix 2.3)
• Careful planning of activities is needed as to define areas of lecture and simulation and exercises appropriate in addressing the objective of the course.
•
• Creation of Initial condition (see appendix 2.4) and scenarios for the exercises to be performed by the students. (see figure 7)
• As part of the planning creation of initial conditions and scenarios is necessary to address real life situation to help them understand and learn the proper way of handling such situation.
•
August 2008
particular competency of correcting chart. A good example of this is communicating with my batchmates to bring some old but if possible new journals and publications and charts for use and reference purposes, discuss things with in-house instructors (Philippine Hammonia and Anglo Eastern) of some of my board of trustees who have experienced teaching Chart correction, and if they have some foreign visitors who are knowledgeable and well verse in correcting chart they request them to visit FMFI to provide some hints and share experiences with the instructors. Good sharing and exchanges of ideas in such competency have enabled the lecturers to possess different approaches and learn non British admiralty charts. This broadens their understanding that could be shared with the attendees in case they would encounter different chart. And compare methods to improve teaching strategies which both the department and FMFI benefitted Brainstorming have helped us identify strategies that works and not e.g. discussion on the exercises that have to be created that would be as close to reality and how many participants per station to achieve utmost learning or one for every station. We found out that they learn faster if accompanied by their peers as they learn from the actions of others and they felt more comfortable asking their peers for information and clarification. And found that 3 per station would be most appropriate as they will all have a good opportunity to operate the simulator given the timeframe of the course. Initial condition was thoroughly planned as to what condition is most appropriate to Junior and senior officers. As per our experience we started with giving them opportunity to operate the whole system starting from cold ship. This has been very effective with Junior officers but not with seniors who assert that operating the system in our case from cold ship would be to supervise
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
Incident investigation course
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
• Creation of a summative evaluation using the simulator’s computer based evaluation system (see figure 8) evaluating reactions and responses to malfunctions and its rectifications and involved operations for a particular objective for each exercises • Creation of forms to be used for the exercise for observation and analysis of engine room plant operation (see appendix 2.5) and Incorporated time for students’ experimentation and discovery of other operational procedure and technique. • Creation of exercise activity to determine statement of facts and feelings (see appendix 2.6)
• This would enable the instructor identify and provide feedback on their performance on the simulator.
• Creation of exercise activity to identify causes of
• This is to remove confusion that the incident is the loss. Giving this exercise enable
August 2008
that even though they don’t know the simulator that they can guide their junior officers as long as the system is in the simulator. But this does not apply to all Senior Officer thus they prefer going through the process for better understanding to consider that some of the auxiliary systems in the simulator have not been encountered at the same time they have not experienced operation from cold ship. • These gave us evidence to verify is they are demonstrating the proper way of operating the systems and doing the proper procedure of the task assigned and provide each group feedback on what should have been done and not. But this only assesses their technical skills in operating the engine, watch-keeping and rectification and does not involve assessment of their behaviour.
• To guide the students on what needs to be observed and be aware of and also assist the lecturer to identify if students are learning and has achieved understanding.
• This gives the student the opportunity to conceptualize and analyze through experimentation and discovery thus being responsible for their own learning. It also gave us an idea of what are those limitations base on the items they observe and analyze. Thus, assist the instructors to intervene to guide them on what else should be observed and analyzed.
• This assists the students to identify what are those things that constitute feelings and facts.
• This is a very common thing onboard of speaking too general, base things from their thoughts, assumptions, and intuition, and without any evidence or fact. E.g. The Chief Officer is incompetent (feelings), The Chief Officer is incompetent in disseminating tasks to ship personnel (Specific, now becomes a fact). It is necessary that we identify specifically the problem so it would be easy to determine what appropriate action should be done to address the problem. • Base on maritime incidents that have been gathered most of the loss pertains to expenses either from
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
loss (see appendix 2.7)
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
them to identify loss vs. incident and vice-versa.
• Creation of exercise activity to differentiate immediate and real causes. (see appendix 2.8)
• This is to remove misconception on the belief that the immediate causes are already the real or root cause of the problem.
• Creation of exercise activity of case studies to promote analysis and practice mapping to determine the sequence of events. (see appendix 2.9)
• This exercise promotes analysis or critical thinking for deep learning, understanding on how to prevent the loss from happening again and sequence of event
• Creation of exercise activity of case study to identify the loss; the incident; the substandard act, practices, and conditions. (see appendix 2.10) • Incorporate a list of root cause statements to be used for comprehension and interpretation to be able to fully utilize the Marine Systematic Cause Analysis Technique. (see also appendix 2.10)
• This exercise test further their understanding in determining loss, incident, immediate and serves continuum verification of their understanding from the previous topics
• Creation of group case study for students’ to experiment on other Techniques e.g. 5 why’s, fish
• This is to give students the opportunity to use other techniques
August 2008
• Root cause statements to be interpreted using MSCAT (additional technique to assist them in their investigation) to better appreciate its purpose and use
death, process, environment, and property. During my conduct of class and fro the case study exercise they are always identifying the incident that caused the loss and not the loss itself. Giving them this exercise have enabled them to understand the incident are the one that caused the loss. • With this exercise that they were able to identify the difference between immediate causes and root causes and that helped them in analysing case study exercise in identifying immediate and root causes. • This gave the students opportunity to exercise analyzation and critical thinking that would gave them better understanding of what happened on the incident and how they could come-up with controls to avoid thing from happening again and determine the sequence of events. And the case study itself became a stimulant that made them focus as these things could happen to them thus; they can be prepared of the situation and identify how to address the situation. • This thorough exercise have assisted the instructor in identifying their understanding of the whole course and to what areas needs further review and reinforcement.
• There are a number of techniques that could be used in assisting individuals in conducting investigation. And such exercise helped them to interpret given statements from the MSCAT and helped them use this type of technique which most found it interesting and look at it as very helpful that others expressed that they would definitely use this techniques e.g. He was not able to perform the task well due to poor educational background, MSCAT interpretation – Lack of knowledge, initial education. • This gave them to opportunity to try and exercise other methods and techniques to experiment if same results will be attained and allows them to identify what techniques would be most comfortable using to
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
bone analysis, loss causation model, etc. (see appendix 2.11) • Inclusion of additional module to emphasize follow-up and near-mishap situations. (see appendix 2.12)
Marine Pollution courses
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
assist them in their investigation.
• This is to complete the whole incident investigation process
• Continuous • Due to the vastness and provision of new fastness of changes regulations to keep experienced in the Maritime the lecturers industry that one needs to abreast and be kept abreast of new updated. rules and regulation. Acquisition of MARPOL CD at IMO to get latest update and Revision of course handouts and presentation to accommodate new updates. (www.imo.org) • Improvement by guiding the lecturers in revising the MARPOL 6 presentation of not focusing on explaining the regulation but what the seafarers would do to comply with the regulations. (see appendix 2.13)
• To avoid misunderstanding on the interpretation and relationship of the rules in their work.
• (Future plan) visit to ecological site
• For seafarers to better appreciate the importance of MARPOL and ecology and it value in relation to
August 2008
• This was incorporated to emphasize importance of follow-up to make sure that appropriate actions were taken and emphasis of near-miss situations to make them fully aware of its complication and discuss further their understanding of “miss”, which most has under the impression that there really is nothing to investigate. Also here that they were able to identify what are those near mishaps. Which most of the students would say “I thought it’s not a near –miss situation”. Thus improving their understanding of what are near miss situation are and now know what are those that needs to be reported and addressed as may be soon this will lead to a full blown accident. • This is very important as many incident and loss have occurred due to ignorance of the law. And informed them that as long as incidents are happening and persistent then they should expect changes in the rules and regulation. Thus, making AMRPOL ironic as incident happens first before we could come-up with sound and preventive rules and regulation. This also helps us to be updated and maintain the quality of the course. And beneficial o students as they would possess the most updated and current issues, rules and regulation. • This helped the students to easily understand the rules and how it would directly affect their work and know what they will do to comply with the rules and regulation. Although this has not been easy but luckily there are abundance of resources for this, active seafarers and officers whose vessels are now complying and compliant to the new rule. And at the same time this gave the lecturer the opportunity to give them common understanding with regard to the rules and regulation. • Discussion is now on progress with LaSalle University as they have a Marine Biological centre in Batangas City this could provide a venue for
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
our lives and place we live in.
Maritime Career Development Program (on progress)
• Determination of intended participants of the course.
• The program is designed for Deck and Engine Ratings who possess Officer-in-charge license who are promotable
• Creation of learning objectives of the program. (see appendix 2.14)
• The goals is to enhance and develop them to meet the standards
• Creation of learning outcomes based on the list of 4th Engineer competencies that should be possessed. Creation of information needed on the subject content. (see appendix 2.15) • Creation of activities the students needs to do to achieve understanding
• To establish the learning outcome to achieve the goal or objective set by the shipowners.
• Creation of assessment and evaluation
• To assess and evaluate if he learning outcome have been achieved
August 2008
• To achieve utmost learning of students
learning the marine environment and increase their concern and awareness on the importance of marine life and its diversity • The intention are for personnel who possessed OIC license and promotable. As we believe that these are the individuals who are motivated, interested, focus, and drive to become future officer. We came up with this thought as the course is intensive in nature due to the need to offer it in a limited timeframe in consideration to the shortage of personnel that the companies may already require them. • The goals were based on the discussions between IMEC members (Clients) of what they desire their personnel to attain. This are to enable them to effectively and efficiently perform the competencies required for junior officers with confidence, right attitude, and aptitude of becoming senior officers. • At the moment we have just came up with the list of competencies and determining needed educational tools to support the intended outcomes. The list of competencies have been set from high to low priorities and intended learning outcomes may change as we progress
• We had already identified some of the activities which will involve simulation, demonstration, handson, problem solving, field trip, case study analyzation, experimentation and interaction. Mainly focus on experiential learning as base on theories that student learns best on doing. And de briefing with the opportunity to guide them on how to reflect to better understand and learn from their experience. • Assessment have been discussed and identified but some limitations have been hindering us due to the equipment that is needed to achieve the learning outcome based on the intended activities that have been identified. We have already visualized the assessment that have to be given but also considering
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
Deck and Engine Cadet Enhancement Program
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
• Creation of qualifying examination
• To determine who among the participants are teachable
• Frequent counselling and feedback. (see appendix 2.18)
• Frequently counselling and asking feedback from students to determine current situation of their learning.
• Brainstorming with Lecturer
• To determine most appropriate approaches and what needs to be eliminated.
• Incorporation of relevant pictures e.g 3D image in course presentation. Incorporated in the PPP and from
• To further reinforce the lectures.
August 2008
discussion of more alternative in case resources will not be acquired or available. • The test constitute Mathematics and English based on principles that this subject matter would give a good indication in determining if students are teachable and able to cope up with the intensiveness of the course. • This it to gather feedback from our students and used to determine on how we can assist further and what needs to changed, rectified and improve for utmost learning of the students. This also assists the instructors to modify strategies to enable the students to cope up with the lesson and be comfortable. This also include counselling students to motivate them and gather feedback on what else do they see that needs to be improved and on how we can help midstream so we could rectify things as the program progresses. • Frequent discussion with lecturers helps us identify strong and weak points as new topics are introduced to determine most appropriate approaches to enable understanding and have them be more motivated. Although sometimes we find it difficult to change approaches due to limited time that sometimes we gave chance to those approaches and observe and evaluate if such teaching and learning approach is appropriate for such students. We have already used different approaches to different to address the different learning styles of students but sometimes not appropriate to identify if effective or not sue to limited time. But we keep on referring to our records on where the approaches were used based on the level of intelligence of such group/batch. But through practice and evaluation that we believe we will be able to find the appropriate approaches to different students that we have. • One of the findings or reasons of their slow progress is that they have poor imagination thus they are having a hard time assimilating all the information given. We have incorporated compute based training, videos, and simulation to
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PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
internet
• Incorporated topics in Mathematics preliminaries. (see appendix 2.19)
• To assist in understanding algebra.
• Incorporated additional exercises and assignments
• To hone further their ability to solve problem and broaden their experience problem solving problem. (see appendix 2.20)
• Incorporated in the program an English Course to improve comprehension. (see appendix 2.21)
• To improve English comprehension
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reinforce imagination to enable them to conceptualize and understand what is being discussed. This have shown improvement in the part of the student base on their responses of able to express their understanding of the topic as they were able to give their own meaning wherein the idea is present and as the instructor were able to progress faster on other topics and • Found to be necessary due to results of students performance in Algebra. Another finding of their poor ability to solve problems in algebra as to poor understanding of the preliminaries and rules of arithmetic e.g. multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction of numbers with different signs, removal of brackets, factors, simplification, etc. • This enable student to broaden further their experiential learning (debates) that more exercises were introduced slightly progressing to more complex exercises to assist them in assimilation, conceptualization and analyzation and the introduction of take home examinations on mathematics and physics to give them the opportunity to be independent in finding out the solution to the problem. And introduction of group examination this gave them the opportunity to realize the importance and benefit of peer collaboration in solving problems. Although this has yet to be thoroughly studied if they did learn and if full understanding have been achieved as at the moment the result of take home examination was good but poor during the final assessment. An area that we will further explore on how we will be able to improve this. • Another problem encountered on why they are having problem of understanding word problem is due to their poor English comprehension. In this area that we outsourced a company whose expertise is on English language. I contributed by giving them maritime terms and exercises that could be used in their examples. Although good results have been attained in the English course, comprehension
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Norcontrol Engine room simulator
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
• To incorporate IQ level test
• To diagnose intelligence level of students participants of the course.
• Content review
• To determine appropriateness and effectiveness of the content
• Conduct review of new design and updates, share findings on the
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• To verify technical problems that may occur from the design.
is still a problem. Another meeting was held between the company and FMFI and have suggested to perhaps making use of the terms and exercises used in the technical subjects so as to give a swift flow of understanding the comprehension covered by the program and this is to be tested on the next batch to evaluate its effectiveness. But the results of the English course gave us an indication on who really will have good progress in the course as evident to the result being consistent with the result of students from other subject. • This is from the continuous monitoring of their behaviour, attitude and intelligence that we believe are one of the reasons why there are students who are having difficulties. This test may provide us data on what level of intelligence would promote better performance and assist us in deciding in investing on such test to all who will undergo the qualifying examination. And also provide us indication if there will be changes in the IQ after undergoing the program and could probably guide us in attaining the needed attitude of the students towards learning. (to be administered in the next batch) • Currently reviewing content as students found the program too difficult to handle due to its intensiveness and limited timeframe. We are now currently reviewing the course content to determine if there is a need to reduce the content or perhaps select and eliminate we believe is not that important. But this is a very big decision to make as to the consequences of degrading or jeopardising the program. As this includes determining on how they are able to handle pressure and able to assimilate thus able to resolve complex problems and situation they could meet onboard ship. We are now constantly communicating with our clients to discuss our intentions ask for their inputs, comments and suggestions. • Base from their experiences another method of helping them determine the errors and faults from their new designs and updates is to
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development of the new Norcontrol engine room instructor system and provide Norcontrol continuous feedback on the performance of the engine simulator software, queries, and request from client users to enable them to simulate their experiences on the simulator.
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
ask the end users itself. And having been handling their simulator for quite some time and being very familiar with their processes and being an explorer of new technology that they believe I would be able to find what they intend to seek. And most of the time that I have contributed and shared well in the improvement of their simulator program. This is also attributed to my students who while simulating was able to come across those errors. Provides inputs on evaluation process, security, user friendliness and acceptance of simulator users. As users gain more knowledge and experience in its use and conduct of training most would find that the simulator is not capable of handling some scenarios but believed to be of importance to be incorporated to cover a wide range of training cadets, junior and senior engineer officers
Table 10: Involvement and contribution to design and planning of Learning Activities and/or Programmes of Study
The design of the curriculum and planning of activities is an essential aspect of supporting student learning. Some key principles of course design taken from Gosling (2004) that supports student learning: 1. Begin where the students are – match course content to the knowledge and skills of the learner. There is no point to teach the content when students are not ready to receive. They may be pushed and stretched in studying but reflect and bear in mind their current level of understanding. 2. Do not assume skills are already possessed; make it an integral part of the curriculum. Make space for skills development in a risk free environment. 3. Be process oriented not product oriented. 4. Value different cultures by building students own experience as this cannot be taken for granted as education becomes internationalized and be vigilant in cultural assumptions with in the curriculum, allow alternative voice o be heard. 5. Avoid content and assessment overload which could result to surface approach to learning Further improvement is now seen having had the understanding of teaching and learning, guided by the theories and principles in teaching and learning, and the importance of an aligned curriculum with strategies focusing on three main questions: What concepts and skills do the students need to demonstrate (this helps the teachers or course developers in identifying the learning outcomes)? What do we want students to understand and do (these guide us to come-up with teaching and learning contents, information, activities, strategies, and approaches to achieve the desired learning outcome? What will
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PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the design and planning
students do to show that they understand the concepts and have developed the skills? (These help in identifying methods and ways of assessing and evaluating our student’s performance and determine if we have achieved the desired learning outcome).
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
3. Provision of Feedback and Assessment of Student’s Learning
Background and theory Higher education is now increasingly open to diverse cultures that have different educational experiences behind them. Some of the implications are that we can no longer assume that these students will have common understanding with regard to studying and responsibility of their own learning. They have their own identities influenced by a variety of factors such as educational background, nationality, language skills, goals, abilities, etc. Thus, we need to respond appropriately. Much has been discussed in the previous chapters on how students could be supported to achieve learning and understanding. In addition to further our support this chapter will deal with feedback and assessment being an integral part of the curriculum. (Biggs, 2003 and Ramsden, 2003) There are certain questions students typically ask – ‘How do I know if I’m doing this right? How do I know if I’m doing OK? And Have I learnt anything?’ Typical questions that could be supported by feedback and assessment. (Gosling, 2004) Assessment is an activity to measure and document how much and how well learning has been added and achieved, a process of evaluating and judging our students, and only by measuring their progress that we will be able to align our teachings to students learning. Assessment can be used in various processes and activities such as in the process of student selection (entry examination to Educational Institution or scholarship programs to determine deserving students), controlling and motivating our students (as Biggs (2003) mentioned that the existence of assessment keeps class attendance, as Ramsden (2003) observed that students are stimulated to perform better when there is threat of failure in a competitive situation, and as per McAllister and Alexander (2004) that as student becomes more strategic in their study habit that there is much evidence that assessment is the driving force behind student learning), diagnostic examination (As per Gosling (2004) would enable teachers to identify weaknesses and learning difficulties of students and basis for measuring the learning that have been gained from the end of the program assessment), at the end of the programme (Summative assessment, to determine what have been and how well they learned from the whole program), and other purposes such as to satisfy established standards, know about the quality of learning our student develops, determine what have been achieved, get to know the abilities and capabilities of students, determine and understand what they know and do not, diagnose misunderstanding to help student learn effectively, gives us inputs on how to guide our students in their studies, and gives us ideas on what support to learning of our students is needed (Ramsden, 2003). But what are those methods of assessments that we need to use to achieve all these?
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
Before identifying the different methods of assessment that we could use let us first identify the types of assessment to give us better understanding on why we assess. There are two main types of assessment, the formative and summative assessment: 1. Formative assessment ‘is assessment that is used to help teachers and learners gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the learner’s performance while there is still time to take action for improvement. Typically it is expressed in words rather than marks or grades. Information about learners is used diagnostically’ (Glossary, A Handbook …by Fry; et all, 2004). The results of which are used for feedback to aid learning. 2. Summative assessment is ‘the type of assessment that typically comes at the end of a module or section of learning and awards the learner with a final mark or grade for that section. The information about the learner is often used by third parties to inform decisions about the learner’s abilities’ (Glossary, A Handbook …by Fry; et all, 2004). Formative assessment is inseparable from teaching and learning an example of which are lectures mentioned in chapter 6 by Biggs (2003) were formative in nature e.g. verifying ongoing understanding and checks that there is growth and see that they are on the right track and doing the right thing. Summative evaluation is to see at the end of the session on how well they learned what they are supposed to learn, marked with a grade and is final. Summative assessment can be expressed in two ways: 1. Norm-referenced assessment (NRA), is based on ranking students who performed better than others, simplest grading, which tells who is better than whom. 2. Criterion-referenced (CRA) tells us how well a student learned and what a student learned. Grades are independent of any other student’s. Differences between NRA and CRA as follows: 1. NRA results are comparisons between students after teaching is over while CRA is expressed in terms of performance of student base on set criteria. 2. NRA grades can be known after teaching is complete while CRA is set before start of teaching. 3. NRA makes judgements about people while CRA is making judgement based on performance. Authentic or performance assessment is a standard model of assessment which represents the knowledge to be learned. But as argued reconstructing the teaching verbally in his/her own words don’t make it authentic but it is valid. Thus, it is more preferred is the performance assessment wherein student are required not only to tell what they know but to do more e.g. able to demonstrate what they have been taught. Performative and decontextualized assessment is described as an assessment which uses practicum, problem, solving, and/or diagnosing; and
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
written examination, a term paper suitable for assessing declarative knowledge; respectively. Convergent and divergent assessment is used to describe different forms of ability but more useful to think as processes. Convergent assessment uses problem solving that have a particular, unique answer e.g. IQ and ability test while divergent assessment generates alternatives giving way to assessment of value like appeal, originality, creativity, etc. Alternative assessment such as Self and peer assessment usually refers to student involvement and are particularly well suited for performance assessment as it assess those that are required in real life. (Biggs, 2003) Feedback, referred to as formative assessment, as defined in A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2003) is an ‘oral or written developmental advice on performance so that the recipient has a better understanding of values, standards, criteria, etc.’. Described by Gosling (2004) as one of the most important aspects of supporting learning students receive on their work. Feedback should be given in the beginning and continuing as the program progresses. Students’ needs to be diagnosed, a form of formative assessment, usually conducted in the beginning, to identify students with weaknesses or their weaknesses and reveal students learning difficulties such as in English, Mathematics, attitude, skills, etc. Diagnostic examination could also provide good indication of their level of knowledge prior entry to higher education. But diagnostic examination if used as a pre- assessment of the subject matter then it would show us that this could also be summative which can be graded and used as basis to quantify the learning that have been achieved and added. Going back to the questions students ask which is expected in their early years or stage in formal education particularly in higher education. Feedback will be very important and has a vital role on this cultural change the student is experiencing. Most will want to be assessed and desires feedback immediately and frequently of their performance as well as acquire different perspective that could help and prepare them on the next level of their education. As Ramsden (2003) stated that feedback could be an important contributory cause of student failure if there is complete absence of feedback on student progress at their early stage. Even though feedback is given at the end of the term it would not enable them to improve, suffer demoralization and problem became complex from a greater reluctance to seek help. As one of my duties as training director, I have to look after the comfort, welfare, and progress of our students specially those that are undergoing the cadet enhancement program. These students need special attention and guidance as they have not yet experience what the maritime world could offer. And such guidance starts on their very first day at FMFI. I started by congratulating them for being part of the selected few to undergo the IMTT/IMEC scholarship on cadets enhancement program and that they should be proud of being better than the rest who were not able to achieve the standard set forth on the qualifying examination and bring that confidence with you being categorized as deserving students. As observed their interest of listening has increased. And
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
as observed by the lecturers that they seem motivated by the positive feedback provided as their effort has been clearly seen during discussion and performance in the exercises. The concerns do not only evolve in their performance in the assignment, exercises, and examination but behaviours and attitudes. The level of maturity is undetermined, low self esteem and confidence, lack on sense of responsibility, lack of respect, inadequately motivated, lack of self awareness, poor understanding of assertiveness and arrogance. These are critical areas that need to be addressed. I endeavour to meet the cadets in a weekly basis to get feedback on their progress. I applied the procedure of debriefing by posting positives and deltas. I started by asking questions of what are those things that they think will improve them and needs improvement and pose my own direct questions to the students so we can assist each other in changing and modifying things for improvement of learning and teaching as well as the overall quality of training provided by FMFI. The result was satisfying as they begin to reflect on the negatives by stating their own views on how they believe could improve them, the lecturers and the Institution. But lecturers need to be reminded that students must feel that they are; part of the course, cared, secured, comforted, assured, and has freedom of expression. Above may sound positive but the way the discussion went for this level of students is more of the negative comments received on both sides but carefully balanced with positive comments due to the its critical nature. Our students culture have not been accustomed and needs full understanding of the benefit of feedback prior engaging them to critical feedback. They feel that a teacher is taking things personal thus; a great deal of balance needs to be done e.g. finding the right tone and level of specificity. But we believe that students often learn from their classmates and through themselves but should be guided and explained thoroughly of its purpose and relationship to their improvement in the subject matter and their future. Positive feedback how ever small will definitely do big things and would really matter. Lecturers need to negotiate as well on the improvement and bring forward to them what expected behaviours and attitude should be shown and be aware of. And stress honesty is a vital ingredient in the development of confidence. In terms of their performance in examinations the papers are returned and shown to them so they can verify their level of understating and be guide of what needs to be improved. And this also gives the lecturer and FMFI an opportunity to determine what needs to improve? how we can help support our students learning? and How to improve the institutions quality of training and teaching? Depending on the objectives or outcomes set by the teacher or the Institution, effective assessment and feedback will reflect truthfully some combination of an individual’s abilities, achievement, skills and potential. Ideally it will permit predications about future behaviour. To be effective, assessment will need to reflect programme content, and be valid (appropriate), reliable (accurate and consistent) and fair’. Validity is judged qualitatively (based on system, knowledge, experience, judgment and answers the question How well did the student do?) while reliability is judged quantitatively (use of mathematical techniques and answers the question How much have the student learnt?). An assessment can be valid and reliable but must take into account fairness to both individuals and group of individuals (Wakeford, 2004). But teachers need to take
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
note also that high reliability does not imply high validity. With this that teachers need to use the same or different methods of assessment probably addressing other objectives and/or continuously use the assessment and check if there is consistency and inconsistency of results from other set of individuals taking the assessment. Methods of Assessment A large number of assessment methods are available. The methods that will be stated will be focused on those that are commonly used by FMFI in their courses but not limited too. A Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) is a form of written test most commonly used in all the course assessment offered by FMFI due to its objectivity, having only one answer and easy to mark to consider that issuance of certificate must be given after the program as requested by FMFI clients. MCQ covers recalling factual knowledge that were discussed and to some extent understanding of concepts e.g. select the best answer among the choices. MCQ allowed us to cover a broad range of factual items covered in the course which could be rapidly marked. Being an objective test makes the assessment valid. There is high reliability base on consistency of results having had used the assessment on different set of individuals as to the number of time the course is offered. Although scoring is objective MCQ will always have disadvantages such as no credit is given on partial information, it encourages student to guess and the time it takes for a teacher or assessor create the test to assure appropriateness of distracters. My belief before is that quality of assessment using MCQ can be achieved by a well knowledgeable, experienced and skilled test developer. But following a good guide any individual can achieve quality of assessment using MCQ, but must consistently check, test and reflect to make better understanding of the experience, validity and reliability of the test. The issue I see currently is that, although the assessment is thoroughly deliberated by all staff at FMFI, we have one common understanding on how to create MCQ. Even externally used assessors have the same common understanding. But some general rules to avoid were avoided such as; the answer is obviously longer than the distracters, standard phrase which direct the student to the answer, inconsistent grammar, and reduced use of absolutes; all of the above and none of the above, unless otherwise used to conceal an obvious answer. Base on above description and characteristics of MCQ that I will endeavour to come up with questions that is not only factual but as well as understanding concepts and better yet to combine different other methods of written assessment to cover intended level of understanding I want my student to achieve such as matching type (determine the extent a student remember or recall), fill in the blanks, defining terms (level of understanding from the constructs of the meaning), and essay types.
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
Essay questions, another form of written assessment, are ‘questions inviting extended written responses (each taking from half-an-hour to an hour or more to answer)’ (Wakeford, 2004) and best suited in assessing declarative knowledge in written form (Biggs, 2003). This test is commonly used to assess higher cognitive levels in various techniques: 1. Timed examinations - students has no prior knowledge of the question. 2. Open-book examination - students have prior knowledge and allowed to bring reference book in the examination room. 3. Take-home examination - students are given notice to the question to prepare their answers for several days in their own time. 4. Assignment - extended version of a take-home examination 5. Dissertation - extended report of independent research Essay questions have been tried on the pre-assessment of engineering cadets to assess their level of understanding on engineering systems and knowledge. Timed essay examination was used to prevent cheating and guarantee us of the authenticity of the results. Although Biggs (2003) mentioned that the longer the exam will be taken the more reliable the answers are. All questions needs to be answered to give fair advantage to all students. The method of marking the examination is entirely dependent on the lecturer. The questions were judged as factual as it was taken from the topics thus, all answers are referred to the topics and guided with point distribution such as 0% (totally no idea), 1% (rewarded for very poor idea), 2% (rewarded for weak ideas), 3% (rewarded for strong but weak on other ideas), 4% (rewarded if most ideas were relevant), 5% (rewarded if all are relevant). An example of the question taken from the pre-assessment (see appendix 3.1): • • • •
Draw/sketch Sea water system and label each component? Explain in brief the principles behind the system, purpose and functions of the components found in the sea water system? Draw/sketch Fresh water system and label each component? Explain in brief the principles behind the system, purpose and functions of the components found in the fresh water system?
In reference to the essay question assessment principles the word ‘BRIEF’ may have affected in the way they answered the question as answers were so limited that others have resulted to answering it in note form wherein using the word ‘ENUMERATE’ would be more appropriate than ‘EXPLAIN’ but the essence of essay test is removed and turns out to be a short answer examination, another area of assessment that could be considered. The structure of the essay question did not require the student to respond in essay and lacks specific parts and areas which require an answer of what the lecturer think that matter. An example on how the question should be structured based on my understanding: •
With reference to the main engine cooling system: a. Sketch sea water and fresh water system arrangement, showing all components within both systems and label it. b. Explain with reasons, the principles behind both system and its arrangement.
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
c. Describe with reasons how the systems sketched operates, to include the functions of each component found in both system Essay questions is subjective, requiring more answers, but we believe that this could enhance our students ability in answering subjective questions ‘OBJECTIVELY’ and assist the lecturer to assist the extent of understanding of the students on the particular subject matter and at the same time determine the English language level of comprehension through how they interpret the questions differently. Assignment is usually provided as a research type activity in group to give student the opportunity for their own learning and promote unity, discussion, and learning amongst their peers. The assignment is given several days prior the topic discussion to give the student initial knowledge of the topic, no distortion due to no immediate time limitations, allows deep learning as student can consult more resources. But due to students lacking knowledge in research that they tend to adopt surface learning in which their method is restricted in just collecting and lacks the effort in synthesizing the information. Although this is the case, we still use this method as we have seen an increase in their interest based on the ample amount of information submitted, responses during topic discussion, and to give the students opportunity to explore and discover access to resources of information. This may also have to do with students being stimulated by the overwhelming information they get from the internet being the only medium of access to resources due to lack of facilities such as libraries and books available at FMFI and outside. Marking as discussed with the lecturer was based on the list of content they have researched in comparison to the reference used by the lecturer. I find it subjective but base on our limited knowledge on how to assess assignments that we were convinced to use 1- 10 marking scale, 10 being the highest possible score, for each topic present and completeness of subtopics. The idea is based on analytic scoring method wherein marks are assigned to each main topic but with carefully analysis and understanding believe both holistic and analytic scoring systems were synthesized. An example of the marking system as follows: 10 topics are expected with 10%, base on 10 divisions of 100%, assigned to each main topic. (Analytic) • Sub topics are marked using 1 – 10 scale for its completeness, relevance, etc. based on Lecturers reference. (Holistic) Note: Individuals in the group get the same score as the score marked in their assignment. •
This marking scale could invite arguments and may pose problem for its fairness due to its subjectivity. But I believe that if the marking scale is properly negotiated and discussed to the students that both could settle to an agreement. An oral examination involves verbal exchanges between assessee and assessor and sometime referred to as ‘viva voce’ examination (Wakeford, 2004). Oral examination has been used by FMFI in the chart correction course and enhancement program for engine cadets. Questions were prepared for every topics and systems. The purpose is to establish students literal knowledge and
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
understanding and if they have thought of the relevance of the topics in their jobs or career. Broad scoring rather than precise marks are rewarded to students in oral examinations. However, one can make use of the marking system created on assignments to achieve objectivity. In reference to the statement of Wakeford (2003) oral examination has its attraction but subject to biases. As per my experience instead of basing my scores on the content of the assessee’s verbal statements his behaviour at some point has been registering in my mind and believe have affected the marks I have awarded. And that new practitioners should be counselled to beware of and avoid orals, certainly until they have understood some of the literatures supporting it. Oral examination was discouraged but to some extent used, not graded though, for identifying how well each student understand the topic (one good thing in oral assessment is the voluntary evidence if assessee do not have basic understanding of the topic) and identify needed approaches and support to teaching and learning. This is another area of focus and a challenge on my end as I do believe that oral examination could bring out additional confidence, improve self expression of the individual, strengthen the weaknesses on assertiveness, develop oral communication skills, and be able to objectively answer subjective questions. Simulation is a good practical method of benefiting experiential learning of students by attempting to build realistic experience in a controlled environment. Most maritime simulators were created using computer technology to show how altering variables affect complex machinery and may combine role-play to demonstrate how certain behaviours produce different reactions (Beaty, 2004). As per my experience student shows a dramatic change in their learning and understanding even how small the simulation practice is. This probably may have to do with the students possessing visual (see, imagination reinforced) and kinesthetic (practice e.g. simulation) sensory modalities of learning information, as evident on the mid-term examination by being able to sketch the systems without practicing it, thus, an evidence of retention of learning and the probability that they are more exposed to simulation during their academic period as observed from their confidence and interest in manipulating the simulator and experimenting on it. Simulation may not be appropriately assessed by written tests (Wakeford, 2004). But based on my experience there is an appropriate method of assessment in written form, the simulation report. Wherein they are instructed to take notes of the alarms encountered, observations (e.g. flows, temperature, pressures, operational procedure, etc.), Immediate steps taken to rectify the problem or an alarm, analysis of the observation, and further steps to be or have taken. Teachers need to plan carefully the objectives of a simulation course to identify the most appropriate assessment and make full utilization of an assessment program if available. FMFI have acquired a Norcontrol engine simulation computer based training software to be used for practical instructions and assessment. The simulator is equipped with a competent evaluation system (CES), Fuzzy logic assessment. This serves as a checklist of items that the teacher wants to assess and at the same time used for evaluating (criterion based assessment) students’ performance with regard to operational procedures and time of response or reaction (assess their ability to strategize, think, react, and execute under pressure) from introduced malfunctions. Creating assessment on the evaluation
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
system (Figure 7 and 8) may take a longer time but once done can be used repeatedly and provides assistance in giving marks as the program is equipped with an automatic logical summation thus; marks is given instantaneously after the simulation exercise.
Figure 7: CES editor wherein malfunction triggers and time limits are set and adjusted as student progresses
Figure 8: CES, serving as checklist of intended area to be assessed and summation of assigned or rewarded markings.
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PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
But there are limitations in the evaluation program e.g. does not have the ability to asses behaviours, partial learning, students own strategies as the assessment checklist is based on the operational procedure recommended by the lecturer. However there is another way of rectifying this is to mark only the intended outcome does allowing the students to perform their own operational strategies but to arrive at the required outcome e.g. if the objective of the exercise is to produce own electrical power then we mark only if power have been developed thus, the student were given the opportunity to perform their own operational strategy without worries of being marked but the outcome. Frequent practice of the exercises and introduction of video recording of the student’s performance would help determine appropriate assessment, technical and/or nontechnical skills, in relation to the level of intended participants and lecturer’s improvement. Please see appendix 1.3, 2.1, 2.4 - .11, 2.17, 2.20 and appendix 3.2 for examples of examinations and assignments provided by FMFI. Other MCQ tests are computer based using Seagull evaluation software. One thing to remember and in addition to above methods of assessments is that it is best to allow time for discussion after the test for clarifications, feedback, and/or summarize the course as debriefing or sort of is the key to the learning process. Passing Mark The setting of the passing mark is no problem as we follow the 70% passing mark set by our accrediting body which they patterned and commonly used passing mark of the PRC and is already a standard known to all. Recalling my discussion with Mr. Collin Stevenson’s observation of grading attendance of student and the mark is included in the calculation of the final grade. He mentioned that the attendance does not give you an indication that he learned and understood the topics by mere attending the course. With this, that we removed it from the calculation instead used it as an indicator that given a short timeframe a number of hours absence would matter that there would be necessary to drop the attendee/s from the course and retake the course on the next offering. Allowing them to continue could minimize learning and understanding of the attendee and as per our experience that it hinders flow of discussion and use up time supposed to be for another topic, exercise, or other activities due to re-explanation of the topic/s missed. More ideas came up while undergoing the PGCMET course. Using MCQ as assessment may change the level of passing mark set on particular course. Using 4 selections or choices would allow a 25% possible guessing from the student does averaging 25% to 100% would result to a passing mark of 62.5% or base on own judgement could be raised to 65%. If there is 5 selections and choices would allow 20% guessing getting an average of 60% passing mark. Test combination with other methods may be done to add up in the commonly used 70% passing mark.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
By using the six levels of understanding in the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy we could represent each level a certain percentages e.g. knowledge 20% and so on. An example (Table 11), if the course learning outcome covers 5 levels of understanding them we can divide the no. of level of understanding desired to 100% the result of which is assigned to each level and discuss on which level or benchmark would satisfy goal of the course that the student has good understanding. e.g. If the satisfaction is benchmarked that the student should at least be able to apply then the passing mark would be 60% for non numerical we may assign “Good performance” . Levels Knowledge
Percentage
Benchmark
Specific
20%
5% - terms 5% - concepts 5% - facts 5% - Principles Comprehension 20% 5% - understand Principle 5% - interprets 10% - translate verbal material to mathematical formulae Application 20% Passing Mark 5% - prepare 5% - modify 5% - manipulate 5% - solve Analysis 20% Passing Mark 5% - recognize assumptions of 70%, 75% , 5% - and fallacies 80% 5% - distinguish fact from inference 5% - evaluate relevancy of data Synthesis 20% 5% - write creatively 5% - integrate learning from other area 5% - communicate effectively 5% - propose set of operations Table 11: This only to illustrate above idea on deciding passing mark and grading system.
If the student was able to analyze in a way you expected them then we could mark them 80% or for non numerical “Very good performance”. And if they were able to synthesize then we give 100% or “Excellent”. But of course 100% or excellent does not prove that students have full or complete understanding of the course thus, we might want to consider being specific or assign a grading criteria based on the idea set by Biggs (2003) on how well the student have met the objective. We consider going back to the 70% benchmark wherein the students must be able to at least analyze. On other types of assessment that we may consider is Biggs (2003) SOLO Taxonomy for essay test, mathematical equation, case study, oral presentation, reporting, etc. Some of these ideas is now being tried but needs further study if it would show the expected result on how the students’ performance will be after they finish the program and working onboard ship. One area of review is the survey questionnaires given to the Ship Master the cadets are sailing with for the purpose of getting feedback on their performance but needs further study on how I would be able correlate their performance onboard vs. the level of grade we assign, comments and assumptions of what they would become in the future.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
Test of level of difficulty, reliability and basis for improvement One weakness that we found out as I undergo the PGCMET program and researches attributed to it. We lack data or reference on how to test the test for its level of difficulty. Although I had undergone an assessor’s course but it was not explicitly explained. Below researched example taken from the Institute for Interactive Media and Learning website gave us an idea on how we would be able to test our test questionnaires level of difficulty and at the same time its reliability. Number of attendees is represented by “N” and the corresponding set percentages were taken from this example with slight modification of using in percentages which I also intend to use in checking all FMFI test questionnaires base on my judgement. • • •
If N <= 30% the question is hard If N = 30-69% the question is satisfactory If N >= 70% the question is easy
Example 1: Respondent who got the answers
Number of questionnaires
Topics
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Simplify 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ratio 1 1 1 1 Interpolate 1 1 1 transpositi 1 on Volume 1 Areas 1 1 1 1 Word 1 1 1 Prob Vectors 1 1 1 Thermo 1 1 1 Table 12: Randomly selected questionnaires and respondent from the Maths and Physics examination
Number of questionnaires
Example 2: Topics Simplify Ratio Interpolate transposition Volume Areas Word Prob Vectors Thermo
Respondent who got the answers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 1
1 1
Results 60% 40% 30% 10% 10% 40% 30% 30% 30% enhancement program on
Results 60% 30% 30% 10% 20% 50% 20% 40% 20%
Table 13: Randomly selected questionnaires and respondent from the enhancement program on Maths and Physics examination
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Provision of Feedback and Assessment
Evaluation: Topics
Average
Difficulty level
Reliability
Simplify
60%
Satisfactory
Consistent
Ratio
35%
Satisfactory
Consistent
Interpolate
30%
Difficult
Consistent
transposition
10%
Difficult
Consistent
Volume
15%
Difficult
Consistent
Areas
45%
Satisfactory
Consistent
Word Problem
25%
Difficult
Consistent
Vectors
35%
Satisfactory
Consistent
Thermo
25%
Difficult
Consistent
Teaching and learning Improvement Additional exercise, more examples, verify specific factor of weakness, Further explanation on preliminaries and laws of mathematics, could be retained and stored in data bank Additional exercise, more examples, verify specific factor of weakness, Further explanation on preliminaries and laws of mathematics, could be retained and stored in data bank Difficult question, review questionnaire for grammar and its construction, verify English comprehension of student, could be retained and stored in the data bank, identify the problem of teaching or level of students understanding and intelligence, etc. Difficult question, review questionnaire for grammar and its construction, verify English comprehension of student, could be retained and stored in the data bank, identify the problem of teaching or level of students understanding and intelligence, etc. Difficult question, review questionnaire for grammar and its construction, verify English comprehension of student, could be retained and stored in the data bank, identify the problem of teaching or level of students understanding and intelligence, etc. Additional exercise, more examples, verify specific factor of weakness, Further explanation on preliminaries and laws of mathematics, could be retained and stored in data bank Difficult question, review questionnaire for grammar and its construction, verify English comprehension of student, could be retained and stored in the data bank, identify the problem of teaching or level of students understanding and intelligence, etc. Additional exercise, more examples, verify specific factor of weakness, Further explanation on preliminaries and laws of mathematics, could be retained and stored in data bank Difficult question, review questionnaire for grammar and its construction, verify English comprehension of student, could be retained and stored in the data bank, identify the problem of teaching or level of students understanding and intelligence, etc.
Table 14: Evaluation based on table 12 and 13, examples 1 and 2 respectively
There is reliability having consistent results from different set of students but needs thorough reflection on the part of the institution and lecturer on the effectivity of approaches to teaching and learning, strategies that needs to be adopted or applied, determine time to be allotted, determine the need for additional examples and exercises, determine if feedback have been done or effective, and review benchmark of entrance examination for better determination of students who can progress in the program and inclusion of an IQ test to determine level of intelligence and determine if they are able to cope up with the intensiveness of the program. Same could be used if there is unreliability of a particular questionnaire. Validity is determined on the degree to which the course content and objectives coincide. This is another area that I still need to improve. Although some of the course being offered has undergone accreditation process wherein assessment have been validated but probably because of the questions used in the assessment were mainly factual. The Math and Physics subject as part of the enhancement program that FMFI offers is intensive in content and conducted only for a four week timeframe but the whole content have been reviewed and is really needed. Thus, review
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Provision of Feedback and Assessment
consideration will focus on approaches and support to teaching and learning and timeframe of each course. But another area to identify is if there is really a lack of time in answering exercises and assignments (but based on the earlier batches that it seems the time seems to be appropriate as they are also engage and practiced on how to handle pressure but there is a big probability that time is not enough due to additional exercises and topic that was included), or may have to do with laziness in performing task (hard to identify but some of the feedback received from them is that they were not used to such type of study habit that they easily gave up, high probability of its relationship to lack of interest and motivation), lack of interest in the subject matter (Some students were lectured based on the experience of the instructor from their schools and informed them that you will not be computing onboard, most instructors are very operational that they prefer to teach them to simulators and not discuss the theories and principle behind the operation, lack of motivation (so far on I don’t see this existing in the students as they were sponsored, they were well informed of their benefit but I guess we need to explore further other things to motivate them further), etc. But so far one of the areas that we found based on the results of the examination is that they were not taught properly during their academic period or it could go further down their secondary level. Same evaluation could be administered if the assessment shows unreliability. But the question is how did they graduate? How were they selected (process) by their respective companies? An area worth exploring. An idea that came up to me is to perhaps offer such companies assistance in the selection process using our assessment which have shown much consistency in verifying if the students are teachable and the ability to learn. Such test would include IQ level testing and a personality test. Assessment and feedback on teaching practice As stated by Ramsden (2003), ‘there is no sharp dividing line between assessment and teaching in the area of giving comments on learning’. The most valuable feature and aspect of which in my teaching practice is in receiving feedback from my students and assessment from my peers. Feedback from students indeed gave me most of the information I need to improve my teaching. Here that I was able to determine if I met the aims and objective of the course, effectiveness and appropriateness of my teaching skills and strategies, learning effectiveness of my students, things that I need to further hone my teaching skills, understand my students learning ability, and needed support to students learning. I was able to get critical feedbacks for my improvement such as knowing what they dislike most in the course and what they suggest to further improve the course. It gave me understanding on how they perceive my teaching and understanding of the course such as their value, belief, and its importance. It gave me assurance on the way I handle and teach in the class. A lot of assumptions that needs to be considered and assessed that would require in-depth analysis to determine its validity and reliability which would further assist me in my teaching practice and improvement.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Provision of Feedback and Assessment
But the highlight of it all is the peer assessment conducted by my colleagues from Warsash Maritime Academy and PGCMET wherein I found it highly reliable and valid having been assessed by individuals who has clear and full understanding of what should be assessed (see appendix 3.2). And with the aid of a video footage on my teaching practice that they were able to carefully evaluate my performance which allowed them to give an honest and well thought of feedback that they believe will help me improve my teaching, learning of my students and most of all helped me decide on accepting, changing, removing, and retaining those that I believe is critical to my improvement. Best of all is that the feedbacks received through my peerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessment are based on real-life situation. The feedback provided was e based from their understanding, their experiences, and their learning thus, I gained feedback as well as exchange of practical ideas that may be used to solve problems, validate what is working well with my teaching ad learning of my students, explore new ideas or approaches, align my practice from the understanding of theories and principles of teaching and learning, and learn from the practice of others. Although a bit conscious when I was observed but believed that with frequent peer observation that I would feel less conscious and all would benefit from collaboration, reflection and enhanced practice is generated. I was able to gain more confidence, competence and opportunity to see and do things differently the next time and opened my mind to focused reflection on my specific teaching sessions.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the Development.
4. Contribution to the Development of Effective Learning Environment and Student Support Systems.
Background and theory There are varieties of ways to contribute in making the learning environment effective for Students. Students support may include activities as tutoring, counselling, developing teaching practice. Developing effective learning environment may include managing physical or virtual environment, planning of learning activities in the classroom and at the workplace, working with service providers for students’ access to make effective use of a wide variety of learning opportunities. Varieties of theories and principles can be used in planning activities in the classroom making such environment conducive to students learning. An example of which is planning how to establish students to feel respected, assured, supported, encouraged, in safe hand, relaxed, secured, cared and comforted that they are less reserved in raising questions and clarifications, promote interaction, and could be more open to think critically. Several aspects were determined on how we can engage and/or encourage our students to react with the required outcomes and set up an effective learning environment and Student support; 1. 2. 3. 4.
Motivation Climate Specific teaching and learning activities Physical environment
There are two factors that make anyone want to learn; the context must have value to the learner and the possibility of the learner to do the task with expected success. ‘Nobody wants to do something they see are worthless. Neither do they want to do something however valued, if they believe they have no chance of succeeding’ (Biggs, 2003). This common sense theory is called expectancy-value theory of motivation, relevant in the early stages of learning before interest could develop. Motivation play a big role on what makes students expects to succeed or to fail. It develops the expectations that give confidence in future success but if students were to believe that success were due to luck, uncontrollable change and dependence to a teacher, future success is diminished. Motivation creates value in various ways: 1. Extrinsic motivation – students perform because of the value of what the outcome brings. 2. Intrinsic motivation – students are full of curiosities and eagerness to learn. 3. Social motivation – students perform in order to please people whose opinions are important to them.
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the Development.
4. Achievement motivation – students perform to enhance their egos by competing against other students and beating them Wrong motivations instil an expectation of failure (Biggs, 2003). But a complete lack of motivation of any kind is more undesirable (Newstead and Hoskins, 2004). Formal and informal interaction is a climate created by teachers which has positive and negative effects on how the teachers and students feel about things and their learning environment. Two theories as quoted by Biggs (2003) that were raised by McGregor’s (1960), distinction between theory X and a theory Y assumption of trustworthiness is a good way to characterize a learning climate. Theory X, teachers assumes that students cannot be trusted, students need to be told what to do and study, self- and peer assessment is out of the question, and imposes sanction if deadline are not met. Theory Y takes the opposite view and compatible with a level 3 view, teaching as educating, are lecturers who ask questions such as Why aren’t they learning? How can I get them to be relevantly active? This is the type of lecturers we want in this level. A lecturer, that focuses on what student does, that keeps looking at what students do, have achieved and links to what he/she is doing. It is on this level that a lecturer gets to know their students as learners. In order to address such assumptions, theory X produce low trust, low risk, but low value while theory Y produces high trust, high risk and high value – if it works, that perhaps balancing both will make it work. I have had both assumptions in the way I look at the level of discipline my attendees have, I look at Cadets and ratings based on theory X while officers and management personnel on theory Y. These assumptions of mine could be related on the experiences I had with cadets who I believe were taught in a spoon-feeding way. When they are given assignments or task which requires research or giving them opportunity to seek for information, no effort was done. Such experience of trust left me a feeling of frustration that I would rather intervene and give them minimum task. Unlike my experience with higher level of discipline that they endeavour getting all the information and show their best effort in preparing inquiries to assist them further in identifying the needed information, thus, a feeling of high trust. Theories of Classroom climate affects student learning in several ways. Theory X restricts potential ways of learning particularly self-directed learning. Students’ learning in this theory is affected due to negative feelings which generates counterproductive emotions; anxiety (intimidation, threat of failure, etc.) and cynicism (perceive that teacher somehow degrade the task and belittle the students’ abilities). Cynicism is conveyed by teacher by showing lack of interest, blame-the-student theory, Mark is discounted for late submission, and busy work. Time stress coverage is a particular source of both anxiety and cynicism due to an obsession with coverage. Too many topics, too little time with each topic given equal emphasis thus, are pre-empting deep engagement. Deep engagement takes time that if no time is provided then deep engagement is restricted. (Biggs, 2003; Newstead and Hoskins, 2004)
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
In combining both climate theory and motivation. A theory Y climate alone will not cultivate positive motivation. Teachers need to demonstrate that the task has great value by motivating them intrinsically through creation of an activity that would interest them. Social motivation could be used by teachers as well by showing their interest and love for the subject, can be inspirational. Student activities vary in many ways and teachers must be able to structure such activities that would engage students to deep learning approaches and be responsible in their own learning. Teachers must consider activities for both teaching and learning that would create a climate which is supportive to student and effective learning. Such activities might include experiential, experimental, problem-based learning, etc. using real-life problems. Learning is usually very enthusiastic as described by Biggs (2003). And the aspect of a physically conducive learning environment may include managing the physical arrangement of the classroom and the environment of the institution. There are certain strategies that could be considered in arranging the physical environment that may have great effect on students learning such as; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Visual postings Audiovisual presentation arrangement Tables and chairs arrangement Student arrangement Classroom size
Rooms can be decorated with visuals such as posters, signage, maps, etc. that have direct relationship to the subject matter being taught but careful considerations if the classroom is used for other subject not related to the visual postings. Maximize audio and visual presentation for better view and attention of the students but with careful consideration on the table, chairs and students arrangement. Music may help stimulate the students but not all may appreciate. However, I have not personally experienced it yet but one of the outsourced lecturer, used for the shore-based personnel leadership course, discussed things with me of using music during their exercises. Some reactions were positive that it made them relax but others commented that they were not able to concentrate as the music used was so relaxing they feel sleepy. Hearing from the lecturer of the reaction I advised not to incorporate music during the exercise but instead during breaks but music that would have them feeling empowered as the course intends it to be like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I believe I can flyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or the like. But if appreciated use an audio level that would increase task performance and not pose as a distraction. Visual presentation must be clear, maximize throw based on classroom space, and placed high enough to give access to students at the back. Proper understanding of the specifics of visual equipment might further affect the learning activities such as a table discussion (see figure 11b). More eye contact lead the student to a greater level of conversation. Tables and chairs arrangement may be arranged to increase level of student and
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the Development.
teacher engagement. Arrangements could be done as frequent as possible to accommodate different activities such as; facing the blackboard or overheads if students need to copy or lecture, facing each other for debates or discussions, clustering tables for group works, and other positions you may consider or have experienced appropriate and effective to make the classroom environment conducive to learning. Student arrangements would be applicable perhaps for difficult students. Student with poor eyesight may be placed in front for clearer view but depends if student is near-sighted or far-sighted. Sitting students with hardworking ones may improve performance and interest. Students with behaviour and attitude problem may be seated within an area easy for teachers to maintain proximity. (Walker, 2001) Size of the classroom fairly makes a difference on students comfort. It has always been assumed that bigger is better. It would facilitate activities that requires more space but brightly illuminated. Facilitate different activities amongst student in a classroom. Reflection Based on my own experience and learned experience from others that motivation really play a vital role in encouraging student to focus and determine the value of the subject matter on their future lives. I myself have greatly benefitted from the value of motivation although I don’t know then that it is motivation that have been giving me all this inspiration to succeed and endeavour in making things possible. Going back to my cousin’s automotive repair shop, intrinsic motivation was evident due such activity has caught my interest and curiosity that made me very eager in learning it. Base on this evidence, the experiences I gained, and learned experiences of others that experiential learning activity can indeed intrinsically motivate individual, especially new information. This may have to do with the real-life problems encountered thus; preparing you of what one expects to achieve to be successful. Most of the attendees on the courses I taught as well as attendees on courses conducted by other FMFI lecturers are extrinsically motivated at first. They were motivated in terms of the: importance of the course as being a mandatory requirement of the company; principals; the ship’s flag administration; requirement for government certification; company acceptance; and others to pass the demonstrative assessment of required competencies onboard ship. I endeavour to intrinsically motivate them by giving high value on the course. I discuss with them additionally high important matters on why they or should undergo the course. Such motivation includes the relevance of the course on their jobs which would gain them more confidence, competence and self-esteem in handling the tasks at hand and relative tasks. Give them examples of the values and uses of the course in relation to their daily personal activities and future lives. Encourage discussion, by first sharing my own experiences, experiences shared by others, and my own created experience that could stimulate them to engage and share their own experiences and ideas that may
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PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
have been thought of to determine other areas that learning the course could benefit. Sharing first your experiences and ideas have been effective to stimulate them to engage and reflect from the teachers experience as well as their own. Most of the time, as observed, using examples of real-life situation have become an inspiration, created curiosities, and focused interest to learn the course as evident to the interaction. Interactions that include sharing more experiences, sharing experiences told to them, and sharing their reflections of their experiences they see relevant. Therefore, we could assume students are becoming intrinsically motivated if they start engaging by sharing, reflecting, strategizing and coming up with new ideas from their experiences, deep learning have been achieved Motivating cadets who have not yet been onboard post the most challenging experience I had at the moment. Combinations of different motivation aspects have been used but reflecting on it, extrinsic motivation is most dominant. I tried motivating them intrinsically by showing/demonstrating them the value of the program and how it would affect their future. But I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t limit myself mentioning things such as having good grades would create a good impression, could be companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basis for further enhancement, and develop trust and confidence. As evident in their behaviour by acting very interested in listening as compared to intrinsic motivation as seen in their heads stooping and faces as if they wander too much on how they would be able to achieve it. And as observed it seems of little effect as performance and attitude towards their tasks were the same. Discussion with cadets found themselves having difficulties in looking or even imagining their future. This I believe is due to low morale, self-esteem, and confidence. The difficulty they encountered in understanding the topics may have affected their morale and confidence. Discussions have been made with their respective companies to assist us in motivating the students. But perhaps lack of knowledge in the different aspect of motivating student, same as before I started the Post Graduate Certificate in Maritime Education and Training (PGCMET), that the only motivation so far is extrinsic. An examples of which are: early line-up, continuous daily allowance for as long as good grades are maintained, priority for the company cadetship program, join newer/specialist ship (many would call it ship of the future) with bigger salary, etc. However, I believe intrinsic motivation have been tried. But extrinsic motivation may have been believed and assumed more achievable and more interesting. Extrinsic motivation has showed an increase in their performance, better grades. Evidence on its ineffectiveness has been discovered. A proof that student made a surface approach to learning. The initial subjects offered were entirely a preparation to the more technical subject they will be encountering. But during the pre-assessment of the more technical subject, they all failed. Base on the fact that the previous learning was an application to the new subject. However, we can attribute this to the way teaching and learning has been conducted. With this that I discuss such matters with the lecturers on the activities used how it is being applied. The activities were exactly the activities that we have thought of and discussed. But why is it that students were still
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
engage in surface learning. Further research and reading were made and found out that the activities were appropriate (problem based, student-centred, peer or group activity, demonstration, simulation, role play) but the exercises were not. An exercise example of which is a learning outcome to solve complex problems but the exercises given were not that complex having only two or three ideas would be enough (memorization alone will solve the problem) thus, no analysis is needed to solve the problem. No understanding was achieved. Therefore, when the students were asked to solve an exercise in the new subject which is complex, they failed. But this was somehow rectified by carefully explaining and discussing with them why they need to be assessed with complex problems. But the one I find that would assist the student learning and in most ways would motivate them is the task described by Biggs (2003 p 70) on How can I improve my teaching? Eliminating the negative. I will construct a questionnaire for our students focused on aspects that will likely lead them to surface learning such as those teaching that students might react to negatively, but for the right reasons. And during interaction with student that I will ask questions such as; Do you feel free to answer questions? Do you perceive me as sarcastic, terror or not approachable? How do you feel when I ask questions? Are the instructions and directions clear about your expectations of what to do e.g. assignment, group or individual work? I will use open-ended questions so they may tell me things that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think to ask about. With such activity that I believe would really eliminate the negatives and bring about a whole new relationship and improvement of both teaching and learning. Other situations encountered with the cadets that has direct effect in their performance is the way learning was introduced to them, going back as far as their formative years; the teaching and learning culture of their respective institutions, and the way they were brought up in terms of behaviour and attitude towards learning. This is evident on the feedback response we got from the cadets regarding their previous education. It is very hard to motivate with this background but somehow with proper guidance of showing them the proper way of learning and the value of why they need to learn and study. We have tried counselling the students individually on their first week of undergoing the program but not much information was achieved to know them and be able to assess on how I could motivate them. I asked the lecturer to at least give time after the class to counsel one student at a time to consider that perhaps given the time to know them and observe their performance that he would be able to give a fairly good motivation to increase their level of performance and interest in the program as well as their chosen career. We have observed a good improvement but lasted only for a week or two. With this, that we decided to perhaps share feedback and addressing matters all together might help them. In some ways I believe it had helped them, most of the feedback provided was not thought of by others, thus they were able to gain additional inputs on how they could improve further. We hope that they adapt it, make studying a habit and that we were able arouse their curiosity and eagerness. Another area that we are yet to consider is time for tutoring. But I believe we need to address first the timeframe so we can find time for tutoring. However, we have made some instructions that instead of going home after the class. The class will have to stay and study at FMFI for 2 hours and allowed them to use all
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PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the Development.
available facility such as computers, internet, and reference books to assist them in their assignments and reviews of what have been learned for the day. Upon imposing it I discussed with the lecturer the possibility of taking sometime to stay with the boys for tutoring as presence of the lecturer for tutoring or assistance may help them. This also gives opportunity to students to know their lecturer (there to help and approachable). But as observed the students were still reluctant to ask even though they were encouraged. As they prefer to work on their own to check on their capabilities and with their peers which they feel more comfortable. Another issue on how this area could be addressed is of great concern and will further explore. Lecturer’s reflection to his practice will play a big role e.g. behavioural and good teaching approach The cadet enhancement program have been continually explored and studied. A variety of service providers have been tapped to increase discover more potential in support to student learning and at the same time be able to learn new and appropriate pedagogies from the experiences of other providers. We have used a company that specializes in teaching English and have fairly good experience on handling Maritime English Courses/Programs. We have used one of the best known Universities in the Philippines to teach mathematics and physics wherein the lecturers are well experienced in teaching and has mastery of the subject matter. All the observations have been evaluated and new techniques were learned and discovered such as the lecturers were not used in the different ordering of the subject material thus a lot of work have been put forward to rearrange their respective teaching materials (there will be an intensive discussion and comparison on the ordering of topics of FMFI and La Salle to determine the most appropriate ordering of topics) and mastery of some new topics that was not included in basic trigonometry taught to them e.g. spherical trigonometry (see Appendix 4.1). But one area or aspect of the service providers’ effectiveness is if they can relate their teaching by giving examples on the applications of the topics on board ship. Questions were raised on who is more effective as lecturer of Math and Physics. Is it those that have mastery of the subject matter? Or those that are Maritime personnel that have fairly good knowledge of Math and Physics. There were fairly good answers as well; Provide ample amount of ship’s information and share and discuss probable application of each topic to enable the lecturer to give appropriate examples related to its application onboard ship; and on our end, we believe, the maritime personnel is best suited to teach applied math and physics as such lecturer could expound further those examples for full understanding of its application on the workplace. And believe we be of less effort to consult them on the principles, definitions and fundamentals of maths and physics rather than teach them seamanship. Constructive alignment of the subjects is of utmost importance but take in mind content information, teaching and learning activities, coordination, and alignment to other subjects and its continuum. Additional value that can be discussed on the subject by informing them of the value it would give as they progress, intrinsic motivation. But this may have to do as well with the learning environment. During the years of teaching experience I have thought then that the classroom should have complete audio visual equipment, brightly illuminated, clean, enough space for a
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
certain number of students, whiteboard, and air-conditioned. But there is much into it that is little that I know of. When we decided to transfer to a new office many physical aspects of design and appropriateness was considered in the civil works. Consultations with the Principals, Trustees, Interior designers, Architects, and Professionals have been conducted with regard to standards, rules, and regulation in terms of classroom sizes that needs to be complied or as per experience that would create a conducive learning environment. Typical tables, chairs and desk were considered as well as the room color. Part of the decision factor of selecting contractors is to include services on interior and architectural design besides engineering layout and civil works. Sample designs and proof have been presented to FMFI to assist us in the selection process. And ended up with a particular contractor not because of the good design but all design per room was based on their experiences and learning they have had in designing classrooms plus interpretations based on Chinese Feng shui that may influence student learning such as were the students should face and so on. Those were the first time I heard of such classroom design that may influence students learning. But because of my appreciation that I considered it all and expected that things with all be alright as the rooms anyway way you put it is beautiful and believe would be appreciated by the students. Students appreciation on the classroom has been evident in their feedback administered by FMFI (see appendix 4.2). From the research of Lackney (2008), he mentioned that the relationship of the learning environment on teacher and student behaviour and attitude is well documented. However, research on physical environment as part of course design is minimal. I do believe there is relationship, based on my experience my behaviour an attitude have changed having a well decorated, clean, and equipped classroom. I believe that it has influenced my status as very professional thus, confidence increased. I have made some research on physical environment and indeed very minimal. Giving me an idea to perhaps conduct a research or investigation on the influence of the physical learning environment has on adult and professional Filipinos. Educators have contrasting perspectives on classroom arrangements. Open classroom is perceived noisy and distracting while enclosed classroom is too constraining and restrictive. In my experience both arrangements would depend on the type of learning activity being performed. Such as shipboard familiarization wherein you conduct the lecture in an open area I agree that it is noisy and many distractions are felt such as the student tend to wander instead of focusing on the lecturer explaining a particular equipment onboard. But it has also been observed that it create curiosity and interest in the part of the student such as those normally quite students tend to point on a lot of things and inquire. Enclosed classroom permits a number of activities of good listening, conversation and table exercises such as discussion, interaction and written exercises that might allow full understanding and concentration is achieved being quiet and secured. Base on the research, lecturers acquire their knowledge on the impact of the physical settings from gained experiences through trial and error and communication with their peers. I for one have experimented a lot on the physical
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Contribution to the Development.
setting of my classrooms but believe a more systematic approach or a highly researched model is needed to maximize the potential of the physical settings and enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities. This is a good topic on the research but first I will reflect and understand the impact of the present set-up or setting based on what I know can support in my teaching and my students learning. I already have some, to my belief, fairly good idea on classroom’s physical arrangement such as the parallel table (Figure 9) arrangement where students oppose each other when I conducted a debate activity. My students being face to face with each other made more eye contact which increased the level of conversation. The U design (Figure 10) which gave me more space to walk around and be close to my students as well as quick access to those in need of immediate assistance, a probable reason for U arrangement being common on adults or professionals. This was attested by some of my students that they have a feeling of a one on one instruction which I felt too when I attend seminars or programs with such arrangement. But still dependent on how the lecturer handles it as others may have just copied the physical setting from others which they believe is the correct setting in handling professionals. The clustered table (Figure 11a and 11b) is efficient for group works or exercises and explaining diagrams or system discussion. This arrangement also provides voluntary evidence of those who can lead and has good understanding amongst the group. In addition, it may assist the lecturer on how to properly arrange the students such as putting weak student to a more active group or too active individual on less or normal active group for control. But most important observation is that it promotes social interaction and a feeling of affiliation, belongingness, and solidarity among the group. The Parallel tables (Figure 12) wherein all participants are facing me which I feel effective in lecturing topics in the whiteboard or overhead to get their attention and focus while things are being explained and clarified. It also is efficient if you want the students to copy the lecture from the board or overhead. Such arrangement is most common in our present set-up. Having all this idea from the learning gained that I intend to include the arrangements in my course design. Changing the arrangement (Figure 13) in every activity and ask feedback and observation from students on how they feel. And further discussion with my peers to as well experiment and observed for us to determine if frequent rearrangement based on specific activity help and support student learning as well as improve teaching practice. And other arrangements that could be considered for seminar workshop (Figure 14). In terms of student’s seating arrangement, we usually give them freedom to choose on were they want to sit as we feel it would be best they determine where they feel comfortable. This is an area I will also observe but not prioritized as student’s arrangement can be addressed on groupings and depending on the activity which requires me to group student depending on their respective disciplines. Another area of consideration to maximize the potential of the physical learning environment is the classroom size. As per standard we follow the 42 sqm for a 24 student ratio. Not all of FMFI classroom is at 42 sqm but not is less than 40 sqm. To maximize potential, ensure individual attention, and comfort of
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
our students that we decided that the maximum participants for each course is 18 pax. But we have a course that needs to be maximized at 24 pax in consideration to its demand and cater students who were already scheduled to board the ship. Base on experience 24 is typical and manageable. Much as we would like to make it 18 but reality sets in, customer satisfaction through us being accommodating and understands their situation. But to maintain the comfort of students and lecturer, the course is conducted in a bigger room. For an add-on value provided by FMFI to our students, a great deal of attention was focused on the tidiness of the toilets and areas where they can relax during their breaks, accessible emergency exits and well communicated and installed security system.
Figure 9: Parallel arrangement with student seating opposite each other (Insert: Top view)
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
Figure 10: U shape table arrangement (Insert: Top view)
Figure 11a: Clustered table arrangement (Insert: Top view)
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
Figure 11b: Clustered table arrangement using Hitachi AP 100 multimedia projector (Insert: Top view)
Figure 12: Parallel table arrangement wherein student face the lecturer (Insert: Top view)
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PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Contribution to the Development.
Figure 13: Other arrangement for group works (Insert: Top view)
Figure 14: Seminar workshop arrangement (Insert: Top view)
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Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Reflection on Personal Practice.
5. Reflection on Personal Practice in Teaching and Learning and Work to Improve the Teaching Process.
Background As a Maritime Professional, I believe that it is my obligation and my commitment to be part of a life-changing event of individuals in the maritime profession specifically seafaring. And the way I see best to serve this obligation and commitment is through education and training. Teaching for me is the best way of transforming an individual making them a better person equipped with knowledge and understanding which will enable them to control and shape their future as well as others. I believe teaching is an integral part of the curriculum with the role of engaging students in learning and facilitating students learning, with the ultimate goal of enabling them to efficiently and effectively perform the competencies required with confidence and safe practices. I started learning teaching even before I was still an active seafarer through imparting my knowledge and experiences to personnel I have sailed with who were eager and interested to learn and improve themselves. A very rewarding and warm compliment was given by those personnel that I thought to myself that I could impart and being part of their improvement gave me a sense of fulfilment that I felt the love for teaching. I took the voyage which I believe is least travelled by seafarers; I am glad that I did. I joined the PMMA faculty and there that I got the chance to teach formally. I have no formal training in handling students but reflected on how I learned then and the way our teachers do their teaching. But I was blessed with a very supportive and well united faculty wherein they volunteered to observe me and give me few pointers from time to time to improve my teaching. From the very beginning formative assessment through feedback and peer evaluations have been helping me improve my teaching practice. Being very technical and have just been on ship that the process of my teaching is focused on the operational aspects that my students should learn onboard thus, little emphasis was given to theories, principles, and fundamentals. Perhaps because of trust that I believe my students have already gained understanding of the fundamentals and having had the experience onboard during their shipboard year and the way they converse with me and their peers that those fundamentals is evidently known. PMMA then have been receiving donations in terms of equipment from different shipping companies who have committed themselves in helping the Academy to further hone the Maritime Officers of the future. This gave the opportunity on how I will make my studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning more efficient and effective, to allow the cadets perform hands-on training through dismantling and assembling and repairing and rectifying all non working equipment such as Diesel engine generator, package type boiler, reefer container, different types of pumps, and air-conditioning. I preferred lecturing
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PGCMET Portfolio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Reflection on Personal Practice.
them in an open space which I believe then was effective based on my feeling. Little that I know that students learn in different climate and ways with each student having their own preference thus, one style may not be effective and preferred by the other. Although it is apparent that experiential or action learning indeed help them learn through their responses. But did my students understand? Reflecting on this, I have not given them any assessment to know that they were learning and understanding during the activity. The final assessment I used is MCQ with facts focusing on how much they learned and checks how many things they can recall and not how well they understood. And no feedback is given. Assessment is not aligned with the activity. Another opportunity to further hone my teaching skills came when PMMA initiated a faculty development program for technical lecturers who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any training in teaching. The program was the IMO Model Course 6.09 (train the trainer course). There that I have learned the basics of teaching. Allow me to say basic of teaching as I believe that the course was not explicitly taught or perhaps I was not able to gain full understanding. Further teaching experience was gained when I join FMFI a training centre who offers short courses. A different teaching process has been adopted due to time and the level of discipline of the participants. Most of the teaching approach is lecturing and is classroom based learning. Challenged by the different individual disciplines of the course participants that I focus on gathering more information and updates I believe relevant and needed by the course participants. This much information made me a deliverer of information and my students as mainly listener. I have this notion that making a good presentation for such lecture base courses would increase the attention and interest of the students. However, there are activities such as individual and group exercises but I was not able to give them the opportunity to be responsible on their own learning as I intervene most of the time due to worries that I may not be able to cover the whole topic, given the timeframe. During those times I thought that I have been performing well, relying on the feedback provided by the students and results of their MCQ examination. Although I have years of teaching experience I believe I began learning my very recent approach to teaching explicitly when I was given the opportunity to undergo and be part of the PGCMET at Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University. They have explicitly made as understand teaching for quality learning. The learning and understanding gained gave me the skills and confidence in engaging my students in active learning. Reflection The learning and understanding I gained from the PCGMET helped me how to evaluate my teaching and learning support activities both formally and informally, how to build on what I learned from my teaching practice, how to seek feedback to improve my teaching practice from my colleagues and students, how to evaluate and use the feedback to improve my succeeding teaching practice, and how to update myself to continually improve my teaching practice.
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PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
During the learning process I was able to identify how I could evaluate myself to improve my teaching practice. Reflecting through self assessment helped me recall what I know then and gave me an opportunity to identify what I need to know further. This made me synthesize my previous teaching and learning experience from the newly gained learning and understanding from the PGCMET experience. I was able to come up with new approaches such as drawing out more interaction between the students themselves and students and lecturer. This is through sharing of experiences and discusses each experience to what might have it become if they knew it then. Such interaction gave me ideas on how to guide them further to reflect from those experiences which enabled my students to synthesize previous experience from their newly gained understanding which enabled them generate new ideas which is evident from their statements of doing things differently the next time. Another aspect that helped me further evaluate my teaching practice is from students’ feedback (see Appendix UI.4). A formal feedback administered to the students after the course. This enabled me to evaluate how they perceive my teaching as well as how they learn and what needs to be improved. Before, the student feedback is the only methods of feedback we use to assist the lecturer evaluate their teaching practice. It was a well and more acceptable fact then for the lecturers. Although we have teachers evaluation conducted by me. Lecturers have different interpretations thus, emotions sets in. But of course the only intention is to help them improve their teaching practice but I believe this is due to my lack of knowledge on what should be assessed, how they should be evaluated and what are the approaches and techniques to enable them to accept the comments as constructive without emotions attached to it. What I did at the moment is to give them a copy, for their reading and understanding, from the references I have on the effectiveness of peer assessment. This is to give them a brief thought and hoping for their understanding until such time that I will be able to come-up with a sound and appropriate teacher’s evaluation and brief them of its importance and benefit. Although student feedback gave me sense of fulfilment in my teaching as perceived by the students, doubts of its reliability and validity is felt. This was also attested by Peter Barber based on Filipino culture of being polite so as not to be offensive that they are likely to agree to all. Another is that the student feedback form is too comprehensive that they find it time consuming to accomplish thus, result to just checking and not reading its context and others find it as a way to influence the lecturers to be more compassionate in giving marks. But somehow we were able to get some significant responses from other students who shared some comments that could be used for our improvement. The student feedback form will be deliberated further for its effectiveness and considerations are being determined such as culture, content, timeframe, etc. Students’ feedback is worth relying for utmost improvement of the lecturers as long students are properly briefed of its importance and the benefit they would and could get from it. There are other methods I used informally to evaluate my teaching in terms of how my students learn as we progress on the course by asking them or questioning them that would enable me to determine their understanding. Informal it may seem but I find it very effective. It enabled me to determine how well the students learn, what needs expounding further, what needs to be reviewed, what needs to be
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PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
improved as we progress in the course, and gave me the opportunity to fed-back on their progress that would motivate them to improve further on succeeding activities. This informal seeking of feedback helped me practice reflection-inaction, thus helped me determine what activity would be effective and what needs to be included, changed, and/or replaced on the succeeding activities for better learning and understanding. And during that time that it also gave me the opportunity to dialogue with them on what they think should be done giving my students sense of their own development. This informal method as per experience has shown more reliability and validity than the formal method of seeking student’s feedback. Reliability in the sense because I feel that my trust to my student is increasing as I believe they speak of what they feel at that particular moment. And expressing those feelings may not be measured quantitatively but qualitatively thus, achieving validity. Another area I am planning to consider that I have learned is asking feedback from my students by giving them note-card, on a daily basis to consider the courses being offered is short, to write down the topics or activities that is problematic, did not understand and/or needs clarification to be dealt with on the next lecture.
In addition to student’s feedback I provide pre- and post-assessment to my students to determine how well and how much my students learn. Each topic is represented in the assessment to enable us determine the topic/s students have difficulties of understanding. Thus, gave us information on where to give more attention and focus during discussions on succeeding classes. However, different students have different levels of difficulties that more topics need to have some attention and focus as well. But from the learning I gained this also provided me an idea on what teaching and learning approaches needs to be considered as I think that the problem is not on students having difficulty in learning but the approaches that made it difficult for them to understand. This is an area I yet to explore further on my teaching practice as I believe that it would enable me to experiment different approaches to the different learning styles of my students. At the moment I was able to determine some of my students learning style by observing them at the early stage of the course. Through observation that I was able to determine if my student/s are collaborative (I determine this by sharing some experiences and asked them to react with each other to find solution or relate the experience to their own experience), reserved in questioning or expressing themselves (I determine this by asking students individually to share their thoughts or ask for clarification), avoidant in being asked (I determine this by looking at their eyes when asking questions and find some will avoid contact so as not to be asked), and participative (I determine this by their voluntary way of sharing their experience or interactions during discussion). With this information that I was able to strategise on what method of teaching and learning to use and how I can alter student/s preferred learning style as we progress in the course. I also provide assessment in between each topic to determine their understanding before going to another topic this gave me idea on which topic is in need of review. But one thing I learned from the comments I received from my peer’s observation that it is a good idea of giving assessment to verify students learning and may further be effective to show them again the objectives of the subject matter and asked what have been learned and understood from each objective (see Appendix TO.1). Or perhaps have the students summarize what have been
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PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
learned. This teaching practice is being tried and reflected and so far has already been providing me ideas on how and what particular activities needs to be used to align the assessment with the objectives. However I have not yet changed any of the assessment which is mainly MCQ but have included questions for students to verbally explain their understanding. This formal and informal seeking of student’s feedback helped me developed myself as a reflective practitioner. It has consistently given me new concrete experience to reflect upon, in- or on-action, with my previous experience which leads me to theoretically conceptualize new ideas that would and could help me in planning on how to do and act on those ideas; A Kolb’s learning theory in action. By showing the students my enthusiasm and interest in the course, concern that I am here to help them in their learning and understanding, promoting individual thinking through question asking has made them less reserved and encouraged them to dialogue and interact. And those newly gained experiences or information shared by others are reflected and analyzed to help me decide on what could be adopted and changed. I then synthesize those new experiences from the previous to help me conceptualize new adopted experience or ideas that I believe would further encourage active participation of my students on my succeeding classes. These improvements have given me additional confidence to apply and experiment on the newly adopted information and ideas and at the same time enabled me to plan on where and when to do and act such information in the curriculum. Although I still have some difficulties in constructing new concepts but as per my experience frequent practice would make it clearer and easy. And habit of recording should be improved as at the moment everything was recall but somehow the recording of the experiences and interaction with my students in a flipchart have helped me a lot in recalling and reflect on the course. From this, that I plan to include instructor’s comments on the student’s feedback form and create a teacher’s reflection form to be accomplished for each class facilitated. There is an activity included in some of FMFI courses one of which is the subject I taught that allowed reflection and feedback between me and my students. The activity is a case study wherein they are tasked to determine, identify, and analyze where in the context and what statements could be related on the topics discussed to test their understanding but instead I chose to give them the problem and have them analyze and apply the information that have been learned. They were grouped and assessment is to be accomplished within a one-hour period which I believe is more than enough, based on my experience on Claire Pekcan’s classroom activity wherein we are to analyze the problem given in half-an-hour period which were able to provide sufficient answer, we believe is right, within such period. But of course, not the same problem as Claire’s but it has the same idea. While they were performing the task I excused myself for a few minutes to have a quick reading of my reference on problembased activity and review what answers I expect from my students. After the tasked I asked each group to discuss their findings and solutions. After all the groups presented I asked them to comment on each other works this is because none of them were able to get the correct findings and solutions but my plan is to
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PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
guide them of what I expect from them as we interact. But as we interact, the level of dialogue has slightly increased to a level of debate. But due to a good exchange of ideas that I forgot to guide and give them the answers. But as the interaction continued they were already reconciling their ideas and came-up with techniques they think should be done to solve the problem and later on they were already identifying the solutions to the problem and all I could do was to say nice job and that may have confirmed to them that they got the solution as nobody anymore tried asking for the answers. I recalled my observation of Claire’s activity which I thought then that we were engaged already in debate and come up with our solutions but I did not recall her giving the correct answers. I read again the works of Beaty (2004); Overton (2004); Feather and Fry (2004) and found out and understood that Claire have engaged us to solve a complex problem but neither expect us for right or wrong answer instead encouraged us; to deep understanding; independent and collaborative learning; to develop higher order cognitive skills; and develop a range of skills such as problem solving, group working, critical analysis and communication making a rich learning experience. And as Beaty (2004) points out that extensive use of a case study or problem based activity could support a complete course design. This experience have made me reflect over and over again to get a full understanding but indeed very enlightening when one discover and gain the skills a lecturer and student needs to learn in order to manage the situation effectively and efficiently. This is an additional discovery which will further improve my teaching practice and support to my students learning and understanding. But the most I benefitted and made an immediate impact in my teaching practice is on the comments made by my colleagues and peers during peer’s observation conducted by our Mentors. But before it was conducted we were already made to understand the importance and benefit of both giving and accepting criticisms and/or comments constructively. This made my peers very reliable and fair in giving their comments. Additional technique was added by video recording my teaching practice. Although I have encountered this during the train the trainer’s course I attended. Peer assessment/observation/feedback was not explicitly explained and most of my peers are as well beginners in teaching thus, limited comments were received and somehow not constructive. But another thing why I perceived it as non-constructive perhaps may have to do as well of having a lack of knowledge on how to accept criticism and making it constructive. During the teaching practice observation, I am ready and confident as ample amount of teaching and learning activities have been improved since we returned from our stint at WMA. When it was my time to be observed and saw my performance self-assessment have been in progress and found a lot of things that I need to improve and during my peer’s comments from the observation that I gained a lot of constructive comments that I have never thought of. Through self observation and my peer’s comment that I was able to determine that the teaching and learning process is teacher-centred due to one way communication. The class was less engaging and question and answer was not encouraged. There is over expression of the word “OK” that somehow becoming a distracter. And I have not use or have recorded their shared experiences that we could use later on the course of for others to relate into. Although the class observed was
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PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
yet in the introduction of the course but during my teaching practice after the observation that I found that interaction, collaboration, question asking techniques, and recording their experiences have been effective, has shown improvement in the learning and understanding of the course through being able to summarize the topics and interest has increased as evident through their participation and interaction at the early stage of the course thus, I believe that the students have identified what they expect and expected of them. And some positive feedback that made me confirm some of my effective teaching styles such as good voice modulation, composed and confident in delivering the lecture. Indeed, a life changing event. And another thing is that they not only provided me their comments on my teaching practice but as well as feedbacks on how and what I could do to improve further my teaching practice and utmost learning and understanding of my students (see Appendix TO.1, TO.2, and TO.5 ). And lastly is this portfolio that made me think and write all the improvement and other aspects of teaching and learning that needs to be managed, experimented and improved. This also serves as an evidence of what I have learned and benefitted from the PGCMET as well as what and how my students would benefit from my teaching practice. This portfolio has given me confidence in writing reflectively being encouraged to think in an educational perspective. It has given me reference of what I know then, what I know now, what I need to know further, what I need to plan and do, and what I might become. My plans at the moment are to fully be aware and understand how my students learn, improve my teaching approaches based on students learning styles, and how to prepare my self in every class and new class that I will be conducting. I am quoting below tables, aside from the teaching and learning theories and principles that I believe would also guide and assist me in my plans in achieving professional development and my goals.
Andragogy • • • • •
As a person matures they become more self-directed. Adults have accumulated experiences that can be a rich resource for learning. Adult become ready to learn when they experience a need to know something. Adults tend to be less subject-centred than children; they are increasingly problem-centred. For adults the most potent motivations are internal.
Table 15: Five principles of the art and science of helping adults learn from the works of Malcolm Knowles as stated by Fry: et all (2004)
Perceived understanding on how students learn •
Learners experience the same teaching in different ways.
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• • • • • • • •
• • •
• • • •
• • • • •
PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
Learners will approach learning in a variety of ways and the ways we teach may modify their approaches. Teachers may need to extend / modify the approach of many learners. Learners have to be brought to ’engage’ with what they are learning so that transformation and internalization can occur. Learners bring valuable experience to learning. Learners may be more motivated when offered an element of choice. Learners need to be able to explain their answers and answer ‘why?’ questions. Learners taking a discipline that is new to them may struggle to think in the appropriate manner (an important point in modular programmes). Teachers need to understand where learners are starting from so that they can get the correct level and seek to correct underlying misconceptions or gaps. Teachers and learners are both responsible for learning happening and students must take / have some responsibility for learning. Teachers need to be aware of the impact of cultural background and beliefs on learning behaviour, interpretation and understanding. Feedback and discussion are important in enabling the teacher and learner to check that accommodations of new understanding are ‘correct’ (peer feedback is important too). Prior knowledge needs to be activated. Discussion of what is being learnt in a peer (small) group can be a powerful learning tool. Learning best takes place in or related to a relevant context (to facilitate the ‘making of meaning’. When planning, specifying outcomes, teaching or assessing, lecturers need to consider all appropriate domains and be aware of the level of operations being asked for. The learning climate / environment in which learners learn affects the outcomes (eg, motivation, interactions, support, etc). Teachers must reduce the amount of didactic teaching. Teachers should avoid content overload; too much material will encourage a surface approach. Basic principles and concepts provide the basis for further learning. Assessment has a powerful impact on student behaviour.
Table 16: Among the perceptions that emerge from what is understood about how student learn quoted from Fry; et. all (2004).
General ideas for making lectures more effective •
•
Structure the lecture carefully; so that you provide a solid framework into which students can fit new knowledge. Show students an outline of this framework. Ensure that you provide students with clear signals to help them appreciate direction, links and points of separation between parts of the content. These are called signposts. Make sure that they can ‘see the
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•
•
• • •
•
•
•
•
PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
wood as well as the trees’. Make links between the present lecture and past of future lectures. Make some statement of educational intent at the outset. Ideally state your aims, objectives/learning outcomes so that students will know what you wish them to achieve. Make sure that your lecture is not overloaded with content. Students learn more when information density is not too high. You may not cover as much as you wish, but if the material is understood and can be applied, your time has been well spent. Organize your lecture so that you change the demands made on students every 10 to 15 minutes. This should ensure attention levels are kept high. Make your lectures more participatory, and adopt this approach right from the start of the course when norms and expectations are being established As the lecture proceeds, continue to show students the lecture outline on an overhead transparency so that they can chart their way through and note the significant elements. Provide a summary of the main points as you complete each section and an overall summary at the end of the session (this can be used profitably at the beginning of the next lecture to remind students of what has already been covered). Give students an opportunity to interact as soon as possible with the new material being presented so that they are able to make links between the new material and what they have learnt in the past. You may wish students to work individually of in a buzz group for short periods during the lecture, or you may give hem follow-up work to be completed outside class. Help students to take good lecture notes – concept maps, spray diagrams and mind maps are alternative ways of taking notes that students may wish to explore with your help. Many lecturers now publish full lecture notes on their Web sites. You may wish to pause occasionally and allow students to check their notes against those of the person sitting next to them. Make good use of handouts – these may be gapped handouts where you leave space for students to add their own notes. You may wish to provide students with diagrams, references or articles for further reading.
Note: Some of these will or may not necessarily be relevant or applicable to all disciplines. Table 17: General points and ideas for making lectures more effective, especially when dealing with large numbers of students taken and quoted from Horgan (2004).
Structuring a lecture • • • • • • •
What are the central questions of the lecture? What do you expect students to learn or understand from your lecture? What lecture methods will you use? Will the opening be clear and interesting? Are the sections of the lecture clearly organized and clearly linked? Are the main key points clear, accurate and linked? Are your examples and illustrations apt?
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• • • • • • •
PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
Will any reservations and qualifications you plan o make be clear and apt? Will your section summaries and final summary be clear and coherent? What activities will students have to carry out during the lecture? What possible weaknesses are there likely to be in the presentation? How do you plan to combat these possible weaknesses? Are any audio-visual resources you might need going to be available? How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your lecture?
Table 18: Checklist of questions for use after a lecture has been prepared taken and quoted from Horgan (2004) based on suggestions of Brown and Atkins (1988)
Ways of varying student activity in lectures •
•
• • • •
• • •
• •
•
Give students a question or problem to be tackled individually and then ask them to share their ideas in small groups, commonly called buzz groups. Change the way in which you use your time in the lecture theatre. Redesigning lectures to enable students to develop problem-solving and teamwork skills. Show a video/DVD clip with instructions on what to look for. Present material live from the internet with instructions on what to look for, what data to collect, etc. Demonstrate a task or device and include instructions on what to look for. Set a brief multiple choice question (MCQ) tests. If possible ask a colleague to help with administering this – it can be a very effective way of providing almost instant feedback on students’ understanding of the topic being discussed. Solve a problem collectively. Ask students to discuss briefly, in groups of two or three, a research design or interpretation of a set of findings. Ask students to frame questions in relation to data or to make estimates (eg, percentages or various crimes, range of accuracy of instruments) Students can compare their ideas in small groups. You can then show them the correct figures. Ask students to invent examples and compare them with those of another student. Ask students to consider briefly likely advantages and disadvantages, or strengths and weaknesses of a procedure or theory. The outline that advantages and disadvantages so that they can compare these with their views. Turn a part of your lecture into a question and answer session – this needs courage and you may lack confidence to do this by providing students with a ‘question box’ so that you have prior notice of questions and an opportunity to think about the answers. It may be advisable to pump-prime the box with some good questions!
Table 19: Suggestions offered as means of engaging students with the subject matter being presented taken and quoted from Horgan (2004) she adapted from Brown and Atkins (1988).
August 2008
Page 83 of 317Pages
Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Reflection on Personal Practice.
Good teaching • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A desire to share your love of the subject with students; An ability to make the material being taught stimulating and interesting; Facility of engaging with students at their level of understanding; A capacity to explain the material plainly; Commitment to making it absolutely clear what has to be understood, at what level and why; Showing concern and respect for students; Commitment to encouraging student independence; An ability to improvise and adapt to new demands; Using teaching methods and academic tasks that require students to learn thoughtfully, responsibly, and cooperatively; Using valid assessment methods; A focus on key concepts, and students’ misunderstandings to them, rather than on covering the ground; Giving the highest quality feedback on student work; A desire to learn from students and other sources about the effects of teaching and how it can be improved.
Table 20: Some of the important properties (attitudes and behaviours) of good teaching taken and quoted from Ramsden (2003)
All these processes have continued my transformation to be a reflective practitioner (see Appendix U1.1 - .6, U2.1, and this portfolio), starting to develop in me to challenge myself to evaluate my development for new strategies of teaching and ensure my teaching practice is continually improved and enhanced, that every time I look at the mirror I see a reflection of additional improvement on myself and see my goals; to be able to develop and assist others bring out the best in them to reach and achieve their goals and shape them to be a better person of the society; to be considered as one of the finest maritime trainers that have shaped the future of Filipino seafaring; to form a legacy to my student’s learning to continually endeavour to learn and share those learning to others; to establish myself and FMFI Maritime Foundation, Inc. as a well sought after provider of quality shore-based training courses but as well as service provider of highly qualified course developers and onboard trainers; and to be involved and partake a big role in uplifting the Philippine educational system and maritime industry to the empowerment of the 21st Filipino Seafarers, getting closer and closer to reach.
August 2008
Page 84 of 317Pages
Necesio O. Crisaldo, Jr. 2Eng MAME SIMarEST
PGCMET Portfolio – Conclusion
Conclusion
In re-reading this portfolio I recognized that teaching, learning, and assessment are all essential to the development of reflective practice going towards the development and progress of my teaching practice. Creating this portfolio have improved my writing skills potential, enhanced my confidence to experiment and evaluate new concepts or styles of teaching and learning. This would have not been realized without the PGCMET and our mentors who have showed us their interest in our improvement and commitment in helping us achieve of what we expect and what is expected from us. I want to conclude this portfolio of reflective practice with the following quotations I have read and quoted from the works of Karen Hinett (2002) she quoted from his references which have been inspirational and motivational to me to be a reflective practitioner and I believe would continually guide me in developing further my teaching effectiveness.
‘Reflective practice is important to the development of all professionals because it enables us to learn from experience. Although we all learn from experience, more and more experience does not guarantee more and more learning. 20 years of teaching may not be equate to 20 years of learning about teaching but may be only one year repeated 20 times. There are many times when our normal reactions to events are insufficient themselves to encourage reflection. We should not rely solely on our natural process of reflecting on experience, but actively seek ways to ensure that reflection itself becomes a habit, ensuring our continuing development as a professional teacher in higher education.’ ‘If we are to become more effective teachers, we need to become more reflective teachers. To be reflective we need to articulate our theories of learning, critically examine them and replace those parts which, we suspect or, better still, can show do not work.’ ‘Consciously engaging in reflective practice enables the teacher to learn from and therefore potentially enhance their practice and learning about their practice. Practice here can include teaching, encouraging learning, research, scholarship, course design and management. Indeed, it can include any of the myriad activities of the professional teacher.’ ‘Teaching students to develop self-conscious habits of reflectiveness in order that they might become ultimately intuitive is critical to education and training. While a reflective practice paradigm may have deficiencies, it appears to clearly offer a more sophisticated and comprehensive model for education and professional development that either legal science or skills-based technocracies.’
August 2008
Page 85 of 317 Pages