The teaching plan in a wass’ learning environment

Taken from http://projectamplify.com/insight/seven-really-useful-tips-write-website-blog-article/

The Teaching Plan in a WASs’ Learning Environment

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed. School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Wednesday, January 11, 2017 Post 310

Part of any faculty member’s professional development is to be active in his/her own learning by means of courses or by being inquisitive in educational matters that can help to achieve a better teaching performance. While being part of a Laureate Faculty Development program for faculty members, part of our reflective work was to examine what our expertise can teach us of what we have already experienced in the classrooms. And this time around we participants were provided the following questions to delve into one’s believes: 

Based on one’s own experience, how does a coherent and consistent planning contribute to the WASs' learning process?

 Why is planning important in the use of technological tools such as virtual campuses and platforms?

Here is some of my thinking as part of my reflective journaling. Let’s see whether these ideas make sense in the reader as a starting point of his/her own reflective teaching.

As an active faculty member at Universidad Latina de Costa Rica teaching didactics, I confront my students with four basic types of planning in ELT (English Language Teaching). All of them have their pros and cons in language teaching, but they serve an ultimate purpose: to guide the teacher from the start of a new unit to the full apprehension of contents by the learners. From my viewpoint in planning these can be stated as follows: 1) SWBAT Plan (the student will be able to …), 2) ABCD Plan (audience, behavior, condition, & degree), 3) TBI Plan (task-based instruction), and 4) GTOP Plan (Goal, Technique, Objective, & Purpose). But which one can be used for the WASs’ learning process?

Based on my expertise dealing with adult learners, three of the types of plans stated above can help WASs achieve learning goals. ABCD Plans are quite good to work with working adults because we start planning backwards, having in mind the end product for a given thematic unit. In the ABCD lesson planning fashion, there is a behavior that needs to be replicated to ensure a skill can be developed and then replicated by learners at their workplaces. TBI Plans are also helpful for an instructor who has some experience in instructional design.

Tasks can be linked to yield a given end product, but they do not necessarily focus learners on a behavior that can be replicated in the workplace. The focus of the task is to make learners realize that to achieve a goal different steps need to be taken. And a GTOP Plan is another good way of planning that can help

the instructor (and the learner as well) to identify their roles along the learning process. Though they use ABCD objectives, the plan does include the rationale why activities are carried out by having in mind the end product or competency.

What about WASs in virtual environments? For faculty members who have working adults in virtual courses, TBI Plans with their corresponding cycle of activities aiming at achieving a goal can help a lot. But as stated above, it is recommendable that the instructor can make use of ADDIE or ASSURE instructional models to frame the plan in such a way that learners can really develop themselves, see the use of what they are doing at work, and the potential it has for their professional lives, as well. GTOP Plans can also aid instructors to create learning tasks that can produce some good skills and competencies, which are a synonym of deep learning among students.

Finally, why is planning important in the use of technological tools such as virtual campuses and platforms? Having no clear purpose while using a virtual classroom is a dead-on street with more frustration than any other thing. Since a type of behavioral leadership is needed when using an ABCD or GTOP plan, the design of activities need to be focused on what kind of behavior is expected from learners in given tasks at work. In this knowledge society, it is crucial for learners to develop their potential for their current or future jobs. As a consequence, it is necessary that working students (and the traditional one as well) understand how to use Web 2.0 tools that can help them accomplish working goals quickly and efficiently. Autonomy will play a great role here rather than just being told what needs to be done and how.

To sum up, group management for a good traditional F2F classroom instruction or for a good virtual environment is a must. This management is achieved when the instructor is clear on the way planning needs to be carried out, which depends on the purposes of course outline and what is actually needed by the students (traditional or WAS). It is also important to become a multiple lesson planner; that is, having the ability to switch from plans to help WASs learn and become more efficient is also necessary. Needless to mention the fact that all faculty members ought to have some knowledge on how to use instructional design methods to create impactful, meaningful learning tasks for all types of students, especially on a virtual environment.