Learning Environments
The articles in the Reading List 1 emphasizes the importance Learning Environments.
Effective learning takes place when a child’s physical and psychological needs are met. (Aspects of Effective Learning Environments)
Since our students spend a great part of the day in the classroom, even the kind of furniture, lighting and the noise level outside the classroom all have a bearing on the way they learn. (Creating a learning environment for the 21st century)
The personality of the teacher also plays a crucial part. A teacher who plans her lessons well and has the well-being of the child at heart is able to enhance the child’s desire to learn.
There are four types of learning environments: Learner-centered Environments, Knowledge–centered Environments, Assessment-centered Environments & Community –centered Environments (The Design of Learning Environments)
The first two types of learning environments – Learner-centered & Knowledge-centered Environments- must go hand in hand so that teacher need not cover areas the students are already familiar with. Instead the teacher can build on the knowledge the students have. However, students also need new knowledge if they are to be equipped for the future. Their current knowledge will widen when they study in knowledge-centered environments. To help our students learn with understanding, the learning environments also need to be assessment centered. Firstly, formative assessment where the teacher seeks feedback to improve learning and teaching and secondly, summative assessment measures what the students have learnt. Finally the community – centered environments where students can see the relevance what they learn in school can be applied to the outside world when they graduate from school.
I find the reading in the Reading List 1 interesting and insightful. However, there are a few points we need to bear in mind before we go in a big way to paint and buy new furniture for the class. That is the students’ perception strongly determines whether the learning environment is conducive or not. In short, the students must feel your sincerity in teaching them. While there are a lot of literature on how to create effective learning environments, we must not blindly adopt these methods. We must understand the learning environments of the country we are importing from and how we can adapt it to make it suitable for our students.
Research Findings
The 2nd Reading list is mainly on research on Learning Environments. The researchers use a wide range of sophisticated instruments (LEI, ICEQ, CUCEI etc…) to investigate the learning environments students from different countries experience. While the researches are extensive, I do not see a link between the works done by the researchers and how the practitioners can make use of the data gathered to actually improve the learning/teaching environments for the students.
I think there is an urgent need for researchers to collaborate more with the classroom teachers. The notion that the researcher’ job is only to gather data to support his/her hypothesis has to change. It is almost like saying; a teacher’s job is only to pass on content knowledge to her/his students. The lack of collaboration between researchers and teachers will result in a waste of resources and the valuable information collected will not be fully utilized.
From some of the articles I have read in the Reading List 2, I have observed the following:
*What researchers do VS ##what practitioners need
*1) Researchers use technical jargon that the laymen may not understand. For
example, it is difficult to understand most of research findings presented in the
tables.
*2) Even when we do understand what they are writing about, the crucial part about
working with the practitioners is left out by the researchers. To quote from the
article, Science Learning Environments: Assessment, Effects &
Determinants” – ….. better achievements on a variety of outcome measures was
found consistently in classes perceived as having greater Cohesiveness,
Satisfaction and Goal Direction and less Disorganisation and Friction. Other
meta –analysis synthesized by Fraser …….. provided further evidence supporting
the link between educational environments and student outcomes.
There is no mention at all in the article how teachers can utilize the data
collected to improve the learning environments in their classes.
*3) When teachers are involved in the research, they are only given minor task. The
teachers’ involvement does not help them to have a better understanding of the
research. A case in point can be found in this statement - “the researcher and the
Chinese language teacher performed a manual check of all the forms.”
(Validation of the Chinese language classroom learning environment
inventory)
##1) Practitioners need more precise information. For example, in the article
“ Learning Environments Research: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow,” it is
stated that the students preferred positive classroom environment but how
students perform in such an environment is not covered in the research.
##2) According to a study –“ teachers who received feedback compared to those
who did not were able to achieve more reductions in actual –preferred
discrepancies on most classroom environment dimensions.”(Science Learning
Environments: Assessment, Effects & Determinants).
Yet very little attention is given to this- researchers giving feedback to the
teachers after the investigation is completed . The researchers and practitioners
continue to exist in different worlds. Hopefully, this will change with NIE
engaging more teachers on the Masters Course.
On Line Learning Environment
Reading List 3 focuses n On Line Learning Environments
On-line Learning Environments can serve different types of learners – from young learners to adult learners .
The Kristi Rennebohm Franz’s primary classroom uses on-learning to for their local-to-global curricular projects. Engagement in this task allows the young students to be connected with people outside their community. As they learn about other people from different parts of the world, they also share with others their culture. Finally they can see the positive differences among varied racial groups. (Indicators: Engaging Learning Environments)
Adult learners can also benefit from on-line learning. Most adult learners hold full-time jobs and do not have the luxury to have daily face to face interaction with their tutors. Thus on-line learning offers them the opportunity to learn at any place and at any time that it convenient to them. However, for on-line learning to be effective, the learners must the opportunity to interact with on-line instructor. In a research, it was found that participants expected on-line instructors to be multidimensional. To them an on-line instructor should also be a coach, facilitator and communicator.
(The role of the Instructor in Online Learning for Educators)
MOE probably did not find out the expectations of participants when it offers teachers the opportunity to attend courses without having to leave the school via VITAL. However, it has not been popular because what the teachers are getting are “dead’ information. They are unable to clarify or provide feedback on the content/presentation of the course.
It is without doubt that on-line learning has its merits. However we must caution ourselves that “Teaching and learning does not improve as a result of ICT alone. It is improved when it is grounded in practical learning theory.” (Development, validation and use of the Online Learning Environment Survey)
The above sentiment concurs with what my sixteen years old son said about on-line learning environments, that is while on-line learning and other ICT tools make lessons more graphic and interesting , sometimes a good explanation by the teacher can do just as well. In sum, we must be clear of our objectives when we use on-line learning/teaching
Labels: learning environments, online
