Teaching learning portfolio

Bolonha passed me by

2006-03-31T09:41:00.000+01:00

Today is the deadline for all universities and polytechnics to hand in their proposals for the refomulation of courses. Some of us haven't had anything to do with the process. I don't know what decisions have been made about the discipline I teach, nor how it has been reformulated - or even if it is to be part of the curriculum. Nothing in my experience of life, learning, education and research would lead me to imagine that excluding people from a process in which they have something to offer and in which their lives are invested will be sustainable

Categories: Reflections

Tags: educaçãosuperior bolonha

E-portfolio model

2006-03-21T15:42:00.000+00:00

A great diagramme of an e-portfolio model by Jeremy Hiebert's HeadsPace. His e-portfolio is "a set of tools for collecting, reflecting, connecting and publishing". At our next portfolio session with teachers from the five IPS schools I have to think of a set of tools that people could be helpful for colleagues to use for their portfolio. But no-one is interested in electronic ones.

Keeping a portfolio that isn't electronic is like cycling up the Serra de Arrábida on a bicycle with no gears! I can't see the fun in it. But nevertheless, I'll have to think of some.

Categories: Artefacts, reflections

Tags: eportfolio, ipsportfolios

Syndication for Higher Ed.

2006-03-21T14:58:00.000+00:00

In the bubbles where I operate many people have trouble with email and having a Yahoo discussion group is regarded as innovative. That doesn't stop me from living vicariously through reading about other practices in Higher Ed. for RSS feeds etc. Here's a link to a blog called Syndication for Higher Ed. And it's not about FenProf or Snesup :-)

Categories: Artefacts

Tags: syndication, highereducation

Stephen Downes "retiring"

2006-03-07T00:12:00.000+00:00

Stephen Downes of the OLDaily is "taking a pause" and that has taken the wind out of my sails. Stephen has been someone who has worked innovatively, openly, generously and tirelessly in Higher Education for many, many years. But as Nancy White says, "based on the tone of his message, I can't help but wonder what it costs him in his professional position". I'm getting a depressing message there.

Stephen's message:

"I have always tried to offer as much of myself as I could through this service and others in my work and in my own time. It has never been enough, which was made clear to me today, but I am tired and don't have anything more to give.

Accordingly, I am placing this newsletter and website on hiatus for an indefinite period. I will be back when I'm back.

Please know that I have always valued and held in the highest esteem the work that all of you are doing to try to make things better, especially for the young. My dedication toward your objectives, toward social justice and opportunity, toward a better life for all, is never wavering, will never waver.

It is time for a darkening of the light as I retreat and think about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it, but know that the light will never flicker and never fade. I wish you well in your endeavours, and I will be back to walk the long hard road alongside you."

(See where he was in September 2003...)

Tags: StephenDownes

Diário de borda

2006-03-05T18:02:00.000+00:00

It was really interesting to find Diário de borda by Marcelo Stein:

"Estas páginas formam o portfólio da tese de doutorado de Marcelo Stein de Lima Sousa, estudante de doutorado do Programa de Pós-Graducação em Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento (MADE) da Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPr) e professor da Universidade, Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPr)."

I see he's tagged dialogism, Latour, Wenger, learning, interdiscplinar, Web 2.0 and a whole load of other overlapping interests.

I love this blog world!

Categories: Productions, Reflections

Tags: eportfolio, portugueseweblogs, PhD

Infecção/Imersão

2006-03-04T14:25:00.000+00:00

Que universidade? quotes from the Expresso:

O nosso ensino universitário é ainda largamente baseado no modelo da «infecção»: os estudantes são «infectados» nas aulas teóricas e práticas e os exames servem para testar a extensão da «infecção» com base em problemas convergentes. Este modelo não prepara os estudantes para os problemas abertos (e ambíguos) que são o quotidiano destes sectores. Não os habitua também ao stresse do trabalho diário: a maioria dos nossos estudantes estuda (porque só tem que estudar) na véspera dos exames. Tem ainda o efeito perverso de não permitir que os estudantes criativos e visionários se destaquem.

O modelo de «imersão» à alternativa: trabalho árduo avaliado diariamente e abertura a problemas divergentes, incluindo projectos exploratórios. Este é o modelo seguido nas principais universidades americanas com os resultados no sector tecnológico que se conhecem.

I think this is a really important observation. I don't see many people running the show prepared for open and ambiguous problems. What's more, anything open and ambiguous, let alone creative and visionary, has to be kept under the carpet in case it upsets the status quo. Even worse, if you are "caught" doing it, you can be sure that someone who thinks they knows will put you right and tell you how to run your discipline correctly. What's more, they'll tell you that you've now got to do it properly in line with Bolonha!

Category: Reflections

Technorati Tags: learning

Unlearning teaching

2006-03-04T14:06:00.000+00:00

Yes, I have (un)-learned the same as Marshall McCluhen on blog for proximal development. I read my students' work as an interested reader, not just as a teacher giving a nota. Most, but not all, respond in just the same way as Marshall says. They are curious and interested to read my comments. I use symbols like smileys when their writing makes me me smile or a lightbulb when it's given me an idea. I ask them "why" they wrote or did something with genuine curiosity because I know I might find out something I didn't know before.

It doesn't take long (three weeks into the semester) for those ones who come to the classes to understand what I'm doing, which is amazing as they have to unlearn a whole education system they've been through which is about looking for mistakes and what you're doing wrong. As Marshall says:

when you comment on student writing as a reader, the students read your comments because they do not remind them of what they did wrong, or what they should have done, or what they need to do next time. Instead, they see comments that focus on ideas, that recognize the voice of the writer and the effort behind that voice.

The problem is those students who don't come to the class. They never get to find that out. I have piles of work that students never even collect. My comments, their learning in the dustbin!

Categories: Productions, Reflections

Tags: studentevaluation

Getting critical reflection from students

2006-03-03T10:04:00.000+00:00

I'm participating in a discussion about action research at the moment where Steve Cockerill from Leeds Metropolitan University shared how he uses "Critical Incident Questionnaires" with his students after every seminar. He did it after reading Stephen Brookfield's "Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher" (p115)

He tells us:

Not only does it give me feedback as it happens, rather than once a term or semester evaluation but it affected the students too. They read my weekly feedback to theirs so they realised I was sensitive to their learning AND they saw how common difficulties were followed up by alternative explanations by me, of their problematic experience. Additionally it has helped me deliver new material to the next cohort of students informed by the CIQ. I've copied and pasted it in below but leave much more white space than this suggests ..."

And this is his questionnaire (shared with permission):

A Critical Incident Questionnaire

Please take about 5 minutes to respond to each of the questions below about this week's class. Don't put your name on the form ~ your responses are anonymous ~ but agree an ID between you so you can collect the returned CIQs next week. When you have finished writing put your form on the table by the door. At the start of next week's class, I will be sharing the responses with the group. Thanks for taking the time to do this. What you will write will help me make the class more responsive to your concerns and you can place this in your portfolio as evidence of your ongoing learning.

1. At what moment in the session did you feel most engaged with what was happening?

2. At what moment did you feel most distanced from what was happening?

3. What action that anyone took did you find most affirming and helpful?

4. What action that anyone took did you find puzzling or confusing?

5. What, about the session this week, surprised you the most?

(this could be something about your own reactions to what went on, or
something that someone did, or anything else that occurs to you)

"Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher" (Stephen D. Brookfield)

Categories: Artifacts

Technorati Tags:actionresearch

ESTADO DE CHOQUE

2006-03-03T09:24:00.000+00:00

I couldn't have said it better myself. From Paulo Querido, Mas certamente que sim!

ESTADO DE CHOQUE «Gravar e imprimir um texto, aceder à Internet, fazer uma pesquisa ou enviar um e-mail são algumas das tarefas que os docentes terão de saber desempenhar» (dos jornais) e o Estado vai pagar os 5,3 milhões de euros às Escolas Superiores de Educação para a formação contínua em informática dos professores do primeiro ciclo. Das duas, uma. A notícia é falsa, é um engano, tudo bem. A notícia é verdadeira -- e acho melhor ficarmos MUITO preocupados.
Formação contínua -- e o objectivo final é saber gravar e imprimir e enviar um e-mail? Uáu. E para quê meter as Escolas Superiores (superiores? a ensinar a gravar e imprimir um texto? uáu... estou a-b-s-o-l-u-t-a-m-e-n-t-e siderado com a capacidade das ditas ESE... uáuu... ) a realizar uma tarefa que metade dos alunos de cada um dos citados professores adoraria fazer. E faria a custo zero.

But this isn't just an issue of knowing how to use the technology. It's about people not having an identity or being able to make sense of the Information and Knowledge Society. And that understanding would include having a critical undertanding of English as the lingua franca. While people are locked into a local identity, feeling accountable only to their "quinta" rather than to a wider professional or academic one (i.e. not just an Iberian one) then informâtica (and languages) will have no meaning to them outside the carrying out of their day-to-day tasks. So it's as much about having an identity of participation in the networked economy, as it is about knowing how to use new technologies.

What's more - while learning is seen as merely the acquisition of more information and knowledge (and nowadays competences) rather than an ongoing mix and remix of them, then how can formação continua help people to make sense of the world, which unbeknown to them (especially if they aren't reading much, nor in English) is changing faster than they can ever imagine?

Categories: Artifacts, Reflections

Tags: culturechange, pauloquerido

Trackback: Paulo Querido, Mas certamente que sim!

Openness and innovation in Higher Education

2006-02-27T10:32:00.000+00:00

David Wiley, a significant voice in Higher Education (in the US) summarises the testimony he gave the US Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education:

In summary, higher education has fallen out of step with business, science, and everyday life. In order to realign itself with changes in society and in its student base higher education must find the will to innovate in the area of openness, and then in connectedness, personalization, participation, and other key areas. Openness is the key to enabling other innovations and catalyzing improvements in the quality, accountability, affordability, and accessibility of higher education. The open infrastructure of the Internet has enabled a huge number of innovations at a speed and scale that could never have occurred if this infrastructure had been closed. I submit that content, faculty support, and peer support are the infrastructure of teaching and learning. To the extent that we open these, we can speed the adoption and scale of innovation in the teaching and learning space.

In a previous post he shares his full intervention.

Categories: Artifacts

Tags: highereducation

Assessment for learning

2006-02-27T10:12:00.000+00:00

Just in case this is ever helpful in the future from Assessment for Learning from Educause:

We are developing a plan of research on assessment for learning using eportfolios. We would like to hear from others doing similar research or interested in collaborating with us. We are focusing initially on using eportfolios to document and improve deep learning beyond the classroom: especially in the forms of undergraduate research, community service learning, and leadership experiences.

Categories: Artifacts

Tags: eportfolios

Some disadvantages of student feedback

2006-02-27T09:58:00.000+00:00

I'm following Alex Halavais blog who sometimes talks about student feedback of their lecturers. He's writing from New York in the USA (which is why student feedback is referred to as "student evaluations") but everything he says could apply to us in Setúbal.

He talks about the way your teaching practices don't count when it comes to joining the quadro:

In some places, and I’m sad to say my current institution is one of them, teaching doesn’t matter that much to tenure or promotion. There are some really excellent teachers, but they are excellent teachers in many ways in spite of the university. I’ve been told that the only way to have your teaching impact a tenure decision is if you bite the students. Another tenured faculty member said that students would have to picket the tenure proceedings in order for bad teaching to stop someone from getting tenure. In other words, excellent student evaluations don’t matter in my school. There is a move afoot to make evaluation reports more easily accessible to students, which I think will help them to choose classes more effectively. But if you are no good at teaching, you don’t mind if people decide not to take your classes.

And he reflects on the disadvantages of student feedback ("student evals.") and the ways the teacher, can maipulate them:

I have mixed feelings about student evals. I think they do roughly approximate the ability of the teacher. Unfortunately, I know exactly how to improve my evals. First, I raise the average grade in the class: there is a strong correlation between mean grade in a class and teacher evaluation. In fact, some schools (not UB) are now weighting these ratings by the average grade. That again raises problems, because in a small senior seminar or optional graduate class, I may have a dozen students, many of whom deserve the A. The efficacy of the class leads its evaluations to be discounted.

The other way I can improve ratings is to do something a faculty member at my graduate institution did, and build the evaluations into the syllabus, reminding students along the way the ways he was “effectively using information technology,” or “providing timely feedback.” Certainly, this “teaching to the test” in reverse probably led the course to do better in those categories, but he was also aiming (successfully) to manipulate his evaluations.

And then the question of when you do the feedback. How can students know now what will help them in the future?

The best suggestion I’ve heard—this from Tom Feeley, who has studied student evaluations, as well as from others—is that you give the student evaluations five years after the course is over. Yes, we tend to forget traumatic events as time passes ;) , but we also find that some of the teaching that we like at the time may not be the work that was really relevant to our lives and careers down the road. Deciding the worth of a class just before a looming final exam may not be the best timing.

Categories: Artifacts, Reflections

Tags: studentfeedback

Academic blogging

2006-02-25T17:44:00.000+00:00

In the chronicle, Inside Higher Ed., Jeff Rice laments what he sees as academics being afraid to blog, unless they blog anonymously. He talks of the warnings of "the dangers of blogging. Blogging will ruin your career! Blogging will prevent you from getting a job! Blogging will ... fill in the blank."

Instead, he says, academics should be playing more with the digital form, content and genre. His article produced some controversy and irritation by people in the academic blogging world, including Lisa of IT who pointed out that many people have been fired for blogging and that not everyone has tenure. Others, like New kid on the Hallway, are annoyed by his complaint that academics aren't doing enough "amazing things (that) blogging has provided writers: ability to create discourse in widely accessed, public venues, ease of online publishing, ability to write daily to a networked space, ability to archive one’s writing, ability to interlink writing spaces, ability to respond to other writers quickly, etc."

Leslie Madsen Brooks summarises more of the arguments that are taking place in academic blogoshpere in Academics Anonymous over in BlogHer. (And as she points out, some of the best bits of the discussion if you are interested is in the comments that follow different people's posts. )

I wonder how blogging from Higher Education is affected in Portugal with so many of us hanging on to our contracts by our teeth as we drown in the extra Bolonha related work and are offered the stick rather than the carrot for researching, developing and experimenting. Does it - or could it - make us more or less playful with the blogging genre? I think this could be an interesting topic for the Encontro sobre Weblogs at Universidade do Porto in October.

Categories: Reflections, Artifacts

Technorati Tags: 3encontro , academicblogging

The end of the line

2006-02-24T08:08:00.000+00:00

I can relate to what Jill/txt writes about student emails.

it's a remnant of the old ideal of the independent student who should have the right to learn as she pleases) yet they all email you questions - you know, the "I won't be able to attend any of the tutorials. What's the assignment? Can you give me feedback?" kind of questions. And the frantic "Did you get my email?" the next day if you haven't answered.

The exame for Época de Recurso was yesterday. At least eight students I have never seen, only one of whom obviously knew what he was doing. Of the eight, four entered into email contact with me five days before the exam.

The questions I got this time in the week running up to their last chance exam i.e. their re-resit:

Is it important to study the book?
What do I have to study?
I can't do the oral presentation because I haven't had time to prepare it.
Please correct my article (midnight before the exam/time to give it in).
I hope the teacher will understand (and make allowances) that I can't speak English and so I couldn't come to the classes.

After the oral presentation I also have the standard scene with two - females - whose eyes glisten as they tell me that this is the only discipline they have em atraso and that 6.5 is really a 7 and if you consider X,Y and Z it could go to 7.6 which would make their final mark 8.8 which was nearly 9 which was nearly 10. And that would mean they had passed!

Technorati Tags: evaluation

Inglês Técnico or English as a global strategy

2006-02-19T00:32:00.000+00:00

I get frustrated with the way that "English" in Ensino Superior is seen merely as a língua or a ferramenta rather than as a phenomena or a strategy of globalisation related to identity, exclusion or politics. That was what originally started me on my PhD quest.

Now I see this interesting report, English Next 2006 - from David Graddol commissioned by the British Council which articulates it better than me.

The teaching of English has been seen in the past as largely a technical issue about the best methodologies, a practical issue of resources in teacher training and text books, or a problem about imperialist propoganda. We can now see that it has become much more than these things although such issues have not gone away. If the analysis of this book is correct, then English has at last become of age as a global language. It is a phenomenon which lies at the heart of globalisation. English is now redefining national and individual identities worldwide; shifting polticial fault lines; creating new global patterns of wealth and social exclusion; and suggesting new notions of human rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Graddol outlines a number of trends one of which is "the end of "English as a foreign language".

Categories: Productions Reflections

Tags: globalenglish

Student generated sumários on a blog

2006-02-18T20:30:00.000+00:00

An idea I've always toyed with but never done from D. Kuropatwa at The Difference. He gets the students to write the summary of the lessons on the class blog. He tells them:

"Write a brief summary of what we learned in class today. Include enough detail so that someone who was away sick, or missed class for any other reason, can catch up on what they missed ... Over the course of the semester, the scribe posts will grow into the textbook for the course; written by students for students. Remember that as each of you write your scribe posts. Ask yourself: 'Is this good enough for our textbook?' And remember, you have a global audience, impress them."

It would be a lot more useful to fellow-students than the token sumários that we have to write. I suspect it would make a better sabenta too.

Categories: Artifacts

Day before the exam

2006-02-05T22:52:00.000+00:00

I know you can't please everyone.
But I'm someone who tries. And I've learned a lot from trying.

But there's one time of the year when I'm at a complete loss. It's the day before "The Exam".

"Oh professora" it always begins. "Posso falar Português. Não falo nada em inglês."

"OK" I say, knowing already what's coming.

"O que eu tenho que estudar para o exame de inglês?"

Did you come to any of the classes?
- No.

Have you kept up with what your colleagues have been doing? Are you a member of the Yahoo discussion group where I put all the materials and summarise some of the things we do in the class? Have you checked out the Inglês Empresarial blog? Are you familiar with the criteria ...
- No.

Mas a professora não está a perceber. Não entendo nada de inglês.

So what would could I do to help you one day before the exam, dear student?

Quero saber qual é a matéria para estudar. Quero uma nota positiva.

Well, you have a written test and you also have to do an oral presentation and to write an article for a business magazine.

Mas a professora - não consigo. E eu tenho que passar inglês porque já tenho outras disciplinas em atráso. O que eu faço? A professora não pode me ajudar?

Dear, dear student. Where did you get the idea that I could help you?

Category: Reflections

Tags: educacaosuperior

Student feeling unappreciated

2006-01-15T13:48:00.000+00:00

I had a helpful dialogue with a student who felt like she was unappreciated by me. I'm putting the e-mail conversation we had in a document called Student_feeling unappreciated.

She misunderstood the marks that she had got in the oral presentation but that came about because of an underlying feeling that I hadn't appreciated her work during the semester. In fact I do notice her and think that I do give her recognition for her hard work and collaboration (as a mature student). So this was important feedback for me to see that she didn't. What started as an angry email from her turned out to be a productive dialogue between us.

Categories: Testimonies Reflections

Tags: studentdialogue

Blog comments aren't working

2006-01-08T14:30:00.000+00:00

Several people have told me that they haven't been able to leave a comment on this blog. I will check out what the problem is ... logo possível!

Feeling proud of my students' performance

2006-01-08T14:24:00.000+00:00

This is the post I put on the Inglês Empresarial discipline blog that the students read:

I felt very proud to see some of the oral presentations on Friday. I didn't see anyone who couldn't give a presentation in front of a professional audience in English. I really respect those students who are not confident to speak but who who persist during the semester, who ask for help in the preparation of their presentation, and who practice so much that they are able to give a perfectly understandable, enthusiastic and informed presentation.

In fact I have noticed that students who are less confident in the language often do better than those who are very confident. That must be because they pay attention to all the details - the structure, the content and the interaction with audience. People who start by thinking they know how to speak well in English sometimes forget that speaking language without making mistakes is NOT the same as giving a good presentation. I should know! How many terrible presentations I have seen given by people whose first language is English!!

Category: Production
Tags: oralpresentations

Learning through coaching

2006-01-08T01:28:00.000+00:00

It works every time. I put the students in groups of four and get them to select one of the topics we've covered during the semester to prepare a group presentation. Then I ask who are the three most confident people in the group at giving a presentation.

I tell them that those three (the most confident) are now responsible for coaching colleague number four to give the presentation they are about to prepare. One coach is to have overall responsibility for making sure the presentation has a good structure, another for the language and the other for their colleague's interaction with audience.

I then sit back and watch as they work together to prepare the fourth member of the group - who begins by being terrified and hugely reluctant to do it. I watch myself and the semester's preparation I've given the students being re-enacted as they write, encourage and enthuse to get the fourth member to give a good presentation.

In their preparations I direct any suggestions I have to the responsible coach, not to the member who is going to present.

It always comes together and the fourth member gives the presentation to beams of pride from the other members of the group and lots of clapping. When I give my comments I direct them to the three coaches - "you were responsible for the language, you could have prepared him better with his pronunciation of the word success", "you were responsible for the structure - what happened to her conclusion?" etc.

One day I'd like to develop the idea of evaluating students on how well they manage to coach each other.

Categories: Productions, Reflections
Tags: oralpresentations, evaluation

"A good story" - same criteria, different wording

2006-01-02T16:25:00.000+00:00

Instead of emphasising the formal criteria for the oral presentation (as I usually do) I've started talking about it being a good story. So, for example I have said:

A good story is a presentation that:
• keeps the audience interested (it is informed and gives us a new perspective);
• impresses the audience (you know the topic well, using “expensive” language and speaking enthusiastically about it);
• explores questions (and does not merely repeat “answers” written by other people);
• paints a picture of the context (telling us why this is a problem or interesting case in Portugal);
• is easy-to-follow (has a good structure, signposts and linking words);
• makes the audience believe in you (because you look them in the eyes, smile and communicate with them!)

I'll be interested to see if this gets more students taking on an identity of someone giving a presentation (i.e. "being" a presenter) rather than going through the motions of giving a presentation to get a high score on the evlaution.

I'm using Zoho writer to share documents - so this oral presentation task should now appear on the Zoho doc roll down on the right of the blog and here: "Oral presentation_final". It's in beta and it's the first time I've used it, so I wait to hear if there are any problems:

Category: Artifacts
Tags: oralpresentations,

A short break

2005-12-20T18:27:00.000+00:00

I'm looking forward to this short break. Students have handed in their articles. I can already see some which are direct machine translations of a web site. One problem is that the people who attend the classes and read the blog and the materials wouldn't dream of using a machine translation. It's the ones who don't turn up that do.

But there are also some wonderful looking articles, where people have included very professional looking layouts and pictures. I would like to do more multi-modal design work with the students. What I need is a project in which they can choose a selection of different modes for presenting it i.e. a presentation, an article, a poster, a webpage, a blog, slides, a video etc.

Category: Reflections
Tags: academicliteracies, multimodaldesign

Information literacies - the basics

2005-12-18T06:35:00.000+00:00

A reference I got from two students in their article:

http://www.google.com

And a majority of students cited as a source for information about their themes: http://www.companyname.com

One group challenged me when I said that I couldn't take "Portugal Telecom" as their primary source of information about innovation in Portugal.

One more thing to include in the course next semester.

Category: Reflections
Tags: academicliteracies

Connecting the plan with the writing

2005-12-16T16:55:00.000+00:00

I have been suprised at how many students didn't make the connection between the plan that they spent so long preparing and the writing of the final text. A significant number (most?) seemed to start writing their text as if the plan had nothing to do with it. It was as if the plan and the text were two different "excercises". I must be more attentive to that next time.

Categories: Reflections
Tags: academicliteracies