"When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
Semester I
Pollution Biology: ESST 2006
I think that I did not have a systematic approach to my teaching. Initially I taught the same way that I had been taught and made a few changes. I wrote my labs like a recipe. I had a title and an introduction and some background, an established method, expected results and questions that students would be expected to answer in their discussion. At the start of CUTL, I became more conscious of educational theory and tried to understand the existing system, in which we were operating. tried to make the laboratory settings as interactive and amenable as possible. This did make some of the students uncomfortable, as they are not accustomed to getting up and having them to be called upon. This exercise was caught in my first video below.
Learning resources
The students were given the handout a week prior to the lab. The title and learning objectives were listed briefly in the background. The technical concepts covered can be considered abstract.
Semester II
Pollution Management and Abatement Technology: ESST 2005
I believe that my learning style is more refined. My learning objectives for any lesson, inclusive of an individual unit would have between three and five very specific learning objectives. Each handout has more detailed instructions with headings and is a lot more organized. I organized a flipped classroom style pre-lab, where students were given the links in the handout. Not many students viewed the videos, so the videos were showed at the beginning of the lab. Two videos were created so that each of them would be less than 10 minutes.
1 of 2 Screencasts used in a lab session to promote learning
Learning resources
Like the semester prior, the handout was given a week prior to the lab. The learning objectives, experimental design overview and student expectations were given in the handout. The handout given is below.
Use of two separate videos were important, as the audience could view the videos before and after the lab to clarify technical concepts that were not clear. I even referenced these videos in the follow- up guidelines to assist students with the written lab assignment ( button below).