rtifact: Workshop
Date: Nov. 2007
Course: e-Coaching practicum
Competency: Effective Instructional Practice
Reflections
This was the third workshop that I facilitated for the TEO and I was pleased with the results. In the earlier workshops I found that I had difficulty giving the teacher candidates opportunities to construct knowledge in groups and at the same time learn the ‘recipes’ for using WordPress. This resulted in the first workshop been too focused on the construction of knowledge without providing the teacher candidates with enough explanation about how to use the WordPress platform. In the second workshop this resulted in a workshop that was too directive and teacher centered. In order to figure out how to ‘chunk’ these workshops more effectively I spoke with a member of the UBC instructional support team who suggested that I facilitate the workshop in three stages: The first stage provided the learners with a big picture of the technology and its use in developing e-Portfolios, the second stage was based around constructive tasks and the teacher candidates completed these tasks with limited assistance, and the third stage was a teacher-centered stage during which the teacher candidates were walked through a step-by-step recipe describing how to use WordPress.
In following these stages I was pleased with how this workshop was received. I used a PPT show to engage the teacher candidates at the outset of the lesson and to provide them with a wider understanding of the function of WordPress in enabling social interaction. This stage seemed to give the learners more of a purpose going into the second stage. The constructive tasks were also successful. The teacher candidates appeared engaged in the tasks and for the most part they were able to complete the them on their own. This also assisted in focusing them when I went over the final recipes at the end of the class. Because they had just tried to do these same procedures they paid more attention when I described them.I believe that their are ways to balance cognitive and constructivist tasks with more behavioristic elements. People learn in different ways and though engaging them through different approaches it seems easier to reach more learners.
