I have used many of the products in my own learning and with students – blogs and wikis especially. I think a great product that could be designed is also a simple one (in theory). Part of the issue in developing good PBL activities is coming up with a good topic/question/plan. Wouldn’t it be nice […]
Continue reading Final Post – Idea generator Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments I remember when I first started MET, it was my first exposure to a Masters program, and to this style of learning. I remember waiting for a prof to intervene in our discussions when we were trying to figure out how to do something, and the intervention never coming. I remember feeling frustrated. What does […]
Continue reading The MET PBL immersion Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Emily, thanks for the reflection and for pointing out both strengths and weaknesses of PBA. Like you, I think PBA has some significant up front costs that we have to keep in mind while implementing. I think the processes that you mention (planning, scaffolding and modeling) are worthwhile endeavours for designing a curriculum object and can be rationalized. However, the resource cost has to be given critical analysis to make sure that it works for all the stakeholders. Overall, it sounds like your thoughts point to a need (or possibility) for professional develop based around PBA. Have you ever been offered or thought about PBA pro-d opportunities?
cheers
Doug
jarvise,
I too can attest to those frustrating feeling and one professor even got irritated when I asked a few questions. It took me a while to adjust as this was totally foreign to me. However, with time I gradually started to learn about this new platform for learning and the reasons behind the professors’ absence from the foreground. My outlook on teaching and learning has changed since and I am on the verge of totally adopting this method even though I have been using aspects of it already.
Everton
Hi Emily
When I read your post, I quickly remembered the start of this MET journey. It was rocky one for me being not exposed to this style of learning and learning environment. It took me a month to adjust to this modality of teaching without a visible lecturer. I must admit that this way of teaching is an effectively way for students to master a particular discipline. I have certainly learnt at a lot from this degree program; I do not have to constantly refreshing my knowledge of concepts I learnt in the various course I completed in this program.
I hear you, Emily. I think I sometimes excel at creative tasks, but I really desire knowing my exact boundaries. Also, when I have a question, I want an answer from the instructor… pronto! A clear answer, too – nothing vague that forces me to find my own meaning. I have most likely been trained to please by the education system and two teacher parents.
I have shared many of your same frustrations in this program, as well as many of the same highlights. Yours is an excellent point that resonated with me – it’s like the rhyme about the little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. I would post a link, but that would be too easy for us, wouldn’t it?
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
Kristopher 2:35 pm on November 12, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
… with a nice rubric that noted the curriculum links and marked the assignments for us based on quality, sentence length, and use of colour? 🙂
Sarcasm aside, I like the idea. What do you think of applying the cube here? Something like: a market focus (public schools), the type of offering (service and content), the buyer (guide offering to the learner), the global target (quite a widely applicable audience assuming that the curricular links can be supported), the market status (supporting both content an infrastructure), and the competition (there isn’t a great competition here).
Thanks for the idea!
Kristopher
khenry 8:11 pm on November 12, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Emily and Kristopher,
I think may be on to something. It’s worth fleshing out. 🙂
Kerry-Ann