Implementing Reading Strategies Based On Collaborative Learning Approach

Design and plan learning activities

Discuss about the Implementing Reading Strategies based on Collaborative Learning Approach.

I teach Business courses to bachelor students. The courses, which I deal with, are management and leadership, statistics for managers and international human resources. English is the medium that I use for teaching, most students have English as their second language, and they are not experienced students. That is why I use innovative methods to teach and I adopt different strategies to convey my message clearly to the students in my class.

Design and plan learning activities (A1):

I emphasize on three major activities related to learning while I teach them. These are active learning, collaborative learning with case studies and learning based on inquiry.  These activities keep the student engaged and many researchers are proving that these methods help to improve the learning process of students.

Collaborative learning with case studies:

Collaborative learning has various advantages. Students are prone to forming groups and they work better when they work together. It is the case with learning as well. Students in groups tend to understand things more easily and they find out solutions mutually. They even show their innovative minds when they are given a task of creating a product. At the same time, they learn to work in team and adopt leadership quality in the meantime. Sharing of ideas, enhancement of knowledge, and finding out interesting solutions are only possible in collaborative learning (Suwantharathip 2015).

The five stages in guiding for collaborative learning are as follows:

1. Engagement

2. Exploration

3. Transformation

4. Presentation

5. Reflection

The students are given a collaborative task in the engagement phase. During this phase, they engage with each other and do some group exercise.

The next stage requires the students to explore some concepts, facts and information. They are given some input, which makes it easier for them to have a basic preliminary understanding of the task.

The third stage, i.e. the transformation stage requires the students to identify, arrange and synthesize the learning principles and reshape the information they have gathered.

In the fourth stage, i.e. the presentation stage the students are required to present their discovery. These are presented before the class at large who give valuable ideas and suggestions. Some students also take a critical approach and emphasize on the diverse parts of the plan.

The final stage, i.e. reflection stage requires examination of the findings by the students. At this stage they are able to point out the strong points as well as the weak points.

This has proved to be an effective method of learning for the students. The assembly of the experienced and inexperienced students helps them to share knowledge between each other. The best part is that they learn something from each other and they get to understand how to work in a team.  This mentality can be only imbibed among the students when they are allowed to work together. At the end of each class, I take feedback from the students. They often come out with innovative proposals and they give positive feedbacks regarding group exercises. They find it interesting to engage with the each other and they are of the view that this method helps them to increase their knowledge.  Through this method, they inculcate some values as well. They tend to behave more responsibly and with great accountability. Collaborative learning is overall a productive method of learning for the students (Suwantharathip 2015).

Collaborative learning with case studies

Active learning:

The active learning method involves the students actively. The students show their presence of mind and their capabilities to handle tough situations. I often involve them in healthy debates and discussions and while delivering lectures I give practical examples, which they find very interesting. I provide them with the notes beforehand so that they can come to the class after going through the materials. In business course students need to participate with an open mind and come out with innovative ideas and solutions, I often give them puzzles and these keep them engaged.

This method has proved to be a very effective method of learning for the students. The active learning method helps the students to overcome their hesitation. I keep the students engaged in solving puzzle and often ask them to apply some business strategies and formulas to real world situation. In this way, they are able to improve their further understanding of the subject and they come prepared in the class ready to face any challenges. After each class, I ask them to add some ideas into this method of learning. They give me positive feedbacks and some of them have agreed that they not only learn a lot through this method but they are also able to enhance their personality and decision making abilities. (Roehl et al. 2013).

Teach and/or support learning (A2):

The learning process involves the students and the teacher equally. The students’ learning is facilitated by the learning methods, which I adopt. In active learning method, I make them comfortable and encourage them to involve in debates and discussions.

Teaching Activity 1 / Case study:

Giving case study to students is one of the most effective methods to impart learning amongst the students. It is an inquiry based learning in which the students are required to inquire into the facts and information of a given problem, analyze it carefully, applying minds efficiently and come out with effective solutions of the problem. The students investigate actively, generate hypothesis and tally the gathered evidence.

This particular design make the students think practically and adopt a confidence within themselves. The students find the real world problems more exciting and they deal with them rationally. Through these techniques, the students are able to learn a lot, which not only help them at the present but lead them towards a responsible future as well. The case study method has been very effective in enhancing the knowledge and personality development of the students (McDermott and Dovey 2013).

Teaching Activity 2 / Think- Pair – Share:

The think-pair-share activity requires students to form themselves in a group of two or more and then proceed towards a problem-based solution. This activity imbibes in the students a sense of ‘we feeling’ and eventually helps them to understand each other better. They are better able to know each other better, develop an understanding and gradually learn how to work in a team. Team working is essential in any organization. In this activity, the students mutually understand a task and divide their responsibility between themselves. The students in the meantime also learn how to manage time and how to work smartly and intelligently. Often the students are paired as such so that every group has a mixture of more experienced as well as less experienced students. This technique helps to enhance the knowledge of the students to a great level. The students have reacted positively to this technique and they readily welcome any such activity whenever they are provided with one (Kothiyal et al. 2013).

Professional Development:

I am new to this faculty and I have actively participated in the Teaching Skills Enhancement Program (TSEP) which was held few days back. The program was related to professional development and had enhanced my teaching abilities. I learned a lot from the program and I have grabbed all the important skills of teaching. Teaching is not an easy profession. In a class of students, all are different and have different intelligence level. They are equipped with different abilities and perceptions. It is important for a teacher to find out the techniques, which would best serve the interest of the students. I learnt from the program how to handle students efficiently and how to deal with them in a comfortable manner.

A valuable session of the program dealt with how to start a discussion. I got to know how to get the students involved in a discussion or a team activity. The students inculcate a lot of values and ethos from their teachers. Teachers play a key role in the lives of the students. The teachers, in a way, shape the career and future of a student and provide them with helpful guidelines, which build up their personality. Classroom management, ways of starting a debate, teaching styles and approaches all have been dealt with in details in the program.

Imparting leadership qualities in the students is important and I have been trained through the program how to do so. Leaders are not born but are made and the making of a leader starts with classroom discussion and debates. The teachers have a key role to play in making the future leaders of a nation. Though leadership quality comes through experiences and time but the process of imbibing this quality among the students starts from a classroom. Leading from the front is the key capability of a decision maker. My participation in the program has been very much fruitful.

References:

Suwantharathip, O., 2015. Implementing Reading Strategies based on Collaborative Learning Approach in an English Class. Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal, 15(1).

McDermott, H.J. and Dovey, T.M., 2013. Strategy to promote active learning of an advanced research method. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 12(1), pp.92-95.

Herreid, C.F. and Schiller, N.A., 2013. Case studies and the flipped classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), pp.62-66.

Kothiyal, A., Majumdar, R., Murthy, S. and Iyer, S., 2013, August. Effect of think-pair-share in a large CS1 class: 83% sustained engagement. InProceedings of the ninth annual international ACM conference on International computing education research (pp. 137-144). ACM.

Roehl, A., Reddy, S.L. and Shannon, G.J., 2013. The flipped classroom: An opportunity to engage millennial students through active learning. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 105(2), p.44.