Briefings On Employability For Management Planning

Planning

Discuss about the Briefings on Employability for Management Planning.

This summative statement will be examining and evaluating session planning, teaching methods, resources, assessment and evaluation strategies which correspond to the teaching file. All my documented teaching within the file took place at Glyndwr University were a taught two different subjects at different levels.  

Having taught two very different subjects I felt fairly unfortunate to not have as much control over the content being taught in both subjects. However although I was restricted, I found that the required content was always over before the session finished. As a result, I explored other ways to plan my session utilising this unallocated time. Using the time I would attempt various activities and plan to embed employability skills which meet the module requirements.  

The first subject I taught was the computer systems module (level 4) which I taught to two groups. Having started the module towards the closing stages, the students were preparing for an end of module exam. As a result, the module teacher gave me numerous test papers to prepare the students for their exams. Having been given all the material I only had control on how I was to deliver it. I then started to plan and explore a variety of ways of delivering the session and began to visualise how I could assess each student (Chellapan and van der Meer 2015). I also considered and attempted to experiment whether the session should be social and promote peer learning or be quiet and reclusive like most practice exams (Tillman, Dorminey, Hartman, Williams-Johnson and Bodur 2014)

I believe it is important for teachers to get to know their students. However, teaching two different groups so close to the end of module I didn’t get the chance to know them all as well as I wanted to. In addition, preparation to teaching was made slightly more difficult as I did not have the opportunity to assess the student profiles and learn about their abilities.

The second subject I taught was the contemporary issues module (level 3). Fortunately I took over this module in the early stages so getting to know my students was achievable. However, I was restricted as a huge proportion of the sessions were taken up by a pre recorded panopto lecture, which I had no real control over (Cilesiz 2015). Nevertheless, the remainder of the sessions promoted social learning and embedding employability skills by allowing all learners the opportunity to contribute as much as they please in a group activities and discussion.

Planning for Computer Systems

Not having the opportunity to assess the student profiles and learn about their abilities, in preparation to teaching, made my preparation a slightly more difficult. Faraday et al. (2011) mentioned that teachers wanting to teach effectively needs to be mindful of differentiation. As a result, I had to attempt various learning activities to see whether the activity was suitable for their level, certifying if the activities were differentiated to allow all students to progress and achieve. Although I did not have access the student profiles I found the journey of overcoming this obstacle incredibly rewarding and beneficial to have encountered this in the early stages of teaching (Kolb 2014). 

My teaching would be best expressed as both cognitive and social-constructivist approach. My session starts off with a highly social activity to actively engage the students from the offset (Roehl, Reddy and Shannon 2013). These activities are either used to recap from a previous lecture (Computer Systems) or to assess prior learning through a series of activities such as think, pair and share to encourage the learners to be active in their own learning (Contemporary Issues).  Each session for both modules concludes with a tutor-led discussion on the topic. This scaffolding approach promotes employability skills and enriches knowledge through sharing with peers that understand more than others (Vygotsky, 1978). 

Occasionally as some point in the session students have known to become passive, to avoid this I would reflect on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and propose breaks or even offer rewards to increase participation. I also applied this on several occasions even when the students were engaging. I found that by following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with the students I gained further respect and the students participated more throughout the session (Brophy 2013).   

Not all students learn in the same way so using a range of resources can improve a session dramatically (O’Malley 2012). Although I didn’t have control of much of the material, I still would have used cognitive approach such as PowerPoint presentations to deliver part of my session for those learners who learn better through visual aids as well as discussions for those auditory learners. I also encourage the students to use technology to carry out the activities to appeal to kinaesthetic learners.

When thinking up activities I avoided handouts that the students needed to fill in as I felt the students would only copy off each other and not benefit from the session. Strangely I found most of the students to be much older than myself and yet somehow hadn’t adopted employability skills through gaining life experience (Maxwell, Irwin and Bennett 2015). As a result, I made the session highly social as I felt students would contribute more using this method and their social skills and confidence would grow throughout the module. I also used a scaffolding technique by providing handouts with some key questions for students to use during the activities.

Planning for Contemporary Issues

It is imperative to carrying some form of assessment throughout the session to assess if all the sessions learning outcomes are being met.  Grade marking should not be the only way of assess students, therefore formative assessments should be carried out to ensure each students process of learning (Group, 2002). Within my teaching file, I have used a various ways of formatively assessing students to ensure that they fulfil the learning outcomes identified at the beginning of each session. I also became more vigilant for key characteristics of learning difficulties through formative assessment exploring each students reading, writing, attention, behaviour and socialisation skills within every activity (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury 2013). At first I struggled to identify these learning disabilities among the students. However, I eventually I attended a lecture on disability awareness and disability support I became more aware of each student’s ability and identify learning disability much more easily through formative assessments.

An example of assessing students was when I carried out a highly social group activity to the contemporary issues students. These activities gave students the chance to research and discuss their main findings and issues being reported on the news at the moment. Once they had spent enough time researching and analysing news stories, each group then shared their main finding to the class (Booth, 2004; Riebe et al., 2010). As a result the group activity gave me the time to assess students by Socratic questioning (Walsh and Sattes, 2011). However I didn’t go too in-depth with my questioning to avoid them from being discouraged from participation.

I also found that the two hour contemporary issues workshop after the session had a humanist approach and helped to discuss the strengths and areas of development for each student who attended these sessions. I also spent time with certain students when they wanted to confide any issues or concerns. Although these workshops were optional I found that students would turn up to these sessions to identify and overcome their personal goals. Some reference to these can be seen in when evaluating the contemporary issues sessions.

Through teacher training I have established that evaluating each session is as equally as important as teaching. I found that through post session reflection I could implement changes if needed in the next session.

Although I have only been observed four times to date (*2 tutor and *2 mentor), and those observations are within such a small timeframe. I have still learnt so much from feedback which will help me develop as a teacher. In addition, once I got to know my students I also asked them for feedback after each lesson to get as much feedback as I can while I can. I took any feedback as constructive criticism and told the students to be as honest as they can and I wouldn’t take it personally. This approached worked fairly well and I shown much appreciation for their feedback (Cowan and George 2013). However I wouldn’t use this approach until you know your learners well enough or get offended easily.  

Teaching Methods

Conclusion

I never considered that I would be teaching a subject not in my subject area (contemporary issues). However, discovering that the students were studying ICT and they had no real interest in the subject. I explored ways of incorporating ICT into the subject. For example, for the obesity session I proposed that the students were to carry out a think, pair and share activity. They used prior knowledge in emerging topics such big data, advances in autonomous robotics and IOT which allowed each student to independently determine what they thought the future of the human race if current obesity trends continue (Beard, 2010). Embedding ICT in the subject got the students more motivated and engaging. In addition to this, I have also learnt that I could teach other subjects areas not related to my subject area. In addition, activities like think, pair and share give students to chance to analyse independently as their own pace (King and Lawley, 2013).

For a number of the contemporary issues sessions I found I also had to additional background research into the subject opposed to the computer systems module were I already had the prior knowledge. Having done this gradually gave me confidence to gather knowledge in such a small time frame and be able to confidentially delver a session.      

Overall my teaching methods have developed and improved. Initially I believed that my sessions would be more tutor-led. However, through taking on two different subjects I adopted a more student centred approach which I honestly prefer over my initial opinions towards teaching. I have also learnt that ponopto PowerPoint’s should not be used, and if they are used, limit the time of them as they can seriously put the student in a passive state.  

As mentioned earlier, evaluating each session is as equally as important as teaching. Initially I had no idea reflecting upon a session could be so beneficial.  Following my final observation I will continue to evaluate my sessions to continue my professional development as a teacher.

This summative statement has explored diverse array of planning and teaching methods, resources, ways of assessing, evaluating my approaches which can be observed in the teaching file.

Reference List

Beard, C. (2010). The Experiential Learning Toolkit: Blending Practice with Concepts. London: Kogan Page LTD.

Booth, J. (2004), Briefings on Employability 6.  Good Learning and Employability: Issue for Higher Education Careers Services and Careers Guidance Practitioners. LTSN:York.

Brophy, J.E., 2013. Motivating students to learn. Routledge.

Brown, G.A., Bull, J. and Pendlebury, M., 2013. Assessing student learning in higher education. Routledge.

Chellapan, L. and van der Meer, J., 2015. Challenges in Implementing the Flipped Classroom Model in Higher Education. Handbook of Research on Active Learning and the Flipped Classroom Model in the Digital Age, p.352.

Cilesiz, S., 2015. Undergraduate students’ experiences with recorded lectures: towards a theory of acculturation. Higher Education, 69(3), pp.471-493.

Cowan, J. and George, J., 2013. A Handbook of Techniques for Formative Evaluation: Mapping the Students’ Learning Experience. Routledge.

Faraday, S., Overton, C. and Cooper, S. (2011), Effective Teaching and Learning in Vocational Education. Holborn: LSN.

Group, A. R. (2002). Assessment for learning: 10 Principles. Research- based principles to guide classroom practice .

King, D. and Lawley, S. (2013), Organizational Behaviour.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kolb, D.A., 2014. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.

Maxwell, R., Irwin, W. and Bennett, S., 2015, October. When Education met Innovation met Employability: The Birth of Employability Plus. In ECEL2015-14th European Conference on e-Learning: ECEl2015 (p. 347). Academic Conferences and publishing limited.

O’Malley, C. ed., 2012. Computer supported collaborative learning (Vol. 128). Springer Science & Business Media

Reibe, L., Roepen, D., Santerelli, B. and Marchiovo, G. (2010), Teamwork: Effectively Teaching and Employability Skill.  Education and Training.  Vol.52. No. 6. pp. 528-539.

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.

Tillman, K., Dorminey, S., Hartman, C., Williams-Johnson, M. and Bodur, Y., 2014. Educational Research as Authentic Preparation for Teaching in Today’s Classroom.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Walsh, J.A. and Sattes, B.D. (2011), Thinking Through Quality Questioning: Deepening Student Engagement.  London: Sage Ltd.