Hanna Teräs, Senior Lecturer, School of Vocational Teacher Education, Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Using Authentic Learning and Social Media for Developing 21st Century Pedagogical Skills in Teacher Education
Students need new skills, the skills for the XXIst century: for collaboration, for self-direction, for exploration, to teamwork, to share expertise… but this is not happening, they are not getting them in traditional schooling. Mainly because these skills cannot be taught. The only way is to transform teachers, as they are the ones that can influence students. So, how can a change be made on teachers? how can things be made different?
There are several areas where teachers need support:
- Knowledge, about what is happening “outside”, about the society.
- Skills.
- Community. It is very important to find support from colleagues, to share and find shared experiences.
- Mindset. Changing the mindset is crucial for technology to make a change, because technology by itself is not a driver of change, but an enhancer.
Authentic e-Learning theory consists in nine principles that define a learning situation:
- Context.
- Tasks.
- Access to expert performances.
- Multiple perspectives.
- Collaborativelly knowledge construction.
- Reflection.
- Articulation.
- Scaffolding, instead of direct instruction.
- Assessment.
A Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE) is being taught with these principles in mind, using many of the open-in-the-cloud provided by Google, like Google Documents or Google+, benefiting from hangouts, circles, etc. to complement the institutional use of Blackboard as a learning management system.
More information
- Jan Herrington, Thomas C. Reeves, Ron Oliver (2009). A Guide to Authentic e-Learning
Share:
