On a clear Monday morning I entered my classroom with my set of whiteboard markers. The students were already there, waiting for me to begin my class. One of them came up to clean the whiteboard from the doodles of the previous lesson. I started calling names to fill in the attendance form.
As I began the lesson, I noticed students punching in a last few words on the smartphones before flicking the "silent" button. Some updated their Clash of Clan right before tucking it into their bags. I knew by the sound of the intro theme.
And so my lesson began. The typical powerpoint slides, the boring lecture... the "any questions?" question. And of course, followed by the fake "I understand" nod by the students. At one point of this uninteresting lesson, when I realized half the class was sleeping, I ask myself. What the hell am I doing? The point of the 16 hours per week lectures is to make students learn Traffic Engineering. Not to bore them out of their minds...
And so I went to INTI International University in Nilai to observe their blended learning implementation.
Okay so we don't have high tech facilities. But we have brains. We have the ability to generate methods of Teaching and Learning to make the students learn instead of sleep. We are well aware that the Gen-Y (or millenia) students are different. Students at this time were exposed to computers and smartphones at the age of 5. And in a short time, babies in the next generation will be born scrolling trough iPads and tablets. Certainly we cannot expect them to learn things OUR way. You know, the kind where you go to class and talk non-stop while they were wishing time would run faster and forcing them to read through 500 pages of textbooks.
There will be many excuses, such as "No budget" etc etc... But for how long can we hide behind these excuses? There was a time in education where lecturers don't have computers at all, let alone e-mails. But they managed to survive that. Then, there was a time where everybody else had a laptop and so we struggled to buy one too. And remember the shift between dot metrics to Bubble jets to 3 in 1 scanner/copier/printer? We did our best to catch up with technology. So, If we can do that, why can't we evolve mentally too? I mean, certainly we cannot just keep telling students "When I was in university I only had this and that and so should you..." This is the Facebook era. Move on.
It's time for a PARADIGM SHIFT.
1. FACEBOOK
A professor from INTI IU, reminded me that when students don't like something, they post it on Facebook. And there is no limit to what they can and cannot say on Facebook. As educators we must respond. No, not by commenting and making it viral, but by taking actions silently. We read, we understand, we find a solution. It is not our place to fight our students like uneducated keyboard samurais.
2. eEVERYTHING
Most students can afford smartphones along with internet that comes with it. And they will bring these gadgets wherever they go. And I know some lecturers who would firmly tell their students to keep away these gadgets during class. Instead of telling them "Don't" why not tell them to "Do". Do google any interesting information related to the lecture. Do tell me if you found better ideas. Do argue if you find my statements are not verified by wikipedia.
3. ACCEPTANCE
We are so tied to our rules and curriculum that we don't allow our students to generate their own ideas. We force them to think like we do. We become upset when they don't meet our standards. Gen-Y students are known to be sensitive. When they feel like they are being caged, they lose interest and rebel. In the end, we only produce average students whose goals were only to "pass" exams. Let's let them try and make mistakes. It is our job to guide, not force. We must provide reasons on all the "why" questions they ask us.
4. ZERO JUDGEMENT
This should come without a detailed explanation. Let us NOT judge our students on what they wear or what they do in their free time because our job is to help them get the diploma they want. We teach them the courses we were assigned to, not judge how tight their pants are. We are not training military. There's no such thing as "If you don't wear this, you'll be stupid..."
Well, okay I noticed how long this post has turned out to be. Before my TPA walks in and saw me blogging instead of "working" I better sign off. I hope I will become a better educator. It's my long term goal. To educate. Not teach.
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