On the 1st of May we discussed Virtual Rotation Stations as per Skolastika (2020)

The recording is linked here.

The article focuses on dividing classes into segments called ‘stations’:

1. Teacher-led station
2. Online Station
3. Offline Station
4. Extension Activity

These stations have been found to increase student engagement and independence.

For the online environment, these rotation stations can be facilitated through break-out rooms in zoom.

The main takeaways for our session were:

• these techniques can be trialled in online classes, with the explicit introduction of the model to students before hand.
• This model caters for “various types of students to achieve better learning results within a single classroom” (p. 54)
• engaging students can be very difficult when there is no previously established rapport. In the case of embedded support, reaching out to lecturers ahead of class and ascertaining which students might be amenable to facilitating peer engagement can be advantageous.
• The rotation models also hold the potential to be used in a simultaneous online/offline classroom, which can be explored further when the students return to campus.
• Structuring sections of class time around collaboration is encouraged, although it must be scaffolded to afford students the comfort and confidence to participate.
• Ice breakers play a crucial role, and must be based on low risk questions, with binary questions being most favourable, and open-ended questions to be avoided or used with more experienced/confident students

A trial of this station rotation is most likely to work in longer classes, such as a three hour lecture.

Overall it was good food for thought in terms of changing the norm of a classroom and how that might impact the student engagement and shake up some participation.

– Madelle

On April 23rd, the Study Support and the Library Teams read and discussed a chapter on Jarvis’s (2012) book on the topic of Adult Education and Life-Long Learning. The author focuses on 6 20th-century authors in the field of Adult Education, the first and the one most of the discussion revolved around, being Paulo Freire.

Another point of discussion this week was an Interview Freire gave in 1996 on the topics of Tolerance and Critical Thinking (discussing language, ideology and power).

View Full Discussion Video Here 

The article can be quite a challenging read, especially for those without the background in education, or adult education, mainly due to its nature as a Literature Review and the way it has chosen to present information based on authors. However, a few interesting points of discussion were raised and the main ones can be seen below:

Language, Power and Identity (Freire)

• The idea that the dominant “cultivated” language is a social, political construct (rather than an inherently lingustic determination).
• The duty the educator has to provide students access to the dominant (in our case the academic) variant while at the same time recognising that the student’s variant is beautiful and acceptable (in a given context)
• The importance of tolerance when dealing with the other (other nationality, other ethnicity)
• The need to have a conversation with students about language, about meaning, about differences in cultures and how these end up translating in  written expression
• The fact that English is a reader-centered language and the implications that has in terms of what conventions writers need to follow.
• A lack of understanding of this dominant/academic variant may lead students to a)go around in circles, rather than develop an idea and then proceed to another; b)use a thesaurus in an attempt to sound “sophisticated”
• “Education as our practice of Freedom”
• Freire’s Marxist view and its more direct application in scenarios where education is a gate-keeper to success, where the divide between “the have’s” and “the have not’s” is less blurred, or where people do not feel represented in the education they receive (such as Indigenous Peoples historically in Australia)
• How to privilege difference over deficit (acknowledging students’ differences and respecting different variants when introducing the dominant one)

Nine Phases in Instruction (Gagne’s Model)

• A good model to have in mind when designing a lesson

1.  gaining attention;
2. informing the learner of the objectives;
3. stimulating recall of prerequisite learnings;
4. presenting the stimulus material;
5. providing learning guidance;
6. eliciting the performance;
7. providing feedback about performance correctness;
8. assessing the performance;
9. enhancing retention and transfer (as cited in Jarvis, 2012, p.102)

• The differences in what “previous learning”  different students have and the importance of acknowledging their individual previous learning rather than assuming they have none. This is important for adult learners to feel their identity is being respected and a more “tolerant” approach to introducing a different/dominant variant.

Feel free to add any comments on how this discussion has impacted your teaching or how these authors relate to your practice.

A Common Reads Program at CSU Study Centres?

• Could we use personal development/self help/biographies of business people or ex-international students books?
• Could students write about their own journies to share with other students?
• Can we harness ex-Student leaders, who tend to be here “and then they’re gone”?
• Possible use of videos instead of, or in addition to, other texts. Multi-modal. Shared movie experience-film nights etc.
• Use SAF funding to buy many copies of texts for students, or to distribute from library.
• Relies on engagement from students and staff, collaboration across many departments.

Getting Students Involved As Partners in Library Activities

• Involve DSLs?
• Create “Library ambassadors”?
• Approach students and advertise the program
• Library has done similar through STRIVE program in the past
• 4 weeks programs – seemed to struggle to maintain student numbers

Other Ideas From Papers Discussed

• Student Co-Ownership of Learning
• ‘Amazing Library Race’ at Long Island University
• Games, gamification and digital badges for information literacy
• peer-to-peer learning in information literacy teaching
• Partnerships: IT services, writing centres, or student support services
• therapy dogs to be brought into the library in order to engage students
• Big Read in the United Kingdom
• common reader initiatives in general
• Student Voice
• Student employment
• student library representatives
• ‘knowledge ambassadors’ or ‘peer mentors