RONÉL KOCH
MY TEACHING PHILOSOPY
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MY OWN AND OTHER LECTURERS’ APPROACHES TO TEACHING
Within my field of psychology, the focus of learning theories is mainly on:
Behaviourism (as coined by B.F Skinner) where the belief is that learning occurs when new behaviors or changes in behaviors are acquired through associations between stimuli and responses (thepeakperformancecenter, N.d.).
Social learning (as coined by Albert Bandura) where Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:
1) Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses,
2) Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning (McLeod, 2016). Vygotsky also claimed that all human meanings, including advanced human thinking processes, are socioculturally constructed.
Cognitive learning theories as coined by Jean Piaget where the learner plays an active role in seeking ways to understand and process information that he or she receives and relate it to what is already known and stored within memory (thepeakperformancecenter, N.d.).
Constructivism that is based on the premise that we all construct our own perspective of the world, based on individual experiences and internal knowledge. Learning is based on how the individual interprets and creates the meaning of his or her experiences. Knowledge is constructed by the learner and since everyone has a different set of experiences and perceptions, learning is unique and different for each person (thepeakperformancecenter, N.d.).
SO HOW DO STUDENTS LEARN?
LINKING STUDENT LEARNING WITH MY OWN TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I grew up in a very small farming community and was in a very small school (of less than 350 learners from Grade 1-12). The school did not offer many extra-curriculur opportunities, apart from tennis, netball and rugby. I was not sporty at all and was often teased and ostracised by peers because of that. Without necessarily realising it at the time, these small seeds of incompetency started to germinate and take root in my life and it became a dominant story (as we call it in narrative therapy) that gave meaning to my life and to myself. Looking back I now realise that I would often react to novice experiences by responding "I can't".
This was exactly the reaction when I once visited a friend of mine in England. It was very cold and snowing outside and we were housebound and bored. He came up with the idea of making a painting. My exact words were: "I cannot draw a stickperson". Since I felt safe with this friend of mine, I decided to give it a go and could not believe what happened.
It was the very first time in my life that I ever picked up a paint brush and the result astonished me (see the picture at the top of this page). This painting became a critical incident in my life, and also a metaphor in the development of my teaching philosophy (Chism, 1998).
I realise now my behaviour was acquired through external stimili (messages from my peers about my incapabilities) which lead to a response (underachievement and a belief that I am not very capable, worthy, talented etc. and this became a universal theme and internalised message according to which I orientated myself according to the world arround me).
WHAT LEAD TO BEHAVIOUR CHANGE/LEARNING
Unfortunately, in the same way as I started to opporate according to what the world around me taught me about myself, behaviorism instruction does not prepare the learner for problem solving or creative thinking, since behaviour becomes automated (doing or acting without thinking). This does not encourage creative and collaborative problem solving: Deep and broad engagement as envisioned in the UWC graduate attributes.
The environment sends us messages and we internalise and accept those messages. To quote one of my students:
"One day i heard my mother chatting with my father telling him that i'm the only child that she has no hope with. She believed that i would go no further than grade 9 because i'm was stupid. One day my father told me that i'm was the one to look after the live stock (cattle's and sheep)."
In order for patterns to be broken and for change to occur, we have to challenge and think critically about these very unique internalised messages that the environment sends us.
This critical incident in my life gave way to metacognitive processes (I starting thinking about my own thinking and how that impacted my behaviour and the results thereof on my life) and eventually lead to constructivism of new themes where I " adjust[ed my] mental models to accommodate new experiences". This change in my thinking caused me to think differently about my abilities and how to tackle problems and opportunities in the future. This process of learning was internalised, cemented into my being and will forever be part of the way in which I interact with the world around me and consequently how I teach and interact with my students. It is important for me that they, too, are able to self actualise (be able to develop into their full potential according to the theory of Maslow).
That is the problem I have developed with traditional approaches to learning, where students were expected to gulp up chunks of information, swallow, digest and regurgitate when needed, often quickly forgetting what they have crammed soon after exams, thus not leading to learning that is internalised, cemented, applicable in the world of work. It means that teaching occurs, but learning often does not.
WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
Herrington and Herrington (2007) tells us that traditionally university education has been a place to learn theoretical knowledge devoid of context.
Essentially, for students, this has meant that they are required to absorb and regurgitate on exams. Retention and transfer of knowledge was assumed, but rarely assessed. This made me think of the reason why I might have left university 'qualified', but feeling entirely unprepared and unequipped for the world of work. It made me realise that I might be doing the very same thing with my students and thus continuing this cycle.
This calls for a move towards more "authentic" teaching and learning environments as suggested by Herrington and Herrington (2007) where the idea is to assist teachers to break away from traditional, teacher-centered approaches in higher education, and who are willing to create learning environments where students are motivated to learn in rich, relelvant, real-world contexts. Learning is more focused on the student's ability to cope within the real world, and also to follow the example of experts in the field. "For students to be able to provide expert performance, the required skill or performance could be modelled within a real-life context", which links to Albert Bandura's theory of social learning (modelling). In my own practice this opens up the necessity for flexible learning where learning should become more student centered (instead of the traditional teacher centered approach) as an instructional approach where students influence the content, activities, materials and pace of learning (Pallitt, Strydom & Ivala, 2015).
Knowing and understanding how students learn could lead to and increased motivation to learn, greater retention of knowledge, deeper understanding and more positive attitutes towards the subject (Pallitt, Strydom & Ivala, 2015) with the aim of providing students with opportunities for excellent teaching and learning experiences that is contextually responsive to the challenges of globalization and a society in transition, and that enhances the students' capacitiest to be change agents in the 21st century (Goal 2 of the IOP 2016-2020).
It is also important not to forget the relationship between the teacher and the student. A good teacher (like my friend who encouraged me to paint) can introduce us to parts of ourselves that we did not even know existed.
Learning theories that my teaching philosophy is based on
Learning theories are an organized set of principles explaining how individuals acquire, retain, and recall knowledge. By studying and knowing the different learning theories, we can better understand how learning occurs (Peakperformancecenter, N.d.).
Apart from the abovementioned learning theories, my approach to teaching and learning is influenced also by the following fundamental principles, theories and values:
Stages of change theory (Prochaska, Diclemente)
Metacognition
Positive psychology
Experiential Social Learning
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
Psycho-Social Theory: Crisis- Resolution Stages
Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner to consider the diversity among students.
Maslow's hierarchy of Needs Theory and Motivation
Information Processing Theory
E-Learning Theory
Digital Citizenship