Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset

NOW is the time to do a lot of things. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy is spot on that the future should look better. The papers are mostly filled with bad news regardless of field or continent, so one could say that a person with an entrepreneurial mindset has many opportunities and many gaps to fill. Creating new jobs through increased entrepreneurship is the right way to go. However, I feel even more confident that more jobs will be created through an entrepreneurial mindset within just about any organization or work place. We need the new and innovative ideas, that lead to better products, to not only enter middle management but be implemented. And as Van Rompuy was saying, we need to bring in all the potential and resources we have in society in order to reach that goal.

As a social scientist and future educator, my solution comes from each individual and the surrounding institutions that form our society. I stumble upon Van Rompuy’s words “how can women be stimulated to start their own business”. Before I used to go and look for solutions (or problems) far away, but I have learnt that the solutions can often be found closer than you think.  Therefore, the first place where an entrepreneurial mindset should be fostered is at home. The second key to an entrepreneurial mindset is gender sensitivity that lets our youth flourish.

Parents as role models

Before and during kindergarten and school, the parents’ role is of indescribable importance. They introduce the children to society and the world. The role stays there for life, but as the child grows older, other people come and go as role models as well. I therefore want to stress the parents’ role in fostering an entrepreneurial mindset. If children see and experience how their parents are persistent in their everyday actions, innovative, solve problems, test new ideas, take some risks or talk positively about setting up a business, then the child grows up with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities

When it really hit me, that I don’t have the same opportunities as my male colleagues to get a superior position, we rolled up our sleeves with some colleagues and started a "women  struggle” (kvinno kampen) project at work. The idea was to have as many colleagues as possible wear a T-shirt on the International Women's Day with the kvinnokampen logo and make the employer aware of the fact that we need to look into gender quality and make a gender equality plan at work.  

There was perhaps 30% participation in the project, which was good as it was mostly mouth to mouth recruitment. After this, my employer decided to form an equality group that made a gender equality plan at work. So far so good; when it came to implementation, it all stagnated. Ever since, I’ve learnt more about gender equality. Only when all men and women can be part of the educational system and work force and have equal opportunities to get a job based on their knowledge and get the same compensation for the same work, then society is using its full potential.

I want the rules and the stage to be the same for men and women in meeting rooms. So where are “equal opportunities” seeds that lead into “I can do anything” trees planted? They are planted at home, at the toy section, in school, in the town swimming pool, in the queue to Santa Claus – everywhere. It is all about being a good role model as a parent, employer and teacher. You don't need balls to change tires, or tits to fill in the kindergarten application form. Kids need to see that.  

Gender Sensitive Education

I believe that through gender sensitive tuition, we give our youth a stronger self-esteem and courage to study whatever they are truly interested in and eventually entering the work force with courage to be entrepreneurial. Gender sensitive teaching is about awareness. It’s about learning that there are boys and girls in the classroom, and they all need our attention and encouragement. It’s about realizing that girls are not automatically better in languages than boys, or that boys are not automatically better in sciences than girls. Boys are not generally wilder than girls. These are just assumptions and behavior that is accepted in society.

 A gender sensitive the teacher is aware that society and the school is not equal. The teacher is sensitive to unequal treatment or structures, and he or she may e.g. chose not to use certain study material because it enforces gender stereotypes. The teacher raises the students’ awareness to equality and helps the students’ understand why equality is better and finds ways to stop the pattern.  It is all about our words and how we treat and encourage the students.

In InnoOmnia entrepreneurial Hub young entrepreneurs are encouraged regardless of gender. In the French Incubation for Women, the project is targeted for women wanting to start up a business and its aim is to take into consideration all constraints that face women in order to have a successful business. Both projects represent something I find crucial:

- All young people regardless of gender should be encouraged to entrepreneurship

- All men and women should be able to enter the work force with equal opportunities. No person should face more constraints due to gender.  

Sources:

European Training Foundation ETF. Entrepreneurship Training: 12 Good Practice Examples retrieved on 21 December 2012

Suortamo, M et all 2010. Sukupuoli ja tasa-arvo koulussa. Juva: PS-Kustannus.
Van Rompuy, H.: ETF Conference On Entrepreneurship 'Timely And Relevant' video on 15 November 2012.

the individuality of learning

What is your favorite method of learning? It depends what you want to learn, right. 

One approach to learning is by defining one’s preferred learning style or styles. Teachers will then try to match the preferred learning styles of the students to the teaching. You may read more about learning styles in the first virtual session post and learning styles post.

Another way to differentiate learning is by separation of learning methods. In entrepreneurship education teachers are encouraged to use different methods of teaching. Below I have listed learning methods that are encouraged in entrepreneurship education. Precisely these methods were listed in a survey conducted by Lappeenranta University of Technology and Kerho keskus ry where 343 elementary and upper secondary school teachers participated in a web-based survey about their methods and activities during the last 6 months in 2009-2010. The top of the list represents the most popular methods for the teachers and the bottom end lists the least popular methods.

1. learning by doing

2. problem based learning

3. co-operative learning

4. learning by developing

5. creative problem solving

6. learning in teams

7. peer learning

8. project based learning

9. real world simulation

10. e-learning

11. learning diaries, portfolios

12. debates

13. pedagogical drama

 You may read more about the study in Pihkala et all. 2011. Entrepreneurship Education - What Is Really Happening in Class Rooms? The above mentioned learning methods activate the students to take part in their own learning process. They encourage a learning environment which is not based on endless teacher lectures. The majority of these methods are collaborative but individual learning is also used. Especially e-learning is excellent for learning at an individual level. Educational technology provides a great tool to strengthen students weak areas.

There is a lot going on in e-learning at the moment. There is e.g. the Molla project for pre-school children. Molla (media, participation, child) – project started in 2011 and is funded by the Finnish national board of education. The aim of the project is to introduce ICT (tablets and digital cameras) to pre-school children in a safe and participative environment. The project is produced in co-operation with Turku Top-centre and Viikki Campus of the University of Helsinki and is implemented in Lappeenranta, Lemi, Savitaipale and Taipalsaari regions.

On elementary school level there are seven schools in Vantaa participating in a pilot project where ICT is being used in order to support individual learning. One example of this is Havukoski school where they matched the students learning styles and placed the students in four different groups based on the findings. One of the main ideas is to develop teaching practices where ICT (laptops) are being used to support different learners.

There are a lot going on in the e-learning field, which is good, but it takes time to get the big picture.

I’m looking forward to see what teaching and learning is like in my teacher practice school. I am very eager to dig into it and am determined to find suitable methods to teach depending on the subject.

References:

Molla (Media, osallisuus, lapsi). Retrieved on 17 December 2012 from http://molla.ejuttu.fi/molla-media-education-kindergarten

Pihkala et all 2011.Entrepreneurship Education - What Is Really Happening in Class Rooms? Retrieved on 17 December 2012 from http://developmentcentre.lut.fi/files/muut/YKTT_2011_Lappeenranta_E_E.pdf 

Tieto- ja Viestintätekniikka opetuksen eriyttämisen tukena. "Jokaiselle jotakin -oppilaiden oppimistyylit verkkopohjaisen oppimisen taustalla". Retrieved on 17 December 2012 from  http://www.edu.vantaa.fi/tvt/?p=43

Tieto- ja Viestintä tekniikka opetuksen eriyttämisen tukena. "Tavoitteet". Retrieved on 17 December 2012 from http://www.edu.vantaa.fi/tvt/ 

virtual session 4

It was nice to have the last session on Vocational Pedagogy 1 (VOC1) over. It’s quite stressful to manage to do the work as a group and to find time to do the individual work. I really liked our subject (entrepreneurship in vocational education) and learnt a lot during the preparation. The actual presentation could have given more to the students, though. The message didn’t come out as strongly as we had planned.

Overall we had a good session covering teaching special needs students, how to develop cooperation between working life and vocational schools and lastly, how entrepreneurship is being developed in vocational schools.

I am still not used to presenting subjects virtually. I would like to see the audience and see their expressions. Video image should be used during the presentations, at least to say “hi” so that you can be in visual contact with the others. The microphones should also be on for everybody so that we could have a dialogue. A "yes", "seriously?" or “I have some experience with this..” should be possible. Now there is only designated time for discussions or some interactive exercise set by the presenter. We are rookies, so no problem, but I would like to participate in an ideal virtual session, learn what it’s like so that I could apply it in my own teaching. Yes, we learn well from others and learn by doing, but it is no harm done to see professionals teach online!

The materials for special education and cooperation between schools and working life were excellent. I had a new glance just now, and learnt many things. We will all teach special education students in the future since the main idea is to integrate all students in the class and give special education separately only in the needed subject. Many good tips for the future and we had a good discussion in the end with the group.

I’m VERY interested in the cooperation between working life and schools. I’d like to be a student counselor, and what drives me is to help people find their dream job and push them towards that goal. But that doesn’t mean that I know how it works in practice, yet. There are a lot of players to involve and there are many forms of cooperation to consider. What we teachers need to do is to bring the outside world to the school, or the school to the outside world.

Last but not least of the subjects was entrepreneurship education at school. Entrepreneurship is a wide definition and it can be taught in many ways and it is not only learning business skills! When teaching or learning just about any subject, you come very far with an entrepreneurial mindset. Creativity, innovation, problem solving, critical thinking, taking responsibility in own learning, risk taking, positive attitude towards self-employment and so forth. An entrepreneurial mindset is handy in everyday life too. It kicks you forward.The EU commission final report from November 2009 on Entrepreneurship in vocational education and training is a good starting point for digging into the subject from an EU-perspective.

We wanted to have a quiz at the start of our presentation in order to introduce the subject.  During the search, I found the yrittäjyys mittaristo measurement tool for entrepreneurship education developed by Lappeenranta University of Technology and Kerho keskus ry. We would have used it as a pre-task before session 4, but since the test is only available in Finnish and Swedish, we had to do something else. I however, recommend you to measure your entrepreneurship education skills, tools or potential.  It is easy if you know some Finnish or Swedish, but you may also do it with google translate J It takes about 15 min and you get instant feedback and a score based on your response.       

references:
Measurement tool for entrepreneurship education. Retrieved on 16 December 2012 from http://developmentcentre.lut.fi/english.asp?show=yrittajyyskasvatus

my view of learning

I watch learning all the time. I guess that’s one of the biggest joys of parenthood. The way kids learn is fascinating. They watch some kid do something, copy what they see and do it themselves. I watched last night how my 1.5 year old learnt how to open the fridge by stepping on a pedal. How to open the fridge by using the pedal is hard for adults too, and most adults would just ask how to do it instead of just trying. He tried and tried for 5 minutes and then suddenly he got it open. He has seen how it works for 2 months, he wanted to do it himself, he wanted to see what’s inside and he wanted to be useful and help the rest of the family by providing this service. He managed and was happy. Then he went on to explore other things.

We could get very far in life only by maintaining a child’s mindset. Curiosity to everything, questioning everything (perhaps a little less is sometimes enough) and doing stuff that  are interesting and fun without thinking what others think if we do this or that.

Learning happens all the time. There are many theoretical approaches to learning and I will share with you my favorite theories. They all assemble learning in childhood, but the reason is natural. These are the “learning theories” that interest me right now:

- Developmental stage theory; cognitive theory by Jean Piaget

- Montessori education theory; constructivist theory developed by Maria Montessori

- Erikson's stages of psycho-social development, developed by Erik Erikson

Piaget, Montessori and Erikson are just a few scholars of many to mention, but they have given me many further thoughts and ideas. 

What interests me much at the moment is connectivism and e-learning. The idea that knowledge should be shared with others in order to develop the idea even further is the right approach. This can be used in learning in all ages and stages. I have found especially working-life as a place where knowledge is not shared as it could.  Employees and employers seem to keep information to themselves in order to share some important info at the right moment. I guess the reason is that  people want to show the rest that they are valuable to the organisation, should be reckoned with and should get a raise or at least get to keep their jobs when bad times come. I really hope we get out of that kind of working culture and move forward. There is so much potential at all levels in all work places. 

E-learning is my common surf destination. I am a rookie, found Tony Karrer's e-Learning blog and want to explore more.. We use adobe connect pro in our iVET course, but there seems to be a lot more out there..

Assessment and Evaluation

What is most important to learn in education is that we are not learning to succeed in tests. We are learning new things in order to succeed in life. That is something that teachers should always keep in mind.

I loved Mars prezi presentation in virtual session 3. The material is excellent for self-study and gives many tips as well for using assessment in teaching.  My favorite a-ha from the material is basic but important. I realized that assessment has 3 different angles “assessment for/of/as learning”. It is a tool not only for teachers but also for students. Assessment for learning means that the assessment goal is to see study progress. Assessment of learning means assessment of learning results e.g. against national goals & requirements. Assessment as learning stands for students reflection of own learning.

What methods of assessment/evaluation will I use?

I don’t like to fill in assessment forms after class or after a course. I think there are two types of people; the ones who are like me and the ones that know it is important for course improvement and reflection and who will do a serious job. Team Jupiter (our dear planet) made a questionnaire based on the actual learning goals of virtual session 3. We had a good participation rate, and I think that it worked quite well. The results are a bit difficult to analyze since there were 3 different people giving the presentations based on the same material and all 3 sessions were separated, but it gave us the push that online assessment can be made after virtual sessions or after class. Crucial is though, not to give too much time to answer.  

When it comes to my own teaching, I will use different kinds of assessment and evaluation. I would like to use all 3 angles meaning that the assessment should serve both teachers and students. As blue to teaching, I can only use my imagination on how I will use assessment. But since I believe that you have to reflect already in the beginning on the theme you are to learn, and assessment or evaluation every day or week is too much for the students, I opt for the following approach:

-       self-assessment at the beginning and clarification of learning goals

-       option to either reflect regularly on certain topics during the course or final exam on the same material

-       interim assessment of study progress (e.g. open book exam) and self-assessment of learning goals

-       hand in of study journal or final exam

-       course summit including evaluation on course content and teaching performance, self-evaluation of learning goals.

I shall look more into this when I start preparing for teaching practice :-)

EduTech in teaching

How do I use technology in my field of pedagogy?

EduTech boot camp in Espoo, and the tinkering homework helped me realize that educational technology is good. I used to think that kids shouldn't have mobile phones, ipads aren't necessary.. but now I know better :-) Technology gives an extra spark to the class and enables different kinds of interaction

I am a professional in Political Science, with some 10 years of working experience from the multilateral banking sector. My field of expertise is not very technology driven or technology crazy.  But what field is? In what field is educational technology more relevant?

It is up to the teacher to use technology in the class room. What is most important is to have a positive attitude towards edutech and use it either for visual aid when teaching content, for group tasks, information forum or something else J Students should learn how to use technology and the teacher is an important role model, so a positive attitude towards technology will kick far.     

I have short patience and would like to know how to use any application or gadget instantly. As I have a history of being reluctant towards new technology, this might limit my open mind, but in general, I see myself as wanting to use technology in my field of pedagogy.

How to use edutech depends on what is being taught and what kind of course it is. If I was to teach an EU course right now, I would prepare a course plan based in a blog and I would plan it somehow so that the students would have to share some of their thoughts online. I would have students search for some specific information online themselves, since that is a great way to find something interesting, which motivates forward. I would try to use flashy tools for visual aid during lectures, find videos and encourage students to make videos.. There are a lot of things that could and can be done. But most importantly, I would try to stay informed on what is going on in edutech and try to use it when I think that it gives added value to course content or provides some useful technological insight to the students.    

virtual learning

As a learner and person, I am not afraid to make SMALL mistakes, do goofy things and let others learn and laugh about them. Therefore, a virtual study environment is challenging since I like to share my thoughts and ideas with others. I'm the kind who likes the constant interaction.

On the other hand, I like the freedom that virtual studies offer. Studying can take place whenever. But with a group, you have to still keep some deadlines.

Studies are going more online all the time, so I am glad I have been introduced to the virtual study world. However, it is a very challenging world for the teacher. You have to be very interactive with your students and inventive if you want the message to get through. We have not been interactive enough in our iVET course, not in virtual sessions nor in our teacher student communication.

In the second virtual session, we were given ideas on how to make a virtual session interesting and interactive. The sky is the limit, really, but we are still very limited in our actions. During our four virtual sessions we have developed a routine of presenting power points, talking and showing videos. There have not been any stunning presentations, yet. That is fine, we are new to this. Videos are fun to watch, they provide a new angle to the presentation but it is no guarantee that the session will be more interesting.

When our group started preparing for virtual sessions in August, my start up thoughts was to manage to limit the subject well and choose a few learning goals that I want the listeners to learn from the session. I know now, that this is a difficult. It is hard to limit oneself, not make too many slides, not talk too long..  

Since the internet is “da place” for all kinds of information and first aid, there is one source of information I want to share with you: “Teaching Online Courses – 60 GreatResources” provided by Dr. Tony Karrer. Dr. Karrer is an American e-learning expert who works as a part-time CTO for startups and midsize software companies. These 60 recommendations are further reading suggestions for instructors who are about to move into teaching online courses. His description of his first online session is much what we have experienced. The audience is muted and there is absolute silence. We talk and talk, and feel that the audience is dying.  I definitely think there should not be any muted microphones when teaching online, at least not for very long. Interaction is the key. Dr. Karrer says that “it definitely takes additional thinking/preparation to be good online.” It has to be interesting, interactive and – hmmm.. Please tell me, how should we teach online in order to deliver the message?

References:

Karrer, T. (October 25, 2010). "Teaching Online Courses - 60 great resources". eLearning Technology. Retrieved on 9 December 2012 from http://elearningtech.blogspot.fi/2010/10/teaching-online-courses-60-great.html

the Good teacher

Every day things that make a good teacher

What is a good teacher? What makes a good teacher?

Good teachers are rare! You stumble upon them sometimes, and it is pure joy to sit in their class room. I cannot remember good teachers from elementary school - I don't think I could recognize the qualities back then. But I am an emotionally intelligent person - I can sense what happens around me and cannot accept injustice. My approach to defining good teaching and my source of wisdom to my own teaching, comes from equality and caring.

In the first grades of elementary school, I felt like the most important characteristics of a good teacher was caring and teaching  kids as own children. This characteristic was important also as a teenager. It is important that someone shows you that you matter and that you are visible. We would have less drop-outs in secondary school, vocational school and also University, if we teachers cared enough.

The Finnish society is currently talking a lot about the marginalized youth. When I was writing my Masters thesis I found a funny guide to thesis writing that helped me get started and helped me stick with it until the final page. The author Juha Hakala is a professor at Jyväskylä University in Educational Science and brought today some new facts to my knowledge about the marginalized youth through his "Ajattelua ja ideoita" blog. "There are 51 300 alienated (drop-out) youngsters between the ages of 15-29 in Finland. Out of that number, the most severely alienated are 32 000 youngsters that are not even registered as job seekers." The worry about the alienated youth was also one of President Sauli Niinistö's election themes and I stumbled upon this tavallisia (="ordinaries") webpage filled with ordinary suggestions on how to get your life in order through Juha Hakala's blog. Here are many suggestions on how to help youngsters and I hope there will be enlightenment and deeds and not only talk the coming year. There is certainly involvement at all levels at the moment.

Above is the mental side to good teaching which is linked to everything you do. But of course, a good teacher needs good teaching methods and needs to be a professional in the subject also. I strongly believe that you need to have a teacher qualification in order to learn how to teach. I hope our iVET program will bring these to our attention. Teacher training will for sure give us tools. I also believe that with experience, you become better in teaching. The risks lies in that you might become too comfortable and do not want to make too many changes to your routines. The future will tell what will happen to me :-)
 
These are my top 10 good teacher qualities that I want to share with you.
Good teachers:

- are relaxed, but determined about teaching their subject
- make the class relaxed and the students confident to open up
- are verbally unlimited
- involve all students
- treat all students with respect and equality
- encourage all students
- manage to drive the students to do their best
- make the students forget their roles and limitations
- do not allow any bullying
- are not afraid to make mistakes

References:
Hakala, J (3 December 2012). "Syrjäytymistä ehkäisemään". Ajattelua ja ideoita retrieved on 8 December 2012 from http://blogi.ideo.fi/2012/12/syrjaytymista-ehkaisemaan.html

Ihan tavallisia asioita. Retrieved on 8 December 2012 from http://www.tavallisia.fi/.

curriculum

How the curriculum directs the development of studies

Curriculum CURRICULUM. Curriculum is the base to teaching and learning.The word is so official and serious so a professional approach is chosen.
I learnt a great bit about what curriculum is, and isn't in our first virtual session from team Saturn. 

The Finnish National Board of Education is the place where I usually go when I need to know some serious stuff about education in Finland.

"The Government decides on the general goals of vocational education and training, the structure of qualifications, and the core subjects. The Ministry of Education decides on the studies and their scope.

There are 53 vocational upper secondary qualifications and 119 study programmes in them." 

I am very happy we have a centralized system for curricula. It obliges the schools and teachers to follow the curricula when it comes to course content, learning goals, assessment etc . It enables regional and socio-economic equality, requires qualified teachers etc. At the same time, it gives the teacher freedom to use such methods that the teacher finds suitable for teaching the content.

When it is clear to the student from start what is included in the study program, what courses are compulsory, what are optional, how much working experience etc it is easier to manage the studies. There are less surprises :-) Still, new teaching methods can be easily applied, as long as the required learning goals are achieved.

The challenge is however, to maintain the good quality in teaching and study programs and to be one step ahead. The national board of education makes general amendments to study programs, vocational qualification requirements etc on a on-going basis. They also try to stay on the edge and make amendments that are needed in the future. This is the hard part because many interest groups have different views e.g. the trade union of education in Finland about what is needed in the future. Amendments are prepared in working groups representing different actors and interest groups which slows the amendment process. However, it secures a democratic decision-making process but the result might sometimes be a compromise that no party is fully comfortable with.

The national board of education is the policy unit that prepares and sets out the requirements but gives freedoms to the schools and teachers to implement the curricula to fit the school and the neighboring area the best.

Refereces
Finnish National Board of Education. Retrieved on 2 December 2012 from
http://www.oph.fi/english/education/vocational_upper_secondary_education_and_training/curriculum

my personal learning history

this is such a big chunk. where to start, what to include.

I have always liked school and studying, but have had some trouble with cramming. I am nowadays a self-motivated learner, with the motto to learn something and not just get the credit. It has taken many study modules, working-life and family-life to get there but i know more or less what is needed in order to learn.

In 8th grade, I informed my parents that I am going to the States on exchange in high school. This was the peak times for high school exchange programs and Beverly hills 90210 was popular on television. I am not sure what drove me the most, but I really wanted to go. So I did on my second year of High school. It wasn't so awesome as I had hoped, it was rather difficult. But I did get the confidence with English, and the assurance that I can live anywhere in the world and manage. I was also bitten by the travel mosquito..

I have a Masters degree in Political Science with Law, Latin american studies and Spanish as minors. The whole Latin American shabäng  is a result of my Erasmus exchange in Holland 1999. We had a happy erasmus community there, and I realized that the Italians and Spaniards could talk to each other in their own languages and understand each other. 1+1 = I better learn Spanish!

Through this discovery, I started to learn Spanish. I did two working experiences in South America, travelled and found a drive. These small adventures made me realize that I am the motor, I have to keep it rolling and drive towards interesting opportunities.

My problem as a learner has been to stay focused and do the work in advance - not the night before. Now, when I put my energy into something that interests me, I have less problems with staying focused. I have also become much better with deadlines. That's the result of working life.

I have studied 25 ECTS of educational science virtually last year. That was done through asynchronous courses, essays and exams. That was the first time when I saw the improvements in my studying technique. That was great, and I realized that I am the lifelong learning kind of gal. There is always some course I would like to take.'

My learning styles

According to Neil Flemming's VARK methodology I have a multimodal learning preference. Meaning that my preferred learning styles include visual, auditory, read & write and kinetic learning styles. I agree with the result - I can learn in many different ways and I do not need teaching to match my style completely in order to learn. I can enjoy the whole buffet!

I have made the test many times and in our first virtual session, we presented learning styles with our team. I have noted that it can change only in a couple of months. In august my learning preference was more visual. My home-made analysis is that during this fall and these studies, I have developed my kinetic leaning style which is used much with e.g. computers.

Jiihaa! but there is a long way to go.. there are so many applications I want (and need) to learn. Like; I just listened to sth from spotify for the first time. Can somebody please tell me what took me so long?     

Digital portfolio

Slowly but surely the work becomes clearer. I had managed not to find this list below before, but am now wiser. I can't wait to dig into these topics - as they are crucial parts of my identity and the way I see teaching and myself as a teacher.

• The  individuality of learning
• My personal learning history
• My learning style(s) and virtual studies
• Everyday things that make a teacher
• My view of learning
• How the curriculum directs the development of studies?
• What methods of assessment/evaluation will I use?
• How do I use technology in my field of pedagogy?
• Analysis of my competectences in teaching.

tinkering

I've been tinkering all day. Google drive and edupreneur course material has been the place today. The old me would have been afraid of messing with settings - now I know that the computer will not break.

 I learnt this wonderful word, and all about and  around it some weeks ago through edutech bootcamp homework. My relationship with new apps and gadgets has not been of a tinkering kind... but now i have let loose. I even tinker when I park the car in places I didn't use to think the car fits.. I know it fits there, I can make it - I just have to play with it ;-)

I hope we have full coverage insurance!

Here are some reflections to John Seely Browns talk, touching upon tinkering, that we were introduced to through Edutech boot camp in Espoo in September.

virtual session 3

Study routine - Now we got it. Presentations are getting flashier and informative and presenters are getting more confident. All materials are excellent and can be used for future reference. Some smoothness to the discussions is something we could think about - no need to be afraid to use the mic.

I took home a lot from "competence-based qualifications and vocational skills demonstrations presentation". It is great that you can get a formal vocational qualification by showing your skills and expressing your knowledge. This is a motivating route for adults.

How to assess learning presentation was made in prezi. I love the layout, unfortunately it doesn't show  in ACP. I need more reflection on this material since we didn't quite get though the whole material during the presentation. The pretask video an introduction to comprehensive assesment led us perfectly into the subject. And the spiderman video - awesome!! AND informative!

Student's self-assessment was the last but not the least topic. We were presented how to easily make a self-evaluation form in google, thanks for showing us that. We also had good reflections on why it is important from our own experience in iVET.

Thank you to all the presenters!!!

group dynamics

It wasn't easy to do group work as a kid and I can tell you that it aint easy to do it as an adult either.

Top obstacles
Scheduling - everybody have their days and nights filled with something and it's difficult to find a suitable time for meetings.
Distribution of work - somebody is always doing more work than another. If the distribution of work doesn't even out - it starts to annoy the group members and disturbs group dynamics.
Learning objectives and expectations  -   might be completely different. Some want to do astonishing work, others just want to pass.
Working with strangers. You have to start from scratch. The work can be based on developing friendships, exchange of ideas or arguments. All these are part of group work, but there should not be too many arguments.

Solutions
Regular meetings where group members talk to each other is essential - it is a lot harder to use bad tongue spoken than written.   
It takes a lot of flexibility from all group members to get things done.
Respect of other group members is essential. The time they make available for the joint work, their contribution and input to the work and in best case scenarios the friendships makes group work a great learning experience and enjoyable as a bonus.
  

AnswerGarden

I've been looking into tools. It's hard to decide what tool to use for the edutech bootcamp excerice. First I thought that I'd definitely dig into Prezi. But after testing it for a couple of hours yesterday, I decided to leave it. I is a bit fuzzy and I don't have a mouse with me.
AnswerGarden is interactive - teachers and students can have fun with it in the classroom. It can be used for brainstorming, conclusions, polls, problem-solving. The answers can only be 20 characters, so you get short answers. The only problem I have with it is that I cannot see if I have the actual answergarden in my blogpost, or if it's a link. My intention is to have it embedded in the blog.

You know what I have to do then - yapp. Try it in my own blog of course :-)
Answergarden: what goes best with coffee?...:

second virtual session

Nice to hear and see such improvements! I enjoyed the popplet excerise about progressive inquiry (PI). A good way to brainstorm or gather thoughts about the subject. Maybe it would work even better if the popplets would have been read out loud or if we would have taken turns/rounds.  But it was definitely worth doing and I are still talking about it! I would have liked more meat on the bones, though, as regards to actual theory. I felt that the steps should have been explained in PI and project-based learning (PBL).

We tried to focus on the teacher's role in teaching PBL and PI. We interviewed Mervi Jansson at InnoOmnia in a video. She is very enthusiastic and had tons of good points what a teacher should do and what a teacher shouldn't do when teaching using PBL. She introduced the collect - relate - create - donate framework, which has been created by Ben Schneiderman. I must check this!
She also mentioned a game in social media that works in a PBL way. Lievästi outoa liiketoimintaa - take a look for yourselves. An interesting way to involve students and entrepreneurs in problem solving.

There are a lot of methods to use for collective learning - a real jungle. Through this exercise, I am now aware of it. The PI model felt a little complicated. One reason is that we had split up tasks and the learning was not very collaborative. It is hard to discuss and comment content when you only have expertise in one area. You learn the best from your mistakes! I want to focus on collaborative learning next time!

The third session introduced us to virtual teaching -  how it could be enriched. I was hoping for flashy, easy ways to make my future lectures awesome but there are no easy ways. The engaging and motivating students video was very good - that explained a lot. What really matters is the teacher, no matter if it's face-to-face or virtual teaching. The teacher must be present and use her toolbox. The teaching and the discussions worked well, we def. had the most engaging discussions about virtual teaching.

combining studying with family-life

Combining just about anything with family life is possible, it just takes some planning. When I did my University studies, I was single so doing things at the last minute was my habit. I get more things done nowadays. Yapp, I'm older, motivated and have chosen to study for a new qualification, but fact is that you get things done when you know that you can't do them later because you don't have the possibility. At least my kids demolishes any important writing instantly. The computer lives in the closet.

I've spent much time editing a good old power point presentation today. I'm happy, got it done, but must admit that I am totally dependent on my network They have deserved the after school drink today!

  

second task

We are in an active researching, editing, discussing, writing and preparing phase for the second Virtual session. We are digging into how to teach project-based learning and progressive inquiry (tutkiva oppiminen) in vocational schools. Both models are learning-teaching methods that focus on team-work, self-direction and they are interdisciplinary and real-life oriented just to mention a few. I stumbled on a couple of useful links that i want to share with you before I go back to doing the stuff I mentioned in the first line.. researching, editing..

The project method in vocational training (inwent, capacity building germany)
Tutkiva oppiminen esimerkkien avulla (HAMK)

EduTech Boot camp

My image of a boot camp is that it is linked to doing sports to the bitter end. Obviously, I was curious to what an educational technology boot camp could be. Exhausting my poor brain? Let me tell you: it is learning about what technical applications/tools there are that could be used in teaching and learning! The boot equals a snap shot about many many applications.

It is fun to attend a real course when most of the studying is done virtually. Doing different tasks in groups, learning to use apps together, learning to know each other better, being students observing our teachers ways to teach (yapp – we do that) just to name a few. Doing & learning together is the melody and that's what we did for two days.

 I hoped to have learnt more about using the applications – but that’s my homework.  Prezi, popplet and we video are some tools that I will dig into asap.  The homework will have to wait a bit though; there are other things to be done first.

The other thing is hands-on. Good news is that the course gave me ideas on how to proceed.  We have some digital material to edit with my teammate. I have never done it before, so there’s a Bit to learn. My head if full of words to describe my feelings about editing: challenge, anxiety, technical knot, fury, master, pride and prize. Yapp – I use such cheesy techniques as bribing when it comes to my own studies. 

Any suggestions how we should bribe ourselves?  

teacher practice

The active search for teacher practice has started. I suffer from light phone phobia - or let's say - I rather send an e-mail than pick up the phone to call a stranger. Fact is though, that many things are a lot clearer and FASTER when you call up someone. I made the first call today - and 5 more - and am a lot wiser when it comes to my teacher practice now. It's not easy to find a course in English related to my field of study in my hometown. The web based course I had found might work, but I need to do teaching observation in some other course and it would probably be better to do it in the same course.

I have thrown a couple of additional nets into water and have contacted the principal teacher of a study program. Everyone I have contacted have been helpful and I am certain the teaching practice will be in place for next semester.  

First virtual session :-)

Two weeks have passed since our first virtual session! That's a long time, but I still remember some bits. We concentrated on learning styles in our presentation. The image above is from the PracTutor blog. I like to see images, pictures, videos as addition to learning and we started our presentation with this picture. There learning style tree is one way to separate different preferred learning styles. There are a lot of different theories about learning styles (eg. Neil Fleming's VARK model or David A. Kolb's Experiential Learning theory. Dig into them!

Learning styles (LS) means simply "various ways to learn something". Your preferred learning style is the result of your personality, previous experience (e.g. school, work), the outside world and all the interaction between these actors. It might help your learning to know your strong and weak learning styles. Then you might want to learn sth in your preferred way if you have the choice, or you can practice your weak learning style. Learning is most efficient when you have strengths in many different learning styles

Meshing hypothesis or matching guidelines means when you try to match a students preferred LS to your teaching. This is not actively done in schools but I found out that Havukosken koulu in Vantaa has taken part in a trial where they matched their 6-7 (now 7-8 graders) according to their preferred LS. They put 4 groups together according to their preferred LS and have adjusted the web based teaching to match the student’s preferences. The groups are flexible, including both 7-8 graders and they empathize on their learning community and "doing together". The student’s auditory, visual, tactile and kinetic senses are activated depending on their preferred LS. They also try to move teaching more outside the class room.

To match teaching according to LS is not easy to apply, but perhaps it is possible. It is certainly easier to apply in student counseling.  I’m interested to hear the final results of this trial at Havukoski school. So far, the feedback from the students has been very positive. This might be the key to motivate students.

Taking notes during your learning process is handy - but I must admit that I am too lazy to do it. During last year I have gotten hooked on mind maps. They take some time to do, but they really help me to see the big picture. The mind map below is an overview about learning styles in teaching and tutoring. This picture is my route map to knowledge about learning styles. Mind maps change all the time as you learn, so if I made a mind map now, it would look totally different. I wanted to post it here because in our breakup, the slides didn't come up as they should, so my "students" ;-) didn't have the possibility to see the mind map.    

It was exciting to listen (and watch) the other presentations. I learnt that giving examples after teaching a theory is very good. I realized that teaching in a slow pace is better than trying to include a lot in a 20 minute presentation. Thanks D! 

I also learnt that what curricula actually is. I have known it before, but not on a detailed level. Perhaps the foreign language mixed it up for me. As to teaching style, I really liked the style where the presenter read out comments during the presentation and made it alive. This way all opinions were on-air and the discussion followed a red line. I also realized that I prefer when not everything is read out loud that is in a PP presentation. I sort of like to read that myself. Thanks P!

Off to preparations of the next session.

The studies and planning ahead

Study Plan and Schedule:

I have to start here because scheduling my studies is the most difficult part at the moment. I believe, though, that it will become easier once I get more time. Yapp - I know - when will we get more time? I have decided that in November I have more time and can study regularly during the day, not at night as I have to do right now. Studying at night is not my kind of pie - I get so engaged that I stay up too long and have trouble sleeping.  

The innovative Vocational Education and Training program totals 60 ECTS.

Vocational Pedagogy (22 ECTS)
Basics of Educational Science (10 ECTS)
Teaching Practice (13 ECTS)
Optional Studies (15 ECTS)

Vocational Pedagogy divided into two parts  VOC 1 and VOC2.I plan to study VOC1 and VOC2 this school year. I have studied 25 ECTS of Educational Science at Jyväskylä University so 10 credits will be accredited to Basics of Education. I plan to do my teaching practice year 2013. Most likely in the spring semester - I just need to talk to the school and the teacher. I have found a suitable course, but I still want to "shop around" and see if there is something else. I better pick up the phone soon because I need to sign up for this during September. I will do 10 ECTS of optinal studies this fall semester, the remaining 5 will be later - perhaps even fall 2013.

What studies support and nurture the development of your core competences?

I am a Political Scientist so reading the Paper and watching the news is one way to keep my substance core competences up-to-date. I am planning to teach a course about the EU, which means that I will do some research about recent developments and refresh my memory on EU-history, enlargement and I guess I cannot skip the monetary union :-) It is amazing if that will not be one subject for discussion during the course. I will also look for seminars in the area and visit the EU-information office for ideas and guidance.

If I end up choosing an administrative route and teach administration in a vocational school, reading about good governance and sharing "smart tricks around the office" would be a start.

I get new ideas about what I could teach all the time, so I guess I am not ready to lock the teaching practice yet. One thing is sure though. Since I have no previous teaching experience, a course in teaching methods is a must.

Consider the possibilities teacher practise in your own field of work. In which vocational institute or polytechnic or other institute can I carry out my teacher practise? What core contents shall I concentrate on? Which target audience shall be my students?


I have touched upon what courses I could teach above. The EU course is in a University of Applied Sciences, a virtual course actually. The iVET course is also mostly virtual, so I'm sure that is not a problem. I might, however, need a hands-on course for my teaching observation. Keski-pohjanmaan koulutusyhtymä with its 6 schools and on-the-job training unit could also work very well, but it seems like all their teaching is in Finnish or Swedish. 

As a social scientist, I am interested in society, its functions, its purpose, the people inside it and the relationships between all actors. For the last few years equal rights, especially from a gender perspective, has been the most interesting bit. I would love to teach gender issues from a practical angle. How to act in a way where you treat women and men, boys and girls equally? How not slip into typical ways to treat people differently in the classroom or pretty much any where else. I will observe myself closely during my teaching practice and see if I slip into old fashioned ways. 

Since I most likely will teach about the EU virtually, I will concentrate on finding ways to guide students to find info and I will put in much effort to try to motivate them to dig into the very complex and large EU spider net. Since it is a virtual course, both young and middle aged adults will be the audience. 

What former competences or learning shall I present to be accredited? –Familiarize yourself with the accreditation policies of the school.


I will present my former studies in Educational Science for accreditation - a total of 10 ECTS will be accredited.

My competence and vocational teacherhood

I am new to teaching but not to working-life. When I made the first task (questionnaire based on competence) the answers didn't surprise me. I have been in working life for about 10 years. Some of that time still as a University student. 

When you start a new job, you are the "new one" from all aspects. Co-workers measure you and talk about you while you are doing your best to quickly learn what you are supposed o do and to do it really well and fast. With time you learn what is typical for your working community and you assimilate to the working culture.

I am interested in on-the-job training and I have grasped the subject a bit at my office. I realized that when the new person gets good training right away and you make a plan together on how you can develop even more, the results are the best. Not to forget that a mentor should be available for all the stupid questions. Let's face it, we all have them and it should be OK to ask them without being scared to loose face in the working community.

From the competences above I have knowledge and experience of working community, world of work, values integration, global competence and vocational competence. Though, this experience comes from various working communities, not from a school. I have no experience from teaching - yet :-) I feel about the middle, "substance (vocational competence)" that the more you know, the more you realize what you don't know and you ask yourself what you really know.

My workplace has gone through many organisational and policy changes. That has taught me a lot about working life, working community and values integration. I could write a novel about what it has taught me but let me explain in in practice. A workplace is like a machine. All parts have to fit together, be in good shape and has to be treated equally because all parts are just as important. There are always some minor problems with the machine - then you have to open up and look what's wrong. You must be able to fix all parts, otherwise it's impossible to get back on the road again.

What are the starting points in my vocational teacher-hood? -Reflect on your previous strengths and your previous competences.

I am a rookie when it comes to teacher hood. I know very little about what it's like to be a teacher, except that I wouldn't mind the long summer holidays :-) For many years, I have thought about being a student counselor or a career coach. That kind of role is what I am striving towards. I want my students to find their drive in working-life.

For long, I was wondering why I have to be a teacher first, in order to become a student counselor. After doing 25 ECTS of Educational Science I partially know. It is not enough to just know your subject, you need to know how to teach, how to motivate students, help them find their own motivator, give them feedback, applause when they succeed.. the list is very long. With time, I have noticed that I have strong interest in this field and I believe I have what it takes. My approach is more one on one, that's why I think a tutoring role or special needs education is what I will focus on in the future.

 How do I want to develop as a vocational teacher? What motivates me?

One of the largest problems in the school of work is lack of motivation among students. The greatest number of drop-out are in vocational training. According to Statistics of Finland the Academic Year 2009-2010, 9.1% of all Voc. training students didn't finish their degree. There has been much written about this in the papers - but the problem hasn't been solved. I think intensified tutoring is an answer for some, but I need to find out the other options.

I have been a quite easily motivated student, but I had esp. in 8-9th grade, high school and University a tendency to leave everything to the last minute.. That was stressful. I often read something interesting but due to time restraints, there was no time to go deep. I just had to study in order to get the exams approved. This is a very common way to study - and approved among the students. It is NOT cool to study. This attitude needs to be changed - and I'm on in :-)

The greatest motivator for me and for many others, is to have a job where you may see the results of your work - and hopefully as many positive ones as possible. In vocational teaching you may see this. What will be challenging for me is to find different ways to motivate students that have no interest what so ever to study and I cannot get through to them. That is why educational training is needed - they may give us some tools that we can use together with our common sense

Welcome, dear reader.
Project VET is yet another project I have gotten myself involved in. My goal is to become a Vocational Education Teacher. The journey started in June, but I jumped aboard with both feet end of August. The journey will not only be vocational education based. I walk on thin ice when it comes to new media, applications and of course blogging. But hey - the focus is on the learning process and everything around it.