Bernie, this is a very illuminating post. Thank you for taking the
time to share your deep experience. Best, Anna Rubin
On Apr 26, 2008, at 6:14 AM, bmillar wrote:
> Dear Prof. Michaelsen
> Thank you for your response to my list query.
>
> I wrote to you last year to say that I was reading your TBL book as
> well as
> Prof. Fink's book on designing a curriculum to create significant
> learning
> experiences. You sent a very kind reply to me. I ordered the books
> through
> Amazon. COM and it was a very happy day when they arrived three
> months later
> - I felt like Christmas had come early!
>
> Here I am several months later and am implementing a course
> (Information
> Literacy which has two modules - communications & academic skills
> and basic
> computer skills) that I designed using Prof. Fink's taxonomy
> together with
> Appreciative Inquiry as my change-agents. I think Prof. Fink's book is
> ground-breaking (I consider myself his personal praise-singer [an
> African
> traditional poet who extols the excellence and the virtues of a
> particular
> person they have adopted. Normally this praise singer is dressed in
> a few
> skins and has a knobkierie and dances and ululates as he sings
> praises, but
> I have to forgo the outfit unfortunately as it would look extremely
> strange
> on me!]). I particularly like the holistic approach Fink adopts to
> include
> not only the cognitive elements, but the human, personal and caring
> elements. Having decided on Fink's taxonomy for curriculum design,
> I then
> chose TBL as the mode of delivery I would use for this new course
> because I
> thought there would be a close fit between them. I particularly
> like how TBL
> takes student-centred learning to the MAX! I am TBL's personal
> praise-singer
> as well!
>
> I chose Appreciative Inquiry because of its positive approach to
> problem-solving which I saw as a major move away from the deficit
> model we
> generally use in SA (One hears the following phrases very often: "our
> students are academically illiterate, they can't read, they can't
> write a
> proper sentence, they come from bad educational backgrounds, they
> can't
> think, they can't..., they can't...". So, using AI I decided to
> look at what
> works, at what they CAN do, at what their strengths are and how we
> can share
> each others' strengths while not denying the problems that we
> really do face
> as HE teachers and that our students face. In this area, I came to
> see that
> epistemological access is one of the major problems facing
> students. Using
> New Literacy studies, particularly Lillis and Yballe and Lea's
> work, I came
> to a deeper understanding of the different discourses that my diverse
> students bring to the classroom situation. I read Ausubel and Kolb
> and Zull
> to learn more about learning and have incorporated those insights
> into my
> course.
>
> All of this is working towards my participatory action research
> Ph.D. in
> education in which I hope to create and design an Appreciative
> Pedagogy for
> the South African Higher Education context - nothing small about my
> dream
> although they are still in their infant stage!
>
> My classes are very small this year - 27 students in one and 12
> students in
> the other. (I am a part-time lecturer, so I only teach first year
> and 4th
> year students. The latter I teach research methodology and graduate
> writing
> skills and critical thinking.)
>
> I am afraid that I do not quite understand what you meant by your
> question
> "Are you (or could you be) pointing toward some sort of major
> integrative
> problem-solving assignment?" Could you please explain further?
>
> I have adapted your TBL a little to accommodate my students and our
> circumstances. I get the students to mark the RATs by exchanging
> papers in
> their teams. We are not as technologically advanced as you are and
> I had to
> go on the Internet to find out what a scantron is and what clickers
> are.
> This solved my query about your suggestion in your book that teams
> submit
> their answers simultaneously. Also, I spent time on teaching how
> teams work
> and drew up a team contract(which is going to be reworked by the
> students
> themselves for next year's intake) that everyone has to sign and
> also taught
> the students how to resolve conflict in teams. The biggest change
> is that I
> see and use TBL as a vehicle for peer-teaching where the stronger
> students
> teach the weaker and have based this on our African philosophy of
> "UBUNTU"
> which says that "I am human only through the humanity of others"
> which means
> that one has to care for and help any other member of the community
> who
> needs or asks for help. I tell the students that each team is a
> community of
> co-learning, and that as a class we together are a community of co-
> learners
> as I too learn each day with my students.
>
> When I read your book, I thought that the one thing that would NOT
> work
> would be to get students to do their reading assignments at home.
> Well, I
> have been delighted to see that they do and that they prepare for
> the RATS.
> I think the whole readiness assurance process (RAP) is an excellent
> concept
> and helps particularly in the cases of those students who have
> English as an
> additional language and tend to read slowly. Also, I love the fact
> that the
> feedback is so immediate and I can instantly see where the students
> are
> having problems understanding concepts and deal with these problems
> immediately. I think TBL is high-energy which really gets the students
> going. Another great thing is the 3 levels of assessment which I
> have found
> prevents social loafing.
>
> Having said all this, I am still in the early stages and am finding
> my feet
> as I go along. I do regular evaluations with the students to get their
> feedback on the TBL process and curriculum design I implemented. I
> am a
> reflective practitioner and respond to my students' comments
> immediately.
>
> I have decided to change the composition of teams because I can see
> how
> certain students would benefit by being in different teams. This
> should also
> avoid any kind of apathy setting in.
>
> So, I beg your pardon for having written such a long posting, but
> you can
> see that I am really enthusiastic about TBL.
>
> Thank you to you, your team and Dr Fink for the wonderful
> contribution you
> are making to the lives and learning of a small group of students
> and their
> teacher in Africa. I hope that I can create a ripple effect in SA.
> Regards
> Bernie Millar
>
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