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Teaching Portfolio

PDD Gallage

Prepared in partial fulfillment of

Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education

in the

Department of Mathematics

University of Colombo

Sri Lanka

December 2013

Mentor

Dr.SSN Perera

©Copyright by PDD Gallage, 2013

Acknowledgement

It is with great appreciation that I take this opportunity to think everybody whogave me a helping hand to complete the CTHE course.

First and foremost I would like to express my gratitude to our course tutor,Mrs. Shrinika Wijekoon for her encouragement, guidance and valuable ideas givenduring the workshops. Further, I appreciate her support and guidance in doingmy seminar presentation. In addition, I take this opportunity to thank the otherstaff of the SDC for support rendered us in participating in the workshops andthe other events.

I would like to give my gratitude to my mentor, Dr. SSN Perera, senior lecturer,University of Colombo, who is my graduate advisor of my M.Phil, for givingcontinuous support and sharing his experience in teaching with me.

Special thanks go to Dr.Jagath Wijerathne, the head of the Department ofMathematics, for giving me full support by reducing workload during the CTHEperiod.

I also thanks to Miss G.N. Karunathunge for peer evaluation, valuable com-ments on my teaching. Further I would like to thank my seminar group members(F2) for giving continuous support (writing learning agreements, draft chapters,advising me a lot of things) when we were even not in the classroom we chattedwith all other members through my group wiki site (www.cthef2.wikispaces.com).

Further, i would also like to thank my homework group, Menuja, Monika forsharing invaluable experience and thoughts.

At last, but not least, thanks are due to the students who were in my lecturesfor providing me frank feedback on my teaching.

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Executive Summary

The intention of this portfolio is to facilitate reader to understand my developmentas an effective academic while developing both people and system, through theCertificate in Teaching in higher Education (CTHE) course conducted by theStaff Development Center (SDC), University of Colombo. Further, the portfoliois a piece of work that shows my commitment to be a reflective practitioner. Itincluded a collection of works.

This portfolio contains seven chapters. In the first chapter, I have given abrief introduction about myself and I paid more attention to three vital aspectsin Higher Education, teaching, learning, assessment in next three chapters. In thenext chapter, I discussed about how to be an effective academic. The last chapteris based on reflections through the changes I made due to CTHE course.

Appendix A consists of my all learning agreements with all feedback. All thefeedback forms I used are available in appendix B. Appendix C contains miscella-neous things, which support my arguments.

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What I Learned From CTHE

Before participating in this course, I thought that gaining knowledge related tomy stream would help me become an effective lecturer in the department. But Irealized my opinion was wrong by participating in the first workshop of CTHE andfelt that I was teaching in the dark before commencement of the CTHE course. Ijust registered for this program to fulfill a partial requirement of the confirmationof my occupation. But during the CTHE course, I understood the course is veryunique and greater experience for me.

I participated in the first workshop. As the first activity, I had to complete aquestionnaire, which was full of technical terms, and I just filled it out with “No”answer for most of the questions. Soon after, we had a round to introduce one’snext colleague to each other. The important thing here was that all of us had toparticipate in this activity and did not have a chance not to participate in it. Thiswas one of effective activities of the CTHE course.

I was surprised the way of arranging the classroom. We were split into groupsof 6 for each and sat altogether circularly. Because of this arrangement, I couldreach everyone of our group very easily. And the other thing I want to mentionis that there were members who are coming from diverse disciplines and differentuniversities. This was helpful for me to build strong network with other universitiesand to share our ideas and methods which applied to teach and assess our studentsin each university.

The CTHE course gave me a hand to manage my time by introducing thetime management matrix. It desperately helped me meet the deadline of portfoliosubmission.

Finally, I believe that I have achieved the course’s aim of becoming a newacademic member in the university so I adapt and adjust to new role as a lecturerby exploring and developing the methods and techniques of teaching, learning,and assessment that would be appropriated to the setting in which I find myself.

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SEDA Values and Outcomes

SEDA Values

� SV1- An understanding of how people learn.

� SV2- Scholarship, professional, and ethical practice.

� SV3- Working in and developing learning communities.

� SV4- Working effectively with diversity and promoting inclusivity.

� SV5- Continued reflection on professional practice.

� SV6- The development of both people and educational processes and sys-tems.

SEDA Outcomes

� SO1- Identify your own professional development goals, directions or priori-ties.

� SO2- Plan for your initial and/or continuing professional development.

� SO3- Undertake appropriate development activities.

� SO4- Review your development and your practice, and the relations betweenthem.

� SO5- Use a variety of methods for evaluating their teaching.

� SO6- Inform their practice with relevant strategy, policy, and quality con-sideration.

� SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assess-ment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context, in-cluding use of appropriate technologies.

� SO8-Contribute to the design, planning, and evaluation of courses, modulesor programs.

� SO9-Create a learning environment that includes student support and guid-ance.

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Contents

Acknowledgement ii

Executive Summary iii

What I Learned From CTHE iv

SEDA Values and Outcomes v

List of Tables xii

List of Figures xiii

List of Abbreviations xiv

Mapping SEDA Outcomes xv

1 Self-Introduction 11.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Origin and Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3 School Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.4 Undergraduate Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.5 Choosing my Career Path as a University Lecturer . . . . . . . . . 31.6 My Teaching Before CTHE Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.7 Present Practice of My Teaching While Taking CTHE Course . . . 41.8 The Lecturer I Want to Be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.9 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.10 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 6

1.10.1 Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2 What I Grasped From CHTE About Teaching 72.1 Reflections on Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1.1 Reflective Lecturers vs Non-Reflective Lecturers . . . . . . . 82.1.2 How to be a Reflective Lecturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.1.3 Kolb’s Learning Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.1.4 Reflective Journals and Learning Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.2 Teaching Methods Experienced in My University Life . . . . . . . . 122.2.1 Teaching for Large Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.2.2 Teaching for small classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.2.3 Group Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.2.4 Teaching Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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2.2.5 Blooms’ taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.2.6 The 3P’s model of learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.7 Constructive Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.3 Changes of My Teaching Due to CTHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.3.1 Learning Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.3.2 Lecture Outline Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.3.3 Scaffolding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.3.4 Recap previous lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.3.5 Giving Lecture Breaks During My Lecture . . . . . . . . . . 232.3.6 Incomplete Handouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.4 Feedback on My Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.5 Responsibilities at University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.5.1 Key Duties & Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252.6 Developing an Ethical Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252.7 Changes I have done during CTHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.8 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.9 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 26

3 Learning 283.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283.2 Active and Passive Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283.3 Convergent and Divergent Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.3.1 Convergent Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.3.2 Divergent Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.4 Levels of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.4.1 Surface Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.4.2 Deep Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.5 Categories of Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333.5.1 Aural Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333.5.2 Visual Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.5.3 Kinesthetic Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.5.4 How do the students learn best? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.5.5 Problem - Based Learning (PBL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.5.6 Student-Centered Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363.5.7 Collaborative Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3.6 Domains of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373.6.1 Cognitive Domain of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373.6.2 Affective Domain of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373.6.3 Psychomotor Area of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3.7 Learning Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393.7.1 The fertile ground for growth to occur . . . . . . . . . . . . 393.7.2 Cornerstones of Professional Development in Universities . . 40

3.8 Changes I Have Done During CTHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413.9 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423.10 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 42

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4 Assessment 434.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434.2 Changing the Assessment method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.2.1 Present Assessment Method in My Lectures . . . . . . . . . 454.3 Assessment Methods Which I Learned From CTHE . . . . . . . . . 46

4.3.1 Formative Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464.3.2 Summative Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.3.3 Encouraging Student Motivation Through Assessment . . . 50

4.4 Principles of Effective Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514.5 Assessing My Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

4.5.1 Assessing Self to Know My Dark Impulses . . . . . . . . . . 524.5.2 Validity and Reliability of Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . 534.5.3 Self-Assessment and Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.5.4 Peer Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.5.5 Getting Students Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

4.6 SOLO Taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584.6.1 Pre-Structural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584.6.2 Unistructural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584.6.3 Multistructural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.6.4 Relational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.6.5 Extended Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.7 Different Types of Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.7.1 Take Home Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.7.2 Open Book Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.7.3 Objective Formats of Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.7.4 Performance Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604.7.5 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) . . . . . . . . . . 60

4.8 Change I Have Done During the CTHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614.9 Summing it up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614.10 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 61

5 Being an Effective Academic 635.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635.2 Self-Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.2.1 Dealing with Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645.3 Task Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

5.3.1 How I map my tasks into quadrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665.4 Handling an Unpleasant Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685.5 Developing My Professional Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.5.1 Present role I play as a lecturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705.5.2 Getting Published my papers and attending workshops . . . 70

5.6 Establishing a Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.7 Create a Schedule For My Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

5.7.1 Scheduling Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765.8 Being an Effective Person in All Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

5.8.1 Overcoming Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785.8.2 How to Beat Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795.8.3 Presentation Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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5.9 Building Good Reading, Writing, and Listening Skills . . . . . . . 825.9.1 Building Listening Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825.9.2 Building Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825.9.3 Building My Writing Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

5.10 Professional Development Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845.10.1 My Goals and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845.10.2 My Future Plans and Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

5.11 Changes I have Done During CTHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.12 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.13 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 87

6 Working as a Team and Interpersonal Skills 886.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886.2 Group Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

6.2.1 Type of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896.2.2 Develop Skills Through Group Activities . . . . . . . . . . . 90

6.3 Developing Interpersonal Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916.3.1 Social Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916.3.2 Having a Change to Choose People You Like . . . . . . . . . 936.3.3 Be Aware of My Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications . . 936.3.4 Questioning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956.3.5 Reinforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966.3.6 Clarifying and Clarification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966.3.7 Listening Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

6.4 Changes I have Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986.5 Summing It Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986.6 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values Addressed in This Chapter 98

7 Reflections Through the Changes I Made 997.1 Learning Agreement 01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

7.1.1 Justification of mapping SEDA Outcomes & Values . . . . . 997.1.2 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007.1.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

7.2 Learning Agreement 02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007.2.1 Justification of mapping SEDA Outcomes & Values . . . . . 1007.2.2 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017.2.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101



7.5 Learning Agreement 05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047.5.1 My Intended outcomes of This Activity Were: . . . . . . . . 1047.5.2 Justification of mapping SEDA Outcomes & Values . . . . . 105

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7.5.3 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057.5.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105


7.7 Learning Agreement 07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077.7.1 Methodology to Implement This Learning Agreement . . . 1077.7.2 Justification of mapping SEDA Outcomes & Values . . . . . 1087.7.3 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087.7.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109


Reference 111

A Learning Agreements 113A.1 Learning Agreement 01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114A.2 Learning Agreement 02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

A.2.1 Students’ Feedback of Learning Agreement 02 . . . . . . . . 119A.3 Learning Agreement 03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121A.4 Learning Agreement 04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

A.4.1 Students’ Feedback of Learning Agreement 04 . . . . . . . . 127A.5 Learning Agreement 05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

A.5.1 Students’ Feedback of Learning Agreement 05 . . . . . . . . 136A.6 Learning Agreement 06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

A.6.1 Peer’s Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141A.6.2 Peer’s Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

A.7 Learning Agreement 07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143A.7.1 Students’ Feedback of Learning Agreement 07 . . . . . . . . 148

A.8 Learning Agreement 08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150A.9 General Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152A.10 Departmental Student Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

B Feedback Forms 160

C Miscellany 169C.1 Our Seminar group’s Posters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169C.2 Our Seminar group’s Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170C.3 Certificates of Presenting Papers in 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

C.3.1 For Conference in Nepal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171C.3.2 For Conference at University of Ruhuna . . . . . . . . . . . 172

C.4 The Abstract published at Conference, university of Colombo . . . 173C.5 Homework Group’s Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174C.6 The Certificate of Master’s Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181C.7 Seminar Presentation’s Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183C.8 Documents of M.Phil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

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C.8.1 Proposal of My M.Phil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185C.8.2 Acceptance Letter of M.Phil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

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List of Tables

1 Mapping SEDA Outcomes and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

4.1 Progress of Changes I have done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.1 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725.2 Daily Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775.3 Professional Development Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

xii

List of Figures

2.1 The Kolb’s Learning Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.2 Bloom’s taxonomy (source: epltt.coe.uga.edu) (August, 2013) . . . 162.3 The 3P model of teaching and learning. Source: Biggs & Tang, 2011 19

3.1 Convergent Thinking (http://www.learningandteaching.info) . . . . 303.2 Divergent Thinking (http://www.learningandteaching.info) . . . . . 313.3 Learning Pyramid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.4 Affective Domain of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383.5 Psychomotor Area of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393.6 Building Professional Learning Communities, Source: Wald & Castle-

berry (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.1 Kolb’s four stage learning cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494.2 SOLO Taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.1 Important and Not-Important Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655.2 Urgent and Not-Urgent Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665.3 Time Management Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665.4 Progress and Maintenance categorizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685.5 Filling Pitcher with both big rocks and small pebbles . . . . . . . . 755.6 Filling with pebbles in first, and then big rocks . . . . . . . . . . . 755.7 perfectly fit all stuff into the pitcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6.1 All Members of F2 Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926.2 All Members of Friday Group of CTHE 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936.3 Time Spent Communicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

C.1 Our Group’s Poster 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169C.2 Our Group’s Poster 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170C.3 Our Group’s Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

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List of Abbreviations

CTHE Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education

SEDA Staff and Educational Development Association

SDC Staff Development Centre

SOLO Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes

GCE A/L General Certificate of Education Advance Level

SO SEDA Values

SV SEDA Outcomes

xiv

Mapping SEDA Outcomes

Table 1: Mapping SEDA Outcomes and Valuesch

xv

Chapter 1

Self-Introduction

At the end of this chapter, reader will be able to

� Identify my educational background.

� Recognize my career progression.

� Identify my future goals.

� Recognize what I gained from CTHE.

1.1 Background

I, Polwaththa Dilruk Darshana Gallage (PDD Gallage), currently working as aprobationary lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo,Sri Lanka, am a Sinhalese Buddhist, and was born in Matara, Sri Lanka in 1981.

I had my elementary school, middle-school and high-school education at Ma-hanama college Colombo, which is a leading boys’ school in Sri Lanka. Duringthat period I did a lot of extracurricular activities in addition to studying. I wasa player of under thirteen and fifteen college cricket teams in years 1994 and 1996respectively. I also was an active member of school’s Radio-Club. I was also in-terested in assembling innovative electronic circuits, which ended up in me takingpart in all electronic exhibitions organized by the school. I sat for the OrdinaryLevel Examination in 1996, passing all the subjects and got qualified to sit for theAdvanced Level Examination. As I always excelled in mathematics, I sat for theAdvanced Level Examination in the Mathematics Stream. I sat for A/L exam in2000 and got through it with flying colors and had a chance to enter the Universityof Colombo in 2001.

I was specialized in Mathematics during my undergraduate studies and receivedmy Bachelor’s degree with first class honors in 2005. As a result of my academicperformance, no sooner was I appointed as an assistant lecturer in the Departmentof Mathematics, than I joined the department as a probationary lecturer later in2007. Having been interested in pursuing with higher studies, I entered SeoulUniversity, Korea, from where I got my Master’s degree in 2012 (see AppendixC.6).

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CHAPTER 1. SELF-INTRODUCTION 2

1.2 Origin and Childhood

My family lived in Matara, Sri Lanka. As soon as I was born, my family decided tomove to Dehiwala, from where it takes just 20 minutes by bus to get to Colombo,capital of Sri Lanka. Having resided in this great city, my parents wanted toprovide me with a good education from the early ages of my life. Unfortunately,studying was not what I liked for a long time, but it was cricket. And I wasinterested in playing cricket around the clock. Since kindergarten, attending schoolwas something I disliked. As my father was occupied with his business work all-day, my mother had to take care of me. Because of my laziness of going to school,mother put more effort to take me to the school. I still vividly remember the sceneI created in going to school with my mother, just as if it was yesterday.

1.3 School Life

I was a playful boy during my schooldays. At that time, my main ambition was tobe a famous national cricketer of Sri Lanka. Even though physically I was in theclassroom, my thoughts were in the cricket pitch with a bat and a ball. I hardlyspent time on my studies. To achieve my dream, I used to play cricket day andnight. My first target was to get selected in under thirteen-cricket team of myschool. It was a unique situation, where I got more than 80% for mathematicsand electronics, whereas I ended up getting less than 40% for all other subjects interm test. Even though I was selected to under thirteen school cricket team, as abatsman and played as an outstanding player in our team up to under fifteen in1996, due to my parents’ influence, I had to concentrate on my studies giving upextra activities.

When I was five years old, my mother brought me an adorable sister. I spenta lot of time playing with her. I can say that those memories are unforgettable.My entering into teaching career begins even before my graduation. It goes backto the time when I was in the high school. When my sister was in middle school,she was not good at Mathematics. Because her lack of interest in Mathematics,she got poor grades in Mathematics. To me, it was the other way around. So Idecided to give her a hand to improve her knowledge of Mathematics. I scheduleda time to tutor mathematics after school. After a few months, my sister madea significant improvement in Mathematics, after which mathematics became herfavorite subject. I treasured her energy and insatiable curiosity and fueled it withmy own enthusiasm. I raised her knowledge to a higher standard. Some of theproblems I asked her to work out were quite difficult for her age, but she workedthem out, challenging limits and quenching the thirst for knowledge. When shewas in grade 6 class, she was the winner of a math quiz organized by her school,Musaeus College. She gave me it to see. Taking her certificate in my hands, Icould not help but be proud as that part of the glittering piece of paper was likemy own doing. My thoughts were interrupted by my sister’s chanting. “I am thebest mathematician in my school!”, she exclaimed over and over, jumping on feetas she waved her arms from side to side. Without hesitation, I followed. Holdingher certificate up for all to see, I matched my footing with hers as we hopped thelength of the room, giggling. I still remember her victory celebration.


During my middle school days, I found it more difficult to learn subjects exceptMathematics and Electronics. Somehow I managed to get through the ordinarylevel examination, so that I would be able to continue my studies in my favoritestream, Mathematics. My life in high school was different from my middle schooldays. I performed really well in all term tests and gave many my colleagues ahelping hand to clear their doubts on Mathematics. Surprisingly I was the bright-est student in the class because I was the first to finish any given Mathematicalproblem. So, I passed the advance level exam with flying colors, especially gettingthe highest grades in both Pure and Applied Mathematics. On this result, I wasselected to the University of Colombo, which is considered as the best universityfor Mathematics in Sri Lanka.

1.4 Undergraduate Life

During the first two years of my undergraduate career, I followed courses in Math-ematics and Physics and learned with a great deal of Mathematics and Physicsand its applications. Within my first year, I met Professor Epasingha, who taughtme Differential Equations, whom I believed inspired me to cement the enthusiasmfor Mathematics more than ever. I learned the importance of Pure Mathematicsfrom him (which is the heart of Mathematics) to grasp the depths of AppliedMathematics. After completing the second year examination in the university, Iwas eligible to follow a major degree in either Mathematics or Physics. Havingmy self-ability to think a given problem in analytical and logical manner, I choseto follow a major degree in Mathematics without any hesitation.

In my university life, I got a chance to join community service activities, as afourth year Mathematics special student, for the two day workshop conducted forthe 2005 Advanced Level science students of the southern Sri Lanka, in early 2005,doing lessons on Pure & Applied Mathematics. (This workshop was organized bythe Junior Staff of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, mainly targetingthe students affected by the Tsunami, and it was sponsored by the Rotary Clubof Colombo Downtown and Rotary District 1240 (UK)).

1.5 Choosing my Career Path as a University

Lecturer

As a result of my excellent academic performance, I was appointed as an assistantlecturer in the Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo. Soon afterappointed as an assistant lecturer, I had to conduct a lecture for third year generalstudents. There were about 60 students for the lecture. I had no experience ofconducting a lecture. It was a 3-credit-course and had a lengthy content. I had adoubt whether I could cover the whole content so that students could understandthe subject. I was thinking about it all the time. Somehow I managed to coverwhole content and got feedback from students by personally asking them. Theysaid that they grasped most of the key points from the lecture. It really was aterrific experience. In the meantime, I also conducted tutorial classes. They were


quite interesting because I did not need to worry too much about the content ofthe course and I liked to explain problem-solving strategies.

After one and a half years, I attached myself to the Department of Mathe-matics, University of Colombo as a probationary lecturer in 2007. During thisperiod, I had a chance to get involved in a lot of extracurricular activities ,whichare related to teaching, in addition to university work. I joined Mr.ChanakyaWijeratne, one of my lecturers and a senior lecturer in the department, with fewof my colleagues to form the foundation called Sri Lanka Olympiad MathematicsFoundation. Through that, we started promoting Mathematics in Sri Lanka andto select the Sri Lankan team and train them for the International Mathemati-cal Olympiad (IMO) competitions. So I was acting as a trainer for Sri Lankanteam selected for IMO competitions. Not only that, I was also acting as a con-tent specialist in the Japanese lesson study workshop, jointly conducted by theDepartment of Mathematics, University of Colombo, the College of Science andMathematics, California State University Fresno and the Ministry of Education -Sri Lanka (This was a six-month workshop intended to develop the Mathematicseducation in Sri Lanka. Around 40 schoolteachers participated in this workshoprepresenting different districts around the country.)

1.6 My Teaching Before CTHE Course

Not only have I conducted lectures for small numbers of students (about 50) butI had also experiences of lecturing about 250 students as well. A large class isdifferent from a small one in terms of the higher number of students who needyour attention. I thrived teaching to my best and succeeded. Not until I hadstarted the CTHE course did I realize that there were several areas that neededimprovement in my teaching as well as in the aspect of student learning. AlthoughI had confidence on the course content, I found it difficult to manage time duringthe lectures and could not also get my students to participate effectively in activelearning. In my lectures, students were expected to evaluate the lecturer at theend of the lecture series. I had not assessed students during the lecture series.

Besides teaching courses, I had been involved in conducting practical sessions,paper setting, moderating and grading examination papers.

1.7 Present Practice of My Teaching While Tak-

ing CTHE Course

After I started to attend CTHE, I came to know that there are new useful tech-niques that can be used so as to ameliorate my teaching and in aspects of studentlearning. Students and lecturers would benefit if new methods learned from CTHEwere exercised in their lectures so as to create a more effective, fun and interactivelearning experience. Before attending CTHE, I did not realize the importance ofthe learning aspects of students. I had often been conducting two-hour lectures. Iwas not concerned of the fact that students cannot maintain their level of attentionfor a long time period at a stretch. After attending CTHE, I also felt that I had


been conducting lectures in the traditional or the conventional way. As a resultof following the course, I have now changed the way I used to conduct lecturesand put what I learned from it into practice in my lectures. I have felt stronglythat I am able to refine my teaching skills by following the valuable CTHE course.I have acknowledged that successfully completion of CTHE course will mark theacme of my career as a university lecturer in the University of Colombo. SoI would like to thank the staff of CTHE course. My personal opinion about thecourse is that a small change can be ended up with a very significant improvement.

I have identified some important things that I can use in my lectures so as toimprove my teaching

� Students are assessed after finishing every section in the course.

� Students are given a well prepared set of learning outcomes as well as outlineplan at the beginning of a lecture series. We can then encourage them toachieve learning outcomes.

� It is better to introduce lecture breaks during long lecture hours. Studentsare refraining from being passive learners.

� Student and peer evaluations of lecturer help get improved teaching.

1.8 The Lecturer I Want to Be

To be a great lecturer, he or she must consider not only his or her teaching skillsbut also better knowledge of his or her subject area. So, I incredibly want to pursuea doctoral degree in Mathematics so as to be a great lecturer in the Departmentof Mathematics and expose myself more to research work. But the knowledgealone is not enough to be a good lecturer. The ability to transfer the knowledgeto students in an effective way is vital to be an effective lecturer. So I have beenattending this CTHE workshop with no absence from its inception. My motive isto complete the CTHE course successfully and apply skills that I have acquiredfrom it to my teaching.

To develop my professional career, I must expose myself more to professionalenvironments so that I am able to get to know experts in many fields. Becauseof that, I am going to register for the Sri Lanka Association for Improving HigherEducation Effectiveness (SLAIHEE). In getting a membership of SLAIHEE, Icannot only update my knowledge but also work with experts and share theirknowledge and experiences.

To gain knowledge of my interested area, I am pursuing an M.Phil in mathe-matical biology (see Appendix C.8). It will be earned by December, 2014. Afterobtaining it, I have decided to pursue a doctoral degree in the same area in a for-eign country. By exposing myself to foreign education, I would be able to enhancemy speaking and writing skills in English.


1.9 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, I mentioned how I chose my profession as a lecturer at the Univer-sity of Colombo, Why I value the CTHE course and how I am going to improvemyself as an effective lecturer in the department. What my future plans are isalso included in this chapter.

1.10 Summary of SEDA Outcomes and Values

Addressed in This Chapter

SEDA Outcomes:

� SO1- Identify your own professional goals, directions or priorities.



SEDA values:


1.10.1 Justification

In this chapter, I identified the major and essential goals, which should be achievedas a university lecturer. I have then planned how I am going to achieve them andskills that need to be developed with a plan. So it is sensible to claim that I haveachieved the SEDA outcomes: identify your own professional goals, directions orpriorities (I), pplan for your initial and/or continuing professional development(II), and uundertake appropriate development activities (III).

Chapter 2

What I Grasped From CHTEAbout Teaching

At the end of the chapter, reader will be able to:

� Identify my teaching philosophy.

� Identify some teaching methods.

� Identify hoe to be a reflective practitioner.

� Recognize how I used the Kolb’s learning cycle before participating theCTHE course.

� Recognize teaching methods experienced in my university life

� Identify changes I have done during CTHE.

The main aim of CTHE course is to enhance and professionalize the lecturer’steaching and learning. After participating CTHE course, I realized that thesedevelopments require university lecturers to actively question existing practice,develop a solid understanding of the pedagogy of their subject and of how studentslearn. This course is also directly aimed at sharing and developing reflectivepractice. It also shows us what should be achieved as an effective academic andhow to plan for continuing professional and personal development. In this chapter,topics range across the following: developing reflective practice, Kolb’s learningcycle, Blooms’ taxonomy, constructive alignment, and active and passive learning.

2.1 Reflections on Teaching

Recently I have learned a lot from the CTHE course. One of them is the reflectivepractice, on which the entire CTHE course is based. This technique helps us tothink about our teaching; think about it regularly, thoroughly and systematically;in other words, becoming a reflective practitioner. Using reflective practice, lec-turer may change his teaching practice if this practice is made the objects of histhought and consideration. This is what reflection on teaching means. Thereforeone can simply say that reflecting on your teaching is a way of making your awareof how you teach. It is a method for self-assessment. I now think that before

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CHAPTER 2. WHAT I GRASPED FROM CHTE ABOUT TEACHING 8

following the CTHE course, having not been using reflective practice, I had beenteaching in the dark without knowing if I was effective and if I should modify myteaching.

Because today’s classroom represents increasing diversity among students, alecturer has to adjust to this greater range of differences in ethnicity and devel-opmental levels. To be responsive to this vast array of student’s needs, requireslecturers, who are reflective. Without considering reflective practice, someone’steaching, is tantamount to a mechanical act.

“ Through reflective practice teachers can create an improved teachingenvironment suited to their own context” (Biggs & Tang 2011).

This shift is characterized by a move from teacher-directed lessons, to more student-centered learning, and from the teacher questioning students, to students gener-ating their own questions. Therefore teacher role shifts from controlling learning,to facilitating learning. The student role shifts from passive recipient of teacher-directed instruction, to active learners, often functioning in a variety of collabora-tive modes with peers.

2.1.1 Reflective Lecturers vs Non-Reflective Lecturers

Non-reflective lecturers react without conscious consideration of alternative re-sponses. They often fail to recognize dilemmas and have little impetus for im-provement. On the other hand, reflective lecturers spend a lot of time thinkingabout classroom interactions and consider both the intended, as well as unin-tended consequences of their actions and engage in thoughtful reconsideration ofeverything that happens in their classroom with an eye toward improvement.

2.1.2 How to be a Reflective Lecturer

According to experience I have gathered from the CTHE course, I feel that onewho wants to be a reflective lecturer thinks critically about himself as well as histeaching choice and actions. He/she, who is a reflective lecturer comes to knowwhat he/she is doing in the classroom, why he/she is doing it, and what willhappen as a result of what he/she does in the classroom.

First of all, the lecturer who wants to be a reflective lecturer must understandthe level of standard that his students are supposed to meet in his lecture series,and goals & learning outcomes manifested in expectations and assumptions. Hemust be reflective on the effects of a specific lesson or strategy as well as generalpractices such as building relationships with students, and classroom activities.

Let me discuss how non-reflective lecturer who would like to be a reflectivelecturer, should follow in order to be a reflective practitioner. He must first lookback his teaching career and reflect on it. It is better to note down obstacles hehas faced in his teaching career, something he is excited about and something thatwill help with his tenure endeavors.


“ One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours theminto the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier tospot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.”(Rowling, 2000 : 518)

According to tutor of CTHE course, doing a small change so as to improve ourteaching, will be a result of big improvement of one’s teaching career. Then thelecturer has to reflect on that experience and often think of what he has learnedfrom the small perturbation. After doing research on his experiment (assessing thestudents from a formative assessment), he or she is able to come to a conclusionwhether his/her slight change did work very well. This reflection should be donecontinuously in order to earn a continuous improvement. The success cannot beachieved overnight. It takes time to obtain better improvement. This mechanismis clearly explained from Kolb’s learning cycle. The following section will discussabout the Kolb’s learning cycle, which is a very useful method, not only to reflecton lecturer’s practice, but also to make an effective change.

Source: Learning journals and logs, reflective diaries, Moon, J.

2.1.3 Kolb’s Learning Cycle

Kolb’s learning cycle was invented by David Kolb in 1984. The process of planning,doing, reflecting and thinking is summarized in this diagram. The Kolb LearningCycle underpins most of what we do on the CTHE course.

Figure 2.1: The Kolb’s Learning Cycle


Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxzMH6KFSVU

Kolb’s learning cycle helps me figure out my current practice and things tobe improved of my teaching career at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ifsomeone wants to use the Kolb’s learning cycle either for his professional careeror for personal life, he/she gets the ball rolling to think of following steps.

� Identify - identify the area through reflection, where you need to improve

� Plan - Plan for a change so as to improve

� Undertake - Put the change into practice and experience it

� Reflect - Reflection through experience ( to see whether the change is suc-cessful or needs further improvement )

I had not heard about Kolb’s learning cycle until I participated the CTHE course.However, I had used quite a lot it in many occasions. For instance, when I wassolving a mathematical problem, which is more difficult to solve, I tried severalmethods to obtain a solution from my experience that I had learned so far. IfI failed to obtain a solution in one method, then I would tend to try it in adifferent method. With a few repetitions, I would eventually be able to obtaina solution. Unknowingly, the experience I gained by working out such kind ofharder problems has been helping me a lot develop reflective practice. Not onlyhave I used Kolb’s learning cycle in my professional life, but I have also used itwhen making a discission in my private life as well. When I make a discission,I am not usually rushed to jump to a conclusion. I take time and think of allsituations. Finally, I will come up with the best option, which is more feasible.Even though I had not reflected on my teaching before I participated the CTHEcourse, I have reflected on my studies as well as my personal life before. Thanksto CTHE course, I know how reflective practice is paramount to us to use it forour every activity.

When I work on learning agreements, I have to consider the reflection on thechange that I have made in the lecture. There is a sequence of steps we havefollowed in dealing with learning agreements.

� First identify an obstacle in teaching

� Start finding a solution by using teaching strategies and our common sense

� Execute the plan and experience the result

� Reflection on experience to see whether the plan is successful or needs furtherimprovement

� Formulate strategies along with experience (through continuous reflection)

Coming section will discuss some counterexamples that were encountered in per-sonal life as well as academic life.


Practicing Kolb’s Learning Cycle

The Kolb’s Learning Cycle initiated me to reflect on my current practices and toimprove my professional life through following steps.

� Identify - identify the area through reflection, where the improvement isneeded

� Plan - Plan for a change in order to improve

� Undertake - Put the change into practice and experience it

� Reflect - Reflection through experience ( to see whether the change is suc-cessful or needs further improvement )

Until I started the CTHE course, I had not heard about this Kolb’s reflectivecycle. Even though I did not know the name, I found a counterexample in mypast life of Kolb’s learning cycle, which is suited very well. The following is anexample, where I have applied the concept of reflective practice in private life.

? Private Life

When I was at high school, I used to drink alcohol with my colleagues everyweekend. Even though I wanted to give up this bad habit from my life, it wasdifficult for me to do that because all of my friends were alcohol addicts. When wehad unions for special events and I continued to have alcohol with them withouta limit. This was a horrible problem because alcohol is bad for our health. So, Ihad decided to follow a proper plan to get rid of this disconcerting problem.

Identify: After thinking of this horrible problem, I identified why I could notsay no when my friends promoted alcohol.

Plan: I planned that I should restrict my relationship with these types of friends,as I felt that they would cause an adverse impact on my progress.

Undertake: I behaved the way that I had planned.

Reflection: I felt that I could live the way I wanted. Because of that change, Ibecame sober.

The following is an example, where I have applied the concept of reflectivepractice in academic life.

? Academic Life

identify: I identified that there was a huge amount of course content I had tocover within a semester.

plan: I planned to cover the syllabus by using the onion method that we learnedfrom the CTHE course.

Undertake: executed what I had planned.

Reflection: Most of important facts were covered before end of the semester.


2.1.4 Reflective Journals and Learning Logs

I have never heard about reflective journal writing and learning logs before theCTHE’s commencement. The tutor of the CTHE course always encouraged us tokeep reflective journals as well as learning logs. Let us take a look at what thereflective journals and learning logs are. Reflective journals are personal recordsof student learning experiences. These records can be used by both parties (thestudents as well as teachers).

� One way is that the students are asked to record their learning - relatedincidents (just after their lectures), such as about course content, assign-ments, students’ own ideas or students’ thoughts about what happened ina particular lecture. Journals and learning logs are then submitted to thelecturer for feedback.

� Other way is that the lecturer can keep records about student learning. Thetutor of the CTHE course encouraged us to write reflective logs for everylearning agreement.

2.2 Teaching Methods Experienced in My Uni-

versity Life

In this section, I am going to discuss some teaching methods that I have expe-rienced at the University of Colombo. There are many teaching methods thatenhance student learning. The lecturer has to choose appropriate teaching meth-ods so that he can transmit his knowledge to his students. Having a proper visionof effective teaching methods, can improve his students’ knowledge very effectively.

Since students have their own style of digesting the information, Teacher mustconsider about it very deeply when he is going to teach in the class. To aidthe process of transmitting the knowledge, the lecturer must adopt a suitablemethod that assists the students in retaining the information and increasing theirunderstanding. Choosing a proper method is not an easy task. Lecturer has toconsider many factors such as the students’ level, the objectives of the lesson andwhat the students have already known about the topic etc. most difficult problemis to select a method that fits well one’s particular teaching style and the lessonsituation. Fortunately, there is no exact teaching method for a particular lesson,but there are criterion that pertain to each that can help a teacher make the bestdecision possible. I am going to discuss some teaching methods that I have beenexperiencing at the university, below.

2.2.1 Teaching for Large Classes

I have experienced teaching for large classes, which have more than 200 studentsin a class. But in this semester I am going to conduct a lecture for a smallclass, which has no more than 20 students. My first-class that was assigned meto lecture as soon as I was appointed as an assistant lecturer, was also a largeclass which had more than 50 students. The first question that came to my mind


was“how am I going to manage them all?” Somehow I managed to teach thatclass, so that students were interested in that course. Teaching a large class isa big challenge, but it can also offer many opportunities for you to improve ourteaching. However, in a small class, you might be able to persuade many of yourstudents to participate in an activity, such as getting them asking and answeringquestions, discussing issues, laughing at humorous situations. But in a large class,you will probably have difficulty in persuading most students to talk in front of 50or more of their classmates. However, the literature of teaching and learning showsthat the class size (whether it is a large class or small class) does not correlate withstudent learning. In other words, students in large classes can learn just like thosein small classes. My personal opinion about student learning is that it does notdepend on the size of the class but the quality of the teaching as well as students’determination to achieve goals. I can give the best evidence as I grew up in SriLanka. In order to enter the Sri Lankan universities, students in high schools mustget through an examination called GCE advanced level. To achieve this goal, thestudents study with their best efforts and most of them attend private classes.There are quite large classes (it has more than 200 students). This is a greatexample which explains that the size of the classroom does not depend on studentlearning.

2.2.2 Teaching for small classes

I prefer to teach for a small class because it allows me to focus on student learn-ing individually. This type of teaching also allows for more active teaching andlearning strategies than large classes, but can also be unproductive if the groupis not managed properly. It is vital to know what we want to achieve from thegroup and to understand the different teaching strategies in order to make eachgroup meeting successful.

In small class setting, the exposure of the students and teacher is much higherthan it is in a large class setting. Thus the students in a small class are allowed todevelop skills, such as problem-solving and communication that they may not beable to develop in a large class. Not only that, but it is also easier to keep studentsmotivated, to create on active learning environment. Teaching for a small classensures that the students take more active roles in their learning and will provideindividualized attention to students’ needs. According to my experience I gotfrom the CTHE course, more teaching methods that we have been learning fromthe CTHE course, suit well for small-classroom-teaching than large-classroom-teaching.

2.2.3 Group Discussions

Since the commencement of the CTHE course, all participants of CTHE were splitinto groups (6 individuals for each group). We were involved in group discussionsand activities in each session. This method was good to gather information veryquickly with help of other group members. Our group has members who arecoming from diverse disciplines (field of Management, field of Engineering, fieldof Sociology, and field of Education). We know that people coming from differentdisciplines think differently. When discussing on given problem assigned by the


CTHE’s tutor, we are able to go through all of their opinions and come up witha solution without any delay.

After exercising this method in the CTHE class, I used this teaching method inmy classroom. As a matter of fact, this method of teaching is very well suited formy small classes. This would not be successful in large classes. And another conof this method when you use it in large classes is that it would be time-consumingand students get off tracks. This semester, I am now going to teach a course for asmall class, I use this method for my teaching. With this practice in my lectures,the following SEDA values and outcomes will be earned.

SO-3 Undertake appropriate development activities.

SV-4 Working effectively with diversity and promoting inclusivity.

SV-5 Continued reflection on professional practice.

2.2.4 Teaching Philosophy

After taking the CTHE course, I try to be an effective lecturer at the Universityof Colombo. In order to be an effective lecturer, I have to focus more on studentlearning and adjust my teaching strategies in response to the pace and depth ofstudent understanding1. As I have been following the course, I came to know, asa lecturer at the department of mathematics, that it is my responsibility to de-termine exactly what I expect students to understand after completing my coursethen to help all students reach high level of understanding. Actually this kind ofteaching philosophy did not exist before taking the CTHE course. But I now havea clear teaching philosophy, so that I can articulate my specific learning goals anddevelop assessments that effectively measure these goals.

After I received my master’s degree in mathematics from Seoul National Uni-versity, Korea, I was back to my country and continued my duty at the Universityof Colombo. Korea is a developed nation. Everything is handled by using the In-ternet. All things of their universities systems such as student registration, courseenrollment, conducting courses, dorm registration,...etc are done via the Internet.I got used to studying in that environment. So I have changed the way of con-ducting lectures in this university lately. I use web-based teaching and learningmethod in addition to conducting lectures2. This semester I am conducting a thirdyear general course for industrial statistics students. Its course code is FM3003. Imade a wiki (its address, http://fm3003.wikispaces.com/) on wikispaces whichhas all resources (text books, lecture notes, tutorials, course content...etc). Themore valuable thing is that I upload video lectures, which are related to next day’slesson prior to next class session, so students are able to go through it before com-ing to next class. In this way, students can learn the material before I discuss it inthe class. I can then identify what students have learned and their doubts about

1SEDA Values: SV1- An understanding of how people learn2SEDA Values: SV6- The development of both people and educational processes and systems,

SEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assessment,and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context, including use of appropriatetechnologies.


the content. Providing the video lectures and questions in advance via the web,allows students to think more in-depth about next day lesson and to be preparedto actively participate in class discussions. Not only that adapting this way ofteaching, I have been allowed to move many of the basic instructional tasks outof the classroom so valuable class time is available for more advanced topics3.Another pro of this method is that students who would not voice questions in alarge lecture setting more likely try to question via email or participation in anonline discussion. I think this is new to our department. No lecturer in our de-partment has followed this procedure. I hope to write a learning agreement aboutthis novelty idea (see Appendix A.7).

I believe that even though being an effective lecturer is a lifelong process,effective teaching skills can be developed as we follow the CTHE course. We canthen identify what skills make a lecturer effective. Being an effective lecturer is adifficult task, I accept teaching as a challenge and as a responsibility. I personallybelieve that the dream that I want to be an effective lecturer will come true, if Ifollow the CTHE course successfully and put its theoretical concepts, techniquesinto practice.

As a lecturer, it is my job to simulate and encourage my students to thinkcreatively, rather than to provide answers and solve problems. It is my obligationto give students professional competency, energy, and demand of excellence. It ismy job to challenge them to learn how to use their inherent capabilities and theirknowledge based to solve problems for themselves. To do this, I ask questionsthey must work hard to answer. The great pay off that is when they ask questionsI must work hard to answer. Finally, I want to be a good facilitator. Helping withthe knowing is what I do. This is my teaching philosophy.

2.2.5 Blooms’ taxonomy

A group of educational psychologists developed a classification of levels of intellec-tual behavior important in learning in 1948. This became taxonomy of three over-lapping domains: the cognitive (knowledge based domain), psychomotor (skillsbased knowledge) and affective (attitudinal based domain).(Source: 1956, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.)

I had not heard about bloom’s taxonomy before the CTHE course and it isuseful for me to conduct a lecture series in order to achieve learning outcomes. Inthe bloom’s taxonomy, thinking was classified in six different cognitive levels ofcomplexity in hieratical way (see figure(2.2))

3SEDA Values: SV4- Working effectively with diversity and promoting inclusivity.


Figure 2.2: Bloom’s taxonomy (source: epltt.coe.uga.edu) (August, 2013)

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recallor recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex andabstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Verbexamples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills:

� Knowledge - retention of terminology, facts, conventions, methodologies,structures, principles, etc.

� Comprehension - grasping of meaning, translation, extrapolation, inter-pretation of facts, making comparisons, etc.

� Application - problem solving, usage of information in a new way

� Analysis - making inferences and supporting them with evidence, identifi-cation of patterns

� Synthesis - derivation of abstract relations, prediction, generalization, cre-ation of new ideas

� Evaluation - judgement of validity, usage of a set of criteria to make con-clusions, discrimination

Questions that encourage each of these skills often begin with:

� Knowledge: List, define, describe, show, name, what, when, etc.

� Comprehension: Summarize, compare and contrast, estimate, discuss, etc.

� Application: Apply, calculate, complete, show, solve, modify, etc.

� Analysis: Separate, arrange, classify, explain, etc.

� Synthesis: Integrate, modify, substitute, design, create, What if..., formu-late, generalize, prepare, etc.

� Evaluation: Assess, rank, test, explain, discriminate, support, etc.


Source: www.math.toronto.edu/writing/BloomsTaxonomy.pdf

“The bloom’s taxonomy can be used as an aid when creating testquestions and assignments (Bloom, 1956)”

The following which is listed from each of the cognitive domains and included thename of the level, a description of that level, some relevant verbs, and examplefrom background of mathematics, is an interpretation of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Level of understanding : Knowledge

Description: Questions include “State the definition”, “State the theorem”, or“Use the specified method”, and step to a given method and other featureof the course notes.

Key terms sample: List, define, describe, show, name, what, when, etc.

Question: Take the derivative of the following rational function using quotientrule.

Level of understanding : Comprehension

Description: Questions ask the student to use definitions or methods to calcu-late something.

Key terms sample: Summarize, compare and contrast, estimate, discuss, etc.

Question: Find the slope of the tangent line to the following function at a givenpoint.

Level of understanding : Application

Description: Questions use more than one definition, theorem, and/or algo-rithm.

Key terms sample: Apply, calculate, complete, show, solve, modify, etc.

Question: Find the derivative of the following implicitly defined function. (Thisquestion could be used to test logarithmic differentiation as well, for in-stance)

Level of understanding : Analysis

Description: Questions are similar to Analysis questions, but the conclusion tobe reached by the student is an algorithm for solving the given question.This also includes questions which ask the student to develop their ownclassification system.

Key terms sample: Separate, arrange, classify, explain, etc.

Question: Let f(x) be a fourth-degree polynomial. How many roots can f(x)have? Explain.


Level of understanding : Synthesis

Description: Questions are similar to Analysis questions, but the conclusion tobe reached by the student is an algorithm for solving the given question.This also includes questions which ask the student to develop their ownclassification system.

Key terms sample: Integrate, modify, substitute, design, create, What if...,formulate, generalize, prepare, etc.

Question: Optimization word problems where student generates the functionto be differentiated.

Level of understanding: Evaluation

Description: Questions are similar to Synthesis questions, except the studentis required to make judgements about which information should be used.

Key terms sample: Assess, rank, test, explain, discriminate, support, etc.

Question: related rate word problem where student decides which formulae areto be used and which of the given numbers are constants or instantaneousvalues.

2.2.6 The 3P’s model of learning

The 3p model was developed by Biggs and describes three points in time at whichlearning - related factors are placed.

Presage Before learning takes place.

Process During learning.

Product The outcomes of learning.

When it comes to presage factors of the learning environment, it can be factorizedinto two types. One is student presage factors and the other is institutional presagefactors. Student’s prior knowledge, abilities, preferred learning styles and values& expectations can be considered as the student presage factors. The curricu-lum, institutional values, teaching methods and assessments are the institutionalpresage factors. This reminds me how CTHE’s staff has considered the institu-tional presage. Our class of the CTHE course has been arranged in a way thatstudents’ activities can be done in a very easy manner.

Secondary process factors will take place during the learning process. It in-cludes, for instance, efficiency of communication & interaction and motivation.Finally, product factors are the third integral element of students’ success in theclass. The success will depend on how much students have achieved learningoutcomes at the end of a lecture session.(Garfield et al, 2002)


Figure 2.3: The 3P model of teaching and learning. Source: Biggs & Tang, 2011

2.2.7 Constructive Alignment

Constructive alignment, a term coined by John Biggs (Biggs & Tang, 2011) is oneof the most influential ideas in higher education. It is the underpinning concept be-hind the current requirements for program specification, declarations of IntendedLearning Outcomes (ILOs) and assessment criteria, and the use of criterion basedassessment.

There are two parts to constructive alignment;

� Students construct meaning from what they do to learn.

� The teacher aligns the planned learning activities with the learning out-comes.

The basic premise of the whole system is that the curriculum is designed so thatthe learning activities and assessment tasks are aligned with the learning outcomesthat are intended in the course. This means that the system is consistent.

2.3 Changes of My Teaching Due to CTHE

All the CTHE course helps us is be an effective lecturer in the department. Thisis the ultimate goal of the CTHE’s staff. While attending the CTHE course,I realized that the lecturer must be capable of involving the audience as activeas possible. I have learned that different strategies can be used to involve theaudience actively. Using different strategies, we are then able to help studentsclimb the ladder of cognitive level to the top.


“Good teaching is getting most students to use the higher cognitivelevel processes that the more academic students use spontaneously”(Biggs, student ability and teaching methods, 1999).

2.3.1 Learning Outcomes

While writing this subsection about learning outcomes, I remember the CTHE’steacher told us in a one of sessions that the word “Learning Outcomes” had notbeen even known by lecturers in Sri Lankan universities before 10 years ago.Dueto CTHE course, they added the word “Learning outcomes” into their vocabularyand use it for their academic works. Even I did not hear about learning outcomesbefore attending the CTHE course. After learning about learning outcomes fromthe CTHE course, I realized that it is a key requirement of a proper curriculum. Iget used to give students learning outcomes at very beginning of the lecture series.But both tutor and peer of the CTHE course recommended me to give learningoutcomes for every lecture (see Appendix A.2).

According to Kelvin, 2007, “ a learning outcome is a clear statement of whata learner is expected to achieve those outcomes.”

“The effective learning outcomes statements guide teachers the con-tent of teaching, the teaching strategies which will be used, the sortsof learning activities/tasks set for the students, appropriate assessmenttasks, course evaluation and the set of learning outcomes provides stu-dents with a solid framework to guide their studies and assist them toprepare for their assessment and a point of articulation with graduateattributes at course and/or university (i.e. generic) level ” (Kelvin,2007).

The properties of effective outcomes which are defined by Kelvin (2007) are listedbelow.

Effective learning outcomes statement should

� identify important learning requirements ( the ’content’ of learning - therange and type of knowledge, skills and values required.)

� use clear language, understandable for students and other potential clients.

� link to the generic ( and/or course graduate attributes.)

� be achievable and assessable.

� relate to explicit statements of achievement (eg. level of understanding re-quired )

2.3.2 Lecture Outline Plan

In the CTHE course, an outline plan is given for every session and teacher of theCTHE course organizes the lesson according to its schedule. With experience Ihave gathered from the CTHE course, I can say that having a lesson plan, one isable to manage the time of the lecture properly.


“A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of in-struction for an individual lesson” (en.wikipedia.org).

It is a tool to organize and manage the lesson well in advanced. Usually a lessonplan consists of the time required allocated for specific tasks, the resources cor-respond to the task and different stake holders’ activities. In general, the lessonplan is a set of instruction. No materials are included in the lesson plan (Lessonplan, 2008). Thus it is vital to have a lesson plan for our lectures. Sticking withthis kind of plan, we are able to cover the whole content that we had plannedbefore the lecture series. I am also using a lesson plan for my lectures which isavailable in section 5.1.

2.3.3 Scaffolding

Before taking the CTHE course, I had intuitively used this teaching strategy whenI introduced a problem of a new section, which is related to previous section, to theclass. According to my experience, this teaching strategy helps teacher facilitatethe students to master a concept that the students are initially unable to graspindependently.

“Scaffolding is a process that facilitates the students to learn unknownthings from the known things. To be successful with this teachingstrategy, the teacher must be aware of the students’ current knowledgeor curriculum that they have so far followed” (Van Der Stuyf, R., 2002).

The most important thing of using this strategy is that the lecturer allows thestudents to complete the task as much as possible without the lecturer’s assistance.I am happy to say that I have used the method of scaffolding for my teaching eventhough I did not know its name.

Eight characteristics of scaffolding are suggested by Jamie McKenzie as citedin http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/5074 in order to engage in scaffoldingeffectively, teachers:

� Provide clear direction and reduce students’ confusion. Prior to assigninginstruction that involves scaffolding, a teacher must try to anticipate anyproblems that might arise and write step-by-step instructions for how learn-ers must complete tasks.

� Clarify purpose. Scaffolding does not leave the learner wondering why theyare engaging in activities. The teacher explains the purpose of the lessonand why this is important. This type of guided instruction allows learnersto understand how they are building on prior knowledge.

� Keep students on task. Students are aware of the direction in which thelesson is heading, and they can make choices about how to proceed with thelearning process.

� Offer assessment to clarify expectations. Teachers who create scaffoldedlessons set forth clear expectations from the beginning of the activity usingexemplars, rubrics.


� Point students to worthy sources. Teachers supply resources for researchand learning to decrease confusion, frustration, and wasted time.

� Reduce uncertainty, surprise, and disappointment. A well-prepared activityor lesson is tested or evaluated completely before implementation to reduceproblems and maximize learning potential.

� Deliver efficiency. Little time is wasted in the scaffolded lesson, and alllearning goals are achieved efficiently.

� Create momentum. The goal of scaffolding is to inspire learners to want tolearn more and increase their knowledge and understanding.

Eight guidelines that teachers most commonly follow when developing scaffoldedlessons, are suggested by Martha Larkin as cited in http://www.learnnc.org/

lp/pages/5074. The teachers often:

� Focus on curriculum goals to develop appropriate tasks.

� Define a shared goal for all students to achieve through engagement in spe-cific tasks.

� Identify individual student needs and monitor growth based on those abili-ties.

� Provide instruction that is modified or adapted to each students’ ability.

� Encourage students to remain focused throughout the tasks and activities.

� Provide clear feedback in order for students to monitor their own progress.

� Create an environment where students feel safe taking risks.

� Promote responsibility for independent learning.

2.3.4 Recap previous lecture

I had continuously observed that students were not in good touch with at least pre-vious class’s lesson. It is essential for students to recall previous lesson especiallyin mathematics. Theorems, corollaries, definitions,...etc in a section are intercon-nected each other. Therefore, it is better to have a good memory of previouslecture in order to understand the lecture.

Here I came up with a plan that I took the first 15 minutes of two-hour-lecture to recapitulate the previous lecture briefly. During the first 5 minutes of15 minutes, I summarized the previous lesson and the remaining 10 minutes, Ievaluated student achievement (whether they had obtained learning outcomes ofprevious lecture). How I evaluated students was that I gave them one or twoproblems based on what I summarized before and asked them to answer to thoseproblems during 10 minutes. I also kept a record of their grades of assessmentswhich helped me visualize clearly how many students in my class were ready tomove into next lesson. If there was a problem, it would be necessary to fix it as


soon as possible4.

2.3.5 Giving Lecture Breaks During My Lecture

I had not given lecture breaks until I started the CTHE course. I came to knowthat the student attention on the lecture is exponentially decayed with the timeand will reach a very lower level after about 15, 20 minutes if they continue toparticipate in the lecture passively. Giving lecture breaks or introducing differentactivities in a lecture is a better idea to prevent from student being passive duringthe lecture. In other words, students are also actively involved in the lessonduring the entire lecture. After knowing the importance of giving lecture breaksduring the lecture from the CTHE course, I developed a learning agreement (seeappendix) based on this phenomena.

2.3.6 Incomplete Handouts

The handout is a very powerful tool when it is well conceived and designed. Thehandout provides reinforcement of the information transmitted during the lectureand it remains with the participant for a long time. A handout is successful ifit can be used by students to remember what they have learned, to extend theirknowledge further by reading material not covered in the course. Also a goodhandout will be a basis for the students’ work. (Training the trainer resourcepack, 2005)

2.4 Feedback on My Teaching

Receiving feedback from students about my teaching is a way of learning moreabout my teaching as well as the effect my behavior has on students. If youreflect on feedback received from students, you are able to help students easilyachieve learning outcomes. And also receiving students’ feedback increases myself-awareness and encourage me to develop my teaching. Negative feedback canbe received from the students. But it is very important to improve the wayof teaching. Before taking the CTHE course, although I did not get feedbackfrom students formally, I had taken students’ feedback informally for instance,asking some of known students in my class about my teaching. However, theCTHE course encouraged me to get feedback from peer as well as students. Thispractice, I believe, would help me improve my teaching skills and teach studentsmore effectively.

“Wise and effective teaching is not, however, simply a matter of apply-ing general principles of teaching according to rule; they need adaptingto each teacher’s own personal strengths and teaching context. A char-acteristic of award-winning university teachers is their willingness tocollect student feedback on their teaching, in order to see where their

4SEDA Values: SV1- An understanding of how people learn, SEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use arange of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assessment, and feedback, appropriate tothe learners, subject and context, including use of appropriate technologies.


teaching might be improved” (Dunkin and Precians 1992) as cited inbiggs and Tang(2011).

As I mentioned above, I had not obtained students’ feedback formally before theCTHE course. Thanks to CTHE course, However I have obtained written students’feedback (asked them to not only fill out a questionnaire but also write freely aboutmy teaching and changes in my teaching due to CTHE course) during the CTHEcourse. Reflecting on students’ feedback helps me get an idea how the course isprogressing. The form which was made by myself and was given to students isin Appendix-I. When it comes to feedback, we can consider other sources fromwhich we are able to obtain feedback. One of staff (academic) members are askedto observe my teaching. In order to get useful ideas (weak points, positive points,and comments on my teaching), peer evaluation is very important to learn myown teaching. By reflecting on those ideas, I will come up with some usefulimprovement of my teaching. ( SEDA outcomes: use a variety of methods forevaluating your teaching role. )

“ A peer review is useful, in which two teachers in the same departmentand who trust each other visit each other’s classes as critical friends.They will need a common framework and a common set of assumptionsabout what is good teaching to do this well”(Biggs and Tang, 2011).

Engaging in lectures as peers to obtain feedback on my teaching enables a lot ofopportunities to happen as follows.

� Developing an ongoing relationship of trust and open dialogue about bestteaching practice.

� Emphasizing the value of teaching in the university.

� Providing me with a supportive network of university.

The main benefit of using peers from the same department for providing feedbackis that peers are familiar with faculty and institutional priorities, values, andcurrent issues. He/she can provide feedback based on content knowledge as well.There is no doubt that engaging in peer feedback on teaching may be a scaryexperience and makes the lecturer feel uncomfortable. And being a peer reviewerin the classroom can be an uncomfortable experience.

I implemented a learning agreement on peer evaluation on my teaching ( SeeAppendix A.6)5.

2.5 Responsibilities at University

My main responsibility is to provide my full efforts to sustain and strengthensupportive educational environment for students. Further, I have the followingduties and responsibilities.

5SEDA Values: SV2- Scholarship, professional, and ethical practice, SV5- Continued reflec-tion on professional practice, SEDA Outcomes: SO5- Use a variety of methods for evaluatingtheir teaching.


2.5.1 Key Duties & Responsibilities

Teaching

� Prepare and deliver lectures, assess students’ assignments, and grade stu-dents’ performance

� Keep an eye on students’ progress

� Grading students answer scripts, discuss with students about their progress

� Get feedback from students and lecturers to improve my teaching

� Providing guidance and advice to students about how to achieve their goals.

Examinations

� Setting exam papers

� Grading exam papers of undergraduate students

� Writing dissertation

Other

� Web coordinator of the Department

2.6 Developing an Ethical Society

According to my personal belief, it is not enough to develop a set of studentswho have good knowledge on subject matters. It is crucial to make them growethical practices as the university students is Sri Lanka. I can now see a radicalchange of ethical practices of students who are now in the university and whowere when I was a student. According to my experience, the reason behind thisis that nowadays students have to attend classes all the day and have no time toenjoy their university life. In other words, students in the university nowadaysand their brains are preoccupied with work much of the time. Recently, we hadto hear a weird story that one of students from the Faculty of Science, Universityof Colombo jumped to commit suicide from a 5th floor of the Science Facultybuilding. However past students (who were when I was a student) enjoyed theiruniversity life, engaged in a lot of extra-curricular activities, and dealt with theirlecturers in friendly manner. Because students’ brains are preoccupied with workmuch of the time and the workload they have to complete, they are convinced tosearch short cuts in order to get the work done very quickly. So students becomedishonest and try to cheat whenever they face a challenge (at examinations, whengiving assignments...etc). As a lecturer from the University of Colombo, I shouldfind a better solution for this current problem in order to become the society awareof ethical practices. I clearly know that I could find it difficult to make a significantchange to the current system. But I take necessary steps to eradicate students’dishonest behavior ( cheating at examinations, cheating when given assignments ).one of strategic steps is to punish students who try to cheat. Punishing students


who are trying to find short cuts to complete their task is a great way of frighteningthem. Somehow I put my efforts to show the right path students have to take asuniversity students.(SEDA value: scholarship, professionalism and ethical practice)

2.7 Changes I have done during CTHE

When I attended the CTHE workshop, I did not have any idea about reflectivepractice, Kolb web cycle, constructive alignment etc. I had a chance to learn thesevaluable concepts from the CTHE course so that they could be applied to myteaching. These concepts help me become an effective lecturer at the Universityof Colombo. Thanks to the CTHE course, my change of teaching career will bebeneficial to our department as well as students, who try to succeed their lives.

The most important thing is that I have been convinced to read more booksand articles related to teaching and learning. Doing this as a routine, I am sure Iwould be able to learn a lot about teaching techniques in order to enable studentsto learn effectively in the class.

2.8 Chapter Summary

I am fortunate enough to learn the concept of reflective practice from the CTHEcourse. According to my perception, it is a ground-breaking concept so that ifone practices this not only for his teaching but also for any task he/she has toacquire, it is guaranteed that he/she will end up in success. In addition to reflectivepractice, some useful concepts (Bloom’s taxonomy, constructive alignment etc) arediscussed in the chapter.

Many teaching ways that I have experienced in the university are discussedin this chapter. It is well known that because of students coming from diversebackground, they respond differently to different methods of teaching. Also, thestudents have their unique way of digesting the information. Thus the lecturermust use an appropriate teaching methods or strategy for the students and sub-ject. It is imperative that we should be familiar with each in order to choosean appropriate teaching method or strategy for the students and subject. Someteaching methods that I have experienced to teach my students are discussed. Howthe CTHE course gives me a hand to improve my teaching skills is also discussedin this chapter.



SEDA Outcomes:






SEDA Values:



� SV4- Working effectively with diversity and promoting inclusivity.


Chapter 3

Learning

At the end of this chapter, reader will be able to:

� Identify active and passive learning.

� Identify categories of learners.

� Recognize interactive learning methods.

� Identify surface and deep learning.

� Identify the changes I have done during the CTHE course.

3.1 Introduction

Developing learning skills is a popular topic in the modern society because havinga better education is a good launch pad to be a successful person in the society.This chapter is mainly based on the current foci on effective learning and differentlearning styles. As you know that students are coming from different backgroundand their knowledge levels are also different, understanding how students learnand what they think is a good approach to learning in their education and iscrucial to our success as lecturers.

According to my perception, we are learning from the time we were born anduntil we die. Every time we get experiences by touching, looking, hearing, andsmelling. It never ends. At the moment, while I am writing this portfolio, Iam getting experiences like writing chapters properly, how to teach my studentseffectively...etc.

3.2 Active and Passive Learning

When it comes to student learning, active learning is very important. On the firstday of the CTHE course, I learned what the active learning is correctly. The tutorof the CTHE course always encouraged us to engage in some kind of learningactivities such as group discussion, asking us to make a poster (see AppendixC.1)in order to present to the entire class, class discussions, and so on. I hadnoticed that she introduced a new activity after every 20 minutes in order to keep

28

CHAPTER 3. LEARNING 29

the class active. We know that after 20 minutes, our concentration decreases,when we were involved the same activity. Being aware of this concept, I alwaysintroduce different activities after every 20 minutes during my lectures, such asasking the students to solve a problem, inviting them to the blackboard, givinglecture breaks and so on1.

“If we could make students to participate in our lessons actively, moreknowledge can be easily transferred to the students. In an active learn-ing process, even in a lecture, students must be doing more than justlistening” (Bonwell & Eison, 2003)

According to my experience, when students are actively participated in lec-tures, they have a big chance of remembering better the materials than theyremember things when they are passive.

Different activities can be introduced in order to make the students’ partici-pation active in lectures.

Class Discussions

Discussions allow students to think critically on the subject matter and use logicto evaluate their and other’s positions. A discussion is a good follow-up activitygiven the unit has been sufficiently covered already.

Collaborative Learning Group

It is better to split the class into groups of 3-6 people and they are given a problemto solve. After they are done, they are asked to present their solutions to the entireclass.

Think-Pair Share

This activity is when students take a minute to go through the previous lesson,later to discuss it when one or more of their peers, finally to share it with theentire class as a discussion.

Student Debate

This is an activity for students to learn because the teacher allows students togather information to support their view and explain it to others. This givesstudents a big opportunity to not only gain their knowledge but also gain someexperience with giving a presentation.

(Source: en.wikipedia.org)

3.3 Convergent and Divergent Learning

There are two different learning styles called the convergent and the divergentlearning.

1SEDA Outcomes: SO3- Undertake appropriate development activities.


3.3.1 Convergent Learning

The convergent learners tend to rely heavily on abstract conceptualization and ac-tive experimentation to process information. For instance, the convergent learneris meant to bring material from a variety of sources to bear on a problem, in sucha way as to produce the “correct” answer.

Figure 3.1: Convergent Thinking (http://www.learningandteaching.info)

Convergent thinking is evaluating the possible solutions to come up with thebest answer to the question at hand. This kind of thinking is particularly appro-priate in science, mathematics and technology due to the need of consistency andreliability.

(Source: en.wikipedia.org & learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.htm)

3.3.2 Divergent Learning

In contrast to the convergent thinking, in divergent learning, the student skill is inbroadly creative elaboration of ideas prompted by a stimulus, and is more suitedto artistic pursuits and study of humanities.


Figure 3.2: Divergent Thinking (http://www.learningandteaching.info)

Divergent learners tend to typically rely on abstract conceptualization and re-flective observation to process information. Unlike a convergent learner, divergentstudents are better able to empathize with the feelings of others, but they do notpossess the ability to draw conclusions from technical or quantities aspects of sit-uations. And divergent thinking is a process involving the production of multipleanswers based on what is already known. In divergent approach, there are manyanswers, the students have to find the suitable or the most appropriate one fromthem.

(Source: en.wikipedia.org & learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.htm)

“Creativity requires both divergent and convergent thinking. creativityis not producing something new and exciting from nothing. Creativitycomes from defining and refining an idea. The basis of the process ofcreativity is knowledge, acquired through convergent thinking. Whatis done with this raw material,the transformation of it, is what wethink of as creativity.”(Convergent and Divergent Thinking, Mary JoMerickel)

3.4 Levels of Learning

3.4.1 Surface Learning

“In using the surface approach, students focus on what Marton callsthe signs of learning; the words used, isolated facts, items treated in-dependently of each other. This prevents students from seeing whatthe signs signify,the meaning and structure of what is taught. Simply,they cannot see the wood for the trees. Emotionally, learning becomesa drag, a task to be got out of the way. Hence the presence of negativefeelings about the learning task:anxiety, cynicism, boredom. Exhila-ration or enjoyment of the task is not part of the surface approach”(Biggs & Tang, 2011).


Factors that encourage students to adopt such an approach include:

From the student’s side:

� An intention only to achieve a minimal pass. Such may arise from a “mealticket” view of university or from a requirement to take a subject irrelevantto the students’ program.

� Insufficient time; too high a workload.

� High anxiety.

� A genuine inability to understand particular content at a deep level.

� Non-academic priorities exceeding academic ones.

From the teacher’s side:

� Providing insufficient time to engage the tasks; emphasizing coverage at theexpense of depth.

� Creating undue anxiety or low expectations of success: Anyone who cannotunderstand this is not fit to be at university.

� Assessing for independent facts, inevitably the case when using short-answerand multiple-choice tests.

According to my perception, I can describe it as follows. Surface learners alwaystry to focus more on isolated details, rather than trying to understand the under-lying the meaning of the content. They just want to get through the examination.To do this, they tend to memorize the subject matters as it is.

3.4.2 Deep Learning

“When students feel this need-to-know, they automatically try to focuson underlying meanings, on main ideas, themes, principles, or success-ful applications. This requires a sound foundation of relevant priorknowledge, so students needing to know will naturally try to learn thedetails, as well as making sure they understand the big picture. In fact,the big picture is not understandable without the details. When usingthe deep approach in hand-ling a task, students have positive feelings:interest, a sense of importance, challenge, exhilaration. Learning isa pleasure. Students come with questions they want answered, andwhen the answers are unexpected, that is even better”(Biggs & Tang,2011).

Factors that encourage students to adopt such an approach include:


From the students’ side:

� An intention to engage the task meaningfully and appropriately. Such anintention may arise from an intrinsic curiosity or from a determination to dowell.

� Appropriate background knowledge.

� The ability to focus at a high conceptual level, working from first principles,which in turn requires a well-structured knowledge base.

From the teacher’s side:

� Teaching in such a way as to explicitly bring out the structure of the topicor subject.

� Assessing for structure rather than for independent facts.

� Emphasizing depth of learning, rather than breadth of coverage.

According to my understanding about deep learning, I can describe it as follows.The deep learners try to fully understand a given concept and always think aboutit. If they want to improve their knowledge about the subject matters, they willtend to discuss with their lecturers or experts in that field. After getting ideasfrom their lecturer or expert, they try to compare own idea with expert’s ideasand come to a compromise. Doing this process helps deep learners understand theconcepts more deeply.

My personal opinion is that introducing a lot of learning activities in the class-room helps students tend to think the subject matters more deeply. I believe thatunless the students understand a given concept, they are not able to gain theirknowledge and will forget those details very quickly. Finally I can say that deeplearning is the most appropriate way of learning. We must encourage students tolearn as the deep learners.

3.5 Categories of Learners

All of us can be categorized as one or mixed of the three forms of learning. Theyare aural learners, visual learners, and kinesthetic learners.

3.5.1 Aural Learners

In this category, learners understand and remember best when they hear whatis being taught. In order to remember subject matters, they would like to readthem aloud to themselves. They can then remember things very easily. Theywould always like to listen to teacher’s explanation in order to understand andremember very well. At that time, aural learners would not like to engage in otheractivities, for instance, note taking. From my experience I have gathered in myteaching career at the university, I can say I have seen that aural learners do notlike to take notes and tend to ask questions about what have been taught andcome to a compromise.


3.5.2 Visual Learners

In this category, learners learn best when they see what they are being taught.Visual learners typically prefer images, graphs, maps,...etc. They find it easy toremember subject matters when they include images, mind maps, lists in theirnotes. According to my experience in my teaching career, I have seen that most ofstudents tend to read many Indian books than standard American or British textbooks. I believe the reason is that many Indian authors would like to discuss theproblems with help of graphical representations so that students can understandthe concepts easily by seeing it. That might be the reason many students wouldlike to refer Indian text books than standard British and American text books.

3.5.3 Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learning is a learning style in which learning happens by the studentcarrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or watchinga demonstration. According to the theory of learning styles, students who havea kinesthetic style are thought to be discovery learners: they have realizationthrough doing, rather than thinking before initiating action. They may struggleto learn by reading or listening. When learning, it helps for these students to movearound; this increases the students’ understanding, with learners generally gettingbetter grades in exams when they can do so. Kinesthetic learners usually succeedin activities such as chemistry experiments, sporting activities, art and acting.

3.5.4 How do the students learn best?

We know that there are three kinds of learners in our classroom. We must findout the way that they learn best in the class. According to literature, manyeducators believe that the best way to learn is by having students construct theirown knowledge instead of having someone construct it for them. In other words,students will learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own withthe teacher as a guide to help them along the way. Before this, the teachermust recognize the students’ prior knowledge. This helps him guide his studentsproperly. When it comes to students’ prior knowledge, it comes from their pastexperiences, their environment and so on. To know prior knowledge of students, Iused as assessment (see Appendix A.1). This will help me understand the studentsprior knowledge before starting off a new concept. After recognizing the priorknowledge of students, we should use the different methods of learning.

“one of the first things a teacher must do when considering how toteach students is to acknowledge that each students does not learnin the same way. This means that if the teacher chooses just onestyle of teaching ( direct instruction, collaboration learning, inquirylearning, etc ). The students will not be maximizing their learningpotential. Obviously, a teacher cannot reach every students on thesame level during one lesson, but implementation a variety of leaningstyles throughout the course allows all the students to have a chanceto learn in at least one way that matches their learning style” (Brooks& Brooks, 1993)


Figure 3.3: Learning Pyramid

Source: http://joshadler1990.wordpress.com/

The percentages of the figure listed represent the average amount of informa-tion that is retained through that particular learning method.

3.5.5 Problem - Based Learning (PBL)

PBL is a student - centered learning in which students learn about a subjectthrough the experience of problem solving. It is a style of active learning. Themain aim of PBL is to help students develop knowledge as well as effective problemsolving skills. If you want to use this technique, it is better to split the class intosmall student groups of 6 - 10 people in each. Here the role of the lecturer is tofacilitate learning by supporting, and monitoring the learning process. He alsoencourages students to take on the problem. Let us see how to administrate thistechnique.

� Learners are presented with a problem and they are allowed to discuss withintheir group to activate their prior knowledge.

� In the group, students discuss possible theories in order to come up with abetter solution. Lecturer can guide them. In other words, he can provide ascaffolding.

� After the initial teamwork, students are given time to work out the problemindependently.

� Again, students regroup to discuss their finding and develop their initialexplanation based on what they learned.

Source: en.wikipedia.org


3.5.6 Student-Centered Learning

Basically students-centered learning is focused on each student’s needs, abilities,interests, and learning styles while teacher acts as a facilitator of learning. Instudent-centered classroom, students are allowed to choose what they will learn,how they will learn, and how they will assess their own learning. In contrastto student-centered classroom, teacher-centered learning has teacher at its cen-ter in an active role and students in a passive role. In teacher-centered classroom,teachers choose what the students will learn, how the students will learn. Student-centered learning allows students to be active, responsible participants in their ownlearning.

The following benefits can be achieved when we practice a student-centered learn-ing in our classrooms.

� Strengthens student motivation

� Promotes peer communication

� Responsibility for one’s own leaning

� Builds student-teacher relationships

� Promotes active learning

� reduce disruptive behavior

Source: en.wikipedia.org

“Student learning processes are greatly enhanced when they partic-ipate in deciding how they may demonstrate their competence in abody of knowledge or the performance of skills” (wikipedia).

3.5.7 Collaborative Learning

If two or more students learn something together, then it is called collaborativelearning. In general, collaborative learning shares the following four things (Gibbs,G & Habeshaw, 1989)

� Learning engage in a common task where each individual depends on and isaccountable to each other

� Learners are asked to split into small groups of ideally 3-6 people and workin groups

� Learners are responsible their learning

� Learners use cooperative, pro-social behavior to accomplish their commontask or learning activities

There are many pros that can be earned by practicing collaborative learning. Itis listed below.

� It motivates students to learn the material


� It develops social and group skills necessary for success outside the classroom

� It promotes positive interaction between group members of different culturaland socio-economic groups.

� It provides a shared cognitive set of information among students

3.6 Domains of Learning

There are different methods of acquiring information. Benjamin Bloom (1956)identified three domains of educational activities. Those are cognitive domain,affective domain, and psychomotor area. Each of areas definitely depends onothers. Every area cannot be segregated. Thus no teaching method can ever besuccessful without a combination of all domains of learning. To summarize abovefact that Bloom identified following domains of learning.

� Cognitive: mental (knowledge)

� Affective: growth in feeling or emotional areas (Attitude)

� Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (skills)

3.6.1 Cognitive Domain of Learning

The cognitive domain includes knowledge and the development of intellectualskills. It includes the recall or recognition of specific facts and concepts thatfunction developing intellectual abilities and skills. Bloom’s Taxonomy (Knowl-edge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation) is oftenused to describe the increasing complexity of cognitive skills as students move frombeginning to more advance in their knowledge of content. The cognitive domainis the core learning domain and other domain (affective and psychomotor) needat least some cognitive component.

Source:http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/domains.html,http://www.uoguelph.ca/tss/pdfs/Domains%20of%20Learning.pdf

3.6.2 Affective Domain of Learning

This domain includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally, suchas feeling, values, appreciations, enthusiasms, motivations, and attitudes. Thisdomain is critical for learning but is often not specifically addressed. The stagesin affective domain are not as sequential as the cognitive domain, but have beendescribed as the following diagram.


Figure 3.4: Affective Domain of Learning

Sources:http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/domains.html,http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php,http://www.uoguelph.ca/tss/pdfs/Domains%20of%20Learning.pdf

The senior lecturers in our department are not satisfied with student atten-dance for their lectures (in particular, second year students’ lectures). We wantthe students to be willing to participate our lecturers. I always encourage mystudents to participate my lecturers so they are able to earn great results for theirexamination. My students are now willing to participate in my lectures because Iuse a new way of teaching with a web-based resource and motivate them to involvemore in subject matters even outside of the classroom2.

3.6.3 Psychomotor Area of Learning

Psychomotor domain includes physical movement and coordination. Practice isrequired to develop of these skills which includes driving, usage of precision in-struments or a type of athletic performance. When I read about psychomotordomain of learning, the idea came to my mind that it is better to involve studentssome kind of activity such as group discussion which I often do in the CTHE class,presentations etc in order to keep students active in the classroom so that theycan grasp a lot of subject matters. The following diagram will describe the levelsof psychomotor domains of learning.

2SEDA Values: SV3- Working in and developing learning communities, SEDA Outcomes:SO3- Undertake appropriate development activities, SO7- Use a range of methods of teachingand supporting learning, assessment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject andcontext, including use of appropriate technologies.


Figure 3.5: Psychomotor Area of Learning

Source:http://www.uoguelph.ca/tss/pdfs/Domains%20of%20Learning.pdf

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/domains.html

3.7 Learning Communities

Our university is a community of learning! The promise, is, first that the univer-sity is a “community”, a place full of adults and young students who look after,and root for one another and who work together for the good of the whole.

As if community were not enough to promise, a community of learners ismuch more. A university is a community whose defining, underlying culture isone of learning. A community of learning is a community whose most importantcondition for membership is that one be a learner - whether one is called a student,lecturer, professor, support staff. Everyone.

3.7.1 The fertile ground for growth to occur

“Normally we view organizations as machines with parts that we candisassemble and reconstruct in any fashion we wish. Organizationalchange is frequently an exercise in moving parts around until we achievethe magic formula that produces the performance results we desire. Weexpect to be able to predict the outcome of these changes and to controlthem completely” Youngblood (1997) as cited in Wald & Castleberry(2000)


It is time for our university system of education to change. We step into a newtechnologically developed world. Diversity, mobility, and technology have emergedas prime forces shaping our daily lives - forces that were minimal to nonexistent50 years ago. We need universities that prepare our learners to lead productivelives in this complex, high - tech, and fast changing world universities that areresponsive, fluid, and adaptive to emerging needs and opportunities.

Next generation of universities must have the capacity for continuous renewal.We have to have an ethos that values lifelong learning for staff as well as students.

3.7.2 Cornerstones of Professional Development in Uni-versities

There are two cornerstones of professional development in universities. They are

1. Universities as communities

2. Collaborative learning

Universities as communities

When it comes to universities as communities, coming to my mind is that itsconcept provides the context for growth and change as if we fertilize a farm groundin order to yield a good crop. A university community is a composite of peoplerepresenting many ages, roles, backgrounds, and dreams. Members of communityhave common goals, shared and an agreed - on way of being and doing.

Collaborative Learning

It offers a process for promoting students and lecturers gaining knowledge, skillsand advancing personal development. It assumes a shared focus, a shared re-sponsibility to learn, and a disciplined approach to acquiring the desired goals.The collaborative learning process engages members of the community in a cycleof exploring, experimenting, and reflecting relative to a specific outcome. Theknowledge and skills that are generated through collaborative process enriches theknowledge base of the university.

The concepts of “Universities as communities” and “Collaborative learning”are interconnected each other. The following diagram will show you it properly.


Figure 3.6: Building Professional Learning Communities, Source: Wald & Castle-berry (2000)

“No society is likely to renew itself unless its dominant orientation isto the future. There is a readily discernible difference between thesociety that is oriented to the future and the one that is oriented tothe past. Some individuals and societies look forward and have thefuture ever in mind, others are preoccupied with the past and areantiquarian in their interests. The former have a vivid sense of whatthey are becoming, the latter a vivid sense of what they have been.The former are fascinated by the novelty of each days experience, thelatter have a sense of having seen everything” John Gardner (1964) ascited in Wald & Castleberry (2000).

3.8 Changes I Have Done During CTHE

I did not consider the kind of learners when I taught students before CTHE.I started the lesson and carried on it without worrying about its audience. ButCTHE helped me identify that there are different types of learners in my classroom.This helped me a lot to build student learning.

On the first day of CTHE course, We learned about active learning correctlyeven though I had heard about it. The students will learn well if the teacherintroduces many activities to the class. I remember that during the workshops,we were engaged in a lot of activities. According to my understanding, throughactivities, students can explore a set of learning experiences that can be moreeffective. In my lectures, I became used to introduce different types of activities


to the class. For instance, pair-share activity, inviting students to white board,discussion among students were some of activities I introduced to my classroomdue to CTHE course.

3.9 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, I described very important concepts such as active learning, stu-dent centered learning, deep and surface learning. We learned many strategiesthat help learn effectively. Domains of learning which are also included in thischapter. I finally described about learning communities.



SEDA Outcomes:



SEDA Values:


Chapter 4

Assessment


� Identify the present assessment method in our department.

� Recognize formative and summative assessment methods.

� Identify assessment methods which I learned from CTHE.

� Recognize assessment method which I now use for my lectures.

� Identify SOLO taxonomy.

� Identify different types of assessment.

� Identify Classroom Assessment Techniques(CATs).

� Identify what I learned from CTHE.

4.1 Introduction

Before starting the CTHE course, I was neither familiar with assessment proce-dure, which is used while conducting a course nor equipped with the knowledge orthe skill to put assessment to work for myself and my students. Thanks to CTHE,I came to know that the importance of assessment is paramount. According tomy experience gathered from the CTHE course, when someone conducts lectureswithout considering assessment methods, he or she has thrown a powerful tool thatyou can influence student learning. Not only that, doing so your students wouldmiss a great opportunity that they can assess their knowledge of subject mattersbefore the final examination and they can take necessary steps to improve theirknowledge beforehand. So I can say that assessments, when used effectively, cansignificantly improve student achievement and raise lecturer quality. Therefore, itis vital to pay our ample attention to how we assess student learning.

43

CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT 44

Assessment approaches and strategies provide evidence of understanding andare critical parts of the planning process. Assessments should be considered andplanned before deciding on learning activities. Assessment approaches and tasksprovide the context and direction for learning activities that will be used to buildunderstanding and to develop skills.

“Most of the students heavily influenced by the assessment system.They study those topics and practice those skills which they think aremost likely to be assessed. If you don’t use the assessment systemdeliberately to orient students to what you think matters then you arethrowing away the most powerful tool that you have for influencingstudent learning.” (Gibbs and Habeshaw 1989)

When it comes to learning outcomes, it is vital to both lecturer and students.Practicing assessments during all stages of instruction and learning helps not onlythe lecturer identify whether his/her students have achieved all learning outcomesof the lecture, but also students be able to assess their own learning progress. Dueto continuous assessment process, lecturer becomes more effective, and studentsbecome actively engaged never before. And as students develop into more confi-dent and competent learners, they become energized to learn, increasingly able topersist during demanding tasks and to regulate their own effort and actions whenthey tackle new learning challenges.

According to book of Gibbs and Habeshaw, they describe why assessmentsshould be taken place in the classroom and their results.

� It is a great opportunity for students to demonstrate what they can do andwhat they know.

� Assessments give feedback of teachers’ performance, quality of the assess-ment and students’ performance.

� Assessments can be used to encourage students to judge their own work.

� Assessments classify or grade students’ achievement. It provides feedback tostudents so they can learn from mistakes, build on achievements and theyenable students to correct errors and remedy deficiencies.

Furthermore, Gibbs and Habeshaw describe that only using one form of assessmentof students’ abilities or skill is not reasonable since students have different abilities.Therefore, teacher should give a variety of assessment methods so as to get reliableinformation about student learning. Doing so, students can be taken to highercognitive levels of bloom’s taxonomy.

4.2 Changing the Assessment method

In my lectures before I commenced the CTHE course, I did not use a continuousassessment method to assess student learning. The final examinations were used toassess what students have learned from my lectures. They must not have knownwhether they had learned and achieved learning outcomes of the lecture series


during that time. After participating in workshops of CTHE, I realized that it isnot the way of conducting classes. So I decided to change the way of assessingstudent learning.

I changed previous assessment process to continuous assessment process afterfollowing the CTHE course (See Appendix LA1, LA3). I have been using differ-ent types of assessment such as mini test (10 minutes), invite students to whiteboard, assigning a group discussion and ask one of them to evaluate what theyhave discussed.

SEDA Outcomes:



SEDA Values:


� SV6- The development of both people and educational processes and systems

4.2.1 Present Assessment Method in My Lectures

I have been conducting a class for third year industrial and statistics students.I introduced a new assessment process which has not been practiced by otherlecturers from our department. As I mentioned in one of previous chapters, I havebeen maintaining a course wiki site (www.fm3003.wikispaces.com) for my classin addition to face-to-face sessions. Students are asked to get in touch with thissite. Just after the lecture, I upload all materials such as an upcoming lecturenote, learning outcomes of upcoming lecture, and video lectures which are basedon upcoming lecture’s content to course wiki site so that students are able to gothrough all materials before coming to next lecture.

Since wikispaces is one of advanced tools, I can monitor anything that mystudents are doing after they log in to the system. So teacher can check whetherstudents involve their studies, go through materials and prepare for the cominglecture. Having this system, students are also able to interact with their peers andme as well.

Some students do not participate in dialogues or ask questions in the classbecause they are reluctant to appear in face-to-face. One of advantages of main-taining a web based resource is to give them an opportunity to clarify subjectmatters by asking questions through my wiki site even though they do not liketo ask questions in face-to-face. And the other thing is that both teacher andstudents have limited time for face-to-face session due to amount of materials cov-ered in the lecture. But we based system helps all students participate online classdiscussions. Not only that online discussions allows students to enter comments


whenever it is convenient for them, without waiting for someone else to finish thepoint they were trying to make.

I feel that as a lecturer, it is my responsibility to determine exactly what I ex-pect students to understand after completing my course, then to facilitate studentlearning so that every student reaches higher level. This perspective implies thatI can articulate learning outcomes to develop assessments that effectively measurethese learning outcomes, and have a support structure in place to help studentsreach this level of understanding. In addition, we know that different studentswill master the materials at different rates, and different students require differenttypes of assistance (examples, demonstrations, activities,....etc) to foster learning.In order to achieve my targets, I use a web based sessions which allowed me tomove many of basic instructional takes out of the classroom so that valuable classtime is available for more integrated, applied learning, in addition to face-to-facesessions.

Taking advantage of new technology, promoting the importance of teaching inthe community and helping students master the content - is crucial to a lecturerlong term effectiveness1.

4.3 Assessment Methods Which I Learned From

CTHE

4.3.1 Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is an active learning process that learner and students tocontinuously gather evidence of student learning with achievement of learningoutcomes.

Teacher and their students actively engage in formative assessment processwhen they work together to do the following (Brookhart, 2006 as cited in ConnieM. Moss)

� Focus on learning outcomes

� Take action to achieve learning outcomes

� Collect adequate information which is related to learning outcomes

The main purpose of formative assessment is to improve student learning, not toaudit it.

“Formative assessment is both an “instructional tool” that teachersand their students “use while learning is occurring” and “an account-ability tool” to determine if learning has occurred” (National Educa-tion Association, 2003 as cited in Connie M. Moss)

1SEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assess-ment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context, including use of appropriatetechnologies.


If you practice formative assessment process, the following three questions willguide you to do it.

� Where am I going?

� Where am I now?

� What strategies should I take so as to get to where I need to go?

In order to show students how to close the gap between where they are academ-ically and where they want to be, teachers have to help their students evaluatetheir progress in the learning process and give them explicit, descriptive feedbackspecific to the learning task. This is a continuous process. This continuous processof setting learning outcomes, assessing present level of understanding, and thentaking steps to narrow the distance between the two is the essence of formativeassessment. As soon as students achieve a learning outcome, another learningoutcome can be set and process continuous forward.

All and all, these three questions help teachers identify and use formativeassessment in their classroom. According to knowledge after referring literatureon formative assessment, above questions guide teachers

� Plan their lessons

� Monitor their teaching

� Help their students become self-regulated learners

Before the CTHE course, I felt that both I and my students were flying blindbecause formative assessment did not take place in my classroom. I could notpoint to strong evidence of what my students knew and where students were whileI was conducting my course before. Because of lack of evidence, I found it difficultto provide effective feedback that gives students a clear vision of their knowledgeand scaffold to next step. Thanks to CTHE course, I changed the way of teachingstudents and have been thinking of how I can assess my student learning. (seeappendix LA 03)

SEDA outcomes:



SEDA values:




Effects on Teacher Quality

“Unless professional learning experiences help teachers examine theirworking assumptions about how students learn and how good teachingsupports learning, they will not meaningful changes in their teachingpractices” (Moss, 2002; Schreiber, Moss, & Staab, 2007 as cited inConnie M. Moss).

Armed with this new assessment technique, teachers begin to collect and use strongevidence of exactly what works and exactly what does not work in their classroomwith their students. They tend to examine their own knowledge, and practicesduring each day, during each lesson, during the entire course. So they becomekeenly aware of exactly where they need to focus their change and improvementand efforts so as to raise student achievement.

Effect on Student Learning

When students are assessed formatively, students can obtain many benefits. Stu-dents learn the material effectively so they master it and grow into self-awarelearners who can tell you exactly what they did to get to exactly where they are.They are getting evidence about their own learning and to use that informationto achieve learning outcomes.

Even though formative assessment enhances learning for all students, it helpslow achievers more than other students and so reduce the range of achievement,while raising achievement overall (Black & Wiliam, 1998 as cite in Connie M.Moss)

Building Teacher and Students Bond

Through quality formative assessment process, interrelation between teacher andstudents can be improved. Both parts work together to obtain information aboutthe strength and weakness of their performances. They do this by talking withone another, planning with one another, comparing evidence of learning, andmeasuring their achievements. In nutshell, formative assessment fundamentallychanges the quality and quality of teacher - student interactions.

After carrying out formative assessment process, I realized that the teacher -student bond is stronger than before. I have been assessing their preparation forthe lecture, how far they have achieved learning outcomes of previous lecture,...etc.Students tend to ask me more questions so as to clear their doubts. Because ofweb based resource system, they have an opportunity to post their problem onthe discussion threads. Going through these discussions made by students, I caneasily assess, whether my students have obtained learning outcomes.

SEDA outcomes:





SEDA values:



Placing Formative Assessment & Learning Cycle

Figure 4.1: Kolb’s four stage learning cycle

Source: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com

It is better to use this kolb’s learning cycle, when you assess student learningformatively. According to this learning cycle, formative assessment can be seenas an example of concrete experience, like a change that we would plan for ourlearners. The process of feedback and evaluation can be seen as observations andreflective and forming abstract concepts. The learner will have to consider thefeedback that he or she receives and with support of the teacher or learner inorder to decide what to do next.

It is vital for a math teacher to know how students approach the problems andwhat their mathematical background is and what their levels are, when they aregiven a mathematical problem, in particular when you set an exam paper. Know-ing these things, teacher can give students a hand to overcome their difficultiesand also to improve their learning.

4.3.2 Summative Assessment

Formative assessment is an assessment for learning, and summative assessment isan assessment of learning. Summative assessment is used to know what learnershave achieved during the program at the end of a course. Their teacher as wellas students are able to know if students have acquired knowledge, skills, learningoutcomes,...etc. It gives an overall view of performance.


4.3.3 Encouraging Student Motivation Through Assess-ment

Teacher is responsible to engage his/her students in their learning activity. It isno secret that students learn best when they are actively engaged in their ownlearning. So teacher must develop self-regulated learners who set their own goals,strategies to reach those goals. We have to motivate students to make decisionsabout what they should do, so next, or stop doing so as to improve their learning.Without teacher’s motivation, many students lack their skills and they are unableto succeed their academic life at university.

The assessment process boosts consistent and continuous focus on helping stu-dents learning how to learn and strengthen the learning partnership between stu-dents and their teacher.

Goal Setting Affects Student Learning & Achievement

Goal setting is a crucial element of assessment process. It influences learning andgenerate motivation to learn in following ways.

1. By providing learning outcomes that students can see and understand

2. By helping students gather information about how they and doing in pursuitof that target.

I give learning outcomes for every lecture in advance so that students know theoutcomes that they have to achieve before coming to next class and access all learn-ing materials (lecture notes, video lectures,...) which were uploaded to course wikisite. All they need to do is achieve all learning outcomes of up coming lecture asmuch as they can. To do that they are encouraged to stream video lectures whichare very easy to understand and have easy explanation. This attempt has workedvery well in my class. All students come to the class with a good preparation. Mystudents set a goal that they try to obtain the learning outcomes in advance asmuch as they can.

SEDA outcomes:



An assessment process engages teachers in thinking about what the importantconcepts are and guides them to be aware of what their students currently knowand understand. Goal setting helps students focus on the important parts ofthe learning task as they make decisions about what to pay attention to, howto monitor their thinking, and which strategy to select in order to succeed. Inparticular, goal setting helps students learn how to learn in four main ways (Locke & Lathm, 1990 as cited in Connie M. Moss)


1. Goals focus student attention on the learning task and the learning target.Students who set goals tied to the learning target focus on what is importantand essential to success and are less likely to be pulled off course.

2. Goals stimulate appropriate student effort. Students learn to judge the de-gree and type of effort they will need to accomplish their goals, expendingmore effort to reach a more challenging goal.

3. Goals increase student persistence. With a clear and realistic goal in mind,students are more likely to attempt a challenging task, and should they fallshort, they are more likely to choose a more effective strategy and try again.

4. Goals increase a students desire and capacity to learn new strategies. Stu-dents who monitor their progress toward their goals look for and try newstrategies that will help them more effectively reach their goals.

4.4 Principles of Effective Assessment

Assessment is very important for quality of not only teaching but also learning inhigher education. This provides for students to self-regulated, rehearse, practiceand receive feedback.

There are three objectives for quality in students assessment in higher education.

1. assessment that guides and encourages effective approaches to learning.

2. assessment that validly and reliably measures expected learning outcomes,in particular the higher-order learning that characterizes higher education.

3. assessment and grading that defines and protects academic standards.

Since assessment requirements literally define the curriculum for students. Assess-ment is a powerful tool for educators with which to spell out the learning that willbe rewarded and to guide students into effective approaches to study.

Checklist for quality in students assessment

1. Assessment is treated by staff and students as an integral and prominentcomponent of the entire teaching and learning process rather than a finaladjunct to it.

2. The multiple roles of assessment are recognized. The powerful motivatingeffect of assessment requirements on students is understood and assessmenttasks are designed to foster valued study habits.

3. There is a faculty/departmental policy that guides individuals assessmentpractices. Subject assessment is integrated into an overall plan for courseassessment.

4. There is a clear alignment between expected learning outcomes, what istaught and learnt, and the knowledge and skills assessed there is a closedand coherent curriculum loop.


5. Assessment tasks assess the capacity to analyze and synthesis new informa-tion and concepts rather than simply recall information previously presented.

6. A variety of assessment methods is employed so that the limitations of par-ticular methods are minimized.

7. Assessment tasks are designed to assess relevant generic skills as well assubject-specific knowledge and skills.

8. There is a steady progression in the complexity and demands of assessmentrequirements in the later years of courses.

9. There is provision for student choice in assessment tasks and weighting atcertain times.

10. Student and staff workloads are considered in the scheduling and design ofassessment tasks.

11. Excessive assessment is avoided. Assessment tasks are designed to samplestudent learning.

12. Assessment tasks are weighted to balance the developmental (formative) andjudgemental (summative) roles of assessment. Early low-stakes, low-weightassessment is used to provide students with feedback.

13. Grades are calculated and reported on the basis of clearly articulated learn-ing outcomes and criteria for levels of achievement.

14. Students receive explanatory and diagnostic feedback as well as grades.

15. Assessment tasks are checked to ensure there are no inherent biases thatmay disadvantage particular student groups.

16. Plagiarism is minimized through careful task design, explicit education andappropriate monitoring of academic honesty.

Source: http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/05/

4.5 Assessing My Teaching

4.5.1 Assessing Self to Know My Dark Impulses

In order to assess aspects that are important to my teaching career at university,self-assessment is a process of discovering my teaching. This helps me motivate tofind information about my teaching to confirm uncertain self-concept rather thancertain self-concept. It helps enhance my teaching.


Why Self-Assessment need

Andrade describes the importance of needing self-assessment as follows.

� Engaging students in the formulation of criteria for self -assessment taskshelps them to deepen their understanding of what constitutes quality out-comes in a specified area.

� Self-assessment emphasizes the formative aspects of assessment.

� Self-assessment practices align well with the shift in the higher education.literature from a focus on teacher performance to an emphasis on studentlearning.

� Self-evaluation encourages reflection on one’s own learning.

� Self-assessment tasks shift the focus from something imposed by someoneelse to a potential partnership.

� If a student can identify his/her learning progress, this may motivate furtherlearning.

� Further learning is only possible after the recognition of what needs to belearned.

� Self-assessment can accommodate diversity of learners’ readiness, experienceand backgrounds.

� Self-assessment tasks encourage student ownership of the learning.

� Self-assessment can promote learner responsibility and independence.

� Self-assessment encourages a focus on process.

4.5.2 Validity and Reliability of Assessment

“Validity of a test is its ability to measure what it is supposed to measure. Analigned, or properly criterion-referenced assessment task is valid, a non-alignedone is invalid.”

The reliability can be defined in two types; inter and intra-judge reliability.

� The same person would make the same judgment about the same perfor-mance on two different occasions.

� Different judges would make the same judgment about the same performanceon the same occasion.

Then the judges should know clearly the framework of judgments and how to useit (Biggs & Tang, 1999).


4.5.3 Self-Assessment and Reflection

As I am trying to be a reflective practitioner, it is vital for me to periodicallyreflect and evaluate my effectiveness as a lecturer at University of Colombo. IfI understand my strengths and weakness, I can be an effective lecturer for mystudents. (see Appendix A.6) SEDA outcomes:


SEDA values:



Through self-assessment, I reaffirm that learning is a never ending process. Throughself-evaluation, I can understand in greater depths my own individual learning andteaching styles, as well as recognize the need to keep up with the time and tech-nology (see course web site www.fm3003.wikispaces.com). A teacher’s strengthsas an educator are paralleled by his/her strengths as a student. Ultimately this re-flection process leads to the development of various strategies that help me becomea more effective academic.

“Getting better at teaching is a lifelong task. Becoming a competentteacher takes rather longer. You will never stop learning if you keepan open and enquiring mind, and developing your teaching can bea fascinating and rewarding process. If you stop reflecting on yourteaching then you may well get worse” (Gibbs and Habeshaw 1989)

4.5.4 Peer Assessment

This is one of very important methods if I want to improve my teaching but Idid not have any experience about peer review of my teaching. During the CTHEcourse, I tended to invite one of lecturers from our department to observe my2-hour-lecture. This is a great opportunity to recognize my drawbacks, as well asstrengths (see Appendix A.6).

“Students are often reluctant to give their teacher direct feedback,usually because they are afraid of the effect it may have on their marks.In such situations, it can be useful to have a neutral outsider involvedin the appraisal of teaching”( Gibbs , Habeshaw and Habeshaw, 1987).

I kindly requested to Ms G.N. Karunathunge, assistant lecturer, to observe mylecture. Before tat, I personally met her and let her know my course’s web siteand course materials in order to review and come to observe my lecture.


The significance of this method is that most of time, we are unable to recognizeour mistakes, even though we are ready to accept those.

“We often get so close to our own teaching that we do not noticethe assumptions that we have made and the choices that we haveoverlooked. It can be very helpful to involve others in reviewing yourteaching.” (Gibbs and Habeshaw 1989)

While Ms Karunathunge was assessing my lecture, she was filling out an ques-tionnaire which was provided before the lecture. I also gave her a copy of courseoutline plan before the lecture. I also asked her to make additional comments withsuggestions to improve my teaching. After assessing my lecture, we met and talkedabout how I did my lecture, what I should need to give special consideration toovercome drawbacks, and she shared her experience about her teaching with me.The bottom line is that peer review is an effective way of improving the qualityof teaching and we can also share different approaches of teaching among lecturers.

The document of her comments has been attached to the Appendix A.6.1.

Her positive feedback was summarized below

� Providing web resources before the lecture

� Giving lecture breaks

� Giving questions after clearing doubts

She have made more good comments about my teaching. I now focus on the weakpoints and the suggested improvements. Those are summarized as follows:

� When I used the white board, I jumbled equations written on the board.

� Sometimes I sped my pace.

To overcome the first drawback, I will pay more attention to my board work. Ishould keep it clean and clear.

I have got feedback from tutor and peer of the CTHE course for learning agree-ment 04 (see Appendix A.4). Time allocation for lecture break should be reduced.I used to give 5 minutes for lecture breaks. By reducing this time period to 1minute, I would be able to manage the pace well which is easy to catch subjectmatters, throughout the lecture.

SEDA outcomes:


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4.5.5 Getting Students Feedback

There are several ways to get feedback from students. One of them is a goodquestionnaire. It is effective to some degree. Analyzing student feedback is veryimportant than collecting feedback from students.

“We teach students and they are stakeholders of the learning process.So they have a right to evaluate us and also they may have goodideas, suggestions to improve the learning process. If we teach in away that they cannot understand the whole effort we make to teachis unproductive. Therefore giving them an opportunity to evaluate usor sort of getting their feedback about our teaching in their point ofview will be benefited to them as well as for us.” (Gibbs and Habeshaw-1989)

The current practice in our department to get the student feedback is use of thestandard course evaluation questionnaire (see Appendix A.10). It is supposed tobe given at the end of each course.

I gave both student feedback forms (form, which is used in our department andform which I made in order to see the progress of the changes that I have donedue to CTHE course.) to students. I gave scores to each of the response on a scaleof strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). After that, I averaged everything.The table, which was used to see the progress of changes I have done, is shownbelow.


Table 4.1: Progress of Changes I have donech


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4.6 SOLO Taxonomy

John.B.Biggs and another Australian educational psychologist invented the SOLOtaxonomy. SOLO stands for Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes. Itis classifying learning outcomes in terms of its quality not of how many bits ofthis and of that they got right (Biggs & Tang, 2003). The SOLO is arrangedhierarchical manner where one level of understanding leads to the other. This isclaimed to be applicable to any subject areas. The SOLO taxonomy is clearlyexplained in following figure.

Figure 4.2: SOLO Taxonomy

Source:http://teaching.unsw.edu.au/aligning-assessment-learning-outcomes

4.6.1 Pre-Structural

Students at this level are simply very low and might miss the main point. Theyuse repetition to cover the lack of understanding.

4.6.2 Unistructural

They can handle to some extend than students who are in pre-structural.


4.6.3 Multistructural

Students at this level present many facts, but those are not structured and theydo not address the key issues at the same time.

4.6.4 Relational

When this level is reached the understanding consists of more than a list of detailand addresses the point that make sense in relation to the topic as a whole.

4.6.5 Extended Abstract

The students are making connections not only within the given subject area, butalso beyond it, able to generalize and transfer the principles and ideas underlyingthe specific instance.

4.7 Different Types of Assessment

4.7.1 Take Home Assignments

This type of assignment is not distorted by immediate time limitations, or by theneed to rely on memory. It allows for deeper learning; students can consult moresources and with that a deeper knowledge synthesizes more effectively. However,plagiarism is easier. The take-home with shorter time limits, often overnight makesplagiarism a little more difficult.(Biggs & Tang,1999)

4.7.2 Open Book Assignments

Students can use their lecture notes, text books for answering to problems of openbook assignment. They do not need to memorize all details. When they are goingto write answers, it takes more time. Theoretically students should be able tothink about higher-level things than getting the facts down. Practically they needto be very well organized, otherwise they waste time tracking down too manysources.

4.7.3 Objective Formats of Tests

There are several forms of objective tests some tests may provide answers withtwo alternatives, several alternatives where students have to choose the correctone. It can be a filling in blanks, diagrams or completing sentences.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)

This is the most widely used objective test. Multiple choice tests assess declarativeknowledge, usually in terms of the least demanding process, recognition. Probablythe worst feature is these tests encourage the use of game playing strategies, byboth student and the teacher.


Ordered Outcome Tests

This test looks like multiple choice but instead of one correct alternative out ofthe four or so provided; the student is required to attempt all sub-items. Thesub-items are ordered into a hierarchy of complexity that reflects successive stagesof learning.(Biggs & Tang,1999)

4.7.4 Performance Test

By using one of these kind of tests, students can be assess very quickly.

Seminars, Presentations

The class presentation is evaluated in terms of what content is conveyed, and howwell. Here the focus is on declarative understanding, the students declaring totheir peers. The seminar if used carefully, offers good opportunities for formativediscussion, and peer assessment both formative and summative. Student presen-tations are best for functioning rather than declarative knowledge. Peer input canbe highly appropriate in this case. The poster presentation follows the well knownconference format. A student or group of students displays their work according toan arranged format during a poster session. This provides excellent opportunitiesfor peer-assessment and for fast feedback.(Biggs, 1999)

4.7.5 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)

The following techniques aimed at individuals can easily be used without inter-rupting the flow of the class.

Background Knowledge Probe

It is important to have general idea about student background and preparation formy course. Background knowledge probes are simple questionnaires about thingsstudents have to know in order to succeed in the course. Asking questions canhelp highlight important concepts for students and inform the teacher about thestudents’ knowledge and abilities as well.

One Minute Paper

This is a highly effective technique for checking student progress, both in under-standing the material and in reacting to course material. The way of practicingthis technique is that the teacher stops class two or three minutes early and askstudents to respond briefly the following questions.

� What was the most important thing you have learned during the lecture?

� What important question remains unanswered for you?

This is one of most effective and easiest assessments to check student learning.When students try to answer to above two questions, they have to recall every-thing that they have learned. To select the most information, students have toevaluate what they recall. This will help students learn to focus more on what


they learn (see Appendix A.1).

SEDA values:


Clarification Pauses

This is a simple technique aimed at fostering “active learning”. Throughout alecture, particularly after stating an important point or defining a key concept,stop, let it sink in, and then (after waiting a bit ) ask if anyone needs to have itclarified. I go around the class during these pauses to look at a student notes,answer questions, etc. Students who would never ask a question in front of thewhole class will ask questions during a clarification pause as I move around theclassroom.

4.8 Change I Have Done During the CTHE

After participating CTHE course, I learned about how assessment is importantto conduct a lecture. Without it, I cannot imagine how far the students haveunderstand the lesson. From students’ side, they may not know where they arenow and what steps they should take to achieve learning goals of entire course.

Because of CTHE, I had a chance to learn about importance of giving learningoutcomes and benefits of giving them prior to the lecture. In order to achievelearning outcomes of the lecture beforehand, I built an innovative method (main-taining a web based resource in addition to face-to-face sessions) which is newto our department (see appendix screen shots of wiki site). By using it, in everysession I evaluated whether the students are in a good touch with lessons and alsogave grades for their assignments (recap session’s mini tests) to them to knowwhether they had achieved learning outcomes and if not, what steps they shouldtake to achieve them.

4.9 Summing it up

Assessment is an essential part of the teaching and learning process. This chaptermainly describes theoretical and practical aspects of assessment, and an innovativechange I have done to assess student learning. By following the CTHE course,I have learned so many new assessment techniques. I applied the most of thosetechniques in my teaching. And results were included in this chapter.



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SEDA Values:





� SV6- The development of both people and educational processes and sys-tems.

Chapter 5

Being an Effective Academic


� Identify how you deal with documents.

� Identify how I manage my time.

� Recognize what steps I have taken to meet portfolio submission’s deadline.

� Identify manage lesson outline plan.

� Recognize my professional development plan.

� Recognize how I manage my workload by giving priorities.

� Identify my research skills.

5.1 Introduction

In previous chapters, I have been discussing about various strategies I have used inorder to improve my teaching, student learning, and student assessment methods.Being an effective academic is not an easy task. The effective academic has goodreading, writing, listening skills in addition to good management and organizationskills. I believe that an effective academic is not only a great lecturer, but the wayhe/she contributes to the development of the students apart from academic workis also very important. The contribution for the university development helps alot make an effective academic. he/she should take necessary steps in order todevelop hisself/herself as well.

5.2 Self-Organization

“Being organized does not mean being tidy, does not mean payingattention to detail, does not mean constricting yourself and stiflingyour creativity, and it does not mean that you are a certain type of aperson. Being organized is not about diaries, filing cabinets and so on,it is about you and your work. It is about you being effective in yourwork.” ( Leslie Johnson)

63

CHAPTER 5. BEING AN EFFECTIVE ACADEMIC 64

Before thinking about development of students or university system, we shouldbe self-organized individuals. Otherwise we cannot be an effective academics inour university. Since I have only one month to submit my portfolio, I have beenmaintaining a “To-Do-List” so as to meet the deadline of portfolio submission.This is very important to me to have tenure.

“Your To Do list is very important as it helps you do deal with things inorder of priority and frees you from the very real stress and inefficiencyinduced through having to remember what to do.”( Leslie Johnson)

I had never maintained a To-Do-List until it remained one month to submit theportfolio. After realizing its importance, I started maintaining a To-Do-List byusing a computer software called “Swift To-Do List 8”. This computer softwarehelps me show all necessary task on the computer screen which need to be carriedout and not to skip deadlines for important tasks from my mind. It also encouragesme to do the things on time.

Since I use computer all the time and can see its screen throughout the day, itconvinces me to stick to its schedule. Because of my work prioritized and done ontime due to this valuable tool, I can experience more free time too (see AppendixA.8).

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5.2.1 Dealing with Documents

As a lecturer, I always have to work with papers, letters, documents, files, books,...etc. Well organizing these items is very important for day to day work. When Iwas reading the book “Being an Effective Academic” of Leslie Johnson, I foundan idea about how to organize stuff (files, documents,...etc) in a proper manner. Ifirst started separating documents I had got and put the same category documentsinto a file. I found a lot of documents that should go into garbage can as well.I came to know from the book of Leslie Johnson that keeping an in-file is muchmore convenient in addition to maintain separate files for different categories ofdocuments than maintaining separate files. Having not been maintaining an in-file, I encountered lots of difficulties earlier. When I was busy, if I received a somekind of document, I used to put it into a file without much consideration. Sohaving been practicing this bad habit, I faced many troubles when retracing thatdocument.


How I practice this new strategy that I learned from the book of Leslie Johnsonis that when I receive a new document, I put it into the in-file without consider-ing anything at that time. To go through documents inside the in-file, I give aparticular time in every week. So I go through this in-file every Tuesday morning(normally I do not have lectures on Tuesday) and put the documents into relevantfiles. This habit helps me a lot to keep my desk clean and to find any documentvery quickly.

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5.3 Task Classification

Many important tasks that give richness and meaning to life, do not tend to acton us. Because they are not “urgent”, they are the task that we have to act on.In order to focus on the issues of urgency and importance more effectively, I amgoing to explain one of task classification methods, I have learned from the CTHEcourse.

All tasks can be divided into two categories as important and not-important.When it comes to important tasks, they directly contribute to the achievementsof objectives. There is no task, which is both important and not-important. Seethe following figure.

Figure 5.1: Important and Not-Important Classification

Urgent and not-urgent is another classification. “A task is urgent, if failure tocomplete it by a certain time will cancel or reduce the benefits of doing it”. Thefollowing figure shows classification of urgent and not-urgent tasks.


Figure 5.2: Urgent and Not-Urgent Classification

Combining both above figures, we can then get the time management matrix,which is very useful in our life.

Figure 5.3: Time Management Matrix

Source: http://aimcfo.com/triage-for-business-issues/time-management-matrix/

5.3.1 How I map my tasks into quadrants

As I mentioned before, I use a To-Do-List to prioritize my daily tasks as well aslifelong tasks by determining which quadrant it is in.

Quadrant I

Quadrant I represents tasks that both urgent and important. These tasks go atthe top of To-Do-List. These must be achieved as soon as possible and are veryimportant. My real life tasks, which are in quadrant I, are listed below.

� Complete my portfolio and submit it on or before December 3, 2013

� Set the exam paper for my lecture


� Delivering my lectures

� Assessing student learning

� Attend department meetings

� Emergencies such as taking my baby (she is still 7 months years old) tohospital if she’s caught cold

I want to note that we need to spend time in quadrant I. This is where we manage,where we produce, where we bring our experience to bear in responding to manyneeds and challenges. If you ignore tasks in quadrant I, we would ruin our lives.And if we procrastinate some tasks which are important and not urgent, it willthen become very urgent, later.

Quadrant II

Quadrant II includes activities that are “important, but not urgent.” This is thequadrant of quality. If we do not pay more attention to tasks in quadrant II, wehave to encounter a lot of bad situations down the road. Some of my real life tasksin quadrant II are listed below.

� Earn a doctoral degree in my field

� Get confirmation of my position

� Complete my M.Phil

� Develop interpersonal skills

� Exercise and trim my belly fat

� Find the best school in Sri Lanka for my kid

It is vital to know that investing in this quadrant shrinks quadrant I. Planning,preparing, and prevention keep many thing from becoming urgent. Quadrant IIdoes not act upon us, we must act on it.

Quadrant III

The quadrant III includes things that are “urgent, but not important”. This is thequadrant of deception. The activities included in this quadrant are only importantto someone else.

� Phone calls and emails

� Drop in visitors

� My favorite singer’s concert

� Many interruptions

� Some meetings


Quadrant IV

Quadrant IV is reserved for those activities that are “not urgent and not impor-tant”. If you are involved in activities in this quadrant, you will waste your time.Of course, we should not really be here at all.

� Gossiping with my department colleagues

� Watching tele dramas excessively

� Stopping by friend’s place

� Spending fruitless hours at neighbor’s place

Tasks can also be categorized as progress and maintenance by considering theoutput of the tasks. A progress task is one which will move you towards a position,which is better than the one you are in now. A maintenance task is one whichwill move you towards a position equivalent to the one you are already in. Theyare mutually exclusive, as shown in the following diagram.

Figure 5.4: Progress and Maintenance categorizations

5.4 Handling an Unpleasant Situation

When I was reading the book “Being an Effective Academics” of Leslie Johnson, Ifound important facts about how to handle an unpleasant situation. I will explainit briefly in point form.

� Do not attack personally

� Control your facial expressions and body language

� Do not avoid or delay

� Summarize what has been agreed

And how to create a positive environment, when you face these kind of unpleasantsituations.


� Keep confidence

� Keep your temper - best way to win an argument is to avoid it

� Handling your moods - delay taking actions/decisions when you are in a badmood

� Correcting the mistakes of others - be pleasant as we can

� Dealing with complaints - listen to the complaint with full attention

� Avoiding distractive behavior

5.5 Developing My Professional Career

First of all I would like to thank the CTHE course, as I learned a lot from it,within a short time span. I started the course, as it was compulsory in gettingconfirmation of my probationary lecturer post. But, I am now happy that it wascompulsory as I could gain a lot of experiences and meet a lot of lecturers (bothsenior and probationary) from island wide universities because of following of theCTHE course. I am glad to say that I attend all CTHE workshops except 3workshops which were missed because I had to attend a conference at KathmanduUniversity, Nepal since my advisor desperately wanted me to present a paper atthe conference.

I obtained the membership of Sri Lanka Association for Improving Higher Ed-ucation Effectiveness (SLAIHEE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Re-search & Development Center for Mathematical Modeling (CM2). The last twoassociations help me improve my research skills and the first association helps medevelop my professional career.

We are going to organize an international conference on mathematical modelingwhich will be held on March 13 and 14, 2014. This will be hosted by Research andDevelopment Center for Mathematical Modeling, Department of Mathematics,University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. We invite researchers from all around theworld, who are interested in exploring and sharing knowledge and skills related tomathematical modeling.

Through working in these societies, we are able to recognize individuals, whowork in the same area and who are major figures in mathematics field. Obtainingthe membership of above associations, enables me not only to improve researchskills, but also to develop my career as a university academic.

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SEDA Values:



5.5.1 Present role I play as a lecturer

Teaching for undergraduate

� Calculus III - FM 3003 for third year industrial and statistics students. Thecourse web site :www.fm3003.wikispaces.com

Apart from teaching, setting, moderating, and grading exam papers and continu-ously assessing my class are the duties I usually perform.

My M.Phil Work

I have been reading an M.Phil (see Appendix C.8) in dengue transmission undersupervision of Dr. Sunjeewa Perera, Department of Mathematics, University ofColombo. I had a chance to participate in a few workshops and conferences.

Let me introduce why I was motivated to carry out my research work. Whenit comes to dengue, it has become a global threatening disease nowadays. Espe-cially in Sri Lanka, it usually occurs as an epidemic following monsoon seasons.Since no specific medical treatment or vaccine is available, it is essential to controltransmission of dengue and reduce its spread. To understand its propagation, Istarted learning dengue transmission by using mathematical models. The benefitsof my research to the local, national and international community are numerous.My advisor has been encouraging me to disseminate the research results at manyconferences as much as possible.

SEDA Values:


5.5.2 Getting Published my papers and attending work-shops

I have published several papers while I was pursuing a master’s degree programin Korea, and have been reading the M.Phil (see Appendix C.8) in addition tofollowing the CTHE course. Recently, I presented a paper in extended abstractform for annual research symposium 2013 at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka,which was held on October 04, 2013 on the topic “Modeling the Transmissionof Dengue with Varying Extrinsic Incubation Period of Mosquitoes”. At the endof my presentation, my abstract was published (Appendix C.4). I gave anothertalk about my current research work at a conference at Kathmandu University,on September 10, 2013. In addition to conference, we participated in a 13-day-workshop on Partial Differential Equations (see Appendix C.3.1).

The experiences I had obtained through these presentations were tremendous.How to write papers, how to cope with time at the presentation, how to handlequestions from an audience other than students were some of experiences I hadwhen I presented papers at conferences. I also had a lot of opportunities toparticipate in workshops. One of them was a workshop which was held on March23, 2013 at University of Ruhuna (see Appendix C.3.2). It was a good opportunity


to participate in this workshop. I gained the experience of working with a lot ofexperts and industrial personal in Sri Lanka. One of activities of the workshop wasthat each industrial representative brought up his/her issue that his/her companyhad encountered and has been finding a solution to. So, we had to find the bestsolutions based on our mathematical knowledge to their problems. This was anamazing experience, I had.

I also attended a conference which was organized by Staff Development Center,University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Association for Improving HigherEducation Effectiveness (SLAIHEE). The main theme of the conference was todevelop skills in university lecturers and students.

SEDA Values:


5.6 Establishing a Lesson Plan

Before the CTHE course, I did not use a lesson plan in my class. But the CTHEcourse encouraged me to use a lesson plan for each lesson. Sticking to a lessonplan allows me to conduct my class or teaching with responsibility, knowing thatwhat I teach is both effective and correct. Having a lesson plan is like having acomplete and clear visualization of how a learning session is to take place and howstudents are able to grasp and retain lesson concepts. According to my knowledge,gathered from CTHE, I feel that without a lesson plan, this visualization processis blurred at best and the learning outcomes that will be generated, will be farfrom ideal.

I simply need to visualize daily lesson in advance and build the most appro-priate teaching strategies into a comprehensive lesson plan. Otherwise, going toclass without adequate preparation will most like to be detrimental to both meand my students.

Effective planning of lessons is highly important and some of the benefits are:

� Assist me in organizing my ideas as well as the way intend to have thestudent interact with those ideas

� Assist me with better time management

� Assist me in conducting instructions smoothly to meet the needs of mystudents

� Assist me in making assessments of how well the students learn, as well ashow much they have learned

SEDA Outcomes:



Table 5.1: Lesson Planch


5.7 Create a Schedule For My Tasks

In one of CTHE workshops, we were watched a video clip, which was about how toachieve goals effectively. We were taught by that video clip that being in quadrantII of time management matrix is vital to raise our lives into high standard. Itrequires creating a framework for effective decision making throughout our life.Most of us do not spend much of our time for important activities, delegating,canceling, postponing them. However, the key is not to prioritize our schedule,but to schedule our priorities. We consider goals of quadrant II represent “bigrocks” and other activities represent small pebbles. We are now going to put allstuff (big rocks and small pebbles) into a pitcher, which is shown in the followingfigure.

Figure 5.5: Filling Pitcher with both big rocks and small pebbles

If you put small pebbles in first, and then try to fit the big rocks in, as you seethe following figure.

Figure 5.6: Filling with pebbles in first, and then big rocks

You will end up making a pretty big mess in the process as they will not fit.But if you know what the big rocks are and put them in first, as many as we can


and the small pebbles fit in between the spaces, regardless of what else actuallydoes fit in, the big rocks - our quadrant II goals - are in first. It is illustrated inthe following figure.

Figure 5.7: perfectly fit all stuff into the pitcher

5.7.1 Scheduling Everything

One approach to improving my time management skills is to schedule everythingI need to do on a day like an appointment. Schedule everything from havingbreakfast, driving to work, and going to bed. The power of scheduling everythingis that I am able to see how long certain tasks can take. This rigid schedule alsohelps keep me moving from task to task quicker.

A simple schedule is given as table (5.2). In the table, I, NI, U, NU, P, andM represent important, not-important, urgent, not-urgent, progress, and mainte-nance respectively.


Table 5.2: Daily Schedulec yh o

Insert the Table?????????


The table (5.2) represents my daily time schedule. Normally, I allocate from09.30 to 11.30, 12.30 - 14.00, and 14.30 - 16.00 for my research work unless Ihave a lecture. If I have a lecture, I then take these periods to prepare and self-evaluate of my lectures. After the lecture, I normally prepare lecture note byusing LaTeX software for up coming lecture and upload them to course wiki site(www.fm3003.wikispaces.com). I always try my best to stick to this schedule. Iallocate a time slot from 15.15 to 16.00 for considering other work such as helpingother’s work, office hours for my students. This schedule supports me to showothers how busy I am and it encourages others to be self dependent.

Since I am a little bit chubby, I must get some exercises so as to improve myhealth condition. So I have allocated a time slot for going for an evening walkonce I get home. I try to stick to this schedule as much as I can.

SEDA Outcomes:



SEDA Values:



5.8 Being an Effective Person in All Area

5.8.1 Overcoming Procrastination

In one of CHTE’s workshops I had a chance to learn about procrastination. Letme define what procrastination is.

Procrastination The act of postponing or delaying an action to late time.

For instance, you have been given 30 days to complete your portfolio. Yet you didnot even start on it until the day before its due. This is called procrastination.According to what I learned from CTHE about procrastination, it devastatesone’s productivity, and kills his or her dreams. Let me explain this in a practicalsense. If you put off cleaning your home, you will eventually be living in a mess,not to mention the health issues that can arise from poor maintenance. If youprocrastinate any task which is important but not urgent (ie. that task is includedin quadrant II of the time management matrix), it will be shifted into quadrantI of the time management matrix by procrastinating. I experienced this whenI was submitting draft chapters of portfolio. I have partially completed only 3chapters so far, but another 3 chapters have to be completed, while it remainsonly 1 month. Now, writing chapters has been shifted into quadrant I because ofmy procrastination.


Earlier, I believed that procrastination is something that just happens withoutany human effort or contribution. This is not true after learning about procras-tination from the CTHE course. From above my experience, I felt that I had toactively participate in order to procrastinate. I definitely know that I must submitmy portfolio on or before December 03, 2013. I think I was actively participatingin and could have been causing my own failure. I now learned from my experiencethat I do not let procrastination kill my dreams of being a success. I will completemy portfolio before third of December. Yes I will!

Taking the necessary action, when required to is the only solution for procras-tination. Due to procrastination, I felt that I was left feeling guilty and depressedat time.

“I will always feel better after I get things done” - my own quote

Let me discuss about consequence of procrastination. There are many consequenceof procrastination. Here I will list a few of them according to my experience. Ihad

� Missing deadlines

� Poor performance

� Problem in career

� Tardiness

� Getting frequent headaches

� getting fear

� Lack of awareness

� Feeling overwhelmed

� Getting stress

5.8.2 How to Beat Procrastination

After I started preparing a To-Do-List, I have been planning my daily tasks. Thisis one of solutions in order to overcome procrastination. But here are a few morepoints to beat procrastination.

� Work out a schedule

� prioritize your tasks

� Create a To-Do-List and daily task list

� Do one task at a time

� Breaking the task down

� Get started quickly


� Commit to small bock of time

� Reward yourself

� Get your friends to help

I have understood that every time I procrastinate, it is like throwing away a lotteryticket that could have been a winner.

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrowjust as well” - Mark Twain

Source : CTHE handouts

SEDA Outcomes:


5.8.3 Presentation Skills

In one of CTHE’s workshops, we learned about presentation skills and we did apresentation about presentation panic. Let me first discuss about how to give anice presentation.

Presentation is a communication process of transmitting a message from thepresenter to the audience. The presenter can use different presentation aid, forinstance, flip charts, overhead projector, powerpoint presentation with the videobeamer, white board with marker pens, laser pointer, etc. Presentation can bedone in different circumstance in a more or less formal way.

As we are academics, we always have to deliver presentations. So we shouldknow to transmit our ideas to the audience effectively. When it comes to students,some of them are really fear to go in front of the class and deliver a talk. Notonly students, but may we also feel that feeling sometimes when we are not muchfamiliar with the topic. This is a common problem for most of people. This prob-lem is called presentation panic which was discussed in one of CTHE’s workshops.

Presentation fright can be really terrifying to some people. Many People havethe fear of the audience, they are afraid what will be if someone ask them adifficult problem. This causes nervousness, sweating, accelerated heartbeat, dizzi-ness,...etc.

Building presentation skills is vital for all of us. Presentation skills are a broadarea. It takes some time to develop this skill, for some people more, for the otherless time, depends on his or her talent.

The following tips help us deliver a presentation effectively.

� Talk naturally to your audience

� Vary the tone, pitch, and volume of your voice


� Make eye contact with your audience

� Prepare and structure your presentation carefully

� Learn to channel any nervous energy

� Answer to any questions as honestly and concisely as you can

Source: www.skillsyouneed.com

consider the following facts when you want to deliver a presentation without get-ting any panic

� In order to answer better to potential questions from the audience, you needto have a minimum of expertise in the area of presentation.

� Before presenting your topic, let your audience know the outcomes of yourtalk that they will be achieving at the end of your presentation.

� Your presentation needs to have a meaningful flow. When you make slides,just always prepare your slides with introduction, main, and conclusionparts.

� When you make slides for your presentation, make sure not to use more 3-4lines of text on the presentation slides, with maybe 1 photo.

� Exercise your presentation so that you get a feeling about it. Check all slidesbefore the presentation.

� Assess the time needed for your presentation and check the timing duringrehearsals.

� Moving around during your presentation helps you reduce your stress level.If you just stand still in one place, you will become invisible soon to youraudience.

� Use humor in your presentation. This can be planned or spontaneous, butwithin limits that will not change normal flow of your presentation.

� Asking questions from your audience makes the audience alert.

� Do not say something like “sorry about my presentation”. If you state thatyou apologize because you are not a good presenter, you are running yourcredibility before you even started. Even if you are a bit nervous, there isno reason to say that.

Source: www.my_introspective.com

SEDA Outcomes:



5.9 Building Good Reading, Writing, and Lis-

tening Skills

5.9.1 Building Listening Skills

Developing good listening skills is vital to improve our learning as well as teaching.Most people would say that listening is a very simple task for them and most ofthem would like to hear themselves talk. But listening is more than hearing. Thequestion is, with all the people talking, who is really listening to what is actuallybeing said?. The following tips will help build listening skills

Listening from Your Heart

According to my experience, empathy for individual speaking is another criticalfactor in developing listening skills.

Maintain Eye Contact and Provide Non-Verbal Cues

Speaker speaks verbally and non-verbally. Paying attention to both verbal andnon-verbal communications, listener is able to catch more things that speaker triesto transmit to listener. Maintain eye contact and recognize what speaker is tryingto say.

Write It Down

Since we are not like computers, we will forget after some time. It is vital to writeinformation down if you want to retain it later time.

Avoid Outside Distractions

When I go to a lecture, a workshop, or any meeting, I keep my phone switched offmode. This is a good practice to avoid distraction from other activities. Otherwise,I cannot concentrate on that activity.

Ask Clarifying Questions

If there are points which I cannot understand when listening to someone speaking,I ask questions to clarify the unclear points without disturbing his or her speech.

SEDA Outcomes:


5.9.2 Building Communication Skills

One of teaching methods of our CTHE course is group discussions in order toimprove our speaking skills. Building communication skills is a must for studentsto be able to communicate, what they know or think with others.


In order to have a good discussions in the classroom, teacher must provideproblems that have multiple solutions or methods of solutions. These kind ofproblems are best for stimulating discussions, creativity, and risk taking. I believethat assigning problems that have either multiple solutions or methods of solutionsto students is the best way of getting students thinking and communicating theirideas.

Debate is another way that teacher can provide their students with the oppor-tunity to practice their communication skills. I do not practice it in my classroom,but I give them group discussions and invite one of volunteers to the white boardto explain what their group have discussed. This allows me to really get a goodidea of what kind of conceptual knowledge students have about the given topic.

SEDA Outcomes:


Some Tips for Effective Communication

� Get interest in the people you are communicating with. Remember thatpeople are more attracted towards those who have interest in them and paymore attention to what they say.

� Be direct and not aggressive.

� Do not use jargons and acronyms, and also the technical terms, unless youare sure that your listeners do understand.

� Take time. Whether in the speech or in paper, rushing will make you seemnervous and unconfident.

� When you communicate with others, do not use lengthy sentences, instead,use short and simple sentences so listener is able to understand.

5.9.3 Building My Writing Skills

When it comes to developing my writing skills, the CTHE course has been givingme a hand to develop my writing skills. As you know, my major is mathematics.However, I am shaky in writing skills and not like someone who is mastering inArt, Sociology, Management. Somehow, CTHE course provided me to fix it tosome extend. But I still need to improve it. As an initial plan, I started readingsome nicely written frictions and in future, I hope to read more and more booksand to build my vocabulary, so as to write in an attractive way.

SEDA Outcomes:




5.10 Professional Development Plan

I am currently reading for a master of philosophy under supervision of Dr. San-jeewa Perera in addition to my department responsibilities and CTHE course.But because of CTHE’s heavy workload (completing portfolio) I have been con-centrating only on my portfolio, without thinking of any other things. I will givemy best effort to finish writing the portfolio before the deadline. Once I submitmy portfolio, my immediate goal is to finish my M.Phil (see Appendix C.8)andthen find PhD opportunities in a foreign country.

SEDA Outcomes:



SEDA Values:


5.10.1 My Goals and Values

Goals of my professional life can be divided into two separate categories as follows.

Long Term Goals

� Being a reflective practitioner

� wanting to be a prestigious professor in mathematics not only in Sri Lanka,but also in the world

� wanting my kid to be a prestigious scientist in NASA, USA

Short Term Goals

� To submit CTHE’s portfolio

� To get confirmation of my position

� To complete M.Phil by 2014

� To commence a PhD in 2014

My Personal Values are:

� carry out responsibilities with dedication

� hard working

� respecting others

� working towards institutional development


� having a great discipline

SEDA Outcomes:


5.10.2 My Future Plans and Improvements

Finding Higher Education Opportunities

I am not satisfied with my current education status and want to achieve my dreamof being a famous professor in the world. So I want to have a good foreign exposuremore than 4 or 5 years in order to improve my knowledge of my subject area, aswell as communication skills. Without a PhD from a reputed foreign university, Icannot obtain my satisfaction. After submitting my portfolio, I will find a betteruniversity to pursue my doctoral degree in mathematics.

Getting Improved My Presentation Skills

I have noticed that many participants of CTHE course had done their seminarpresentations in a very attractive way. Even during the CTHE course, they tookless time to prepare for their presentation and delivered it very nicely. This en-courages me to improve my presentation skills.

SEDA Outcomes:



SEDA Values:



Table 5.3: Professional Development Planch


5.11 Changes I have Done During CTHE

The CTHE course helped me organize not only my academic life, but also mypersonal life. As an academic, we have to know to deal with documents, keepingfiles in a proper manner, because we always deal with those things. we learneda lot about how administration of university system works, the way of collectingpoints for professorships, how many points we should collect to get professorship,and many things, which are important to know as an academic at a university.Managing time, giving the priorities of daily tasks according to time managementmatrix, and organizing my work in a proper way help me improve both academicand personal lives. Communication is a great tool to find out necessary informationand share the information. The CTHE course gave me a good chance to build mycommunication skills and share knowledge with academics of different disciplines.

5.12 Summary

In this chapter, I described about how I deal with my daily tasks in very organizedway, by using time management matrix and what strategies I use so as to do myprofessional duties very effectively. At the end of this chapter, I have discussedabout my future plans as well as goals.



SEDA Outcomes:







SEDA Values:



Chapter 6

Working as a Team andInterpersonal Skills

� Identify how our seminar group (F2) works together.

� Recognize how to build interpersonal skills.

� Identify how to build skills through group activities.

6.1 Introduction

In this chapter, I will discuss about group learning, how to build skills throughgroup work, how our seminar group work together, and my experience that Ihad through group learning. Group learning would benefit students with learningdifficulties, even though it could hinder bright students because those students willbe forced to learn at slower pace. And the other drawback of this group work is thatlow achievers always depend on high achievers and do not take any responsibilities.But low achievers have the opportunities to improve their knowledge than theyare learning independently.

6.2 Group Learning

When I was a student at the University of Colombo, most of my learning was doneas group learning. I was the high achiever of my group. So I had to take a lotof responsibilities such as working together as a team to understand our coursematerials, even though I could manage to study the material without other’s help,and teaching them what I learned from the lectures. Having been doing so, I was avery famous tutor among our group. So many of them only attended my tutorialclasses rather than participating lectures. All of my colleagues whom I taughtobtained good grades for their final examinations.

When it comes to my seminar group of CTHE, there were 6 members includingme in our group. All are coming from different fields such as Management, Soci-ology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics. We learned a lot from the CTHEcourse with discussing altogether. In order to work together even outside of theworkshops, I made a wiki site (www.cthef2.wikispaces.com) by using wikispaces.

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CHAPTER 6. WORKING AS A TEAM AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 89

Logging in to the system, we have been communicating one another about work-shop’s things, peer reviewing others’ learning agreements, and other things. Atthe beginning, most of girls in our group found it difficult to deal with this website, but later they became used to this web based environment and managed todo everything (how to upload their learning agreements, draft chapters,...etc tothis system )1.

According to Race 2000, there are lots of benefits that can be obtained throughsuccessful group learning by lecturers as well as students.

For Lecturers

� Find out more about students

� The students will be more successful learners

� Spend less time in explaining the same thing

� Have students who are not so depend on you

� The session can be more interesting

� can learn for the students

� can devote time to explore more useful problems

For Students

� Receive better explanation of things you do not understand

� Learn a lot by explaining to others

� Pick up other useful skills

� Get feedback as to how you learn

� It can be an enjoyable and a sociable experience

� Develop interpersonal skills

Now I would like to discuss about type of groups that I used during the lecturebreaks after tutor of the CTHE course suggested in learning agreement 04 me todo during the lecture breaks.

6.2.1 Type of Groups

Buzz Groups

Buzz groups are groups of pairs or threes formed to set a specific question or topicto be discussed for a minute or two. Buzz groups are named after the noise createdwhen such instructions are given. These groups can quickly tackle small tasks andeveryone is more likely to participate (Gibbs & Habeshaw, 1989)

1SEDA Values: SV3- Working in and developing learning communities, SEDA Outcomes:SO3- Undertake appropriate development activities.


Syndicate Groups

Working in syndicate groups gives your students the opportunity to try out newideas and methods in a sub-group where they are confronted with alternativesuggestions and receive immediate feedback. Reporting back enables them tocompare a range of possible solutions to the problem (Gibbs & Habeshaw, 1992).

6.2.2 Develop Skills Through Group Activities

Group activities are very important to develop our skills effectively. In everyworkshops of CTHE, we have been involved in group activities after tutor of theCTHE course introduced something to the class. This enabled us to develop ourskills such as communication skills, listening skills, presentation skills, interper-sonal skills,...etc. Sometimes, the tutor of CTHE started off the workshop witha group activity. Let us discuss which skills can be developed through the groupactivities according to Gibbs & Habeshaw (1989)

Communication Skills

For group to function effectively in a course content, students need to be able tocommunicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels. I have been experiencingthis in the CTHE workshops, when a topic was assigned to discuss in group. Atthat time, all group members:

� express their feeling in an open

� listen carefully others

� can sense how others feel based on their non verbal communications.

� reflect on the activities and interactions of our group and encourage othermembers of our group to do so as well

� sharing group members’ their thoughts, ideas, and feelings was a must forsuccessful group work.

Gibbs and Habeshaw describes some group activities, which would help developcommunication skills among students.

� Arrange 15 minute presentations for students on a topic of interest within thesubject area or out side their area of study. Agree on a clear set of criteria forassessing the presentations and have the students themselves (the audience)asses each presentation, using the agreed checklist.

� Most student seminar presentations would be improved by the effective useof the over head projector. The lecturer can ask each group of studentsto prepare over head projector transparencies to display some information.Discuss the effectiveness of transparencies in each group.

� Proper arrangement of data in tables and effective data presentation usinggraphs enables to improve communication skills.


Problem Solving Skills

Problem solving is a key skill and it is one that can make a huge to student career.In mathematics stream, problems are the center of what many students in ourdepartment do everyday. Regardless of the nature of the problems, a fundamentalpart of every students’ role is finding ways to solve them. So being a confidentproblem solver is really important to students’ success. Much of that confidencecomes from having a good process to use when approaching a problem. There arefour basic steps in problem solving

1. Defining the problem

2. Generating alternatives

3. Evaluating and selecting alternatives

4. Implementing solutions

In each problem, there is something to be known. We encourage students touse known to unknown approach in order to implement solutions to the givenproblem. According to my experience, students are able to improve this problemsolving skills effectively through group learning.

Learning Skills Through Group Learning

According to experience that I learned from CTHE workshop, group discussionswhich we were involved in helping a lot us reflect on our learning. In our group,there were high achievers who could handle anything tutor assigned us to do.Through group discussions, lower achievers could ask high achievers to give thema hand to understand the subject matter without help of tutor. This is one ofadvantages of group discussion. Some group tasks to develop learning skills aredescribed follows.

� SQ3R improves students reading ability. SQ3R stands for survey, Question,Read, Recall, and Review. It is a structured reading technique which can bevery powerful for students who find that they are reading without purposeor learning.

� Students often try to memorize materials which need to be understood. Thelecturer can list a whole range of topics, facts and concepts in the subject areaand get students to discuss in small groups, which require being understoodand explained, and which only need to be remembered.

6.3 Developing Interpersonal Skills

6.3.1 Social Skills

Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact with other people,both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language, and our personalappearance. Human beings are social creatures and we have developed manyways to communicate our message, thoughts, and feeling with what others said is


influenced by both verbal language and the way we use it - tone of voice, volumeof speech, and words we choose - as well as by more subtle messages such as bodylanguage, gestures, and other non - verbal communication methods.

Some people are especially gifted with the right social skills. They are sociallyinclined to have the right ways of speaking, listening, and receiving messages.These people are very fortunate to have great social skills. People require basicknowledge of social skills because it is the primary way of communicating to others.As I said before, it is dependent on verbal and nonverbal communication.

There are distinct advantages to having well developed social skills.

Improving Communication Skills

Interacting with other students and being able to work in large groups, naturallyimproves one’s communication skills. Good social students are able to conveytheir thoughts and ideas effectively. Without good communication skills, he orshe cannot have great social skills.

Building More Relationships

By developing one’s social skills, he or she becomes more charismatic, people aremore interested in him or her because you are more interested in them. Accordingto my perception, one cannot advance far in life without interpersonal relation-ships. Because of CTHE workshop, I got an opportunity to get to know manysenior lecturers, even lecturers from other universities and built a great relation-ship with them. This gave me a better outlook on my university life. I really feltthat these relationships helped me a lot reduce the negative effects of stress. Thefollowing picture was taken on the last day of our CTHE course. This is my lovingseminar group (F2).

Figure 6.1: All Members of F2 Group


Advancing Career Prospects

Most worthwhile job positions often involve a large amount of time spent interact-ing with customers, colleagues, and employees. It is not common that an individualcan remain isolated in their office and still excel in their jobs. Industrial peopleare liking for individuals with ability to work well in a team and to influence andmotivate people to get things done in addition to having a university degree.

6.3.2 Having a Change to Choose People You Like

It is always better to do away with the company of people, who obstruct yourprogress. Some people dread social interaction since they do not wish to spendtime with people who do not have similar interests and viewpoints. Because ofthe CTHE course, I got to know a lot of lecturers from all over the country. If Ihad, for instance a function in other university, it would be lots of easier for meto participate it. CTHE course helped me a lot build a good set of social skills.

Figure 6.2: All Members of Friday Group of CTHE 16

6.3.3 Be Aware of My Verbal and Non-Verbal Communi-cations

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information,feelings & meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages: it is face-to-face com-munication. Interpersonal communication is not only about what is said (verbalcommunication) but how it is said (non-verbal communication) sent through toneof voice, facial expressions, gestures, and body language.


Learning how to improve interpersonal communication will help increase yourrelationship compatibility thereby making your situation much more enjoyable.The first step in order to improve the interpersonal communication is to maintaingood interpersonal relationships.

When you are seeking advice to have your relationship problems solved, youwill need a framework to structure your interpersonal communication around. Bybeing able to briefly define what the problems in your relationship are, you willthen be able to accurately make corrections. Knowing the definition of interper-sonal communication is useless, unless you are capable of organizing your thoughtsto ask pertinent questions. The information you receive in response to your ques-tions will then have to be analyzed and acted upon to improve your interpersonalrelationships.

Interpersonal communication is something most of us do on a daily basis, howwell we communicate with others is a measurement of our interpersonal skills.Interpersonal communication is a key life skill and can be used to :

� Give to collect information

� Influence the attitudes and behavior of others

� Form contacts and maintain relationships

� Make sense of the world and our experience in it

� Express personal needs and understand the need of others

� Give and receive emotional support

� Make decisions and solve problems

� Anticipate an predict behavior

� Regulate power


Verbal Communication Skills

To be able to communicate verbally, even if that “verbal” is with sign languagefor people who are hearing impaired, is vitally important. Without good verbalcommunication skills, getting on in university life would be impossible. Whenstudents are going to deliver a presentation, verbal skills are really needed. Becausebachelor of science degree program is conducted in English, It is necessary thatstudents have an impressive command of the English language in order to bean effective learners in the university. They should in particular communicateeloquently, if they want to achieve better careers after their undergraduate life.

In our personal lives, verbal communication skill is a means of sustaining rela-tionships. You have to be able to talk to those you love and care about. Withoutthat, your relationships will wither and die. Agreeing on things is not the key toa strong relationships.


In our everyday lives, we communicate all the time with the people we en-counter. We talk to students, we interact with our head of the department andother lecturers. So it is no wonder that verbal communication skill is importantto us.


Non-Verbal Communication

Self-awareness is required to enhance non-verbal communication. It is importantto be aware of the messages you continually send without a word because theysay a lot about you. Body movements and facial expressions are natural but youneed to know how to use them to send the right messages.

The type of interpersonal communication that are not expressed verbally are callednon-verbal communications. These include:

� Body movements (kinesics)

� Posture

� Eye contact

� Para-language

� Closeness or personal space

� Facial expressions

� Physiological changes

� Personal adornment - clothes, perfume, make up, hair style,...etc

It is important to note that body language plays a major role in the way youpresent yourself. For instance, if you slouch in your chair during a job interviewor meeting, you are sending a signal that you do not care. If you sit low in seat,it means that you are bored or not interested in the activity that is going on.However, by changing your body language, you will be suggesting that you arekeenly participating and listening to the speaker.

And the other important thing is the use of eye contact. You should notavoid eye contact during a conversation. It is an indication that you are eitherintimidated or not being truthful. The eyes are channels of communication thatconvey signals to other person and maintaining eye contact during a conversationwill send a message that you are open to communicate.

6.3.4 Questioning Skills

Questioning is the key to gaining more information and without it, interpersonalcommunication can fail.


Why ask questions?

� To obtain information.

� To help maintain control of a conversation.

� Express an interest in the other person.

� To clarify a point.

� To explore the personality and /or difficultly the other person may have.

� To test knowledge.

� To encourage further thought.

6.3.5 Reinforcement

An effective communicator naturally gives feedback to the person or people sheor he is interacting with. This acts as reinforcement to the other person to keepon as they are, or if it’s negative reinforcement, to ease off from what they aredoing. Such feedback may be verbal or non verbal, a gesture to carry on, a smile ofencouragement, maintaining eye contact, nodding of the head or use of questionsto maintain the flow and so on.

6.3.6 Clarifying and Clarification

Clarification is vital in many situations especially when what is being communi-cated is difficult. The main purpose of clarification is that it ensures that thelistener’s understanding of what the speaker has said is correct and reassures thespeaker that the listener is interested in them and is attempting to understandwhat they are saying.

When I conduct my courses, I always give students the opportunity to askquestions if they have any while conducting the lecture as well as after the lecture.If students are reluctant to ask questions in the class, they have an opportunityto post their questions on discussion threads of course wiki site (www.fm3003.wikispaces.com)2.

These questions raised by students generally relate to various areas, I havecovered in my lectures. So this lets me know students’ levels of understanding.This practice helps me a lot clarify things which are confused to students3.

2SEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assess-ment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context, including use of appropriatetechnologies.SO8-Contribute to the design, planning, and evaluation of courses, modules or programs.SO9-Create a learning environment that includes student support and guidance.

3SEDA Values: SV1- An understanding of how people learn


6.3.7 Listening Skills

“Listening is the ability to accurately receive messages in the communication pro-cess”. It is the key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listeningeffectively, messages are easily misunderstood - communication breaks down andthe sender of the message can easily become frustrated. Poor listening can also givethe impression that you are aloof, unkind or indifferent. Becoming a confident,effective listener usually leads to increase happiness, success, and popularity.

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is tolisten. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever giveeach other is our attention. Rachel Naomi Remen as cited in www.

skillsyouneed.com

Listening is more than hearing. Hearing refers to the sounds that we hear. Butlistening is an active process of deliberately attaching meaning to sounds, andcalls for high levels of attention and concentration to interpret what is actuallysaid by the other person.

Spending a Lot of Time Listening

Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communica-tion, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16%reading and 9% writing. (Adler, R. et al. 2001 as cited in www.skillsyouneed.

com).

Figure 6.3: Time Spent Communicating


It is important to note here that listening is not a skill with which we are born.We have to learn how to develop good listening skills, and continuously practicewhat we learn.


6.4 Changes I have Done

When I was going through the literature on interpersonal skills, I felt that most ofuniversity students in our university did not have enough these skills (in particular,communication skills). In order to develop their communication skills, I askedthem questions in my lectures and asked them to explain their answers to entireclass. Not only that, sometimes I invited students to white board and asked themto explain their solutions to entire class and allowed other students to ask questionsabout his/her explanation of their answers.

I gave students incomplete handouts to fill out gaps during the lecture. Iasked them to fill it out individually first and then make pairs and discuss aboutit. This is called the buzz group technique. I first asked them how to fill the gapout and they tried to make their comments. In this way, I tried to develop theirinterpersonal skills. This activity helps build not only their communication skillsbut also their listening skills4.

6.5 Summing It Up

In this chapter, I have mainly discussed about the importance of group activities,how to develop skills through group work, and how our seminar group membersworked together during the CTHE course. This chapter continuously describesabout how to develop interpersonal skills.



SEDA Outcomes:





SEDA Values:



4SEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learning, assess-ment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context, including use of appropriatetechnologies.SEDA Values: SV3- Working in and developing learning communities.

Chapter 7

Reflections Through the ChangesI Made

7.1 Learning Agreement 01

In learning agreement 01, I desperately wanted to obtain information about stu-dent learning after I was introduced about formative assessment on the first day’sCTHE workshop. On that day, I learned the difference between formative andsummative assessment. Having not been using formative assessment, I desperatelyfelt that I were teaching in the dark without knowing how students learn subjectmatters and made the first change of my teaching in order to improve my teaching.

My intended outcomes of this activity were

� Getting a clear picture of student learning.

� Get students’ attention to the lesson, and help students improve students’achievements.

This change maps with SEDA outcomes:


SEDA values:


7.1.1 Justification of mapping SEDA Outcomes & Values

I used one of methods of classroom assessment techniques (CATs) to assess stu-dent learning. In the meantime, I also gave them mini tests to know how theyunderstood the lessons. Thus it is justifiable to assume this activity maps with theSEDA Outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learn-ing, assessment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context,including use of appropriate technologies. With this explanation, I am definitelyable to say that this change maps with the SEDA value: SV1- An understanding

99

CHAPTER 7. REFLECTIONS THROUGH THE CHANGES I MADE 100

of how people learn.

The learning agreement and script have been attached in Appendix A.1.

7.1.2 Reflection

After practicing this activity, I have gathered a lot of information about studentlearning. After obtaining them, I keep a record on an Excel sheet and analyzethem in order to make decisions how I should teach them effectively.

� They mentioned the areas on which they had faced difficulties.

� The information that students were sending helped me adjust my teachingin order for students to understand the lectures.

7.1.3 Conclusion

This activity was very useful for both me and students and helped me a lot imaginestudent achievement. By using this activity continuously, I would be able to riseup their achievements at the end of this lecture series.


In learning agreement 2, I wanted to give students intended learning outcomes atthe very beginning of my lecture series, FM3003 - Calculus III by following levelsof Bloom’s Taxonomy.

� First I would like students to know the learning outcomes of entire lectureseries.

� Give them a chance to achieve these learning outcomes. At the end of thecourse, all students should obtain learning outcomes anyway.



SEDA values:



Providing learning outcomes can be considered as module design. I gave theseoutcomes at the beginning of the lecture series according to Bloom’s Taxonomy.According to my experience, Bloom’s taxonomy is used to design the modules.Thus, this is justifiable to consider that this activity is also a part of moduledesign. Planning and evaluation is also there, when we make any change. There-fore, it is reasonable to assume that this can be mapped into SEDA outcome:SO8-Contribute to the design, planning, and evaluation of courses, modules or


programs.

This change definitely develops student learning as they pay more attention tofulfilling the learning outcomes. So they have to work hard, so as to obtain themand manage their time effectively. Thus, I can easily justify map this activity intoSEDA value: SV3- Working in and developing learning communities.

The Learning Agreement, Script, Students’ comments on this change have beenattached in Appendix A.2.

7.2.2 Reflection

Many students have agreed that giving intended learning outcomes helps themfocus more on those outcomes during the lecture series. So they know what theirlecturer wanted them to achieve at the end of the lecture series.

My peer made a comment that it is better to give learning outcomes at thebeginning of each lecture. I think her idea was great. After that, I gave studentslearning outcomes beforehand for each lecture. For that I made a course website to upload learning outcomes prior to coming lecture.(appendix-snap shots ofcourse site.)

This was very effective so most of students try to achieve those learning out-comes in advance. They came to the class in order to clear their doubts that theywere trying to obtain learning targets at home and previously encountered.

7.2.3 Conclusion

According to reflection and student comments, giving learning outcome before-hand seems to be very important to both me and students. Students have toprepare for the lesson prior to the lecture. Because they came to class with prepa-ration, I do not need to give long explanations. This helps save my lecture time.


The learning agreement 03 is based on attempt made to collect information aboutstudent learning. Through formative assessments, I can not only raise my teachingquality but also improve student achievement.

My intended outcomes of this activity were

� Provide students an opportunity to evaluate their progress

� Getting a clear picture of student learning




SEDA values:



I tried to use many methods (giving mini tests, one minute paper,...etc) to as-sess student learning. It was because I wanted to know where they were at thattime, and I wanted them to know what steps they should take to where they needto go. Thus it is reasonable enough to assume that this activity maps with theSEDA outcomes: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching and supporting learn-ing, assessment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subject and context,including use of appropriate technologies.

If students try to get the maximum benefits of the activity, definitely they candevelop their subject knowledge. If the assessment methods are improved usingsuch methods, it is reasonable to assume that in the long run, it will create op-portunities for developing the entire educational process. So according to the way,I have perceived, it is justifiable to assume that this activity also maps with theSEDA Value: SV6- The development of both people and educational processesand systems.

The learning agreement, script have been attached in appendix

7.3.2 Reflection

All students have mentioned that this change is useful. The following are thereasons, they have mentioned to justify the use of this activity:

� They can know whether they have obtained learning outcomes by usingformative assessment.

� This motivated them to achieve higher level.

� This helped them review their knowledge. They said that they can preparewell for the exam.

7.3.3 Conclusion

This activity is very useful for both me and students. Students knew where theywere and what steps they should need to take in order to get to right place need. Byusing this activity, I could visualize how students learn the material and whetherthey obtained learning outcomes. As I want to be a reflective practitioner, I willuse this activity for my future lectures.


This learning agreement is about introducing lecture breaks after every 20 min-utes. Because of following the CTHE course, I learned the importance of giving


lecture breaks. After 15-20 minutes, our concentration is exponentially decaying.Because of that, students become passive learners after 20-30 minutes if you con-tinue the lecture without giving a break. To get students’ attention or improve itto a higher stage again, it is better to introduce a lecture breaks during the lecture.

During the lecture breaks,

� Students are encouraged to rethink what they have learned

� Students are also encouraged to ask questions and discuss with peers

� I walk around the class and help students who want me to clear their doubts

Intended outcomes of this activity

� I expect to get student concentration on lectures

� I want to see student learning effectively in the classroom



SEDA values:



Giving students lecture breaks is a method of teaching and it is considered as asupport to student learning. During the lecture breaks, they can discuss theirdoubts with either lecturer or their peers. I can ge feedback from students howthey have understood what they have learned so far in the lecture during thesebreaks. Giving some problems, I can also assess them too. Therefore, this activitymaps with the SEDA outcome: SO7- Use a range of methods of teaching andsupporting learning, assessment, and feedback, appropriate to the learners, subjectand context, including use of appropriate technologies.

This simply maps into SEDA value: SV3- Working in and developing learningcommunities, as I worked with students and attempt was made to see their devel-opment - development in the sense of the academic development.

The learning agreement, script, and students’ feedback have been attached inappendix.

7.4.2 Reflection

What I experienced after I introduced lecture breaks to the class was that studentshave an opportunity not only to clear their doubts, but also to digest what theyhave learned so far from the lecture. All students used these breaks very effectively.They quickly went through their notes and discussed their issues with their peersand myself.


Peer and Tutor’s Feedback

Both peer and tutor suggested me to introduce an activity during the lecture breakbecause giving 5 minutes for lecture break is too long to only clear student doubts.I was thinking of this suggestion and came with a plan that pair-shared activitycan be used during this time interval.

Students’ feedback for lecture breaks

� They can clear their doubts, problems,...etc during the break.

� They can use this break for refresh their mind and be relax.

� They can recall what they have learned so far in the lecture.

� They have an opportunity to ask questions.

7.4.3 Conclusion

According to experience I had by giving lecture breaks, this is one of more effectivemethods of teaching and learning. It provides an opportunity for students to digestwhat they have learned so far in the lecture and to ask questions in order to clarifythe lesson at the same time.


In this learning agreement, I want to get students’ attention to my teaching bygiving incomplete handouts.

7.5.1 My Intended outcomes of This Activity Were:

� I can get students’ full attention to the lesson that I am explaining

� Students are actively involved in lectures

� Students prevent from dozing off during the lecture hours.



SEDA values:




If the lecturer does not provide lecture notes, students then have to take note bythemselves. That is they pay more attention to taking down all the time and donot have time to grasp the subject matters. If the lecturer gives a full completehandout, students have nothing to do. Just listening to the lecture. They tend tobe passive learners before long. So giving incomplete handout is the best method.having incomplete handouts students are not only involved actively in the lecture,but also preventing from dozing off during the lecture. So this activity definitelydevelops student learning. So I can easily justify this activity maps: SEDA out-comes: SO3- Undertake appropriate development activities.

Filling out gaps of the handout helps students remember things more than readingcomplete notes. As mathematics students, it is vital to remember some definitions,theorems,...in the lesson so as to learn further lessons. So this activity definitelydevelops their subject knowledge. Using this activity in the long run, will createopportunities for developing the educational process. So according to the way, Ihave perceived, it is justifiable to assume that this activity also maps with theSEDA value: SV6- The development of both people and educational processesand systems.

The learning agreement, script, lecture note have been attached in Appendix A.5.

7.5.3 Reflection

Most of students were happy to have incomplete handouts, than complete hand-outs, because they liked to write on the lecture note than on their notes. I had seenthat students were involved actively in this activity and asked me more questionsabout for instance other theorems, definitions,...etc.

7.5.4 Conclusion

One of benefits of this activity was that I was able to get all students’ attentionto the lesson. Practicing this activity helps students easily memorize key things.


This is one of important changes I have made. I asked one of assistant lecturersof my department to observe my lecture. Since she is very helpful, I asked her tocome to my lecture and assess my teaching. I gave her a questionnaire to fill itout while assessing my teaching and my lesson plan of that lecture. And I let herknow my course web site and asked her to go through materials before coming tothe lecture.

The significance of this activity is as most of the time, we are unable to realizeour mistakes, even though we are ready to accept those, that provides us to get abetter feedback.

My intended outcomes of this activity were:


� Note down my weakness as well as strengths of my teaching

� Identify suggestions for improvements and changes to be made

� Doing necessary changes through reflections.




SEDA values:




As I mentioned before, this is one of most effective methods, if someone wants toimprove his/her teaching. I always look for something that can be developed myteaching as an academic. So this activity can be considered as a continuation ofprofessional development. Thus, it ia justifiable to assume that this activity mapsthe SEDA outcomes:SO2- Plan for your initial and/or continuing professionaldevelopment and SO5- Use a variety of methods for evaluating their teaching.

This is a scholarly activity, as we can acquire knowledge from experience ofother peoples. At the same time, if we can acquire useful knowledge, that knowl-edge gives evidence to our professionalism. Simultaneously, we can reflect ourteaching standard based on the comments made by peers. After considering thosepoints, it is meaningful to believe that this activity maps with SEDA Values:SV2-Scholarship, professional, and ethical practice and SV5- Continued reflection onprofessional practice.

The learning agreement, script, peer evaluation form, and their additional com-ments have been attached in Appendix A.6.

7.6.2 Reflection

The lecturer has made many good comments about my teaching. I am mainly fo-cused on the weak points and the suggested improvements. Those are summarizedas follows:

� I must pay more attention to my hand writing. I have to improve my handwriting so that everyone can read easily. As a solution to this problem, shesuggested me to use power point slides or something.

� Make sure not to jumble equations all over the board. Students find itdifficult to take down notes.

� She said I sometimes speed the pace a little bit so it might be difficult forstudents to grasp the lesson.


7.6.3 Conclusion

I suggest the peer reviewing of lectures as a very effective way of improving thequality of teaching. We can share different approaches of teaching among lecturers.We can understand our mistakes and plus points through the views of the others.At the same time, we can learn from the experience of others.

One of comments made by peer is to maintain a pace that is easy for students tograsp the lesson. Both tutor and peer of CTHE commented about lecture breaksof 2-hour-lecture which is quite long. I had 5 lecture breaks of 2-hour-lecture and3 of them can be reduced to 1 minute, so I could manage my pace of teaching. Toconfirm it, I have to invite both her and another lecturer to get feedback about it.


The learning agreement 07 is about an action taken to recap the previous lesson.

7.7.1 Methodology to Implement This Learning Agree-ment

I was looking for a new method that I could help students recall the previouslesson because it is essential to be in good touch with previous lessons to moveforward in particular mathematics. So I decided to maintain a web-based resourcein addition to face-to-face sessions. I then made a course web site, by using wik-ispaces (see appendix=screen shot of course wiki). I planned to conduct the courseas follows.

I upload all materials (lecture notes, learning outcomes of coming lecture, videolectures ) to course web site (www.fm3003.wikispaces.com). These materials canbe accessed from any where and at any time. Students are asked to go throughall materials especially video lectures and obtain learning outcomes as much asthey can and take down their doubts, problems they encountered while they weregoing through the materials before coming to the lecture. They are encouragedto either ask their problems during the lecture breaks or post them on discussionthreads of the course web site.

How I Assessed Student Achievement of Previous Lesson

I took first 15 minutes of my 2-hour-lecture to recap the previous lesson. I tookfirst 5 minutes of 15 minutes to summarize what I taught in last lecture. And Ithen gave students one or two problems based on what I summarized before andasked them to work out in 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I collected their answerscripts and graded them and returned back their answer scripts in the next lecture.

My Intended Outcomes of This Activity were:

� students to obtain learning outcomes of a lecture before coming to the lec-ture.


� students to go through the materials twice by themselves and with me.



SEDA values:




Definitely this change helps student learning and how students have prepared fortheir lectures have been assessed. By using grade they would receive in cominglecture, students can evaluate themselves their progress and whether they haveobtained learning outcomes beforehand. Students have to access the course website to obtain all materials. They can discuss with their colleagues as well as withme about the problem they have faced when they go through the materials in ad-vance by using discussion threads of course wiki site. This is clearly justifiable theactivity of learning agreement 07 can be mapped into SO7- Use a range of methodsof teaching and supporting learning, assessment, and feedback, appropriate to thelearners, subject and context, including use of appropriate technologies. This isalso clearly justifiable to map the SEDA value: SV3- Working in and developinglearning communities and SV6- The development of both people and educationalprocesses and systems.

The learning agreement, script, and student’s feedback have been attached inthe Appendix A.7.

7.7.3 Reflection

After introducing a web-based resource, I saw that student involvement is consid-erably higher than students, who are learning only with face-to-face sessions.Theybrought their problems, doubts that they encountered during the time of prepa-ration for coming lecture, to the next lecture, and asked them from their peerand me so as to clear those problems. Not only that, they tended to post theirproblems on the discussion threads before coming to the lecture, while they werepreparing for the coming lecture. I was so happy to see this kind of change andwould like to continue this activity for my future lectures. I also observed thatthey have achieved many of learning outcomes before coming to the class.

Students’ comments summarized as follows

They had an opportunity to find solutions for their problems, doubts at homebecause of the course web site. They have a chance to ask their problems duringthe breaks. If somebody misses the previous lecture, he or she has an opportunityto catch the previous lesson because of recap session.


7.7.4 Conclusion

I can conclude with a great assurance that the doing recap sessions and maintain-ing a web based resource in addition to face-to-face sessions are some importantchanges I have made. This is an effective way of encouraging “Deep Learning”and understanding the course materials by clearing their doubts. So I decided toadopt this techniques in my future lectures also.


This is an activity focused on personal development. Under this activity, followingoutcomes are intended to achieve:

� Reduce stress of meeting the deadlines of given task.

� By reducing the stress, paying free attention to other important academicactivities.

� Organizing tasks in the order of priority based on the importance and theemergency.

The following describes the plan I implemented. Always working with a computer,I downloaded a software called “swift To-Do-List 8” to organize my task effectivelyand do more task which are in quadrant II. This practice has been followed since itremained 1 month to submit the portfolio. Without achieving this target, I wouldruin my entire life because confirmation will not be given without the CTHEcourse. I have been writing chapters around the clock to achieve this goal. Thatis why I started keeping an eye on my important task by using swift To-Do-List 8software.




SEDA values:




This activity can be considered as not only a plan but also an implementationfor professional development with relevant strategy. So it is meaningful to assumethat this activity maps with SEDA Outcomes: SO2- Plan for your initial and/orcontinuing professional development and S o6-Inform their practice with relevantstrategy, policy, and quality consideration.

I consider this as also a scholarly activity increases the professionalism. Simulta-neously this activity can be considered as professional practice and opportunities


for continuous reflections. So it is justifiable that this activity maps the SEDAValues: SV5- Continued reflection on professional practice and SV2- Scholarship,professional, and ethical practice.

The learning agreement and script have been attached in the Appendix A.8.

7.8.2 Reflection

After using To-Do-List for my daily activities, I understood that I can focus moreon the tasks which are in the quadrant II than I did without a To-Do-List. Beforesticking to this schedule, I was driven to complete the tasks in prioritized order asa habit. Since my work was prioritized and done on time due to this software, Ihad more free time to do my tasks contained in quadrant II of time managementmatrix.

7.8.3 Conclusion

According to my experience, maintaining a To-Do-List is very important to achievewhat you want in quadrant II of time management matrix. It also helps organizeour work in prioritized order. As a result of that, we can reduce our stress signif-icantly. This really helps do our academic tasks more effectively.

Reference

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[9] Burton, G., and Dimbleby, R., 1996. Between Ourselves: An introduction to interpersonalCommunication. Arnold (A member of the Hodder Headline Group), second edition.

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[11] Bloom, B., 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain.AAddison Wesley Publishing Company, pp 1-10.

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Creating_Excitement_in_the_Classroom.pdf

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learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.htm

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courseweb.hopkinsschools.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=15300?

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trainer/english/p17.htm

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111

REFERENCE 112

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Appendix A

Learning Agreements

113

APPENDIX A. LEARNING AGREEMENTS 114

A.1 Learning Agreement 01


A.2.1 Students’ Feedback of Learning Agreement 02


A.6.1 Peer’s Feedback


A.6.2 Peer’s Questionnaire



A.9 General Feedback


A.10 Departmental Student Evaluation

Appendix B

Feedback Forms

160

APPENDIX B. FEEDBACK FORMS 161

Appendix C

Miscellany

C.1 Our Seminar group’s Posters

Figure C.1: Our Group’s Poster 1

169

APPENDIX C. MISCELLANY 170

Figure C.2: Our Group’s Poster 2

C.2 Our Seminar group’s Logo


Figure C.3: Our Group’s Logo

C.3 Certificates of Presenting Papers in 2013

C.3.1 For Conference in Nepal


C.3.2 For Conference at University of Ruhuna


C.4 The Abstract published at Conference, uni-

versity of Colombo


C.5 Homework Group’s Minutes


C.6 The Certificate of Master’s Degree


C.7 Seminar Presentation’s Slides


C.8 Documents of M.Phil

C.8.1 Proposal of My M.Phil


C.8.2 Acceptance Letter of M.Phil