I suggest you check this out as a valuable resource:
http://www2.nau.edu/~hgb/tlqm.html
Molly Freeman
M. Freeman, PhD
Complex Systems and Distance Learning
Phillip Capper wrote:
> Phillip White's suggestions are fine, but they presuppose that the students
> are or can be motivated to be enthusiastic, collaborative learners. In my
> days of evaluating teaching in schools I saw many examples of teachers who
> created nothing but chaos by doing exactly what Phillip suggests.
>
> What I am suggesting is that the teacher must first be able to create a
> collective object of collaborative learning. The practices and processes
> that Phillip suggests then form part of a portfolio of tools that create an
> environment which nurtures the collective object. This prerequisite requires
> that the teacher is able to create a zoped focused on the subject matter for
> the course into which the students wish to flow. Or, to put it bluntly, the
> teacher herself must be able to demonstrate her own passion for the subject,
> and also relate it meaningfully to the personal objects and aspirations of
> the students. Without that, no creative classroom practices will work.
>
> This was brought home to me by a conversation I had with my son yesterday.
> He is doing a masters degree in a university where the language and culture
> is not his own. Although he is the only person in the class for whom the
> language of instruction is not his native language, he has topped the class
> in his first year exams. Mindful of Barb's posting, which I read last week,
> I asked him (playfully) how could that be. He answered entirely seriously.
> He is the youngest in the class by a number of years. It turns out that this
> course is primarily taken by mature age public servants in its own country.
> My son's answer to my question was 'I want to know about these things. Most
> of the others in the class are doing it to open up promotion options.' I
> then asked him about the quality of the teaching. He replied 'They're very
> good with me and a few others. But for the rest the teachers and students
> reinforce each other's apathetic rituals."
>
> Phillip Capper
> WEB Research
> PO Box 2855
> (Level 9, 142 Featherston Street)
> Wellington
> New Zealand
>
> Ph: (64) 4 499 8140
> Fx: (64) 4 499 8395
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phillip White [mailto:Phillip_White@ceo.cudenver.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, 17 July 2001 11:10
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: active learning/teaching at the 7000 level
>
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu writes:
>
> Barb wrote several days ago - but not quite a week ago - and i've been
> wanting to respond but .... time .......
> anway, Barb, i think that your questions themselves points to you doing
> action research / teacher research on your own practice.
> >
> >
> >My questions really have to do with how one creates an environment as a
> >teacher
> >which fosters or engenders enthusiastic collaborative learning. I think I
> >read
> >here some time ago about work that Eugene and Barbara Rogoff did
> >videotaping the
> >classroom and some of the subtle and not so subtle inhibitors of a
> >collaborative
> >environment. (Apologies if I misunderstood)
>
> so my suggestion would be for you to enter your classrooms asking
> yourself "What can i do to create an environment that fosters and
> engenders ethusiastic collaborative learning?"
>
> with that in mind, the way you would arrange your classroom furniture,
> classroom activities, your role within the classroom, etc., would be
> something you would always consciously keep in mind as a way of supporting
> and engendering collaboration. for example, i arrange my classrooms to
> that the students can see each other at all times, a
> square/rectangle/circle, of course reflecting the physical constraints of
> the classroom. also, i never sit in the same place - when means that in
> time the students stop going to the same places to sit. however, in point
> i'd like to say that the activities arise naturally/artificially from the
> subject matter, as well as the various forms of collaboration. i also
> make it explicit that this is a goal of mine as a teacher and that i'm
> going to be doing in-class on-going data collection to find patterns of
> relationships that support collaboration.
> >
> >I am working with MBAs, many of whom are brilliant international students
> >and
> >would like to create authentic assignments, authentic assessments, and
> >very
> >active learning *environments*. I have unbelieveable technology which
> >supports
> >my classrooms. Now I am looking for info on how to make these supports
> >part of
> >the way I construct my classroom activities, and part of the way that
> >students
> >learn, something beyond powerPt..
> >
> i think that your point about how the technology support the classrooms
> bears some investigation - in fact, how does the technology support
> collaboration? but then, it wouldn't be in the technology itself but the
> activities in which the technology is a tool.
>
> anyway - good luck!
>
> phillip
> >
> >
> >Barb
> >
>
> * * * * * * * *
> * *
>
> The English noun "identity" comes, ultimately, from the
> Latin adverb "identidem", which means "repeatedly."
> The Latin has exactly the same rhythm as the English,
> buh-BUM-buh-BUM - a simple iamb, repeated; and
> "identidem" is, in fact, nothing more than a
> reduplication of the word "idem", "the same":
> "idem(et)idem". "Same(and) same". The same,
> repeated. It is a word that does exactly what
> it means.
>
> from "The Elusive Embrace" by Daniel
> Mendelsohn.
>
> phillip white
> doctoral student http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~hacms_lab/index.htm
> scrambling a dissertation
> denver, colorado
> phillip_white@ceo.cudenver.edu
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