Readiness to learn and situated learning Richard Watson Todd KMUTT .
©2006 Richard Watson Todd Empowering Students to Change the Real World Richard Watson Todd KMUTT.
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Transcript of ©2006 Richard Watson Todd Empowering Students to Change the Real World Richard Watson Todd KMUTT.
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Empowering Students to Change the Real World
Richard Watson ToddKMUTT
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Evaluation at universities
Typical situation For teachers, think of a course you teach: What percentage of the students’ scores come
from exams? What percentage of the students’ scores come
from controlled assignments?
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Reasons for controlling student evaluation
Large numbers of students Giving priority to score reliability Quality control Courses with more than one teacher Practical issues in marking
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Problems with controlling student evaluation
Controlled evaluation stands in contrast to principles of student empowerment
Why bother with empowering students?
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Reasons for empowering students
Dearing Report (UK): “To inspire and enable individuals to develop their capabilities to the highest potential levels throughout life”
Learning should not be an academic exercise in remembering
Learning should be lived and personalised Thai National Education Act of 1999 emphasises learner-c
entredness and lifelong learning Thai culture has uneven power distribution and large hierar
chical gaps between different levels of society
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Empowering individuals in a learning organisation
Individual empowerment is a key characteristic of a learning organisation
Individuals need to be empowered at all levels
At universities, empowering students is as important as empowering staff
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
How to empower students
2 case studies Compare to find insights into
individual empowerment in learning organisations
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
The situation
MA in Applied Linguistics at KMUTT 2 courses:
– Teacher Development and the Management of Innovation (TDMI)
– Testing and Evaluation (T&E)
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Case Study 1
Assignment on TDMI Project proposal Example proposals
– Karaoke facilities in the Self-Access Learning Centre
– Signs for secondary self-access Students initiate innovations BUT assignment was imposed on students and
controlled by teachers
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Case Study 2 Student-initiated extra work on T&E Derived from student dissatisfaction with existing
evaluation procedures Students challenged by teacher to make changes Example projects
– Letters to newspapers– E-mail discussion list for teachers– Workshops for schools
Students initiate innovations Changes in power originating from students
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Comparing the 2 case studies
Effects of initiatives on the real world Both successes and failures in terms of the impact
of the innovations No observable differences between the 2 case
studies
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Comparing the 2 case studies
Effects on student empowerment Both case studies resulted in pride and awareness
of ability to initiate change Case study 2: awareness of own independent
ability to initiate change
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Implications for empowerment
Meanings of empowerment Transfer of decision making Raising position in a hierarchy
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Empowerment as transfer of decision making Types of decisions that can be transferred
– Classroom decision making
– Evaluation decision making
– Truly transformative decision making Relatively straightforward to achieve Limited impact
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Empowerment as raising status
Assumes hierarchical structure to societies 2 approaches: Taking on roles associated with higher levels
– e.g. students becoming teachers/teacher trainers– Possible, with medium-term impact
Reducing gaps between levels– Difficult, long-term impact
©2006 Richard Watson Todd
Methods of empowering students
Easy to implement Transferral ofdecision making
Small-scale impact
Taking on roles ofhigher positions in a
hierarchy
Difficult to implement Reducing the gapsbetween levels in a
hierarchy
Large-scale impact