Let students ask questions!

A teacher has a lot of possibilities in how they want to teach the content. These teaching methods, we often call the pedagogical approaches. In time the technology has changes teaching in a drifting way. The teachers received even more options in teaching to make it more attractive and adaptive to students. In this part, I’ll discuss five pedagogical approaches en how these approaches can support the new technology, like BlackBoard.

Traditional learning

The most traditional image of teaching is the teacher in front of the class and the students listen, receive and absorb information, without having a active role in their learning. The teacher is central in this way of learning.

In time the role of the teacher is changed away of this traditional way, but still a lot of teachers are falling back on this ‘safe’ way of teaching, because they have the full control.

An institution-wide learning platforms (CMSs), like BlackBoard, can support this kind of learning by presenting the preparation instructions, slides after the course and some announcements about the course. A modern way of traditional teaching, which is used very often.

Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is a way of learning, where students learn together and from each other. Usually this in a small group, where students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills or compensate there weaker skills. An important development skills is the communication of interpersonal competence. Students actively participate, share responsibility and are solving conflicts.

The role of the teacher is to take care of three important points. First, students need to feel safe, but also challenged. Second, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute. Third, the task students work together on must be clearly defined.

An institution-wide learning platforms (CMSs), like BlackBoard, can support this kind of learning by using a chat function of a discussion board. The students can discuss together with the supervision of the teacher, who can oversee the whole process.

Inquiry-based learning

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand."

Involvement is important in understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge. Especially questioning is important in the involvement.

In traditional schools, students learn not to ask too many questions, instead to listen and repeat the expected answers. Students aren’t used to asking questions and are more restricted, because it’s "scary" to leave initiative to the students, most teachers think.

The students find resources, generate answers, discuss these answers and reflect their process and outcome. The role of the teacher in inquiry learning is mostly defined as guiding.

Multiple intelligence is, just like in flexibility, an essential part of inquiry learning, just like collaborative learning.

An institution-wide learning platforms (CMSs), like BlackBoard, can support this kind of learning by using a discussion board or a forum (blog), so students can ask question to a teachers or to each other.

Problem-based learning (PBL)

With PBL, the teacher presents the students with a problem, not lectures or assignments or exercises. Since the student is not handed "content", the learning becomes active in the sense that they discover and work with content that students self determine to be necessary to solve the problem. This problem should be very authentic to make it attractive for the students to work with this problem, with the teacher as a facilitator.

An institution-wide learning platforms (CMSs), like BlackBoard, can support this kind of learning by presenting a problem, which the students can solve themselves. The solutions can be presented on blackboard, where the students can see other kind of solutions to the same problem and learn from each other.

Workplace learning

Workplace learning can be defined as learning in practice. Workplace learning is that learning which derives its purpose from the context of employment. Because it is learning in practice, the students shouldn’t forget the relation between the theory and practice. This kind of learning is based on observations, asking questions (!) and mentoring.

It is like driving a car. When you read about riding a car, you have some prior knowledge, but you’re not able to drive a car, because you need real practice. During this practice, you’re learning a lot, but still you should support it by learning signs and order of watching etc. Only with a good interaction between practice and theory, the learning is optimal.

An institution-wide learning platforms (CMSs), like BlackBoard, can support this kind of learning by having a planning function or a logbook functions, so the students can plan their activities together and post a logbook, which is a part of the assignment.

Reflection

All these approaches, except traditional learning, are taking very good advantage of new technology and are using it to the limits. These limits are however often evaded by teachers. Still the role of the teacher is changed in time, from presenter of knowledge to more guided/facilitated.

Another striking point is role of the students. Their role is changed even harder. In many cases even to hard. Students are used to the traditional way of teaching, where there only receivers and not active learners. Teachers should motivate students more to ask questions. Let the mind of the students speak and adapt to their prior knowledge and interests.

Dare to let students ask questions!