Ghazala Bilquise

While comparing all the 4 teaching strategies I realized that there is no one solution that fits all. The strategies used in the classroom should be varied depending on the maturity level of the students and the nature of the content that is to be delivered. Does the content require students to think out of the box or is it facts that they need to understand and grasp? Is it repetitive practical task they need to do to master subject or is it a problem they need to apply their thinking on? Most of these questions are answered by carefully reading the course learning outcomes. The course learning outcomes are designed according to the level of the students. For example a level 1 student’s course will have most of the learning outcomes designed in the lower order of the blooms taxonomy - to remember, understand and/or apply. As the students’ progress through the semester, their maturity level increases and so the learning outcomes are mapped to a higher order of the blooms taxonom...

This is the link to our group presentation - Collaborative Learning Please share your comments and feedback on our work

I used this teaching strategy with two sections. With one section it went very smoothly. I paired the students in groups, so they could watch the YouTube video and help each other out. When I explained the class activity for the day and told them they had to watch a video and apply the steps themselves to create an interactive flash website, they were initially overwhelmed. I encouraged them by telling them that they had done well in the previous activity and that this one will be simple as well. Without much arguments, they immediately got to work. Their main motivation was that they could leave if they finished early since they would usually have to wait longer if I had taught this myself. They faced few challenges during the task and since I was facilitating the activity, I could guide and assist those in need. The students who finished their task then started helping others out since they would have face the similar challenges (especially in the coding part). The lesson went smo...

I am an IT faculty and because of the ever changing nature of this field, the most important skills our students need are two fold - they need to comprehend the technical side of things but most importantly they need to be able to learn on their own. Their success in their workplace is dependent on their ability to adpat and learn new skills as they progress. Students need to be self-learners as well as life-long learners. They need logical skills. For example, instead of learning a programming language they should learn logic to adapt to any language. Students need to understand that what they learn in class is just the beginning and no way near to the end of their learning journey. The non-cognitive skills in my opinion are more important than their cognitive skills and these are skills which will determine their success in the future. Unfortunately, most of the time more weight is given to the cognitive skills because the non-cognitive skills are often difficult to measur...

The video suggests  that we should use constructive alignment to align students learning to our teaching goals - which involves understanding the learning outcomes and communicating it to the students and then setting the teaching and learning activities to build those competencies during the course. So taking this into consideration, I'm listing the learning outcomes of one course I'm teaching this semester - CIS 1203 Web Technologies , along with the blooms taxonomy the outcomes fall under. Remember,  Understand LO 1 . Describe the evolution of the World Wide Web from inception to the present and explore the technology behind current and emerging web applications. - Understand LO 2. Identify and describe the various elements that make up the World Wide Web and the supporting infrastructure and technologies. Apply LO 3 . Explore the structure of HTML pages with emphasis on emerging technologies, such as HTML5, CSS3, AJAX, and apply HTML/CSS rules to create basic ...

Assessments should be part of the learning process integrated within the learning and not thought of as simply a means to reward or punish the students for their understanding of their course material. When we are conducting assessments, we are not only assessing the students but also our teaching and learning methods. This implies we need to clearly define the goals of our T&L and integrate appropriate assessments while doing so. Teaching and Learning as well as assessments should be designed in such a way that allows us to develop not only competency in the subject matter but also focuses on other skills such as team work, leadership, self-learning, curiosity etc. Assessments need to be varied to accommodate various learning styles of the students and also enhance the learning experience. Some students may be good at hands on activity and presenting their work and not too good at exams. I believe that assessments should be motivating to the students and allow u...