I logged in today and finally saw that some students had started to engage with the discussion boards but also with the Assessment tab here. What a relief! I was beginning to think that there were no students in the unit. I have had about 6 of the 14 actually engage which I am happy about. At one point I was going to start to allocate the students to groups themselves for assessment two aas not much was happening. I might still need to do this soon if students don't seem to engage...we will play a waiting game! I tried to individually respond to all the discussion board messages that were posted. My rationale for this was not only did it personalise the experience is but this form of discussion board can generate 'data' that gives themes based on experience and then students can see how thematic research occurs using qualitative studies.
SOme very good responses based on personal experiences - they seem to be really switched on so hopefully some of the readings (especially Arnold and some others) give them some questions to ponder in their own practice. I am also really looking forward to seeing their one page philosophical papers on physical education.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Only a week away!
Semester 2 is only a week away and I have just returned to my office after a week's leave. Great to catch up and play with the kids and take them away from home on a couple of day trips.
Unforutnately in the back of my mind were a couple of work related issues including my promotion application, my teaching in this unit (have I got enough content? will the students like the way it has been developed? is there enough research-led teaching? will the students be able to take things practically out of it?). Many many questions that I have. I will have to revisit the unit in the next day or so to see whether what I did before my leave is how I really wanted the unit to end up.
Luckily I have a great colleague that is working in the on campus unit, someone that I can trust, have discussions with and talk through the issues of the unit. Someone that I trust immensely in this labour of love that I call teaching. This support is a must for the development of great teaching and great learning. But I am truly concerned about how off campus students will react.
I was reading John Loughran's new book bit-by-bit over coffee and when I had some down time on leave. The sections that were most interesting were on professional learning of teachers - there was one section that talked of a teacher that undertook a self-study and realised that there were problems in the way he allowed student learning to take place. Implications for physical educators - do we really know what takes place in the learning of our students through movement? How do we then prepare teacher educators? More tensions more concerns!!! [A big siggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!]
But it also gave me a great feeling that what can occur in physical education must occur through teachers changing the way they teach. They must have ownership, they must take some responsibility. Self-study is the way of the future.
How can I teach and encourage off-campus students to pursue such a line of thinking....
Enough for now - talk soon, Trent.
Unforutnately in the back of my mind were a couple of work related issues including my promotion application, my teaching in this unit (have I got enough content? will the students like the way it has been developed? is there enough research-led teaching? will the students be able to take things practically out of it?). Many many questions that I have. I will have to revisit the unit in the next day or so to see whether what I did before my leave is how I really wanted the unit to end up.
Luckily I have a great colleague that is working in the on campus unit, someone that I can trust, have discussions with and talk through the issues of the unit. Someone that I trust immensely in this labour of love that I call teaching. This support is a must for the development of great teaching and great learning. But I am truly concerned about how off campus students will react.
I was reading John Loughran's new book bit-by-bit over coffee and when I had some down time on leave. The sections that were most interesting were on professional learning of teachers - there was one section that talked of a teacher that undertook a self-study and realised that there were problems in the way he allowed student learning to take place. Implications for physical educators - do we really know what takes place in the learning of our students through movement? How do we then prepare teacher educators? More tensions more concerns!!! [A big siggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!]
But it also gave me a great feeling that what can occur in physical education must occur through teachers changing the way they teach. They must have ownership, they must take some responsibility. Self-study is the way of the future.
How can I teach and encourage off-campus students to pursue such a line of thinking....
Enough for now - talk soon, Trent.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Introduction to the unit and the blog
Welcome to EDF4423 - Physical Education. This unit is taught as part of the undergraduate degree program of Bachelor of Sport & Outdoor Recreation/Bachelor of Education and the Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education. It may be taken as a unit on-campus or via off-campus modes (OCL or Open Universities Austrralia[OUA]).
This blog is all about my thoughts about teaching this unit. It is supposed to provide future teachers with insights into what it means to teach. According to Crowe and Berry (2007) "...one important aspect of...becoming a teacher involves learning to think like a teacher" (p. 32). The thoughts in this blog is a small part of 'researching' my own practice (especially as it pertains to OCL/OUA, distance learning and the space around using intergrated technologies). Furthermore, “…teacher education struggles with the contradiction in practice between imposing (perhaps unintentionally) solutions on student teachers and assisting them to develop their own responses to their own situation themselves…” (Loughran, 2004).
Importantly, also in this is the fact that I have asked you to undertake, via Assessment 4, a reflection or thoughts on your own practice and engagement in this unit, so hopefully you can see the important links about such practices. Please feel free to offer as much feedback as possible via this blog by making a posting on the process and what it has to offer student-teachers.
Please do not hesitate to contact me via email (trent.brown@education.monash.edu.au) should you require clarification about any issue related to this unit, EDF4423 Physical Education.
Enjoy this unit and the semester!
Trent
This blog is all about my thoughts about teaching this unit. It is supposed to provide future teachers with insights into what it means to teach. According to Crowe and Berry (2007) "...one important aspect of...becoming a teacher involves learning to think like a teacher" (p. 32). The thoughts in this blog is a small part of 'researching' my own practice (especially as it pertains to OCL/OUA, distance learning and the space around using intergrated technologies). Furthermore, “…teacher education struggles with the contradiction in practice between imposing (perhaps unintentionally) solutions on student teachers and assisting them to develop their own responses to their own situation themselves…” (Loughran, 2004).
Importantly, also in this is the fact that I have asked you to undertake, via Assessment 4, a reflection or thoughts on your own practice and engagement in this unit, so hopefully you can see the important links about such practices. Please feel free to offer as much feedback as possible via this blog by making a posting on the process and what it has to offer student-teachers.
Please do not hesitate to contact me via email (trent.brown@education.monash.edu.au) should you require clarification about any issue related to this unit, EDF4423 Physical Education.
Enjoy this unit and the semester!
Trent
Thinking about semester 2 and EDF4423 already!
Note - this has been cut and pasted from another site:
Here i am, first posting on the Ning and this occurs at 10pm at night in week 5 of semester 1. I realise how quickly semester 2 is going to come around and this requires a bit of planning on my behalf as unit coordinator to unit materials (unit guide, reading, etc) ready.
What do the students want from their class?
How will this be different from the HOPE class that students take in semester 1?
What are the differences going to be between those studying on campus and those studying off campus?
Some of my ideas are spinning around my head at the moment. I want to try and create an online portal (the gymnasium) where students enter and 'choose' topic areas for their own information and knowledge, which might also be able to be used as part of the assesment.
I was reading a paper today by Judith Rink (2007, Quest) which discusses the importance of or the differences between discipline study and that which occurs as pedagogy. It resonated with me a little bit because all students, irrespective of OCL or on campus, Grad Dip Ed (Sec) or SOR have really come through degrees that 'promote' discipline thinking, gaining the knowledge of anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, motor development, biomechanics, etc etc. This unit, the 'methods' class offers opportunity in the pedagogical aspects...so how am I going to manage that tension between discipline study and pedagogical outcomes?
More to come later.
Here i am, first posting on the Ning and this occurs at 10pm at night in week 5 of semester 1. I realise how quickly semester 2 is going to come around and this requires a bit of planning on my behalf as unit coordinator to unit materials (unit guide, reading, etc) ready.
What do the students want from their class?
How will this be different from the HOPE class that students take in semester 1?
What are the differences going to be between those studying on campus and those studying off campus?
Some of my ideas are spinning around my head at the moment. I want to try and create an online portal (the gymnasium) where students enter and 'choose' topic areas for their own information and knowledge, which might also be able to be used as part of the assesment.
I was reading a paper today by Judith Rink (2007, Quest) which discusses the importance of or the differences between discipline study and that which occurs as pedagogy. It resonated with me a little bit because all students, irrespective of OCL or on campus, Grad Dip Ed (Sec) or SOR have really come through degrees that 'promote' discipline thinking, gaining the knowledge of anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, motor development, biomechanics, etc etc. This unit, the 'methods' class offers opportunity in the pedagogical aspects...so how am I going to manage that tension between discipline study and pedagogical outcomes?
More to come later.
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