after having a brief idea of what self-directed & collaborative learning were, i think both have their places in a student's learning and benefit the student in their unique own ways. in my own journey thus far, it seems that the use of ICT has been more prevalent in SDL more than CL. for instance watching webcast lectures & attempting online quizzes/tutorials on our own when asked to do so. thus, the activity on brainstorming ideas related to cyberwellness in our smaller group & spontaneously putting together a mind map using Mindmeister was a refreshing change. in fact, seeing what others had come up with enabled us to come up with even more ideas related to the topic. thus, the use of ICT has enhanced CL.
as mentioned in the earlier session, meaningful learning is achieved when the student is able to take home something new as a result of responding to whatever has been taught and putting theory into practice. thus, as a teacher, i would plan lessons such that they include both the elements of SDL and CL. in both cases, students would be trained in self-discipline since they have their own part to play; while as for CL, there's a saying that goes, '3 heads are better than 1' - students get to learn from their peers' contributions/ideas as well as feedback from others about their own. this can come about by incorporating group work into lessons. i believe that students would benefit from the lessons by coming into classes prepared with the preliminary tasks assigned to them already completed, actively contributing during lessons when they are called upon to do so. one has to bear in mind though, that CL loses its meaning when a student comes in unprepared & relies entirely on his/her groupmates for input without (s)he him/herself contributing anything.
the role of ICT can & does enhance a student's learning. for instance, the software dr tan used to control & track all the workstations at certain points in time enables the whole class to be on the same page and ensures that they are at least paying attention during the lesson. tools such as blogging or discussion forums would make suitable platforms for students to reflect and consolidate the things they have learnt, and adds creativity to an otherwise very mundane classroom lesson.
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One clarification: Being told to view webcast lectures or to do assigned quizzes are not necessarily SDL because someone else told you to do that.
ReplyDeleteGood point about learners needing to be prepared in terms of content. More importantly, learners did to be mentally and socially prepared to contribute and build to a common cause.