How People Learn was one of the two classes that made me SERIOUSLY consider education as something I want to do for the rest of my life. Don't worry (or worry), I have not decided what I want to do for the rest of my life, quite yet. But education, will always be a part of it. This class had a lot to do with that decision.
May 2014
I came into this class with very little experience in the field of
education aside from my educational experiences which I could say,
apart from Hampshire, were more traditional. However, the very reason
I chose Hampshire was deeply and almost solely rooted in its
different educational pedagogy of narrative evaluations over letter
grades and the focus on individual growth as opposed to cutthroat
competition among peers—a decision that was considered the road not
taken in mainstream education in general and perhaps almost unheard
of in the educational circles of my home country, Malaysia. I also
had the opportunity a few years back to participate in an exchange
student program to America which I believe enabled me to gain the
skill of examining two different world views, constantly striving to
look at the big picture and value both sides where credit is due—an
important tool that has transcended a lot of my reflections when
thinking critically about education or even life. Hence, although I
did not study education before, my experiences and decisions have
always made me an enthusiast in improving how we learn and
juxtaposing different ideas, theories, and practices. The more I
engaged in this class, the more I realised the difference in
perspective that I brought to the table as it has become the lens I
try to include in addition to my Hampshire experience.
In the beginning, I shared the sentiments of many of my classmates
as we became emotionally invested and passionate about a lot of the
topics we discussed and enthusiastic about all the ideal learning
environments proposed which we wished we had experienced. However,
this soon turned into frustration because it began to dawn that this
research wasn't exactly new but has been out to the world for many
years. I began asking questions like why isn't anyone doing anything
about these findings? Why have I not seen changes in schools,
especially in standardised testing and better critical thinking
skills in classrooms? It made me feel somewhat grateful to be at a
special place like Hampshire—I never knew I could be surrounded by
so many like-minded students who agree with a lot of my educational
principles that I have struggled to explain to everyone else for so
long. But this soon turned into me wondering what exactly all the
education classes are teaching in all the other universities and the
immense fear and sadness at the possibility that even the future
educators and researchers may not be pushed to largely consider and
think critically about all these powerful issues like metacognition,
effective assessment, student-centered learning. Nonetheless, as the
class progressed, I began to see the examples of many classrooms
infusing these educational practices throughout the US. I began to
see that the passion to bring these educational practices to school
were shared by many educators and they are making progress. It is
just gradual progress that is easier said than done especially with
the countless political, economical, and hierarchical barriers which
are in the way. Although I have come to see how steep the hill is,
this class really has inspired me to believe that there is hope for
better learning. It is a field I hope to expand my knowledge and
skills on to see how far I can take it.
A lot of the educational practices we learnt were ideas I had
thought of before and made perfect sense to me. Only now, they had
names and terminology attached to them. For instance, I found the
idea of focusing on the individual and really encouraging people to
reflect on where they were at and where they were headed in education
(metacognition) brilliant. It made me think of all the friends I had
who struggled with self-esteem when they compared themselves to peers
as opposed to their individual selves. We forget to realise that each
student learns at a different pace and perhaps with a learning style
preference. We need to stand up for the kids who are left behind--not
because they are not smart but because of the reign of a
one-size-fits-all system. This was one of the many connections I drew
with another class I was taking on fighting educational inequity in
which I knew these educational practices had the potential to benefit
people from all kids of backgrounds, let alone underserved kids.
I was also largely intrigued by the ideas around assessment.
Coming from a more exam-based educational system, I grew to only see
the flaws in tests, some of which were true. However, as the class
explored this topic more deeply and as I learnt to think more
critically and objectively, I have grown to see how assessment isn't
necessarily “bad.” I have grown to focus on the way in which you
conduct assessments. It is reasonable to note that assessment is
needed to gage students' learning for teacher as well as the student.
I have learnt that the way we could improve the subject matter-based
tests, that are usually conducted is by adapting it towards the goal
of fostering critical thinking and application skills instead of mere
rote memorisation. I also feel very positively towards the idea of
actually involving the student in the process of designing, planning,
learning, and even assessment because we need them to know why they
are doing what they doing; at the end of the day, all that they do
should ideally come from a genuine willingness to do it instead of
doing it because “the teacher said so.”
The different learning preferences and
styles that I discovered about myself made me think about the
different ways we execute tasks or assignments. I am intrigued to learn more about how personalities
and habits of learners can affect the learning process and whether
there are better ones or are they just different—as educators, how
do we accommodate them? I am also interested in the dynamics
introversion and extroversion play in classroom discussions. Would we
be able to effectively assess students who are not naturally inclined
to speak up all the time? Does culture and our educational
environments affect the educational practices that promote our
optimal learning? Nonetheless, as with the study of multiple learning
intelligences, I have also learnt that an educational pedagogy that
encourages learners to adopt a variety of learning styles and
preferences (not just the dominant one) does benefit the learners as
it helps them improve in the areas they are weak in. For my case, I
learnt a lot from the challenges in writing my final paper as well as
speaking up during class discussions. Being a less outspoken person
in addition to a more reserved cultural upbringing, it has been a
challenge at times to adapt to a learning environment that I was only
introduced to less than a year ago but in truth, I do see my self
stepping up a little bit more in comparison to when I first began my
studies at Hampshire. I look forward to learning and growing as I
navigate these webs of different thoughts and cultures, not only as a
student but as a human being!
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