Week 9: Meeting the Deadline!

An interesting coincidence happened as I was finalizing the last draft of my final project. As I lifted my head from the screen to take a short break, I saw fireworks bursting in the air! I happen to live next to the national sports stadium and the reason for the fireworks was the result of a winning game, but I felt that I deserved the celebration after having finished my project!
Another interesting quotation that I came across reflects my state as a learner in this course. According to Benedict Carey in "Forget What You Know About Good study Habits" published in 2010,but is true all the time, " The more mental sweat it takes to dig it out, the more securely it will be subsequently anchored". I believe that I will never forget the project experience as I worked hard to make it a success. The feedback I got from my students was very rewarding and I am glad it will be something they will probably remember from their college days.
The theme of this week is a chance for learning and reflection done through introspection. Examining learning styles / multiple intelligences was done in a dual fashion with our teaching styles and in evaluating of how much technology can be of support to cater for different kinds of learners' styles . The basis of this week's readings was Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences after Twenty Years" that is after his launching of Frames of Mind in 1983. The key word behind this theory is 'multiple' that invites educators to consider multiple methods of presentation. He himself realized that there are new kinds of intelligence that appeared now ,namely,digital intelligence that we teachers have to invest in when deciding on teaching methodology.
An enlightening experience was taking the learning styles online quiz from Edutopia. My learning style results were not surprising : linguistic 67%, intrapersonal 63%, naturalistic 75% and mathematical 38%. I certainly prefer to write in a journal than keep track of my expenses! This exercise can be a learning experience for our students as much as it is for ourselves.
After that, I read two articles co-authored by R.Felder; the first one written with B.Solomon entitled:"Learning Styles and Strategies"shows the four dimensions of learners in contrasting pairs. The authors give practical suggestions for classroom practice based on a learner's style. The most striking observation is that the majority of learners are visual , but most college classes present very little visual information ! As teachers ,realizing the fact should make us enhance our lessons with more visuals such as charts,time-lines, photographs, videos, and CD Roms.The second article was written with E.Henriques focusing on learning and teaching styles in Foreign and Second Languages . The highlight is the challenge that teachers face solved through blending and balancing of instructional methods to ensure the matching between learning styles.The results of a research study conducted by Stice in 1987 were cited in the article and the percentages about student retention should send us a message. It says, students retain 10% of what they read, 26% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say, and 90% of what they say as they do something. This reminds us of the Chinese proverb that ends with: involve me and I learn. It is for teachers to reevaluate the types of strategies they use when they learn what the results may turn out to be based on their provision of different options. It also makes us think of our involvement in this course that made us active learners even though distances separate us.
"Using Learning Styles to Adapt Technology for Higher Education" by T. O'Conner invites the readers to think of the present teaching styles and what can be done to augment them with technology. It suggests PBL as one type of complex activity and culminates with complex projects that connect learners with the wider world . I am excited to observe the results of the hooking of my students with Ina's as a complex project as O'Conner labels this kind of engagement.
The last article on the list was published in the New York Times in 2010, but the truths in it hold to our present. In his article,Benedict Carey advises us to re-examine our knowledge about study habits. To him, varying the type of material studied in a single sitting is better than one at a time. He makes an original analogy between cramming and packing a suitcase; he believes that hurriedly jam-packing a brain is akin to speed-packing a cheap suitcase; it holds its new load for a while, then most everything falls out. I wish my students who choose to study overnight instead of dividing the material would see this picture. Another attractive quotation by Dr. Kornell is cited in this article ;"the idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning"which is closely linked to the title but in a productive way that occurs when you forget something , it allows you to relearn it effectively the next time you see it.
To conclude, this week's theme is an invitation for all :teachers, learners and administrators to reconsider learners' needs whatever age-group they belong to and that includes us teachers.

Christmas is in the air; as much as I am sad that this course is coming to an end, the timing is good for me to start thinking of X-mas shopping and planning for X-mas Eve that is a special time for my family since it is also the birthday of my husband , and this year will be his 50th , so I have to make it different!

Downtown Beirut: The land of contrasts
The largest Christmas tree in front of the largest Mosque