Peer teaching is the way to go!

Students learn science to become scientists. However, they also need to learn writing skills in a specific language i.e English in order for them to communicate their new discoveries with other people.  In addition, a scientist needs to pass Life Orientation or Life skill class in order to know how to function as part of the community within where he or she would be doing their scientific research. Furthermore, a scientist would need geography knowledge and skill to be able to locate good places at which they can do their research and other things.  Interestingly, a scientist would need political science education in order for him or her to know the expectations of the political landscape at which he or she resides.  So many other related areas could be drawn into the picture, the bottom line is that there is no one subject is important than another.  

Barriers to learning and development are a major disturbance to students academic progress.  Mostly, lecturers assume that students fail because of lack of interest in their studies or because they don't want to be part of the learning process. Identifying the real challenge causing a delay in how the students learns is important.  I have noticed that sometimes invisible physical conditions of students can impact their learning negatively. For instance, I have a short sighted student in my class and he had challenges following our classroom discussion. We were working on computers and he had trouble seeing letters and words on the computer monitor.  I couldn't diagnose that he was struggling until after class when he approched me and siad, "Sir I have a problem." It was that phrase that made me wonder, "what is it now?" fortunately, he explained the situation and thereafter, I had to set up his work station and explain things to him on one one session with h

I must say that I was impressed by the presentation rendered by Dana.  She presented on Second life, another virtual world made up avatars.  Dana mentioned that Second Life, can be compared to MOOs and other programs.  The one thing I learned from Wednesday's class, is that Second life can be really enjoyable if the teacher and students know how to get their way around it. I remember that Dr. Lybeck conducted some form of a pilot study on us about Second life, she even invited Dana to come and help us.  Every now and then when we logged on to the class meeting Dana would be there to help those that struggled to join the class. I had troubles following the class meeting.  In most cases, I would find myself wondering in the middle of nowhere, where there were no people.  Sometimes when I get lucky and find my way into the class, I ended up sitting or hanging on the fan attached to the ceiling.  Such experiences distracted me and i think that I have come to realize that one can stil

I have enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Bibbie.  I think I like this program for a good reason that it looks familiar to facebook.  i think students also don't like seeing something or don't like trying out new things especially if extremely strange to them. The amount of privacy students can get in Edmodo, I would definitely not mind using it. I like keeping students' records in safe places and as for as long as software programs like Edmodo exists, i don't see how we should be skeptical to try out new things.  I know students don't like showing each other grades so if Edmodo provides privacy, I guess it wouldn't be too bad to try it out.  I wonder if it is also completely free for the entire period of use or someone needs to buy subscription to buy a better version. It offers, chat box and discussion box.  I think students can do like we do in our D2L.   We also discussed our final interview questions in small groups. Esther grouped us according to nature of

Wednesday's class was very interesting.  Our guest presenter discussed how uses cellphones in his class.  I thought it was interesting to learn that while some of us are  still thinking about incorporating or infusing cellphone technology use in their classes, some teachers have already started the process.  I think using cellphones can be very cost effective for students and convenient for teachers, because in most cases students have cellphones that have internet access, and frequently, they use their cellphones for social networking sites such as facebook and twitter.  Such networks can be put to good use such learning and classroom discussions. The speaker also talked about the use of E-books which are usually cheaper than paper books.  He said the books they buy usually expire after 6 years. Secondly, we learned about MOOS from Karen's presentation.  I would have love to really experience MOOS in details but I was unable to do that since I could not follow in more detail

Our second online encounter wanted to cartoon me because my screen was not showing me what I expected to see!lol. Anyhow, I figured it out and joined the class successfully.  Even though  I missed telling our guest professor about myself, I did not miss hearing her telling us about the advantages and pros of online teaching and virtual learning.  When she mentioned virtual online learning I thought of second life in Karen's class. Lily mentioned that online has come in handy in the sense that it has provided access to education especially for people who live in extreme remote and rural areas.  She mentioned that because of online learning, people who cannot physically make it to class or school, have the opportunity to learn and not miss out on anything. Lily's comment coincided with what the Professor I'm observing said. They both agree that online class allows people who have jobs or people who are very busy with other things than just school to an opportunity of learnin