The Pillars of the CEEWIT Methodology
It is vital for our project that the teachers and the trainers use
the following principles in their approach to the courses and their
organisation.
1. The development of autonomy
What is autonomy?
In the CEEWIT-project we see "autonomy" as the learners
self-empowerment in her educational project. This means that they will
be able to use their basic knowledge as a springboard for new
activities. Being autonomous will mean daring to move on into the
unknown without the support of a teacher.
" On peut définir ce comportement, pour une personne donnée,
comme une tendance à réduire son système de dépendance, à produire
elle-même son système de vie ". (VASSILEFF, J. 1992. Histoires de
vie et pédagogie du projet. Lyon, Chronique Sociale).
" La
première définition que nous proposons place l'individu dans une
société où il peut se gouverner et d'administrer librement ". (PREVOST, H. 1994.
L'individualisation de la formation. Lyon, Chronique Sociale.)
Why should we develop autonomy?
This is closely related to the following point, the limited resource
challenge, but also to our ideas on democracy and equal rights. The
costs of further and continuing education are high. For our target
groups these costs are especially high due to geographical distances and
the targets group’s limited economical resources.
By developing their autonomy we should make them able to use the wide
offers of further and continuing educational courses that are already
present on the Internet. In addition their autonomy might be used in the
building up of their self-confidence.
How should we develop autonomy?
It is crucial that the teachers focus on the participants’ own
abilities. The participants need to have continual feedback, especially
on their successes. Failures should be minimized and used in a positive
way to favour the learning activities. In the sessions and in between
sessions the participants should be encouraged to make their own
experiences. The strong focus on the exercises done individually and in
pairs would favour this autonomy. It is important that the
teacher/trainer shows, by her/his attitudes, that the participant will
be able to do a lot on her own. (Remember to have your hand on
your back when you are helping someone on the PC.).
Back
2. The limited resource challenge
What is the limited resource challenge?
We know that there will be differences between people due to social
background, geographical reasons, educational background etc. We know
that these differences will not go away in the near future. In an ideal
world there should be the same offer of educational courses independent
of whether you live in an urban or a rural area. The access to computers
should be as good in rural areas as in urban areas. The women should
have the same possibilities as men to follow further and continuing
educational courses etc. For the time being the further and continuing
educational resources seem to be gathered in more densely populated
areas and in this way excludes people in rural areas. The CEEWIT project
takes this challenge seriously and wants to take actions so that the
existing resources can be accessible for everyone and especially for
women
Why should we be attentive to the limited resource challenge?
The reasons for this shortage of resources are to be found in political
decisions, in the traditional thinking, in purely economical
considerations etc.
Our aim is to favour developments towards a more egalitarian society. We
know that this is hard work but we also have the confidence that we will
be able to do our share of this work.
How should we work to take this challenge seriously?
Our target group have limited resources for many different reasons. Our
methodology seeks to overcome the geographical distance problems by
offering ICT courses as close as possible to where the participants
live. Our focus on the development of autonomy will favour the building
up of the self-confidence of our women. The strong focus on methodology
means that this should not be considered a one-time experience but a
starting point for the participants and a methodology that could be used
by others in similar situations.
Back
3. ICT as tools
What is a tool?
The tool is there to help us attain a goal; it is not the goal itself.
Why should we focus on the tool?
Much research on women and ICT tells us that there might be differences
between men and women in their approach to IT and ICT. Where men seem to
like to play around and find out different approaches to the software,
the women tend to focus on what practical use they could make of ICT.
How should we focus on the tool?
In the learning activities the women should be shown the practical
possibilities in the ICT-material. In the different sessions we have
been very selective. We have, for instance, not included macros in the curriculum of the word-processing
module. The focus is on the elements that will be of practical use for
the participants from day one. In favouring autonomy and encouraging the
participants to try out the possibilities in the different software we
foresee that the participants will discover elements in the programmes
that will not be presented during the sessions.
Back
4. The collaborative work
What is collaborative work?
The definition of this is given by Johnson, Johnson and Johnson Holubec
in their book: The New Circles of Learning (1994): Cooperation is
"working together to accomplish shared goals… that are beneficial
to individuals and…all other group members." In a collaborative
work environment the teacher assumes roles other than sage, policeman
and judge. The teacher goes into a cooperative relationship with his/her
students. This different attitude favours the students taking
responsibility. The teacher and trainer’s role will therefore be more
of a facilitator and a preparer for the participants.
Why should we do collaborative work?
This way of working will focus more on the participants’ activeness
and them taking more responsibility for their own learning-process. This
way of working is closely related to other topics in our methodology.
The participants will discover that they will find solutions to many of
their problems by discussing them with the other participants.
How should we do collaborative work?
There are different ways of approaching the collaborative learning.
First of all the participants have to experience the possibilities and
the advantages of collaborative learning. Having different collaborative
work practices from the start will do this. There are various
suggestions for these kinds of activities in the papers for the
different sessions. The teachers should especially be aware of the
possibilities for collaborative work that can be done by using Net
meeting. This has also the advantage of introducing the participants to
important online-activities (e.g. chat, file transfer, sharing etc.).
The introduction of this software must be done during one of the first
two lessons.
Collaborative work is also related to the activities that the
students will have in between the sessions. The project focuses as much
on the work that the students do together as on their individual work at
home or where they will use the computer. The work in smaller groups
between sessions has also an important motivational aspect. We think
that the weight we put on this will make it easier for the participants
to "hold out" if problems and frustrations should occur in the
course period.
Back
5. More learning than teaching (the
teacher’s role as an facilitator)
What is learning as opposed to teaching?
We see learning as an activity where the participant plays an active
role, whereas teaching to a greater degree focuses on the participants
as passive recipients of educational content. The positive definition of
the word "teaching" should be that the teacher is facilitating
the participants’ learning. His/her professionalism as a teacher
should show itself in his/her mastering of the subject, his/her
attentiveness to the different needs of the participants and his/her
ability to create a learning environment that favours learning.
Why should we focus on learning?
The goal of our project is to open up new possibilities for
participation for our target group. By focusing on the learning we will
favour also the students’ autonomy. They will be able to take care of
their future learning projects by the fact that they have learnt
something about their own "learning".
How should we focus on learning?
The teacher/trainer as a facilitator should be attentive to the
knowledge the participants bring with them when they start the course.
This would also mean that the teacher/trainer must prepare the
teaching/learning material in a way that it is felt useful and important
for the participants. Focusing on the "learning" would also
mean that the student has to be active during the sessions. In theory we
would like the student to follow the instructions in the guidelines for
the sessions and the teacher should be there to guide and help
them.
Back
6. The learning environment
What is the learning environment?
Learning environment includes the context in which the teaching and
learning take place. This context again includes both the physical and
psychological environment.
Why is it important to focus on the learning environment?
If the participants are going to be successful in their learning
activities the teachers/trainers should have an open attitude towards
the participants. They will meet students who will be different from the
ones they usually will meet during their day-to-day teaching in their
schools. Some participants will have little formal education and will
have passed a high mental obstacle just applying to participate in the
ICT-course. Some participants will have bad memories from their
schooldays and have experienced many defeats. In most cases they will
put the blame for these defeats on themselves. Some participants have
had bad experiences in their school days, e.g. by having the
impressions that they are not able to learn at all.
How should we focus on the learning environment?
It is vital for the success of our courses that we meet our participants
with attitudes other than they might have experienced during their
school days. Effective learning is not necessarily to put the
participants to work at the computer at once. The teacher/trainer should
seek to establish an environment of trust, openness and friendliness
towards the participants. Time and calmness could be essential factors
in the advancement of the learning activities. The participants will be
motivated when they start the course but this motivation will be very
fragile for some of them. The feeling of stress and defeats in the
initial phase of the course could put them out of educational projects
for a long time.
The teacher should try to have two rooms available during the course
sessions. There should be one room for the pauses, relaxation and
social activities. The other room should be solely for the learning
activities. The subjects discussed during the pauses should as far as
possible be turned towards other subjects than the learning. Organising
the social framework should therefore be in the mind of the
teacher/trainer (coffee, biscuits, social events for the group etc.)
Back
7. Widening the access to ICT
What is access to ICT?
In the period between the sessions it is vital that that the
participants have access to computers and that they are able to
go on-line.
Why is it important to have access to computers on-line in between
the sessions?
Although some of the participants might have their own PCs there must be
possibilities for them to meet in smaller groups to do some of the
exercises. Preferably these activities should be carried out elsewhere
than in the home of one of the participants. If there are community
centres or libraries equipped with PCs on-line where they could meet to
do these group activities (and individual activities) the use of them
should be favoured. In the eyes of other people in the community this
would have a positive effect. The use of company and private PCs during
the course would, to a greater extent, give the others
the impression that ICT and ICT- based ODL-courses is something
restricted and not available to everyone.
How could access to computer on-line in between sessions be secured?
The teacher/trainer, in cooperation with his/her organisation, the
national partner or the local communities, should try to ensure that
there are on-line connected PCs available. The priority for the
placement of these PCs should be as follows:
- At a community centre
- At a local school At a local company
- At home (by one or more of the participants)
Although it is very favourable for the individual learning process of
the participants to have their own PC this is not necessary for the
success of the course. The motivation and support that the participants
might find in the group-work activities is more important to keep the
participants from dropping-out due to different problems and
frustrations.
Back
8. Leaving the linear approach
What is the linear approach?
In most IT and ICT courses there are a linear build-up of the courses.
This means that the courses usually would start with a presentation of
the hardware, then go on to the operating system, continue with the file
management and go into the word-processing. Our project is built around
13 sessions where only the first two have to be taken one after the
other. The rest of the sessions could be taken in any order.
Why should we leave the linear approach?
One of our fundamental goals is to encourage the autonomy of the
participants. A linear approach under the guidelines of the teacher
would imply that he/she is completely in charge. It would indirectly
communicate to the participants that they should play a more passive
role. If the participants are made to make choices themselves this also
shifts some of the responsibilities to them and thereby favours their
learning-process.
How should we leave the linear approach?
The learning material will be located on a web site and thus favours a
personal navigation instead of following a traditional linear approach.
During the second session the participants will be invited to choose
which session they would like to go on with. The choice, however, has to be
taken in co-operation with at least one of the other participants so
that it should be possible for at least two participants working on the
same subject. This could mean that there could be up to 6 different
groups and sessions in a class at the same time (with 12
participants).
This organisation and this freedom is a great challenge for the
teacher/trainer and it would be impossible to accomplish without
training materials giving clear instructions and without focusing on the
students’ helping each other during the sessions.
Some teachers/trainers might ask themselves why we do not produce
self-instructing study-material when the teacher will be so little
visible in his/her teaching. Our answer is that autonomy and focus on
the learning (not teaching) will not come by word but by our actions and
our attitudes.
The teacher/trainer will be available all the time but his/her work
will be shifted from being active during the session to being even more
active ahead of the session. This means that he/she has to foresee some
of the problems that might arise. He/she might have to prepare
additional work for some of the participants and he/she will have to be
attentive to the collaborative aspects during the sessions.
Back
|
