Principles of University Learning - Coursework Example

Personal reflections Your reasons for studying at university I am a student who is globally oriented in perspective and have reason to belief that studying at the university is my pleasure and will benefit me a fantastic deal. I suppose many students have reasons for studying at the university but mine are just exceptional. For one, I have the urge to obtain education since I believe it is the only way forward to a successful tomorrow. I have this inward feeling that nowhere else will I advance my career of being a university senior lecturer than studying at the university. However, beyond my career, I have staunch reasons as to why I prefer studying at this university. As Ewell (1999) argues, the university broadly opens the minds of many and with interactions with other people in the course offered; it is with no doubt that I will broaden my perspective and increase my ability for global thinking. Not only will I endure the culture diversity in the university but on the same note, I will be having access to various cultures that I have always dreamed of sharing and learning them. It is the high time I know people, and make friends from the other corners of the globe because I believe it is part of networking and this is worth my future survival. I also want to study at the university because it offers a wide range of courses. I would hate to narrow down to a single course when learning because it would not be of much help. However, taking this opportunity at the university would give me a chance to roam about several departments of my choice and ultimately broadening my knowledge in various courses. How can I forget the qualified professors and tutors at the university? As Harvey (2004, p.97) notes, the institution houses the best normally referred as the top class of the lecturers qualified to lecture on the course on Principles of university learning as well as many others offered by the institution. Among them are exceptionally experienced professionals who have worked in various fields of expertise before joining the university as senior lecturers, and this is what I have always wanted; to share with them their experiences and learn as much as possible from their advice. Going to the university is not only about academics, it is also about social networking, and acquiring survival skills and I believe the institutions will be providing all in one giving me a strong reason for studying at the university. Relationships between this course and other courses you are studying this term I am undertaking the course, Principles of university learning and some two more additional courses namely, human resource management and career development. These courses I am sure have appreciable relations, and they almost complement each other. They are great courses that I chose from the onset of starting my studies at the university, and they have not disappointed at all in the objectives and goals I set before embarking on the respective courses. For one, these courses all teach about responsibility and accountability in the various subjects and fields of operations. Nagalakshmi (2000, p.163-170) argues that responsibility and accountability are principles learned and applied for a prosperous operation in any working or learning environment. Looking in depth on the principles of university learning, the course models a student on how to handle the pressures and cope with the university life. It is more about what rolls in the university life and survival strategies of the same. The course is meant to sharpen the brain of the individual equipping him with appropriate skills of coping with other people from diverse cultures, handling deadlines and pressures of work overload among many other skills. The course if also career oriented just like the other courses on human resource and career development. Harris (2002, p.7) argues that a career development is how individuals are able to manage their careers between and within organizations or relative institutions. It is a course that would equip individual students with the future organization of an organization structure as part of their career progress. I would not be lying by tying this course to succession planning for individuals in the future of institutions of learning or at the work place courtesy of the skills learned from this course. It is a course that I have a expansive view that it will be of value in my career as a university professor by shaping my principles as I work in the institution. With principles in university learning, they provide knowledge on conceptions of learning as well as how the conceptions influence instructor and student approaches teaching and learning respectively meaning that the course has such a esteemed prospect. It also shapes the individual in coping with the changes that are happening and are prospected to happen within universities in the next few years. Just like other courses prepare students on the happenings of the global changes in respective fields, the course is also ideal in shaping the student the right way, not forgetting that it is appropriate for the instructors. Application of content being covered to your own learning experiences I am undertaking the course on principles of university learning because it will be of future help in my learning within the university. As noted earlier, I would still like to stress that my career revolves around teaching within the university as a senior lecturer. Therefore, if there is someone who should be having the knowledge on learning within the university, it would me because I need this now for application in learning and in the future for assessing my students. This course will introduce me as the current student to the context of university learning helping me to eventually become effective as well as lifelong learners (Jennie, Stephens, Hernandez, Amanda, and Graham 2008, p.317-338). As I would wish, my learning will never cease because I have prospects of obtaining a master’s degree in the university and preferable go to the PhD Level. Different perspectives especially on learning at the university as the institution are examined in the University context as an evolving Institution. For sure, the university is evolving and just like Jennie, Stephens, Hernandez, Amanda, and Graham (2008, p.317-338) argue, universities are changing drastically and need proper preparation before joining for a course. My own learning experiences are an indication that I need a lot of sharpening especially in the side of technology where teaching methods have advanced moving from the traditional dictation to online learning. I would significantly benefit from learning the principles behind the new technologies in learning within universities and reap some positives relating to the same matter. By understanding and developing of the techniques and principles of effective learning at university, I will be able to apply this to be come out as a successful self-regulated learner and increase my ability to manage the learning environment, as well as my learning tasks. This will be a plus to my learning experiences for now and in the future years. Alan (1996, p.3-10) wrote in his works that an effective learner is one that continues to learn and never stops. He also was quick to note that teaching others what we learn makes us perfect what we learn. As per my learning experiences, the course is excellent in giving the opportunity of mastering the art. Educators have noted for long that one of the best approaches to learn a thing is to teach it to another person. I therefore, know that I have a lot to apply from this content to my learning experiences. Essay Introduction Collaborative learning is a general situation where two or more people attempt to learn something or successfully learn together. More purposely, collaborative learning basis on the model that knowledge creation can be done within a population where members interact actively by sharing experiences and taking of asymmetry roles (Harding-Smith 1993, p.342). Put in a different way, collaborative learning is the environments and methodologies in which learners perpetually engage in a common task with each individual depending on and holds accountability to each other. Collaborative learning is rooted heavily in Vygotsky’s views, which espouses that there is an inherent social nature of human learning shown as explained in the zone of proximal development theory. Normally, collaborative learning is of enormous use as an umbrella term particularly for a number of approaches to education, which engross joint effort by students or students in intellectual terms and involving teachers (Harding-Smith 1993, p.342). Therefore, collaborative learning is illustrated commonly in cases when groups of students are working together searching for meaning, solutions or understanding, or in creating a product or an artifact of their learning. Collaborative learning has its pros and cons with the benefits superseding the challenges and thus being used by many institutions. For one, collaborative learning redefines what used to be traditional student-teacher relationship particularly in the classroom that would result in a strange controversy. With the diverse approaches of collaborative learning including group projects, collaborative writing, joint problem solving, study teams, debates, and other activities there is no doubt that collaborative learning generates more of the benefits in facilitating learning and exchange of ideas (Nussbaum and Soto 2009, p. 330-342). It is from this type of learning that development of higher level thinking skills is possible through posing a challenge to all individuals involved to contribute something to a problem solving process. It supports student-faculty interaction as well as familiarity therefore, allowing ease in communication and a comfortable environment for learning. Collaborative learning is the perfect way of building self esteem in students especially in the participative discussion where even the shy students are shaped to cope with the situation and learn how to interact with others. It further enhances student satisfaction ideally with the learning experience while promoting a positive attitude particularly toward the subject matter. In this case, it is like a tool of effective learning and its integration in a system makes it easy in learning. Additionally, collaborative learning has been hailed for enabling an easy and fast development of oral communication skills in that participants improve the skills when they share what they possess with others other than learning singly where communication is not involved (Harding-Smith 1993, p.342). On top of the oral communication collaborative learning aids in the development of social interaction skills while promoting positive race relations. Nussbaum and Soto (2009, p. 330-342) argue that collaborative learning is the best when it comes to the creation of an environment of active, exploratory, involved learning because it uses a team approach especially in problem solving and still maintaining individual accountability making it a perfect approach for learning. The additional qualities of collaborative learning are the fact that it encourages diversity in individual understanding. This in other words is equipping individuals with diverse perceptions and angles of argument to a particular point of negotiation. In this case, it erases the single point of view and argument avoiding the narrow based argument but rather making it a broad view that has diverse points of argument. This is what encourages student responsibility precisely for their learning involving them in the development of class procedures and curriculum. Harding-Smith (1993, p.342) in his arguments acknowledged that institutions that use collaborative learning are better performing than those who dwell in individual works. In fact, his argument was that individual learners are not exceptionally sharp and the compromise when it comes to hard tasks but individuals who engage in collaborative learners have always been known to be holding till the end (Dillenbourg 1999, p.28). It is from the collaborative learning that stimulation of critical thinking is evident helping students in clarifying ideas through debate and discussion. In other words, Lee and Smagorinsky (2000, p.8) put it that any problem solving process would rather be in collaborative learning other than an individual task because this is the way forward. It is from the collaborative learning that students will enhance and improve their self management skills and indulge a constructivist approach to their arguments making them the conquerors when it comes to issues of survival in difficult situations. Nussbaum and Soto (2009, p. 330-342) were quick to note that an atmosphere of cooperation is born out of collaborative learning helping the school in general and boosting its performances from improved individual performances. Since the standards for students are sets high in expectations, it is from this that the schools reaps from their hard work and improves their overall results. However, not everything is positive regarding collaborative learning. The approach in learning also has its weaknesses and challenges prevailing as the method of learning. For one, collaborative learning opens up more for greater opportunity for conflict. The conflict is usually between or among members depending on the number of the members participating (Nussbaum and Soto 2009, p. 330-342). This is because there are diverse points of arguments and individuals stand to support their arguments to hold water. It might lead to enmity in cases where the participants are not understanding with the fear of discrimination featuring within the group. Something close to this more time in decision-making is a tremendous challenge for collaborative learning. Harding-Smith (1993, p.342) ascertains that where more than and the individual is required to make a particular decision, there is always a conflict of ideas with some arguing in favor, and other rejecting the proposals. It can therefore, consume a lot of the precise time that could have been used more fruitfully other than on the divide. It is a challenge because without the consensus, it is always difficult to make any progress (Lee and Smagorinsky 2000, p.8). Another close argument on the challenges of collaborative learning is the fact that people are different in character and in psychology. People also have diverse capabilities and some are introverts who cannot shape up to the collaborative learning (Nussbaum and Soto 2009, p. 330-342). It is therefore, difficult for such individuals to learn effectively of which they might not cope well with collaborative learning. Conclusion As explained earlier collaborative learning is a general situation where two or more people attempt to learn something or successfully learn together. More purposely, collaborative learning basis on the model that knowledge creation can be done within a population where members interact actively by sharing experiences and taking of asymmetry roles. There are pros and cons of this approach in learning which is why they have to indulge and consider the positives and negatives of this approach. Out of this, any given institution would make a choice and decide on what approach to adopt for an effective learning process. Generally, Collaborative learning has its benefits and challenges with the benefits superseding the challenges and thus being used by many institutions. It is therefore, positive to claim that this approach is the ideal method for effective learning in any given situation. References Alan, M 1996, Effective learners in action learning sets, Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 8(6), pp.3 – 10 Dillenbourg, P 1999, Collaborative Learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches. Advances in Learning and Instruction Series, New York, NY: Elsevier Science, Inc, p.28 Ewell, P 1999, Assessment of higher education and quality: Promise and politics. In S.J. Mesick (Ed.), Assessment in higher education: Issues of access, quality, student development, and public policy, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Harding-Smith, T 1993, learning together: An introduction to collaborative learning, New York, NY: HarperCollins College Publishers, p.342 Harris, J 2002, Career Development Interventions in the 21st Century, Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall., p7 Harvey, L 2004, Tertiary education, Analytic Quality Glossary. Quality Research International, p.97 Jennie, C., Stephens, M., Hernandez, M., Amanda, C. and Graham, R 2008, Higher education as a change agent for sustainability in different cultures and contexts, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 9(3), pp.317 – 338 Lee, C. and Smagorinsky, P 2000, Vygotskian perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, p.8 Nagalakshmi, C 2000, Knowledge, Work and Accountability in Organizations: Case Study of Software Company in Hyderabad, The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, Volume 2, Issue 6, pp.163-170 Nussbaum, M and Soto, P 2009, Collaborative Robotic Instruction: A Graph Teaching Experience, Computers & Education, 53(2), 330-342 Read More