When I signed up to the Teaching and Learning (T&L) certificate, I didn't realise fully the impact it would have on me as a person as well as an educator. I signed up for it thinking about how this would benefit me practically in the strange new world of online third level education, which we were thrust into as a result of the global pandemic. Scrambling for new ideas in the latter half of the previous year as we moved to online platforms, the modules in this certificate in the areas of digital teaching and assessment strategies were ones that I thought would be necessary to have going forward into the new academic year of unknowns. If anything it was a place whereby if I had a technical problem, I would find my answer on this certificate.
The certificate was a whole array of new information on online teaching. I was able to take my online classroom to interactivity levels I never knew were possible through Moodle. Videos and h5p allowed me to bring practical labs to student laptops, changing up assessment strategies removed the stress attempting to cater for onsite exams and my skills at using Microsoft Teams improved dramatically. This all made the transition to online teaching much easier for my students and I. However, surprisingly it was in the areas of philosophy and reflection that I enjoyed and learned the most. I had never any formal educational training, so learning about where I fit into varying philosophies of teaching was incredibly interesting. Reflecting on my classes has now become part of my daily routine and helps me build and improve my teaching practice bit by bit each day. I think my favourite part of the certificate was the peer observations and working with colleagues outside of my department. I learned so much by watching and listening to others and applying these new ideas in my own classroom. I think the most important tool I take away from the T&L certificate is the connection that I have made with others, in a time where we were all working remotely, we were still able to work together. Going forward, I plan to take the Digital Teaching and Learning module starting in May. I know it has been a busy year and will only get busier, but I think I have found that I learn better by doing and keeping the momentum going. I also like the accountability of these courses. I feel like I am always improving. As my favourite quote by Charlie Munger goes: "Step by step we get ahead not necessarily in fast spurts" and in the for the unchartered waters we are entering post-pandemic, it's all we can hope for.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorFiona is a biomedical engineer, lecturer and science communicator in the west of Ireland Archives
January 2022
Categories |