Oona Tikkaoja // Summative self-assessment // May 2004
The Learning Process
I was very enthusiastic when starting the studies in autumn. I had taught my
first courses in the previous academic year 2002-2003, and noticed that I
definitely needed more information about learning and teaching. That was
the main reason why did I want to come to study in The Vocational Teacher
Education College.
I had accomplished the basics of educational sciences in advance and could substitute some other courses tooo, so there were left only 26 credit units for me to do during this year. I had also agreed my teaching practice places already before the study year, because I would have taught the courses anyway in order to finance my studies. That was why the teaching practices didn’t really feel as a part of the studies. Because of these arrangements there emerged a surprising problem: I had a feeling that the studies were too easy to go through and, thus, I thought that maybe I’m not working hard enough. If I ever feel that the requirements for some aim are not challenging enough, my motivation goes fast down. So I have to admit that my motivation decreased during the studies, but I think the reason was mainly my own situation. I had quite a busy year: I was working also with many other projects than the VTE studies. I continuously felt that I was not paying enough attention to the studies and was sorry for that.
The situation still provided me an opportunity to learn a very good policy: because I felt I didn’t work hard enough, I started to observe all my actions from the viewpoint of vocational growth and wrote a lot in my learning diary. So I engaged all my different activities to the studies. I’m aiming to a holistic life, in which art, research, and teaching blend with my personality and hobbies, and now I could prove that this kind of approach really works. The long walking trips with my dogs were among the most important learning occasions to me: during them I considered many theories and reflected on my work.
The holistic attitude emerged in many different situations. I, for example, participated in a live action role-play which took place in a big office house. The goal was to observe myself in unfamiliar situations, where I couldn’t use any ready-made models of behaviour. I had noticed, that I am not very good in that kind of situations and that’s why I wanted to exercise my spontaneity. I also started studies in computer mechanics to found out what it is like to study a topic, which you have no previous knowledge about. I have worked quite a long time with visual culture issues, and that is why I can’t remember any more how the students can feel when they come to my courses probably knowing nothing about the topic.
About the Effort…
At the autumn I did all the assignments very thoroughly. My effort with the
seminar assignments decreased a little towards the spring. The development
project was of my main interest because I enjoy to work on broader assignments
more than on very short ones. After all, I think I focused on every task
properly enough and also learned a lot when working on them. Overall, the process
advanced well and I think I got my goals actualised.
The Goals of the Education
To my mind the Continuous Learning and Facilitating Learning study entities
are my strongest areas. I think I have reached the goals set in the Handbook
quite well. Continuous learning is an attitude, which I have got for several
years - I think it can not be separated from being a teacher.
The third one, Development of Educational Environment study entity is not so familiar to me. Maybe I didn’t process it as much as I did with the previous entities during the education, because I am going to be just a part-time teacher. That’s why actual teaching questions are more important to me compared to the administration issues. I’m still interested in these issues too, but because I am at the start of my career as a teacher, I think I have to concentrate first on the issues which are nearest to my own work. Overall, when I look at the goals set in the Handbook, I’m quite satisfied with my learning.
Reflection on My Own Goals
The goals, which I mentioned in the first draft of my PLP, were to improve
my
- knowledge of learning process
- performance in front of audience
- English conversation skills
I have learned a lot from the group. It has been really a fine resource, even though our days in Jyväskylä have been very few (fortunately we have had the learning circle meetings!). It has been useful to hear and see all the different viewpoints and approaches concerning teaching. My English and performance have really improved when working in co-operation with the group. The main goal, which was to gain knowledge about the learning process, has been also attained in many ways: the seminar assignments and the development project, most of all, have given a reason to familiar myself with the literature I never had time to read before.
Thus, when compared to the objectives set in the beginning, to my mind, I can be quite satisfied with my own study process. Of course, there are many interesting issues which left untouched during the studies or didn’t come to discussion at all. 35 (26!) credits isn’t very much, but the education has given to me a good basis for finding more information and developing my teaching further.