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Shift in Pedagogy : Knowledge focussed to teacher focussed to learner focussed learning environment.

Pedagogy means the function or work of a teacher. It is the art of science of teaching; education; instructional methods. How to introduce effective change has increasingly frustrated and mystified educators over the past few decades. When one discusses change then one needs to define what is meant by the word. Change is about making something different. When one undertakes change they are entering into a journey of uncertainty. In regards to teacher change, change is a struggle that many educators fail to recognize as natural and inevitable. The teacher change process may come about because it is either imposed on a teacher by a higher authority or the teacher voluntarily chooses to participate or initiate the process. Todays professors are dissatisfied with the way the traditional statics course was designed. His goal was to transform the curriculum and pedagogy based on his newly found understandings of learning theory and multimedia technology. Fundamental to any engineering and architectural program, the study of statics is concerned with the computation of forces acting upon bodies in equilibrium. Statics combines the principles of engineering and applied mathematics, it has been traditionally taught through didactic lecture based instruction. The new learning environment was designed to replace this traditional instruction with the new pedagogical tools of experiential, cooperative learning and interactive multimedia.
Initiation Implementation Continuation Outcome

A simplified overview of the change process.

The first phase is the initiation of the change. Initiation begins with the processes which lead up to and include decisions to proceed with change by developing or adopting an innovation. Innovations are usually developed in response to sponsored incentive systems in society such as government sponsorship. The change process may come about because it is either imposed on a teacher by a higher authority or the teacher voluntarily chooses to participate or alternately, initiates the process. The second phase is the implementation of the change which involves the change in practice. Implementation focuses on the first experiences of attempting to put an idea, a program or innovation into practice. The use of new or revised materials such as, curriculum materials and new technologies, the use of new teaching approaches or strategies, and the alteration beliefs such as, the pedagogical assumptions and theories underlying the new program. All three dimensions of change are necessary because they represent the means of achieving a goal. The third phase is the continuation of the change. This is a phase where the change is sustained and continued beyond the first year or two of implementation or whenever the change has been institutionalized or permanently incorporated into a system. The final phase is the outcome of the change. This phase refers to the several different types of results from the change process. The results can include improved student learning and attitudes, new teacher skills, attitudes and satisfaction. Implementation is the means by which outcomes are achieved in the educational change process. The changing role of teaching. As our view of the learner changes so does our view of the role of the teacher. One current issue is that traditional education espouses belief systems of authority-centered epistemology and a role of knowledge acquisition for the learner. Teaching in the nineties is changing from being a deliverer of information where communication is not viewed as merely a one-way transmission from the instructor to the

learner. Moreover, it is a two-way process that enables the progressive construction of meaning through action and dialogue. These conversations are the means by which people articulate differences and then construct collaboratively a common ground of shared beliefs, meanings, and understandings. They are part of the cognitive change that the learner undertakes. Knowledge is a dialectic process, the essence of which is that individuals have opportunities to test their constructed ideas on others, persuade others of the virtue of their thinking and be persuaded. With new conceptualizations of the learner, there comes a new understanding of the teachers role which is to, ... model inquiry, provoke inquiry oriented to students conceptual change from pre-existing alternative conceptions of the subjects domain, negotiate meanings in discourse with students, and serve to represent a community of scientific practice Educators are directed to work on real problems, and encouraged to think aloud while arriving at a solution. They should consider including problems that are novel and for which answers are not immediately apparent. Educators should describe their reasons for making certain decisions. They should solicit learner contributions to this process and assign students to roles or sub tasks in complex collaborative problem solving and rotates these roles. Finally, they should encourage group discussions to take place so that students can reflect on and consolidate what has been learned. Real applications of knowledge are at the core of instruction. Students are scaffolded as they become increasingly more proficient in taking on parts of the whole task, with instructional support fading as competencies are achieved. When teaching is considered as assisting the performance of learners, it becomes a vehicle through which the interactions of social and cultural environment are internalized by the individual.

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