The two-day trip to Espoo is now complete. I took 5.42 morning train from Kuopio, because I finished work the previous evening at 10 pm, so the obvious result was tiredness. But I did contrubute and learn during the camp.
I think I expected more teaching from the experts, but it was us on the first day to present the pitches, and then the SWOT's. The best parts were the Work application game virtual version contest, as well as sharing the networks and our entrepreneurship experiences with the 1st-year business students. I have myself received 4-month training course on work application skills, marketing and productizing my experience, and I have applied for work and worked as a freelancer for the past 3 years, so I have accumulated experiences to share. About the game contest, it was awesome that our contributions were wanted and appreciated.
Few thoughts of critique towards the content, though. The 2-day session was about ideas how to teach vocational students entrepreneurship, and how it is taught elsewhere. Now, this is great, and the vocational students are an ideal target group. However, let's be realistic. Here are some hard facts.
1. Vocational students in arts (music, artisans etc). have difficulty of finding employment, whether in companies, orchestras, as musicians or as self-employed entrepreneurs. We will see what is the impact when 1,000 vocation teachers will lose their jobs, in this sector outside the capital area, and the jobs/study places will be transferred to nursing in the capital area. Are the students give a realistic idea and the hard facts of what entrepreneurship is?
2. A high percentage of new firms will not make a two-year mark, in other words most companies will never be successful. And just look at Kermansavi and other long-term Finnish companies now. Gone. In addition, during these crucial first years, most entrepreneurs will need to work long days from morning till evening, day in and day out.
3. A female entrepreneur's average income is under 2,000 euros per month. This was published recently in a women's magazine. One needs to realize that an entrepreneur must earn three times more than what will be left as the net income after taxes, social insurance expenses, rents, equipment, tools, materials, salaries to others, accountant, ad agency, running the web site, and other costs.
4. If you cannot find work in your own field or in any other field, which is the reality in Finland, the options after that are
a) to draw unemployment benefit, apply for work and wait
b) study and get more qualifications or a new profession
c) start writing a dissertation (which requires university degree and also funding, so not very likely for vocational students or graduates)
d) become an entrepreneur
Some people try entrepreneurship because there are no other options left. In one way or another I'm doing all the above now after having been a jobseeker since summer 2009. I think that a vocation education in a practical field is one of the best investments one can make, to secure employment. The companies have beautiful rhetoric in speeches and job announcement about valuing education, networking, linguistic skills, work experience, and other skills. This is all true in this sense: without the specific degree or education (such as a social worker, painter, can mechanic) you cannot get work, not matter how experienced or qualified you are. The vocational school still have a reasonable amount of funds for their teachers (the ones who are not being cut off), so there is a lot of hope in vocation education. About the entrepreneurship, I don't know.
maanantai 26. marraskuuta 2012
VS4
The final presentation is now over, or that what I thought, since we discovered instantly that will be begin working on Educational Science already in 2 weeks. Anyway, this last virtual day on vocation science was the most interesting. I escaped the banging and dust clouds of our home-turned-into-a-construction-site to a friend's apartment for the virtual session.
First we learned about vocational education for special-needs students. According to the Review of Education in 2007 report Finland holds the world record in the quantity of special education given students in basic education (Kivirauma & Ruoho: Excellence Through Special Education? Lessons from the Finnish School Reform, p. 288). In addition, Finnish special educators have a leading status among the OECD countries (p. 289). It is a well-known fact that there is a high number of students who are not feeling well physically, emotionally, and mentally. Part of them require special attention and special education measures. For example in my lower secondary school days, there was a special group of students with poor academic performance and ill behavior, who were on so called observation class (tarkkailuluokka). I believe they had learning difficulties and some social issues, and a small group of about 6 gave them a change to get through the school system. While as a trend, children, youth, and adult not feeling well, the ultimate solution is not to have more special education. It treats the symptoms, and it is of course necessary, but the society should address the problems behind the low survival skills. Many children have to spend their afternoons alone without adult/ parental care and attention, and there is hardly anyone to share with things. In Finland independence is one of the key virtues since a baby starts learning and practicing skills, such as holding a spoon and dressing himself, so needing someone's help or attention is seen as weakness. This leads towards loneliness and even social exclusion. This is alarming especially among boys and men, who are raised to believe that showing emotions and talking about them is humiliating and should be avoided (not to mention dancing or singing). Showing emotions is allowed only in an ice-hockey match or when one is drunk. This is very sad. The society should take more measures in the well-being of its citizens, and maybe then special education would be less needed.
Satu made a great work and gave practical examples on how to approach and address this issue, when we are dealing with special-needs students. This does not only refer to disabled students, but also to ones with learning disabilities, or some other trauma or difficult conditions, which makes studying challenging.
We had a fruitful discussion on how to we can deal with special problems, such as when a student has recurring absences, tardies, or is (too) tired to study and the academic performance suffers. This brings to mind an American coed of mine when we studied abroad. The college had a mold problem but it had not been addressed efficiently. Mold was present in the library, gym, showers, and dorms. My coed had respiratory problems had missed classes because of this. The school had policy that you could only miss a few classes in order to make the credits and graduate. Because of too many absences, she had been threatened that she will not be allowed to graduate. Unfortunately the school tended to address any exception to rules by threatening this or that in order to control the students. This is one example where the issue was not addressed properly. Thankfully we are more flexible in Finland and also sensitive to all kinds of special needs, including dietary restrictions. In the same school there was another girl who had high cholesterol, but the school did not provide special diet meals for her, even though we had to pay for tuition and board, including the meals. The girl's mother had to cook her meals and she would bring them to school after each weekend.
I summary, many special situation can be handled with good communication between the teacher/tutor and the student concerned. We also discussed whether is the teacher's or student counselor's role to talk to the students and try to find solutions, and the conclusion was that both have their part to play.
Then followed a Mars presentation on combining vocation education and entrepreneurship. The Ministry of Education has outlined guidelines of entrepreneur education, and it is mandatory within the EU (Entrepreneurship Education in School in Europe: National Strategies, Curricula and Learning Outcomes, March 2012). According to this, entrepreneurship education is one of the main focuses during the current five-year period (2011-2016) (p. 46), and perhaps this is why also we as teachers-to-be also learn about this. I put together a video of our ongoing renovation project. We have two vocation students working under an apprenticeship contract, painting and putting wallpaper. There are benefits for all: the students see real-life work situations in a genuine setting and get good references from the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur gets affordable (free) labour, so they can offer construction projects in a competitive price. The client has reduced costs since the students do part of the work.
The third presentation was about entrepreneurship. We had a fun quiz, learned about key competencies, and how entrepreneurship education can be integrated into vocation teaching. This is a good background to go into EduPreneur boot camp.
First we learned about vocational education for special-needs students. According to the Review of Education in 2007 report Finland holds the world record in the quantity of special education given students in basic education (Kivirauma & Ruoho: Excellence Through Special Education? Lessons from the Finnish School Reform, p. 288). In addition, Finnish special educators have a leading status among the OECD countries (p. 289). It is a well-known fact that there is a high number of students who are not feeling well physically, emotionally, and mentally. Part of them require special attention and special education measures. For example in my lower secondary school days, there was a special group of students with poor academic performance and ill behavior, who were on so called observation class (tarkkailuluokka). I believe they had learning difficulties and some social issues, and a small group of about 6 gave them a change to get through the school system. While as a trend, children, youth, and adult not feeling well, the ultimate solution is not to have more special education. It treats the symptoms, and it is of course necessary, but the society should address the problems behind the low survival skills. Many children have to spend their afternoons alone without adult/ parental care and attention, and there is hardly anyone to share with things. In Finland independence is one of the key virtues since a baby starts learning and practicing skills, such as holding a spoon and dressing himself, so needing someone's help or attention is seen as weakness. This leads towards loneliness and even social exclusion. This is alarming especially among boys and men, who are raised to believe that showing emotions and talking about them is humiliating and should be avoided (not to mention dancing or singing). Showing emotions is allowed only in an ice-hockey match or when one is drunk. This is very sad. The society should take more measures in the well-being of its citizens, and maybe then special education would be less needed.
Satu made a great work and gave practical examples on how to approach and address this issue, when we are dealing with special-needs students. This does not only refer to disabled students, but also to ones with learning disabilities, or some other trauma or difficult conditions, which makes studying challenging.
We had a fruitful discussion on how to we can deal with special problems, such as when a student has recurring absences, tardies, or is (too) tired to study and the academic performance suffers. This brings to mind an American coed of mine when we studied abroad. The college had a mold problem but it had not been addressed efficiently. Mold was present in the library, gym, showers, and dorms. My coed had respiratory problems had missed classes because of this. The school had policy that you could only miss a few classes in order to make the credits and graduate. Because of too many absences, she had been threatened that she will not be allowed to graduate. Unfortunately the school tended to address any exception to rules by threatening this or that in order to control the students. This is one example where the issue was not addressed properly. Thankfully we are more flexible in Finland and also sensitive to all kinds of special needs, including dietary restrictions. In the same school there was another girl who had high cholesterol, but the school did not provide special diet meals for her, even though we had to pay for tuition and board, including the meals. The girl's mother had to cook her meals and she would bring them to school after each weekend.
I summary, many special situation can be handled with good communication between the teacher/tutor and the student concerned. We also discussed whether is the teacher's or student counselor's role to talk to the students and try to find solutions, and the conclusion was that both have their part to play.
Then followed a Mars presentation on combining vocation education and entrepreneurship. The Ministry of Education has outlined guidelines of entrepreneur education, and it is mandatory within the EU (Entrepreneurship Education in School in Europe: National Strategies, Curricula and Learning Outcomes, March 2012). According to this, entrepreneurship education is one of the main focuses during the current five-year period (2011-2016) (p. 46), and perhaps this is why also we as teachers-to-be also learn about this. I put together a video of our ongoing renovation project. We have two vocation students working under an apprenticeship contract, painting and putting wallpaper. There are benefits for all: the students see real-life work situations in a genuine setting and get good references from the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur gets affordable (free) labour, so they can offer construction projects in a competitive price. The client has reduced costs since the students do part of the work.
The third presentation was about entrepreneurship. We had a fun quiz, learned about key competencies, and how entrepreneurship education can be integrated into vocation teaching. This is a good background to go into EduPreneur boot camp.
tiistai 6. marraskuuta 2012
What I took home from VS3?
The Virtual Session 3 is now over. Our team's presentation on Assessment went quite smoothly. This was nice, as we tried Prezi as the presentation tool for the first time, and there was a lot of material: several theories and sources. Our Prezi presentation can be accessed also from this link:
http://prezi.com/_c1qzj2vj5jl/edit/?auth_key=dqe3qw5&follow=teemuy
The listeners seemed to get the idea, though. In addition, we split the talk among two people. The Spiderman video, courtesy of Sandra, worked, even though ACP does not allow voice. After the presentation I rushed to work and then I had another evening course, so I could say it was a full day.
Our presentation was about How, why and when to assess learning, different forms of assessment, and quality of assessment brought into 21st century. We shared how assessment can be varied and broken into pieces, told of SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) and 5 stages of understanding (which are, namely, prestructural, unstructural, multistructural, relational, and extended abstract), formative and summative evaluation, what is the point of assessment, and why do we need assessment. The reasons are: discovering learner's strength and weaknesses, to maintain standards, and to provide evidence of learner's progress. According to Peter Jarvis, quality of learning and teaching is measured by evaluation, but it is difficult to assess competence and to divide it into different categories (Adult Education & Lifelong Learning, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004, ch. 8). As today's educational institutes are becoming more commercial, there is the economic aspect to consider, not just the quality.
In summary, I think we had too much material, and even I didn't understand in depth all that we were sharing. Some of the theories were outdated and complex (Wankat, John Biggs on setting up the criteria for assessment and assessing learning quality), but the listeners seemed to cope with what we wanted to convey.
In the other presentation by Earth we learned about competence-based qualifications and vocational skills demonstrations. We discussed in a light debate format about the pros and cons of the above-mentioned ways of evaluation. One of the group members was actually involved in this as a demonstration examiner (näyttötutkintomestari). Team Saturn talked about the role of personal evaluation. I learned that the this is regulated by the Finnish National Board of Education (32/011/2005). There are different evaluation tools, such as blogging, tests, journaling, writing reviews etc. The team had created a nice online questionnaire about the learning outcomes of VS3 that we each filled up.
I am now able to consider and apply different assessment methods in different situations, depending on the context, group of students, and the subject matter. I have learned how each assessment method measures and demonstrates learning. I also understood, how learning is internalized in different stages of learning and how the progress is evaluated.
There is now only 2 weeks to get ready for the next session, but we have already started to work on the material that deals with how to develop cooperation between vocational education and working life.
http://prezi.com/_c1qzj2vj5jl/edit/?auth_key=dqe3qw5&follow=teemuy
The listeners seemed to get the idea, though. In addition, we split the talk among two people. The Spiderman video, courtesy of Sandra, worked, even though ACP does not allow voice. After the presentation I rushed to work and then I had another evening course, so I could say it was a full day.
Our presentation was about How, why and when to assess learning, different forms of assessment, and quality of assessment brought into 21st century. We shared how assessment can be varied and broken into pieces, told of SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) and 5 stages of understanding (which are, namely, prestructural, unstructural, multistructural, relational, and extended abstract), formative and summative evaluation, what is the point of assessment, and why do we need assessment. The reasons are: discovering learner's strength and weaknesses, to maintain standards, and to provide evidence of learner's progress. According to Peter Jarvis, quality of learning and teaching is measured by evaluation, but it is difficult to assess competence and to divide it into different categories (Adult Education & Lifelong Learning, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004, ch. 8). As today's educational institutes are becoming more commercial, there is the economic aspect to consider, not just the quality.
In summary, I think we had too much material, and even I didn't understand in depth all that we were sharing. Some of the theories were outdated and complex (Wankat, John Biggs on setting up the criteria for assessment and assessing learning quality), but the listeners seemed to cope with what we wanted to convey.
In the other presentation by Earth we learned about competence-based qualifications and vocational skills demonstrations. We discussed in a light debate format about the pros and cons of the above-mentioned ways of evaluation. One of the group members was actually involved in this as a demonstration examiner (näyttötutkintomestari). Team Saturn talked about the role of personal evaluation. I learned that the this is regulated by the Finnish National Board of Education (32/011/2005). There are different evaluation tools, such as blogging, tests, journaling, writing reviews etc. The team had created a nice online questionnaire about the learning outcomes of VS3 that we each filled up.
I am now able to consider and apply different assessment methods in different situations, depending on the context, group of students, and the subject matter. I have learned how each assessment method measures and demonstrates learning. I also understood, how learning is internalized in different stages of learning and how the progress is evaluated.
There is now only 2 weeks to get ready for the next session, but we have already started to work on the material that deals with how to develop cooperation between vocational education and working life.
tiistai 30. lokakuuta 2012
Preparing for VS3
On VS3 we will learn and teach about assessment. The preparation process has been fragmented, as the materials we need to be working on has been posted rather late, and a long article I had already read, was not valid any more. There are 5 in my team, and the process has been good as we have different strengths. However, he result is somewhat a hodgepodge: tons of slides in not-to-logical order, way too much information. We will use Prezi as our presentation tool, and that adds a nice touch. Hopefully there are no major technical hiccups so that it works. We tested everything yesterday.
It feels difficult to present material that someone else has prepared, especially with a notion that the source material has been outdated or even... boring.
Looking forward to today's virtual session, let's see how it turns out!
It feels difficult to present material that someone else has prepared, especially with a notion that the source material has been outdated or even... boring.
Looking forward to today's virtual session, let's see how it turns out!
perjantai 19. lokakuuta 2012
Chair group's and chairperson's report of VS2
Team
Mars chaired the VS2 on Oct 9. I chaired one breakout with Deepak. We
shared the task so that each chaired one full presentation with
discussion and we split the tasks in the third presentation. Overall,
this went very smoothly. We received good feedback from our role and
we were able to keep the timing.
The
teams were able to construct the 40 minutes freely in terms of length
and order of the presentation, activities, and discussion, and it
worked well with the topics. Teams have adopted new learning tools,
e.g. Popplet, from EduTech course, and it was fun testing them, even
if it may work better in a different context. Technically things went
very smoothly compared to the first time, and communication was good
(e.g. if everyone are around etc). Generally there was little time
for discussion, but we heard interesting comments and ideas. Some
teams sent part of their materials, questions, and video links very
late, after the deadline, and some other requests were also made very
late. This makes it difficult for the chair group to adjust them at
last minute.
Deepak
pointed out that the presentations were more interactive than the
previous session. The bonus was that the various methods used
required active participation. Time management was appropriate and
the rules for video was really a good idea to use. It prevented using
long videos. In order to use various tools during the presentation,
discussions in between were also effective. The different AC sessions
proved to be more effective than breakouts. There were hardly any
technical problems throughout the session.
The
idea of using Popplet was a courageous one. It is indeed a helpful
tool but there was uncertainty in our breakout as to know exactly we
were supposed to do. Instructions were not very clear. Everyone was
wondering for the first few minutes, and after a while we discovered
we were supposed to put any thoughts we would like to discuss.
Everybody started putting their random thoughts and one Popplet was
hidden under the other. It was hard to follow any discussion trail,
but the comments were interesting. Overall, the session was
productive and seems that we all are learning to apply various
methods and teaching styles.
On
Teemu's opinion, the sessions used much more creative methods –
joint working, collaboration and open discussion. This was very
fruitful, much more than in session #1. I think it is great to see
people experimenting with different methods. The presenters
had taken time to connect their topics into real life examples. This
was very useful and helped comprehension substantially. There were
some technical issues: e.g. some slides had very small font. It would
be beneficial to have everything in sufficiently large font. Also, it
was sometimes a little confusing as the presenters did not always
explain what the next stage of collaboration was to be. The tutor and
one participant did not have access to the Popplet. We solved this by
sharing the screen so they could at least see what was going on.
Beside
some individual computer problems it was satisfying to observe how
the groups had made the presentations. They were all interactive and
involved us in the same level, contrary to the last time. For
the next sessions we should cooperate more with other groups in order
to not present the same issue, since Jupiter and Earth had the same
picture and almost the same issue which they discussed. Sandra
suggested that we should also avoid writing the answers for the
discussion on chat box since it takes time to write and may be
confusing. The chairperson has to follow the ongoing chat while while
the group i s presenting. Video can be watched beforehand, but the
other preliminary material, such as videos, pdf's, links for blogs,
should be delivered to the people at least one week before the
presentation. One day or night before is way too late. Beside this,
the teams put together inspiring and interesting presentations. As
Teemu mentioned, using a common examples helped a lot.
Buzzing arond
My dear blog and it's faithful followers,
Life on earth is hectic. Our team Mars is planning for the presentation for VS3 on Assessment, and I am writing a feedback/ summary report on the previous Virtual session, which we chaired. The report is coming up soon. Re are doing major renovation in our apartment, then I'm starting a new job next week and I've had some urgent assignments at my other job, plus I am busy writing an application for funding for a dissertation project due few weeks' time. My schedule is crazy.
I am still trying to squeeze in a little vacation or at least a few days off, since I worked the whole summer. Plus last weekend, 10,5 hours extra, starting 03:25 Saturday morning. I console myself with the fact that in many countries people work as a rule 6 (or even 7) days a week, 10 or 16 hours a day. (And they don't discuss fatique or burn out.) Maybe they just drop down dead. I hope I will manage just a little longer... and hope it will get a bit easier.
Life on earth is hectic. Our team Mars is planning for the presentation for VS3 on Assessment, and I am writing a feedback/ summary report on the previous Virtual session, which we chaired. The report is coming up soon. Re are doing major renovation in our apartment, then I'm starting a new job next week and I've had some urgent assignments at my other job, plus I am busy writing an application for funding for a dissertation project due few weeks' time. My schedule is crazy.
I am still trying to squeeze in a little vacation or at least a few days off, since I worked the whole summer. Plus last weekend, 10,5 hours extra, starting 03:25 Saturday morning. I console myself with the fact that in many countries people work as a rule 6 (or even 7) days a week, 10 or 16 hours a day. (And they don't discuss fatique or burn out.) Maybe they just drop down dead. I hope I will manage just a little longer... and hope it will get a bit easier.
tiistai 9. lokakuuta 2012
Reflections and feedback from EduTech boot camp
I
enjoyed the EduTech boot camp immensely. It was intense, but
interactive, and thus not tiring. I rather felt energized after each
day. The course was a PROGRESS, we learned as a group, and it was
hands-on, not just theory. The debate with pros and cons was awesome, because there
aren't many platforms for that in Finland. I was cool to hear other
people's ideas and comments and to consider also the cons of
technical tool and applications.
During the 2-day boot camp we got to know and try AnswerGarden, Popplet, QR code, Prezi, Blogger (which I, of course use as you read), iPad, iMovie, and more. We also learned about Flipped Classroom, went on scavenger hunt, interviewed vocational students and comprised a video about their experiences from virtual learning tools.
During the 2-day boot camp we got to know and try AnswerGarden, Popplet, QR code, Prezi, Blogger (which I, of course use as you read), iPad, iMovie, and more. We also learned about Flipped Classroom, went on scavenger hunt, interviewed vocational students and comprised a video about their experiences from virtual learning tools.
I
can already think and use many ideas and tools I learned. I made my
husband an e-card for birthday with StripDesign cartoon tool. I tried
to download the programme into my laptop, but realized that it is
iPad and iPhone compatible, so I downloaded it on my iPhone and
created the card with pictures from camera and Facebook, which is
accessible though the app. Unfortunately I didn't find the speech
bubbles with iPhone, but anyhow my husband was very impressed. He
told me that receiving that card (which, by the way, I showed from my
phone screen and forwarded as an e-mail) was the favourite thing
during his birthday. That was a meaningful statement, because he
liked the card better than his special-request gift, which was
freshly painted window sill edges and his favourite dish of flamed
salmon. Never underestimate the power of virtual applications!
Our
hobby is to run marriage seminars and lectures with my spouse, and I think I will
use some of the presentation tools that we learned to make them more
fun, engaging, interactive and memorable for example by using Prezi presentation tool. And maybe to impress my
hi-tech, ad agency friend.
Reflecting
more in terms of learning, the aspect of creativity is very
important, and this was achieved. One of the groups made a Facebook
page about the furniture artisans and their projects. What a great
idea to promote those entrepreneur's business ad raise awareness!
This is a very good example of synergy that this kind of learning
environment and subject matter can bring about. I love learning
anyway, but if learning can be this fun and interactive, I want to
know more!
I can see why InnoOmnia is cutting edge. It is necessary to try to do things in a new way in the 21st century. We are past classroom and blackboard period, and this is what we are seeing, very much in line with RSAnimate speech about changing education paradigms by Sir Ken Robinson (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U).
P.S.
The food was also superb!! Very tasty and nicely served. The whole 2
days was such a treat! I cannot was to land on the EduPreneur
course!!
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