Session 3 Reflection

Use of the wetpaint.com website

My group did a research on one of the first learning environment gurus Dr Kurt Lewin. He was born in Prussia (a state in Germany) to a middle-class Jewish family, moved to Berlin at age 15 to attend the Gymnasium, enrolled at the University of Frieberg in 1909 to study medicine before transferring to the University of Munich to study biology. He eventually completed a doctoral degree at the University of Berlin and he first developed an interest in Gestalt psychology during his studies. He volunteered in the German army in 1914 and was later injured in combat. These experiences played a major role in the development of the Field Theory and his later study on Group dynamics, action research and experiential learning.

We created a webpage using wetpaint.com. All the three of the us had moderator rights so we could enter the website any time and add our parts of the research without meeting each other face to face. This gave us alot of ease to complete our readings and enter our individual inputs. After which we shared our website with our class and got feedback.

My Reflections

I will share the use of Wiki website to my students in my school. Wiki could be very useful in collaborative group work, gathering information and uploading individual works inside the website. I would also share this website with my fellow school teachers so that they could introduce them to their students as well. Wiki was easy to use and i did not have much difficulty adding text or formatting. Text can be typed into the word document first and can be copied over to Wiki easily. I had a bit of problems uploading pictures and formating them but i managed it with trial and error as well as getting help from my group members.

Thank you

Reflections on session 2

It was my first time driving up to NIE campus and I set off early in the morning so as to avoid the heavy traffic at BKE and Jalan Bahar exits. Before i pen down my thoughts on session 2, I would like to thank Dr Quek for her warm personality in her face to face interactions and giving us a treat during our lunch time. Very rarely lecturers do that. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Reflections on session 2:

1) Gallery walk

We actually have the opportunity to share a little of the blogs we have created. Some blogs were very impressive with added features like music, chat box and links to useful websites. I would contantly update my blog with my daily reflections as well as invite teachers and students to view my blog and give their comments.

2) E Book on How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School

We had the opportunity to view an e-book written by Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000. One of the effective learning environment is working collaboratively in groups and we worked collaboratively in groups on the four perspectives of a learning environment (Learner centered, knowledge centred, assessment centred and community centred). Different groups shared on what each perpectives mean, how each works and also on the concerns surfaced.

3) Group research on learning environment gurus

I was overwhelmed when Dr Quek gave us our group research title that we have to work on in groups in our first real session. My group would be working on Kurt Lewins field theory. Dr Quek also shared with us a social website, wetpaint.com where we could share and upload our research findings from home in our own free time.

Thank you

Collaboration is a ingredient for an effective learning environment

My reflections after literature readings


What attributes constitute "effective learning environment"?. This is a question which has kept educational researchers pondering for decades. In a quest for answers, recent research literatures seems to be supporting a common theme, that is: social interaction amongst learners plays an important part in the learning process; in fact, it can have a significant impact on learning outcomes.

Collaboration is one of an essential ingredient to create an "effective learning environment" as it provides learners with the opportunity to discuss, argue, negotiate and reflect upon existing beliefs and knowledge. The learner gets involved in constructing own knowledge through a process of discussion and interaction with teachers and fellow classmates.There is a need to have a purpose for the collaboration and the purpose needs to be meaningful to the learner. Thus it is important that an appropriate context is set for the collaborative activity, for example, assigning a "real world" task for learners or a problem to which all learners can relate. In addition to setting the context, there needs to be a environment through which collaboration can take place. In traditional face-to-face educational settings, collaboration mostly occurs through conversation, that is, individuals interacting with one another.

Therefore, in terms of creating an effective learning environment, four attributes surface as being important:

1) Providing opportunities to foster personal construction of knowledge.
2) Setting an appropriate context for the learning.
3) Facilitating collaboration amongst learners.

Thank you

Learning Environment Research: Yesterday, Today and Tommorrow

After reading this article on the learning environment research I knew that learning environment research has undergone remarkable growth worldwide. Particularly, Asian researchers have made major contributions to these research studies. Some questionairs that were developed in the western countries have been adapted, translated and cross validated for use in many asian countries like Singapore, Brunei, Korea, China and Indonesia.

Different instruments were used for assessing classroom environment. LEI, CES, MCI, ICEQ, QTI, SLEI, CLES and WIHIC are widely used, robust and validated instruments used in western and asian countries. These instruments have been validated in English to be used in Sinagpore but asian researchers have also translated these instruments in Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Malay languages. While Asian researchers have an impressive record in using these instruments in their research studies but they have been less active in the development of new research instruments.

The most common learning environment research in Asia involved investigating associations between the students outcomes and their classroom environment perceptions. These studies had been carried out in many Aisan countries, in a variety of subject areas, at various grade levels, using many student outcome measures and different learning environment instruments. The use of qualitative methods such as interviews and observations demonstrated the benefits in learning environment research.

In my opinion, feedbacks from students as well as teachers perceptions of a preferred environment improves classroom environment. Students, teachers, researchers and supervisors must work together and break the past traditions by taking researchers into the front lines of learning environment research.