Design Rationale

Introduction

 E-learning to me, is a new way of learning to how we have previously learnt in the past. In incorporates new theories and new ways of thinking, and it is the new technologies that we have now that have made this possible. Connectivism and constructivism, relatively new ways of thinking have motivated this video heavily, as it has also changed the way I traditionally thought of learning. I find the new theories that we have engaging, interesting and excited for the future of learning. I have incorporated my ideas of the exciting new ways to learn, and how this is possible through my motivational video, “E-Learning: The start of something bigger”.

My motivational video is linked in to this website, and can be viewed by the video clip that is directly above this Design Rationale.

Video Choices

 The theme of this video is entitled “E-learning, the start of something bigger”. The idea of this theme is to incorporate my ideas of e-learning, particularly within my context of learners, in particular adult learners. The idea behind the video is to show how I feel about e-learning, especially in relation to my own learning as an adult learner.

The video itself has been directly linked to this blog – this is so that the video is easy to find, and then, when reviewing the video itself, able to easily see the rationale behind why the design was chosen, and any others in this subject to find it quickly and easily.

I have chosen to present material for the viewer to see, mostly free clipart pictures, or available freely on the internet. I’ve also chosen to include my voice as a voiceover – to give the viewer something to connect to, so as to hear a real person talking, from real experience, rather than just random text on the screen with happy background music.

The idea is to put the focus on the message that you can hear, along with graphics that represent or are relevant to the topic being spoken about. I want the message to be about adult learners, and in particular one who is an adult learner, so that the viewer can truly see and understand not only the
e-learners perspective, but to learn and understand an adults’ perspective on the barriers that are found in e-learning.

I experimented implementing music to go in the background, to help affect the motivational side of the video, however, I found that all music detracted away from the voice over and taking away of the message being told.

My video is broken up in to sections to make the message shorter and with identifiable sections:

Introduction

Barriers

New Ways

Conclusion

The introduction section seeks to show the viewer what the video is all about – e-learning and the change that it is making in our lives. It starts with identifying what e-learning is, and how, through technology, it is changing our lives.

It then goes on to the barriers that we face with e-learning – why do people not accept it and use it right away? What stops us from doing that and why? Particularly adult learners are not easily able to get started with this – not being digital natives it is harder for adult learners to get started… however, once they are started, they have the abilities and the knowledge to move forward, and to truly become e-learners. It also deals with how we are now able to be connected – the changes in connectedness that e-learning is bringing. It is not only how it changes our daily lives (Wikipedia, Google) but also with how we can learn and the resources we now have available, all around the world.

The New Ways section incorporates the theory from this course – what we have learnt and how it is changing the way we learn. Two theories, constructivism and connectivism, have made a big impact on how I see the way we learn – these are innovative and interesting ways to learn, ways that will engage the learner, keep it interesting and keep the learner involved. I can see the future of learning are these theories, particularly when the theories (connectivism in particular) are more finely tuned.

For this to happen, there needs to be more uptake by the teachers and education systems in general, for e-learning to move forward. Change will not be quick, but it will come, especially as the education systems we currently have in place have will start to have the technology to change.

The SAMR model, that shows how technology is changing and transforming the tools we have to learn, was also a factor in the New Ways section.  Examples of how encyclopedias have moved to Wikipedia is an example of the SAMR model and the Redefinition of an existing tool.

Web 2.0 tools are also mentioned – the changes that have come about and are available due to these new tools make a huge difference in our lives, particularly as learners. And the amount of learning tools available in this format are huge – and growing bigger by the day as teachers and learners realize the value and potential of this tool.

It also mentions the digital natives, those that have been brought up with technology and adult learners – those that have not. Whilst it may be easier for digital natives, as they have always been learning with these technologies, adult learners have the capacity and the capability to learn this way – it may just take time for them to overcome the barriers to learning.

The Conclusion was meant as a concise way to sum up the video – a way to put emphasis on the changes that e-learning has brought and will continue to bring – and to get the viewer excited about the changes to come. It is the start of something bigger, something that the world hasn't seen before – technology driving learning which is driving us all to be better connected to each other and learn like never before!

Collaboration

 Without collaboration, I cannot see that this subject would have been possible for me. I can see the true value in collaboration – sharing an idea, an opinion or even speaking about how something can be done. It is hard to take words and form them in to an idea or a framework… but when speaking to others, sending emails or reading their blog, that becomes possible. I have really valued collaboration and the opinions of others throughout this course, and I look forward to that continued collaboration in the future.

Conclusion

This motivation video is a mark of my journey as I have worked through this course. It has taken my core ideas of what e-learning is and expanded upon it, added more information for thought and given me the structure of what e-learning is and what it is to me in my context of adult learning. I have been excited by the depth and breadth that e-learning can take us to, across the globe making connections and sharing ideas with anyone, anywhere… and the advances that we are likely to make in the future. I can truly see the value of e-learning for all learners, both digital natives and adults. It is the future of learning – and I look forward to the changes it will bring to us in the future.

References

 W Fasso (2012) 20001: Learning Theory in the Digital Age

Creative Commons www.creativecommons.org.au

Free Digital Photos http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Week 7

Does elearning require a new theory of learning? I believe it does. In the past, we have used set theories of learning, which have served us well. However, with elearning, it takes the way we have previously learnt and completely changed it. I don't believe that it is an e-version of learning... it is seperate and distinct from learning in the WAY that we learn. It is far more self-motivated and self-driven and changes the way we learn. Existing learning theory simply isn't enough for this new way of learning.

The key concepts of this paper for me were:

Social implications of e-learning - how this is changing the way we learn. Do we need a new theory of learning to keep up with this?
For me, the answer to this is simple: yes, we do need a new theory to keep up with the social implications of e-learning. It is so different to what we have done previously, that we need to analyse, work out and document these changes, to come up with a better structure for learning, but to also help those new to e-learning.

Technology enhanced learning... learning is made better with technology.
I believe that technology does enhance learning. That's one of the reasons we have technology - to do things better or in a way that we couldn't previously fathom. However, I don't believe that e-learning is simply learning that has been enhanced by technology... it has revolutionised the way we learn, so it is not simply learning with a bit of technology thrown in.

There are gaps in the framework of elearning theory.
As this field of e-elearning is relatively new, there are most definitely gaps in the framework of elearning theory. We have had one learning theory for such a long time... that this new way of thinking and learning will take time to properly explain and to have appropriate theories in place.

Transduction process
I had to really look at this... the words used in this weeks' reading were making my head spin.
Transduction to me, from reading this, is transforming from existing technology to new... for example, moving from pen and paper to a Word document. Taking the old, and modernising it... or, if using the SAMR model, the Substitution layer. However, this is only part of the transforming process.

Connectivism
I like the idea of connectivism - it seems to be to really be the next stage of learning. To put the onus on the learner, to construct their own pathways for learning, to structure their learning, and to search for information, using a teacher as a guide is a very interesting idea. For me, this links very closely with constructivism, and the ideals seem to be similar, though connectivism takes it one step further. I feel that this is likely to be the future of learning.

It will take a while to fully hash out where this sits, and how to take this further. In my context of adult learning, I can see it will take some time for this idea to work - adults have always learnt very differently to this way of thinking, and making the leap to this is no small task. I see this as working much better when incorporated in to all levels of education - training young students to think this way and to use it as they grow and learn, is a great way to start learning in a connectivist way.

Incoporating this new learning idea, I have updated my map.

I see Connectivism working with Constructivism - they are both similar, but  for me, Connectivism seems to work upon and from the constructivist point of view, so I have added it working with Constructivist theory. It isn't an objectivist theory and doesn't work with it, so I have not connected it to objectivist theory.

My Reflective Synopsis

 

Introduction

Elearning to me, is the use of technology, in particular, the internet, to study and to learn. I believe that eLearning gives us previously unknown tools in which to learn, in far more creative and innovative ways that we could ever have imagined. These tools, when studied, can give us an insight in to not only new emerging technologies, but also new types of learning, and in particular, learning in collaborative ways.

This reflective synopsis will reflect upon three items that I believe are examples of transformative technology – that is, technology that has transformed a tool we have previously used, into something significantly different and even those that will allow for tasks that were previously inconceivable to us, using our old methods.

To do this, I will be referencing the SAMR model. A link to the SAMR model can be found on my blog - http://myedel20001.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/week-4-transformation_7.html. The idea of the SAMR model gives reference to two levels of enhancement – whereby the technology simply is the same as the non-technological version, or with small additions in functionality. The transformation levels include modification – redesigning the task, and also redefinition – the creation of new tasks that were previously inconceivable.

I will also be discussing constructivist and objectivist theory and how this is demonstrated in the articles, and how this works to foster more collaborative and engaging learning. Constructivist theory involves the ideas each individual brings from their own experiences, with no set fact. Objectivist theory is set fact, where it is taught and learnt as fact, with no flexibility.

The context I use in this reflection is simply one of learning – particularly that of adult learning and new and interesting ways for everyone to learn.
 

Links for the Synopsis

For this reflective synopsis, I have included links to my blog, as well as links to my Scoop.it! collections, both my regular collection and the collection for the purposes of this reflection, taken from my regular collection.

The links for this synopsis are:

My reflective synopsis
            http://myedel20001.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/my-reflective-synopsis.html

My blog

http://myedel20001.blogspot.com.au/

My reflective synopsis Scoop.it collection 

http://www.scoop.it/t/reflective-synopsis

My Scoop.it! collection                       

 http://www.scoop.it/t/the-new-world-of-elearning

Wikischools 2012

The first article that I will be reflecting upon is that of the Glamwiki Experience: Introducing Wikischools 2012 - http://theglamwikiexperience.blogspot.fr/2012/03/introducing-wikischools-2012.html .

The basis of this article is that of using a wiki as a learning tool. The idea behind it was a course for teachers from different geographical areas and different areas of expertise to promote the use of Wikipedia (Catalan version). They learn about Wikipedia, and then create articles on a private wiki page, upon which they then collaborate and vote upon the best articles, which are uploaded on to Catalan Wikipedia. This gives a multitude of people a chance to collaborate with each other, and then learn and to create collaborative tools (the private wikis) and then to share them with others using the Catalan language wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a very transformative tool - instead of the simple paper editions of encyclopedias, it gives an open-ended tool that can be modified, edited and added to by a multitude of people in a multitude of ways, in many languages – and it is available instantly through the use of the internet!

However, this idea of learning and using private wiki pages, to promote learning from a different array of people, and then using what they have learnt by putting on the actual site gives a chance for much – needed collaboration. It not only gives the people themselves this, but also for others viewing, creating and adding to their work. This is modification – previously this level of interaction and collaboration was not possible. It allows for new tasks that were not able to be done before – however, I believe it will eventually reach the redefinition level as Wikischools continues to grow and change with its learners. 

The constructivist learning theory is most dominant here – having learners from different backgrounds and levels working together, but creating differently allows each person to incorporate their past experiences, culture and ideas. This is the heart of constructivist theory – that of bringing their own experiences to learning as the facts are not set in stone, but open to multiple interpretations.

 I feel the use of private wikipedia sites, and the ability to put these in to the real wikipedia pages, to be searched, viewed and added to by so many as they surf the web has real implications for my practice. It gives a familiar feel to those who may be learning how to keep up with new and emergent technologies, as well as a way to learn creatively and to express themselves but to be able to share this knowledge.

Wikischools 2012 has some very interesting implications for the future – for learning, for teaching and for collaborative work that can be shared with many web users, for years to come.

  

Access Grid 

The second article I will be reflecting upon is Bridging the Gap Using Access Grid Video Collaboration Technology: A Case Study in Music Performance Education across Two Continents - http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/bridging-gap-using-access-grid-video-collaboration-technology-case-study-music-performance-education-across-two-c

This Scoop.it! article was a very interesting case study: was it possible, using technology, that a teacher would be able to teach and interact with her students when based in the UK and her students in Canada? The real crux of the problem? She was teaching them music, and as such, would need to accompany them with instruments thereby requiring high quality audio, sound and real time face to face interaction. The software they used was Access Grid and had a multitude of collaborative and innovative features…  

It offers real time collaboration, use and share applications simultaneously, it can display live video streams as well as images of people and applications projected on to a large screen. 

This to me is a fantastic example of transformational technology. It has taken a normal interaction – speaking face to face – and changed it in such a way to make it collaborative. Features such as live interaction whilst displaying applications at the same time, with groups of people across the world make this software very transformative – it has taken the base idea and transformed it in to a collaborative, interactive tool, one well designed for learning and education. In this way, I believe it is at the redefinition end of the scale – it changes the way we have previously done something, to make it interactive, collaborative, and in a way we never could have previously imagined.

The learning theory in software has a basis for both objectivist theory and constructivist. Objectivist will be used in this technology in the way that they learn (learning music, whilst creative, has certain facts that are not open to opinions or experience), but the way in which they learn with access grid has the opportunity to be constructivist – the different applications they use within it, the collaboration they have the opportunity to do – allows them to use the construcitivst approach whilst complementing the objectivist. To show the idea of a complementary approach can be found on my blog -  http://myedel20001.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/week-3.html

The implication for my practice is learning that geographical boundaries can be overcome! The use of technology to bring people together to collaborate, especially in difficult circumstances such as music, which requires precise timing and equipment, is an innovative technology to be mindful of in my practice.

 

Evernote as a Portfolio: Promotes Lifelong Learning

My third topic from Scoop.it! is Evernote as a Portfolio: Promotes Lifelong Learning!  http://notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.org/2013/03/29/evernote-as-a-portfolio-promotes-lifelong-learning/

When exploring this article, I found it to be of interest to me and my practice… I loved the idea of a single application, that could hold so many details, facts and documents. But what I hadn’t realized was its capacity for learning. Evernote as a Portfolio is an idea of creating, learning, collaborating and keeping the information you have worked on, learnt with and collected as your own portfolio of works and information. It can be used to document learning, progress and used by students, teachers and parents (if the case may be for younger learners… or in the case of older learners, their friends and colleagues).

You are able to create a notebook, share your notebook with others and they can comment on it, you can create a public link URL, send links to each others’ notebooks.

I feel this is a transformative example of technology – rather than simply being an enhancement of existing technology and ways we do things, it has revitalized it. If it were simply workbooks and task lists it would fall in to the enhancement category it would only give the same functionality with a few added extras. However, with the addition of being able to email direct workbooks, share them with each other via email or having it directly available to the public, it revolutionizes the way in which collaboration can be done! It is now available all the time, at the touch of a button – not only available on the internet, but quickly in an application, on phones and iPads – ready to be used on the move, in the workplace and schools!

This is a very collaborative technology, allowing others to view, comment, add information and notes and publish to the web. However, I feel it has a very constructivist way of thinking due to the way in which learning takes place.

The ability to use the workbooks gives each student the opportunity to think for themselves, and yet be able to work with and collaborate easily.

I feel that the relevance to my practice is for the abilities it has for students and teachers alike to communicate and collaborate quickly and easily, making it available all the time to work, and watch your progress. Rather than sending documents or emails, your teacher or student can read your work right away. For me, I feel that will have added benefits for learners, as they will feel connected to the course of study. They will also have access to workbooks of colleagues and friends, and be able to monitor their work accordingly.

I believe this will help students to take ownership of their study. As they embark on their learning journey, they will need certain skills with which to learn, including

 

Collaborative Learning Experience

My collaborative learning experience has been very positive and beneficial, not only by feeling more comfortable and confident within undertaking a new experience at university, but also within my practice. The experiences of others, vastly different to my own, has helped to expand my own way of thinking, through their comments on my work, my conversations with them, and even their own points of view in different exercises.

I feel there is great value for my context, as it gives me a more rounded view of the many different types of people and learners there are. It helps me to understand different points of view, often ones I haven’t thought of, and to see things from a new perspective.

I believe that collaboration with the others in my course has been very beneficial to both myself and to my practice, and I hope that in future, I will expand my level of collaboration with my colleagues in this course, and learn from them and their experiences to the best of my ability.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel that the three Scoop.it articles I have in my collection are good examples of transformative learning – they have gone from being simple technology tools, and have more on to become far more than the basic technology from which they started. They offer students a chance to learn in innovative ways, that are both interesting and allow the learner to learn in a constructivist way which I believe is the future of learning, particularly in our modern technological world.

The implications for my practice is that I need to develop my skills to be able to search for, find and incorporate these new ideas in to my own practice. The tools I have found and analysed are a great start for my practice in eLearning, and will help me to develop it as I continue and learn.

I have learned that there are so many amazing tools available that are being developed every day, that have an amazing potential for learning. I have learned that incorporating technology in to learning is something to be embraced, for both the benefit of the learners as well as the teacher. I realize that this is something that I want to learn more about and to search – for there are so many great technologies out there I want to know how to use them and incorporate them in to what I do.

 

References

Hinojo, J (2012) The Glamwiki Experience

Sykes, E & Skoczen, W (2013) Bridging the Gap Using Access Grid Video Collaboration Technology: A Case Study in Music Performance Education across Two Continents

Seideman, M (2013) Evernote as a Portfolio: Promotes Lifelong Learning

 

Week 4 - Transformation

I found the video "The Voice of the Active Learner" to be interesting, challenging and annoying. Their attitude is that the onus is on the teacher, the institution and the course to keep up with technology to keep students interested simply because they have grown up with it. This attitude is almost insulting -  "If you want me, you'd better keep up with me".

While I find it this way, I feel that there is wisdom within this. It is reminding those that construct courses, teach or work with education in any way, need to keep up with changing technologies, and embrace that within our structures. Young learners have been brought up with this technology and this attitude of everything to be available instantly - adult learners have not. We have been brought up with encyclopaedias, home phones, and no internet. We don't expect everything right away. However, that is changing - now adult learners are used to the instant access to everything.

I don't believe that all learners have an attitude of "everything now" and that a course or unit of study has to be up with the latest technology. Certainly some would, but it would be so difficult for any course to keep with up cutting-edge technology as it changes every day! I find it heartening to learn that adult learners, once they have an induction and orientation in to technology, use it almost the same amount as younger learners. It means that adult learners realise the importance of new and emerging technologies, and aren't afraid to learn! This means however, that adult learners will want focus to be upon technology as well, not just the digital native, and that has implications to ensure that all courses need to keep up with emerging technologies and constantly be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to do everything!

I found "Changing Education Paradigms" a very interesting idea. Rather than be angry or annoyed as I was for "The Voice of the Active Learner" and their ideas, it made me realise that whilst I am not a digital native, that there are challenges to learning as one. Whilst I found the previous video difficult to watch, I found the second enthralling, as it really details the problems digital natives face. It makes me understand why digital natives have the attitudes they do, and understand that technology and learning are very important to them. Attention spans and their attitudes towards learning will be wholly different from adult learners. It is something to be careful of when teaching, and a further reason why learning the background, level and capacities of learners I would be teaching is of paramount important, especially when teaching using constructivist theories. It also seems to me, to further perpetuate the idea of how important constructivist learning is, and how this style of learning will only benefit and assist digital natives in their search for education.

I have included below an image of the SAMR model. I found this model very interesting, but also logical and well thought out. The stages of SAMR make clear sense, and by looking at these stages and how they compare to technology, I feel I can truly understand the changes that technology has made... and will continue to make within our lives.

Week 3

Well, this week's collaborative task did not go well for me - I felt I was still playing catch up with what I had been doing, and as a result, by the time I realised I should be collaborating, Week 3 had already passed. I felt disappointed to miss the opportunity to really work collaboratively with the others on this course, as it seems that everyone in the course comes from different backgrounds, professions and teaching experience. I am enjoying the flexibility to view, read and understand other people's points of view on each week's topics, but also on other topics as well.

For my progression collaboratively in the future, I will need to stay more mindful and focussed upon the week that we are currently in, and work on staying up to date, so that I don't miss out on these opportunities.

So instead of working through the collaborative task, as I would like to have done, I will proceed to the next task: Engagement Activity 5.

My concept Map:

I believe that constructivist and objectivist learning theories, whilst very different, are useful in different ways. In some ways, objectivist learning theories make sense to me. If I want to learn my mathematics timestables, I think that objectivist learning theories make sense - I want someone to show it to me, teach it to me, and then I will repeat it. It works in that way for me... as information that I need to know and retain.

However, I believe that largely constructivist learning is far more interesting to me, and would most certainly stimulate my learning and truly inspire me to learn, particularly social constructivism. Getting other people's ideas and input, especially from different backgrounds, on a project that may be fairly uninspiring when taught conventionally with objectivist ideals, makes me want to learn. I have put them equally on my map... as I don't feel you can have one without the other... I feel in some ways they do complement each other.

You couldn't always use one and not the other... I feel that much of what we see in teaching today is based upon objectivist learning theories, rather than constructivist. Teachers need to teach certain content to students, in order for them to pass exams, learn certain ideas (particularly in mathematics and logic based subjects) and to know basic facts about what they are learning. However, I do believe that in many subjects, a shift towards constructivism would enable students to learn more thoroughly, question what they are learning and think for themselves, giving them a more rounded education.

My learning journey, has been an eye-opening one. I have never experienced a course with so much information and content, and yet with the flexibility to allow for my own perspectives and the opportunity to draw my own conclusions about the subject matter and how I feel about it. Whilst at first I found that I was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of resources and information out there, I have really found it to be a very positive experience. I can bring my own ideas, teaching experiences and concepts that I know already, and put that in to practice within the framework that I am given. I find this not only empowering, but also very interesting learning. I can credit from this constructivist learning theory, which incorporates the freedom to bring my past experiences, as well as my own points of view, as being both useful, and also exceptionally interesting.

Week 2 continued

Activity 2

The benefits to the learner of this approach?

Rather than simply being conditioned to think in a certain way, they are thinking for themselves. The information is presented to them in such a way as to make them think and use their previous experiences to process the data. It also gives them a more rounded view – they pull their ideas from their own previous experiences, so they can see the relevance. 

How is it useful in my own teaching context?

It may be useful in my own teaching context as a way to make the courses I design or the way I teach interesting, focused and also to make me aware that I need to find a way to use students' prior knowledge to teach them. I can see it incorporates more interesting visuals, and also has a very structured learning approach (steps 1 – 9). It gives the students more of a chance to think for themselves… so as a teacher, I would need to make sure I gave them that opportunity, and also made sure I had a good understanding of the audience (students) that I would be teaching/creating a course for.

What particular content areas might benefit from this approach?

I can see that online learning would benefit greatly from this – the use of web videos, music, online questionnaires, online resources can make a lesson very visually interesting and also varied.

Drawbacks?

It would certainly mean that students would want to think for themselves, and a certain structure to the lessons needs to be set (steps 1 – 9). It would put more demand on the teacher to getting it right, to be engaging and interesting, especially for the students in question, and ensure that the information presented is right for those people.

If students haven’t learnt this way before, then it may take them some time to feel comfortable in this way of learning… so it may be as a teacher, I would need to take extra time or be available to assist the students in this different type of learning, particularly at the start.

Engagement Activity - Week 2

Activity 1

I believe this type of approach does have value in my own teaching context. Being able to get the right behaviour from students, to allow them to learn and to see the value in learning is very important. It would need to be done carefully, however, so as to still foster a good situation for learning.

I can see this approach to learning would particularly benefit young learners – especially ones new to teaching ideas and how things work. They are young enough to be trained and will listen and want to do the right thing to earn praise, or fun things or activities. 

Limitations to this type of learning – if the student knows and understands what you are doing, then they may not want to do it, simply because they do not want to be conditioned. Also, if the benefit isn't enough of a draw for them, then they may simply not comply at all. It may also be difficult to train students in that way once they have reached the desired level of behavior - you would need to make sure to move the "carrot" as the desired level of behaviour is reached (if still required).

Engagement Activity 1.2

My current job as ICT support isn't an actual teacher or in a teaching profession, however, some of the things I do on a day to day basis do involve teaching others how to do things. Most of my experiences I'll be listing in my blog have more to do with my actual teaching. I was teaching English for 6 months in Poland, and all my real teaching experience and the ideas and information I'll be putting in my blog will be coming from this.

The main components I was teaching really fell in to the spoken category. In learning another language, there are 4 main components of learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. I was mainly focussed with adults on speaking, however, when teaching children and teenagers, focus was upon all 4 of these components.

For me, the main purpose of learning a language is communication: so that you can communicate with others that speak a different language to yourself. Set tests helped to let the students know how they were tracking in learning the language - whether or not their skills were where they should be. However, in terms of learning another language, the benchmarks did not always necessarily indicate where a student was in learning that language. Some students were able to speak and communicate ideas very well, though had less knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.

Some students would take real ownership of their study, and look at dictionaries, and try to learn extra words and then use them in sentences in class - these students would truly excel due to their interest and extra effort put in. They would really start to learn the language and how it really worked, rather than follow a set of grammar rules. The understanding of the language, though not always measured well by the testing, was of the most importance to me.

Our skill sets and attributes change dramatically, each time we change in to a different role. When studying at school, the responsibilty, whilst with the student, is also heavily with the teacher, to give the content and direction. Once we move to university, this changes somewhat, so that the student has far more responsibility for their learning.

Once the student moves to the workforce, it is again different. To learn workplace skills, it is dependent upon the environment they work in, their collaboration with other staff/workmates there and the workplace culture. The skills learnt in school and university aren't all we need, so they must change as well. Skills such as time management, conflict resolution and team work, evolve and change to suit our requirements in the new area of responsibility, and must continue to change and evolve as we go through various careers and changes.