Facilitators from Singapore Polytechnic International (SPI) introduced 14 fundamental modes of delivery to involve students in active learning.

One of the facilitators from SPI, Lee Chong Hwa, said that when students are involved in activities, it does not mean that the teacher’s work is reduced. “The preparatory time would extend but learning becomes more meaningful. There is a shift from teacher-centred to student-centred learning.”

He said that learning could take place anytime anywhere, adding that class wouldn’t get monotonous if different fundamental modes of delivery are combined with different approaches of teaching.

“Lectures can be active instead of passive. It would not be a traditional way of teaching if lectures are made innovative by integrating other modes of delivery,” he said.

“To achieve intended learning outcomes for courses, educators need to design methods to inspire learning and not only teach.”

Some of the modes of delivery are flipped classroom, cooperative team learning, team-based learning, collaborative team learning, team teaching, jigsaw teaching, lecture, online, mobile and blended learning, peer to peer teaching, and fishbowl class discussion.

Another facilitator from SPI, Goh Siew Hong, said that it was difficult when too many teaching approaches were integrated with delivery modes of teaching. “We started to see that there was a certain pattern, a teaching approach is used in a school. There was core pedagogy of the profession.”

She said that signature pedagogy imitated what students were going to do when they graduate from the colleges. For an instance, in medical colleges, simulation is practised through team-based learning.

Some of the teaching methods are case-based learning, problem-based learning, challenge-based learning, experiential learning, and scenario-based learning.

Goh Siew Hong said that assessment was necessary to improve teaching and curriculum design. It is also used as a benchmark for quality. “Formative and summative assessments are used to assess student attributes.”

Lee Chong Hwa said that trial presentation rated the student like real assessment but it would not be added in the final result. “Formative assessments give students the reality check and provide feedback for improvement for the final grading which is summative.”

He added that even though teachers have to work more they maintain the quality of the proficiency of the attributes of students.

Twenty-five educators are participating in the workshop that ends today.

Rinchen Zangmo

Advertisement