I’ve decided I really need to move from tutoring (my current flavor of informal education) to something more technologically relevant to my preferred teaching method- facilitating.
I really enjoy being an information node, but I know that I’m just one node in a student’s diverse experiences. I may be just what they need to learn the skills they need, or I may be able to offer supplementary activities to help them build the skills they’re already working on. This is probably what has always led me down the informal learning route (despite everyone trying to push me into a classroom);
While I enjoy the face-to-face, I often feel like I can’t reach or do as much because I’m only affecting a small population, and they’re often just taking from me. I never get to see what I’ve taught blended with what the student has learned elsewhere to create a peer-teaching moment. I get to see one moment in time, instead of the larger picture that results.
I want to see students’ personal learning environments. I want to see their e-portfolios if they create one. I want to be part of a student’s Rip-Mix-Burn process, but I’m not positioned to help with that because I’m not working in that type of environment myself. Skills-wise, I’m armed and ready to assume a facilitator’s role in a student’s creation of their own learning environment, but my experience is woefully lacking.
Step one should be to facilitate my own rip-mix-burn activities. Step two should be to figure out how to maneuver myself into a position to help others create their own rip-mix-burn activities.
Suggested reading
- I can’t teach properly (Just because it’s so very good, and so true.)
- Signal vs. Noise (Just because it’s interesting and has led to some sleepless nights as I try to decide what it means for me)
