group work
I teach Intro to Computers and find that my typical class features the 18 year olds who do not know life without a computer and can teach the class to the 50 year olds who have never used a computer before. During the first week of class, I can easily spot who is having trouble using a mouse and who is a wiz.
I make all of my projects group work and assign tasks to each group member. We rotate with each assignment. This gives opportunity for all to help eachother learn. I find this strategy helps the learning process by giving the "computer wiz" an opportunity to practice helping others - which they will be called upon to do in the real world" as well as a great environment for others to receive assistance from multiple people. I find it difficult in a large class to give my whole time to 2 or 3 students. This seems to work well for me.
Hi James:
Like you are describing, students get another perspective from each other which can reinforce their understanding of the topic yo've been discussing. The outcome is very similar to the "guest speaker" concept.
Regards, Barry
Sharing one's Real World Work Situations is a big plus for the students. I teach Drafting and breaking the students into groups and assigning different positions to each student such as Checkers, Drafters, Designers, etc. and explaining what responsabilities each have allows the students to become envolved in their projects. I encourage and guide them as they learn what it will be like in their chosen fields.
Hi Daniel:
A little technical here, but you point is well taken and valuable. Stdudent groups (peer mentoring) is a terrific method to require participation and involvement.
Regards, Barry
And, if you set the groups up right, you can actually teach people how professional programmers do development work in eXtreme Programming (XP) or pair programming, where there is a driver role and a monitor role,and they trade off roles periodically. The driver is doing the work and the monitor is checking and consulting. This can make the development go very fast.
Hi James:
I think peer mentoring is great; students like it, they seem to relate weel tyo classmetes differently than teachers, and sometimes, thier interaction allows some students to do better than if only the teacher was instructing.
Regards, Barry
