New Learning MOOC’s Updates

Essential Update #4 - My Authentic Travel Lesson

Photo: Mohamed_hassan (2019) Taken from pixabay.com

Authentic Pedagogy Example Lesson

I would like to analyze a favorite activity of mine to see how well it fits as authentic pedagogy. I normally teach English as a foreign language to freshmen at a Japanese university, a compulsory course. Although all of my students have studied English for at least 6 years in junior and senior high school, their communicative ability can be a large mix from high intermediate to near beginner and this range often exists in the same class. My master’s program preached student-centered learning, so I am very familiar with active learning and try to use progressive pedagogy.

For my analysis I would like to examine one of my favorite activities, a group presentation for a proposed vacation. This is a follow-up activity for a lesson in the class textbook (I know, a class textbook is a discursive artifact of didactic pedagogy) on traveling. I divide the class into groups of 3 or 4 and ask each group to represent a travel agency and they must present a travel plan to another city in Japan or in another country. They can choose the destination, but they need to develop sales points with reasons and examples and present their proposed trip by PowerPoint or poster paper (depends on the exact context of the class, the resources available and student preference). Finally, they present their trip and students can vote on their favorite proposal.

I will use the list of standards presented by Newmann et al. (1995) in their study on the efficacy of authentic pedagogy on student academic achievement for analysis.

Points my activity scored well are:

  • Consideration of Alternatives - Students consider different destinations and activities to create the best and most attractive travel itinerary for the students in the class.
  • Substantive Conversation – Students have deep discussions on the topic as they negotiate as colleagues within their groups to decide on the best travel plan and with other students to convince their “customers” to choose their proposal.
  • Connections to the World Beyond the Classroom – The groups need to reconcile the what is possible from their research of destinations with the travel limitations in terms of audience, budget, interest and seasons to make the best proposal.
  • Construction of Knowledge – This activity allows students to create their own knowledge because it requires an original itinerary that is imagined, planned and presented by the students. They are free to use photos, videos, text and drama to convey their ideas.
  • Value Beyond School – The students gain practical experience and skills by practicing presentation skills and working with their group members as work colleagues.

My activity was not academically rigorous, so it scored poorly against these points (in my defense, I use this activity to encourage students to speak in English, not learn about the travel industry):

  • Disciplinary Process or Disciplined Inquiry – They were not asked to do in-depth research or synthesize information for a complex argument. Many of the presentations contained memorized facts or superficial generalizations of positive points.
  • Elaborated Written Communication – The did not need to put any of their ideas into long form writing. Instead, their writing was limited to PowerPoint slides or short points and captions for their posters.

Reference

Newmann, F., Marks, H., & Gamoran, A. (1995). Authentic Pedagogy: Standards That Boost Student Performance. Issues in Restructuring Schools No. 8

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