ASSIGNMENT 1JANUARY 2013 SEMESTER

COURSE CODE : EMI643

COURSE TITLE : MODELS OF INSTRUCTION

LEVEL : MASTER OF EDUCATION

STUDENT’S NAME : MARIANI BINTI MOHAMED SAAD

MATRIC NO. :

PROGRAMME :

ACADEMIC FACILITATOR

:

LEARNING CENTRE :

ASSIGNMENT 1

There are a lot of models and methods of teaching are being produced by the academician

to help students become more effective learners. Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, B.F.

Skinner and Walter Bandura are the academician that introduced the theory for practicing

behaviorist in classroom long time ago in 80s or 90s century. Jean Piaget proposed the

theory of cognitive development that consists of four stages to give a better understanding

about children development. While Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Arthur Combs

each and everyone of them had introduced the humanistic approach to learning after they

had make an experiment and observation on human characteristics. Unfortunately,

although we are well into 21st century and the rest of the world has changed, the present-

day classroom has remained remarkably similar to that of 1900. Students no longer write

notes on slates, and they often sit in moveable desks, yet many teachers still use the "I

lecture; you listen and write" method of teaching. Despite the proliferation of electronic

media and alternative methods of instruction, lecture is often the instructional tool of

choice, forcing students to take notes and to listen carefully"(Hayes, 2006). Thus, I agree

with the statement 'Teaching in Malaysian Educational Institutions Continue to be

Teacher-Centered'. This is due to the teacher's responsibility and integrity as many of

them have claimed that they tend to do a lot of work at school thus result on neglecting

the students' rights to have better teaching and learning process and teacher also do not

practice the characteristic of effective teachers.

In a study conducted in 1996, the Federal Schools Inspectorate (Jemaah Nazir

Sekolah Persekutuan, 1996) found that although most teachers (70%) have good

knowledge, understanding and skills of the teaching contents, including a variety of

teaching methods or techniques, the prevalent teaching style still remains teacher-

oriented. From a pedagogical point of view, this teaching practice is found to be similar to

that practiced in the old curriculum policy, which emphasizes on rote learning methods

(Jemaah Nazir Sekolah Persekutuan, 1996). According to Salleh (in Tengku Zawawi at

al., 2009) some teachers play the part of "conformist" professionals, who prefer to

continue the role as tradition-bearers instead of being creative or innovative, whilst others

prefer a more traditional classroom approach during the teaching and learning processes

instead of alternative teaching practices, which require more effort, more creative

thinking and more time-consuming. The traditional or conventional teaching practices,

which have an inclination towards a teacher-centered teaching, tend to adopt a one-way

communication, and have been proven a failure when it comes to developing students'

thinking abilities, in addition to being unable to exploit/explore students true potential

(Maruli & Wayan, 2007).

From a research by Salmiza Salleh and Afik Aziz entitled 'Teaching Practices Among

Secondary School Teachers in Malaysia' in general, most of the teaching practices applied

in Malaysian schools still takes place in a condition whereby the teacher still dominates

over the students, and in most cases, this phenomenon occurs in a linear way. This shows

that the practice of teaching in schools is still bound by traditional methods compared to

newer alternative methods. Teachers have been observed to prefer using teaching

methods that abide by the theory of "tabula rasa" (Suastra et al., 1998). This is consistent

with previous findings that show that teaching practices in Malaysia still center around

teachers and are bound by the traditional method (Abd. Razak et al., 1996; Jemaah Nazir

Sekolah Persekutuan, 1996; Voo, 1996; Wan Mohd Rani, 1999). This fact is extremely

worrisome as after almost 15 years of this report being published, the education system in

our country still practices the traditional and teacher-centered approach. The refusal on

the part of the teachers to shift their paradigm and behaviors by making the teaching and

learning process more interesting would be detrimental to the government's intention of

developing human capital capable of competing globally.

As a conclusion, teaching in malaysia educational institutions continue to be teacher

centered ..........................?

ASSIGNMENT 2JANUARY 2013 SEMESTER

COURSE CODE : EMI643

COURSE TITLE : MODELS OF INSTRUCTION

LEVEL : MASTER OF EDUCATION

STUDENT’S NAME :

MATRIC NO. :

PROGRAMME :

ACADEMIC FACILITATOR

:

LEARNING CENTRE :

ASSIGNMENT 2

PART B

Collaborative teaching and learning is a teaching approach that involves groups of

students working to solve a problem, complete a task or create a product (MacGregor,

1990). The aim of the use of collaborative learning techniques is not to abandon the

lecture, but rather using active learning techniques to supplement lectures. The term

'collaborative learning' itself covers active learning activities which students do anything

in the classroom in a group or pair rather than passively listening to an instructor's

lecture.

The rationale of the used of this collaborative method of teaching is to promote

learning as an active process whereby students assimilate the information and relate new

knowledge to a prior knowledge. According to Lee and Smagorinsky, collaborative

inquiry brings together many perspectives to solve a problem, engaging students in

relevant learning around an authentic question. It allows students to work together toward

a common purpose to explore, make meaning and understand the world around them.

Other than that, collaborative learning is a constructive process. Students have to

work actively in purposeful ways to learn new information, ideas or skills. Teacher must

encourage students to integrate the new material with what they already know rather than

simply taking it in. This constructive process are crucial to learning as they are not simply

memorize and regurgitate the knowledge but they develop a deep understanding of

essential concepts.

Collaborative learning also exposed students to diverse viewpoints from people with

varied backgrounds. Students will begin to create their own unique conceptual

frameworks and not rely solely on an expert's framework. Students will have the

opportunity to converse with peers, present dan defend their ideas, exchange diverse

beliefs, question other conceptual framework and be actively engaged. Therefore,

collaborative learning approach are now practice in school and colleges to promote active

learning.