Edu_navigators is an online tutoring program initiated by Linford Molaodi and fellow student, Godfrey Mabena at the University of Johannesburg in February 2014.
This program was designed for First-year Physical sciences university freshmen. We had an intention to support them sufficiently in the science discipline, for them to be inspired and never regret of taking Physical sciences as a major.
Aim
This programme aims to address the challenges that serve as hindrance towards the maintenance of students and their academic progress in Physical sciences. We address the issues through online interaction with students on social network (preferably whatsapp) under our mentorship.
Mission
Ø To motivate students into science by enriching their level of understanding the nature of Sciences conceptually.
Ø To move the science content from abstract to concrete and nurture their ability to work together in a community of student educators.
Vision
Ø We need to see our programme expanding to other Sciences faculties within the university and also contribute to more than 70% of our students having obtained distinctions in Physical sciences.
Ø Encourage educators to improve knowledge in scientific problems and challenges learners encounter through online collaboration with teachers outside their immediate vicinity.
Ø We need to recruit as many capable and excellent mentors as possible to enable us branch to under-performing schools within and outside Gauteng province.
Ø Expose our students to global learning and teaching by linking them with students in similar discipline outside the country.
The approach
Based on our research, almost every student including pupils, have smartphones having multiple social networks installed. However, Whatsapp, the contemporary cheapest network is more preferable due to its ability to connect with as less airtime as R1 for a long period of time.
We create whatsapp groups, each comprised of approximately 20 students. Each group of Sciences students is allocated a mentor who will mentor them and facilitate the discussions. In all these groups, the lecturer of the module is being linked.
How it functions
We work very closely to the lecturers. This help us keep abreast of their work-plan and be provided with resources (notes, worksheets, tutorial tasks and etc) to ensure quality learning interaction with our students.
In addition, students are given tutorial tasks which we acquire from the lecturers to assess the students’ understanding of the content after every lecture. The tutorial questions are posted on our whatsapp groups for students to explore, give feedback and discuss their varied perspectives. It is then our responsibility to comment on their discussions and lure them in the right direction. As a result, we are able to detect every student’s misconceptions and guide them on how to simplify the work and study each topic respectively.
This does not only benefit the students but ourselves and lecturers
Let us ask these questions?
If I continue with "Forces," then I am not supposed to be a teacher. And if I conduct a lesson on vectors, how excellent is the lesson going to be because my brain is in inclined motion mode not vectors? There are possibilities that I confuse the creatures even further. And if I postpone, you know what they say; procrastination is a thief of time.
Assessment
PRE-DISCUSSIONS
Have pre-discussions (preceding every class or lecture) with your students. From your discussions with them, you would know their area of difficulty and plan your lesson accordingly before class.
IN-Action Discussions
Of course this is your assessment during your teaching. It is advisable to do this using social networks. We have to talk personally with our students and develop a good repute with them.
POST-ASSESSMENT
Now we may provide our learners with extra-activities on whatsapp to assess if they have achieved lesson outcomes.
PLEASE NOTE!
We are facilitators, not a dispenser of knowledge. Encourage the students to assist each other, ask questions to one another, critique and support whatever is being presented.
We are aware of the contribution of social media in perpetuation of learners inability to write and communicate effectively or academically in English. However, we cannot erode the media away because of that. Social media is the reality world in which our students dwell. What we are proposing is "controlled online collaboration". This means, an educator or tutor has to "say No" language that is not academic. We have to acknowledge at the beginning of correspondence with your students that their language "MUST" be strictly academic. This will contribute to the quality of their writing. Ground rules first
Benefits
I would like to pay all our humble gratitudes to our interesting and inspiring hands-on lecturer, MR KHWANDA, who supported us from the initiation of our program to date.
This program was designed for First-year Physical sciences university freshmen. We had an intention to support them sufficiently in the science discipline, for them to be inspired and never regret of taking Physical sciences as a major.
Aim
This programme aims to address the challenges that serve as hindrance towards the maintenance of students and their academic progress in Physical sciences. We address the issues through online interaction with students on social network (preferably whatsapp) under our mentorship.
Mission
Ø To motivate students into science by enriching their level of understanding the nature of Sciences conceptually.
Ø To move the science content from abstract to concrete and nurture their ability to work together in a community of student educators.
Vision
Ø We need to see our programme expanding to other Sciences faculties within the university and also contribute to more than 70% of our students having obtained distinctions in Physical sciences.
Ø Encourage educators to improve knowledge in scientific problems and challenges learners encounter through online collaboration with teachers outside their immediate vicinity.
Ø We need to recruit as many capable and excellent mentors as possible to enable us branch to under-performing schools within and outside Gauteng province.
Ø Expose our students to global learning and teaching by linking them with students in similar discipline outside the country.
The approach
Based on our research, almost every student including pupils, have smartphones having multiple social networks installed. However, Whatsapp, the contemporary cheapest network is more preferable due to its ability to connect with as less airtime as R1 for a long period of time.
We create whatsapp groups, each comprised of approximately 20 students. Each group of Sciences students is allocated a mentor who will mentor them and facilitate the discussions. In all these groups, the lecturer of the module is being linked.
How it functions
We work very closely to the lecturers. This help us keep abreast of their work-plan and be provided with resources (notes, worksheets, tutorial tasks and etc) to ensure quality learning interaction with our students.
In addition, students are given tutorial tasks which we acquire from the lecturers to assess the students’ understanding of the content after every lecture. The tutorial questions are posted on our whatsapp groups for students to explore, give feedback and discuss their varied perspectives. It is then our responsibility to comment on their discussions and lure them in the right direction. As a result, we are able to detect every student’s misconceptions and guide them on how to simplify the work and study each topic respectively.
This does not only benefit the students but ourselves and lecturers
Let us ask these questions?
- How much impact in the quality teaching and learning does identification of prior-knowledge of learners play in classroom?
- What do I do as an educator, if I arrive in class having planned a lesson on "forces on inclined motion," only to find that my learners do not have a background knowledge of vectors?
- Do I continue with the topic of the day or do I teach the lesson of which I did not plan?
If I continue with "Forces," then I am not supposed to be a teacher. And if I conduct a lesson on vectors, how excellent is the lesson going to be because my brain is in inclined motion mode not vectors? There are possibilities that I confuse the creatures even further. And if I postpone, you know what they say; procrastination is a thief of time.
Assessment
PRE-DISCUSSIONS
Have pre-discussions (preceding every class or lecture) with your students. From your discussions with them, you would know their area of difficulty and plan your lesson accordingly before class.
IN-Action Discussions
Of course this is your assessment during your teaching. It is advisable to do this using social networks. We have to talk personally with our students and develop a good repute with them.
POST-ASSESSMENT
Now we may provide our learners with extra-activities on whatsapp to assess if they have achieved lesson outcomes.
PLEASE NOTE!
We are facilitators, not a dispenser of knowledge. Encourage the students to assist each other, ask questions to one another, critique and support whatever is being presented.
We are aware of the contribution of social media in perpetuation of learners inability to write and communicate effectively or academically in English. However, we cannot erode the media away because of that. Social media is the reality world in which our students dwell. What we are proposing is "controlled online collaboration". This means, an educator or tutor has to "say No" language that is not academic. We have to acknowledge at the beginning of correspondence with your students that their language "MUST" be strictly academic. This will contribute to the quality of their writing. Ground rules first
Benefits
- Improve learners' writing skills and expression
- Collaborative skills
- Exposure to multiple perspectives
- Increase in awareness of flows of one's own ideas and hence, more understanding emerges.
- Many educators struggle with content but do not have shoulders to cry on. Utilizing whatsApp groups with other educators could assist in narrowing the gap
- Principals, circuit managers could also connect to share challenges and control strategies encountered in schools
I would like to pay all our humble gratitudes to our interesting and inspiring hands-on lecturer, MR KHWANDA, who supported us from the initiation of our program to date.