A Very Busy Week!

I have continued to visit the Foundations course this week.  This week's topics included gender in schools.  It was a fantastic lecture, addressing how schools separate boys and girls as well as reinforce what is socially acceptable behavior and self-expression.  There were a lot of things I have always known, but never really thought much about.  We focused a lot of PE classes and how it was okay for boys and girls to participate in some sports together but that kids are separated when it comes to ice hockey and gymnastics.

Another class that began this week is Subject Didactics: Evaluation and Development.  The class is half Finnish students and half international students. We began by discussing the different teaching and assessment systems in the countries represented, including Togo, Cameroon, Bangladesh and Iran.  Hearing about the different school systems and perspectives on what is good education, and why children need to be educated was incredible.

The other new class I visited was called Pedagogical Knowledge and it is a class for primary teachers.  I am NOT a primary education person, but it was still fun and interesting to listen to the things they were talking about.  In many ways, there were a lot of things in common with secondary education in terms of wanting to do a good job, establishing rapport with students and teaching in a way that fosters creativity and critical thinking.

Finally, I taught this week!  I am co-teaching a course on Distance Education and Online Learning.  For the practicum aspect of the course, we are connecting the students here with my students back in Illinois in an online discussion forum that focuses on education.  All of the students knew me since I have been with them in other classes, but they were a little surprised to see me in front of the room!  Both classes went very well and the students seemed excited to interact with my students in Illinois.

Teaching here is very different.  Where we have classes that meet on designated days and times for an entire semester, here it is based on points with each point representing a certain number of hours of work a student is expected to do during the week. Classes meet at different times and days at the instructor's discretion.  The Foundations course I have been attending meets three times a week for four weeks, while the course I am teaching meets four times total for 5 weeks.  This system works because it is expected that students will complete the work that needs to be done independently, so time is built in to allow for this.

In other news, I have had several meetings with other people.  This week I met with the Dean and a representative from the Embassy. Both meetings resulted in some future activity and an even busier week to come!  Stay tuned!!!!!