Teaching Approach, Practice and Effectiveness

My role as a lecturer is to facilitate student learning. There is no way that I can force anyone to learn anything - but I can certainly help people on their journey towards more knowledge! My duty in teaching and learning activities is to provide the students parameters in which they must function, and allow them to find their own approach towards accomplishing the tasks before them. Feedback is critical, and a key aspect in teaching students. In the current learning environment, I use hybrid learning, so that lectures and learning materials are uploaded to iKamva, but in-person practical sessions allow time for students to ask questions and seek clarification on the learning aspects. As stated in the UWC assessment policy, "Instructional feedback is fundamental to the learning process." For each lesson, I have linked the lecture material with the textbook material, so that students can always seek out additional information from the systematic framework of the textbook. Also, I link questions within assessments to the learning outcomes of the module to assure that there is continuity between the goals and execution of the module. 

Practical lessons are critical for learning. Theoretical considerations often are insufficient for students to understand the full aspects of complex subjects, such as geology, wherein it is necessary for students to have their own hands-on opportunities to grow their personal experience and approach to the process. The use of technology in this process is important. There are traditional technologies of geological learning, such as the microscope and hand lens, and more modern technologies, such as drones and photogrammetric 3D models, but in all of these aspects, the key to geological understanding is the observations that can be made by the geologist. In this way, the practical aspect of geology education depends on training students to make their own, reliable observations of the world and of sets of data. 

I have used technology in many ways, allowing students to examine satellite images of Earth and other planets, 3D models of large landscapes as well as small features from outcrops, and virtual field trips to sites that students can otherwise not visit. However, the most important part of geology is to see hand samples. Through the use of these tools, students can grow and learn the best way to make and record observations of the world.