Decoding_Wanda Bailey
The process of decoding is so vital to our students. The 'largeness' of the project is frightening in light of the new educational experience. To that end, I have a system of starting my students on the tricycle and then taking the training wheels off during the mid-term/latter section of the course. WB
Hi Wanda,
Good example of how learning progresses. Before they know it they are riding their bikes without training wheels and they have a tremendous amount of new knowledge and skills to take with them into the work world.
Gary
Exactly, I have to build upon the students' current level of learning through scaffolding. I certainly employ the scaffolding technique to get the training wheels off and the bike moving forward. Wanda
The ability of students to decode course information is of paramount importance to any instructor. Creating aids (scaffolding) can indeed be quite time consuming, but if done properly can yield such gratifying results.
I have found that many students returning to school after a number of years have poor study habits, inadequate note-taking skills and 'shaky' exam technique; providing structured lists of definitions and terminology along with relational diagrams goes a long way in clarifying fundamentals and provides an excellent foundation for grasping the more advanced material.
