Module Four: Anyway

Today we live in an age where a diverse range of teaching strategies and approaches must be used to ensure the best possible learning outcomes. In the industrial age, pedagogy was all about rote learning and knowing the correct answers. People who were taught through traditional styles of education did not have enough variety of knowledge for a life of change and diversity (acde, 2001). These days, it is widely recognised that as well as teaching children content, teachers also need to help children learn the best ways of learning through utilising a variety of instructional modes.

“Teachers have an important role in helping learner’s acquisition and development of knowledge and skill, and in striving for educational equality” (McLeod & Reynolds, 2007). In the modern pedagogical age, teachers are often urged to use a variety of teaching strategies and approaches to ensure that diverse student interests and abilities can be accommodated (Marsh, 2008). “Research shows that learning outcomes are influenced by the learning environment involving a number of interrelated components such as teaching method and assessment, course structure and teacher effectiveness” (Patrick & Smart, 1998). Marsh (2008) states that “the teacher who works at developing a varied combination of instructional modes of teaching is moving strongly to becoming a flexible teacher and most likely to becoming a very effective one.” There is a wide variety of instructional modes available to teachers including:
· Small group work
· Independent study
· Lectures and presentations
· Oral reports
· Constructivist (problem-based) learning
· Direct instruction, and many more
As it can be very difficult to identify learning styles of students, the use of many different teaching strategies and approaches is encouraged. Students either “accept the mode of instruction, or attempt to modify it or, on rare occasions, reject it outright” (Marsh, 2008).

One particular instructional mode that is becoming more and more influential in the classroom is the use of information and communication technology (ICT). In preparing children for success in the technology-rich environment of the workplace, teachers must facilitate learning through tasks that specifically reflect this environment (Mantei, 2007). Some forms of ICT that are prevalent in the modern classroom include, “radio, educational television, programmed instruction, computer-assisted learning, electronic whiteboards, palm held computers and virtual learning environments” (Hartley, 2007).

REFERENCES
Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) (2001). New Learning: a charter for Australian Education.
Available online at: http://www.acde.edu.au/docs/CharterForAustralianEducation2004.pdf. (accessed 22 September, 2009)

Hartley, J. (2007). ‘Teaching, learning and new technology: a review for teachers’. British Journal of Educational Technology. London, 38(1), pp. 42-62.

Marsh, C. (2008). Becoming a teacher: knowledge, skills and issues (4th edition). Frenchs Forest, NSW; Pearson Education Australia.

Mantei, J. (2007). Literacy Learning Through Computer-based Technologies: Rethinking Small Group Work. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years. 15(1), pp 17-23.

McLeod, J & Reynolds, R. (2007). Quality Teaching for Quality Learning: Planning Through Reflection. South Melbourne; Thomson Social Science Press

Patrick, J & Smart, R. (1998). An Empirical Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness: the emergence of three critical factors. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 23(2), pp 165 – 178